“ad fontes!”
literally (1845): an enclosure in which calves are isolated from their mothers until weaned—figuratively, humorously and offensively (1885): a girls’ boarding-school—similar to the use of ‘cow’ to derogatorily designate a girl or woman
Read Moreearly 19th century—pandemonium, great trouble or difficulty—often in ‘to kick up hell’s delight’, meaning: to cause a great deal of trouble or difficulty
Read MoreAustralia, 1970—as a noun and as a verb, refers to a high-speed drive in a motor vehicle—from the surname of the Argentinian motor-racing driver Juan Manuel Fangio
Read More1943: the noun ‘big spit’ designates ‘vomiting’—1952: the phrase ‘to go for the big spit’ means ‘to vomit’
Read More1933—a generally accepted notion or opinion—borrowed from French ‘idée reçue’ (i.e., ‘received idea’)—originally with reference to ‘Dictionnaire des idées reçues’, by Gustave Flaubert
Read Moreis used of a place that is found inexplicably deserted; also of a person’s sudden and inexplicable disappearance—alludes to the Mary Celeste, a U.S. cargo ship which in December 1872 was found mysteriously abandoned in the North Atlantic
Read More(UK, 1775): a dance blindfold among eggs—hence, figuratively (UK, 1856): an intricate and difficult task—also used as a verb
Read Morein reference to a group of people: a self-centred attitude (corresponding to ‘egotism’ in an individual)—UK, 1819—from the Latin pronoun of the first person plural ‘nōs’ and the suffix ‘‑ism’ (after ‘egotism’)
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an assertion of continuing competence, strength, etc., notwithstanding evidence to the contrary—from the title of a painting by the British artist Edwin Landseer, first exhibited in 1838
Read MoreAustralian slang, 1988—a very small distance or amount—perhaps intended as a humorous variant of ‘bee’s knee’, used of something small, insignificant or weak
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word histories 