A-Z Database
This expression has several meanings. The first as in to jack up prices comes from America in the late 19th century, from jack meaning to hoist or rai...
These days it simply refers to any big prize or achievement, but the origin of this American expression is supposedly from the game of poker, c. 1880,...
British informal from the North of England for buttocks or backside, dates from the late 19th century, derives from Jackie the diminutive of Jack but...
Jaffa was originally the name of the ancient city on the site of the modern city of Tel-Aviv in Israel. Jaffa is also a girl's name in Hebrew and mean...
see Bird
US slang for a battered old car from c. 1920. Perhaps from Jalapa a Mexican town where, supposedly, many old American cars ended up; otherwise the ori...
British slang for clear profit, good fortune or luck dates from the late 19th century when jam was considered a treat or luxury. Jam as preserve i.e....
Jam jar is rhyming slang for car, jam jar/car, dates from the 1920s.
British expression for something pleasant or something extra, believed to have originated in the navy from the late 19th/early 20th century. See also...
see Jam
British expression that means something promised that never comes, rather like pubs that have signs that proclaim, “Free beer tomorrow”. Why jam? The...
Full to capacity, chock-a-block, a combining of jammed full and packed to capacity, dates from the 1950s.
Rhyming slang for sweetheart, jam-tart/sweetheart, dates from the mid-19th century, See also Tart.
A frolic, a carousel, a spree, originally US slang first cited from 1872, but the origin is unknown. Since 1920, it is the annual rally of the Boy Sco...
British slang for lucky or fortunate dates from the late 19th century when a bit of jam meant a stroke of good luck or sweet fortune and, hence allude...