Language

Do you picture her as a hoity-toity person, nose in air, prim, precise, lips pursed as if always saying “prunes” and “prisms”? Well, actually you may paint your own picture, for the dear lady never existed. She was an imaginary person in a play, a character frequently referred to but never appearing. The play was … Read more

Perhaps because the shirts of a hundred years ago were not Sanforized and, therefore, the American male was likely to be hampered in the free movement of his arms, it was his custom, whenever a fight seemed imminent in settling an argument, to remove his shirt first, and thus be ready to wade in with … Read more

Of course, “playing horse” is a childhood pastime, playing as if riding upon a horse. And “playing horse with (a person)” is indulging in horseplay, taking advantage of, or picking on, or joshing a person. But neither of these expresses the sense of the phrase used by our parents and which our children and grandchildren … Read more

The phrase “ace in the hole” means: Something of especial effectiveness held in reserve or undisclosed; something kept up one’s sleeve. The expression derives from the game of stud poker. In this game the first round of cards in each deal is dealt face down, and each such card remains undisclosed to all but its … Read more

We borrowed “cinch” from the Spanish cincha, a saddle-girth, used by the early settlers of our present West and Southwest. And because the former girths of braided horsehair were so strong and could be drawn so tight that a rider could have no fear of a slipping saddle, “a cinch” became a synonym for a … Read more

The phrase “to hang by a thread” means: To be subject to imminent danger; to be in a hazardous position or precarious condition. The allusion is to one Damocles, a courtier in the reign of Dionysius of Syracuse in the fifth century B.C. All we know of this courtier is from the tale told both … Read more

The expression “to get cold feet” was by the editors of A Dictionary of Americanisms (1951). But Kenneth McKenzie, professor emeritus of Italian at Princeton, has found a much older instance of its use. He said: “This expression can hardly have originated in the 1890’s, as you state, for it is found in Ben Jonson’s … Read more

The sense, to anyone whose knowledge of Latin enables him to recognize that the zodiacal sign Capricorn is a he-goat, is to perform like a goat, especially a kid or young goat; that is, to frolic about in a grotesque manner. Although the expression “to cut capers” and its meaning were still new in his … Read more

The phrase “an also ran” means: A loser in a contest; hence, an unsuccessful or insignificant person; a failure. The term originated on the American turf, applied to any horse failing to take a place among the winners or to a jockey riding such a horse. In political circles the term is applied to any … Read more

Nowadays the expression “son of a gun” is likely to be a respectable or nice-Nelly substitute for an epithet of the when-you-call-me-that-Smile variety, a male offspring of the female of the canine family. But it is also used as a term of affectionate regard, as between pals. In general, however, it is the opposite extreme, … Read more

A “badger game” is a form of blackmail, employed upon a man of position or wealth who is enticed into a compromising situation by a woman and is then “discovered” by one professing to be her husband. To avoid disgrace under threat of legal procedure or newspaper publicity the victim is under the thumb of … Read more

It would have been our guess that the term “hot dog” for the popular American comestible came into circulation, along with the item itself, during the great Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893. But the New York Herald Tribune, in an editorial, “The Hot-Dog Mystery,” June 2, 1931, was not able to carry the date … Read more

The expression “a leap in the dark” means: Any undertaking the outcome of which cannot be foreseen; a venture of uncertain consequence. At least, such are the modern interpretations, and we apply the metaphor to just about anything we have under contemplation of which the consequences cannot be determined. But the earliest usage of which … Read more

The phrase “to give one the gate” might appear to be a descendant of a saying of the fifteenth century, “to grant one the gate,” as in The Knightly Tale of Golagros and Gawane: “The king grantit the gait to schir Gawane, And prayt to the grete Dod to grant him his grace.” That is … Read more

The expression “by hook or by crook” means: By fair means or foul; in one way or another. This expression is so old, dating back at least to the fourteenth century, that, though many derivations have been advanced, no certainty of origin has been obtained. This statement brought a letter from Admiral Gerald J. FitzGerald … Read more

