A - Z Database
Conk is British slang for nose, especially a large one, and is first attested from 1812. The origin is not known, but the OED says it probably derives...
Originally, an Anglo-Irish children's game, which the OED describes as “originally played with snail-shells, now with horse-chestnuts through which a...
The complete expression is a conniption fit sometimes with the intensifier hairy meaning extreme or scary, as in a hairy conniption. It means an agita...
To make sense of this quotation from Shakespeare, the context must be remembered. In Hamlet Act III, Scene I, Hamlet questions existence (“to be or no...
This expression was coined by Lord John Russell (1792-1878) in a speech to the electors of the City of London in 1859, “Among the defects of the bill,...
This phrase means flamboyant, attention-seeking expenditure on luxurious items. It was coined by Thorstein Veblen (1827-1929) the American economist a...
see Not give/worth a continental
see Go on one's merry way
To upset or ruin someone’s chances of success, sometimes to kill. The expression dates from the early 19th century but its origin is unknown. It is, h...
To cook the books is to falsify accounts and the expression is first attested from the mid-20th century, although this figurative use of cook in the s...
Cookie is American for biscuit from the early 18th century and derives from the Dutch Koekje, which means little cake. It is also US informal for a pe...
Slang term, origin unknown from the 1920's in America. Used to underline a failure of an action, or dissapointment in reaching an undesired result, wi...
Cookie jar is American for biscuit barrel. To be caught with one’s hands in the cookie jar is to be caught red-handed doing something wrong, especiall...
The complete expression that is still sometimes heard is, “Now you’re cooking with gas” which dates from the early 20th century. It means making advan...
The figurative, common usage of 'cool' as a general term of approbation is first attested from the late 19th century in Black American slang. Its usag...