‘heifer-dust’: meaning, origin and early occurrences
nonsense, rubbish—USA, first decade of the 20th century—probably a euphemism for the noun ‘bullshit’, with the noun ‘dust’ used in the sense of ‘rubbish’, ‘garbage’
Read MoreTag: phrases
Australian uses of ‘two-bob watch’
1910: a cheap and common watch—hence (from 1922 onwards) used in various phrases referring to silliness, reliability/unreliability, erraticism, cheapness, funniness
Read MoreAustralian uses of ‘heifer-paddock’
literally (1845): an enclosure in which calves are isolated from their mothers until weaned—figuratively, humorously and offensively (1885): a girls’ boarding-school—similar to the use of ‘cow’ to derogatorily designate a girl or woman
Read More‘hell, west and crooked’: meaning and origin
USA, 1867—all over the place, in disarray—perhaps originally used by cattlemen of mobs of cattle all over the place
Read More‘all over hell and half of Georgia’: meaning and early occurrences
USA, 1913—an extremely large area—the second half of this phrase varies, in particular according to the speaker’s locality
Read More‘hell’s delight’: meaning and early occurrences
early 19th century—pandemonium, great trouble or difficulty—often in ‘to kick up hell’s delight’, meaning: to cause a great deal of trouble or difficulty
Read More‘to do the block’: meaning and origin
Australia—‘the block’: a street or area in a city or town in which it is fashionable to promenade—‘to do the block’: to promenade in such a street or area—1868, in reference to a section of Collins Street in Melbourne
Read MoreAustralian use of ‘big spit’
1943: the noun ‘big spit’ designates ‘vomiting’—1952: the phrase ‘to go for the big spit’ means ‘to vomit’
Read More‘idée reçue’: meaning and origin
1933—a generally accepted notion or opinion—borrowed from French ‘idée reçue’ (i.e., ‘received idea’)—originally with reference to ‘Dictionnaire des idées reçues’, by Gustave Flaubert
Read More‘lead-pipe cinch’: meaning and early occurrences
a complete certainty—USA, 1887 in the context of horse-racing—of unknown origin
Read More
word histories 