A-Z Database

A-Z Database

All A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
Bull in a china shop

This expression is used to describe inordinate clumsiness and dates from the early 19th century. It seems to be one of those figurative expressions th...

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Bulldust

South African euphemism for bullshit dates from the mid-20th century.


Bullet

see Bite the bullet


Bullet someone

see Fire someone, Get the sack and Give someone the bullet


Bullet with one's name on it

This metaphor expresses the fatalistic view that a bullet is about to strike a person, usually with fatal results, and dates from the First World War....

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Bullshit

Eloquent but baseless rhetoric; originally American slang dates from the early 20th century, from bull meaning to deceive, cheat or fraud that dates b...

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Bullshit baffles brains

Mainly British officers’ catchphrase dates from WWII that gave rise to the jocular Latin version, “Excrementum vincit cerebellum.”


Bully

This word originally, from the early 16th century, meant lover, sweetheart or darling and was a general term of endearment for both men and women. The...

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Bully beef

see Bully


Bum fluff

British slang for the unsightly, wispy hair on the faces of pubescent boys dates from the late 19th century.


Bum in the butter

See Fall/Land in the butter


Bum steer

To give someone a bum steer is to give bad advice or false information, as in steering someone off-course. It is an American expression that dates fro...

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Bum’s rush

To give someone the bum’s rush is to evict or dismiss them quickly, as one would do to a bum or tramp. It is originally an American expression and dat...

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Bum/bummer

Bum is an old English word for posterior or buttocks and dates back to the 14th century. On the American side of the Atlantic, however, bum or bummer...

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Bumf

Bumf is an abbreviation of bum-fodder, which is slang for trashy literature and dates from the mid-17th century, from the allusion that trashy literat...

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