meaning and origin of ‘shipshape and Bristol fashion’
UK, early 19th cent.—‘shipshape’: arranged properly as things on board ship should be; ‘Bristol fashion’: Bristol was then the major west-coast port of Britain
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meaning and origin of ‘to take the (King’s/Queen’s) shilling’
UK, 1707—‘to take the (King’s/Queen’s) shilling’: to sign up as a soldier, from the former practice of giving a shilling to a recruit when he enlisted
Read Moreorigin of the word ‘point-blank’
1571—probably from obsolete French ‘de pointe en blanc’, used of firing into empty space for the purpose of seeing how far a piece of artillery would carry
Read Moreorigin of ‘don’t spoil the ship for a ha’p’orth of tar’
from ‘to lose a sheep for a halfpennyworth of tar’—refers to the use of tar to protect sores and wounds on sheep from flies (‘sheep’ was pronounced ‘ship’)
Read Moremeaning and origin of ‘all Lombard Street to a China orange’
UK (early form: 1763): a fanciful bet wagering the wealth that is available in Lombard Street—a centre of London banking—against something of trifling value
Read More‘the man on the Clapham omnibus’ – ‘the Clapham Sect’
UK—1903: ‘the man on the Clapham omnibus’, the average or typical person—1844: ‘the Clapham Sect’, a group of social reformers based at Clapham, London
Read Moremeaning and origin of ‘to wait for a dead man’s shoes’
mid-16th century—meaning: to wait for the death of a person with the expectancy of succeeding to his possessions or office; implies a futile wait
Read More‘to know one’s onions’ – ‘c’est mes oignons’
US, 1898: ‘to know one’s onion’ (in the singular), to be very knowledgeable about something — French, 1897: ‘c’est mes oignons’, it’s my own business
Read Morea 19th-century document on English phrases
remarks on English phrases (‘to rain cats and dogs’, ‘tit for tat’, ‘the devil to pay’, etc.) – from Notes and Queries (London), 9th November 1861
Read Morethe ancient origin of ‘to pour oil on troubled waters’
alludes to the calming effect of oil on the agitated surface of water; common knowledge since ancient times, first scientifically observed by Benjamin Franklin
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