A-Z Database
American slang for idle talk or chatter dates from the late 19th century. More recently, the expression has found its way into cricket, via the Caribb...
Rhyming slang for mate or friend, china plate/mate, dates from the late 19th century and is still popular. After it was introduced by British troops d...
A cricket term dates from c.1933. A Chinaman is a ball, bowled by a left-arm spinner that spins from off to leg to a right-handed batsman. In other wo...
An unintentional cricket shot where the batsman attempts to drive the ball on the off side but it takes the inside edge and flies down towards fine le...
This expression has come to mean a cumulative error derived from mishearing or misreporting. The OED dates this meaning from 1964 as it appeared in th...
British slang for money, now making its way around the English-speaking world. First attested from c. 2003 and alludes to the sound a cash register ma...
Informal British expression for a chat or gossipy conversation dates from the late 19th century.
This American expression meaning to contribute or interject verbally is from the mid-19th century and is thought to have originated from the use of ga...
This expression dates back to at least 1621 in the form of chip of the same block when it appeared in Sermons by Robert Sanderson, the Bishop of Linco...
To have a chip on one’s shoulder means to harbour a grievance or to have an inferiority complex and dates from the mid-19th century. There are two the...
With its well-established usage in English public schools, it comes as a surprise to learn that this word meaning lively and in good spirits is of Ame...
British slang for either a carpenter or a fish and chip shop and dates in both senses from the late 19th century. Carpenters aboard ships have been ca...
If someone has lost his or her chips, it means the poor loser has either lost some sort of contest or, more seriously, have passed away. The expressio...
see When the chips are down
Let the chips fall where they may is US informal meaning to allow events to happen without trying to influence them or change the result. In other wor...