A-Z Database
Acronym for laugh out loud used mainly in written, digital communications like text messaging and email. The OED found instances of its usage dating f...
Lolly is an abbreviation of lollipop, a form of boiled sweet usually on a stick, and dates from the mid-19th century. Lollipop is first attested from...
The long and the short of it means the totality or summation of something or other. Shakespeare used the expression in The Merry Wives of Windsor Act...
see Not by a long chalk
A long face is an expression of sadness or disappointment, and dates from the mid-18th century.
Long in the tooth is an idiom for old, often used in the context of describing that someone is too old to be engaging in something or other. The expre...
Sports jargon for long arms or sometimes long legs. Cricket commentators are fond of using the expression but not before the 21st century. In biomecha...
see Not by a long shot
Loo is a popular British colloquialism that is now Standard English for toilet or lavatory but its origin remains one of the mysteries of the English...
see Gift horse
This admonition to investigate the facts of the matter before taking purposeful action first appears in Proverbs by John Heywood in 1546.
See Daggers/daggers drawn
There are many forms and versions of this idiomatic phrasing that describes a simple form of reasoning that has come to be known as 'The Duck Test'. O...
Loony is a slang corruption of lunatic and dates from the late 19th century, just as loony bin is slang for the mental asylum that houses loonies.
Loopholes as small, narrow apertures in the walls of fortifications have been around since the early Middle Ages. The word has been used figuratively...