‘donkey’s breakfast’: meanings and origin
UK, 1866, sailors’ slang: a straw mattress—Australia, 1884: a straw hat—in reference to donkeys’ diet
Read MoreTag: nautical
‘to walk the plank’: meanings and origin
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 More‘kangaroo-ship’: meaning and origin
1910s—a ship designed to carry submarines—likens the submarines carried in such ships to the immature young nursed in the abdominal pouch of female kangaroos
Read MoreAustralian use of ‘big spit’
1943: the noun ‘big spit’ designates ‘vomiting’—1952: the phrase ‘to go for the big spit’ means ‘to vomit’
Read More‘Marie Celeste’: meanings and origin
is used of a place that is found inexplicably deserted; also of a person’s sudden and inexplicable disappearance—alludes to the Mary Celeste, a U.S. cargo ship which in December 1872 was found mysteriously abandoned in the North Atlantic
Read More‘shipping forecast’: meaning and origin
Australia, 1890: an analysis of the state of the weather at sea—UK, 1926: the BBC-radio broadcast of weather reports and forecasts for the seas around the British Isles
Read More‘shoppiness’: meanings and early occurrences
UK, 1848: a tendency to ‘talk shop’—UK, 1854: something that is characteristic of a shop displaying various kinds of goods (i.e., something that is composed of disparate commonplace elements)
Read More‘silent highway’: meaning and origin
a navigable river or canal—UK, 1841—originally and chiefly used of the River Thames
Read More‘Dutch consolation’: meaning and origin
UK, 1832—consolation taken from the fact that a bad situation is not worse than it is—one of several expressions in which the adjective ‘Dutch’ is used derogatorily or derisively
Read More‘tarpaulin muster’: meaning and origin
the collecting of a pool of money, to be used either to provide assistance to some (other) person(s) or cause, or to buy drinks for the contributors—USA, 1863—nautical origin: such funds were originally collected by having the ship’s crew drop their money onto a tarpaulin
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