A-Z Database
Tight lipped means speaking very little, close-mouthed, sometimes implying cross or annoyed, is originally American and dates from c. 1880.
To keep a tight rein on someone is to control them closely, as one would with a horse. The expression dates from the 1500s and is the opposite of givi...
In British usage since the very early 20th century and describes a mean, miserly person. In America, the meaning is slightly different and means a pru...
This figurative expression meaning to curtail one’s expenditure or endure hardship stoically dates from the early 20th century from the obvious allusi...
see Put the screws on
see Until the cows come home
Means wasting time and effort with imaginary obstacles and first appears in the form of ‘fighting with windmills’ from the mid-17th century. The expre...
see River of time
This is an ancient proverb meaning that man has no control over time or the tidal movements of the world’s oceans, and as such it has existed in many...
This ancient proverb is attributed to the roman poet Terence (c. 190-159 BC), who wrote in Latin, Diem adimere aegritudinem hominibus which means lite...
Time immemorial simply means so long ago that it is beyond memory or record. (It is one of the very few phrases in English where the adjective appears...
see River of time
This well-known expression was coined by Benjamin Franklin in 1748 in his work Advice to a Young Tradesman, “Remember that time is money.”
In this context, the phrase ‘of the essence’ means extremely important. Bartlett’s Familiar Quotations maintains the saying itself is anonymous and do...
This expression, in the sense of having excess time at one’s disposal, dates from the late 18th century.