A-Z Database
see Wrong end of the stick
Short hair or short hairs are colloquial expressions for pubic hair dating from the late 19th century. To have or hold someone by the short hairs is h...
To be given short shrift is to get brief and unsympathetic treatment and this meaning and usage dates from the early 19th century. Shrift derives from...
The full expression is to draw the short straw which dates from the 19th century. Drawing straws was a common form of deciding who in a group would be...
As in a discharge from a weapon dates from The Middle Ages and was only applied to sports from the early 19th century. Shot meaning a drink is first a...
Means a boost of encouragement or support and dates in this figurative sense from the early 20th century deriving of course from a literal shot or inj...
A wild guess or a hit or miss random attempt, dates in this sense from the 19th century with the obvious allusion to a literal shot at a target or adv...
When used metaphorically, as in ‘a shotgun approach’ or ‘a shotgun strategy’ it means to spread one’s resources or efforts over as wide an area as pos...
A forced marriage usually involving an unplanned pregnancy and an unwilling or reluctant bridegroom, an Americanism that dates in this sense from the...
see Put your shoulder to the wheel
To meddle or interfere in someone else’s business or to offer an unsolicited opinion dates from the 1500s and in its original form was to have an oar...
see Clean pair of heels
Meaning to get a move on or arise from bed dates from the early 19th century. In the latter sense it means literally to show a leg from under the bedc...
see Know/learn/show someone the ropes
Originally, a river steamer on which theatrical performances were given to passengers dates from the mid-19th century in America. Showboat meaning to...