A-Z Database
A wild guess or a hit or miss random attempt, dates in this sense from the 19th century with the obvious allusion to a literal shot at a target or adv...
When used metaphorically, as in ‘a shotgun approach’ or ‘a shotgun strategy’ it means to spread one’s resources or efforts over as wide an area as pos...
A forced marriage usually involving an unplanned pregnancy and an unwilling or reluctant bridegroom, an Americanism that dates in this sense from the...
see Put your shoulder to the wheel
To meddle or interfere in someone else’s business or to offer an unsolicited opinion dates from the 1500s and in its original form was to have an oar...
see Clean pair of heels
Meaning to get a move on or arise from bed dates from the early 19th century. In the latter sense it means literally to show a leg from under the bedc...
see Know/learn/show someone the ropes
Originally, a river steamer on which theatrical performances were given to passengers dates from the mid-19th century in America. Showboat meaning to...
Originally, this was not a proper name but Yiddish for monster, dates from the mid-20th century. Shrek is also a nickname for the footballer, Wayne Ro...
A shrinking violet is a shy, modest, self-effacing person and first appears In Times Like These by N. L. McClung (1915), “Voting will not be compulsor...
An American exclamation expressing surprise, incredulity or annoyance depending on the context, dates from the mid-19th century and is thought to be a...
This is Shakespeare’s well-known and often quoted metaphor for death, which these days is generally used jocularly or whimsically. Not so for Hamlet,...
British military slang from c. 1925 meaning to look, as in to take a shufti at something. It derives from the Arabic shufti meaning, have you seen?
This proverb about acting too late or taking pointless precautions after the event, appears in various forms from as early as 14th century. Sometimes...