‘a trap for young players’: meaning and origin
a hazard for the unwary—UK, 1887—originally used in reference to the game of draughts—then (Australia, 1894) in reference to cricket
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precursors of French ‘féminicide’ and of English ‘femicide’
French, 1648: ‘famicide’; 1684: ‘femmicide’; 1695: ‘femmicide’—English, 1718: ‘femmicide’ (from French)—the killing of a woman or girl by a man
Read More‘like a duck takes to water’: meaning and origin
easily, readily—UK, 1825
Read More‘to disappear up one’s own arse’: meaning and early occurrences
British slang, 1960s—‘to disappear up one’s own arse’: to become self-involved, pretentious or conceited—‘to be up one’s own arse’: to be self-involved, pretentious or conceited
Read More‘to put on jam’: meanings and early occurrences
Australia, 1881—to adopt an affected speech or manner, to display self-importance—also, in early use: to embellish the truth, to depict flatteringly
Read More‘never a dull moment’: meanings and origin
literally: constant variety or interest (originally with reference to theatrical performances; USA, 1879)—ironically: constant variety of troubles, difficulties, etc. (in Three Men in a Boat (1889), by British author Jerome K. Jerome)
Read More‘eureka moment’: meaning and origin
a moment of sudden discovery, inspiration or insight—1918—from the reputed exclamation of Archimedes when he realised that the volume of a solid could be calculated by measuring the water displaced when it was immersed
Read More‘to be packed like sardines’: meaning and origin
UK, 1841—to be crowded or confined tightly together, as sardines in a tin
Read More‘to have a béguin for’: meaning and origin
‘to have a fancy for’—UK, 1900—loan translation from French ‘avoir un béguin pour’—French ‘béguin’ is from ‘s’embéguiner de’, meaning ‘to put on a bonnet’, hence ‘to put a sudden capricious idea into one’s head’
Read Morea slang use of ‘muslin’ (women)
UK, 1821—‘muslin’: women regarded collectively as objects of sexual desire—‘a bit of muslin’: a woman regarded as an object of sexual desire
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word histories 