A-Z Database
Wink of sleep is usually expressed in the negative, e.g. could or did not sleep a wink, and this usage dates from the 14th century, where a wink mean...
To wipe the floor with someone is to inflict a humiliating defeat, and is originally an American expression that dates from the late 19th century. It...
see Clean slate
see Down to the wire
see Get one’s wires crossed
American informal for a smart-ass or smart aleck, where the word wise is used ironically or sarcastically, dates from the late 19th century. It is als...
American slang for someone who is insolent, impertinent or out of line, dates from the 1970s.
The wish is father to the thought means that a thought or belief is sometimes prompted a desire for it to be so, and was coined by Shakespeare in Henr...
This hyperbole is frequently heard when people wish to escape from an embarrassing situation by disappearing suddenly. It dates from at least the 1500...
Witch hunts in the literal sense went on from the Early Middle Ages to the 1700s. Today of course, the expression is only used metaphorically as a per...
see Pinch of salt
‘With bells on’ is a British colloquialism that dates from the late 19th century and means ‘and all the rest’ or ‘with all the extras’. The variant ‘w...
see Come home with flying colours
see By/to/within a hair’s breadth
see By/to/within a hair’s breadth