“ad fontes!”
of a vessel: to advance steadily under a favourable wind, without having to change tack or sail—UK, 1807, in reference to the voyage from the Cape of Good Hope to the remote South-Atlantic island of St. Helena
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USA, 1955—a dummy used in vehicle safety tests to assess the effect of crashes, collisions, etc., on the driver and passengers of the vehicle—also, figuratively: a person or thing used as a test subject
Read MoreUK, 1882—‘penny’ refers to inexpensiveness, and ‘puzzle’ to the mysterious nature of the ingredients—perhaps also in humorous allusion to ‘penny puzzle’ in the sense of a puzzle-card sold on the street for one penny
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also ‘in a wad’, ‘in a knot’, etc.—to become unduly agitated or angry—the plural noun ‘panties’ refers to short underpants worn by women or girls—American English, 1975
Read MoreUK, 1839—jocular variant of ‘penny-a-liner’ (i.e., a journalist who was paid at the rate of a penny a line, a person who produced mediocre journalistic work) with the implication that such journalists fabricated falsehoods
Read MoreUK, early 19th century, derogatory—used attributively of a journalist who was paid at the rate of a penny a line, hence also of low-quality writing
Read MoreUK, mid-19th century—a circular curl of hair (sometimes artificial), usually pressed flat against the temple or forehead
Read Moremid-19th century—a small bonnet standing far back on the head, which was then fashionable—also occasionally in the extended form ‘kiss-me-quick, mother’s coming’
Read MoreAustralia & UK, 1856—a circular curl of hair (sometimes artificial), usually pressed flat against the temple or forehead
Read Morea Latin-American television soap opera—from American-Spanish ‘tele-’ (in ‘televisión’) and ‘novela’ (‘a novel’)—1959 in American Spanish, 1961 in American English
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