A – B – C – D – E – F – G – H – I – J – K – L – M – N – O – P – Q – R – S – T – U – V – W – X – Y – Z – numerals – miscellany
A
a/an (indefinite article)
A1
a bad quarter of an hour
a bagful of arseholes
a baker’s dozen
a bastard on Father’s Day
abdabs, or habdabs (to give somebody the (screaming) abdabs, or habdabs)
a bit of crackling
a bit tight under the arms
a blessing in disguise
a blind bit of ——
a blot on the landscape
above board
above/below the salt
a box of birds
a box of frogs (British uses)
Absurdistan
a bull in a china shop
ACAB (all coppers are bastards)
a calf’s head is best hot
a car crash in slow motion
a cat may look at a king
accident (an accident waiting to happen)
accidents will happen in the best-regulated families
according to Cocker
according to Gunter
according to Hoyle
ache
a Chinaman’s chance
a chip on one’s shoulder
a cold day in hell
a cold day in July
act (a hard act to follow)
to act one’s age, and not one’s shoe size
actress (as the actress said to the bishop – as the bishop said to the actress)
a cup of tea, a Bex and a good lie down
Adam and Eve (to believe)
adder (deaf as an adder)
to add insult to injury
admirable Crichton
ado
adorkable
a dose of salts
adultescent
aerial ping-pong
a far cry
a fart in a spacesuit
a fly in the ointment
a fly on the wheel
a foot in both camps
a fox in a forest fire
a fox in the henhouse
a frog in one’s throat
after the Lord Mayor’s Show (comes the dung-cart)
Aga saga
age (to act one’s age, and not one’s shoe size)
age before beauty
agony aunt – agony column
a grape on the business
a green, or hot, Christmas, or winter, makes a fat churchyard
a hard act to follow
a hatful of arseholes
a horse’s head in one’s bed
ailurophile
aisle (to have people rolling in the aisles)
a Jap on Anzac Day
Ajax
alar(u)ms and excursions
Alas! my poor brother
Albany doctor
albatross (an albatross around one’s neck)
Albion
alcoholiday
al desko
a legend in one’s (own) lifetime
a legend in one’s (own) lunchtime
Alexandra curl
Alexandra limp
a little bird told me
alive and kicking
alive and well (and living in ——)
all behind, like a cow’s tail
all chiefs and no Indians
all-dancing, all-singing
all dressed up with nowhere to go
all duck or no dinner
All-Hallown Summer
all hat and no cattle
all Lombard Street to a China orange
all mouth and (no) trousers
all my eye and Betty Martin
all of a tiswas
all one’s Christmases come at once
all over bar the shouting
all over hell and half of Georgia
all over the place like a mad woman’s [+ noun]
all over the shop
all right, you heard a seal bark
all roads lead to Rome
(all) round the houses
all-singing, all-dancing
all Sir Garnet
all the tea in China
(all) the world and his wife
all wool and a yard wide
a load of cobblers
alone
a long streak of pelican shit
a man’s gotta do what a man’s gotta do
ambulance-chaser
a memory like a sieve
(as) American as apple pie
am I bovvered?
a mind like a sieve
a millstone round someone’s neck
amour fou
to amputate one’s mahogany
an/a (indefinite article)
an accident waiting to happen
an albatross around one’s neck
a nasty piece of work
an axe to grind
and not a bone in the truck
and so to bed
(and) the best of British luck
an egg yesterday and a feather-duster tomorrow
an Englishman’s home is his castle
angel (on the side of the angels)
a nice little earner
an iron hand in a velvet glove
Annie’s room (up in Annie’s room)
annulaire – ring finger
annus horribilis
a nod is as good as a wink
an officer and a gentleman
an old poacher makes the best gamekeeper
an old Spanish custom
another brick in the wall
another pair of shoes
the answer to a maidens’ prayer
the ant’s pants
antwacky
any man who hates children and dogs can’t be all bad
anyone for tennis?
anything for a quiet life
anything for a quiet wife
anything in trousers
Apache (member of a North-American people – violent street ruffian in Paris)
ape (to lead apes in hell)
a penny soul never came to twopence
a picture is worth a thousand words
a piece of work (an unpleasant person)
a poke in the eye (with a sharp stick)
apostrofly
to appeal from Philip drunk to Philip sober
the apple of one’s eye
apple-pie (adjective: typically American in character)
apple-pie order
apple polisher/apple polishing
apples (Australian usage)
to apply the blowtorch to somebody’s belly
(just) a pretty face
aptonym – aptonymic – aptronym – aptronymic
Aqua Libra
a racing dog’s bollocks
a rat with a gold tooth
are you decent? (sufficiently clothed to see visitors)
arm (to chance one’s arm)
armchair (attributive modifier)
armed to the teeth
army boots (your mother wears army boots)
a Roland for an Oliver
Arthur (not to know whether one is Arthur or Martha)
a safe pair of hands
(as) American as apple pie
a sandwich short of a picnic
as Australian as meat pie
(as) bold as brass
Asbomania
(as) busy as a brickie in Beirut
(as) busy as a one-armed bill-sticker in a gale
(as) busy as a one-armed milker
(as) busy as a one-armed paperhanger
(as) busy as a one-armed taxi-driver with crabs
(as) camp as a row of tents
(as) cold as a stepmother’s breath
(as) cold as charity
(as) cold as Pharaoh’s heart
(as) common as pig tracks
(as) cunning as a Māori dog
(as) daft as a brush
(as) dead as the (or a) dodo
as demure as a whore at a christening
(as) dim as a Toc H lamp
(as) drunk as a pissant
(as) drunk as Chloe
(as) dry as a Pommy’s towel
(as) dull as dishwater
(as) dull as ditchwater
(as) fit as a fiddle
(as) fit as a mallee bull
(as) flash as a rat with a gold tooth
(as) fresh as a daisy
(as) full as a Bourke-Street tram
(as) full as a goog
(as) game as a pissant
(as) game as Ned Kelly
a shag on a rock
(as) happy as a clam
(as) happy as a sandboy
(as) happy as Larry
(as) hard as Pharaoh’s heart
(as) hot, or (as) strong, as mustard
ashtray (as useful as an ashtray on a motorbike)
ashtray breath
(as) independent as a hog on ice
(as) keen as mustard
as lucky as the pox doctor’s clerk
(as) mad as a cut snake
(as) mad as a hatter
(as) mad as a March hare
(as) mad as a meat-ax(e)
(as) mad as a snake – (as) mad as snakes
(as) mad as a two-bob watch
as much use as a chocolate teapot
as much use as an ashtray on a motorbike
a snake in the grass
a sniff of the barmaid’s apron
a snowball’s chance (in hell)
a spare tyre around the waistline
asphalt jungle
(as) poor as a church mouse
(as) poor as Job
(as) poor as Job’s cat
(as) poor as Job’s turkey
a sprat to catch a mackerel
as quick as greased lightning
(as) regular as pig tracks
(as) right as a trivet
(as) savage as a meat-ax(e)
(as) scarce as hen’s teeth
as scarce as pork chops in a Jewish boarding house
as scarce as rocking-horse manure
(as) sick as a parrot
(as) silly as a two-bob watch
(as) snug as [animal name] (in —)
(as) sure as God made little apples
as the actress said to the bishop
as the bishop said to the actress
as the blind man said (used in association with ‘see’)
as the crow flies
(as) thick as a brick
(as) thick as herrings
(as) thick as thieves
(as) thick as two short planks
a stiff upper lip
(as) tight as a rivet (vs. (as) right as a trivet)
a storm, or a tempest, in a teacup, or in a teapot
Astroturf
as useful as a chocolate teapot
as useful as an ashtray on a motorbike
(as) warm as toast
(as) wicked as a meat-ax(e)
a tempest, or a storm, in a teacup, or in a teapot
a thumbnail dipped in tar
Atlantic
atone
at one fell swoop
a tough act to follow
a trap for young players
a trout in the milk
at sixes and sevens
at someone’s beck and call
to attend Lilywhite’s party
Attila ((somewhere) to the right of Attila, or of Genghis Khan)
auld lang syne
Aunt (The Sydney Morning Herald)
Auntie: The Times (London newspaper) – the BBC
Aunt Sally
au reservoir
Australian (the (great) Australian adjective)
Australian (the (great) Australian salute)
autumn-spring
a verandah over the toy shop
avoirdupois
Avon’s Swan
a walk in the park
away with the fairies
a wet blanket
a whale of a (good) time
a whim-wham for a goose’s bridle
a wigwam for a goose’s bridle
the awkward age – l’âge ingrat
awkward turtle
a word in your shell-like
axe (an axe to grind)
B
baby blues
babyccino
back o’ Bourke
back of a cigarette packet
back of a napkin
back of an envelope
backronym
backroom boys
backseat driver
backstabbing
back to the drawing board
backward in coming forward
backwards, the way Molly went to church
bad hair day
a bad quarter of an hour
Baedeker raid
a bagful of arseholes
bag lady
bag of mystery
bag of nerves
bag stuffer
a baker’s dozen
baking hot
bald-headed (in a rush without care or caution)
ball and chain
baloney
Bamboo Curtain
Bananaland (Queensland) – Bananalander (Queenslander)
banana republic
bandwagon
banger
bang for the buck
