A - Z Database
Pot meaning to drink is from the 16th century and is a transference of meaning from the pot or vessel in which drink was served. Pot meaning to shoot...
A potboiler is a cheap work of art, book, or movie designed to make quick money. ‘Boiling the pot’ is a late 18th century expression for making a livi...
Pound of flesh is a metaphor for exacting one’s due recompense, no matter what the cost. It was coined by Shakespeare in Merchant of Venice Act IV, Sc...
To be in the pound seats is to be in a very good position with everything going well. It appears to be a South African expression, and derives from th...
see Sterling
These days, this old proverb is seen as more of an environmental disaster but the calming effect of oil on water was known to both the Ancient Greeks...
Express one’s innermost thoughts and feelings, the source is the Bible Psalms 62:8, “Trust in him at all times; ye people, pour out your heart before...
People often talk about the powers that be in an abstract sort of way and mean authorities of some kind. Very few, however, realise that they are quot...
Colloquial English for a car crash, in most cases a minor one. The word is Royal Air force slang c.1940 for a crash but also meant an attack on enemy...
In current British usage, prat is a slightly more intense form of twit, a foolish, ineffectual person and dates from the 1980s. Prat about which means...
see Panic button
In expressions like pretty awful or pretty difficult, pretty means fairly or moderately and dates in this sense from the mid-1500s. Pretty as in a pre...
A pretty penny is an understatement for a considerable amount of money and is first recorded, according to the OED, from the early 1700s. See also Tid...
An imploring request requiring yes as an answer, dates from the early 20th century c. 1913, according to the OED. ‘Pretty please with sugar on top’ th...
Prick used to be Standard English for penis, from the allusion that it is something that can ‘prick’ or pierce. The OED records its first usage from t...