A-Z Database
see Odds and ends
The bitter end is the limit of one’s efforts, the last extremity. As an expression, it has been around since the late 15th/early 16th century. Shakesp...
In many ways, it is unfortunate that the colour black has so many cheerless, negative connotations despite women who put their perpetuating faith in t...
see In black and white
The black arts is another name for witchcraft or sorcery; the phrase itself dates from the late 1500s, but one suspects the practice is much older. Se...
‘Black as the ace of spades’ is an intensifier that means ‘very black’, if indeed anything can logically be blacker than black. There is no question t...
‘To be in someone’s black book’ means to be out of favour for having caused some offence or other, and dates in this sense from the mid-1500s. A black...
This is a figurative expression for depressed spirits or ill humour and dates from the early 19th century. Winston Churchill used the term to describe...
Since the Middle Ages, a black flag in a battle or siege of a city or castle signified that no quarter would be given to the opposing side. In later y...
To give someone a black look or looks means to glower angrily at them and is first attested from the early 18th century. These days, it would be more...
Magic that is associated with evil spirits; the phrase itself dates from the late 1500s, although the practice is much older.
This expression was originally American and described the black horse drawn vehicles that the New York police used for transporting criminals. It date...
A black mark against one’s name is a mark of censure, more often figuratively than literally, and dates from the early 19th century. See also Black.
A black sheep is a person who causes shame or embarrassment within his or her family or peer group because of beliefs, behaviour etc that vary from ac...
To blackball someone means to ostracise or exclude them and derived this meaning from the late 18th century when it was common practice, typically at...