meaning and origin of ‘red herring’
Red herring, used in laying trails for hounds to follow, was misunderstood as a deliberate attempt to distract them, hence the figurative use of ‘red herring’.
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origin of ‘to sweat like a pig’
The pig probably symbolises the unpleasant fact of sweating profusely in the same way as it often represents greed, dirt, etc. in many other derogatory idioms.
Read Morethe fourth estate
MEANING the press; the profession of journalism ORIGIN The first known user of the expression, designating the ordinary people, was the English author and magistrate Henry Fielding (1707-54) writing, under the pseudonym of Sir Alexander Drawcansir, Knt. Censor of Great Britain, in The Covent-Garden Journal of Saturday 13th June 1752: It […]
Read Moreto beggar belief
original illustration for Scribbleomania; Or, The Printer’s Devil’s Polichronicon (1815) by William Henry Ireland (Amabilis insania et mentis gratissimus error means A delightful insanity and a most pleasing error of the mind) MEANING The phrase to beggar belief (or description) means to be too extraordinary to be believed (or described). […]
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