meaning and early instances of the phrase ‘tooth fairy’
‘tooth fairy’—USA, 1908: a fairy believed by children to take away milk teeth and leave a small sum of money or a small gift under the child’s pillow
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origin of ‘eavesdrop’
‘To eavesdrop’ originally referred to standing within the eavesdrop (the ground on to which water drips from the eaves of a house) in order to overhear what is going on inside.
Read Moremeaning and origin of ‘ivory tower’ (‘tour d’ivoire’)
1837—used by Sainte-Beuve to describe French poet Vigny’s seclusion in a turret room and preoccupation with inspiration unconnected with practical matters
Read Moremeaning and origin of the phrase ‘a nod is as good as a wink’
‘a nod’s as good as a wink (to a blind horse)’ 18th century—acknowledges that a hint or suggestion has been understood without the need of further elaboration
Read More‘itchy feet’, ‘itching palm’: restless desires
As qualifiers of nouns denoting bodily organs, ‘itchy’ and ‘itching’ denote a restless desire—‘itchy feet’, US, 1900s—‘itching palm’, Shakespeare, circa 1599
Read Moremeaning and origin of the phrase ‘let’s return to our muttons’
to return to the matter in hand—from French ‘revenons à nos moutons’ (‘let’s return to our sheep’), allusion to ‘La Farce de Maistre Pierre Pathelin’ (ca 1457)
Read Morethe emergence of ‘boycott’ in The Freeman’s Journal, Dublin, in 1880
from the name of Captain Charles C. Boycott, land agent in Ireland, who was ostracised for refusing to reduce rents during the Land League agitation in 1880
Read Moreorigin of ‘to break the ice’
from the image of breaking the frozen surface of a river in order to make a passage for boats – probably from Latin ‘scindere glaciem’, in Erasmus’s Adages
Read More‘bad hair day’ (when everything seems to go badly)
US, 1990s—a day on which one’s hair is unmanageable, hence a day on which everything seems to go wrong, a period of unusual agitation, frustration or uneasiness
Read Moresome British uses of ‘the enemy within’
a threat within a community, nation, etc., as distinct from an external enemy—infamously used of British miners’ leaders by Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in 1984
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word histories 