A-Z Database
A metaphor for being found guilty of the same misdeeds of another, especially unjustly, that dates from the early 19th century. The origin is the figu...
Originally, from the mid-19th century, a term of endearment for a girl or woman, deriving from jam tart, rhyming slang for sweetheart, jam tart/sweeth...
see Dose/taste of one’s own medicine
There are three different meanings for this word although the spelling remains the same. The first appearance of the word, c. 1629, derives from the H...
In the 1500s, tatty would have meant a rag. The word tattered derives from the same Old English source that dates back to Saxon times. The modern, col...
This adjective meaning cheap, low quality clothing, especially women’s, has been in use since 1676. Its origin is from Saint Audrey (drop the first fo...
Today, Britons and Europeans take taxis whereas Americans take cabs, but it was not always so. During the 19th century, Britons, Europeans and America...
Usually expressed in the negative form of do not try to teach an old dog new tricks meaning that older people are less open to innovation and novelty....
Usually expressed in the negative form of don’t teach or try to teach your grandmother to suck eggs meaning do not offer advice to people who have mor...
This metaphor describes desperation or frustration so extreme that one could literally pull one’s hair out. First recorded as far back as Anglo-Saxon...
To rebuke sharply dates from the early 20th century and is thought to be armed services slang deriving perhaps from the demotion of rank by tearing of...
This now world famous toy was named after Theodore (Teddy) Roosevelt (1858-1919) who was the 26th US President (1901-1909) and the youngest ever at ag...
Anything that tastes sour or sharp can set one’s teeth on edge by literally causing an unpleasant tingling sensation on the teeth. Edge is used here i...
Originally, this was a colloquial Americanism in the early 19th century using the reduplicative use of the letter t, as in t-total, or perhaps T-total...
Tell it to the marines is a scornful, incredulous response to the teller of a story, indicating that the story is far-fetched or untrue. It was first...