A-Z Database
see Air punch
A pundit is an expert and derives from the Hindi word pandit for a learned teacher or philosopher. The word existed in English in this original sense...
Punt meaning to gamble or place a bet dates from the early 18th century from the French ponter pointe, which means to bet against the bank or banker b...
This expression for purity was probably motivated by Shakespeare if not exactly coined by him. In Hamlet (c.1600) Act III, Scene I, he writes, “Be tho...
see Pearler
see Purple patch
A purple patch has come to mean a period of extraordinary success or good fortune, often short-lived, and dates in this sense from the early 20th cent...
see Purple patch
Try to make too much of an opportunty, or go too far; dates from the early 20th century.
To lavish or spend more than one is accustomed to, usually in celebration of special occasions. It was originally naval slang for buying a round of dr...
To push the envelope means to go beyond commonly accepted boundaries and has nothing whatsoever to do with stationery. Push the envelope is originally...
see Panic button
To push up daisies is a euphemism for being dead and buried in a grave and hence ‘pushing up daisies’. Variants of the expression date from the mid-19...
see Z’s
Puss has been slang for the female pudenda since the 16th century from the allusion to something soft and furry, like a pussy-cat. Puss, pussy and pus...