A - Z Database
see Rule with a rod of iron
Roger has been slang for penis since the 1600s, deriving from Old Norse/Germanic words where roger means ‘spear’. As a verb meaning to copulate with a...
see Hit the hay/sack
see Red-carpet treatment
Means to skilfully absorb aggression and deflate a situation. This figurative use dates from the 1950s from an earlier boxing term from the 1940s.
This metaphor for having so much money that one could repeatedly turn over and luxuriate in it dates from the late 1500s. Perhaps the earliest example...
An ancient Greek and Roman proverb first mentioned in the works of Publius Syrus, also referred to as Plublilius Syrus, c. first century BC, Maxim 524...
A Roman holiday has come to mean a situation or occasion where the enjoyment or profit is at the suffering or expense of others. The expression derive...
This is an old proverb that means important projects need time. Its origin is not known but it first appears in English in John Heywood Proverbs (1546...
Rook meaning to cheat or swindle, or a person who does so, dates from the 16th century and derives from the bird, who like the jackdaw, is known for i...
A rookie meaning a raw recruit or novice was originally a British army colloquialism from the late 19th century, possibly deriving from the word recru...
see Swing a cat
This idiom derives from forestry where to remove a tree, root and branch, is to remove it completely. Therefore, to affect any change root and branch...
see On the ropes
Ropy as a word meaning having the form of or suggestive of rope has been around since the late 1400s, but its modern colloquial meaning of poor or inf...