to bang like a dunny door
bang went, or goes, sixpence
bank (to laugh/cry all the way to the bank)
bankster
barbecue stopper
barbudo
Barcoo (the Barcoo salute)
Bardolatry
barefoot(ed) and pregnant
bark mitzvah
barmy
Barney’s bull
basket case
basket(ful) of crabs
a bastard on Father’s Day
Bastille Day
bat (to have bats in one’s belfry)
Bath (go to Bath (and get your head shaved))
bathtub ring
BCGs – birth-control glasses
to be able to sleep at night
to be able to talk under water (or under wet cement, under wet concrete)
to be a box of birds
to be a far cry from
to be all fingers and thumbs
to be all hat and no cattle
to be all mouth and (no) trousers
to be all thumbs
to be all to the mustard
beanfeast
beano
to beard the lion in his den
the Beast from the East
to beat Banagher
Beatle boot
Beatledom
Beatlemania
to beat the bejesus out of someone
to beat the Dutch
beau-catcher
beauty sleep
beaver (eager beaver)
to be barking up the wrong tree
to be born on the wrong side of the blanket
to be born with a silver spoon in one’s mouth
to be caught with one’s pants/trousers down
beck (at someone’s beck and call)
bed and breakfast (lodging establishment)
bed and breakfast (primary meaning)
bed and breakfast (verb)
to be decent (sufficiently clothed to see visitors)
bedlam
bedroom-eyed – bedroom eyes
bedside manner
bee (social gathering for a specific purpose)
bee (to have a bee in one’s bonnet)
to be economical with the actualité
to be economical with the truth
been there, done that (and got the T-shirt)
been thrown out of better places than this
beer and skittles
beer-belly
beer-can chicken
beer goggles
beer o’clock
beer-pong
beer today (and) gone tomorrow
bee’s dick
the bee’s knees
beeswax (i.e., business)
beetle-crusher
before one can say Jack Robinson
to beggar belief
begging bowl (appeal for financial help)
to be grateful for small mercies
béguin (infatuation, fancy)
behind, like a cow’s tail
behind the eight ball
to be in a cleft stick
bejesus
to be left holding, or carrying, the baby
belief (to beggar belief)
to belittle
to bell the cat
below the radar
below/above the salt
belt and braces – belt and suspenders
to be more popular than Jesus
to be mustard
Benjamin’s mess – Benjamin’s portion
to be not so green as one is cabbage-looking
to be on hand like a sore thumb
to be on the blanket
to be packed like sardines
to be part and parcel of
to be past one’s sell-by date
to be saved by the bell – être sauvé par le gong
to be skating on thin ice
best bib and tucker
(and) the best of British luck
the best thing since sliced bread
to be thankful for small mercies
to be the mustard
better dead than red – better red than dead
better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick
Betty Martin (all my eye and Betty Martin)
between a rock and a hard place
between the devil and the deep blue sea
betwixt and between
to be unable to run a whelk stall
to be up one’s own arse
beyond the pale
bib and tucker (one’s best bib and tucker)
bibliotherapy
Big Ben
big girl’s blouse
big hat—no cattle
the big smoke
big spit (vomiting)
bijou
bikini
Bill (black, or dark, over Bill’s, or Will’s, mother’s)
Billjim
bimbette
bingo (the (great) god Bingo)
bingo cage
bingo wings
bird (a little bird told me)
bird (to get the bird)
(the) birds and (the) bees (the facts about sexual reproduction)
bird’s-eye view
birth-control glasses
birthday suit (in one’s birthday suit)
biscuit (to take the biscuit)
bishop (as the bishop said to the actress – as the actress said to the bishop)
the bitch goddess
to bite the bullet
black-bag job
blackboard jungle
Black-Eye Friday
Black Hole of Calcutta
black, or dark, over Bill’s, or Will’s, mother’s
black sheep
blandification
blanket
blanket finish
blarney
a blessing in disguise
blind date
blind eye (to turn a blind eye)
blind Freddy
blind man (‘said the blind man’ and variants used in association with ‘see’)
blind scouse
the block (a street or area in a city or town in which it is fashionable to promenade)
blockbuster
blonde moment
blood (someone’s blood is worth bottling)
blood, sweat, and tears
blood wagon
Bloody Caesar
Bloody Mary (cocktail)
Bloody Mary (unnamed precursors of the cocktail)
Bloomsday – Bloom’s day
to blot one’s copybook
a blot on the landscape
blotto
blouson noir
to blow a fuse
to blow a gasket
to blow a raspberry
blowtorch (to apply the blowtorch to somebody’s belly)
blue (out of the blue)
blue-arsed fly (like a blue-arsed fly)
blue flu
blue funk (American usage)
blue funk (British and Irish usage)
blue Monday
blue moon
blues
blue sky and hot air
blue-sky research
blue-sky talk
blurb
board (above board)
bob-a-job
bobby
bob’s your uncle
Boche
bodkin (a person wedged between others)
to bogart
to boggle (the mind boggles)
(as) bold as brass
bollocks (the dog’s bollocks – the bollocks)
boloney
bomb (to go (down) like a bomb – to go down a bomb)
Bombay duck
Bondi (like a Bondi tram)
bone (to make no bones about something)
bone-box
bone idle
bonfire
bonkbuster
bonkers
boo (wouldn’t say boo to a goose)
boob tuber
boodle (the whole boodle)
the books won’t freeze
boots under the bed
born in a barn/a field/a sawmill/a tent
born on the wrong side of the blanket
born with a silver spoon in one’s mouth
Bosszilla
bothsideism – bothsidesism
bottle episode – bottle show
bottom drawer
bottom of the harbour (Australian use)
boudoir bandicoot
boustrophedon
bovver (am I bovvered?)
bovver boy
to bow (down) in the house of Rimmon
bowler (hat) ((return to) civilian life)
Box and Cox
box and dice
Boxing Day
a box of birds
box of dominoes
a box of frogs (British uses)
box of ivories
boy (to send a boy to do a man’s work)
boycott
boy meets girl
boys in the backroom
boys will be boys
brain rot
brass (to bring [someone or something] (right) down to the brass)
brass (to come (right) down to the brass)
brass monkey (extremely cold weather)
brass tacks (to come, or to get, down to brass tacks [early instances])
brass tacks (to come, or to get, down to brass tacks [hypothesis as to the origin])
bread (to have one’s bread buttered for life)
bread (it’s no bread and butter of mine)
bread (to know on which side one’s bread is buttered)
bread (to want one’s bread buttered on both sides)
bread-and-butter letter
bread-and-cheese living
bread and circuses
bread and roses
bread-artist
breadline
to break a butterfly on a wheel
breakfast (call me anything, so long as you don’t call me late to breakfast)
to break one’s duck
to break the ice
breastaurant
breath (don’t hold your breath)
brewery (couldn’t organise a piss-up in a brewery)
Brexit
brick (to drop a brick)
Bridezilla
bright-eyed and bushy-tailed
brimstone and treacle
bring-a-bottle party
to bring [someone or something] (right) down to the brass
to bring home the bacon
bring your own booze
bring-your-own-booze party
bring your own bottle
bring-your-own-bottle party
Bristol (shipshape and Bristol fashion)
Briticism
brolly hop
brothel-creepers
brown bomber
Brownie (Girl Scout or Girl Guide)
brownie point
brown Windsor soup
brunch
Brylcreem Boy
Buckley’s (chance)
the buck stops here
buddy system
budget
budgie smugglers
Buggin’s turn
Bugs Bunny (eagle at the top of the Australian-American Memorial in Canberra)
bull (like a bull in a china shop)
bullamacow
bulldozer
bully
bullycide
bums on seats
Bunburying
bundle of nerves
bunny boiler
burnsides
to burn the midnight oil
buroo (on the buroo)
burton (to go for a burton)
to bury one’s head in the sand
bus (to miss the bus)
bush telegraph
bush week (what do you think this is, bush week?)
(as) busy as a brickie in Beirut
(as) busy as a one-armed bill-sticker in a gale
(as) busy as a one-armed milker
(as) busy as a one-armed paperhanger
(as) busy as a one-armed taxi-driver with crabs
the butcher, the baker, and the candlestick maker
Butskellism
buttered (to have one’s bread buttered for life)
buttered (to know on which side one’s bread is buttered)
buttered (to want one’s bread buttered on both sides)
butterfingered – butterfingers
butterflies in one’s stomach
butterfly
butterfly kiss
to button-hold – to buttonhole
butty (sandwich – slice of bread spread with butter)
to buy a pig in a poke
buyer’s remorse
by a long chalk
by hook or by crook
by the skin of one’s teeth
C
cabbage (to be not so green as one is cabbage-looking)
cab off the rank
caboodle (the whole caboodle)
cache-sexe
cackleberry
cahoot
cake (to take the cake)
cake (you can’t have your cake and eat it)
cakeage
calf’s head is best hot – calves’ heads are best hot
California toothpick
California widow
to call a spade a spade
calligram
call me anything, so long as you don’t call me late to dinner
Cambridgeshire nightingale
cameo (a minor role in a play, film, etc.)
