A-Z Database
see Blue
Originally a short publicity notice, as on the dust cover of a book, but can now refer to any piece of printed matter or writing. It was coined by the...
Rhyming slang for face, boat race/face, dates from the 1960s.
British slang for a shilling since the late 1700s, the exact origin is not known. During the latter half of the 20th century, it has come to mean mone...
Taken together these words constitute a boxing term from the early 19th century for evasive tactics. Bob is an old word from the 14th century for quic...
The origin of ‘Bob’s your uncle’ sparks debates between etymologists to this day. There is no controversy over its meaning, which is ‘everything is pe...
British slang for a police officer, from about 1851, after Robert Peel who founded the police force in 1828. Bobby of course is short for Robert but b...
Chiefly British and Australian informal expression for someone who is excellent and puts on a good, sometimes showy, performance, in any field of ende...
An American expression for short, ankle-length socks as worn by adolescent girls; dates from the early 1940s. Bobbysoxer, which dates from a little la...
see Bobby socks
Bodge is not slang it is merely a variation of botch. Both words mean more or less the same thing i.e. to provide slapdash, makeshift or sub-standard...
This word is acknowledged as an etymological mystery. According to the OED, it first appears in 1941 as “an elderly naval officer” and then by 1945 it...
This phrase meaning basic standard with no frills is of British origin and has been prolifically used since the 1980s but no one is quite sure of its...
Selfishly keep a joint (marijuana cigarette) to oneself rather than share it, an Americanism from the 1960s, derives from Humphrey Bogart (1899-1957)...
A bogey in golf, signifies any score over par, dates from the c.1895 and derives from the much older meaning of bogey or bogeyman dating from the earl...