“ad fontes!”
UK, 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
Read More1851—to depart unnoticed or without permission—one of several phrases in which the adjective ‘Dutch’ is used derogatorily or derisively
Read MoreUSA, 1869—originally and chiefly used in relation to the Wild West, refers to a decisive confrontation between two gunfighters
Read MoreUK, 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
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