additional notes on ‘beer o’clock’
a time at which it is considered acceptable or sociable to start drinking beer—used of various times of the day—USA, 1910
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‘sparrowfart’: meanings and origin
British, dialectal, 1828: the break of day, i.e., the dawn chorus, with humorous allusion to a small passerine breaking wind—later also: an insignificant person or thing
Read More‘stupid o’clock’: meaning and origin
Canada, 1992—the adverb ‘o’clock’ is colloquially and humorously used with adjectives to denote an unreasonably, excessively or inconveniently early or late hour—as in ‘stupid o’clock’, ‘silly o’clock’, etc.
Read More‘glam-ma’: meaning and origin
USA, 2001—a glamorous grandmother, especially one who is relatively young or fashion-conscious—a blend of the nouns ‘glamour’ and ‘grandma’
Read More‘nation of shopkeepers’: meaning and origin
UK, 1759: first applied to Japan—1794 (during the French Revolution): the disparaging use in reference to Britain was popularised by the French phrase ‘nation boutiquière’
Read More‘champers’: meaning and origin
UK, 1945—upper-class slang for ‘champagne’—from the first syllable of ‘champagne’ and the suffix ‘-ers’, used to make jocular formations on nouns by clipping them
Read More‘to roll back the years’: meaning and early occurrences
Britain, 1782—to evoke or recreate a previous time, state or condition; to make it seem as if no time has passed
Read More‘flesh-tailor’: meaning and origin
one who sews up wounds, i.e., a surgeon—also, in later use, a plastic surgeon—first recorded in ’Tis Pitty Shee’s a Whore (1633), by the English playwright John Ford
Read More‘love-bite’: meanings and origin
UK, 1749—a playful bite on the skin from a lover; a kiss delivered with a sucking action, leaving a temporary mark on the skin, especially as a sexual act; a mark left on the skin by such a kiss
Read More‘to roll down to St. Helena’: meaning and origin
of a vessel: to advance steadily under a favourable wind, without having to change tack or sail—UK, 1807, in reference to the voyage from the Cape of Good Hope to the remote South-Atlantic island of St. Helena
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