A-Z Database
see Razzle-dazzle
An echoic, rhyming compound based on the word dazzle. Razzle-dazzle is originally an American expression and dates from c.1890 but it had soon crossed...
To boot or re-boot a computer means to start or re-start it and dates from around 1975. Boot is in fact short for bootstrap, which is a fixed sequence...
Means to discern a meaning that is not obvious or explicit, dates from the early 19th century and derives from a simple form of cryptography where the...
These days, to read somebody the riot act is to scold or warn them to modify their behaviour and this figurative usage and meaning dates from the earl...
Ready money means cash money and dates from the early 18th century. It was coined by William Somerville in 1727 in his poem Ready Money “Tis ready mon...
The genuine article derives in America from Kid ‘The Real’ McCoy (real name Norman Selby) welterweight champion from 1898-1900. At first, his fighting...
This metaphor meaning that one has to face the consequences of one’s actions is a recurring theme in the Bible. Perhaps the best example is Job 4:8, “...
When used figuratively, it means to re-gain one’s strength and energy, from the obvious, literal allusion of recharging a battery as the source of ele...
This common everyday word is in fact the imperative of the Latin verb recipere meaning ‘to take’. The imperative form of recipere is recipe meaning ‘t...
As in radical, revolutionary, socialist or communist dates from the mid-19th century and is the colour most associated with such political movements,...
References to red as the colour of sovereignty and nobility and red floor coverings being put out for royalty, date back to Ancient Greek times. It is...
The complete expression is ‘not worth a red cent’, which means that something is virtually worthless. The expression is American and is first cited fr...
To put up a red flag is a metaphor for giving or sending a warning signal and has been used in this figurative way since the early 1700s. Since the 14...
To be caught red handed means to be caught in the act, especially of a crime, and dates in this sense from the late 18th/early19th century. To be ‘cau...