(as) camp as, or camper than, a row of tents
can a moose crochet?
canary in the coal mine
candid camera
candle (the game is not worth the candle)
can eat an apple through a picket fence
cannon (loose cannon)
cannon fodder
can talk under water (or under wet cement, under wet concrete)
cap-a-pie
caper (to cut a caper)
cappuccino
capsize
captcha
Capuchin
a car crash in slow motion
car-crash television
carrot and stick
to carry coals to Newcastle
(to be left) to carry the baby
castle (an Englishman’s home is his castle)
castles in Spain/in the air
to cast nasturtiums on, or at
cat (a cat may look at a king)
cat (to let the cat out of the bag)
cat (like a cat on hot bricks)
cat (like a cat on a hot tin roof)
cat (to look like something the cat has brought in)
cat (no room to swing a cat)
cat (not a cat in hell’s chance)
cat (to see which way the cat jumps)
the Cat-and-Mouse Act
cat mitzvah
cat-o’-nine-tails
cats and dogs, to rain (authentic origin)– part 1
cats and dogs, to rain (hypothesis as to the origin) part 2
the cat’s whiskers
caught in the headlights
cauliflower ear
caviar to the general
chain-smoker
chair à canon
chalk (by a long chalk)
chalk and talk
champagne socialism – champagne socialist
to chance one’s arm
chance would be a fine thing
to change horses in midstream/while crossing a stream
chardonnay socialism – chardonnay socialist
to charge like the Light Brigade
charity ((as) cold as charity)
charity dame – charity moll
charley horse
to chase the dragon
Château-la-Pompe
Château Plonk
chateau tap-water
chatmate
chattering classes
Chatty Cathy
chav
cheats never prosper
checkout chick
cheese – fromage
cheese (one’s cheese slipped off one’s cracker)
chef’s kiss
cherchez la femme
Cheshire cat (to grin like a Cheshire cat)
chestnut (old chestnut – marronnier)
to chew nails and spit rust
chewy on your boot
chicken-and-egg
chief (too many chiefs and not enough Indians)
Chief Mouser to the Cabinet Office
chillax
China orange (all Lombard Street to a China orange)
Chinaman (he must have killed a Chinaman)
a Chinaman’s chance
Chinese burn
Chinese fire drill
a chip on one’s shoulder
chocolate teapot (as much use as a chocolate teapot)
choke, chicken: more are hatching
chook (may your chooks turn into emus and kick your dunny down)
to chop and change
Christmas grip – Christmas hold
Christmas spirit
Christmas Truce of 1914
to chuck a wobbler/wobbly
chumocracy
church ain’t out ’till the fat lady sings, ’till the singing is over
church mouse ((as) poor as a church mouse)
churchyard (a green, or hot, Christmas, or winter, makes a fat churchyard)
churchyard cough
churchyard luck
ciao
cicerone
clam ((as) happy as a clam)
clanger (to drop a clanger)
Clapham (the man on the Clapham omnibus)
the Clapham Sect
clapper (like the clappers)
claptrap
cleanliness is next to godliness
the clean potato
cleft stick
clergyman’s sore throat
clever clogs
clew
cliffhanger
cloak
cloak-and-dagger
clock
clog (from clogs to clogs in three generations)
close shave
clogdogdo
cloud (every cloud has a silver lining)
cloud-cuckoo-land
clover (in clover, i.e., in ease and luxury)
clue
to clutch the pearls
coals (to carry coals to Newcastle)
cobbler (let the cobbler stick to his last)
cobblers (rhyming slang for ‘balls’, i.e., ‘testicles’, hence ‘nonsense’)
cock-a-hoop
to cock a snook
cock-and-bull story
cocked hat, to knock into a
Cocker, according to
cockle (to warm the cockles of one’s heart)
cockney
coconut (black) (Australian Aborigine who has ‘betrayed’ his identity)
codswallop
Coggeshall job
coil (this mortal coil)
(as) cold as a stepmother’s breath
(as) cold as charity
(as) cold as Pharaoh’s heart
cold call
cold comfort
a cold day in hell
a cold day in July
cold enough to freeze the balls off a brass monkey
the cold shoulder
cold turkey (as used of a drug addict)
Collins (letter of thanks for hospitality)
column (one from column A (and) one from column B)
to come a cropper
to come a gutser
to come down on someone like a ton of bricks
to come, or to get, down to brass tacks (early instances)
to come, or to get, down to brass tacks (hypothesis as to the origin)
to come (right) down to the brass
to come out of the woodwork
to come (right) down to the brass
to come to a sticky end
to come the old soldier over someone
comet vintage – comet wine
to come up with the rations
coming? so is Christmas!
(as) common as pig tracks
common-or-garden
conchie
concreteberg
concrete jungle
conspicuous by one’s/its absence
Continent isolated (satirical of British insularity)
contranym
contredanse
control freak
contronym
conundrum
cookie (that’s how, or the way, the cookie crumbles)
cookie ((that’s when) the cookie crumbled)
cookie pusher
cool Britannia
cootie
cop shop
Corbynista
corduroy
coronation chicken
corridor care – corridor nursing
Corrupticut
costa (Spanish noun used in invented place names)
couch potato
could eat an apple through a picket fence
couldn’t get a kick in a stable/in a stampede
couldn’t knock the skin off a rice pudding
couldn’t lead a flock of homing pigeons
couldn’t organise a piss-up in a brewery
couldn’t pick a seat at the pictures
couldn’t punch a hole in a wet Echo
couldn’t stop a pig (in a gate)
couldn’t train a choko vine over a country dunny
couldn’t work in an iron lung
could sell refrigerators to the Eskimos
could talk under water (or under wet cement, under wet concrete)
council-house television
to count sheep – compter les moutons
counter (to nail to the counter)
to cover more ground than Burke and Wills
coward
cowardy, cowardy custard
cowyard confetti
crackling (women regarded collectively as objects of sexual desire)
to crawl out of the woodwork
crazy bone
crébilloner – lèche-vitrine(s) – window shopping
credit (to give credit where credit is due)
crème de la crème
cretin
Crichton, admirable
cricket (i.e., fair play)
criss-cross
croque-madame
croque-monsieur
cross I win (and) pile you lose
cross my heart (and hope to die)
to cross the floor
to cross the t’s and dot the i’s
crosswordese
crow’s nest
crumbs from a rich man’s table
crumpet (sexual meanings in British English)
crumpet (not worth a crumpet)
cruse (widow’s cruse)
Cruyff turn
to cry/laugh all the way to the bank
Cuban sandwich
cucumber sandwiches on the lawn
cuff (off the cuff)
culture vulture
(as) cunning as a Māori dog
cupboard love
a cup of tea, a Bex and a good lie down
the cup that cheers
curate’s egg
curfew
curiosity killed the cat
curiouser and curiouser
to curse one’s stars
curtain lecture
curtain-twitcher – curtain-twitching
cut (to have one’s work cut out)
to cut a caper
to cut a long story short
cut and dried
to cut both ways
cut-lunch commando
to cut off one’s nose to spite one’s face
to cut the mustard
to cut to the chase
Cymru
D
dadchelor party
dad-dancing
dad-joke
daffynition
Daily Fail, Daily Heil, Daily Wail (nicknames for the Daily Mail of London)
daisy, (as) fresh as a
daisies, to push up
damn, not to give a tinker’s
damnall at Blackall
(you’re) damned if you do and damned if you don’t
Damocles’ sword
damsel in distress
dandelion
dandy
dangling participle
dark, or black, over Bill’s, or Will’s, mother’s
David-Lynchean – David-Lynchian
day (the day’s (only) a pup)
daylight robbery
dead (— is dead but won’t lie down)
dead and never called me mother
dead-cat strategy
dead man’s shoes, to wait for
deadline
Deirdre spectacles
dementia Americana
demonagerie
désappointer (French origin of disappoint & influence of Voltaire)
devil (between the devil and the deep blue sea)
devil (the devil to pay)
Dickless Tracy
Dicky’s meadow, in
dictionary (to have swallowed a dictionary)
different ships, different long splices
different strokes for different folks
dillbrain
(as) dim as a Toc H lamp
dine and dash
dinner (call me anything, so long as you don’t call me late to dinner)
dinnyhayser
disappearing act
to disappear up one’s own arse
Disgusted
to do a Dame Nellie
to do a disappearing act
to do a Melba
to do a perish(er)
to do a vanishing act
does a duck swim?
doesn’t buy (the) groceries
to doff
dog in a blanket
dog mitzvah
dog’s letter, the
dog whistle (as used in politics)
dole, on the
dole bludger
dolly (up to dolly’s wax)
domino (figurative uses)
domino-box
to don
done up like a pox doctor’s clerk
donkey
donkey’s years
don’t argue (the straight-arm fend-off in rugby)
don’t do anything I wouldn’t
don’t hold your breath
don’t laugh—your daughter may be inside
don’t look a gift horse in the mouth
don’t spoil the ship for a ha’p’orth of tar
dook (the hand or fist)
doolally
doona day
Dorothy Dix (Australian politics)
dose (like a dose of salts)
to do the block
to dot the i’s and cross the t’s
Double Pay (i.e., Double Bay, in Sydney, Australia)
down the back of the sofa
down the river, to sell
down the side of the sofa
dozen, a baker’s
dozen, thirteen to the
to drain the main vein
drama queen
to draw a guernsey
drawing board, back to the
to draw the crabs
dreamcatcher (original meaning: a mattress, a pillow, pyjamas, etc., advertised as ensuring a good night’s sleep)
dressed to the nines
Dr. Greenfield (to worship under Dr. Greenfield)
to drink the Kool-Aid
to drive a coach and horses through something
to drive pigs (to market)
to drive the porcelain bus
drop bear
to drop one’s aitches
to drop something or somebody like a hot potato
(as) drunk as a pissant
(as) drunk as Chloe
(as) dry as a Pommy’s towel
duck (to break one’s duck)
duck (fine weather for ducks)
duck (like a duck takes to water)
duck (will a duck swim?)
duck (would bog a duck)
ducks on the pond
(as) dull as dishwater
(as) dull as ditchwater
dumb bunny
to dumbsize
Dunning-Kruger effect
dunny (in Australian phrases)
duration, for the
dusty answer
Dutch concert
Dutch consolation
Dutch feast
Dutching
Dutch leave
Dutch nightingale
duvet day
E
eager beaver
early door(s) (early admission to a theatrical performance)
early doors (near the beginning)
earthling
earworm
easy street
to eat humble pie
to eat the calf in the cow’s belly
eavesdrop
éclair (cake)
economical with the actualité
economical with the truth
egg-dance
eggs, to teach one’s grandmother to suck
eight ball (behind the eight ball)
eighth wonder of the world
elbow grease
elementary, my dear Watson
eligible bachelor
ember months
embiggen
Emma Chisit
the Emmaville Express
empleomania
enemy (How goes the enemy?)
