origin of ‘blanket’ and of phrases containing ‘blanket’
‘blanket’: from Old-Northern-French and Anglo-Norman forms such as ‘blankete’ (white woollen material), composed of ‘blanc’ (white) and the diminutive suffix ‘-ette’
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meaning and origin of ‘to be part and parcel of’
from the legal formula ‘part and parcel’, in which both nouns meant ‘an integral portion of something’, the second noun merely reinforcing the first
Read Moremeaning and origin of ‘on the spur of the moment’
UK, 1784—elaborated on the archaic ‘on the spur’, which meant ‘in great haste’ and referred to the use of spurs to urge a horse forward
Read Moreorigin of ‘spare the rod and spoil the child’
first recorded in ‘Hudibras’ (1664), by Samuel Butler—from the first half of ‘Proverbs’, 13:24: “Whoever spares the rod hates their children.”
Read Moremeaning and origin of ‘a little bird told me’
1711 in a letter by Jonathan Swift—perhaps from Ecclesiastes, 10:20: “a bird of the air shall carry the voice; and that which hath wings, shall tell the matter”
Read Moremeaning and origin of ‘for the duration’
UK, 1917—originally used of the First World War, from the term of enlistment ‘for three’, or ‘four’, ‘years or for the duration of the war’
Read Moremilitary origin of ‘to save the day’
originated in the context of military engagements: ‘day’ denotes ‘a day of contest on the battlefield’ and the phrase means ‘to avert defeat in battle’
Read More‘to be saved by the bell’ – ‘être sauvé par le gong’
‘rescued from a difficult situation by a timely intervention’, from (in boxing) ‘saved from being counted out by the ringing of the bell at the end of a round’
Read More‘a sandwich short of a picnic’ and other phrases meaning ‘stupid’ or ‘crazy’
With words denoting some specified deficiency in a desirable or standard quantity of something, ‘short of a ——’ means ‘mentally deficient’, ‘slightly crazy’.
Read Moremeaning and origin of ‘one’s best bib and tucker’
18th century, of women’s clothes—‘bib’: a piece of cloth worn between throat and waist; ‘tucker’: a piece of lace or linen worn in or around the top of a bodice
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