‘to poison the wellspring’: meaning and origin
to corrupt the very essence (of something)—UK, early 19th century—has particularly been used in theological contexts
Read MoreTag: United Kingdom
‘reasonable force’: meaning and origin
UK, 1809—the level of physical force deemed appropriate or justifiable by law in protecting oneself or one’s family or property; also: in apprehending a criminal suspect or preventing a crime
Read Morenotes on ‘arsewipe’
(literally): anything used to wipe oneself clean after defecation; in later use chiefly toilet paper—(figuratively): a foolish or contemptible person
Read More‘kerb-crawl’: meaning and origin
to drive slowly along the edge of a road (UK, 1924)—specifically: with the intention of soliciting people for casual sexual activity (Canada, 1926)
Read More‘to rally round the flag’: meaning and origin
(of a group) to demonstrate loyalty to the nation or to a cause, especially at a time of perceived threat—UK, 1793, as ‘to rally round the standard’
Read More‘love in a cottage’: meaning and origin
a marriage for love, or a romantic relationship, faced with insufficient financial means—UK, 1745
Read More‘romantasy’: meanings and origin
a fantastical or idealised story, situation, etc., involving romance—USA, 1928—a blend of either the noun ‘romance’ or the adjective ‘romantic’, and of the noun ‘fantasy’
Read More‘(as) extinct as the diplodocus’: meaning and origin
of a person or thing: irretrievably defunct or out of date—UK, 1905—perhaps originally in allusion to ‘Diplodocus Carnegii’, named after Andrew Carnegie, who, that year, presented the skeleton of that diplodocus to the Natural History Museum of London
Read More‘Charlie (Big) Potatoes’: meaning and origin
a rich and important man—USA, 1958, as ‘Charlie Potatoes’—UK, 1995, as ‘Charlie Big Potatoes’— ‘Charlie’: generic term for a man—‘potatoes’: perhaps slang for ‘money’, ‘dollars’
Read More‘to make a horlicks of (something)’: meaning and origin
to make a mess of (something)—UK, 1970—used in reference to the trade-name of a malted milk-powder—perhaps as a euphemism for some crude word
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