A-Z Database
see On the same wavelength
To sing someone’s praises is commend them highly and vocally. The expression has been used in this sense since the mid-1500s but people have been sing...
see Sing someone’s praises
Succeed or fail depending on one’s own efforts dates from at least the 14th century when the expression used to be ‘sink or float’ because in those da...
The meaning of the complete expression is that descendants are very often blamed for the sins of their forebears and the concept is very old. Euripide...
Australian slang for urinate coined by the Barry Humphries’ cartoon strip Barry McKenzie in Private Eye magazine during the late 1960s.
It is surprising how many people still propound the folk etymology that a British monarch actually knighted this cut of beef. At least three monarchs...
To sit back means to be inactive and do nothing and dates from the mid-20th century.
During The Middle Ages, salt was such a prized commodity that only the high table where the nobles sat had salt. The other tables were not only offset...
see Between two stools
To sit on one’s hands means to withhold applause or fail to take appropriate action and dates from the early 20th century. From the mid-20th century,...
To sit on something means to take no action or deliberately suppress something and dates from the mid-20th century.
To be non-committal or undecided, an American expression from the early 19th century that is now Standard English.
To sit out or sit through something means to stay until the very end and this usage dates from the early 18th century.
To sit something out, as in refraining to take part, dates from the mid-1600s and has a slightly different to sit out something, which means to stay u...