A-Z Database
A narrow escape means much the same thing as close shave and is also of American origin but dates from the late 19th century and derives from sports w...
A close or near shave is a narrow escape from some calamity or other, deriving from shave as in a slight or passing touch. This meaning and usage of s...
See Near / close to the bone / knuckle
See Sail close to the wind
A closed book is a person or a subject, about which one knows very little. It can also mean a subject, which is taboo or has been terminated. The expr...
see Clodhopper
British informal expression for someone who does not listen or understand clearly. It dates from the late 19th century and may derive from the cotton...
A horse is a term for any frame or structure on which something is mounted or supported and dates from the early 18th century, so-called because it ha...
Was the name coined by Aristophanes in his play Birds in 414 BC In the play, two characters turn into birds and plan a city that was never constructed...
To be on cloud nine is to be blissfully happy; an American expression that dates from the mid-20th century. Like other ‘nine’ expressions e.g. dressed...
American slang for an unholy mess dates from the 1970s and is thought to have derived from the US military during the Vietnam War, from the use of clu...
This expression in its various forms dates from the 1500s and in full would be ‘a drowning man will clutch/grasp at straws’. It signifies a weak or fu...
The complete expression is to carry coals to Newcastle, which is the equivalent of embarking upon a useless or pointless undertaking. Newcastle-upon-T...
As in to proceed without effort e.g. to coast through school or college; dates from the early 20th century. Etymologically, it derives from its origin...
This expression meaning one may proceed without any obstacle or impediment was first used figuratively by Michael Drayton (1563-1631) in a poem entitl...