‘unshirted hell’: meaning and origin
‘serious trouble’—USA, 1866—from the image of taking off one’s shirt before getting into a fight, and from ‘hell’ in the sense of ‘a severe reprimand’, as in ‘to give someone hell’
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‘caught in the headlights’: meanings and origin
used of a person who is frozen with fright or surprise, or is trying to flee, as a result of suddenly becoming the focus of attention—alludes to the habit of deer and rabbits of stopping still when dazzled by the headlights of a motor vehicle, or of running away within the headlight beam
Read More‘like the back (end) of a bus’: meaning and origin
UK, 1934—used of a person regarded as physically unattractive or sexually undesirable
Read More‘femiphobia’ & ‘feminophobia’: meaning and origin
‘femiphobia’ (USA) 1907—‘feminophobia’ (UK) 1914—an irrational fear or dislike of women—from Latin ‘fēmina’ (woman) and combining form ‘-phobia’—probably each coined on various occasions by different persons, independently from each other
Read More‘croque-madame’: meanings and origin
1932—coined after ‘croque-monsieur’—a toasted or fried sandwich filled with ham and cheese and topped with a poached or fried egg—but originally denoted any of various types of toasted or fried sandwich
Read More‘five o’clock shadow’: meaning and origin
the beard growth which becomes visible in the late afternoon on the face of a man who has shaved earlier in the day—originally (USA, 1937) the catchline of an advertising campaign for Gem Micromatic Razor and Blades
Read More‘coronation chicken’: meanings and origin
a dish of cold cooked chicken served in a mild creamy curry sauce—so named because created for a lunch held to mark the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II in June 1953, at which it was called ‘Poulet Reine Elizabeth’—also USA, April 1953: a dish created when the Poultry and Egg National Board organised Coronation Chicken Day
Read More‘tough titty’: meaning and origin
USA, 1888—used as a way of telling someone that they will have to accept a situation they do not like because they have no choice—the noun ‘titty’ denotes a teat, and, in the phrase, the image is of sucking a tough teat
Read More‘kompromat’: meaning and origin
compromising information collected for use in blackmailing, discrediting or manipulating a person, group, etc.—borrowed from Russian (Soviet secret police) ‘kompromat’, from ‘kompro-’ in ‘komprometirujuščij’, meaning ‘compromising’, and ‘mat-’ in ‘material’, meaning ‘material’
Read More‘the morning after the night before’: meanings and early occurrences
UK, 1860—the morning after an evening of drinking, when one has a hangover—in extended use: the morning after any night of excessive revelry
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