‘penny-a-line’: meanings and origin
UK, early 19th century, derogatory—used attributively of a journalist who was paid at the rate of a penny a line, hence also of low-quality writing
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‘kiss-me-quick’ (curl): meaning and origin
UK, mid-19th century—a circular curl of hair (sometimes artificial), usually pressed flat against the temple or forehead
Read More‘kiss-me-quick’ (bonnet): meaning and origin
mid-19th century—a small bonnet standing far back on the head, which was then fashionable—also occasionally in the extended form ‘kiss-me-quick, mother’s coming’
Read More‘kiss-curl’: meaning and origin
Australia & UK, 1856—a circular curl of hair (sometimes artificial), usually pressed flat against the temple or forehead
Read More‘to live in each other’s pockets’: meaning and early occurrences
to live in excessively close proximity or interdependence—1762: “the company squeezed themselves into one another’s pockets” in a letter by Horace Walpole
Read More‘coffee royal’ | ‘café royale’: meaning and origin
a drink made from black coffee and brandy, cognac or other liquor—‘royale’ means: first-rate—‘café royale’ (USA, 1882): probably a Frenchification of earlier ‘coffee royal’
Read More‘cackle-cutting’: meaning and origin
UK, 1904—refers to the action of making someone stop chattering—from the colloquial imperative phrase ‘cut the cackle (and come to the horses)’, meaning: stop talking (and get to the heart of the matter)
Read More‘cradle Catholic’: meaning and origin
UK, 1930—one who is born into the Roman Catholic Church (i.e., a Catholic ‘from the cradle’)
Read More‘cut the cackle (and come to the horses)’: meaning and origin
‘stop talking (and get to the heart of the matter)’—UK, 1878—said to have been coined by circus proprietor Andrew Ducrow when apostrophising equestrian performers
Read More‘cakehole’: meaning and origin
a person’s mouth—British-Army slang, 1916
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