A-Z Database
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...
see Not worth a hill/row of beans
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...
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...
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...
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...
see Brick wall
see Hit the wall
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.
see Knock someone for six
An American expression derived from mining during the mid-1850s where to hit pay dirt was the same thing as striking it rich, literally striking or hi...
see Knock someone for six
Meaning to drink alcohol excessively dates from the late 19th century.
To get off to a brisk, successful start in any project, an American expression dates from the late 19th century. Its origin is not military as often s...
An American expression that dates from the late 19th century and means go to bed. Mattresses in those days were often nothing more than sacking stuffe...