“ad fontes!”
chiefly UK politics—a culture characterised by influential networks of close friends—from ‘chum’ (a close friend) and ‘‑ocracy’ (forming nouns designating forms of government or groups who exercise political or social power)
Read Moreto 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
Read MoreUK, 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 MoreUSA, 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 MoreAustralia, 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 MoreAustralia, 1982—denotes physical ugliness
Read MoreAustralia, 1957, as ‘a hatful of bronzas’—used in similes expressing notions such as ugliness and silliness
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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
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colloquial—USA, 1949—a female employee who works at a supermarket checkout counter—is also occasionally applied to males
Read Morea 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
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