A-Z Database

A-Z Database

All A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
Saving for a rainy day

A rainy day has been a metaphor for hard times or times of misfortune since the late 1500s. Since then, prudent people have been putting money away in...

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Say boo to a goose

see Would not say boo to a goose


Say it with flowers

The slogan of the Society of American florists dates from 1917.


Say it with music

The title of a song by Irving Berlin composed in 1921.


Scallywag

A scallywag is a disreputable fellow, originally an American expression from the early 19th century but anglicised by the mid-1800s. Early citations g...

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Scam

American slang for a fraudulent scheme or swindle dates from the 1960s and adopted across the rest of the English-speaking world during the 1970s. Its...

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Scampi

Scampi is the plural of scampo the Italian for shrimp or prawn. Strictly speaking, scampi should specifically refer to Dublin Bay Prawns, nephrops nor...

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Scapegoat

A scapegoat in its current, everyday usage is a person who is blamed or punished for the wrongdoings of others and first makes its appearance in this...

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Scare the living daylights out of someone

see Beat/scare the living daylights out of someone


Scared out of one’s wits

see Out of one’s wits


Scared shitless

see Shitless


Scaredy-cat

An unduly fearful person; children’s slang from c. 1930.


Scarlet woman

A scarlet woman is a sexually promiscuous harlot and the expression has been in use since the late 16th century. The source is the New Testament where...

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Scarper

British Slang meaning to run off or run away. There are two theories about its origin. One is rhyming slang Scapa Flow/go. Scapa Flow is a remote Roya...

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Scat

US slang for go away dates from the mid-19th century, an abbreviation of scatter.


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