‘dusty answer’: meaning and origin
an unhelpful or bad-tempered reply—1862 in Modern Love, by George Meredith—this sense of ‘dusty’ is related to corresponding uses of ‘dust’, as in ‘dry as dust’
Read MoreTag: United Kingdom
‘shabby chic’: meaning and origin
someone or something that is fashionably or artfully dishevelled or dilapidated—in early use: someone or something whose dishevelment or dilapidation is unintentionally attractive or fashionable—USA, 1901
Read More‘beer-belly’: meanings and origin
1615—a protruding belly caused by excessive beer drinking; a person (typically a man) who has a protruding belly caused by excessive beer drinking
Read More‘like a duck takes to water’: meaning and origin
easily, readily—UK, 1825
Read More‘like water off a duck’s back’: meaning and origin
also ‘like water from a duck’s back’—UK, 1801—with no effect or reaction
Read More‘will a duck swim?’: meaning and origin
1680—also ‘would a duck swim?’ and ‘does a duck swim?’—expresses enthusiastic acceptance or confirmation
Read More‘wouldn’t give you a fright if he/she was a ghost’: meaning and early occurrences
is used of a miserly person—Australia, 1929—UK, 1934
Read More‘brown Windsor soup’: meaning and early occurrences
UK, 1919—a thick brown meat-based soup of a type now often depreciatively depicted as emblematic of traditional British cookery
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‘old boiler’: meaning and origin
Australia, 1950—UK, 1962—derogatory and offensive: a middle-aged or elderly woman, especially one who is unattractive or unfeminine—refers to ‘boiler’, i.e., a tough old chicken for cooking by boiling
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