“ad fontes!”
1962: a type of popular music that is rapidly discarded—also, 1967: Benjamin Britten’s War Requiem, regarded as a lachrymose piece of music by Igor Stravinsky—‘Kleenex’: a proprietary name for a soft, disposable paper tissue
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‘not under any circumstances’—Royal Air Force slang, 1942—short for ‘not on your Nelly Duff’, i.e., ‘not on your life’, ‘Nelly Duff’ being rhyming slang for ‘puff’ as used colloquially in the sense of ‘life’
Read MoreUK, 1821—‘muslin’: women regarded collectively as objects of sexual desire—‘a bit of muslin’: a woman regarded as an object of sexual desire
Read Moresomeone who is extremely nervous, worried or tense—UK, 1832—originally (18th century) in physiology: a set of nervous fibres bound closely together
Read MoreUSA, 1985—an inveterate liar—coined after, and in reference to, the expressions ‘serial killer’ and ‘serial murderer’
Read Morean overly timid, cautious or fearful person—U.S. politics, 1921—originally used of U.S. lawyer and politician Frank B. Kellogg
Read MoreUK, 1833—the expression ‘baking hot’ is used of excessive heat—in this expression, the adverb ‘baking’ is an intensifier
Read MoreUSA, 1900: to get a stage act ready—Canada, 1961: to organise oneself to undertake or achieve something—from ‘to get together’ (i.e., to organise, put in order, harmonise)
Read Morealso ‘to shoot the red light’, ‘to shoot the amber’, etc.—to drive past a traffic-light when it indicates that one should stop—UK, 1934, as ‘to shoot the lights’
Read Morealso ‘to shoot the red light’, ‘to shoot the amber’, etc.—to drive past a traffic-light when it indicates that one should stop—USA, 1926, as ‘to shoot the yellow’
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word histories 