‘not to know whether it’s Tuesday or Bourke Street’: meaning and origin
Australia, 1952—used of a state of confusion or stupidity—refers to Bourke Street, in Melbourne, Victoria
Read MoreTag: phrases
‘to fly off the handle’: meaning and origin
to become very agitated or angry, especially without warning or adequate reason—USA, 1816—from the image of the head of an axe or other tool becoming detached from its handle
Read More‘comet wine’ | ‘comet vintage’: meaning and origin
a wine, or a vintage, produced in a year in which a notable comet appeared, and therefore thought to be of superior quality—UK—‘comet wine’ 1817—‘comet vintage’ 1819
Read More‘sleeping policeman’ | ‘gendarme couché’
a raised band across a road, designed to make motorists reduce their speed—1961—based on the image of a policeman lying asleep in the middle of a road—in early use often with reference to Jamaica
Read More‘short fuse’: meaning and origin
a tendency to lose one’s temper easily—USA, 1942—‘fuse’ refers to a device by which an explosive charge is ignited—adjective ‘short-fused’: USA, 1952
Read More‘to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat’ | ‘to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory’
‘to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat’: to win a battle, contest, etc., when defeat seemed inevitable—‘to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory’: to be defeated in a battle, contest, etc., when victory seemed inevitable
Read More‘back o’ Bourke’: meaning and origin
a remote and sparsely populated inland area of Australia—1896, in a poem by William Henry Ogilvie—refers to Bourke, the most remote town in north-western New South Wales
Read More‘get-out-of-jail-free card’: meaning and origin
something that enables a person to evade punishment, adverse consequences or an undesirable situation—refers to a card in the game of Monopoly which allows a player to leave the jail square
Read More‘the school of (the) hard knocks’: meaning and early occurrences
the experience of a life of hardship regarded as a means of instruction—USA, 1870
Read More‘to walk like an Egyptian’: meaning and origin
to walk with arms extended, elbows and wrists bent at right angles, one arm up, one down—1962 in To Kill a Mockingbird—refers to the representation of the human body by the ancient Egyptians
Read More
word histories 