‘to go home in an ambulance’: meaning and origin

to get a severe beating—popularised in UK & Ireland in the 2nd half of the 20th century through its use in chants by supporters at Association-Football matches, chiefly to threaten opposing away supporters

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‘golf widow’: meaning and origin

a woman whose husband spends much of his spare time playing golf—UK, 1890—refers to the fact that the husband’s repeated absences from the marital home leave his wife feeling neglected

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‘the only game in town’: meaning and origin

the only option worth considering—USA, 1904—from the story (1894) of a man who is so addicted to faro that he takes part in a game despite knowing it to be rigged, because it is the only game available in town

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‘to come a cropper’: meanings and origin

(literally): to fall heavily; (figuratively): to fail completely—UK, 1847—‘cropper’ may be derived from ‘crop’ in the phrase ‘neck and crop’ (1791), which originally referred to a heavy fall

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‘pizza face’: meaning and origin

a person with facial acne—Californian high-school slang, 1963—in this expression, the pimples caused by facial acne are likened to slices of pepperoni on a pizza

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‘to go for the jugular’: meaning and origin

to criticise or attack somebody aggressively or decisively; to target an adversary’s weakest or most vulnerable point—USA, 1879—the image is of attacking a person fatally in the throat or neck, where the jugular vein runs

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