A-Z Database
see Shoo-in
Metaphorically speaking, shoestring is a meagre amount of money or meagre resources, as in expressions like ‘on a shoestring, ‘shoestring budget’ etc,...
A shoo-in is a certain winner, an American expression that dates from the late 1920s and which originated from horseracing. It derives from 'shoo' the...
Forcefully destroy someone’s point of view in an argument or discussion dates from the early 20th century and derives from aerial combat in WWI.
To do or say something without thinking or due consideration is an Americanism that dates from the 1950s with the obvious allusion to shooting a firea...
Squander or waste one’s chances of achieving or winning; an old proverb first recorded in John Heywood Proverbs (1546) derives from an over-hasty or w...
These slang expressions for ejaculate date from the 19th century and derive from shooting muzzle-loading firearms where loads and wadding were often f...
Inflict a detrimental outcome on oneself accidentally and carelessly dates in this figurative sense from the 1950s. The obvious literal allusion to wo...
Idle chat or conversation is American informal from the early 20th century where breeze is a pleasant substitution for wind that has long been associa...
An American metaphor for something that is ridiculously easy dates from the early 20th century.
To shoplift is to steal from a shop, and a shoplifter is a person who steals from a shop. These usages date from 1680, according to the OED. To lift,...
The act of stealing from a shop, which the OED cites from 1680, derives from shop + lift, where lift means to steal, which is British slang that dates...
Previously short hairs, short and curlies is British slang for pubic hair from c. 1940. Thus, to have someone by the short and curlies is to have cont...
Meaning concise and succinct is first attested in 1539 from Richard Taverner’s Proverbs and Adages based the writings of the Dutch scholar Erasmus. As...
This expression is a jocular metaphor for someone who is disinclined to spend their money when called upon to do so e.g. in buying a round of drinks e...