“ad fontes!”
late 18th century, in the context of piracy: to walk along a plank placed over the side of a ship until one falls into the sea—hence, figuratively, early 19th century: to be forced to resign from one’s office or position
Read MoreUSA, 1913—an extremely large area—the second half of this phrase varies, in particular according to the speaker’s locality
Read Moreearly 19th century—pandemonium, great trouble or difficulty—often in ‘to kick up hell’s delight’, meaning: to cause a great deal of trouble or difficulty
Read MoreUK, 1828: an extremely severe clerical schoolmaster—Australia, 1885: any extremely severe magistrate, originally in reference to Parramatta magistrate Samuel Marsden (1765-1838)
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USA, 1937—a device with a revolving cage or drum, used in a game of bingo to mix up the numbered balls or slips, or for drawing numbers or prize tickets in a lottery, tombola, etc.
Read MoreUSA, 1858—any man—often in contexts in which a person, especially a woman, is disparagingly characterised as sexually promiscuous or indiscriminate
Read MoreUSA, 1874—a joke made at the expense of the joke-teller’s (real or fictitious) mother-in-law; this type of joke considered (especially depreciatively) as a genre
Read Morea narrow escape from danger, disaster or mishap—UK, 1820—refers to the act of shaving with a cutthroat razor, which may result in injury
Read More1901—a look inviting sexual interest—hence, the adjective ‘bedroom-eyed’ (1925), which means: giving a look inviting sexual interest
Read MoreNew Zealand, 1877, & Australia, 1878—to be inexperienced, to be gullible
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word histories 