‘brolly hop’: meaning and origin
UK, 1933—a jump made with a parachute—hence also the verbal noun ‘brolly-hopping’ and the verb ‘brolly-hop’—‘brolly’ (university slang, late 19th century): a clipped and altered form of ‘umbrella’
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‘mare nostrum’: meanings and origin
classical Latin ‘mare nostrum’, literally ‘our sea’: one of the names given by the Romans to the Mediterranean Sea—USA, 1824: any sea or other stretch of water belonging to, or under the control of, a nation
Read More‘gavroche’: meaning and origin
USA, 1863—a street urchin, especially in Paris, France—from ‘Gavroche’, the name of a street urchin in Les Misérables (1862), a novel by Victor Hugo
Read More‘parlour’ (attributive modifier): ‘parlour patriot’
‘parlour patriot’ (1797)—the earliest of the phrases in which ‘parlour’ is a depreciative attributive modifier used of a person claiming to be committed to a cause but not actually involved in the achievement of that cause—‘parlour’ is also used of the claimed commitment to a cause without actual involvement in the achievement of that cause
Read More‘armchair’ (attributive modifier)
The noun ‘armchair’ is used as an attributive modifier meaning: 1) based or taking place in the home as opposed to the world or environment outside; hence, chiefly depreciatively: 2) lacking or not involving practical or direct experience of a particular subject or activity.
Read More‘to have a person’s name on it’: meanings and origin
‘to be destined or appropriate for a particular person’—originated during the First World War as ‘to have a person’s name and number on it’, and meant, of a bullet, etc., ‘to be destined to hit a particular person’
Read More‘no names, no pack drill’: meaning and origin
UK, 1890—used to indicate that the person or persons guilty of a misdemeanour will not be named, in order to spare them recrimination—‘pack drill’: a military punishment involving a lengthy period of marching up and down carrying full equipment
Read More‘the order of the boot’: meaning and origin
dismissal from employment—UK, 1882, as ‘the noble order of the boot’—‘the boot’ refers to kicking somebody out—the phrase puns on two acceptations of ‘order’: an authoritative command and an institution founded for the purpose of honouring meritorious conduct
Read More‘butterflies in one’s stomach’: meaning and origin
USA, 1937—an uneasy sensation felt, especially in the stomach, as a result of nervousness or apprehension—based on the notion that the fluttering of butterflies may produce a similar sensation
Read More‘to have a foot in both camps’: meaning and origin
UK, 1854—to belong to, or to sympathise with, two opposite groups, factions, etc.—probably a loan translation from French ‘avoir un pied dans les deux camps’ (1843)
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