Phrase of the hour
Up to scratch
Meeting a decent standard or readiness, good enough to pass muster.
Uncover the storyA curious dictionary of everyday English
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Discover what peculiar British and American expressions mean, where they came from, and how people actually use them.
1,901
curious expressions
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3,378
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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
Rule of thumb
A practical but approximate guideline based on experience rather than an exact calculation or universal rule.
Meaning & originShake a leg
An informal call to hurry up, get out of bed, and get moving. It began as a mid-nineteenth-century American expression for dancing and only later took…
Meaning & originSharenting
The practice of parents regularly sharing photos, videos and personal details about their children on social media. Usually neutral in news usage but…
Meaning & originSave for a rainy day
To put money or other resources aside for a future time of need, such as job loss, illness or emergency repairs. It frames saving as prudent insurance…
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 & originCross the Rubicon
To take a step from which there is no turning back - resigning, publishing, proposing, declaring - so that everything after it follows from the…
Meaning & originMansplaining
Explaining something in a condescending or overconfident way, especially a man explaining to a woman who in fact knows more about the topic than he…
Meaning & originTête-à-tête
An intimate, private conversation between two people; also an adjective for such encounters and, less commonly, a small sofa built so that two sitters…
Meaning & originLanguage 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.