A-Z Database

A-Z Database

All A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
Get something under one’s belt

see Under one’s belt


Get stuffed

see Stuff-up/stuffed


Get the ball rolling

see Start/get/keep the ball rolling


Get the bit between one’s teeth

see Bit between the teeth


Get the boot

To be dismissed or fired, with the obvious allusion to getting a kick up the backside as one leaves, dates from the late 19th century.


Get the hang of something

see Hang


Get the hump

This British expression meaning to get grumpy or sulky is from the late 19th /early 20th century and is thought to derive from the sort of feeling one...

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Get the nod

Be selected or chosen for something, originally an Americanism that is now popular all over the English-speaking world. The only first citation or dat...

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Get the pip

see Give someone the pip


Get the run-around

see Run-around


Get the sack

The usual explanation for the origin of this expression is that working people used to provide their own tools, which were carried in a bag or sack. W...

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Get the wind up/to be windy

Is to be afraid in a cowardly manner dates from the First World War. Eric Partridge maintains it derives from the WWI marching song The British Grenad...

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Get the wink

see Tip someone the wink


Get the wood on or over someone

see Have the wood on or over someone


Get the wrong end of the stick

see Wrong end of the stick


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