A - Z Database
To remove tension or misunderstanding in any social or business context, dates in this sense from the late 14th century.
Prepare for action or prepare for the main task or objective by getting unimportant matters out of the way, dates in this sense from the mid-19th cent...
To be in or to be caught in a cleft stick is to be in a very awkward, compromising or sticky situation. The expression dates from the 1700s. The allus...
All these variations are similar to Clever Dick and are generally derisive, childish taunts aimed at those trying to be too clever. They all date from...
The British equivalent of Smart Alec, a derisive term for a clever, or perhaps too clever, over-confident and showy person dates from the late 19th ce...
The word dates from the early 17th century and is imitative of the sound of a clock or the cocking of a gun. Its modern meaning to strike up a rapport...
A suspense film or book derives from early 20th century silent movie serials where the hero was invariably left hanging to the edge of a precipice by...
This metaphor describing prevailing beliefs and attitudes is often mistakenly attributed to W.H.Auden (1907-1973) but the expression was already in us...
see Up the wall
Describes any covert operation involving intrigue or secrecy; Chaucer in Canterbury Tales, The Knight’s Tale c. 1387 makes mention of “the smiler with...
British and Australian slang for clothes dates from the late 19th century. It can also mean to batter or thrash severely, which is an Americanism from...
The figurative usage of clockwork, as in the phrase ‘like clockwork’, referring to automatic action of unvarying regularity, implying a high degree of...
An awkward, clumsy, boorish person dates from the late 1600s when clodhopper was slang for a ploughman, one who literally hops on clods of earth behin...
A narrow escape means much the same thing as close shave and is also of American origin but dates from the late 19th century and derives from sports w...
Fall just short of success and get nothing for the effort, an American expression for which the earliest citation is the script of the 1935 movie Anni...