‘the green fairy’: meaning and origin
absinthe—UK, 1882—loan translation from French ‘la fée verte’ (1864)—‘fée’ refers to the potency of absinthe, which induces an altered state of consciousness
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‘to have a canary’: meaning and origin
chiefly Irish—to lose one’s composure, to be extremely upset—UK, 1970—probably a humorous play on ‘to have a coronary’ (i.e., to have a heart attack)
Read More‘to spit feathers’ (to be angry): early occurrences
Australia, 1940 (?)—UK, 1963—origin unknown—either somehow derived from the sense ‘to be parched’ of the phrase ‘to spit feathers’ or a distinct phrase which happens to be identical in form
Read More‘to spit feathers’ (to be parched): origin and early occurrences
USA, 1850—based on the image of a thirsty person whose mouth is so parched that it feels as if it were filled with feathers and that the person thus feels choked
Read More‘ice-cream headache’: meaning and origin
USA, 1892—severe but usually short-lived headache induced by the consumption of very cold food or drink
Read More‘to smoke like a chimney’: meaning and origin
to smoke tobacco very heavily —UK, 1824, as “smoking away like the chimney of the King of the Netherlands”
Read More‘to flap one’s gums’: meaning and origin
to chatter, i.e., to talk continuously about things regarded as trivial or unimportant—USA, 1940
Read More‘bikini body’: meanings and origin
USA, 1961—the type of body, typically slim and shapely, conventionally considered to look attractive in a bikini—hence also, by synecdoche: a woman whose body is of that type
Read More‘behind the bicycle-shed’: meaning and origin
refers to a school’s bicycle-shed as a place of seclusion in which pupils pursue prohibited activities such as fighting, smoking, etc.—1909—‘bicycle-shed’: a shed for storing bicycles when not in use
Read Moreoriginal meaning of ‘dead man’s float’
a floating position, used as a survival technique, consisting in lying on one’s back in the water—UK, 1841
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