Energizer bunny
English as she is spoke
an Englishman’s home is his castle
enemy within, the
esprit d’escalier
eternal triangle
eureka moment
even ash
even a stopped clock is right twice a day
even paranoids have enemies
every cloud has a silver lining
every herring must hang by its own gill
every little helps
every Preston Guild
everything but the kitchen sink
everything’s apples
everything’s wrong in Wollongong
Eve-teaser – Eve-teasing
excuse-me dance
excuse my French
to extract the urine
to extract the Michael
eye (all my eye and Betty Martin)
eyes, to pull the wool over someone’s
F
to face the music
face, to cut off one’s nose to spite one’s
fact is stranger than fiction
fag end
fair-weather friend
to fall off the turnip truck
false dawn
famous for fifteen minutes
fang (as used in reference to high speed)
fang-farrier
Fanny Adams – Harriet Lane
far from the madding crowd
farmyard confetti
fartichoke
a fart in a spacesuit
fatberg
fat churchyard (a green, or hot, Christmas, or winter, makes a fat churchyard)
father (is your father a glazier?)
fat lady (church ain’t out, the opera ain’t over, until the fat lady sings)
fawn
feather-duster (an egg yesterday and a feather-duster tomorrow)
fed up
fedora
feeding time at the zoo
to feel like a bastard on Father’s Day
feet of clay (as influenced by the French Revolution)
fell swoop, at one
femicide (earliest occurrences of this word in the 19th century)
femicide (precursors of this word in the 17th and 18th centuries)
feminophobia – femiphobia
femme, cherchez la
fetus
few and far between
fiddle, (as) fit as a
field bishop
fifteen minutes, famous for
fifth column
figged out
to fight like Kilkenny cats
to fight one’s way out of a paper bag
figures won’t lie, but liars will figure
Fiji uncle
fine weather for ducks
(fingernails) in mourning for the cat
fire (to set the Thames on fire)
first catch your hare
fish and chips
fish finger
(as) fit as a fiddle
(as) fit as a mallee bull
five o’clock shadow
(as) flash as a rat with a gold tooth
flash mob
flat-earther – flat-earth man
flat out like a lizard drinking
flat stick
flea market
Flemington confetti
flexible friend (i.e. credit card)
flexitarian
flirt
flogging parson
flopbuster
flour bomb
to fly a kite
fly-by-night
a fly in the ointment
to fly off the handle
a fly on the wheel
fly-tipping
foaled of an acorn, a horse that was
fog in Channel—Continent isolated
foie gras
food for powder
foolometer
for all the tea in China
for the duration
the forbidden fruit
forelock, to take time by the
forlorn hope
for show and not for blow
for two pins
forty winks
four-leaf, or four-leaved, clover
the fourth estate
fox (a fox in a forest fire)
fox (a fox in the henhouse)
Franglais
Franken-
Frankenstein food
Frankenstein’s monster
freak (second element in compounds)
freedom fries
Fremantle doctor
French, excuse my
French hours
French kiss
French leave
French shrug
(as) fresh as a daisy
frightener (to put the frighteners on somebody)
to frighten seven bells out of somebody
a frog in one’s throat
Froggy
to frog-march
frogspawn (tapioca pudding)
fromage – cheese
from clogs to clogs in three generations
from hero to zero
from marbles to manslaughter
from pillar to post
from shirtsleeves to shirtsleeves in three generations
from soup to nuts
from the horse’s mouth, straight
from zero to hero
front (more front than)
frontstabbing
fudge factor
(as) full as a Bourke-Street tram
(as) full as a goog
full monty
funny bone
the funny things you see when you haven’t got your gun
further back, or further behind, than Walla Walla
G
gaiety of nations
galah session
galaxy
gallery, to play to the
Gallic shrug
gallows-humour
game (the game is not worth the candle)
(as) game as a pissant
(as) game as Ned Kelly
game of soldiers (sod this for a game of soldiers)
game, set (and) match
garbage in, garbage out
garbageologist – garbageology
garbologist (refuse collector)
garbology (refuse collection)
gardening leave
garters, to have someone’s guts for
gas and gaiters
gauntlet, to run the
gavroche
gazette
geek
General February/Fevrier
General January/Janvier
General Winter
gentrification
Georgium Sidus
to get a guernsey
get inside and pull the blinds down
to get one’s act together
to get one’s feet under the table
to get one’s skates on
get on your bike
to get off, or out, at Redfern, at Gateshead, etc. (to practise coitus interruptus)
get-out-of-jail-free card
to get the bird
to ghostwrite – ghostwriter
gianduja
gift horse (don’t look a gift horse in the mouth)
giggle-house
GIGO (garbage in, garbage out)
gigolo
ginger group
ginormous
gippy tummy
girlboss
girls will be girls
to give a poke in the eye (with a — stick)
to give a raspberry
not to give a tinker’s damn
to give credit where credit is due
give someone an inch and they’ll take a mile
to give someone furiously to think
to give the little lady a (great) big hand
glad and sorry (hire purchase)
Glasgow kiss
glazier (is your father a glazier?)
glitterati
globaloney
Gloria Soame
glory box
glutton for punishment
to go (and) jump in(to) the lake
to go ballistic
gobsmacked
Goddam (an Englishman)
God help those who are caught helping themselves
to go down a bomb – to go (down) like a bomb
to go down like a lead balloon
God slot
godwottery
to go for the big spit (to vomit)
to go for the jugular
to go from hero to zero
to go from zero to hero
to go haywire
to go home in an ambulance
golf widow
gone to Gowings
good field, no hit
gone on the padre’s bike
gongoozler
goose, wouldn’t say boo to a
gooseberry, to play
to go over like a lead balloon
to go postal
Gorgeous Wrecks
gorilla dust
gory details
gossip
got a feed at the Tweed
to go the extra mile
go to Bath (and get your head shaved)
to go to Lilywhite’s party
to go to Specsavers
got the arse at Bulli Pass
government stroke
gozinter
Granny (The Sydney Morning Herald)
granny-bashing – granny-battering
a grape on the business
grasshopper (a tourist, Australia)
grass widow
grass widower
Grauniad
grease monkey
the (great) Australian adjective
the (great) Australian salute
the great unwashed
Greek (it’s (all) Greek to me)
the Greeks had a word for it
green (to be not so green as one is cabbage-looking)
green about the gills
green cart
a green, or hot, Christmas, or winter, makes a fat churchyard
Greenfield (to sleep in Mother Greenfield’s (lodgings) – to worship under Dr. Greenfield)
green fingers
green thumb
grey death
grey meanie
grimalkin
to grin like a Cheshire cat
grockle
grog
Groomzilla
grotty
grumpy-drawers
Guardianista
guernsey (to get a guernsey)
Gundy (no good to Gundy)
gunpowder tea
Gunter (according to Gunter)
guts (to have someone’s guts for garters)
gutser
guy
guzinter
gyppy tummy
H
hail-fellow-well-met
hair (keep your hair on)
hair of the dog
hairy dog
hairy eyeball
hairy goat
halcyon
half seas over
the Ham and Egg Parade
ham-fisted – ham-handed
Hamlet without the Prince
hand (the right hand doesn’t know what the left hand’s doing)
handbag (verb)
handbags at ten paces
hand of glory
to hang someone out to dry
happy as a bastard on Father’s Day
(as) happy as a clam
(as) happy as a sandboy
happy little Vegemite
a hard act to follow
(as) hard as Pharaoh’s heart
hardy annual
hare (first catch your hare)
Harriet Lane – Fanny Adams
hash (to make a hash of something)
hash (to settle someone’s hash)
a hatful of arseholes
hat trick
hatter, (as) mad as a
to have a bee in one’s bonnet
to have a béguin for (to be infatuated with, to have a fancy for)
to have a foot in both camps
to have a frog in one’s throat
to have a person’s name on it
to have a shot in the locker
to have a tiger by the tail
to have bats in one’s belfry
to have both oars in the water
to have butterflies in one’s stomach
to have come down in the last shower
to have death adders in one’s pocket
to have got sand in one’s shoes
to have passed one’s sell-by date
to have someone’s guts for garters
to have someone’s name on it
to have swallowed a dictionary
to have the game by the throat
to have two left feet, or, two left hands
haywire, to go
head a duck, not to be able to
headless chicken
heads I win (and) tails you lose
to heap Pelion upon Ossa
hear (one might hear a pin drop)
heart (to warm the cockles of one’s heart)
heart of hearts
heart of oak
Heavens to Betsy
heifer-dust
heifer-paddock
hell (to lead apes in hell)
hell (not a cat in hell’s chance)
hell and half of Georgia
hell hath no fury like a woman scorned
hell is paved with good intentions
“Hell!” said the duchess
hell’s delight
hell, west and crooked
hellzapoppin’
helpmate
hen do
Henry V without the King
hen’s milk
hen’s teeth
here’s looking at you
(here’s) mud in your eye
Hesperus (like the wreck of the Hesperus)
hewer of wood and drawer of water
to hide the salami
to hide the sausage
hikikomori
hip-pocket nerve
hit and hope
to hitch one’s wagon to a star
hit hard and hope
hitwoman
Hob Collingwood
Hobson’s choice
Hobson’s choice (early account of a forced choice from a number of horses)
Hogs Norton
hold (don’t hold your breath)
holier-than-thou
hollow legs
Hollywood ending
holy laugh
home (an Englishman’s home is his castle)
home (away) from home
home is where the heart is
home, James (and don’t spare the horses)
honest Injun
honeymoon
hooligan
hoop snake
Hooray Henry
hope chest
hope your rabbit dies
horror stretch
a horse’s head in one’s bed
a horse that was foaled of an acorn
horse (to change/swap horses in midstream/while crossing a stream)
horse (don’t look a gift horse in the mouth)
horse (straight from the horse’s mouth)
hospital pass
hot (like a cat on hot bricks)
hot (like a cat on a hot tin roof)
hot-arsed
a hot, or green, Christmas, or winter, makes a fat churchyard
hot dog
hot mess
housemaid’s knee
hovercraft
how about a game of tennis?
how are you off for soap?
how can you sleep at night?
how goes the enemy?
how long is a piece of string?
