A-Z Database
Now part of Standard English (in Britain at least) navvy is an abbreviation of navigator and is first attested from the early 19th century. These days...
Elite special operations unit of the US Navy founded in 1961. SEAL is an acronym for SEa, Air and Land.
A primitive species of man, which was first discovered in 1856 in the Neanderthal Valley in Germany.
Language or behaviour that borders on the indecent is sometimes described as a bit close to the bone or knuckle. The 'bone' version dates from the mid...
As neat as a new pin dates from the 18th century and refers to the large, ornamental pins that women used to wear in their hair.
The supposition that needfulness or compulsion drives creativity is an anonymous Latin proverb from ancient Roman times and probably before. The origi...
Neck and crop means ‘completely, totally or comprehensively’ and dates from the 18th century. It was originally used to describe a comprehensive and s...
Meaning a specific location is of American origin, dating from the early 19th century when many Americans lived in woodland areas and so it meant in t...
Describes a contest so close that the winner cannot be predicted with certainty; dates from the late 18th century in relation to horseracing but figur...
To neck or to indulge in necking is to embrace and kiss intimately and is originally an American expression first recorded in the early 19th century.
Trying to find a needle in a haystack describes a well-nigh impossible task and first appears in this form during the 1700s. Before this, during the 1...
To annoy or irritate someone; this figurative use derives from the allusion of literally goading or pricking someone with a sharp needle, hence ‘give...
This maxim is not a proverb and was in fact coined by Shakespeare in Hamlet (1601) Act I, Scene III. The full quotation is, “Neither a borrower nor a...
These days, neither fish nor fowl means neither one thing nor the other and dates in this form only from the early 19th century. When it first appeare...
Usually in the form of ‘I have seen neither hide nor hair of that person for some time now’ which means there has not been the faintest trace of such...