A - Z Database
British mild oath used to express surprise or dismay, similar to gosh, blimey, etc dates from the late 19th century and is a contraction of the older...
Be decisive and seize opportunities as they arise derives from the blacksmith’s forge. If the blacksmith fails to shape the metal while it is soft and...
see Walk/stroll in the park
British informal for aggressive or argumentative, dates from the 1940s and derives from a corruption of obstreperous.
Someone sounds like a stuck record when he or she keeps repeating the same thing over and over again. The expression dates from c.1940 and derives fro...
see Up a gum tree
These words come from an American Negro spiritual Down by the Riverside that dates from the mid-19th century. The allusion is to Isaiah 2:4, “Neither...
Usually in the form of an exclamation, that means rubbish, foolishness or absurdity, dates from the mid-18th century.
A pompous, dislikeable person derives from the notion of shirt stuffed with straw, a bit like a scarecrow, rather than a real person. The expression i...
Originally, to stuff is British slang from the early 19th century meaning to have sexual intercourse. It was first used as a euphemism for the f word,...
To be stumped is to be at a loss or nonplussed is originally an American colloquialism that dates from the late 18th early/19th century but is now par...
Captain Mainwaring, played by Arthur Lowe, used this catchphrase to castigate young Pike, one of his Home Guard retinue, in almost every episode of th...
To suck the hind tit is to get the worst of a situation and is American from the early 20th century, from the allusion to the runt in a litter that al...
To suck up to someone means to ingratiate oneself and is schoolboy slang from the mid-19th century. Some sources maintain its origin is linked to suck...
The original meaning is a young mammal before it is weaned dates from The Middle Ages. As in the figurative sense of someone who is easily deceived, p...