A - Z Database
These four fielding positions in cricket all carry the intensifier ‘silly’ in recognition of how silly it is to stand so close to the batsman and risk...
see Prick
A silver bullet is a metaphor for an easy solution to a complex problem and dates in this sense from the 1970s. In this sense the origin is American,...
see Every cloud has a silver lining
see Born with a silver spoon in one’s mouth
A place, usually on the sidelines, where a sports player has to spend several minutes, as a penalty for foul play, while his or her team continues to...
This expression is thought to be of American or Irish origin and is a widely used colloquialism to denote a long, indeterminate time ago. It dates fro...
see The year dot
see Time immemorial
see On the same wavelength
To sing someone’s praises is commend them highly and vocally. The expression has been used in this sense since the mid-1500s but people have been sing...
see Sing someone’s praises
Succeed or fail depending on one’s own efforts dates from at least the 14th century when the expression used to be ‘sink or float’ because in those da...
The meaning of the complete expression is that descendants are very often blamed for the sins of their forebears and the concept is very old. Euripide...
Australian slang for urinate coined by the Barry Humphries’ cartoon strip Barry McKenzie in Private Eye magazine during the late 1960s.