“ad fontes!”
UK, 1828: an extremely severe clerical schoolmaster—Australia, 1885: any extremely severe magistrate, originally in reference to Parramatta magistrate Samuel Marsden (1765-1838)
Read MoreUK, 1851—a person (or persons) or a thing (or things) considered unattractive, inferior or unpleasant, compared to others of the same type or group—alludes to Cinderella’s ugly and unpleasant stepsisters in the fairy tale Cinderella
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USA, 1937—a device with a revolving cage or drum, used in a game of bingo to mix up the numbered balls or slips, or for drawing numbers or prize tickets in a lottery, tombola, etc.
Read Morea sly, treacherous or deceitful person, especially one who is secretly acting against the interests of the community or organisation to which he or she belongs—mid-19th century
Read Morea person who behaves as if he or she knows everything—UK, colloquial, 1860—the irony of the expression lies in the fact that clogs are mere functional pedestrian objects
Read Moredominated by a woman or by women—UK, 1809—past participle of ‘ride’, ‘ridden’ combines with nouns to form adjectives meaning: afflicted, affected or dominated by something or by someone specified
Read MoreBritish, 1771—as an adjective: emaciated; weak and starving—as a noun: an emaciated or starving person
Read MoreEngland; also: the British Parliament—UK, 1857—popularised in 1865 by the British politician John Bright
Read Morecrowded or confined tightly together—Britain, 1706—in early use, this phrase often referred to the transatlantic slave trade
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a conscientious objector—UK, 1916—from the initial syllable of the noun ‘conscientious objector’ and the suffix ‘-ie’, used to form familiar diminutives
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word histories 