A-Z Database
A metaphor for adhering to one’s beliefs or convictions and not wavering, dates in this sense from the mid-19th century but long before this it was ob...
Stick to the knitting is an American business adage that means concentrate on one’s core business or on what one knows best and is first cited in this...
US slang that dates from 1905 for a robbery or a hold-up, where a criminal brandishes a gun and orders the victim to stick up or hold up their hands.
see Good stick
Stick or sticks, collective nouns for trees or timber, date from 1748, according to the OED. Sticks referring to masts or yards of sailing ships dates...
To bat on a wet, sticky wicket in cricket meant disaster for the batting side and dates from the late 19th century. Since the 1930s, the expression ha...
This expression has become so definitive of the British phlegmatic character, especially the British military that it comes as a surprise to find that...
see A still small voice
This appears to be a very old proverb, possibly from Greek or Roman times, which also appears in Medieval Latin during the 1400s where it was already...
A confidence trick designed to cheat or rob someone, slang that dates from the early 19th century, c.1812 according to the OED.
A sting in the tail is a metaphor for an unpleasant, problematic and generally unforeseen ending and dates from the early 18th century from the obviou...
General term of abuse for anything obnoxious or objectionable dates from the early 1600s. Stinker, in the sense of a tough question, in exams etc, dat...
Extremely and offensively wealthy; this is the American version of filthy rich. It is first cited in America from the 1920s.
This metaphor dates from the early 1700s and means to cause trouble, from the obvious allusion to disturbing a nest of stinging hornets and provoking...
An old proverb that advises timely action to avoid more work later, dates in English in these exact words from the early 18th century. The concept beh...