A - Z Database
The very last part of anything and dates from at least the 14th century. It is a quaint tautology because there is very little difference between the...
see Have one’s tail up
Tail wagging the dog is a metaphor for an unimportant or trivial factor controlling or dominating a situation. The expression dates from the 1870s and...
see Heads or Tails
American informal meaning to suffer a defeat or financial loss dates from the first half of the 20th century and derives from many similar gambling me...
You can take a horse to water, but you cannot make it drink is a very old proverb meaning that people, like horses, will only do what they have a mind...
Means to follow or imitate someone’s example, dates from the late 18th/early 19th century and the word book here is used in the metaphorical sense of...
see Nap
Since the late 18th century, slang for urinate, but before this from at least the 1300s was a respectable expression for the same bodily function. See...
see Punt
see Two bites of the apple/cherry
Means to take a liking or fancy to someone or something, an American colloquial expression from the early 19th century derives from the attractive rad...
This expression meaning to use unnecessary measures to tackle small problems is originally American from the mid-19th century, from the obvious allusi...
see Sprat to catch a mackerel
see Centre stage