‘hope chest’: meaning and origin

2nd Apr 2023.Reading time 15 minutes.

a chest or box in which a young woman collects articles towards a home of her own in the event of her marriage—USA, 1904

‘bottom drawer’: meaning and origin

31st Mar 2023.Reading time 10 minutes.

a young woman’s collection of clothes and household articles, kept in preparation for her marriage—UK, 1835?—refers to the (notional?) receptacle where those clothes and household articles are supposed to be kept

‘to tickle the dragon(’s tail)’: meaning and origin

29th Mar 2023.Reading time 13 minutes.

to undertake a dangerous or hazardous operation or activity—UK, 1867, as ‘to tickle the dragon’s nose’—‘to tickle the dragon’s tail’ was used of a nuclear experiment at Los Alamos during WWII

‘spoils system’: meaning and origin

25th Mar 2023.Reading time 14 minutes.

the practice of filling appointive public offices with friends and supporters of the ruling political party—USA, 1834—from “to the victor belong the spoils of the enemy”, used in 1832 by Senator William Marcy

‘dead-cat strategy’: meaning and origin

24th Mar 2023.Reading time 13 minutes.

the strategy consisting in deliberately making a shocking announcement in order to divert attention from a difficulty in which one is embroiled—from the image of throwing a dead cat on the table—first defined in 2013 by Boris Johnson

‘drama queen’: meaning and origin

19th Mar 2023.Reading time 11 minutes.

(derogatory) a person who is prone to exaggeratedly dramatic behaviour—UK, 1978

‘wet blanket’: meanings and origin

18th Mar 2023.Reading time 10 minutes.

literally (1618): a blanket dampened with water so as to extinguish a fire—figuratively (1775): a person or thing that has a subduing or inhibiting effect

‘to put two and two together’: meaning and origin

17th Mar 2023.Reading time 10 minutes.

to draw an obvious inference from available evidence—early 19th century—but ‘two and two make four’, used as as a paradigm of the obvious conclusion, is first recorded in the late 17th century

‘that makes two of us’: meaning and origin

15th Mar 2023.Reading time 9 minutes.

used conversationally to declare, often ironically, that one shares the opinion, sentiment, predicament, etc., of the previous speaker—USA, early 20th century

‘truth is stranger than fiction’: meaning and origin

14th Mar 2023.Reading time 7 minutes.

real events and situations are often more remarkable or incredible than those made up in fiction—first occurred as ‘truth is always strange, stranger than fiction’ in Don Juan (1823), by George Gordon Byron