A - Z Database

A - Z Database

Groundhog Day

Groundhog Day is an expression mainly used in North America to describe an event or a situation that continually repeats itself. It derives this meani...

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Grounded

Grounded in the sense of being denied privileges is American from the 1930s and derives from pilots who were literally grounded i.e. banned from flyin...

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Growl and grunt

see Grumble and grunt


Grumble and grunt

Rhyming slang for the vagina, grumble and grunt/cunt, dates from the 1930s. Also appears as 'groan and grunt' and 'growl and grunt'.


Guinea

British gold coin first issued in 1663 when it was worth 20 shillings. It acquired a worth of 21 shillings in 1717 and was last coined in 1813. It was...

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Guinea pig

The animal commonly known as a Guinea pig is neither from Guinea, a region in West Africa, nor is it a pig. It is in fact a rodent from South America....

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Gully

Gully is a fielding position in cricket located in the channel or gully between cover point and the slips.


Gum up the works

see Up a gum tree


Gumshoe

Early 20th century American expression for a plain-clothes detective derives from the rubber-soled shoes they wore.


Gun/guns

In the sense of to accelerate an automobile engine, dates from the 1930s, and may have derived from earlier WWI pilots’ jargon, ‘to give i...

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Gung-ho

Gung-ho, spelt with or without a hyphen, means enthusiastic, zealous or excessively eager. The OED precedes this definition with the word ‘unthinkingl...

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Gunslinger

Another term for a gunfighter from American westerns, both movies and books, this Americanism first appeared c. 1920 but no one knows how or why the w...

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Gusto

This word meaning enthusiasm or particular liking, relish or zest dates from c. 1629 and is an Italian loanword, deriving from the Latin gustus meanin...

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Gut feeling/gut reaction

see Guts


Gutless

see Guts