A-Z Database
In the sense of to suffer great financial loss dates from the 1930s, and derives from the earlier expression to bet one’s shirt on something, typicall...
see On one’s plate
A Lothario is an unfeeling man who seduces and uses women for his own gain and the word has been used in this this way since the mid-1700s. Lothario w...
Lousy is one of those words that evolved into slang since The Middle Ages when it meant infested with lice. Now of course it is only used figuratively...
The story that love in tennis comes from the English miss-pronunciation of the French l’oeuf for egg, which resembles a zero, is now disputed by most...
This very mild British colloquialism expresses surprise or incredulity and dates from the early 19th century. For a more robust form see Fuck a duck a...
This was a familiar concept in ancient Greek and Roman literature in which the darts/arrows of Eros and Cupid played a catalytic role but it was not u...
An ancient saying dates back to Greek and Roman times and probably before. Virgil (70-19 BC) in Eclogues wrote, “Love conquers all” for which the orig...
Although Shakespeare uses the expression very often in several of his plays, he did not coin it, nor did Geoffrey Chaucer who used it in The Merchant’...
British informal expression that denotes great enthusiasm or approval for something or other dates from the 1970s when it was made famous in the Briti...
A form of greeting or celebration between two people, when the palm of one hand or both are stroked or slapped against the other person's. It is firs...
Popular business and political metaphor from the early 21st century for easily attainable goals or objectives; usually in the context of “go for the l...
see Highbrow
A low-life is a despicable, degenerate person, especially a habitual criminal, a self-explanatory Americanism that dates from the 1790s.
To lower the boom is to land a telling or knockout blow. The world of prize fighting in America borrowed the original nautical phrase during the early...