meaning and origin of the phrase ‘to have a bee in one’s bonnet’
This phrase is a transformation of ‘one’s head full of bees’, meaning scatter-brained, unable to think straight, as if bees are buzzing around in one’s head.
Read MoreYear: 2017
the various meanings of the noun ‘owlhoot’
Coined after ‘cock-crow’, ‘owl-hoot’ means ‘dusk’. It denotes ‘an outlaw’ in Wild West fiction, hence, generally, ‘a worthless or contemptible person’.
Read Moremeaning and origin of the phrase ‘to have bats in one’s belfry’
Of American-English origin, ‘to have bats in one’s belfry’ is from the image of bats flying around when disturbed, like confused thoughts in a disordered mind.
Read Moreorigin of ‘slave’ and ‘Slav’, of ‘robot’ and of ‘ciao’
The word ‘slave’ is from Medieval Latin ‘Sclavus’, ‘Slav’, because the Slavic peoples were frequently reduced to a servile condition by the Germanic conquest.
Read Moremeaning and origin of the phrase ‘like one o’clock’
‘like one o’clock’—mid 19th century, British: with speed, eagerness, energy; perhaps with reference to the lunchtime bustle in the northern manufacturing towns
Read Morea linguistic investigation into ‘paparazzi’
The noun ‘paparazzo’ is from the name of a photographer in La Dolce Vita (1960) by Federico Fellini. The choice of this name has been variously explained.
Read Moremeaning and origin of the phrase ‘by hook or by crook’
The phrase perhaps originated in laws or customs regulating the gathering of firewood by tenants; it was perhaps a legal formula in which ‘crook’ merely reinforced ‘hook’.
Read Moremeaning and origin of the phrase ‘to send to Coventry’
probable origin: in 1642, during the English Civil War, Royalists had been captured at Birmingham and sent to Coventry, which was a Parliamentarian stronghold.
Read More‘Kindertransport’ (evacuation of children from Nazi-controlled Europe)
Kindertransport (from German ‘Kinder’, children): operation from 1938 to 1940 to evacuate (mostly Jewish) children from Nazi-controlled areas of Europe to the UK
Read Moreorigin of ‘Gorgeous Wrecks’ (members of the Volunteer Training Corps)
‘Gorgeous Wrecks’ (UK, WWI): members of the Volunteer Training Corps, from the letters ‘G.R.’ (‘Government Recognition’) interpreted as meaning ‘Georgius Rex’
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word histories 