origin of ‘all my eye and Betty Martin’
second half of the 18th century—a mere fanciful extension of ‘all my eye’—maintained in a sort of artificial life by persistent conjectures about its origin
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the authentic origin of ‘to bite the bullet’
late 19th century—from the practice consisting, for a soldier, in biting on a bullet when being flogged
Read More‘adultescent’ and its synonyms
blend of ‘adult’ and ‘adolescent’: adult who has retained the interests, behaviour or lifestyle of adolescence — origin USA, first attested in 1945
Read Morethe appearance of the phrase ‘cross my heart (and hope to die)’
origin: USA – 2nd half of the 19th century – from the action of making a small sign of the cross over one’s heart, which sometimes accompanies the words
Read Moremeaning and origin of ‘hairy eyeball’
‘hairy eyeball’ (late 20th cent., USA): an intent look—refers either to the eyeballs looking ‘hairy’ when the eyes are narrowed or to batting one’s eyelashes
Read Moremeaning and origin of the phrase ‘keep your hair on’
‘keep your hair on’ (British, late 19th century): perhaps from the image of pulling one’s hair out, or one’s wig off, in exasperation, anger or frustration
Read Moremeaning and origin of the phrase ‘to wet one’s whistle’
In ‘to wet one’s whistle’ (to take a drink), attested in the late 14th century, in Chaucer, ‘whistle’ is jocular for the mouth or the throat.
Read Moremeaning and origin of the phrase ‘to pull someone’s leg’
‘To pull someone’s leg’ is perhaps from the image of tripping someone literally or figuratively, of putting them at a disadvantage to make them appear foolish.
Read Moreorigin of the word ‘sneeze’
The verb ‘sneeze’ is an alteration of the obsolete verb ‘fnese’ due to misreading or misprinting it as ‘ſnese’ (= ‘snese’).
Read Moremeaning and origin of the phrase ‘to lick into shape’
This phrase originated in the belief that bear cubs were born formless and had to be licked into shape by their mother.
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word histories 