“ad fontes!”
1890s—to use extravagant words or language not substantiated by fact; to talk nonsense—occurs in particular in stories by the British authors Ernest William Hornung (1866-1921) and Pelham Grenville Wodehouse (1881-1975)
Read More1580—always having to be ready to obey someone’s orders immediately—‘beck’ denotes a mute signal or significant gesture (such as a nod or a motion of the hand), indicating assent or notifying a command
Read MoreUK—since 1981, has been associated with a speech by the Employment Secretary, Norman Tebbit, at the Conservative Party conference, in which he exhorted the unemployed to go and find work, like his father, who had “got on his bike and looked for work”
Read MoreAustralia—a controversial current-affairs topic—the image is that such a topic is likely to interrupt a barbecue with loud debate—coined in 2001 by the Australian Prime Minister John Howard during his re-election campaign
Read MoreUK, 1990—a British-Army euphemism for a severe reprimand by a senior officer—also, by extension, any ‘dressing-down’
Read MoreAustralia, 1982—a coded signal from a man to other men, indicating that a woman is approaching, so that they all moderate their language—originally used in shearing sheds, but now used in other places, especially in pubs
Read MoreAustralia, 1986—a man’s protruding belly—‘verandah’ denotes an open-sided roofed structure over a shop—in this phrase, ‘toy shop’ denotes the male genitals
Read MoreAustralia, 1979—to lose one’s temper or composure; to give up contesting or participating—the image is of a baby spitting out its dummy in a tantrum
Read MoreAustralia, 1843—used as a type of the isolated, deprived or exposed—refers to a shag (i.e., a cormorant) perched alone on a rock
Read Morea violent street gang armed with razors—in extended use, a group or body responsible for making cutbacks—in particular: 1) (British English, railway slang): a team of investigators seeking ways of improving economy and productivity; 2) (Australian English) a parliamentary committee charged with investigating and reducing government spending
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word histories 