Primary Menu
  • home
  • alphabetical index
  • about me
  • contact
  • donate
word histories

word histories

“ad fontes!”

Tag: Jack Lait

‘café-hopping’: original meaning

15th Oct 2026.Reading time 7 minutes.

USA, 1917—the practice of enjoying the nightlife of a city or town by visiting multiple bars and nightclubs

Read More

‘to put a zipper on somebody’s mouth’: meaning and origin

25th Jul 2026.Reading time 11 minutes.

to make somebody stop talking, or to prevent somebody from talking—USA, 1930—refers to the noun ‘zipper’, designating a fastening device

Read More

history of the phrase ‘a bowl of cherries’

22nd Jun 2019.Reading time 23 minutes.

USA 1931—a highly enjoyable situation or experience—from ‘life is just a bowl of cherries’ 1928—popularised by song ‘Life Is Just a Bowl of Cherries’ 1931

Read More
Creative Commons License
All posts by word histories are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International Licence.

Search this blog

Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 878 other subscribers.
Follow word histories on WordPress.com

Categories

arts Australia & New Zealand etymology French/English linguistics literature media music public affairs religion symbolisms United Kingdom & Ireland USA & Canada

Main Tags

animals Australia Christianity dictionaries drinks economics food human body Ireland judicial Latin military newspapers & magazines phrases politics slang sports & games theatre United Kingdom USA

links

  • Académie française
  • Australian newspapers, magazines and journals, books, and other formats
  • British and Irish newspaper archive
  • Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers
  • CNRTL (Centre national de ressources textuelles et lexicales)
  • Collins Dictionary
  • Dictionaries of the Scots Language / Dictionars o the Scots Leid
  • Dictionary of South African English
  • English, French and Latin dictionaries
  • Gallica (bibliothèque numérique de la Bibliothèque nationale de France)
  • Irish newspaper archive
  • Lexilogos (a comprehensive set of resources for the study of the languages of the world)
  • Llyfrgell Genedlaethol Cymru / The National Library of Wales
  • Merriam-Webster Dictionary
  • New-Zealand and Pacific newspapers, magazines and journals, books, and other formats
  • Newspaper archive
  • RhymeHamster (rhyming dictionary)
  • The Australian National Dictionary
  • U.S. newspaper archive

  • Subscribe Subscribed
    word histories
    Join 878 other subscribers.

    Have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.

  • word histories
    View site in Reader
    Manage subscriptionsSign upLog in
    Report this content
    Collapse this bar
This website uses cookies. By continuing, you agree to their use. Learn more, including how we use cookies and how you can change your settings.