A - Z Database
A warning from Shakespeare not to discount behaviour that might appear mad because sometimes there may be reason or truth behind it comes from Hamlet...
see On one’s mettle
A pointless, inconclusive situation where no one can win, an American expression that dates from the late 19th century. Mexican is used in many Americ...
Originally US slang for an Irishman; dates from the mid-19th century and then spread across the English-speaking world by the late 19th century. It de...
An American colloquial expression from the 19th century for strong alcohol, or a mixture of strong alcohol, designed to make unsuspecting people very...
To give someone the middle finger, pointing it upwards while keeping the other fingers closed as in a fist, is an insulting gesture in many cultures t...
Sometimes known as the golden touch, the Midas touch is an expression that dates from the 1500s. A person with the Midas touch has the ability to make...
see Burn the midnight oil
Since the 1600s, midshipman has been the most junior officer rank in the Royal Navy, the US Navy and many other navies around the world. As a rank, it...
Miffed, meaning to be upset or to be put into A5956an irritable mood, is a British colloquial expression that dates from 1824, according to the OED. M...
This concept is very ancient and appears in various forms in the works of Homer, Hesiod and in Plato (c.428-348 BC) The Republic, Book I, against whic...
see How are the mighty fallen
This expression is used to describe the rather innocuous pace of a medium bowler in the game of cricket. As far as is known, it was not heard or cited...
A metaphor for abundance or plenty and sometimes good fortune or reward depending on the context, derives from the Bible Exodus 3:8 “A land flowing wi...
Care and compassion for others is pure Shakespeare from Macbeth, Act I, Scene V, spoken by Lady Macbeth musing on her husband’s character, “Yet I do...