‘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
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‘to put a bomb under (a person or thing)’: meaning and origin
to disrupt; to shake up; to rouse to action—USA, 1902
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
Read More‘crash-test dummy’: meanings and origin
USA, 1955—a dummy used in vehicle safety tests to assess the effect of crashes, collisions, etc., on the driver and passengers of the vehicle—also, figuratively: a person or thing used as a test subject
Read More‘to get one’s panties in a bunch’: meaning and origin
also ‘in a wad’, ‘in a knot’, etc.—to become unduly agitated or angry—the plural noun ‘panties’ refers to short underpants worn by women or girls—American English, 1975
Read More‘penny-a-liar’: meaning and origin
UK, 1839—jocular variant of ‘penny-a-liner’ (i.e., a journalist who was paid at the rate of a penny a line, a person who produced mediocre journalistic work) with the implication that such journalists fabricated falsehoods
Read More‘kiss-me-quick’ (bonnet): meaning and origin
mid-19th century—a small bonnet standing far back on the head, which was then fashionable—also occasionally in the extended form ‘kiss-me-quick, mother’s coming’
Read More‘telenovela’: meaning and origin
a Latin-American television soap opera—from American-Spanish ‘tele-’ (in ‘televisión’) and ‘novela’ (‘a novel’)—1959 in American Spanish, 1961 in American English
Read More‘coffee royal’ | ‘café royale’: meaning and origin
a drink made from black coffee and brandy, cognac or other liquor—‘royale’ means: first-rate—‘café royale’ (USA, 1882): probably a Frenchification of earlier ‘coffee royal’
Read More‘kir royale’: meaning and origin
USA, 1974, as ‘royale kir’—a drink made from champagne, or sparkling white wine, and crème de cassis—from ‘kir’ (a drink made from dry white wine and crème de cassis) and ‘royale’ (first-rate)
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