the early uses of ‘cool Britannia’ and their meanings
UK and Canada, from 1903 onwards—punningly alludes to ‘Rule Britannia’ (1740), the title of a popular patriotic song
Read MoreTag: nautical
meaning and origin of the phrase ‘like a dog with two tails’
USA, 1822—extremely pleased, delighted—alludes to the belief that a dog wags its tail as a sign of pleasure or happiness
Read Moremeaning and early instances of the phrase ‘like shooting fish in a barrel’
very easy to accomplish—USA, 1902, although recorded in 1898 with perhaps a different meaning
Read Moremeaning and origin of the phrase ‘to keep an ear to the ground’
USA, 1815—from the practice of putting one’s ear to the ground in order to detect the vibration of sounds in the distance before they can actually be heard
Read Morehistory of ‘crow’s nest’ (lookout platform on a ship’s mast)
UK, early 19th century—The invention of the crow’s nest is attributed to the Arctic whaler William Scoresby Senior (1760-1829).
Read Moreorigin of the phrase ‘as the crow flies’ (in a straight line)
Attested in 1761, ‘as the crow flies’ originally referred to the interior of a country; it did not originate in a practice of early navigation at sea.
Read Moreorigin of the phrase ‘three sheets in the wind’ (drunk)
comparison between a drunken person and a ship careering because the sheets (ropes controlling the sets of the sails) are hanging freely
Read MoreHow a cartoon popularised ‘to drop the pilot’.
John Tenniel popularised the phrase in a cartoon depicting the dismissal of Otto von Bismarck, published in Punch (London) of 29 March 1890.
Read Moreorigin of the Irish-English phrase ‘up the pole’ (‘pregnant’)
probably refers to pregnancy as an awkward condition, the image being apparently of an uncomfortable position at the top of a pole
Read Moremeaning and origin of ‘as dead as the dodo’
UK, 1852—of a person or thing: irretrievably defunct or out of date—with reference to the extinct bird of Mauritius
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