A-Z Database
A metaphor for taking a small risk or outlay to net a greater prize dates in this figurative sense from the mid-19th century.
see Like wildfire
Metaphor for a young attractive person but these days is more frequently used in the negative i.e. ‘no spring chicken’, meaning that persons so descri...
British slang for a child or offspring dates from the 1970s and its origin is unknown. Some sources maintain it may well derive from a fanciful combin...
Spud has been slang for potato since the mid-19th century but the origin is obscure. Some sources attribute the origin to Spud Murphy. True, everyone...
On the spur of the moment means to act spontaneously without premeditation and dates from the early 19th century. The expression in fact revives an ol...
To reconnoitre or assess a situation beforehand, usually, with a hint of stealth; the expression has been used in this way since the early 15th centur...
see Back to square one
A metaphor for an ill fit or an uncomfortable, untenable situation dates from the late 18th/early 19th century.
To square the circle is to attempt something extremely difficult if not impossible and dates in this sense from the 1600s. Constructing a square equal...
To set something square is an expression that dates from the 1400s and means to set something straight. It is a figurative usage of mathematical squar...
These various American slang expressions meaning nothing or zero date from around the 1930s and derive from squat meaning to defecate. Therefore, don’...
Squeaky bum time is a British expression that describes the tense, final stages of an individual game of football (soccer) or a season-long league com...
Pig sticking was a British cavalry sport in India first attested in 1820 according to the OED. Cavalrymen armed with lances would hunt wild pigs and s...
American slang for girlfriend or boyfriend and dates from the 1940s. It derives from the squeeze implicit in embracing one’s girlfriend or boyfriend....