A-Z Database
An American idiom from the 1960s and still in use today that describes a fairly downmarket type of cuisine, usually associated with steakhouses, where...
This common and well-known expression that means browsing or searching for information on the Internet was coined by an American librarian at the Univ...
see Chinese cut
Suss as in to suss something out or to have something sussed, derives from an abbreviation of the word suspect. It was originally underworld/police sl...
see One swallow does not make a summer
The fable that swans sing shortly before their death is extremely ancient. Plato (c.428-438 BC) makes mention of it in his Dialogues, as does Chaucer...
see Down/up the swannee
These days, it is an adjective mostly used to describe a genre of action-adventure films involving period costume and sword fighting. The films of Dou...
SWAT is an acronym for Special Weapons and Tactics. SWAT teams are elite paramilitary units employed by US law enforcement departments. The first SWAT...
To swear blind is first cited from the early 20th century and means to swear that something is true, emphatically and vehemently. Blind here is used a...
To use bad language excessively; dates from the early 18th century. Cavalrymen, especially non-commissioned troopers, were notorious for their coarse...
To sweat or exert oneself to the extremity, dates from the late 19th century.
To sweat profusely with heavy beads of sweat, which resemble bullets; a metaphor dating from the early 20th century.
The garment dates from the late 19th century, so-called because it was worn after sweating from sports or exercise to prevent cold. See also jersey an...
‘The Sweeney’ is British rhyming slang for the London Metropolitan Police Flying Squad, a specialised fast-reaction police unit, Sweeney Todd/Flying S...