A - Z Database
This figurative use of the verb milk, meaning to exploit a situation subtly to one’s advantage dates from the early 1500s, (1526 according to the OED)...
A milliner is a person who makes or deals in women’s hats and trimmings. The word originally meant a native or inhabitant of Milan where the best hats...
Figuratively, means to carry a heavy, burdensome problem. In ancient times, probably the heaviest object one would encounter was a millstone. The firs...
To mince something means to cut, chop or grind something into small pieces and dates from Middle English, which is any date between 1150 and 1350, acc...
Rhyming slang for eyes, mince pies/eyes, dates from the mid-19th century, like most rhyming slang, frequently used in the abbreviated form, e.g. feast...
A minced oath is a pseudo-profanity or euphemism used in place of what might be considered profane or blasphemous language and the phrase dates from 1...
A phrase describing something stupendous and wonderful made popular in America and elsewhere during the 1960s deriving from drug culture. A more recen...
Mind boggling and its sister expression the mind boggles derive from the 16th century meaning of boggle meaning to alarm or frighten. We get the words...
see Flat spin
In Britain, this admonishment is to mind one’s manners, whereas in America it can also mean to be alert and on top of one’s form. While the meaning is...
This well-worn phrase is a eulogy to the power of thought over material substance and first made its appearance in English during the mid-18th century...
see Mind one's P's and Q's
Shakespeare’s famous metaphor for the ability to imagine, visualise or remember something was coined in Hamlet Act I, Scene II, “In my mind’s eye, Hor...
According to the OED, the figurative use of the word mine to mean a source of abundant supply dates from 1541, but no citation is given for mine of in...
British slang for female genitalia dates from the 19th century, thought to be of Romany origin. It re-gained popularity as an expression from the 1950...