‘one’s cheese slipped off one’s cracker’: meaning and origin
one is no longer rational or sane—USA, 1983
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‘hitwoman’: meanings and origin
1973: a woman who works as a hired killer—hence, 1975: a woman who carries out a particular task effectively and ruthlessly—coined after ‘hitman’
Read More‘ginormous’: meaning and origin
impressively or shockingly big—a blend of ‘gigantic’ and ‘enormous’—apparently coined by Welsh novelist Berta Ruck in Wedding March (1938)
Read More‘to drain the main vein’: meaning and origin
to urinate—slang—2nd half of the 20th century—based on the sound /eɪn/, common to the verb, adjective and noun that compose it—‘main vein’ probably refers to the penis
Read More‘Zapata moustache’: meaning and origin
UK, 1958—a type of moustache in which the two ends extend downwards to the chin—refers to Emiliano Zapata, who was portrayed with a moustache of this kind by Marlon Brando in Viva Zapata! (1952)
Read More‘cameo’ (a minor role in a play, film): origin and early occurrences
UK, 1924, as ‘cameo part’, used of two small roles in Shakespeare’s Julius Cæsar
Read More‘a horse’s head in one’s bed’: meaning and origin
USA, 1972—a chilling warning given to somebody—from Francis Ford Coppola’s The Godfather (1972), in which the severed head of a horse is left as a warning in a film producer’s bed
Read More‘where the sun don’t shine’: meaning and origin
U.S. slang, 20th century—in reference to a person’s anus, ‘to stick (something) where the sun don’t shine’ expresses contemptuous rejection
Read More‘platinum blonde’: meanings and origin
USA, 1927: a woman with a silvery-blonde hair colour—USA, 1930: specifically applied to Jean Harlow—also (USA, 1927) ‘platinum’: a silvery-blonde hair colour
Read More‘to pee on a stick’: meanings and origin
USA & UK, 1995—to take a pregnancy test of a type involving urinating on a disposable plastic stick which immediately indicates the result—also, more generally: to take any of various other diagnostic tests of this type
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