A-Z Database
see Stuck record
This is a very old word dating from the 15th century. Its root is Anglo-Norman French brocour meaning a small trader or tradesman. Broker in the sense...
Colloquial word for umbrella dates from the late 19th century.
An uproar or commotion, brouhaha has existed as a French expression since the 16th century but was only adopted in English from the late 19th century....
This expression first appears in Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales in the late 14th century. Chaucer uses the expression twice. Once in the Prologue to descr...
Rhyming slang for dead, brown bread/dead, dates from c. 1960.
Originally an Australian slang metaphor for the anus that dates from the 1960s. As a verb, ‘to brown eye someone’ means to expose one’s anus or poster...
To brown nose is an even more vulgar form (if that is possible) of kissing someone’s arse/ass. To brown nose is to act in an obsequious manner in orde...
A brown study is a state of abstraction or deep thought and the expression dates from the early 16th century. Brown is obviously a dark, gloomy colour...
British military slang for disgruntled and fed up dates from WWI according to Eric Partridge who also maintains that the expression has earlier (late...
Brownie points are merit scores that are earned through good deeds or behaviour. It is originally an American expression that dates the 1950s and that...
To give the brush-off is to rebuff or dismiss rudely, an American colloquial expression from c. 1941.
Any fried or baked mixture of leftover cold meats and vegetables dates from the late 18th century and so-called because of the supposed noise it makes...
No one knows for sure why a US dollar is called a buck, but there are several theories. One is that it comes from the game of poker during the 19th ce...
see Pass the buck