A-Z Database
A rainy day has been a metaphor for hard times or times of misfortune since the late 1500s. Since then, prudent people have been putting money away in...
see Would not say boo to a goose
The slogan of the Society of American florists dates from 1917.
The title of a song by Irving Berlin composed in 1921.
A scallywag is a disreputable fellow, originally an American expression from the early 19th century but anglicised by the mid-1800s. Early citations g...
American slang for a fraudulent scheme or swindle dates from the 1960s and adopted across the rest of the English-speaking world during the 1970s. Its...
Scampi is the plural of scampo the Italian for shrimp or prawn. Strictly speaking, scampi should specifically refer to Dublin Bay Prawns, nephrops nor...
A scapegoat in its current, everyday usage is a person who is blamed or punished for the wrongdoings of others and first makes its appearance in this...
see Beat/scare the living daylights out of someone
see Out of one’s wits
see Shitless
An unduly fearful person; children’s slang from c. 1930.
A scarlet woman is a sexually promiscuous harlot and the expression has been in use since the late 16th century. The source is the New Testament where...
British Slang meaning to run off or run away. There are two theories about its origin. One is rhyming slang Scapa Flow/go. Scapa Flow is a remote Roya...
US slang for go away dates from the mid-19th century, an abbreviation of scatter.