‘to sit on one’s hands’: meanings and origin
USA, 1878 (of an audience, an assembly, etc.): to withhold, or be sparing of, applause—USA, 1883: to be inactive, to take no action
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‘very like a whale’: meaning and origin
is used of something that is very improbable—USA, 1768—alludes to Hamlet (Act 3, scene 2), by Shakespeare
Read More‘whingebag’: meaning and origin
a person who habitually complains or whines—UK, 1985—one of the compounds in which the second element ‘bag’ denotes a person displaying the undesirable quality denoted by the first element
Read More‘if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’: meaning and origin
USA, 1962—if something is successful, effective or not obviously defective, there is no need to change or replace it
Read More‘to burn one’s bridges behind one’: meaning and origin
to commit oneself to a course from which there is no retreat—U.S. politics, 1852—from a military tactic in which an army cuts off its means of retreat by destroying the route by which it might be pursued
Read More‘twenty-four carat(s)’: meaning and origin
something or someone that is unalloyed, throughgoing, trustworthy—USA, 1848—refers to gold with the complete purity of twenty-four parts out of twenty-four
Read More‘one’s heart rules one’s head’: meaning and early occurrences
USA, 1836—one is governed by one’s feelings rather than by rational or practical considerations
Read More‘jumpers for goalposts’: meaning and origin
as ‘coats for goalposts’: UK, late 19th century—refers to the type of informal football played by young people in public spaces, in which coats or/and jumpers belonging to the players are used as improvised goalposts
Read More‘bladder-pack’: meanings and origins
Canada, 1977: pouch-pack milk, as opposed to cartoned milk—UK, 1984: bag-in-box wine (said to be of Australian-English origin, but this is not corroborated)
Read More‘to throw out a tub to the whale’: meaning and origin
to create a diversion, in order to avoid a dangerous or unpleasant situation—UK, 1730—alludes to the Preface to A Tale of a Tub (1704), by Jonathan Swift
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