‘bibliotherapy’: meaning and origin
the use of books for therapeutic purposes, especially in the treatment of mental health conditions—USA, 1914—coined by essayist and Unitarian minister Samuel McChord Crothers (1857-1927)
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‘spider sense’: two different meanings—and two different origins
UK, 1914: an apparent ability to sense or intuit the presence of nearby spiders—USA, 1963, in reference to Spider-Man: a supernatural ability or power to perceive things beyond the normal range of human senses
Read More‘blue funk’ (American usage)
a state of depression or despair—1893—a shift in meaning of the British-English expression ‘blue funk’, denoting a state of extreme nervousness or dread (the original meaning in American English)
Read More‘drama queen’: meaning and origin
(derogatory) a person who is prone to exaggeratedly dramatic behaviour—UK, 1978
Read More‘blood wagon’: meaning and origin
UK—an ambulance (i.e., a vehicle designed to carry sick or injured people)—originally (Royal Air Force slang, 1921): a specially equipped airplane for carrying sick or injured people
Read More‘to give credit where credit is due’: meaning and origin
to acknowledge merit or achievement when it is deserved, even if one is reluctant to do so—UK, 1783
Read More‘to rob Peter to pay Paul’: meanings and origin
to take away from one person, cause, etc., in order to pay or confer something on another; to discharge one debt by incurring another—late 14th century—from the association of ‘Peter’ and ‘Paul’, the names of two leading apostles and saints, and fellow martyrs at Rome
Read More‘pizza face’: meaning and origin
a person with facial acne—Californian high-school slang, 1963—in this expression, the pimples caused by facial acne are likened to slices of pepperoni on a pizza
Read More‘baby blues’: meaning and origin
depression suffered by a mother in the period following childbirth—USA, 1940, in Expectant Motherhood, by Nicholson Joseph Eastman—variant: ‘after-the-baby blues’ (USA, 1940)
Read More‘limerence’: meaning, origin and early occurrences
the state of being romantically infatuated or obsessed with another person—USA, 1975—coined by U.S. psychologist Dorothy Tennov
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word histories 