The expression “working for a dead horse” means: Performing work for which payment has already been made; ergo, doing something which is no longer profitable. We have no doubt that the Greeks had a phrase for this, and the Egyptians before them, and so on back to the first time that man worked for hire, … Read more

The phrase “to put on the baby act” means: To act in a manner typical of a baby; that is, to whine, coax, wheedle, shed tears, yell, howl, scream, kick, or otherwise adopt a babylike action in order to evoke sympathy, gain attention, or get one’s way; as, “He weakened when she pulled the baby … Read more

The expression “unable to see the wood for the trees” means: Too beset by petty things to appreciate greatness or grandeur; too wrapped up in details to gain a view of the whole. In America we are likely to use the plural, “woods,” or possibly to substitute “forest,” but “wood” is the old form and … Read more

The expression “to lead one down the garden path”, in frequent use by English writers, has not yet gained much currency in the United States. It is relatively new, dating probably no further back than around the end of World War I. When we wrote to Sir St. Vincent Troubridge, whom we have quoted variously … Read more

The expression “to ride the goat” means: To be initiated or inducted into an organization, especially into a secret society. In all probability, although no facts are ever likely to be disclosed, this expression actually did arise from the practice in some college Greek-letter fraternity of introducing a goat into the hazing of prospective candidates … Read more

The phrase “willing to give one’s ears” means: Willing to make a marked sacrifice. The allusion is to a punishment for certain crimes in the England of the twelfth century and later, and in America, too, by which one or both ears of him or her adjudged to be guilty were cut off. But though … Read more

The French idea is it a bien d’autres chiens a fouetter, literally, “he has many other dogs to whip.” The Germans, with no frills, give the actual meaning, andere Dinge zu tun haben, “to have other things to do,” as do the Italians with altro pel capo. The Spaniards are equally direct though your translated … Read more

The phrase “to skate on thin ice” means: To approach or treat a delicate subject without causing offense; to risk imprudence or indelicacy in language. We have skated over thin ice several times in our attempt to explain one or another irreligious or indecent expression tactfully, without giving occasion to any reader to drop us … Read more

“Breathes there a man with soul so dead” that he has never done this. Any such would be utterly lacking in either desire or ambition, one who goes through life just a-settin’ like a Stoughton bottle. That is, we all, at some time, strive for the impossible or the unattainable, and, perhaps, the disappointment over … Read more

The expression “to get in one’s hair” means: To have someone or something persistently annoy one; to become greatly irked. I doubt that this American expression was of Western origin, though its first reported appearance was in the Oregon Statesman in 1851: “I shall depend on your honor, that you won’t tell on me, cause … Read more

The ancient Romans expressed this same thought by saying, “verba dare alicui,” which, translated, is “to give empty words,” and that is what we do when we throw dust in anyone’s eyes. We say a lot of empty words or perform some action which will confuse or mislead that person, blinding him, as it were, … Read more

If Willy Smith, in fitting attire, enters the portals of Madame Astorbilt’s house or grounds, to which he has not been invited, in order to mingle with her party guests, he has “crashed the gate” to do so. Or if little red-haired Sammy Jones finds a way to sneak past a ticket-taker at the Polo … Read more

The phrase “to get one’s dander up” means: To get angry; to become riled or ruffled. Dad gets his dander up when neighbor Simpson implies that his new Chevvy runs better than dad’s new Ford, but he also gets his dander up, good and plenty, when son Pete smashes a fender of that same Ford … Read more

The phrase “weasel words” means: Slaps on the wrist; words that weaken or detract from the effectiveness or force of another word or expression. The expression is often erroneously accredited to Theodore Roosevelt. He did use it and define it, however, in a speech at St. Louis, May 31, 1916. Roosevelt, along with many others, … Read more

Maybe there was once an Englishman whose name was really Davy Jones. Perhaps he was the barman of the sixteenth-century ballad, “Jones Ale Is Newe,” and the locker, dreaded by seamen, may have been where he stored his ale. That is speculation, however. Actually the source of the name and the reason for bestowing it … Read more

The American slang “to put the finger on someone” has a far different connotation than the older “to put (or lay) one’s finger upon something.” The latter, though in general use the past hundred years, has the specific meaning, to point out, to indicate precisely; especially to show meaning or cause. But the newer expression … Read more

