A - Z Database
A financial crash dates form the early 19th century. Crash as in to gain uninvited entry to a party is from the 1920s. Crash as in to sleep deeply and...
British exclamation indicating sounds of collision or excitement, which Eric Partridge gives as RAF slang from c. 1939.
Crashing here is an intensifier meaning absolute or utter in this British colloquialism dating from the early 20th century.
The best of anything and cream has been used in this way since the 16th century. It is difficult to pinpoint a date for this expression because cream...
To cream someone is to defeat or beat them severely as one would whip cream, an Americanism with a first citation from the Princeton Alumni Weekly 24...
Is to experience great delight or excitement, American slang from the 1950s and derives from allusions to semen or vaginal emissions while in a state...
Crikey is a common exclamation of surprise and is a contraction of the much older expression Christ the King which dates from The Middle Ages.
The modern, everyday meaning describes anything that is marked by intersections or transverse patterns and is a corruption of Christ-cross which descr...
An animal, person or any creature, US and Canadian slang since the early 19th century derives from a corruption of the word creature to critter.
The full expression is crock of shit but the abbreviation crock is generally more acceptable in public media. It is American in origin and dates from...
Represent an insincere show of sorrow or remorse and derive from the ancient and erroneous belief that crocodiles weep before devouring their prey. Cr...
This familiar colloquialism dates from 1663 according to the OED and was first recorded as chrony. It was originally Cambridge University slang for an...
see Come a cropper
see Crossing bridges
There is a strong feeling that the habit of crossing one’s heart goes a long way back in time and is connected to the old religious practice of making...