A - Z Database
To get down to the nitty gritty means to get down to basics, the bare fundamentals, in order to resolve an issue; dates from the 1930s in America and...
A stupid person, a British colloquialism that dates from the early 1920s, most probably from a combination of nit as louse, something that is worthles...
British slang for nothing or none, dates from the late 18th century, from the German nichts that means the same thing. One of the few slang expression...
see Big deal
see Make no bones about it
No dice is an expression used mainly as an exclamation and can have a several meanings depending on the context. Mostly, they all signify a negation o...
No flies on you means that you are wide awake, sharp and well organised. It appears that the expression is originally Australian and was being used in...
This adage appears in John Heywood Proverbs (1546) in the form of there is no fool to the old fool. It first appears in its more common form there is...
This expression dates from the early 19th century and means average or mediocre and derives from shaking dice and throwing them poorly. It is usually...
Means without restrictions or rules and derives from all-in wrestling during the late 19th century when even dangerous holds would sometimes be allowe...
This familiar expression was coined by Ben Jonson in Every Man Out of His Humour (1599) Act II, Scene I, “There shall be no love lost.”
This famous expression was coined by John Donne in Devotions written in 1623. The full quotation is, “No man is an island, entire of itself; every man...
This expression derives from the British Army and means that if people are not named there can be no recriminations or censure. It dates from around t...
To say that someone is no oil painting means that he or she is not very attractive. A British colloquialism from the late 19th/early 20th century.
The source is the Bible, Isaiah, 48:22, “There is no peace, saith the Lord, unto the wicked.”