‘to rattle one’s dags’: meaning and origin
New Zealand, 1968—to hurry up—‘dags’: clumps of matted wool and dung which hang around a sheep’s rear end—the allusion is to the rattling sound of a sheep’s dags when it runs
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‘couldn’t train a choko vine over a country dunny’: meaning and origin
Australia, 1969—is used of an ineffectual person—‘choko’ (i.e., ‘chayote’): the cucumber-like fruit of a cucurbitaceous vine (‘Sechium edule’)
Read More‘shabby chic’: meaning and origin
someone or something that is fashionably or artfully dishevelled or dilapidated—in early use: someone or something whose dishevelment or dilapidation is unintentionally attractive or fashionable—USA, 1901
Read More‘beer-can chicken’: meaning and origin
USA (Louisiana), 1996—a dish consisting of a chicken which has been cooked with an open can of beer wedged inside the cavity
Read More‘hoop snake’: meaning and origin
USA, 1784—a mythical snake that puts its tail in its mouth and then rolls after its intended victim—also, occasionally: ‘horn snake’, with reference to a horny sting in the snake’s tail
Read More‘drop bear’: meaning and origin
Australia, 1967—a mythical creature, similar in appearance to a koala, that drops from trees to kill and eat prey, including humans
Read More‘like a duck takes to water’: meaning and origin
easily, readily—UK, 1825
Read More‘like water off a duck’s back’: meaning and origin
also ‘like water from a duck’s back’—UK, 1801—with no effect or reaction
Read More‘will a duck swim?’: meaning and origin
1680—also ‘would a duck swim?’ and ‘does a duck swim?’—expresses enthusiastic acceptance or confirmation
Read More‘not to be able to head a duck’: meaning and origin
Australia, 1890, & New Zealand, 1891—is used, in sports, of slowness, in particular as a disparaging comment on a racehorse
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