A-Z Database
An ungainly, oafish, loud, obnoxious person, an Americanism first cited from the mid-19th century.
The medium is the message has become a 20th century aphorism that describes the way that both the content of modern electronic media and the consumpti...
Mega- as a prefix (meg- before a vowel) derives from the Ancient Greek mega meaning great or large. As a prefix measuring large units its usage dates...
Melting pots have literally been around from time immemorial, but in the sense of a metaphor for a place where a variety of races, cultures, or indivi...
An honourable person of integrity; dates from the early 20th century and is of Yiddish/German origin, where mentsh means man.
Mental has come to mean mad, crazy, or angry, as in 'to go mental', which is usually used in the figurative sense, as opposed to describing a certifia...
Government or the holding of power by people selected according to merit, was coined by Michael Young, British politician and sociologist, in his essa...
see Lead someone a merry dance
see Go on one's merry way
A warning from Shakespeare not to discount behaviour that might appear mad because sometimes there may be reason or truth behind it comes from Hamlet...
see On one’s mettle
A pointless, inconclusive situation where no one can win, an American expression that dates from the late 19th century. Mexican is used in many Americ...
Originally US slang for an Irishman; dates from the mid-19th century and then spread across the English-speaking world by the late 19th century. It de...
An American colloquial expression from the 19th century for strong alcohol, or a mixture of strong alcohol, designed to make unsuspecting people very...
Sometimes known as the golden touch, the Midas touch is an expression that dates from the 1500s. A person with the Midas touch has the ability to make...