‘(as) poor as Job’s cat’: meaning and origin
‘extremely poor’—USA, 1810—humorous variant of ‘(as) poor as Job’, from the name of the eponymous protagonist of a book of the Old Testament, taken as the type of extreme poverty
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‘(as) poor as Job’s turkey’: meaning and origin
‘extremely poor’—USA, 1817—humorous variant of ‘(as) poor as Job’, from the name of the eponymous protagonist of a book of the Old Testament, taken as the type of extreme poverty
Read Morea slang use of ‘muslin’ (women)
UK, 1821—‘muslin’: women regarded collectively as objects of sexual desire—‘a bit of muslin’: a woman regarded as an object of sexual desire
Read More‘baking hot’: meaning and origin
UK, 1833—the expression ‘baking hot’ is used of excessive heat—in this expression, the adverb ‘baking’ is an intensifier
Read More‘Jeevesian’: meaning and origin
of, or relating to, or characteristic of, or resembling, Jeeves—UK, 1934—refers to Jeeves, the perfect valet in stories by P. G. Wodehouse
Read More‘Jeeves-like’: meaning and origin
Canada, 1928—resembling Jeeves, the perfect valet in stories by the English author Pelham Grenville Wodehouse (1881-1975); this fictional character first appeared in 1915
Read More‘bibliotherapy’: meaning and origin
the use of books for therapeutic purposes, especially in the treatment of mental health conditions—USA, 1914—coined by essayist and Unitarian minister Samuel McChord Crothers (1857-1927)
Read More‘splendid isolation’: meanings and origin
UK, 1860: used specifically of the political and commercial uniqueness or isolation of the United Kingdom—but used earlier, more generally, in reference to being cut off from one’s kind or from the rest of the world
Read More‘crème de la crème’: meaning and origin
UK, 1839—France, 1843—the best people in a group, or the best type of a particular thing—a borrowing from French ‘crème de la crème’, literally ‘cream of the cream’
Read More‘gentrification’: two meanings—and two origins
Australia, 1865 (nonce-use): the process of turning into a person of high social rank—UK, 1964 (coined by sociologist Ruth Glass): the process whereby middle-class people take up residence in a traditionally working-class area of a city
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