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
Highbrow

Highbrow can be used as a noun to describe an intellectual but can also be used adjectivally as in highbrow literature. It is an Americanism that date...

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Highfalutin

American slang meaning absurdly pompous or bombastic dates from the mid-19th century of obscure origin, but perhaps deriving from fluting where high-p...

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Highjack

see Hijack


Hightail it

US slang first attested from the late 19th century as in to hightail it out of here, meaning to leave quickly. It derives from animals, horses, deer e...

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Hijack

Sometimes spelt highjack but more usually as hijack, an Americanism that dates from the 1920s, specifically the prohibition era, when shipments of liq...

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Hike/hiking

Since the early 19th century was dialectical for tramping or marching but from the 1920s has become Standard English for walking for pleasure and/or e...

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Hill of beans

see Not worth a hill/row of beans


Hip

Hip is an American slang expression that dates from the late 19th/early 20th century and means with it or informed. Its origin is obscure but is thoug...

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Hip, hip, hooray

This way of starting a communal cheer has been around since the 18th century but no one knows why the cheer (hooray or hurrah) is preceded by the word...

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His nibs

Nib used to be slang for an upper class person or toff in the late 18th/early 19th century and is possibly a variation of nob, which was slang for a p...

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History is bunk

This quotation is famously attributed to Henry Ford although he never actually said it. What he said in an interview with Charles N. Wheeler of the Ch...

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Hit a brick wall

see Brick wall


Hit a wall

see Hit the wall


Hit and run

As in a hit-and-run accident dates from the 1920s, but from the 19th century it was of course a defining term in baseball.


Hit for six

see Knock someone for six


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