‘stalkerazzo’: meaning and origin
USA, 1995—a freelance videographer or photographer, characterised as being extremely aggressive in pursuing celebrities to video or photograph them—a blend of the nouns ‘stalker’ and ‘paparazzo’
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‘spider sense’: two different meanings—and two different origins
UK, 1914: an apparent ability to sense or intuit the presence of nearby spiders—USA, 1963, in reference to Spider-Man: a supernatural ability or power to perceive things beyond the normal range of human senses
Read More‘chumocracy’: meaning and origin
chiefly UK politics—a culture characterised by influential networks of close friends—from ‘chum’ (a close friend) and ‘‑ocracy’ (forming nouns designating forms of government or groups who exercise political or social power)
Read More‘to frighten seven bells out of somebody’: meaning and origin
New Zealand (1890) & Australia (1891)—to terrify somebody—probably modelled on the earlier phrase ‘to knock seven bells out of somebody’ (‘to give a severe beating to somebody’)
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‘Black-Eye Friday’: meaning and origin
UK & Ireland, 2005—the last Friday before Christmas—refers to the high number of fights caused by revellers on that day
Read More‘old Spanish custom’: meaning, origin and early occurrences
USA, 1924—a questionable or unorthodox practice that has long been established—from literal uses (19th century onwards) referring to former Spanish colonies in America
Read More‘to sign on the dotted line’: meanings and origin
(literally) to formally agree to something by signing an official document—(figuratively) to make a firm commitment about something—USA, 1900s, in reference to life-insurance contracts
Read More‘sneaky-beaky’: meaning and origin
an intelligence operative, also an intelligence operation—UK, 1966—from ‘sneaky’ (furtive, deceitful) and ‘beaky’ (referring to an overly inquisitive person, with allusion to a prominent nose)
Read More‘power behind the throne’: meaning and origin
a person who covertly exercises power by personal influence over a ruler or government without having any formal authority—ascribed to William Pitt the Elder by William Godwin in 1783
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