A - Z Database
This phrase was coined by the Roman historian Amianus Marcellinus (330-395) in History, book XVI, chapter 17, to point out that beauty can exist or co...
This was coined by Shakespeare in Romeo and Juliet, Act II, Scene II. The full quotation is, “What’s in a name? That which we call a rose, by any othe...
Sometimes used in the expanded version of living or viewing life through rose-tinted spectacles (glasses in the US), this expression for sublime optim...
Rhyming slang for tea, Rosy Lee/tea, dates from the late 19th century but enjoyed new impetus in the 20th century because of Gypsy Rose Lee the famous...
Exclamation meaning rubbish or nonsense dates from the mid-19th century with the obvious allusion to rotting or decaying material i.e. rubbish. Hence...
A rotten or bad apple has long been used as a metaphor for an unsavoury person of questionable character. It derives from an old proverb that one rott...
see Bad/rotten egg
see Something rotten in the state of Denmark
Originally, a free-for-all fight without any rules, dates in this sense from the late 18th century; figurative as in ‘the rough and tumble of politics...
A rough diamond or a diamond in the rough describes a person who, despite an uncouth manner or exterior, has a good heart underneath, dates in this se...
see Around and about
A sporting tournament, in which all competitors play against one another in turn, dates in this sense form the late 19th century. Before this, as reco...
Mad, crazy, insane dates from the 1600s, derives from bending or twisting something out of true.
see Around the houses
A roundhouse punch in boxing is a wild, swinging punch dates from the late 19th century. The origin is American where roundhouses were the circular bu...