“ad fontes!”
to hurry up (1849 in Charles Dickens’s David Copperfield); the image is of a skater gliding rapidly over an ice surface—also, in early use (USA, 1886): to get drunk; the rolling gait of a drunk person is likened to the swaying motion of an ice skater
Read MoreUK & Ireland, 2005—the last Friday before Christmas—refers to the high number of fights caused by revellers on that day
Read Morehighly convincing circumstantial evidence—USA, 1862—ascribed to Henry David Thoreau—refers to the practice of surreptitiously diluting milk with stream-water
Read MoreUSA, 1930—a rhetorical question calling attention to a non-sequitur or irrelevant statement or suggestion made by another person—one of the phrases built on the pattern ‘what has that got to do with the price of ——?’
Read MoreIreland, 1891—used in negative contexts to denote rejection, especially in ‘not for all the tea in China’, meaning ‘not in any circumstances’—refers to China as a major producer of tea, and to tea as a commodity of great value
Read MoreAustralia, 1846—the name of a coarse green tea drunk in the bush—this name referred to the colour of this tea and to its awful taste
Read Morehumorous variant of ‘one man’s meat is another man’s poison’—USA, 1938—used in particular to play on the surnames ‘Mead’ and ‘Meade’
Read Morea person who struggles for a livelihood, and who displays great determination in so doing—Australia, 1974—originally applied to the Australian television host, radio presenter and singer Ernie Sigley
Read Moredrunk—Australia, 1983—refers to Bourke Street, one of the main streets in the centre of Melbourne, Victoria—in Australian English, the adjective ‘full’ is used in various phrases referring to drunkenness
Read Morea wine, or a vintage, produced in a year in which a notable comet appeared, and therefore thought to be of superior quality—UK—‘comet wine’ 1817—‘comet vintage’ 1819
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word histories 