A - Z Database
see All at sea
see Sixes and sevens
At the chalkface is a British expression that describes the teaching profession; originally a pun on at the coalface. At the chalk face is attributed...
At the coalface means to work in an active, hands-on manner, rather than at a theoretical level. The allusion is of course to the coal-mining industry...
This expression of American origin meaning to do something in an instant, suddenly and spontaneously, is first cited in this sense from 1837. The drop...
see Eleventh hour
To be exasperated at making no further progress derives from tethered animals that can go no further than the end of their ropes, dates from the 1600s...
Atlas was one of the Titans, beings of immense strength who ruled the earth before they were overthrown by Zeus. In Greek mythology, Zeus’s victory ov...
This same proverb appears in many different languages and cultures but its first citation in more or less this format appears to be American, from law...
see Months of the year
Auld Lang Syne is old Scots dialect that literally means ‘old long since’ although a more colloquial and acceptable translation would be ‘long, long a...
If something or someone is described as 'a bit of an Aunt Sally' it means that he, she or it is contentious, in the sense that whatever is under discu...
‘Auntie’ has been the jocular, and once derisive, nickname for the BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation) since the mid-1950s. The first known citatio...
The original French meant the advanced guard. The English word vanguard is derived from it. The original French was re-borrowed during the late 19th/e...
This acronym for absent without official leave is of US military origin, perhaps from as early as the American Civil War but certainly in common use b...