A-Z Database
In its modern sense, this technical term from hydrodynamics makes its appearance in the late 19th century where it was first used to describe how flui...
Streets ahead means far superior and is first attested in this sense as a colloquial expression dating from 1856. To win by a street, meaning a comfor...
Go from strength to strength is to grow stronger and stronger. The origin is the Bible Psalms 84:7 “They grow from strength to strength.”
see By no/not by any stretch of the imagination
British mild oath used to express surprise or dismay, similar to gosh, blimey, etc dates from the late 19th century and is a contraction of the older...
Be decisive and seize opportunities as they arise derives from the blacksmith’s forge. If the blacksmith fails to shape the metal while it is soft and...
see Walk/stroll in the park
British informal for aggressive or argumentative, dates from the 1940s and derives from a corruption of obstreperous.
Someone sounds like a stuck record when he or she keeps repeating the same thing over and over again. The expression dates from c.1940 and derives fro...
see Up a gum tree
These words come from an American Negro spiritual Down by the Riverside that dates from the mid-19th century. The allusion is to Isaiah 2:4, “Neither...
Usually in the form of an exclamation, that means rubbish, foolishness or absurdity, dates from the mid-18th century.
Originally, to stuff is British slang from the early 19th century meaning to have sexual intercourse. It was first used as a euphemism for the f word,...
A pompous, dislikeable person derives from the notion of shirt stuffed with straw, a bit like a scarecrow, rather than a real person. The expression i...
To be stumped is to be at a loss or nonplussed is originally an American colloquialism that dates from the late 18th early/19th century but is now par...