A - Z Database
British slang for a fraud or swindle dates from c. 1875. The origin is unknown but is thought to be an abbreviation of swizzle, a corruption of swindl...
A swizzle stick is special cocktail stick for stirring alcoholic drinks dates from the late 19th century. It is now the only existing swizzle, a collo...
If someone says the sword of Damocles is hanging over them or that something or other is hanging over them like the sword of Damocles, it means that s...
To beat or turn swords into ploughshares is to take up peaceful pursuits instead of war; the source is the Bible Isaiah 2:4, “They shall beat their sw...
see zounds
Most people have heard of this sexually transmitted disease but relatively few know that the word was coined in 1530 by an Italian physician and poet,...
Rhyming slang for wig, from syrup of fig/wig, or syrup of figs/wigs, dates from the mid-20th century and has since evolved into a ‘golden syrup’ which...
Acronym for tri-nitro-toluene, a high explosive compound first prepared by the German chemist Julius Wilbrand in 1863 as a yellow dye. Its explosive c...
The T- Shirt is so-called because of its shape, which resembles the letter T when lying flat and is first cited in America from c. 1920. Before then,...
see Change tack/change of tack
The word tackle meaning equipment or apparatus dates from The Middle Ages but since the 18th century it was also slang for male genitalia, which one s...
British slang for penis, North Country, possibly Yorkshire, dates from the late 19th or early 20th century, of unknown origin.
The larva of a frog or toad, consisting of a head with a tail, dates from the late 14th/early 15th century, and derives from ‘toad’ + poll, meaning he...
As in slang for the posterior, backside, and also the female pudenda, dates from the 14th century. Tail as in the reverse side of a coin dates from th...
An ancient metaphor for submission or being shamefaced, derives from the observation of dogs who drop their tails down between their hind legs when su...