Hoyle, according to
Hughie (Australian usage)
huile de coude (i.e., elbow grease)
human bean
humble pie, to eat
humongous
hung parliament
the Hungry Mile
husband’s tea
I
idée reçue
idiot fringe
I don’t care what they call me, so long as they don’t call me late to dinner
if it should rain — (and variants, used of ill luck)
if it’s Tuesday, this must be Belgium
if my aunt had been a man, she would have been my uncle
if the mountain will not come to Mahomet, Mahomet must go to the mountain
if your aunt had been a man, she would have been your uncle
if you want to get ahead, get a hat
ignorance is bliss
I hope your rabbit dies
I’ll go to the foot of our stairs
imbecile
imbuggerance (absolute indifference)
immolate
impressionism – impressionist
I’m talking to the butcher, not to the block
in a cleft stick
in a nutshell
in Annie’s room, up
in cahoots
inch (give someone an inch and they’ll take a mile)
in clover (in ease and luxury)
incunabula
(as) independent as a hog on ice
Indian burn
Indian summer
in Dicky’s meadow
information fatigue
infotainment (early meaning)
in full fig
in jail at Innisfail
in more trouble than Speed Gordon
in mothballs
(fingernails) in mourning for the cat
in one’s birthday suit
inoperative statement
interview without coffee
in the grip of the grape
in the pudding club
in the swim
in two shakes of a lamb’s tail
I resemble that remark
Irishman’s rise
an iron hand in a velvet glove
iron lung (wouldn’t work in an iron lung)
iron maiden
to iron out the wrinkles
Iron Weathercock (Liz Truss)
— is dead but won’t lie down
I see, said the blind man
is your father a glazier?
itching palm
itchy feet
it is the thought that counts
it’s (all) Greek to me
it’s all over bar the shouting
it’s moments like these
it’s no bread and butter of mine
it’s raining in London
it takes two to tango
it will be all right at night (theatrical phrase)
I’ve been thrown out of better places than this
I’ve got the time if you’ve got the inclination
ivory-box
ivory tower
J
Jack Jones
Jack Robinson (before one can say Jack Robinson)
Jack the Painter
jam butty – jam sandwich (police patrol car)
a Jap on Anzac Day
jawbation
jean-age – jean-aged – jean-ager
Jeevesian
Jeeves-like
Jenny Darby (policeman)
jerry-builder
Jesus boots
Jesus Hilton
Jimbill
Jimmy Woodser
jingo
job (that job’s jobbed)
jobation
Job’s comforter
to jockey for position
Joe Bloggs
Joe Six-Pack
Joe Soap
Johnny Arab
Johnny Canuck
Johnny Crapaud
Johnny Darm (policeman)
Johnny Foreigner
Johnny Onions
joined-up writing
jolly hockey stick(s)
Joneses, to keep up with the
jot – tittle
to judge a book by its cover
jukebox
to jump one’s horse over the bar
to jump the queue
jump up whitefellow
jungle juice (i.e., petrol)
(just) a pretty face
K
to kangaroo (to receive or to give kangaroo care)
kangaroo care
kangaroo closure
kangaroo court (early occurrences)
kangaroo inquest (early occurrences)
kangaroo-ship
kangaroo visit
Kathleen Mavourneen
to keep an ear to the ground
to keep the bastards honest
to keep up with the Joneses
keep your eye on the sparrow
keep your hair on
keep your shirt on
Kensington Gore (artificial blood)
kettle of fish, a pretty
keytar
to kick somebody upstairs
to kick something into the long grass
to kick the bucket
to kick the can down the road
to kick the tyres
to kick up hell’s delight
kidnap
kidney, of that
kidult
Kilkenny cats
Kilroy (early instances)
Kilroy (origin?)
Kindertransport
King (to take the (King’s/Queen’s) shilling)
King Charles’s head
kingdom come
kippers and curtains
kissagram
kiss cam
kissing-trap
kissogram
kitchen sink, everything but the
kite, to fly a
kiwi (air-force slang)
Kiwiness
Kleenex (in similes)
Kleenex music
knacker’s yard
knife-and-forker – knife-and-fork man
knight in shining armour
knocker-up (a wakener-up)
to knock into a cocked hat
to knock seven bells out of somebody
to knock the skin off a rice pudding
to know one’s onions
knuckle-butty – knuckle-sandwich
kompromat
Kruschen (that, or the, Kruschen feeling)
kunlangeta
L
Lady Blamey
lager lout
the land of fruits and nuts
land of Nod
to lark about
last, to stick to one’s
last-chance saloon
La Stupenda
to laugh like a drain
to lay on jam
to lead apes in hell
lead balloon
lead in one’s pencil
lead-pipe cinch
Lear without the King
leather and prunella
leave, French
to leave in the lurch
to leave no stone unturned
Left-Bankish
the left hand doesn’t know what the right hand’s doing
leg, to pull someone’s
to let the cat out of the bag
let the cobbler stick to his last
lettuce
to lick into shape
life was not meant to be easy (Australia use)
light at the end of the tunnel
lightbulb moment
like a bandicoot on a burnt ridge
like a beaten favourite
like a Bondi tram
like a cat on hot bricks
like a cat on a hot tin roof
like a country dunny
like a deer caught in the headlights
like a dog with a bone
like a dose of salts
like a duck takes to water
like a dunny in a desert
like a headless chicken
like a lily on a dustbin
like a pork chop in a synagogue
like a rabbit caught in the headlights
like a rat up a drainpipe
like a red rag to a bull
like a robber’s dog
like a stunned mullet
like a twisted sandshoe
like billy-o
like death warmed up
like herrings in a barrel
like Marmite, a little goes a long way
like one o’clock
like pulling teeth
like ships that pass in the night
like the back (end) of a bus
like the wreck of the Hesperus
like watching paint dry
like water off a duck’s back
Lilywhite’s party
limerence
limousine liberal
Linus blanket
little Aussie battler
the (little) man in the boat
little man, you’ve had a busy day
little old ladies in tennis shoes
little rabbits have big ears
to live on the smell of an oil rag
liver, to wash the milk off one’s
Liverpool gentleman (as opposed to Manchester man)
Liverpool pantile (sea-biscuit)
Liverpudlian
lobster
Loch Ness monster (nineteenth-century deriding of)
loco-foco
locust
all Lombard Street to a China orange
Londongrad
London to a brick
long story short
a long streak of pelican shit
long trousers (as used of increasing maturity)
to look like a pox doctor’s clerk
to look like something the cat has brought in
look (mum, or ma), no hands!
loony bin
loony doctor
loony fringe
loony left
loose cannon
lorem ipsum
to lose one’s marbles
to lose the dressing room
love (no love lost)
lower than a snake’s belly
low man on the totem (pole)
lucky as a bastard on Father’s Day
lunatic fringe
the lunatics are running the asylum
lupus
lurch, to leave in the
Lushington
Lynchean – Lynchian
M
MacGyver
Maconochie
(as) mad as a cut snake
(as) mad as a hatter
(as) mad as a March hare
(as) mad as a meat-ax(e)
(as) mad as a snake – (as) mad as snakes
Madchester
madding crowd, far from the
madeleine
mad money
magic pudding
magpiety
mahogany (to amputate one’s mahogany)
mahogany reef
mahogany ridge
maiden’s prayer, the answer to
to make a better door than (a) window
to make a hash of something
to make a long story short
to make angels (in the snow)
to make a pig’s ear of something
to make a spoon or spoil a horn
to make a Virginia fence
to make (both) ends meet
to make no bones about something
to make one’s marble(s) good
to make the fur fly
Malabar Hilton
Mallaby-Deeley
Malley’s cow
Mamamouchi
MAMIL
Manchester man (as opposed to Liverpool gentleman)
maneki-neko
man from Mars
Manhattanhenge
the (little) man in the boat
the man on the Clapham omnibus
the man outside Hoyt’s
a man’s gotta do what a man’s gotta do
marbles, to lose one’s
March hare, (as) mad as a
mardy
mare nostrum
Marie Antoinette
Marie Celeste
marines, tell that to the
mark twain
Marmite (a divisive issue)
Marmite (like Marmite, a little goes a long way)
Marmite (to spread [something or someone] like Marmite)
Marquis of Queensberry (rules)
marronnier – old chestnut
marrowsky
Martha (not to know whether one is Arthur or Martha)
martini lunch
Mary Celeste
Ma State (New South Wales)
maudlin
mauley (the hand or fist)
mauldy
Maundy
mauvais coucheur
Mayday
mayonnaise
may your chooks turn into emus and kick your dunny down
may your rabbits die
meat (one man’s meat is another man’s poison)
meat and two veg
mechanical bull
to meet one’s Waterloo
a memory like a sieve
men in buckram
the men in (the) white coats
merrythought – wishbone
mess of pottage
Mexican overdrive
Mexican standoff
Mexican wave
Micawberism
mice and men, of
the middle of nowhere
midinette
midnight oil, to burn the
might find a berth in Perth
mile (give someone an inch and they’ll take a mile)
milk (to wash the milk off one’s liver)
milk monitor
milliner
million (as a magic number)
a millstone round someone’s neck
milquetoast
MIMBY (maybe in my back yard)
a mind like a sieve
to mind one’s own beeswax
Mintie
mischief night (original meaning)
Miss – Ms
Miss Otis regrets
to miss the bus
Moab
mockumentary
molly (in molly-dook, molly-handed, etc.)
