A-Z Database
Unpleasant, outdated, insincere, British slang used in a number of derogatory contexts since the mid-19th century, deriving from the offensive smell o...
We often talk about a person as having had a chequered career or past and this figurative usage dates from the mid-1600s and means full of alternation...
Cherchez la femme is French for look for the woman and is a cynical imperative to look for the presence of a woman in any intrigue or scandal. It was...
British informal for a young, virginal girl and also can refer to virginity itself, deriving from the supposed similarity of the fruit to the hymen. I...
Cherry picker is originally a British nautical expression, dating from the late 19th/early 20th century for an inferior seaman who would pick or choos...
see Grin like a Cheshire cat
A form of celebration when two men, usually in a sporting context, bump their chests together. It dates from the early 21st century and is thought to...
A chestnut meaning a venerable old joke or story is from the late 19th century and is thought to have originated in America despite its first appearan...
see Pull chestnuts out of the fire
see Bite/chew one’s arm/hand off
Idle talk or chatter that first appears as a British military expression for grumbling or complaining during the late 19th century. It was very quickl...
Stylish, fashionable, dates from the mid-19th century, derives from the French chic, which originally meant smart rather than stylish, but it has now...
Chick has been a term of endearment for a child for centuries, from at least the late 1400s. It became popular again in America during the 1920s and s...
Describes a genre of movies made specifically to appeal to young women, an Americanism that dates from the late 1980s. See also Flick.
Chicken or chicken-hearted has been a metaphor for cowardice since the early 1600s and derives from the timid and submissive behaviour of chickens.