A-Z Database
To gain an initial advantage over an opponent; used in this figurative sense since the 17th century, with the obvious literal allusion to drawing firs...
see Draw a line under or between something
see Short straw
This is a very old expression from the 15th century meaning to assume a defensive posture. The horns referred to are not those of a bull or stag becau...
Dreadlocks are the rope-like strands of hair formed by matting and braiding. The word 'dreadlocks' is modern and is first cited in the 1960s, but why...
To the nines is first attested in 1793 in a poem by Robert Burns where it means to perfection. There is a hint of this meaning in dressed to the nines...
A term in association football, to move the ball forwards or sideways with the feet in a series of short pushes dates from the late 19th century, from...
Drift as in to get someone’s drift dates from the early 16th century. Drift here means current or flow and is used figuratively to mean the conscious...
RAF slang for the sea dates from c. 1920.
Means to out-drink someone, as if in a drinking contest, from the allusion to the loser sliding, drunk under the table at the end of the drinking bout...
Has the social ritual of toasting one another with drinks anything to do with the toasted bread that we sometimes eat? The answer is most certainly ye...
Public school slang from the early 20th century for a weak, ineffectual person has etymological connections to wet that means the same thing.
see Into a corner
see Up the wall
To be in the driving seat is generally thought to be more British, while to be in the driver’s seat is more American. They both mean the same thing, i...