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
All-in

Figuratively, all-in means completely exhausted and dates in this sense from the mid-19th century. The most likely explanation is that it derives from...

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All’s fair in love and war

The origin is attributed to the poet John Lyly in his novel Euphues: The Anatomy of Wit published in 1579. Lyly wrote, “Any impiety may be committed i...

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All’s well that ends well

Famous of course as the title of one of Shakespeare’s plays c.1601, this expression meaning that any enterprise with a satisfactory ending justifies t...

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Alma mater

Refers to one’s school, college or university, which one attended and usually from which one graduated. This Latin phrase meaning dear or nourishing m...

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Almond rocks

Rhyming slang for socks, almond rocks/socks dates from the early 20th century when almond rock cakes were popular.


Aloof

To be aloof is to distance oneself from something and dates from the early 16th century. Its origin is a Dutch sailing term from at least a century ea...

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Alphabet

The word makes its appearance in English during the 1500s from the Latin Alphabetum, which in turn derives from the first two letters of the Greek alp...

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Altogether, the altogether

In the altogether is a euphemistic term for completely naked and dates from the late 19th century. It is a typical example of Victorian sensibility an...

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Always something new out of Africa

When this was quoted in the works of Pliny the Elder (23 - 79 AD) “Ex Africa semper aliquid novi” Pliny was quoting an old Greek proverb. For both the...

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Amateur

When this word entered the English lnaguage towards the end of the 18th century, a straight borrowing from the French 'amateur' it meant a lover or an...

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Amok

Sometimes spelt as ‘amuck’, is usually found in the expression to ‘run amok’, which dates from the mid-17th century and derives from the Portuguese am...

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Amuck

see Amok


Angry young man

This expression has come to describe anyone who goes against the establishment or the accepted status quo. The first use of the phrase is attributed t...

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Ankle-biter

Originally an American colloquialism for a small child, presumably a crawling child with teeth, dates from the mid-19th century.


Ankle-tap

An ankle-tap or tap-tackle is a form of tackle that is now practised and executed in sports like Rugby Union, Rugby League and American Football. The...

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