origin of ‘eavesdrop’
‘To eavesdrop’ originally referred to standing within the eavesdrop (the ground on to which water drips from the eaves of a house) in order to overhear what is going on inside.
Read MoreCategory: etymology
meaning and origin of ‘ivory tower’ (‘tour d’ivoire’)
1837—used by Sainte-Beuve to describe French poet Vigny’s seclusion in a turret room and preoccupation with inspiration unconnected with practical matters
Read Morethe emergence of ‘boycott’ in The Freeman’s Journal, Dublin, in 1880
from the name of Captain Charles C. Boycott, land agent in Ireland, who was ostracised for refusing to reduce rents during the Land League agitation in 1880
Read Moreorigin of ‘to break the ice’
from the image of breaking the frozen surface of a river in order to make a passage for boats – probably from Latin ‘scindere glaciem’, in Erasmus’s Adages
Read More‘bad hair day’ (when everything seems to go badly)
US, 1990s—a day on which one’s hair is unmanageable, hence a day on which everything seems to go wrong, a period of unusual agitation, frustration or uneasiness
Read MoreThe first ‘public enemy number one’ was Al Capone.
origin: the American gangster Al Capone was number one on the list of 26 ‘public enemies’ drawn up in 1930 by the Chicago crime commission.
Read More‘POTUS’ was originally a telegraphic abbreviation.
late 19th century—‘POTUS’ was originally an abbreviation used in the Phillips code, a telegraphic code created in 1879 by Walter P. Phillips (1846-1920).
Read Moremeaning and early instances of ‘small potatoes’
USA, early 19th century—‘small potatoes’: person or thing considered petty, unimportant, insignificant or worthless
Read Moremeanings and origin of ‘loco-foco’
US, 1830s—a friction match; a radical faction of the Democratic Party—during a meeting, they lit candles with loco-foco matches when the lights were turned off
Read Morethe various meanings and origins of ‘Franglais’
Since WWI, ‘Franglais’ has been coined to denote: French spoken by an Anglophone, English spoken by a Francophone and French speech using English words.
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word histories 