‘bag of hammers’: meanings and origin
American English, 1874—used in particular of stupidity, as in ‘dumb as a bag of hammers’ and variants—the underlying notion is probably that anything is dumb that does all the hard work
Read MoreTag: human body
‘stupid o’clock’: meaning and origin
UK, late 1980s—the adverb ‘o’clock’ is colloquially and humorously used with adjectives to denote an unreasonably, excessively or inconveniently early or late hour—as in ‘stupid o’clock’, ‘silly o’clock’, etc.
Read More‘glam-ma’: meaning and origin
USA, 2001—a glamorous grandmother, especially one who is relatively young or fashion-conscious—a blend of the nouns ‘glamour’ and ‘grandma’
Read More‘ankle express’: meaning and origin
one’s feet as a means of travel, humorously represented as a form of public transport—from 1887 onwards in the southeastern states of Georgia and Alabama
Read More‘hobnail express’: meaning and origin
USA, 1882—one’s boots or feet as a means of travel, humorously represented as a form of public transport—refers to boots with hobnails inserted into the soles
Read More‘little-girl-lost’ | ‘little-boy-lost’: meaning and origin
USA, early 1930s—adjectives—‘little-girl-lost’: resembling (that of) a small girl who has lost her way—‘little-boy-lost’: resembling (that of) a small boy who has lost his way
Read More‘flesh-tailor’: meaning and origin
one who sews up wounds, i.e., a surgeon—also, in later use, a plastic surgeon—first recorded in ’Tis Pitty Shee’s a Whore (1633), by the English playwright John Ford
Read More‘love-bite’: meanings and origin
UK, 1749—a playful bite on the skin from a lover; a kiss delivered with a sucking action, leaving a temporary mark on the skin, especially as a sexual act; a mark left on the skin by such a kiss
Read More‘crash-test dummy’: meanings and origin
USA, 1955—a dummy used in vehicle safety tests to assess the effect of crashes, collisions, etc., on the driver and passengers of the vehicle—also, figuratively: a person or thing used as a test subject
Read More‘to get one’s panties in a bunch’: meaning and origin
also ‘in a wad’, ‘in a knot’, etc.—to become unduly agitated or angry—the plural noun ‘panties’ refers to short underpants worn by women or girls—American English, 1975
Read More
word histories 