‘to embiggen’: meaning and origin
to make bigger or greater, to enlarge—UK, 1884, as a translation of ancient Greek ‘μεγαλύνειν’ as used in the Acts of the Apostles, 5:13—recoined in 1996 in the U.S. animated television series The Simpsons
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‘Beatlemania’: meaning and early occurrences
UK, 1963—with reference to the Beatles, a pop and rock group from Liverpool: the frenzied behaviour of the Beatles’ admirers; addiction to the Beatles and their characteristics
Read More‘under the radar’: meaning and origin
USA, 1969—the phrases ‘off the radar’, ‘under the radar’ and ‘below the radar’ are used of something or someone that cannot be detected—the reference is to an aircraft flying too low to be detected by a radar
Read More‘to piss in someone’s pocket’: meaning and origin
Australia, 1953—to flatter someone or to (seek to) ingratiate oneself with someone, to curry favour with someone—cf. 19th-century British phrase ‘to piss down someone’s back’ (to flatter someone)
Read More‘like a beaten favourite’: meaning and origin
Australia, 1982—denotes physical ugliness
Read More‘a hatful of arseholes’: meaning and origin
Australia, 1957, as ‘a hatful of bronzas’—used in similes expressing notions such as ugliness and silliness
Read More‘to throw a wobbly’: meaning and origin
also ‘to throw a wobbler’—New Zealand, 1964—to lose one’s self-control in a fit of nerves, temper, panic, etc.—‘wobbly’, also ‘wobbler’, denotes a fit of temper or panic
Read More‘checkout chick’: meaning and origin
colloquial—USA, 1949—a female employee who works at a supermarket checkout counter—is also occasionally applied to males
Read More‘little Aussie battler’: meaning and origin
a person who struggles for a livelihood, and who displays great determination in so doing—Australia, 1974—originally applied to the Australian television host, radio presenter and singer Ernie Sigley
Read More‘rumpy-pumpy’: meaning and origin
sexual intercourse—Scotland, 1968—reduplication (with variation of the initial consonant and addition of the suffix ‘-y’) of the noun ‘rump’, denoting a person’s buttocks
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