‘like a duck takes to water’: meaning and origin
easily, readily—UK, 1825
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‘like water off a duck’s back’: meaning and origin
also ‘like water from a duck’s back’—UK, 1801—with no effect or reaction
Read More‘will a duck swim?’: meaning and origin
1680—also ‘would a duck swim?’ and ‘does a duck swim?’—expresses enthusiastic acceptance or confirmation
Read More‘sglods’: meaning and origin
Welsh English, 1994—potato chips—alteration of the Welsh plural noun ‘sglodion’ (potato chips) with substitution of the English plural ending ‘‑s’ for the Welsh plural ending ‘‑ion’
Read More‘wouldn’t give you a fright if he/she was a ghost’: meaning and early occurrences
is used of a miserly person—Australia, 1929—UK, 1934
Read More‘brown Windsor soup’: meaning and early occurrences
UK, 1919—a thick brown meat-based soup of a type now often depreciatively depicted as emblematic of traditional British cookery
Read More‘to disappear up one’s own arse’: meaning and early occurrences
British slang, 1960s—‘to disappear up one’s own arse’: to become self-involved, pretentious or conceited—‘to be up one’s own arse’: to be self-involved, pretentious or conceited
Read More‘old boiler’: meaning and origin
Australia, 1950—UK, 1962—derogatory and offensive: a middle-aged or elderly woman, especially one who is unattractive or unfeminine—refers to ‘boiler’, i.e., a tough old chicken for cooking by boiling
Read More‘brimstone and treacle’: meaning and origin
Britain, 1746—refers to old-fashioned medicinal remedies—notably used by Charles Dickens in ‘The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby’ (1838-39)
Read More‘the lady’s not for turning’: meaning and origin
UK, 1980—is used by, or of, a woman who asserts her determination to do what she has decided to do—from Margaret Thatcher’s speech delivered on 10 October 1980 at the Conservative Party Conference in Brighton
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