A-Z Database
Incredibly or unhealthily thin; the earliest citation for this simile which derives from a tool for gathering cut hay or cut grass is from the prologu...
An expression that appears to mean simply also or in addition to. It dates from the mid to late 20th century and is particularly prevalent in South Af...
This expression has an unmistakeable New Testament feel about it and is indeed mentioned almost verbatim in the gospels of Matthew 7:7, Luke 11:9 and...
This famous quotation is from John F. Kennedy’s inaugural speech as US President 20 January 1961 but another famous American used it before him. Olive...
Askew means to one side, awry, not straight, and dates from the late 1500s. It is a synonym for the older word skew, which dates from the late 1400s.
In the sense of a stupid, ignorant person dates from the late 16th century, from the allusion to an ass or donkey being regarded as a rather dull, stu...
An American slang metaphor for being incompetent and disorganised as if one literally had that particular part of one’s anatomy in a sling, dates from...
Despite the allusion to tea, this is American slang from the early 20th century meaning to fall head over heels or fall clumsily and comprehensively....
We know the word as a synonym for a treacherous killer or murderer. Assassination has also acquired a figurative meaning as in character assassination...
Easily, without effort, derives from horse riding where a canter is an easy, effortless pace. The metaphorical usage of the expression dates from the...
Not knowing what to be at; not having anything in particular to do. The expression has been in the language since the mid-16th century and derives fro...
In an emergency or in extreme circumstances, this figurative use from the literal act of pinching, a firm compression between finger and thumb, dates...
see Daggers/daggers drawn
The notion of death as a portal to another place is very ancient although this particular expression of it dates from the 1500s. The phrase is frequen...
This expression from the 16th century conjures up a picture of two adversaries trying to strangle one another and that indeed is its literal meaning....