‘like a lily on a dustbin’: meanings and early occurrences
also ‘like a lily on a dirt-tin’ and variants—something or somebody that is incongruous or conspicuous—UK, 1934, but chiefly Australian (from 1948 onwards)
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‘pound shop’: meanings and origin
UK & Ireland—a shop that sells a wide range of goods at low prices, typically one pound or less—hence also: of the type or quality found in a pound shop, cheap, second-rate
Read More‘to have a béguin for’: meaning and origin
‘to have a fancy for’—UK, 1900—loan translation from French ‘avoir un béguin pour’—French ‘béguin’ is from ‘s’embéguiner de’, meaning ‘to put on a bonnet’, hence ‘to put a sudden capricious idea into one’s head’
Read More‘Job’s comforter’: meaning and origin
1673—a person who aggravates distress under the guise of administering comfort—alludes to Job’s reply to his friends in the Book of Job, 16:2
Read More‘(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
Read More‘(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
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