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Tag: dogs

‘the night’s (only) a pup’: meaning and origin

19th Dec 2020.Reading time 12 minutes.

colloquial, Australia, 1910—‘the night’s (only) a pup’, or ‘the day’s (only) a pup’, means the night, or the day, is young—refers to ‘pup’ in the sense of a young dog

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the Australian phrase ‘to kill a brown dog’: meanings, origin

10th Nov 2019.Reading time 13 minutes.

1950—used of a substance causing death or illness, and by extension of something powerful or disastrous—refers to red kelpie sheep dogs, who can ingest anything

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the British and Irish phrase ‘No-Mates’ (friendless)

26th Oct 2019.Reading time 16 minutes.

UK, 1993—a person, usually a man, regarded as friendless—often used as a humorous surname following a generic first name such as ‘Billy’

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early history of the phrase ‘the dog ate my homework’

2nd Oct 2019.Reading time 11 minutes.

far-fetched excuse for failing to hand in school homework—1st recorded UK 1929 but had already long been in usage at that time—dog eating a sermon UK 1894

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meaning and possible origin of ‘the (dog’s) bollocks’

27th Apr 2019.Reading time 10 minutes.

UK, 1980s—the very best—perhaps from ‘it sticks out like a dog’s ballocks’, denoting something obvious, hence someone or something that sticks out from the rest

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meaning and origin of the British phrase ‘a racing dog’s bollocks’

26th Apr 2019.Reading time 6 minutes.

UK, 1988—used in similes to denote something that protrudes—originated in British military slang

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the history of ‘dog’s breakfast’ and ‘dog’s dinner’

25th Apr 2019.Reading time 22 minutes.

UK—a confused mess—alludes to the jumbled nature of a dog’s meal—‘like a dog’s dinner’: over-elaborately or ostentatiously dressed

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meaning, origin and early instances of ‘to lie doggo’

18th Apr 2019.Reading time 13 minutes.

UK, 1882—to remain motionless and quiet; to keep a low profile—probably from ‘dog’ and suffix ‘-o’, with allusion to the characteristically light sleep of a dog

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meaning and origin of the phrase ‘the tail wags the dog’

19th Mar 2019.Reading time 11 minutes.

USA, 1870—an unimportant or subsidiary factor, person or thing dominates the situation—based on the image of the inversion of the natural order

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meaning and origin of the phrase ‘like a dog with two tails’

29th Nov 2018.Reading time 8 minutes.

USA, 1822—extremely pleased, delighted—alludes to the belief that a dog wags its tail as a sign of pleasure or happiness

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