Phrase of the hour
Keep your cards close to your chest
To keep your plans, intentions or feelings deliberately secret so that others cannot anticipate, second-guess or exploit them. Common in talk of…
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Plain-English meanings.
Folklore labelled honestly.
Folklore labelled honestly.
Start with a letter
Browse the cabinet
Pulled from the drawers
A few curious finds
The winter of our discontent
A period of gloom, hardship, and widespread dissatisfaction, most often political or economic, such as a season of strikes and unrest. In Shakespeare…
Meaning & originUp to the mark
Good enough or on par, up there.
Meaning & originNot lift a finger
To make no effort at all to help, or to do nothing whatsoever towards a task. Used almost exclusively in negative frames such as 'never lift a…
Meaning & originFood for thought
Something that merits serious reflection or gives the mind material to ponder. It appears almost exclusively as the object of 'give', 'offer', or…
Meaning & originClam up
To stop talking or refuse to speak, especially to avoid giving information, answering questions or incriminating someone. Informal in register and…
Meaning & originNot the full quid
Not very intelligent, sensible or fully aware of what is happening. Derogatory and potentially ableist when applied to a person. The variants are…
Meaning & originDown to the wire
Used of a contest, negotiation, or process whose outcome remains undecided until the very last moment. It typically appears in constructions like 'go…
Meaning & originThe whole shebang
The entire thing, group, operation, or collection. Current informal idiom Regional use: United States, later widespread.
Meaning & origin
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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.