‘Mother of Parliaments’: meanings and origin
England; also: the British Parliament—UK, 1857—popularised in 1865 by the British politician John Bright
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‘like herrings in a barrel’: meaning and origin
crowded or confined tightly together—Britain, 1706—in early use, this phrase often referred to the transatlantic slave trade
Read More‘conchie’: meaning and origin
a conscientious objector—UK, 1916—from the initial syllable of the noun ‘conscientious objector’ and the suffix ‘-ie’, used to form familiar diminutives
Read More‘time capsule’: meaning and origin
a container used to store for posterity a selection of objects thought to be representative of a particular moment in time—USA, 1938—coined to specifically designate the container built by the Westinghouse Electric and Manufacturing Company for the 1939 New York World’s Fair
Read More‘the juice is worth the squeeze’: meaning and origin
the benefits of an endeavour are enough to outweigh the effort of pursuing it—USA, 1959—refers to the labour-intensive process of squeezing fruit to produce fresh juice
Read More‘one’s cheese slipped off one’s cracker’: meaning and origin
one is no longer rational or sane—USA, 1983
Read More‘bread-and-cheese living’: meaning and origin
subsistence-level living—UK, 1833—since the 17th century, ‘bread and cheese’ has been used attributively to mean: ordinary, simple, basic
Read More‘silent policeman’: meaning and origin
USA, 1913—a small structure placed at the centre of a road junction which allows vehicles travelling in different directions to cross the junction safely at the same time by driving around the device in the same direction
Read More‘barbudo’: meanings and origin
USA, 1959—in reference to the Cuban Revolution (1953-59): a revolutionary soldier under the leadership of Fidel Castro—a borrowing from Spanish ‘barbudo’ (literally: a bearded one)
Read More‘Dutch nightingale’: meaning and origin
1710: any of various species of frog producing a call or song—one of several phrases in which the adjective ‘Dutch’ is used derogatorily or derisively
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