meanings of the British phrase ‘vicarage tea-party’
20th century—denotes something mild, innocuous or uneventful—but those notions have been associated with vicarage tea-parties since the 19th century
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‘wallflower’ | ‘faire tapisserie’: on the fringes of a dance
UK 1801 ‘wallflower’—France 1806 ‘faire tapisserie’ (= ‘to do tapestry’)—in both cases because the person keeps their seat at the side of a room during dancing
Read Moremeaning and origin of the phrase ‘like a bride’s nightie’
Australia, 1969—used to denote a fast-moving person or situation—alludes to the quickness with which a bride’s nightdress comes off on the wedding night
Read Moremeaning and origin of the phrase ‘not Pygmalion likely’
euphemistic jocular variant of ‘not bloody likely’—UK, 1914—from the sensation caused by the use of the expletive ‘bloody’ in George Bernard Shaw’s ‘Pygmalion’
Read Moremeaning and history of ‘to write to The Times about it’
UK, 1851—is or jokingly denotes a threat made by a member of the public to write to the London newspaper The Times to express outrage about a particular issue
Read More‘how different is the home life of our own dear Queen’
a break with traditional values—at a performance of Anthony and Cleopatra, a Victorian lady allegedly contrasted Queen Victoria’s homelife to Cleopatra’s
Read Moremeaning and origin of ‘Poona’ as applied to army officers
UK, 1930s—the reactionary opinions and pompous manner of the army officers who had been stationed at Poona, a military and administrative centre in India
Read Moremeaning and origin of the phrase ‘to light the (blue) touchpaper’
UK, mid-1950s—to set a course of exciting or dramatic events in motion—refers to firework instructions such as ‘light the blue touchpaper and retire immediately’
Read Moreearly occurrences of the phrase ‘a nail in the coffin’
something that hastens, or contributes to, the end of the person or thing referred to—USA, 1805 in an open letter by the English political writer Thomas Paine
Read Morethe origin and various meanings of ‘Macready pause’
UK, 1842—theatre: a long pause during the delivery of a speech—refers to the English actor William Macready (1793-1873), who was given to making long pauses
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