A-Z Database
To cry foul is to declare that something is unfair or illegal and was first used in a sporting context from the mid-19th century, although foul play m...
To withdraw or refrain from doing something or other
A commonly used metaphor for dwelling pointlessly over past misfortunes, usually in the form of don’t cry or no use crying over spilt milk. Its earlie...
To cry wolf is to raise a false alarm and the source is Aesop’s Fables c. 550 BC, from The Shepherd Boy and the Wolf where the boy deluded the village...
To cry all the way to the bank is to make money, without remorse, at the expense of others. Its alternative form is laugh all the way to the bank. The...
see For crying out loud
An adverse situation or event that is so bad it can reduce one to tears, dates from the 1600s.
Extremely easy to see or understand, from the allusion to the high transparency of crystal glass, and dates in this figurative sense from at least the...
A snug place or small closet and in this sense dates from the 19th century, but derives of course from a place where cubs or young animals would nestl...
see Off the cuff
This French phrase meaning bottom of the bag passed into English during the 18th century and describes a blind alley, either literally or figuratively...
Now part of men’s formal dinner dress as a sash worn around the waist, dates from the early 17th century, the OED gives the first citation from 1616....
Originally, the female pudenda and the word was inoffensive and in wide usage from at least the early 13th century. At this time, Gropecunte Lane was...
Low term of abuse for an ugly person dates from the late 19th century.
Enamoured of women, low colloquialism dates from the late 18th century.