‘to sleep in Mother Greenfield’s (lodgings)’
‘to sleep in Mother Greenfield’s’ (tramp slang): to sleep out in the open fields—‘to worship under Dr. Greenfield’: to go for a walk in the countryside rather than to attend a religious service
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‘Eve-teasing’: meaning and origin
India, 1958—euphemistic appellation for verbal or physical sexual harassment of a woman by a man in a public place—refers to Eve, the first woman in the biblical account of the creation of the world, who is seen as a temptress
Read More‘bark mitzvah’: meaning and origin
USA, 1966—a (13th-birthday) party held for a dog—a blend of ‘bark’ (the sharp explosive cry of a dog), and of ‘bar mitzvah’ (the coming-of-age ceremony for a 13-year-old Jewish boy), or ‘bat mitzvah’ (the equivalent ceremony for a Jewish girl)
Read More‘false dawn’: meanings and origin
1809—a transient light preceding the true dawn by about an hour, a phenomenon common in Eastern countries—translates Arabic ‘ṣubḥ kāḏib’—figuratively: a hopeful sign that can prove either illusory or authentic
Read More‘at someone’s beck and call’: meaning and origin
1580—always having to be ready to obey someone’s orders immediately—‘beck’ denotes a mute signal or significant gesture (such as a nod or a motion of the hand), indicating assent or notifying a command
Read More‘as scarce as pork chops in a Jewish boarding house’ | ‘like a pork chop in a synagogue’
with reference to the Jewish prohibition of the eating of pork—‘as scarce as pork chops in a Jewish boarding house’ (USA, 1907) means ‘extremely rare’—‘like a pork chop in a synagogue’ (USA, 1915) means ‘out of place’; also ‘unwelcome’ or ‘unpopular’
Read More‘as demure as a whore at a christening’: meaning and origin
1695—This phrase means ‘having an appearance of respectability’. The image of a prostitute at a christening is used to indicate that a person is out of place in a particular situation.
Read More‘(as) cold as Pharaoh’s heart’: meaning and origin
USA, 1876—‘extremely cold’—cf. ‘as hard as Pharaoh’s heart’ (USA, 1829), meaning ‘extremely hard’—both phrases refer to the hardening of Pharaoh’s heart in the Book of Exodus, 7:13-22
Read More‘(the road to) hell is paved with good intentions’: meaning and origin
This proverb means that promises and plans must be put into action, otherwise they are useless. The early versions did not refer to hell or the road to hell being paved, but to hell being full of good desires, intentions, meanings, etc.
Read More‘open and shet, sign o’ more wet’: meaning and origin
USA (New England), 1868—alternately sunny and cloudy conditions usually indicate rain—the adjective ‘shet’ is a variant of ‘shut’—it was perhaps in order to provide a rhyme for the adjective ‘wet’ that the variant ‘shet’ was chosen in the proverb
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