“ad fontes!”
USA, 1826, as ‘to flog somebody like seven bells’—to give a severe beating to somebody—‘seven’ is perhaps simply an arbitrary intensifier—cf. phrases such as ‘like seven bells half-struck’ (‘with as much speed as possible’) and ‘to blow seven bells’ (‘to blow a violent gale’)
Read MoreUSA, 1924—a questionable or unorthodox practice that has long been established—from literal uses (19th century onwards) referring to former Spanish colonies in America
Read Moreto make bigger or greater, to enlarge—UK, 1884, as a translation of ancient Greek ‘μεγαλύνειν’ as used in the Acts of the Apostles, 5:13—recoined in 1996 in the U.S. animated television series The Simpsons
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(literally) to formally agree to something by signing an official document—(figuratively) to make a firm commitment about something—USA, 1900s, in reference to life-insurance contracts
Read MoreUSA, second half of the 19th century—to eliminate minor difficulties—the image is of removing the creases from a piece of fabric, using a hot iron
Read MoreUK, 1748, as ‘to add insult to injuries’—to act in a way that makes matters worse in a bad situation or when somebody has already been hurt or upset
Read MoreUSA—also ‘pinky promise’—a binding promise made while linking one’s little finger with that of another person—‘pinky’ designates the little finger
Read Morehighly convincing circumstantial evidence—USA, 1862—ascribed to Henry David Thoreau—refers to the practice of surreptitiously diluting milk with stream-water
Read MoreUSA, 1930—a rhetorical question calling attention to a non-sequitur or irrelevant statement or suggestion made by another person—one of the phrases built on the pattern ‘what has that got to do with the price of ——?’
Read MoreUSA, 1969—the phrases ‘off the radar’, ‘under the radar’ and ‘below the radar’ are used of something or someone that cannot be detected—the reference is to an aircraft flying too low to be detected by a radar
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word histories 