A-Z Database
An enchilada is a Mexican corn tortilla, rolled up, filled with a variety of spicy ingredients, and served with a chilli sauce. Enchilada is the past...
This is the oldest of many expressions that use the word whole to mean completely, all the way or the whole lot. Go the whole hog dates from the early...
This relatively modern American expression from the 1960s meaning ‘all the way, completely, everything, the whole lot, the works’ is one of the most t...
The whole shebang is an American expression that means the whole lot and dates from the late 19th century. The OED states that the etymology of sheban...
The whole shooting match is an American expression that means the whole lot dates from the late 19th century and derives from US military slang.
This expression describes a huge, uncountable crowd and dates from the early 19th century but appeared earlier in a slightly different form when Jonat...
This expression is of American origin c. 1845 and is an exclamation of unbridled enjoyment and excitement. Making whoopee means having a good time. It...
see Oops!
see Oops!
British colloquial noun for something uncommonly large or a monstrous lie, dates from the late 18th century.
British colloquial adjective describing something abnormally large dates from the early 1600s. There are many such words all deriving from striking or...
see Get on someone’s wick
In the ironic sense of something wonderful, the origin is American and first cited in This Side of Paradise (1920) by F. Scott Fitzgerald. During the...
see Give a wide berth
Conjures up images of London working class youth, living on the borders of criminality and, indeed, this meaning is first attested for this phrase fro...