meaning and origin of ‘eager beaver’
1942—In US Air Force’s slang, ‘eager beaver’ denoted an alert and efficient student cadet, with allusion to the animal’s industriousness.
Read MoreTag: military
meaning and origin of ‘to come the old soldier over someone’
British, 1810—to use one’s greater age or experience to deceive someone or to shirk a duty—from ‘old soldier’ meaning ‘a person much experienced in something’
Read Moremeanings of ‘up in Annie’s room’
late 1910s: an answer to an enquiry as to the whereabouts of someone who cannot be found—1930s: the space at the top of the dartboard where scores are doubled
Read Moremeaning and origin of ‘an albatross around one’s neck’
In allusion to The Tale of the Ancyent Marinere (1798), by Samuel Taylor Coleridge: the albatross killed by the mariner is hung around his neck as punishment.
Read Moremeaning and origin of ‘everything but the kitchen sink’
The phrase ‘everything but the kitchen sink’, or ‘the kitchen stove’, and variants mean ‘practically everything imaginable’—origin: USA, early 20th century
Read More‘no man’s land’ and three different types of death
‘no man’s land’—first a place of execution outside London; then a mass burial ground during the Black Death; later an unoccupied zone between opposing forces
Read Moremeaning and origin of the phrase ‘all Sir Garnet’
‘all Sir Garnet’ (late 19th cent.): highly satisfactory – from the name of Sir Garnet Wolseley (1833-1913), who conducted successful military expeditions
Read Morethe rise of the ‘pin-up girl’
‘pin-up’—US, 1941, in ‘pin-up girl’, denoting a woman being the subject of a picture that a serviceman displays on a locker-door, on a wall, etc.
Read Morethe authentic origin of ‘to turn a blind eye’
early 19th century—shortening of ‘to turn the deaf ear and the blind eye’ and variants
Read Moremeanings of ‘Tom Tiddler’s ground’
a game in which the player who has the role of Tom Tiddler defends his territory against the others, who try to steal his money—hence a source of easy money
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