A-Z Database
To go at something like a bull at a gate is to behave with uncontrolled impetuosity, rather like a bull trying to smash down a restraining gate. A gre...
see Take the bull by the horns
This expression is used to describe inordinate clumsiness and dates from the early 19th century. It seems to be one of those figurative expressions th...
South African euphemism for bullshit dates from the mid-20th century.
see Bite the bullet
see Fire someone, Get the sack and Give someone the bullet
This metaphor expresses the fatalistic view that a bullet is about to strike a person, usually with fatal results, and dates from the First World War....
Eloquent but baseless rhetoric; originally American slang dates from the early 20th century, from bull meaning to deceive, cheat or fraud that dates b...
Mainly British officers’ catchphrase dates from WWII that gave rise to the jocular Latin version, “Excrementum vincit cerebellum.”
This word originally, from the early 16th century, meant lover, sweetheart or darling and was a general term of endearment for both men and women. The...
see Bully
British slang for the unsightly, wispy hair on the faces of pubescent boys dates from the late 19th century.
See Fall/Land in the butter
To give someone a bum steer is to give bad advice or false information, as in steering someone off-course. It is an American expression that dates fro...
To give someone the bum’s rush is to evict or dismiss them quickly, as one would do to a bum or tramp. It is originally an American expression and dat...