A - Z Database
Originally a British phrase describing a basic, low class tavern where sawdust was strewn on the floor to soak up both spillages and spitting of patro...
Strictly speaking, 'spitting image' should never appear with this spelling because it is a corruption of 'spit and image'. If the expression is said q...
During the 17th century, this became a standard order in the Royal Navy for an extra ration of rum to be issued to the crew for any job well done, a v...
This hyperbolic metaphor for laughing very heartily, as if one’s sides were splitting, dates from the late 17th/early 18th century. Side splitting lau...
This is a metaphor for arguing in a futile manner over trivial and fine distinctions. With modern laser technology, hair can now be split but it was t...
To put a spoke in someone’s wheel is to hinder or thwart someone’s plans or progress and this figurative use of the expression dates from c. 1854. Bef...
Named after the Reverend, Dr William Archibald Spooner (1844-1930) lecturer and later Dean of New College, Oxford, is the, usually unintentional, tran...
Spot cash meaning ready money dates from the late 19th century. Spot on meaning completely or accurately dates from the 1920s although Eric Partridge...
A metaphor for taking a small risk or outlay to net a greater prize dates in this figurative sense from the mid-19th century.
see Like wildfire
Metaphor for a young attractive person but these days is more frequently used in the negative i.e. ‘no spring chicken’, meaning that persons so descri...
British slang for a child or offspring dates from the 1970s and its origin is unknown. Some sources maintain it may well derive from a fanciful combin...
Spud has been slang for potato since the mid-19th century but the origin is obscure. Some sources attribute the origin to Spud Murphy. True, everyone...
On the spur of the moment means to act spontaneously without premeditation and dates from the early 19th century. The expression in fact revives an ol...
To reconnoitre or assess a situation beforehand, usually, with a hint of stealth; the expression has been used in this way since the early 15th centur...