‘dusty answer’: meaning and origin
an unhelpful or bad-tempered reply—1862 in Modern Love, by George Meredith—this sense of ‘dusty’ is related to corresponding uses of ‘dust’, as in ‘dry as dust’
Read More‘to rattle one’s dags’: meaning and origin
New Zealand, 1968—to hurry up—‘dags’: clumps of matted wool and dung which hang around a sheep’s rear end—the allusion is to the rattling sound of a sheep’s dags when it runs
Read More‘couldn’t train a choko vine over a country dunny’: meaning and origin
Australia, 1969—is used of an ineffectual person—‘choko’ (i.e., ‘chayote’): the cucumber-like fruit of a cucurbitaceous vine (‘Sechium edule’)
Read More‘girlboss’: meaning and origin
an entrepreneurial, ambitious woman; especially one who runs her own business—USA, 1895
Read More‘shabby chic’: meaning and origin
someone or something that is fashionably or artfully dishevelled or dilapidated—in early use: someone or something whose dishevelment or dilapidation is unintentionally attractive or fashionable—USA, 1901
Read More‘beer-belly’: meanings and origin
1615—a protruding belly caused by excessive beer drinking; a person (typically a man) who has a protruding belly caused by excessive beer drinking
Read More‘beer-can chicken’: meaning and origin
USA (Louisiana), 1996—a dish consisting of a chicken which has been cooked with an open can of beer wedged inside the cavity
Read More‘hoop snake’: meaning and origin
USA, 1784—a mythical snake that puts its tail in its mouth and then rolls after its intended victim—also, occasionally: ‘horn snake’, with reference to a horny sting in the snake’s tail
Read More‘drop bear’: meaning and origin
Australia, 1967—a mythical creature, similar in appearance to a koala, that drops from trees to kill and eat prey, including humans
Read More‘like a duck takes to water’: meaning and origin
easily, readily—UK, 1825
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