“ad fontes!”
the principle that, where an effective legal system is absent or does not apply, brute strength and self-interested ruthlessness are what determine success, ownership, etc.—USA, 1878—predates Kipling’s Jungle book
Read MoreUSA, 1977—petroleum, and any liquid derived from petroleum used in a vehicle powered by an internal-combustion engine—perhaps from popular association of ‘dinosaur’ with ‘fossil fuel’
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a time at which it is considered acceptable or sociable to start drinking beer—used of various times of the day—USA, 1910
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USA, 2001—a glamorous grandmother, especially one who is relatively young or fashion-conscious—a blend of the nouns ‘glamour’ and ‘grandma’
Read Moreone’s feet as a means of travel, humorously represented as a form of public transport—from 1887 onwards in the southeastern states of Georgia and Alabama
Read MoreUSA, 1882—one’s boots or feet as a means of travel, humorously represented as a form of public transport—refers to boots with hobnails inserted into the soles
Read MoreUSA, early 1930s—adjectives—‘little-girl-lost’: resembling (that of) a small girl who has lost her way—‘little-boy-lost’: resembling (that of) a small boy who has lost his way
Read MoreBritain, 1782—to evoke or recreate a previous time, state or condition; to make it seem as if no time has passed
Read Moreone who sews up wounds, i.e., a surgeon—also, in later use, a plastic surgeon—first recorded in ’Tis Pitty Shee’s a Whore (1633), by the English playwright John Ford
Read Moreto disrupt; to shake up; to rouse to action—USA, 1902
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word histories 