A-Z Database
British slang for £25 (25 pounds sterling) and is first attested from the late 18th century. The origin is unknown, despite many different theories. S...
The name of this breed of dog is associated with the word puddle, more specifically from the German pudelhund, where pudel means, ‘to splash in water’...
A poof is an effeminate male homosexual and is British slang that dates from the mid-19th century, possibly from poof, an imitative vocal gesture of d...
A Pooh Bah is a pompous, pedantic official derives from a character of the same name in the Gilbert & Sullivan operetta, Mikado (1885), made up of the...
To pooh-pooh something is a vocal gesture of disdain or contempt dates from the late 1600s and is imitative of puffing something away and dismissing i...
To be as poor as a church mouse is to be impecunious and dates from the 1600s although ‘hungry as a church mouse’ is also recorded from about the same...
see Bad workman always blames his tools
see Cherry
see Parson’s nose
Poppycock is American slang for rubbish or nonsense, and dates from 1863, according to the OED. Its etymology derives from Dutch that was spoken in th...
This is an American expression that describes government or state financial resources. The expression pork barrel politics is used when politicians pr...
A pork pie is a lie, originally British rhyming slang, pork pie/lie. Telling ‘porkies’ means telling lies. Dates from the mid-20th century and became...
Port, the fortified after-dinner wine is an abbreviation of Oporto, after the city in the North of Portugal and dates in English from the late 1600s....
The word portmanteau dates from the 1500s derives from the French porter to carry and manteau meaning a mantle or cloak. Originally, a portmanteau was...
Posh is a faintly derogative word for upper class and one still meets people who believe that it is an acronym for port out, starboard home relating t...