“ad fontes!”
UK, 1820—to show willingness to enter into a contest or take up a challenge, especially in business or politics—originally (1804) used in boxing with reference to the custom of throwing a hat into the ring to signal willingness to enter a contest
Read MoreThe adjective ‘living’ is an intensifier, and ‘daylights’ is an 18th-century slang term for ‘eyes’ chiefly used in contexts of physical violence or threats.
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‘in this day and age’ (‘at the present time’)—USA, 1832—tautology, that is to say, ‘day’ and ‘age’ are synonymous, ‘day’ meaning ‘a period of time’
Read MoreUSA, 1951—used as a humorous way of recommending someone not to pursue something at which they are unlikely to be successful
Read Morecoined as ‘tired and overwrought’ in ‘Private Eye’ (London) of 29 September 1967 about British Labour politician George Brown (1914-85)
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based on the notion of execution by beheading—popularised by a literal threat of executions made on 25th September 1930 by Adolf Hitler
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the problems with the “novel origin story for ‘Indian Summer’” put forward by Matthew R. Halley in Notes and Queries (September 2017)
Read MoreUnnamed cocktails consisting of vodka and tomato juice became fashionable in the 1930s before the name ‘Bloody Mary’ was coined in November 1939.
Read MoreUSA—‘hatchet man’ (1874): a hired Chinese assassin using a hatchet or cleaver—‘hatchet work’ (1895): a murder carried out by a hatchet man
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word histories 