Quite properly, anyone who is a “fly-by-night” is one who decamps secretly or who departs hurriedly or clandestinely, usually at night, from a scene of recent activity, as from solicitous creditors or from anxious purchasers of worthless mining stocks or the like. In any case, he is a four-flusher, a swindler, and his activities are … Read more

Many a man who has had “the book” thrown at him would infinitely prefer that it had been a literal book, no matter how large or hefty. But no, it is a figurative book, or, rather, the contents of a literal book. Originally, and usually, “the book” is the maximum sentence that a judge can … Read more

The expression “to ride for a fall” means: To lose intentionally; also, to fail in an enterprise. Obviously the saying stems from horse racing, especially in a steeplechase, in which a rider, though on a favorite mount, deliberately rides in such manner as to disqualify himself by, apparently, being thrown from his horse. The expression, … Read more

The phrase “to burn one’s bridges” means: To make retreat impossible; hence, figuratively, to make a categorical statement or to take a positive stand from which none but an ignominious withdrawal is possible. We have read that this expression with the “boat” terminus was an ancient Greek idiom, but if that is true we have … Read more

The expression “to flog a dead horse” means: To try to revive a feeling of interest that has died; to engage in a fruitless undertaking. The French express it more literallychercher a ressusciter un mort, to seek to resuscitate a corpse. But whatever the language, the sense is clear: it is as useless to try … Read more

The phrase “cutting off one’s nose to spite one’s face” means: Injuring oneself in taking revenge upon another; damaging oneself through pique. Apperson has traced this back to a French saying that was current in the seventeenth century. Among the Historiettes of Gedeon Tallemant des Reaux, written about 1658, he finds: “Henri iv concut fort … Read more

Though “deadman” may have a variety of meanings, a corpse; a log, concrete block, or other heavy mass buried in the ground to serve as an anchor; an empty liquor bottle, “dead soldier”; a timber, in logging, to which the hawser of a boom is attached, we are concerned with something more literal here. These … Read more

The expression “to hide one’s light under a bushel” means: To conceal one’s talents or abilities; keep in the background; be unduly modest. This has reference to the fifth chapter of St. Matthew, in which, following the Beatitudes, Jesus called upon his disciples to be “the light of the world,” adding, in the fourteenth and … Read more

The phrase “to pull one’s leg” means: To coax, wheedle, blarney; bamboozle, delude, pull the wool over one’s eyes; befool, make fun of one. Our cousins over the seas, among whom the expression originated, use it in the latter senses; the first is an American addition, carrying the tomfoolery into downright cheating and chiseling. The … Read more

“The horseleech hath two daughters, crying, Give, give.” You will find that in Proverbs, xxx, 15. Of course, the horseleech is an aquatic sucking worm, of large size and great sucking facilities which veterinary surgeons of old employed to remedy common diseases of the horse; hence, the name. But the name, as far back as … Read more

Dive into the intriguing origins of the phrase “to toe the mark” and unravel its meaning. Explore the historical context that shaped this idiom’s significance. Key Takeaways: Uncover the historical origin and evolution of the phrase “to toe the mark.” Understand the figurative meaning and its usage in various contexts. Gain insights into the cultural … Read more

“Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you.” That is the sixth verse of the seventh chapter of Matthew. Of the passage John Wyclif wrote in 1380: “Dus (Thus) comaundeth crist bat men schullen … Read more

We owe the proverbial saying “snake in the grass” to the Roman poet Vergil (70-19 B.c.). In the third Eclogue is the line Latet anguis in herba, “A snake lurks in the grass.” Apperson reports the appearance of this Latin proverb also in a political song in England round the year 1290: Cum totum fecisse … Read more

The expression “to stick one’s oar in another’s boat” means: To enter without invitation into the affairs of another; to interfere or meddle; to butt into a conversation or the like; to add one’s two-cents’ worth. There’s no telling where this originated. Its first appearance in English is in the Apophthegmes, That is to Saie, … Read more

