early occurrences of the phrase ‘a nail in the coffin’
something that hastens, or contributes to, the end of the person or thing referred to—USA, 1805 in an open letter by the English political writer Thomas Paine
Read MoreTag: drinks
meanings of the Irish-English phrase ‘like snuff at a wake’
1844—various senses, especially ‘hither and thither’ and ‘lavishly’—from the custom of sharing snuff during a vigil held beside the body of someone who has died
Read More1806: earliest definition of ‘cocktail’ (mixed drink with a spirit base)
13 May 1806—The Balance, and Columbian Repository (Hudson, New York, USA)—“a stimulating liquor, composed of spirits of any kind, sugar, water, and bitters”
Read Morenotes on the second-earliest mentions of a drink called ‘cocktail’
USA, 1803—associated with a lounger—precise meaning of ‘cocktail’ is not defined, but the word denotes an alcoholic drink apparently taken as hair of the dog
Read Moremeanings and origin of the British phrase ‘gin and Jaguar’
1963—refers to the wealthy English middle-class people, characterised as drinking gin and driving luxury cars such as Jaguars, and to the areas where they live
Read Morenotes on the earliest mention of a drink called ‘cocktail’
UK, 1798—‘cocktail’ explained as being “vulgarly called ginger”—perhaps from the use of ‘ginger’ to denote a cock with red plumage
Read Morenotes on various acceptations of the term ‘rat pack’
USA—derogatory appellation for a group of persons—1950 Los Angeles’s gangs of hoodlums—1955 self-designation of a group of Hollywood celebrities
Read Moreorigin and meanings of ‘Ruritania’ and ‘Ruritanian’
from The Prisoner of Zenda (1894), set in the fictional kingdom of Ruritania—UK, 1896: romantic adventure and intrigue; any imaginary or hypothetical country
Read Moreorigin and sense development of the verb ‘shanghai’
USA—1853 to kidnap for service aboard ship—seems to have originated in San Francisco—refers to Shanghai in China, the ships in question going to eastern Asia
Read Moremeaning and origin of the phrase ‘Barmecide feast’
UK, 1823—pretended or illusory generosity or hospitality—from the name of a prince in The Arabian Nights, who gave a beggar a feast consisting of empty dishes
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