“ad fontes!”
Australia, 1954—derogatory nickname for the metal eagle at the top of the Australian-American Memorial in Canberra—alludes to the fact that, from a distance, the eagle’s upswept wings look like a rabbit’s ears
Read More1942—an arena of fierce or ruthless rivalry—borrowed from French: literally ‘basket of crabs’—the image is of crabs fighting, if not devouring one another, when kept in a basket
Read Morefine, all right—UK, 1923 (perhaps coined by P. G. Wodehouse)—perhaps an alteration of ‘oojah capivvy’ after ‘cum’ and ‘spiffy’
Read MoreUK, 1872—humorous—to obstruct a person’s view—chiefly used in ‘you make a better door than (a) window’, addressed to one who obstructs the speaker’s view
Read MoreUSA, 1955—diarrhoea suffered by travellers, especially in Mexico—alludes to the Aztec emperor Montezuma II (c.1466-1520), who was captured by the Spanish and died in captivity
Read MoreUK, 1826—to find oneself in a situation that has turned out to be difficult to control but cannot be got out of—the image is that someone holding a tiger by the tail can neither keep hold of it nor let go of it with safety
Read Moreto invest one with energy—USA, 1959 & 1960—used as an advertising slogan by both Oklahoma Oil Company and Humble Oil & Refining Company—this advertising slogan soon became a popular catchphrase
Read More1842—The noun ‘patter’ denotes the sound of light footfall, and the phrase ‘the patter of tiny feet’, and its variants, denote the presence of one or several young children, or the imminent birth of a child.
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USA, 1925—this phrase refers to the impossibility of reverting a situation to how it formerly existed
Read Moreto eat heartily—first occurs in Augusta Triumphans: Or, The Way to make London the most flourishing City in the Universe (1728), by Daniel Defoe
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word histories 