notes on the nouns ‘woodpushing’ and ‘woodpusher’
‘woodpushing’: chess-playing, draughts-playing—‘woodpusher’: a chess-player, a draughts-player—refers to the wooden pieces that chess-players and draughts-players move across the board
Read MoreTag: Ireland
‘every herring must hang by its own gill’: meaning and origin
everyone is accountable for their own actions—17th century—may refer to herrings being hung when up for sale (that is to say: every piece of merchandise must sell on its own merits)
Read More‘quelle surprise!’: meaning and origin
UK, 1884—‘what a surprise!’—a borrowing from French—chiefly used ironically, to imply that a situation or event is unsurprising, typical or predictable
Read More‘for two pins’: meaning and origin
UK, 1794—expresses one’s strong and often petulant inclination to do a particular thing—here, ‘pin’ (i.e., a small, thin, pointed piece of metal) is used of the most trivial or least significant thing
Read More‘to whistle in the dark’: meaning and origin
USA, 1835—to assume a pretence of courage—originally (from 1801 onwards): with explicit reference to a child putting on a brave front by whistling in the dark
Read More‘hen do’: meaning and origin
a celebration for a woman who is about to get married, attended by her female friends and relations—UK, 1987—first used in relation to Stags and Hens (1978), a stage play by William Russell
Read More‘to wet the baby’s head’: meaning and origin
UK, 1845—to celebrate the birth of a child by drinking alcohol
Read More‘more kicks than halfpence’: meaning and origin
1785—Britain and Ireland—meaning: ‘more harshness than kindness’
Read More‘cameo’ (a minor role in a play, film): origin and early occurrences
UK, 1924, as ‘cameo part’, used of two small roles in Shakespeare’s Julius Cæsar
Read More‘bed and breakfast’: primary meaning and early occurrences
Ireland, 1803—the provision of a bed for the night and breakfast the following morning, especially at a fixed rate, in a hotel, inn, or private home
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word histories 