“ad fontes!”
to have something in reserve but ready for use; to have a chance or opportunity remaining—nautical, USA, 1789—‘shot’: a projectile designed for discharge from a firearm—‘locker’: the compartment for keeping ammunition on a ship
Read MoreUSA, 1815—not completely well; slightly ill or depressed—the image is of a ship caught in a storm (the noun ‘weather’ has long been used to denote a storm)
Read More1809—U.S. nautical, obsolete: the two-fathom mark on a sounding-line—Samuel Langhorne Clemens chose it as his pen-name in 1863, but a pilot named Isaiah Sellers had first used it as his pen-name
Read Moreliterally (1618): a blanket dampened with water so as to extinguish a fire—figuratively (1775): a person or thing that has a subduing or inhibiting effect
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a vehicle which travels on a cushion of air—UK, 1958, apparently coined by engineer Christopher Sydney Cockerell—also, USA, 1958, in the sense of “a flying car”
Read Moremeans ‘backwards’, also ‘reluctantly’—USA, 1865—of unknown origin—allegedly borrowed from Irish English, but nothing seems to support this allegation
Read Morejocular—denotes ‘one who peels potatoes’—also used as a verb meaning ‘to peel potatoes’—1915, USA—other early occurrences, Australia
Read Moreto upset, to overturn—1777—origin unknown—perhaps based on Spanish ‘capuzar’, meaning ‘to sink (a ship) by the head’—or perhaps based on a Provençal compound of ‘cap’, meaning ‘head’
Read More(1836) stormy ocean tracts between latitudes 40° and 50° south—(1867) the fifth decade of life—(1888) the 1840s—(1913) the stretch of Broadway through Times Square, in New York City—(nautical slang) naval commanders aged between 40 and 50 who ‘roar’ commands
Read MoreLiverpool (Lancashire, north-western England), 1833—a speculating builder who constructs cheap houses, flats, etc., with materials of poor quality, for a quick profit—the origin of the element ‘jerry’ is unknown
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