origin of ‘don’t spoil the ship for a ha’p’orth of tar’
from ‘to lose a sheep for a halfpennyworth of tar’—refers to the use of tar to protect sores and wounds on sheep from flies (‘sheep’ was pronounced ‘ship’)
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meaning and origin of ‘all Lombard Street to a China orange’
UK (early form: 1763): a fanciful bet wagering the wealth that is available in Lombard Street—a centre of London banking—against something of trifling value
Read Moreorigin of ‘bedlam’: the Hospital of St. Mary of Bethlehem
late Middle English—early form of ‘Bethlehem’, originally referring to the Hospital of St. Mary of Bethlehem in London, used as an institution for the insane
Read Morethe Romany origin of the British ‘chav’
UK, 1990s—either from Romany ‘čhavo’, an unmarried Romani male, a male Romani child, or from English or Anglo-Romany ‘chavvy’, a baby, a child
Read More‘to leave in the lurch’: meaning and origin
to desert someone in trouble—late 16th cent.—from French ‘lourche’, which denoted a game resembling backgammon and was used as an adjective meaning discomfited
Read Moreorigin of ‘to take time by the forelock’
Opportunity was represented as woman completely bald except for a forelock: she can only be seized as she runs towards someone, not be caught thereafter.
Read Morethe origin of ‘spud’ (potato)
The noun ‘spud’, originally the name for the digging implement used to dig up potatoes, was applied to the latter in the 19th century.
Read Morethe authentic origin of ‘between the devil and the deep blue sea’
early 17th century, with ‘the Dead Sea’ and ‘the deep sea’—originated in the image of a choice between damnation (‘the Devil’) and drowning (‘the sea’)
Read Morethe authentic origin of ‘the devil to pay’
refers to a person making a pact with the Devil: the heavy price has to be paid in the end—unrelated to the nautical phrase ‘the devil to pay and no pitch hot’
Read Moremeaning and origin of ‘to warm the cockles of one’s heart’
late 17th century—probably based on the resemblance between the shape of the heart and that of a cockleshell – or of the body the shell protects
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word histories 