‘demonagerie’: meaning and origin
a menagerie of demons—UK, 1848—a blend of the nouns ‘demon’ and ‘menagerie’
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‘sandcastle’: meanings and origin
UK, 1833: a small castle-like structure made of wet sand, as by children on a beach—UK, 1837: a plan or idea with little substance
Read More‘ships that pass in the night’: meanings and origin
people who meet for a short time, by chance, and then do not see each other again—people who, although living together, are unable to see very much of each other—coined in 1873 by the U.S. poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Read More‘damsel in distress’: meaning and early occurrences
the clichéd literary topos of a young woman who is in trouble and needs a man’s help—1694, in a text by Joseph Addison
Read Morethe noun ‘pig tracks’ in U.S. phrases
in the phrases ‘(as) regular as pig tracks’ (1853) and ‘(as) common as pig tracks’ (1854), the plural noun ‘pig tracks’ is an intensifier—Southern United States
Read More‘the wider the brim, the smaller the property’: meanings and origin
chiefly Australian, 20th century—formula for estimating the size of rural holdings—also used figuratively of someone who talks boastfully without acting on their words
Read Moremore on French ‘femmicide’ & early occurrences of English ‘femicide’
the killing of a woman or girl by a man—French ‘femmicide’: 1839; 1854 in the sense of a man who has killed a woman—English ‘femicide’: 1801; 1827 in the sense of a man who has killed a woman
Read More‘cowyard confetti’ and variants: meaning and origin
Australia, 1932—also ‘Flemington confetti’ (1933) and ‘farmyard confetti’ (1967)—bullshit (i.e., nonsense, rubbish)—also occasionally used literally in the sense of faeces
Read More‘fine weather for ducks’: meaning and origin
UK, 1811—refers humorously to wet weather
Read More‘back of an envelope’: meaning and origin
USA, 1931—indicates that something has been formulated or devised hurriedly, roughly or carelessly, as though sketched or scribbled on the back of an envelope
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