Idiom Origins - A - Z Database

A - Z Database

Meanings and origins of thousands of idioms, curious words, and slang.

A - Z Database

In a corner

see Corner

In a fix

see Fix

In a flat spin

see Flat spin

In a jam

see Jam

In a jiff/jiffy

‘In a jiff’ or ‘in a jiffy’ means in a short moment of time, and is a British colloquialism that dates from the late 18th century, the origin of which...

In a nutshell

To put something in the casing of a nut would be to confine it in a very small space. The origin is Shakespeare Hamlet Act II, Scene II, “O God! I cou...

In a pickle

To be in a pickle means to be in a troublesome or unpleasant situation, and dates from the mid-16th century. This figurative sense presumably derives...

In a spin

see Flat spin

In a stew

see Stew/stew in one’s own juice

In a tizz/tizzy

see Tizz/tizzy

In a trice

Means in a short moment or in a very short space of time and, in the form of ‘at’ a trice, dates from the mid-15th century. In a trice first appears i...

In at the deep end

see In the deep end

In black and white

In the sense of a written record, to get something in black and white dates from the 14th century.

In cahoots

Originally American in origin, the word cahoot meaning a company or partnership dates from c. 1818. According to the OED, the origin is unknown but be...

In clover

The shrub clover was and still is highly prized as pasture for cattle and since the early 1700s, to be ‘in clover’ has been a metaphor for living a li...