‘to make a spoon or spoil a horn’: meaning and origin

24th Jul 2021.Reading time 7 minutes.

Scotland, 1806—to make a determined effort to achieve something, whether ending in success or failure—refers to the making of spoons out of the horns of cattle or sheep, which was common in Scotland till late in the 19th century

‘to have both oars in the water’: meaning and origin

30th Jan 2021.Reading time 7 minutes.

USA, 1977—to be mentally stable—usually depreciatively in negative contexts, as ‘not to have both oars in the water’—refers to the necessity of dipping both the oars into the water to keep a rowing boat steady and steer it in a straight line

‘to nail one’s colours to the mast’: meanings and origin

16th Jan 2021.Reading time 9 minutes.

UK, 1808—to make one’s beliefs or intentions plain—from the former practice of nailing an ensign to the mast of a ship, after damage during battle resulted in the ship’s colours no longer being clearly displayed, which otherwise might have been interpreted as a signal of surrender

notes on ‘a green winter makes a fat churchyard’

17th Jun 2020.Reading time 14 minutes.

refers to the fact that the winter cold is essential to plants and crops—UK, first recorded in the mid-17th century, but already proverbial

history of the phrase ‘are you there with your bears?’

16th Feb 2020.Reading time 10 minutes.

16th century—exclamation of annoyance at the reappearance of someone or something—from bear-leaders’ regular visits or from story of Elisha and the bears

the various figurative meanings of ‘dirty spoon’

13th Jun 2019.Reading time 19 minutes.

UK, 1849: cheap dingy eatery, as a translation from German—USA, from 1862 onwards: brothel, squalid lodging-house, bar; 1897: cheap dingy eatery

origin of ‘beard the lion in his den’ (confront someone on their own ground)

20th Dec 2018.Reading time 10 minutes.

Scotland, 1749—from the idea of daring to grab a lion’s “beard” and figurative uses of ‘beard’: (verb) ‘confront’ – (noun) ‘face’

meanings and origin of ‘a far cry’

28th Mar 2018.Reading time 3 minutes.

The phrase ‘a far cry’ means ‘something very different’. Its literal signification (first recorded in A Legend of Montrose (1819), by Walter Scott) is ‘a long way’, ‘a great distance’. Here, the noun ‘cry’ denotes ‘a calling distance’, as in ‘within cry of’, meaning ‘within calling distance of’.

origin of ‘lock, stock and barrel’ (i.e. ‘completely’)

18th Mar 2018.Reading time 9 minutes.

USA, 1811—based on the three principal components that make up a flintlock gun: ‘lock’ denotes the firing mechanism, ‘stock’ the handle or wooden shoulder-piece to which it is attached, and ‘barrel’ the tube down which the bullet is fired

‘slipshod’: ‘wearing loose shoes or slippers’

14th Feb 2018.Reading time 4 minutes.

‘slipshod’: ‘characterised by a lack of care, thought or organisation’—formed after the obsolete noun ‘slip-shoe’ (= ‘a loosely fitting shoe or slipper’); ‘shod’ (meaning ‘wearing shoes’) is the past participle of the verb ‘shoe’