‘silent highway’: meaning and origin
a navigable river or canal—UK, 1841—originally and chiefly used of the River Thames
Read MoreTag: nautical
‘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
Read More‘to knock seven bells out of somebody’: meaning—and origin?
USA, 1826, as ‘to flog somebody like seven bells’—to give a severe beating to somebody—‘seven’ is perhaps simply an arbitrary intensifier—cf. phrases such as ‘like seven bells half-struck’ (‘with as much speed as possible’) and ‘to blow seven bells’ (‘to blow a violent gale’)
Read More‘to have a shot in the locker’: meanings and origin
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 More‘under the weather’: meaning and origin
USA, 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 More‘mark twain’: meaning and origin
1809—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 More‘wet blanket’: meanings and origin
literally (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
Read More‘hovercraft’: meanings and origin
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 Morenotes on ‘backwards, the way Molly went to church’
means ‘backwards’, also ‘reluctantly’—USA, 1865—of unknown origin—allegedly borrowed from Irish English, but nothing seems to support this allegation
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