“ad fontes!”
the longest serving female member of the British House of Commons—1920—originally applied to Nancy Astor, Member of Parliament from 1919 to 1945—coined after ‘Father of the House (of Commons)’
Read MoreUK, 2001: the defeat of a high-profile Member of Parliament, indicating a significant political change—originally, UK, 1997: the announcement of Michael Portillo’s defeat, seen as emblematic of the Conservative defeat in the general election
Read Morealso ‘like a lily on a dirt-tin’ and variants—something or somebody that is incongruous or conspicuous—UK, 1934, but chiefly Australian (from 1948 onwards)
Read MoreUK, 1841—to be crowded or confined tightly together, as sardines in a tin
Read MoreUK & Ireland—a shop that sells a wide range of goods at low prices, typically one pound or less—hence also: of the type or quality found in a pound shop, cheap, second-rate
Read More‘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’
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1990—a street in which many satellite dishes are attached to the front of the buildings—‘satellite dish’: a bowl-shaped antenna used to view satellite television
Read MoreUK, 1933—cursive handwriting as learnt in elementary school as a stage beyond printing individual letters separately—from the adjective ‘joined-up’, meaning ‘conjoined’
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Ireland & Britain, 1850—a person who goes round the streets in the early morning to awaken factory hands—from ‘to knock somebody up’, meaning ‘to awaken somebody by knocking at the door’
Read More1673—a person who aggravates distress under the guise of administering comfort—alludes to Job’s reply to his friends in the Book of Job, 16:2
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word histories 