A - Z Database
This exclamation of surprise derives from the archaic meaning of giddy as mad and is first recorded from the late 19th century, although aunts have be...
Affectionate British term for wife that has nothing to do with the Dutch because it is in fact a shortened form of duchess and the expression my old d...
This was coined by Robert Burns (1759-1796) in his poem A Red, Red Rose, stanza 1, which is probably why red roses today symbolise love or passion, as...
A variation of 'my giddy aunt' and also 'my aunt' are mild exclamations of surprise that date from the late 19 century. Why one's aunt has been chosen...
This harmless colloquial exclamation expressing surprise or amazement started out as a minced oath, where ‘word’ is substituted for ‘God’. St John’s G...
In its Latin form, dictum meum pactum has been the motto of the London stock Exchange since 1801. In English, the adage has been around in various for...
British slang equivalent for Balls or Bollocks dating from the mid-20th century.
British slang for tasteless or inferior dates from the 1930s but made a revival during the 1970s. It is now used in a variety of ways, for example, na...
see Put a nail in someone’s coffin
see Hit the nail on the head
A namby-pamby is a weak, insipid, spineless person. The expression first appears in 1725 as the title of a poem by Henry Carey (1687-1743). In this po...
Naked here means unassisted by any aid to vision, such as a telescope or binoculars and the expression dates from the 17th century.
Naked here means uncovered, stripped of all concealment and this usage of the word dates from the late 14th/ early 15th century as in a naked sword i....
The figurative meaning of mud as something worthless or polluting dates from the 1500s, but this specific construction was first cited in the early 19...
British slang for a silly fool dates from the mid-20th century and is a children’s abbreviation of banana.