A-Z Database
see Beaver
An old simile for working very hard, like a sheep dog, or similar, who works tirelessly until the job is done, dates from the early 1700s.
To work like a Trojan means to work very hard and to call someone a Trojan or a real Trojan is to commend someone on a job well done. As mentioned in...
To work extremely hard where ‘socks off’ has become an intensifier denoting to the extreme or utmost. The expression dates from the mid-20...
'The world is your oyster' is an idiom that encourages people to believe that there is a world of opportunities just waiting to be exploited for a bri...
see Atlas
The World Wide Web, more often referred to as ‘the web’, is sometimes used interchangeably with ‘the Internet’, but mistakenly so. The World Wide Web...
It is generally acknowledged that prostitution is the world’s oldest profession but no one knows who established this as fact, if indeed it is a fact....
To insinuate one’s way into a relationship or a situation in order to exploit it for gain or special favour, dates from the 17th century and derives f...
The worm turns is a metaphor that means even the weakest will turn and face up to an adverse situation, and try to reverse it. It is an old proverb th...
A worry wart is a person who frets or worries excessively. The expression originated in America and its usage is still chiefly American, although it i...
Worsted is fine, high quality woollen yarn dates from the 13th century. It is named after Worstead, a town in Norfolk where it was first made.
see Not give/worth a continental
This expression usually appears in its negative form of not being worth one’s salt. It goes back to Roman times when salt was such a valuable commodit...
The British slang phrase ‘wotcha cock’ is actually short for the very dated ‘wotcha cock sparrow/sparrer’. Wotcha is in fact a contraction of the medi...