A - Z Database
Be selected or chosen for something, originally an Americanism that is now popular all over the English-speaking world. The only first citation or dat...
see Give someone the pip
see Run-around
The usual explanation for the origin of this expression is that working people used to provide their own tools, which were carried in a bag or sack. W...
Is to be afraid in a cowardly manner dates from the First World War. Eric Partridge maintains it derives from the WWI marching song The British Grenad...
see Tip someone the wink
see Have the wood on or over someone
see Wrong end of the stick
see Touch base
see Wrong side of the bed
British colloquialism to get going or hurry up dates from WWII and is armed services slang, especially RAF. See also get cracking.
To get wind of something is to learn of something by indirect means, through hint or suggestion. The OED cites this usage from the 15th century and su...
see Get someone’s goat
see Do-able
see Aghast