“ad fontes!”
to get excited, annoyed, angry—Australia, 1923—maybe based on the image of a person who, while riding a bicycle, gets provoked by another person: the cyclist would then dismount and respond to the provocator
Read Morechildren, especially siblings, should not argue among themselves—UK, 1818—alludes to Love between Brothers and Sisters, in Divine Songs Attempted in Easy Language for the Use of Children (1715), by Isaac Watts
Read Morean easy target, i.e., a person who, or thing that, is defenceless against an attack or other danger—first used in 1936 & 1937 by the Canadian journalist Gordon Sinclair
Read Moreliterally (UK, 1803): of a firearm: equipped with a hair trigger—hence, figuratively (Ireland, 1853): reacting immediately to the slightest provocation or cause
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UK, early 19th century—the noun ‘corkscrew’ is used as a modifier, with the sense spirally twisted, in the expressions ‘corkscrew curl’ and ‘corkscrew ringlet’
Read MoreUK, 1851, as ‘haw-doovers’—humorous and colloquial alteration of ‘hors d’oeuvres’, plural of the noun ‘hors d’oeuvre’ (i.e.: an extra dish served as a relish to whet the appetite usually before the main meal)
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UK, 1951—in soccer: an overhead kick, typically executed with the feet off the ground and often involving a shot at goal
Read MoreLSD (i.e., lysergic acid diethylamide); also other drugs—USA, 1968—alludes to the Beatles’ song ‘Strawberry Fields Forever’ (1967)
Read Moreexceedingly or immeasurably old—Britain, 1762—perhaps alludes to the fact that a hill is a permanent feature of a particular landscape
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U.S. slang, 1979—a condom—based on the phonetic similarity between the two nouns that compose it
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word histories 