“ad fontes!”
a movement, developed in the U.S.S.R. in 1935, aimed at encouraging hard work and maximum output, following the example of Alexei Stakhanov—by extension: exceptionally productive work, excessively intensive work
Read Morelate 19th century—to disappear suddenly without leaving information about one’s whereabouts—from conjuring, in which ‘vanishing act’ designates an act of making a person or thing disappear as if by magic, and an act of disappearing in this manner
Read Morea completely isolated, featureless or insignificant place—USA, 1848, as ‘to knock [something or someone] into the middle of nowhere’ with reference to annihilation
Read Morethe slightest concession will be unscrupulously exploited—USA, 1837, in Ralph Waldo Emerson’s diary—a later form of ‘give someone an inch and they’ll take an ell’
Read MoreNew Zealand, 1883, as ‘to stick out half a mile’—to be very prominent or conspicuous
Read More‘one might hear a pin drop’ (UK, 1739): the silence and sense of expectation are intense—‘one can hear a pin drop’ (UK, 1737): one has a keen sense of hearing
Read MoreAustralia, 1943—a foolish or silly person—from the synonymous noun ‘dill’ (1933), itself apparently a back-formation from the adjective ‘dilly’, meaning ‘foolish’, ‘silly’
Read MoreUK, 1809—a person who predicts disaster, a doomsayer—also: a person who is (especially unduly) pessimistic about the future
Read Moreone of the German air raids in 1942 on places of cultural and historical importance in Britain—from ‘Baedeker’: any of a series of guidebooks to foreign countries, issued by the German publisher Karl Baedeker (1801-1859) and his successors
Read MoreUK—a ball game for three players, in which the middle player tries to intercept the ball as it passes between the other two—hence: a person, party, etc., caught between others in a conflict, dispute, etc.
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word histories 