A - Z Database

A - Z Database

Done and dusted

This phrase signifies successful completion of a task and appears to be a British expression from the mid-20th century. Its origin is obscure and is t...

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Donkey’s years

Curiously enough, this expression started life at the beginning of the 20th century as rhyming slang, donkey’s ears/years. By the 1920s, however, it h...

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Donnybrook

Irish for a drunken brawl and dates the mid-19th century derives from Donnybrook Fair held annually in Dublin County until 1855.


Don’t bring a knife to a gunfight

A modern American idiom that has come to mean, be adequately prepared or equipped for any confrontational situation. The origin is the movie The Untou...

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Don’t change horses in midstream

see Change horses in midstream


Don’t count your chickens before they are hatched

see Counting chickens


Don’t cross bridges until you come to them

see Crossing bridges


Don’t cry over spilt milk

see Cry over spilt milk


Don’t cut off your nose to spite your face

see Cut off one’s nose to spite one's face


Don’t die wondering

see Die wondering


Don’t get mad, get even

An American expression often wrongly attributed to J. K. Kennedy (JFK’s father) simply because it appears in Conversations with Kennedy (1975) by Ben...

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Don’t get your knickers in a knot/twist

see Knickers in a knot/twist


Don’t give a hoot/two hoots

American folksy expression that means not to care dates from the late 19th century and is sometimes encountered in the form of not giving two hoots wh...

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Don't give a monkey's

see Not give a monkey's


Don’t give a rat’s arse/ass

See Not give a rat's arse/ass