Phrase of the hour
Keep your head above water
To manage to survive or keep coping, especially when money, time, or energy is only just sufficient. It implies struggling at the very limit of your…
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Discover what peculiar British and American expressions mean, where they came from, and how people actually use them.
2,006
curious expressions
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Plain-English meanings.
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Wunderkind
A child prodigy, and by extension any person who achieves remarkable success in a demanding field while still young. English has widened the word…
Meaning & originA siren call
An appeal hard to resist that leads, if obeyed, to a bad end - the tempting offer, cause, or ideology whose believers end up wrecked. The siren song…
Meaning & originA black day
A day marked by disaster, defeat, tragedy or heavy loss; commonly said of accidents, military defeats, sackings and market crashes ('a black day for…
Meaning & originHoist with your own petard
Harmed or defeated by the very scheme or device intended to harm another. Hoist is Shakespeare's past participle. Both with and by occur today, though…
Meaning & originTime is money
A maxim asserting that time is a finite resource with a cash value, so wasting it is equivalent to wasting money. It is used to justify charging by…
Meaning & originGive someone the runaround
To dodge or mislead with vague excuses, sending them in circles.
Meaning & originPlough the sands
To labour hard at something that cannot possibly succeed; effort poured into an undertaking as barren as a field of sand, since sand turned by the…
Meaning & originThe cat's pajamas
An outstanding, fashionable, or highly admirable person or thing. Dated but readily understood; usually playful Regional use: United States.
Meaning & origin
Language has legends. Evidence matters.
Colourful story or documented history?
Phrase origins are full of irresistible myths. We separate what historical sources can show from what remains disputed, and link the references behind researched entries.