A-Z Database
Originally, this was not a proper name but Yiddish for monster, dates from the mid-20th century. Shrek is also a nickname for the footballer, Wayne Ro...
A shrinking violet is a shy, modest, self-effacing person and first appears In Times Like These by N. L. McClung (1915), “Voting will not be compulsor...
An American exclamation expressing surprise, incredulity or annoyance depending on the context, dates from the mid-19th century and is thought to be a...
This is Shakespeare’s well-known and often quoted metaphor for death, which these days is generally used jocularly or whimsically. Not so for Hamlet,...
British military slang from c. 1925 meaning to look, as in to take a shufti at something. It derives from the Arabic shufti meaning, have you seen?
This proverb about acting too late or taking pointless precautions after the event appears in various forms from the early 14th century. Sometimes the...
see Close/shut your eyes and think of England
American colloquialism for sleep, dates from the late 19th century. Some sources attribute the origin to Hans Christian Anderson who wrote a story, wh...
An Americanism for preventing an opposing team from scoring as in baseball, football, etc dates from the late 19th century. See also Keep a clean shee...
This is mid-19th century American slang, initially for a crooked or shyster lawyer, but now descriptive of any dubious businessperson or confidence tr...
Generally, dogs are scavengers and will eat anything. They will soon, however, sick up whatever has disagreed with them. The expression is first recor...
Curiously enough, this expression does not mean the same thing as sick as a dog, which is to feel very sick. Sick as a parrot means to be very depress...
Sickbays aboard ships were not called sickbays until the early 19th century. Before this, they were called sick berths and were situated in the bow of...
see Split one’s sides laughing
The word sideburns is American and is a transverse of burnsides. It refers to men’s facial hair grown down the sides of the face but keeping the chin...