‘in mothballs’ | ‘out of mothballs’
USA—‘in mothballs’ (1892): in a state or period of inactivity, disuse, reserve, storage or postponement—‘out of mothballs’ (1905): back into activity, into use
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‘my giddy aunt!’: meaning and origin
UK, 1890—the dated jocular exclamations ‘my giddy aunt!’, ‘my sainted aunt!’, etc., express surprise, consternation, etc.—they are extended forms of the exclamation ‘my aunt!’
Read More‘Oxford comma’: meaning and origin
a comma immediately preceding the conjunction in a list of items—1978—named after the preferred use of such a comma in the house style of Oxford University Press
Read Moreearly instances of the phrase ‘tin god’
1875 in The Evening News (Indianapolis, USA)—in reference to tin as a base metal, ‘tin’ is used in the senses ‘petty’, ‘worthless’, ‘counterfeit’
Read Morethe authentic origin of ‘to bite the bullet’
late 19th century—from the practice consisting, for a soldier, in biting on a bullet when being flogged
Read Moremeaning and origin of the phrase ‘to sell a pup’
Frequently used in the passive, the phrase to sell someone a pup means to swindle someone, especially by selling something of little worth on its supposed prospective value. And to buy a pup means to be swindled. The expression is first recorded in 1901. That year, several newspapers gave its most likely origin; for example, the column From Day to Day of The Daily […]
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