A - Z Database

A - Z Database

Like herding cats

see Herding cats


Like hot cakes

see Sell/Selling like hot cakes


Like it or lump it

Like it or lump it means much the same thing as take it or leave it, and dates from the late 18th/early 19th century. There is still some debate as to...

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Like rats leaving a sinking ship

see Rat


Like sardines

see Packed like sardines


Like the clappers

see Hell’s bells


Like the pot calling the kettle black

see Pot calling the kettle black


Like two peas in a pod

see Two peas in a pod


Like water off a duck’s back

see Water off a duck’s back


Like wildfire

A wild fire is of course, a destructive conflagration that gets out of control, but this is not thought to be the origin of the expression that someth...

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Lily-livered

Meaning lacking in courage or cowardly was coined by Shakespeare in Macbeth (1605) Act V, Scene III, Macbeth says to a servant boy, “Thou lily-liver’d...

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Limelight

To occupy the limelight means to be in a conspicuous position, which attracts maximum attention or publicity. In the early 19th century, before electr...

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Limey

Limey is US slang for a British person since the late 19th century and is an abbreviation of lime-juicer which dates from the 1850s. Originally, the t...

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Line in the sand

see Draw a line in the sand


Lion’s share

The lion’s share is the largest portion, and the expression in this sense dates from the 18th century. For many hundreds of years before this, the lio...

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