meaning and origin of the British phrase ‘to give it some welly’
to put more effort in it—1976 with reference to putting one’s foot down on the accelerator pedal in a motor vehicle
Read MoreTag: Ireland
meaning and origin of the phrase ‘wigs on the green’
Ireland, 1820—violent quarrel—refers to the fact that wigs are liable to fall or to be pulled off in a fray
Read Moreorigin of the catchphrase ‘Alas! my poor brother’
from an advertisement for the concentrated beef extract Bovril, showing a bullock lamenting over a jar of the product
Read Moremeaning and origin of the Northern-Irish term ‘Tartan gang’
1971—any of the Protestant street gangs of young men in Northern Ireland—from their traditional support of Glasgow Rangers Football Club
Read Moremeaning and origin of the football term ‘Tartan army’
England, 1971—(informal, humorous) the fans of the Scottish football team, considered as a group
Read Moremeaning and origin of the phrase ‘alarums and excursions’
confused activity and uproar—alludes to the frequent collocation of ‘alarum’ and ‘excursion’ in stage directions in Shakespearean drama
Read Moremeanings and early instances of ‘alive and kicking’
UK, 1807—(of someone) active and in good health—(of something) prevalent and very active
Read Morethe coinage of an Irish political term: ‘whataboutery’
1974—coined by the Irish journalist John Healy with reference to the Troubles in Northern Ireland
Read Moreorigin and sense development of Anglo-Irish ‘bejesus’
1825, Anglo-Irish alteration of ‘by Jesus’—1867 as one word—‘the bejesus out of’ (1931) intensifies the action conveyed by the preceding verb
Read Moremeaning and origin of the phrase ‘like the clappers’
very fast, or very hard—UK, 1942, RAF slang—alludes to the moving metal piece within a bell, which strikes it and produces the sound
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