A - Z Database
see Just the ticket
Tickets is South African informal for the end or demise of someone, as in 'the truck went out of control and it was tickets for the driver'. South Afr...
A British slang word for satisfactory, all in order, or OK, and dates from the first half of the 20th century. Eric Partridge maintains it is RAF slan...
In the sense of annoyed or angry is American and dates from the 1960s, now generally used throughout the English-speaking world. See also Ticking off.
In the sense of a reprimand or a telling off is British military slang and dates from the First World War.
Play the piano dates from the early 20th century. Ivories is also slang for teeth since the late 18th century.
This expression derives from tickled meaning pleased or delighted, which dates from the 16th century. Shakespeare used the expression in Coriolanus Ac...
A somewhat gruesome hyperbole in that it means exceedingly pleased or delighted and is first cited from the early 19th century.
Something very small, either a child or a small fish, dates from the late 19th century. The OED says that it may be related to ‘tittlebat’, which is a...
Tiddly means slightly inebriated is first recorded in Punch magazine 1895 and may derive from an obsolete word tiddle that dates from the 1500s meanin...
British rhyming slang for drink, tiddlywink/drink, dates from 1880.
A considerable amount of money this colloquial use of tidy dates from the early 19th century. See also Pretty penny.
To confuse or bewilder someone dates from the latter half of the 19th century.
To tie the knot means to get married and this notion of a knot or bond, implicit in the word wedlock, has long been associated with marriage since the...
British colloquialism for an outburst or petty quarrel dates from the early 18th century and is of unknown origin.