“ad fontes!”
of a person or thing: irretrievably defunct or out of date—UK, 1905—perhaps originally in allusion to ‘Diplodocus Carnegii’, named after Andrew Carnegie, who, that year, presented the skeleton of that diplodocus to the Natural History Museum of London
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a rich and important man—USA, 1958, as ‘Charlie Potatoes’—UK, 1995, as ‘Charlie Big Potatoes’— ‘Charlie’: generic term for a man—‘potatoes’: perhaps slang for ‘money’, ‘dollars’
Read More‘I feel intense dislike or contempt for (a person)’—USA, 1950—also occasionally used of miserliness
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bag-in-box wine—USA, 2006—a blend of ‘cardboard’ (in reference to the outer packaging of bag-in-box wine) and of ‘Bordeaux’ (in reference to the wine made in the Bordeaux region of France)
Read MoreUSA, 1953: a base, despicable person—from ‘scumbag’ in the sense of ‘a condom’ (here, the noun ‘scum’ is slang for ‘semen’)
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to make somebody stop talking, or to prevent somebody from talking—USA, 1930—refers to the noun ‘zipper’, designating a fastening device
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USA, 1876—perfect, especially in cat-related contexts—colloquial, humorous blend of ‘purr’ and ‘perfect’
Read Morehaving the lips tightly closed—hence, figuratively: uncommunicative, determinedly reticent—USA, 1942—refers to the noun ‘zip’, designating a fastening device
Read Morean easy target, i.e., a person who, or thing that, is defenceless against an attack or other danger—first used in 1936 & 1937 by the Canadian journalist Gordon Sinclair
Read Moreliterally (UK, 1803): of a firearm: equipped with a hair trigger—hence, figuratively (Ireland, 1853): reacting immediately to the slightest provocation or cause
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