molly the monk
Molotov cocktail
Mona Lisa smile
Mondayitis
money for old rope
monkey (to put [something] where the monkey put(s) the nuts)
monkey see, monkey do
monokini
Monsieur Crapaud
Montezuma’s Revenge
moon, once in a blue
moon, over the
moonraker
moonshine
more camp than a row of tents
more front than (early Australian uses)
more front than (British and Irish uses)
more hide than Jessie
more kicks than halfpence
more people know Tom Fool than Tom Fool knows
more popular than Jesus
more power to your elbow
more than meets the eye
more than one can shake a stick at
morning, noon and night
moron
Morrison hour
mortal coil, this
Morton’s forkMother Carey’s chicken
mothball (in/out of mothballs)
Mother Carey’s chicken
Mother Greenfield’s (lodgings)
motherhood and apple pie
Mothering Sunday
mother-in-law joke
mother-in-law’s chair (i.e., cactus)
mother-in-law seat
Mother of Parliaments
Mother of the House (of Commons)
mother’s ruin
mouseburger
mouser
Mr – Mrs
Mr Fixit
Mr Nice Guy
Mr Plod (policeman)
Mrs Dale-ish
Mrs Grundy
Mrs Mop
Ms (combination of Mrs and Miss)
(here’s) mud in your eye
mugshot
Mummerset
munitionette
muslin (women regarded collectively as objects of sexual desire)
mustang court (early occurrences)
must have killed a Chinaman
muttons, to return to one’s
my (giddy, sainted, etc.) aunt!
myrmidon
my stars and garters!
mystery bag
N
Nacht und Nebel
to nail one’s colours to the mast
nail, on the
to nail (to the counter)
to name and shame
nanny state
nasty piece of work
neatnik
neck and crop
neck of the woods
nègre (French for ‘ghostwriter’)
neighbour(s) from hell
neither fish nor fowl
nelly (not on your nelly)
Nelson (until/when Nelson gets his eye back)
nepo baby – nepotism baby
Nervous Nellie
Nessie (Loch Ness monster)
never a dull moment
never put anything smaller than your elbow in your ear
never the twain shall meet
never to put a foot wrong
new kid in town
new kid on the block
nice but dim
nice little earner
night (the night’s (only) a pup)
nightcap
NIMBY (not in my back yard)
nincompoopiana
Nine-nine-nine
nines, dressed to the
the nineteenth hole
no bread and butter of mine
nod (a nod is as good as a wink)
Noddy suit
no feedin’ at Eden
no good to Gundy
no joy without alloy/annoy
no love lost
no lucre at Echuca
no man’s land
nom de —
nom de disc
no more Mr Nice Guy
no names, no pack drill
none of one’s beeswax
no room to swing a cat
nose (to cut off one’s nose to spite one’s face)
nose, to pay through the
nosey parker
nosism
not a bone in the truck
not a cat in hell’s chance
not cricket
not for all the tea in China
nothingburger
not just a pretty face
not on your nelly
not the only pebble on the beach
not the sharpest —— in the ——
not to be able to fight one’s way out of a paper bag
not to be able to [verb] for toffee
not to be able to head a duck
not to be just a pretty face
not to have come down in the last shower
not to have two yachts, or Rolls-Royces, to rub together
not to know whether it’s Tuesday or Bourke Street
not to know whether one is Arthur or Martha
not tonight, Josephine
not to put a foot wrong
not with a bang but a whimper
not worth a crumpet
no wucking furries
nul points
nuppence
nutshell, in a
O
an officer and a gentleman
off one’s pannikin
off one’s trolley
off the radar
of mice and men
of that kidney
O’Grady says
oil on troubled waters, to pour
ointment, a fly in the
old boiler
old boy network
old chestnut – marronnier
the oldest profession in the world
the oldest trick in the book
old school tie
old soldier (to come the old soldier over someone)
an old Spanish custom
Oliver (a Roland for an Oliver)
omelette
OMG
omnibus (the man on the Clapham omnibus)
omnishambles
omniverbivorous
once in a blue moon
one for show and one for blow
one from column A (and) one from column B
one fell swoop, at
one flash and you’re ash
one for the road – stirrup cup
one man’s mead is another man’s poison
one man’s meat is another man’s poison
one man’s meat is another man’s poisson
one man’s Mede is another man’s Persian
one may as well have the game as the name
one’s best bib and tucker
one’s cheese slipped off one’s cracker
one’s trumpeter is dead
one swallow does not make a summer
onion (to know one’s onions)
Onion Johnny
the only game in town
on one’s Jack Jones
on the blanket
on the buroo
on the dole
on the nail
on the pig’s back
on the side of the angels
on the spur of the moment
on the wrong side of the tracks
on the wrong tram
oojah
oojah-cum-spiff
oojamaflip
open and shet, sign o’ more wet
to open the kimono
opera (the opera ain’t over until the fat lady sings)
orange (all Lombard Street to a China orange)
ordeal
the order of the bootout of one’s skull
Ossa (to pile Pelion upon Ossa)
to out-Herod Herod
out of mothballs
out of the blue
outside the box
to out-Zola Zola
overpaid, overdressed, oversexed and over here
over the moon
over the top
owlhoot
Oxford comma
oxygen
oxymoron
oyster, the world is one’s
P
padoodle
padre (gone on the padre’s bike)
padre’s hour
to paint someone into a corner
to paint the Forth Bridge
to paint the map red, or pink
to paint the town red
to paint with a broad brush
pale, beyond the
panda (pedestrian crossing)
panda (police patrol car)
pandemonium
panier de crabes
panjandrum
pan-loafy
pantile (flat cake or biscuit – sea-biscuit)
paparazzi
paper bag (not to be able to fight one’s way out of a paper bag)
paper tiger
paper yabber
papyrocracy
Paralympics
paranoid (even paranoids have enemies)
paraphernalia
Paris syndrome
parkour
parlour (attributive modifier)
parlour patriot
parlour socialist | parlour socialism
parson’s nose
parson’s week
part and parcel
Parthian shot
parting shot
part of the furniture
pas ce soir, Josephine
passion-killer
to pass the parcel
pastiche – pastis
the patter of tiny feet
Paul Pry
to pay through the nose
PC Plod (policeman)
peaceable kingdom
pebble (the only pebble on the beach)
pecking order
pedigree
to pee in someone’s pocket
to pee on a stick
peeping Tom
Pelion (to pile Pelion upon Ossa)
pen (the pen is mightier than the sword)
penny (the penny dropped)
a penny soul never came to twopence
permacrisis
person from Porlock
pester power
the Pest from the West
Peter Grievous
petrichor
Pharaoh’s Revenge
Philip (to appeal from Philip drunk to Philip sober)
philtrum
piano player in a brothel
Piccadilly window
picnic
picnic (a sandwich short of a picnic)
a picture is worth a thousand words
piece of work (unpleasant person)
pig (to buy a pig in a poke)
pig (to sweat like a pig)
pig in a python
pig in the middle
pig’s breakfast
pig’s ear (to make a pig’s ear of something)
pigs might fly
pigeon à la crapaudine – toad-in-the-hole
to pile Pelion upon Ossa
pillar to post, from
pin (one might hear a pin drop)
pineapple, the rough end of the
ping-pong (parliamentary term)
pink
pinkie promise – pinkie swear
pink on the map
pinky promise – pinky swear
pin-up girl
pip (to squeeze until the pips squeak)
pipe dream
piping hot
pipsqueak
Pip, Squeak and Wilfred
piscinity
to piss in someone’s pocket
to piss on a stick
pizza face (a person with facial acne)
place in the sun
plain vanilla
platinum blonde
to play a blinder
to play a good knife and fork
to play gooseberry
to (play) hide the salami
to (play) hide the sausage
to play possum
to play to the gallery
please the pigs
Plod (policeman)
plonk (cheap inferior wine)
plot (the plot thickens)
plus-fours and no breakfast
poacher turned gamekeeper
pogue
point-blank
poison (one man’s meat is another man’s poison)
the politics of the warm inner glow
Pollyanna
Pommy-bashing
Pommy shop steward
poodle-faker
Pooh-Bah
(as) poor as a church mouse
(as) poor as Job
(as) poor as Job’s cat
(as) poor as Job’s turkey
Popemobile
to pop one’s clogs
pork pie – porky pie – porky (rhyming slang for ‘lie’)
port – starboard
Portillo moment
posh
postal, to go
postcode (used attributively)
potato-box
potato-jaw
potato-trap
Potemkin village
POTUS
poulet
pound-noteish
pound shop
pour encourager les autres
to pour oil on troubled waters
power behind the throne
power to your elbow
powfagged
pox doctor’s clerk
pregnant
pregnant and barefoot(ed)
the proof of the pudding is in the eating
prophet of doom
prosecco socialist
prunes and prism(s)
P’s and Q’s
public enemy number one
pudding (in the pudding club)
pudding (the proof of the pudding is in the eating)
to pull one’s socks up
to pull out all the stops
to pull someone’s leg
to pull the wool over someone’s eyes
pumpkinification
to punch a hole in a wet Echo
pup (the night’s (only) a pup)
pup, to sell a
to push somebody under a bus
to push up daisies
pussy’s bow (up to pussy’s bow)
put a sock in it
to put a tiger in one’s tank
to put one’s cue in the rack
to put one’s feet under the table
to put one’s money where one’s mouth is
to put one’s skates on
to put on jam
to put on one’s thinking cap
to put [something] where the monkey put(s) the nuts
to put sport back on the front pages
to put the cat among the pigeons
to put the frighteners on somebody
to put the toothpaste back in the tube
to put two and two together
Q
Quatorze Juillet
Queen (to take the (King’s/Queen’s) shilling)
Queen Anne front and Mary Ann back
Queen Anne is dead
Queen Anne’s fan
Queen Elizabeth is dead
Queensberry rules
Queensland (the Queensland salute)
quel idiot!
