‘Frankenstein’s monster’: meaning and origin
also ‘Frankenstein’—a creation over which the creator loses control, eventually being destroyed by it—UK, 1822—alludes to ‘Frankenstein; Or, The Modern Prometheus’ (1818), by Mary Shelley
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‘to put the frighteners on somebody’: meaning and origin
to intimidate somebody—UK, from 1958 onwards in books by Frank Norman (1930-1980)—also, the noun ‘frightener’ designates a member of a criminal gang who intimidates the victims of its activities
Read More‘to give someone furiously to think’: meaning and origin
to set someone thinking very hard or seriously, to give someone much food for thought—UK, 1889—loan translation from French ‘donner furieusement à penser’
Read More‘the only game in town’: meaning and origin
the only option worth considering—USA, 1904—from the story (1894) of a man who is so addicted to faro that he takes part in a game despite knowing it to be rigged, because it is the only game available in town
Read More‘ye gods and little fishes!’: meaning and origin
expresses indignation, disbelief or amazement—USA, 1818—expanded form of the exclamation ‘ye gods’—perhaps a reference to the miracle of the loaves and fishes fed to the five thousand in the gospel of Matthew
Read More‘the end of the rainbow’: meaning and origin
used of something impossible to obtain or achieve—1796—the image is of an illusory quest for the treasure supposed to lie where the rainbow appears to touch the ground
Read More‘to take one’s courage in both hands’: meaning and origin
to muster up all one’s courage—UK, 1830—probably a calque of the French phrase ‘prendre son courage à deux mains’
Read More‘to come a cropper’: meanings and origin
(literally): to fall heavily; (figuratively): to fail completely—UK, 1847—‘cropper’ may be derived from ‘crop’ in the phrase ‘neck and crop’ (1791), which originally referred to a heavy fall
Read More‘curtain lecture’: meaning and origin
a rebuke given in private by a wife to her husband—1625—from the idea that, in order to conduct herself properly, a wife was to rebuke her husband in secret only, i.e., in the privacy of their curtained bed
Read More‘curtain-twitching’ | ‘curtain-twitcher’
used of a person who likes to observe other people’s activities from his or her window, in a furtive and prying manner—UK and Ireland, 1940
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