‘the white man’s grave’: meaning and origin
Sierra Leone, a former British colony in West Africa, and, by extension, equatorial West Africa in general—UK, 1833—refers to the high mortality rate among white colonisers of the region
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‘Antifa’: meanings and origin
1945—originally referred to anti-fascist committees in Germany at the end of, and immediately after, World War II—from German ‘Antifa’, shortened from ‘Antifaschismus’ (i.e., anti-fascism) and from ‘antifaschistisch’ (i.e., anti-fascist)
Read More‘hopium’: meaning and origin
also ‘hopeium’—a notional drug supposed to have been ingested by a person who maintains an unrealistically optimistic outlook—UK, 1864—a blend of ‘hope’ and ‘opium’
Read More‘the wrong arm of the law’: meaning and origin
any mistaken or illegitimate legal action—Australia, 1881—a punning variant of the phrase ‘the long arm of the law’ (also ‘the strong arm of the law’)
Read More‘the long arm of coincidence’: meaning and origin
the far-reaching power or effect of coincidence—coined in 1888 by the Australian playwright Charles Haddon Chambers in Captain Swift
Read More‘the strong arm of the law’: meaning and origin
the far-reaching, inescapable or punitive power and influence of the law—UK, 1788—from ‘strong arm’, designating far-reaching power and influence
Read More‘the long arm of the law’: meaning and origin
the far-reaching, inescapable or punitive power and influence of the law—UK, 1767, in a text by Jonas Hanway—from ‘long arm’, designating far-reaching power and influence
Read More‘the old woman is plucking her geese’: meaning and origin
it is snowing—UK, 1842—snowflakes are likened to white feathers—goose-plucking seems to have been associated with old women
Read More‘to improve the shining hour’: meaning and origin
to make the best use of one’s time—UK, 1810—alludes to Against Idleness and Mischief, in Divine Songs Attempted in Easy Language for the Use of Children (1715), by Isaac Watts
Read More‘(as) hungry as a hunter’: meaning and origin
extremely hungry—circa 1623 as ‘(as) hungry as a huntsman’—1756 as ‘(as) hungry as a hunter’
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