“ad fontes!”
Australia—‘the block’: a street or area in a city or town in which it is fashionable to promenade—‘to do the block’: to promenade in such a street or area—1868, in reference to a section of Collins Street in Melbourne
Read MoreAustralia—1897: the typical bushman—1915: the typical Australian private soldier—a blend of the male forenames ‘Bill’ and ‘Jim’, as often used of bushmen
Read More1943: the noun ‘big spit’ designates ‘vomiting’—1952: the phrase ‘to go for the big spit’ means ‘to vomit’
Read More1933—a generally accepted notion or opinion—borrowed from French ‘idée reçue’ (i.e., ‘received idea’)—originally with reference to ‘Dictionnaire des idées reçues’, by Gustave Flaubert
Read Morea complete certainty—USA, 1887 in the context of horse-racing—of unknown origin
Read Morerefers to a person who is ignorant or dismissive of the hardships of others—alludes to the phrase “let them eat cake”, attributed to Marie Antoinette, wife of King of France Louis XVI
Read Moreis used of a place that is found inexplicably deserted; also of a person’s sudden and inexplicable disappearance—alludes to the Mary Celeste, a U.S. cargo ship which in December 1872 was found mysteriously abandoned in the North Atlantic
Read MoreUSA—1941 (slang of the Marines): a state of disorder or confusion—1959 (High-School slang): a prank in which the occupants of a vehicle which has temporarily come to a stop must jump out, run around the vehicle and get back in
Read More(UK, 1775): a dance blindfold among eggs—hence, figuratively (UK, 1856): an intricate and difficult task—also used as a verb
Read Moreto promote somebody to an ostensibly higher position where they will be out of the way and less influential—jocular variant of ‘to kick somebody downstairs’, meaning to eject somebody
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word histories 