‘the squire has been foully murdered’: meaning, origin
UK, 1918—popular among British soldiers during WWI—satirises “the squire has been foully murdered”, a topos from late-Victorian and Edwardian melodrama
Read Morenotes on the British phrase ‘I’ve started, so I’ll finish’
gained currency from its use by Magnus Magnusson on the BBC-Television quiz programme ‘Mastermind’, which he presented from its creation in 1972 until 1997
Read Moremeaning of ‘hit me now with the child in my arms’
Irish-English phrase—first recorded in 1892—used to express pretended fear of, and/or provocation to, a physical attack
Read Moremeanings of ‘to give the cat another goldfish’
USA, 1919—‘spare no expense’—also ‘go all out for it’, ‘hand victory on a platter’, ‘allow yourself more of what you want’ (South Africa)
Read More‘my name is Simpson, not Samson’: meaning and origin
UK, 1906—used by a workman asked to lift too heavy an object—‘Simpson’ chosen for its similarity with ‘Samson’, the name of a biblical hero of enormous strength
Read More‘must you stay? can’t you go?’: origin and meanings
UK, 1897—alteration of ‘must you go? can’t you stay?’ in Collections and Recollections, by G. W. E. Russell—originally used in reference to guests’ departure
Read Moremeanings of ‘more holy than righteous’
1) a seemingly devout or respectable person who lacks virtue—2) (with a pun on ‘holey’, i.e., full of holes) jocularly applied to holey things such as clothes
Read More‘a handsome husband and a thousand a year’
UK, 1907—the ideal of an unmarried woman—the phrase was especially used when offering to an unmarried woman the last cake or piece of bread from a plate
Read Morethe theatrical phrase ‘eternity version’
jocularly denotes a performance of Shakespeare’s Hamlet in its entirety—UK, 1946—all occurrences from articles by theatre critic J. C. Trewin (1908-1990)
Read More‘God bless the Duke of Argyll’: meaning and origin
UK, 1825—the Scots, allegedly verminous, were said to rub themselves against posts erected by the Duke of Argyll and to bless the Duke when doing so
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word histories 