“ad fontes!”
1777, in a translation of a letter written by Voltaire in 1768—a loan translation from French ‘l’histoire n’est qu’une fable convenue’, first used in 1758 by the French philosopher Claude Adrien Helvétius
Read MoreAustralia, 1957—to gain weight around one’s middle
Read MoreUK, 1812—an imaginary functionary humorously supposed to control the state of the weather—also ‘clerk of the weather office’
Read MoreU.S. slang, 1986—a march into or out of a police car, courthouse, etc., that a person in police custody is made to perform for the benefit of the news media—‘perp’: shortening of ‘perpetrator’
Read MoreUK, 1822—a vituperative gossip, a scandalmonger; an evil or malicious tongue—a borrowing from French ‘mauvaise langue’ (literally ‘bad tongue’) of same significations
Read Moreone who rides a surfboard with the right foot forward instead of the left—USA, 1960 (as a verb)—here, ‘goofy’ seems to be related to prejudice against left-handedness and left-footedness
Read More1546—of little or no worth—here, ‘pudding’ refers to a sausage-like mass of seasoned minced meat, oatmeal, etc., stuffed into a prepared skin and boiled
Read More1666—a warning or exhortation to say nothing about a particular matter—of unknown origin—may allude to the mysterious nature of pudding stuffing
Read Morealso, and originally (1729), ‘to make a long story short’: to be brief or concise—this phrase is typically used as a sentence adverbial, with the sense: in short, in summary, briefly
Read Morelate 18th century, in the context of piracy: to walk along a plank placed over the side of a ship until one falls into the sea—hence, figuratively, early 19th century: to be forced to resign from one’s office or position
Read More
word histories 