A-Z Database
Tan meaning to convert animal skin into leather by using an infusion of oak-bark dates from early Anglo-Saxon times. The word tan derives from the Lat...
This word can mean all sorts of things depending on the context, particularly in America. However, tank as in the military vehicle, is of British orig...
Originally, an American expression meaning to fill up with petrol, gasoline etc but also to fill up greedily with food and/or drink, dates from the la...
US slang for drunk or inebriated dates from 1893.
British slang for sixpence since the very early 19th century. The OED maintains the origin is unknown but some source say it derives from the Romany w...
see Tan someone’s hide
see Ankle tap
The plural is tapas. Tapas is the Spanish word for a variety of savoury snacks served as hors d’oeuvres, usually accompanied with a glass of wine. The...
see Jack tar
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...