A-Z Database
A hobbyhorse is a pet topic or personal interest, sometimes to the point of obsession, dates in this sense from the mid-17th century. Its abbreviation...
A tramp or vagrant, an American expression dates from the late 19th century. Its origin is unknown.
No choice at all, a take-it-or-leave-it offer, so called after one Thomas Hobson (1545-1631) who ran a successful horse rental business in Cambridge....
Hock as in to hock something means to pawn it. It is an American idiom dating from the mid-19th century and derives from the Dutch hok meaning a jail...
This conjurors’ incantation from the early 17th century can now mean meaningless talk, nonsense or anything designed to deceive or mislead. Hocus Pocu...
A mish-mash, a medley or jumble dates from the 1600s and is a variant of the earlier hotchpotch, which means the same thing.
Scottish and Northern English dialect word for the last day of the year or New Year’s Eve dates from the 1600s. It is not a Gaelic word and the OED su...
In a pig-farming context, hogwash means waste, garbage, leftovers, the watery swill or slop with which pigs are fed. This meaning dates from the mid-1...
To pull or jerk something suddenly is a colloquialism that dates from the late 19th/early 20th century. The OED offers that it may derive from hike or...
This expression means to fall foul of one’s own bad intentions towards others. It was coined by Shakespeare in Hamlet, Act III, Scene IV, “For ‘tis th...
Hoity-toity is a rhyming jingle that derives from the now obsolete verb hoit meaning to indulge in riotous or noisy mirth. The OED attests this usage...
A variation of hocus pocus dating from the early 19th century.
This is early 20th century American slang from the theatre for exaggerated, melodramatic acting, which has now taken on the meaning of rubbish or nons...
This expression is usually expressed in the negative as cannot hold a candle to someone or something. In The Middle Ages, servants or apprentices woul...
Have sovereignty, power or control over something or someone. Sway is a late Middle English word that means the power of rule or command and the OED s...