A-Z Database
A southpaw is a lefthander, an American term that dates from c. 1880, supposedly from baseball. At a particular baseball park in Chicago, the pitcher...
South Africa’s biggest township, now a suburb of Johannesburg in its own right, the name, an acronym of SOuth WEstern Townships, was adopted in 1963.
To sow wild oats is to conduct oneself recklessly and foolishly to no good purpose. The wild oat avena fatua resembles the normal cereal oat but is in...
see Swing a cat
Spaced out is American informal for being in a stupor, as if induced by narcotic drugs, and dates from the 1960s, from the allusion to outer space, a...
Early 20th century offensive slang for a black person, which evolved out of the 19th century expression Black as the ace of spades.
The original Spam is a proprietary name for luncheon meat registered in 1937 by Hormel Foods in the US, probably derived from SPiced hAM or Shoulder P...
Since the 17th and 18th centuries, this word has enjoyed two meanings. Firstly, as in to install a spanking new kitchen, which means a fine, exception...
To put or throw a spanner in the works is to cause a disturbance, just as a spanner would if it were thrown deliberately into the workings of machiner...
South African name for the orange-fleshed cantaloupe melon derives from the Afrikaans Spaanse spek, which means ‘Spanish bacon’. It was so-called when...
see Stand out like a spare prick at a wedding
This ancient concept on childcare appeared in different forms in both Greek and Latin, but with essentially the same meaning, long before it appeared...
Spark or spark off meaning to start, trigger or initiate something dates from the early 20th century, from the obvious allusion of a spark starting a...
British slang expression (some sources say Australian) for dawn, presumably when small birds like sparrows wake up at dawn and pass a little wind. The...
To split open and dress a fowl ready for cooking dates from the late 18th century. The OED maintains the etymology cannot be disassociated with to spi...