quelle surprise!
queue-jump
(in) quick sticks
quiz
R
rabbit killer – rabbit-killer punch – rabbit punch
(white) rabbit(s) (good-luck incantation)
Rachmanism
radar (under the radar)
rainbow (the end of the rainbow)
to rain cats and dogs – part 1
to rain cats and dogs – part 2
to rain cats and dogs and to hail cabs
to rain pitchforks (with their points downwards)
to rain stair rods
ranz-des-vaches
raspberry (rude sound made by blowing with the tongue between the lips)
Rasputin
to rattle one’s dags
a rat with a gold tooth
rat (to smell a rat)
razor gang
to read the riot act
real George
the real Simon Pure
to recharge one’s batteries
red, to paint the town
red herring
red-light district
red on the map
red rag to a bull
Red Sea pedestrian
red top
(as) regular as pig tracks
to reinvent the wheel
reseda
to return to one’s muttons
rhesus
rhubarb (theatrical term + denoting ‘nonsense’)
rice pudding (couldn’t knock the skin off a rice pudding)
rich (that’s rich, coming from —)
Richard’s himself again
Richard Snary
to ride shotgun
rifferama
rift in the lute
(as) right as a trivet
the right hand doesn’t know what the left hand’s doing
ring (a)round the bath(tub)
ring finger – annulaire
riot act, to read the
river, to sell down the
river, to send up the
roaring forties
robot
to rob Peter to pay Paul
rocking-chair job
rocking-chair money
rocking horse (as scarce as rocking-horse manure)
Roland (a Roland for an Oliver)
Roman holiday
roost, to rule the
rose-coloured spectacles
rosinback
rôti sans pareil – turducken
Rotten row
the rough end of the pineapple
to rouse the possum
royal we
Ruby Murray (curry)
rugby, racing and beer
—— rule(s) OK
to rule the roost
rumpo
rumpy-pumpy
to run like a hairy goat
to run the gauntlet
to rush in where angels fear to tread
S
to sack
sæva indignatio
a safe pair of hands
said the blind man (used in association with ‘see’)
Sally, Aunt
sandboy, (as) happy as a
sandcastle
sandwich
sandwich (a sandwich short of a picnic)
sanglier
sardine (to be packed like sardines)
satellite alley (British use)
sauce (what’s sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander)
sausage-wrapper (a newspaper)
(as) savage as a meat-ax(e)
to save the day
saved by the bell – sauvé par le gong
savoury duck
say boo to a goose, wouldn’t
to say prunes
(as) scarce as hen’s teeth
to scare seven bells out of somebody
scarlet letter
scenester
scholasticide
schoolgirl complexion
the school of (the) hard knocks
Scouse
Scousette
Scout’s honour
sea (between the devil and the deep blue sea)
season
the second-oldest profession (in the world)
the second sex
to see a man about a dog
see that’s wet, see that’s dry
to see which way the cat jumps
see you later, agitator
segocia
to sell a pup
sell-by date (to be past one’s sell-by date)
to sell down the river
to sell refrigerators to the Eskimos
to sell sand in the Sahara
to sell the family silver
to send a boy to do a man’s work
send it down, Hughie!
to send to Coventry
to send up the river
sentimental (borrowed into French from English)
serendipity
serial liar
to set the cat among the pigeons
to set the Thames on fire
to settle someone’s hash
seven years’ bad luck
sex and shopping
sglods
shabby chic
shaggy-dog story
a shag on a rock
shambles
Shank’s pony
sheep, black
shell-like (a word in your shell-like)
shell out
she’s apples
shilling (to take the (King’s/Queen’s) shilling)
ship (don’t spoil the ship for a ha’p’orth of tar)
shipping forecast
shipshape and Bristol fashion
ships that pass in the night
shirt (keep your shirt on)
shirtsleeve (from shirtsleeves to shirtsleeves in three generations)
shiver my timbers
Shock-headed Peter
shoe (another pair of shoes)
shoe (to wait for a dead man’s shoes)
to shoot a traffic-light (American uses)
to shoot a traffic-light (British uses)
to shoot oneself in the foot
to shoot the breeze
to shoot the cat
shopaholic – shopaholism
shoplifting
shoppiness
shopping trolley (i.e., Boris Johnson)
to shop till one drops
short-arm inspection
short-arse
short fuse
short of a —— (mentally deficient, slightly crazy)
short shrift
shotgun (to ride shotgun)
shotgun wedding
shoulder, a chip on one’s
shoulder, the cold
should’ve gone to Specsavers
show a leg
shrinkflation
Siberian Express
sick canary (Australian use: feebleness and ineffectualness)
sieve (a memory, or a mind, like a sieve)
to sign (on) the dotted line
silent highway
silent like the ‘p’ in swimming
silent policeman
silk (you can’t make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear)
silly as a wheel
silver lining, every cloud has a
silver spoon (to be born with a silver spoon in one’s mouth)
simon-pure
Simon says
simples (British interjection)
sing ’em muck
singing milkshake
sirloin
sit-down money
sixes and sevens, at
six-hat and fifty-shirt
six o’clock swill
sixty-four (thousand) dollar question
skateboarding duck
to be skating on thin ice
a skeleton at the feast
skin (by the skin of one’s teeth)
skin and grief
skinflint
skinhead
Skinny Lizzie
skirt patrol
skull (out of one’s skull)
slanguist
slapstick
Slav – slave
to slave over a hot stove
sleeping policeman
to sleep in Mother Greenfield’s (lodgings)
to sleep like a top
Sloane Ranger
slobber-knocker – slobber-knock
the Slough of Despond
sly grog
small beer
small mercies
small potatoes
smart mob
to smell a rat
to smoke (you’ll be smoking next)
smoke and mirrors
a snake in the grass
Snary, Richard
to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory
to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat
sneaky-beaky
sneeze
a sniff of the barmaid’s apron
snow angel
(as) snug as [animal name] (in —)
soap (how are you off for soap?)
soapedy
soap (opera)
soccer
soccer mom
Socceroo
social distancing
sock (to pull one’s socks up)
sock (put a sock in it)
sod this for a game of soldiers
soft Mick
soldier (to come the old soldier over someone)
someone’s blood is worth bottling
something nasty in the woodshed
(from) soup to nuts
sow (you can’t make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear)
Spam medal
spare the rod and spoil the child
a spare tyre around the waistline
Speakers’ Corner
Speed Gordon (in more trouble than Speed Gordon)
spick and span
spider sense
to spill one’s guts (out)
to spin a yarn
spine-bash
spit and sawdust
to spit the dummy
splendid isolation
spoil (don’t spoil the ship for a ha’p’orth of tar)
spoils system
spoon (to be born with a silver spoon in one’s mouth)
spoonerism
sport
a sprat to catch a mackerel
to spread [something or someone] like Marmite
spud
spud-barber
spud-bash – spud-basher – spud-bashing
spud-cocky
spur of the moment, on the
Spy Wednesday
squander-bug (British usage)
square-eyed | square eyes
squaw winter
squeaky clean
to squeeze a nickel until the Indian is riding the buffalo
squeeze pidgin
to squeeze until the pips squeak
squid (you can’t tell the mind of a squid)
squillion – squillionaire
Stakhanovism – Stakhanovitism
stalkerazzo
stalking horse
stand and grow good
to stand out a mile
to stand out like a sore thumb
starboard – port
staycation
to steal someone’s thunder
stepmother ((as) cold as a stepmother’s breath)
Stevenage Woman
to sticker-lick – sticker-licker
stick it up your jumper
to stick out a mile
to stick out like a sore thumb
sticks and stones may break my bones but names will never hurt me
to stick to one’s last
stickybeak
stirrup cup – one for the road
to stir the possum
stone (to leave no stone unturned)
stone the crows
a storm, or a tempest, in a teacup, or in a teapot
storm on Channel—Continent isolated
straight and narrow, the
straight from the horse’s mouth
strawberry preacher
Strine
to study the history of the four kings (to play cards)
sugar skull
summerise (original meaning)
summer of discontent
sun (place in the sun)
sunlit uplands
sunstruck bone
(as) sure as God made little apples
svengali
to have swallowed a dictionary
one swallow does not make a summer
to swap horses in midstream/while crossing a stream
to swear like a trooper
to sweat like a pig
to sweat the small stuff
swellegant
swim, in the
swoop, at one fell
sword of Damocles
T
tabloid (1)
tabloid (2)
tace is Latin for candle
Taffia
to take Dutch leave
to take French leave
take me to your leader (demand made by an extraterrestrial)
to take one’s courage in both hands
to take the checkered flag
to take the (King’s/Queen’s) shilling
to take time by the forelock
taliswoman
to talk a glass eye to sleep
talkaholic
talking head
to talk through (the back of) one’s neck
to talk turkey (original meaning)
tango (it takes two to tango)
to tap the Admiral
tar (don’t spoil the ship for a ha’p’orth of tar)
Tardis
tarpaulin muster
tart
to teach one’s grandmother to suck eggs
technosaur
Teddy boy
teeth like stars (false teeth)
teetotal
teetotum
tell that to the marines
a tempest, or a storm, in a teacup, or in a teapot
une tempête dans un verre d’eau
tennis
tennis, anyone?
