“ad fontes!”
USA & UK, 1995—to take a pregnancy test of a type involving urinating on a disposable plastic stick which immediately indicates the result—also, more generally: to take any of various other diagnostic tests of this type
Read Moremore than one can count, a considerable amount or number—USA, 1808—probably refers to a stick that is used as a pointer in the process of counting
Read Morea person who believes that the planet Earth is flat—USA, 1896—earlier synonym: ‘flat-earth man’ (UK, 1872) applied to John Hampden (1819-1891)
Read MoreUK, 1911—a sharp blow to the back of the neck—refers to the practice of killing rabbits in this way, and originated in boxing—Australia, 1913: ‘rabbit killer’, also ‘rabbit-killer punch’
Read Morea person exercising an insidious or corrupting influence, especially over a ruler, government, etc.—UK, 1917—refers to Grigori Efimovich Rasputin (circa 1869-1916), mystic and influential favourite at the court of Tsar Nicholas II
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a police station—USA, 1882—here, the noun ‘cop’ designates a police officer and the noun ‘shop’ designates the place where one works
Read Morehaving a large or inexhaustible appetite for words—USA, 1858—coined by the U.S. physician and author Oliver Wendell Holmes (1809-1894)
Read MoreUK, 1923—the north-east corner of Hyde Park, London, near Marble Arch, where public speaking and debate are traditionally permitted with minimal restriction—by extension: any location where public speaking and debate are permitted or encouraged
Read Morewealth gained in one generation of a family will be lost by the third generation—USA, 1874—refers to a hard-working man wearing a shirt with nothing over it
Read Morewealth gained in one generation of a family will be lost by the third generation—UK, 1842, as “there is but one generation in Lancashire between clog and clog”—refers to clogs being typically worn by factory workers
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