‘the Greeks had a word for it’: meanings and origin
USA, 1930—used either literally or of something that should not or cannot be named or mentioned—alludes to ‘The Greeks Had a Word for It’, the title of a 1930 stage play by Zoe Akins
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‘like a dog with a bone’: meanings, origin and early occurrences
UK, 1810—tenacious, persistent, obstinate—unwilling to yield, to relent or to let go—unable to set aside a preoccupation or obsession—the image is that a dog with a bone will not let go of that bone, no matter what
Read More‘(as) cunning as a Māori dog’: meaning and origin
very cunning—New Zealand, 1908—‘Māori dog’: a dog of Polynesian origin; also any mongrel dog associated with Māori settlements or living in a wild state
Read More‘part of the furniture’: meaning and early occurrences
USA, 1834—a member of a group, organisation, etc., who is so familiar as to be regarded as a permanent feature, and therefore often taken for granted
Read More‘to blow a fuse’: meanings and origin
literally (USA, 1889): to cause a fuse to melt—figuratively (USA, 1908): to lose one’s temper—from ‘fuse’, denoting a safety device placed in an electric circuit
Read More‘to blow a gasket’: meanings and origin
to lose one’s temper—USA, 1913—in an internal-combustion engine, a gasket is sealing layer between adjoining surfaces—hence ‘to blow (out) a gasket’ (USA, 1874): to have a gasket come loose due to excess pressure
Read Morea figurative use of ‘tiger’
characterises a person who has an insatiable appetite for something—especially in ‘tiger for work’ (Australia, 1857) and ‘tiger for punishment’ (New Zealand, 1911)
Read More‘gaiety of nations’: meaning and origin
enjoyment or pleasure shared by a large number of people—coined by Samuel Johnson in his posthumous homage to David Garrick published in Prefaces, biographical and critical, to the works of the English poets (London, 1779)
Read More‘wahine toa’: meanings and origin
a brave Māori female warrior; by extension, any strong or brave woman—New Zealand—in Māori, 1873—in English, 1902—from ‘wahine’ (a Māori woman or wife) and ‘toa’ (a brave Māori male warrior)
Read More‘not to know whether it’s Tuesday or Bourke Street’: meaning and origin
Australia, 1952—used of a state of confusion or stupidity—refers to Bourke Street, in Melbourne, Victoria
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