tennis elbow
Thames (to set the Thames on fire)
to thank one’s (lucky) stars
thank your mother for the rabbit(s)
that cock won’t fight
that dog won’t hunt
that job’s jobbed
that Kruschen feeling
that makes two of us
that schoolgirl complexion
that’s rich, coming from —
that way madness lies
the answer to a maiden’s prayer
the ant’s pants
the balloon goes up
the Barcoo salute
the Beast from the East
the bee’s knees
the big smoke
(the) birds and (the) bees (the facts about sexual reproduction)
the block (a street or area in a city or town in which it is fashionable to promenade)
the books of the four kings (playing cards)
the books won’t freeze
the buck stops here
the cat’s whiskers
the chattering classes
the Clapham Sect
the clean potato
the cold shoulder
the cup that cheers
the day’s (only) a pup
the devil to pay
the dog’s letter
the eighth wonder of the world
the Emmaville Express
the end of the rainbow
the enemy within
the fat lady (church ain’t out, the opera ain’t over, until the fat lady sings)
the first cab off the rank
the full monty
the funny things you see when you haven’t got your gun
the game is not worth the candle
the girls are bandy at Urandangie
the gory details
the (great) Australian adjective
the (great) Australian salute
the (great) god Bingo
the great unwashed
the Greeks had a word for it
the Ham and Egg Parade
the higher the fewer (answer to why is a mouse when it spins?)
the history of the four kings (playing cards)
the Hungry Mile
the juice is worth the squeeze
the Kruschen feeling
the lady’s not for turning
the land of fruits and nuts
the land of Nod
the last cab off the rank
the (little) man in the boat
the lunatics are running the asylum
the man on the Clapham omnibus
the man outside Hoyt’s
the men in (the) white coats
the middle of nowhere
the morning after the night before
the next cab off the rank
the night’s (only) a pup
the nineteenth hole
the oldest profession in the world
the oldest trick in the book
the only game in town
the only pebble on the beach
the opera ain’t over until the fat lady sings
the order of the boot
the patter of tiny feet
the pen is mightier than the sword
the penny dropped
the Pest from the West
the plot thickens
the politics of the warm inner glow
the proof of the pudding is in the eating
the Queensland salute
the real Simon Pure
there’s life in the old dog yet
there’s no work in Bourke
(there’s) trouble at t’mill
the right hand doesn’t know what the left hand’s doing
the river that flows upside down (the Yarra River)
the road to hell is paved with good intentions
the rough end of the pineapple
the school of (the) hard knocks
the second-oldest profession (in the world)
the second sex
the sharpest —— in the ——
the skin of one’s teeth
the Slough of Despond
the straight and narrow
the thick plottens
the things I’ve done for England
the things you see when you haven’t got your gun
the toast of the town
the university of life
the Volvo set
the whole boodle
the whole box and dice
the whole caboodle
the wider the brim, the smaller the property
the witching hour
the wogs begin at Calais
(all) the world and his wife
the world is one’s oyster
the wrong side of the tracks
(as) thick as a brick
(as) thick as herrings
(as) thick as thieves
(as) thick as two short planks
thick (the thick plottens)
things are crook in Muswellbrook, or in Tallarook
things are weak at Julia Creek
the things you see when you haven’t got your gun
thinking cap
to think outside the box
thirteen to the dozen
this mortal coil
this town ain’t big enough for the two of us
thought (it is the thought that counts)
three hots and a cot
three-martini lunch
three on the hook and three on the book
to throw a wobbler/wobbly
thrown out of better places than this
to throw somebody under the bus
a thumbnail dipped in tar
thunder, to steal someone’s
tickety-boo
to tickle the dragon(’s tail)
tiger (a person who has an insatiable appetite for something)
tiger (to have a tiger by the tail)
tiger (to put a tiger in one’s tank)
(as) tight as a rivet (vs. (as) right as a trivet)
time (to take time by the forelock)
time capsule
time flies? you cannot: they go too fast
tinfoil hat (used in relation to protection)
tinker (not to give a tinker’s damn)
tiswas
tit for tat
tittle – jot
to a T – to a tee
toad-in-the-hole – pigeon à la crapaudine
toast (the toast of the town)
toast, (as) warm as
to toe the line
toffee (not to be able to [verb] for toffee)
toffee-nosed
to toilet-paper
Tom Mix in Cement
Tom Pepper
Tom Thumb (in reference to golf)
Tom Tiddler’s ground
(with) tongue in cheek
toot sweet
tooth fairy
top, to sleep like a
Torygraph (nickname for The Daily Telegraph of London)
Tory-lite
to toss in a blanket
to the nines, dressed
a tough act to follow
tough titty
tour d’ivoire – ivory tower
town and gown
town red, to paint the
to T.P.
to trail one’s coat
a trap for young players
to treat with ignore
trick or treat
trigger-happy
trolley (off one’s trolley)
trolley-dash
(there’s) trouble at t’mill
a trout in the milk
trumpery
trumpeter (one’s trumpeter is dead)
truth is stranger than fiction
tulip
turban
turducken – rôti sans pareil
turista
to turn a blind eye
to turn in one’s grave
twelve good men and true
two-bob watch
T.W.O.C. (taking without owner’s consent)
two countries separated by a common language
two is company, three is a crowd
two left feet, or, two left hands
two-martini lunch
(Yorkshire) tyke
U
ugly duckling
ugly sister(s)
uncle (Fiji uncle)
underground mutton
underpaid, underdressed, undersexed and under Eisenhower
under the radar
under the weather
une tempête dans un verre d’eau
to unfriend
the university of life
unshirted hell
until hell freezes over
until Nelson gets his eye back
up in Annie’s room
up the river
up to dolly’s wax
up to pussy’s bow
useful idiot
useful innocent
usherette
V
valentine
vanilla sex
vanishing act
Vaseline Valley
Vatican roulette
vee-dub
a verandah over the toy shop
Vicar of Bray
viennoiserie
vinegar trip
Virginia fence (to make a Virginia fence)
virtus dormitiva
the Volvo set
W
wahine toa
to wait for a dead man’s shoes
Waiting for Godot without Godot
Wales
to walk a crack – to walk one’s chalks
a walk in the park
to walk like an Egyptian
to walk Spanish
to walk the plank
war cake
Wardour-Street English
(as) warm as toast
to warm the cockles of one’s heart
warts and all
to wash one’s dirty linen in public
to wash the milk off one’s liver
watching paint dry, like
Waterloo (to meet one’s Waterloo)
wave (wave-like motion through a crowd)
we aim to please (you aim too, please)
to wear cotton drawers
to wear army boots
to wee on a stick
well, I’ll go to the foot of our stairs
were you born in a barn/a field/a sawmill/a tent?
wet blanket
to wet one’s whistle
to wet the baby’s head
to wet the other eye
we’ve got the time if you’ve got the inclination
a whale of a (good) time
what can you expect from a hog but a grunt?
what do you think this is, bush week?
what’s sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander
what’s that got to do with the price of ——?
what’s that got to do with the price of tea in China?
wheelie bin
when Nelson gets his eye back
when push comes to shove
when the band begins to play
where angels fear to tread
where did you get your licence?
where’s your white stick?
where the bugs wear clogs
where the monkey put(s) the nuts
where there’s muck, there’s brass
where the rubber meets the road
where the sun don’t shine
a whim-wham for a goose’s bridle
whingeing Pommy
to whistle in the dark
white ants
white poppy
(white) rabbit(s) (good-luck incantation)
White-Van Man
the whole boodle
the whole caboodle
who’s for tennis?
who’s robbing this coach?
who’s robbing this train?
who’s ‘she’—the cat’s mother?
who stole your scone?
why is a mouse when it spins?
(as) wicked as a meat-ax(e)
widow’s cruse
a wigwam for a goose’s bridle
Will (black, or dark, over Bill’s, or Will’s, mother’s)
will a duck swim?
william-nilliam
windfall tax
window
winedot
wink (a nod is as good as a wink)
winter of discontent (the winter of 1978-79 in Britain)
wishbone – merrythought
wishful thinker – wishful thinking
witches’ knickers
witching hour
Witham
within a bull’s roar of
without a bone in the truck
without fear or favour
(with) tongue in cheek
wogs begin at Calais
wokerati
woman-ridden
wood-and-water joey
woodpusher – woodpushing
woodshed, something nasty in the
wool (to pull the wool over someone’s eyes)
a word in your shell-like
Workington Man
the world is one’s oyster
worm’s-eye view
to worship under Dr. Greenfield
would a duck swim?
would bog a duck
wouldn’t give you a fright if he/she was a ghost
wouldn’t say boo to a goose
wouldn’t work in an iron lung
would you buy a used, or a second-hand, car from this man?
wreck (like the wreck of the Hesperus)
wrong tree, to be barking up the
X
Xmas
Y
yabber
ye gods and little fishes
yellow peril
YIMBY (yes in my back yard)
Yorkshire tyke
you can call me anything, so long as you don’t call me late to dinner
you can’t have your cake and eat it
you can’t make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear
you can’t polish a turd
you can’t tell the mind of a squid
you’ll be smoking next
(you’re) damned if you do and damned if you don’t
you’re so sharp you’ll cut yourself
your head’s on fire
your mother wears army boots
you, too, can have a body like mine
you’ve shot your granny
Z
zambuck
Zapata moustache
Z-car
zero tolerance
-zilla (suffix from Godzilla)
zipper problem
numerals
999
miscellany
a 19th-century document on English phrases
19th-century nicknames for London newspapers
Eating in the Romance languages
French pig idioms
Galloglossia
The language of domination
On biblical translations: “what is lacking” vs. “the number of fools”
On errors in the Oxford English Dictionary
Our lunatic contributor
The meaning of ‘temptation’ in the Lord’s Prayer
Why the French language is intrinsically sexist.
‘Wuthering Heights’
word histories 