‘green about the gills’: meaning and origin
looking or feeling ill or nauseated—1843, in a letter by Charles Dickens—when applied to a person, the plural noun ‘gills’ designates the flesh under the jaws and ears; also the cheeks
Read MoreTag: animals
‘every herring must hang by its own gill’: meaning and origin
everyone is accountable for their own actions—17th century—may refer to herrings being hung when up for sale (that is to say: every piece of merchandise must sell on its own merits)
Read More‘like herrings in a barrel’: meaning and origin
crowded or confined tightly together—Britain, 1706—in early use, this phrase often referred to the transatlantic slave trade
Read More‘(as) thick as herrings’: meaning and origin
said of a great number of persons or things, especially when pressed against one another—UK, 1776—refers to herrings in a barrel
Read More‘to have come down in the last shower’: meaning and origin
New Zealand, 1877, & Australia, 1878—to be inexperienced, to be gullible
Read More‘beeswax’ (i.e., ‘business’): meaning and origin
U.S. slang, 1908—the noun ‘beeswax’ is humorously substituted for the noun ‘business’ (i.e., things that are one’s concern), these two nouns sharing a similar-sounding initial syllable
Read More‘Cambridgeshire nightingale’: meaning and origin
UK, 1844—the edible frog (‘Rana esculenta’)—in reference to Cambridgeshire, a county of eastern England, and to the frog’s nocturnal croaking
Read More‘Dutch nightingale’: meaning and origin
1710: any of various species of frog producing a call or song—one of several phrases in which the adjective ‘Dutch’ is used derogatorily or derisively
Read More‘Nessie’: meaning and origin
January 1934, in the Daily Record and Mail (Glasgow, Scotland)—composed of ‘Ness’ in ‘Loch Ness’ and the suffix ‘-ie’, used to form pet names
Read Morenineteenth-century deriding of the Loch Ness monster
Scotland—1852: illustrates how people will react when spotting unidentified creatures in Loch Ness—1892: mocks the many alleged sightings of the sea-serpent at that time
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word histories 