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
Hooter/hooters

Hooter is British slang for nose from the 1930s, from hooter being an alternative word for trumpet, from the allusion that trumpet-blowing and nose-bl...

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Hope against hope

To keep on hoping in extremis i.e. even when abandoned by hope itself, coined by St Paul in his letter to the Romans 4:18 when referring to Abraham, “...

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Hope in hell

see Not a hope in hell


Hope springs eternal

The full quotation is “Hope springs eternal in the human breast” coined by Alexander Pope in An Essay on Man (1733-1734) and soon became proverbial.

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Hopping mad

Jumping up and down with rage dates from the early 1800s.


Hopscotch

Children’s street game, various forms of which date back to Roman times. The word hopscotch dates from the 18th century but in earlier centuries it wa...

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Horlicks

see Make a (complete) Horlicks of something


Horn in

To horn in on somebody or something is to interrupt or intrude rudely and aggressively. It is American cowboy slang from the late 19th century (c.1880...

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Hornets’ nest

see Stir up a hornets’ nest


Horns of a dilemma

In popular usage, to be caught on the horns of a dilemma is to be in a position of doubt or perplexity. More correctly, it means a choice between alte...

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Horny

Sexually aroused dates from the mid-19th century but horn has been slang for the penis or an erection thereof since the mid-18th century. Despite its...

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Hors d’oeuvre (plural hors d’oeuvres)

This is a French culinary term that literally means ‘outside or apart from the main work’. In other words, a food dish that is apart from the main cou...

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Horse has bolted

see Shut the stable door after the horse has bolted


Horse sense

Sound, practical common sense, dates from the early 19th century from the American West. Horses are not particularly intelligent animals but they were...

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Horse-trading

An American idiom for hard, shrewd bargaining dates from c. 1820 and derives from horse traders who were noted for their negotiation skills.


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