A-Z Database
The ground or terra firma dates from the late 1500s and is much older than motherland meaning one’s home country, which came into use during the late...
Pearls are found in pearl oysters but the shiny, iridescent lining of the pearl oyster shells also yields mother of pearl, so called because the pearl...
One’s native language, the expression dates from the 1400s.
Mother’s ruin as a nickname for gin dates from the late 19th century although the ruinous social repercussions of cheap gin, particularly on women, wa...
Originally, black American slang for a despicable person dates from the early 20th century, but the shocking literal meaning has softened down the yea...
The slang or informal use of motherless started in Britain, possibly Ireland, as an intensifier meaning extremely as in motherless broke or motherless...
To motor along is US informal that has spread to most English speaking countries, meaning to move quickly and steadily, to make swift, efficient progr...
To have a mountain to climb is a metaphor for having to face an insurmountable or difficult task and in this metaphorical sense dates from the late 19...
see If the mountain won’t come to Muhammad..
see Molehills into mountains
Commonly expressed in the negative i.e. don’t move a muscle or without moving a muscle meaning to remain perfectly motionless or to be unhelpful. The...
see Faith can move mountains
Means to change the rules to make something easier or more difficult to achieve, depending on the context, dates from the 1970s and is of American ori...
People with influence who can typically shape events; the phrase was coined by British poet Arthur O’Shaughnessy in an 1874 poem entitled Ode, “Yet we...
According to the OED, is first attested from 1913 and is of American origin, an abbreviation of moving picture. See also Flick.