The phrase ‘to be left holding the baby’ originated in money markets.
UK, 1875, stock-exchange phrase—alludes to a stranger’s accidental (as opposed to a parent’s legal) responsibility for an infant
Read MoreTag: phrases
meaning and early instances of ‘memory lane’
an imaginary path through the nostalgically remembered past—USA, 1876, as ‘memory’s lane’ (‘memory’ in the genitive)
Read Moreorigin of the Scottish and Irish phrase ‘on the buroo’ (‘on the dole’)
Scotland, 1914: ‘buroo’, informal form of ‘bureau’ (generic sense)—later used specifically in the sense of Labour Bureau, hence of unemployment benefit (1921)
Read Moremeaning and origin of ‘the butcher, the baker, and the candlestick maker’
UK, 1848—people of various professions; people of all kinds—alludes to ‘Rub a dub dub’, a nursery rhyme of the late 18th century
Read Moremeaning and origin of the phrase ‘blackboard jungle’
USA, 1955—the education system regarded as a place where the law of the jungle applies—from the title of a 1954 novel and of its 1955 film adaptation
Read Moremeaning and origin of the phrase ‘tall poppy’
UK, 1816—successful person attracting envious hostility—from Tarquin’s decapitation of the tallest poppies to indicate the fate of enemies
Read Moremeaning and origin of the British phrase ‘to be all mouth and (no) trousers’
1961—to be all talk and no action—originally without the negative determiner ‘no’—refers to verbal and sexual arrogance
Read Moremeaning and origin of the American-English phrase ‘(strictly) for the birds’
army slang, early 1940s—euphemistic shortening of ‘shit for the birds’—seems to allude to birds eating droppings from horses and cattle
Read Moremeaning and origin of ‘there’s one, or a sucker, born every minute’
UK, 1806—expresses dismay or glee at the gullibility of people—originally used by those who were exploiting the credulity of others
Read Moremeaning and origin of the phrase ‘dirty work at the crossroads’
UK, 1906—dishonest or illicit dealings—probably alludes to crossroads as settings for sinister actions, in particular to their former use as burial places for suicides
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