‘to throw away the scabbard’: meaning and origin
to abandon all thought of making peace—1658—originally in the proverb ‘who draws his sword against his prince, must throw away the scabbard’ and variants
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‘to leave one’s fingerprints all over something’: meaning and origin
Australia, 1914—to leave indisputable evidence of one’s involvement in an affair, endeavour, etc.—‘fingerprint’: an impression made on a surface by the tip of a person’s finger, as used in criminal investigations
Read More‘to rearrange the deckchairs on the Titanic’: meaning and origin
to engage in pointless or futile activity in the face of disaster—USA, 1969—apparently first used, and perhaps coined, by Elizabeth Carpenter, press secretary for the wife of President Lyndon B. Johnson
Read More‘law of the jungle’: meaning and origin
the principle that, where an effective legal system is absent or does not apply, brute strength and self-interested ruthlessness are what determine success, ownership, etc.—USA, 1878—predates Kipling’s Jungle book
Read More‘cradle Anglican’: meaning and origin
Canada, 1985—one who is born into the Anglican Church (i.e., an Anglican ‘from the cradle’)
Read More‘cradle Catholic’: meaning and origin
UK, 1930—one who is born into the Roman Catholic Church (i.e., a Catholic ‘from the cradle’)
Read More‘not worth a pudding’: meaning and early occurrences
1546—of little or no worth—here, ‘pudding’ refers to a sausage-like mass of seasoned minced meat, oatmeal, etc., stuffed into a prepared skin and boiled
Read More‘jobation’: meaning and origin
1687—a lengthy and tedious reprimand—from the verb ‘job’ (1666), meaning: to reprimand in a long and tedious harangue—with allusion to the lengthy reproofs addressed to Job by his friends in the Book of Job
Read MoreHow the French Revolution influenced the English phrase ‘feet of clay’
the earliest occurrences of ‘feet of clay’, used without explicit reference to the Bible, date from the French Revolution (1789-1799) and translate French ‘pieds d’argile’
Read More‘parson’s nose’: meaning and origin
the fatty extremity of the rump of a goose, fowl, etc.—so called from the resemblance of this fatty extremity to the human nose—UK, 1826—earlier synonym: ‘pope’s nose’ (UK, 1788)
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