‘Beatle boot’: meaning and origin
UK & Ireland, 1963—a type of ankle boot worn by men, that was popularised by the Beatles
Read MoreTag: Beatles
‘Beatledom’: meanings and origin
UK, 1963—with reference to the Beatles, a pop and rock group from Liverpool: the fact, or state, of being, or of resembling, a member of the Beatles; the world of the Beatles
Read Morenotes on the phrase ‘to be more popular than Jesus’
notoriously used of the Beatles by John Lennon in an interview published in the Evening Standard (London, England) of 4 March 1966—but had been used earlier, for example in 1927 of Charlie Chaplin
Read More‘Beatlemania’: meaning and early occurrences
UK, 1963—with reference to the Beatles, a pop and rock group from Liverpool: the frenzied behaviour of the Beatles’ admirers; addiction to the Beatles and their characteristics
Read Morea British phrase: ‘to go like a bomb’
from the image of a speeding explosive projectile—primary meaning (of a motorcar, an aircraft, a motorcycle, an animal, a person): to move very fast—later (also ‘to go down like a bomb’ and ‘to go down a bomb’): to be very successful or popular
Read More‘grotty’: meaning and origin
UK—a general term of disapproval, meaning ‘unpleasant’, ‘dirty’, ‘nasty’, ‘ugly’, etc.—shortened form of ‘grotesque’—first recorded in (and popularised by) A Hard Day’s Night (1964), a musical comedy film starring the Beatles
Read More‘antwacky’: meaning and origin
UK, 1975—old-fashioned; out of date—perhaps a humorous alteration of the adjective ‘antique’, perhaps punningly after the adjective ‘wacky’—or perhaps derived from ‘Ann Twack’, rhyming slang for ‘crap’
Read More‘stick it up your jumper’: meaning and origin
UK, 1968—British and Australian: expresses indifference towards, or rejection of, a suggestion—from ‘Umpa, Umpa, Stick It Up Your Jumper’, a song recorded in 1935 by The Two Leslies (Leslie Sarony and Leslie Holmes)
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