The phrase “to get it in the neck” means: To get it where the chicken got the ax; to be defeated or punished; to be on the carpet; also, to be deceived. The first definition, in its literal sense, adequately explains the origin of this American slang, and the first definition used figuratively is fully … Read more

The assumption was made that the expression “to turn the tables” originated about three centuries ago from some unknown game of cards. The game from which the expression arose was backgammon, not cards. This is a game of considerable antiquity, thought to have been invented in the tenth century, but probably related to the game … Read more

The phrase “to stick one’s neck out” means: To expose oneself to criticism; to take a chance, especially an extremely risky one; to monkey with the buzz saw. Although this American slang is of considerably later vintage, probably little more than thirty years old, it is our opinion that it arose also from the nineteenth-century … Read more

The expression “to hit the nail on the head” means: To say or do the right thing; to express in words the exact idea; to speak to the point; to hit the bull’s-eye. Our old Romans may have given us the grounds for this expression in the common saying, acu rem tangere, literally, “to touch … Read more

The phrase “to keep the pot boiling” means: To provide for one’s living; to keep at gainful employment that will produce income; also, to keep interest from flagging; to keep the ball rolling. In former times when gentlemen and ladies were not supposed to work, to sell their time and effort for wages, some still … Read more

When you have someone “over a barrel” or put him over one you have him at your mercy, on the spot; you have him under your thumb, hook, line, and sinker. We surmise that the literal expression was an act of mercy, arising from the use of a barrel, until better means of resuscitation were … Read more

In my youth, it was “tit” rather than “teat,” of course, but there was then long established American usage for that. The allusion was to the supposition long existing among the breeders of domestic animals that the rearmost nipple of an udder supplied less nourishment to a calf, colt, piglet, or lamb than any of … Read more

A “whipping boy” is one upon whom is inflicted punishment for the faults or wrongs of another; a scapegoat. Under the belief that the body of a young royal prince was as sacred as that of the king, his father, and that, accordingly, no governess nor tutor should chaitise him, a custom was introduced into … Read more

When Charles-Augustin Sainte-Beuve, French literary critic of the early nineteenth century, coined the term “ivory tower” he thought of it as applicable to the aerie of a poet, a place where he could retire from the world, a retreat. The term occurs in his own poem, Pensies d’Aotit (Thoughts of August), written in October, 1837, … Read more

The phrase “something rotten in Denmark” means: Something of a highly suspicious nature; something likely to be corrupt. We have it from Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Act I, scene 4. Hamlet has been summoned by the ghost of his father, the murdered king of Denmark, into a conversation apart from his friends Horatio and Marcellus. His friends … Read more

In modern usage of the expression “fatten (or sweeten) the kitty” at least, this “kitty” is not a member of the cat family. The expression is a gambling term, chiefly poker nowadays, and today means to increase the stakes, to add chips to an unopened jack pot. According to Hoyle, however, “kitty” is “the percentage … Read more

The phrase “to throw in the towel” means: To say uncle; to holler quits; to admit defeat; to surrender, submit, or yield. In today’s pugilistic encounters one is more likely to hear that the manager of one contestant throws in a towel, rather than a sponge, but the original occasion for the expression, which still … Read more

The expression “to jump Jim Crow” means: To dance with a peculiar limping step. Although, according to the Negro Year Book for 1925-26, the name “Jim Crow” was that of a Negro born in Richmond about 1800, later emancipated and, in England, acquiring “quite a fortune,” it is not probable that his name was in … Read more

The phrase “to fish or cut bait” means: To make a choice; specifically, to be obliged to take a definite stand, as upon a political issue. Just how this personal decision, admitting of no argument, wandered from matters piscatorial to matters political is one of the many questions which contribute interest to the life of … Read more

The expression “like a bear with a sore head” means: Very disgruntled; peevish; ill-tempered; soreheaded. Professor Hans Sperber of Ohio State University, in his studies of words and phrases in American politics, argues that the American term “sorehead,” meaning a disgruntled person, is derived from the metaphor, “like a bear with a sore head” (American … Read more

He who sits “above the salt” is among the elect, honored, or socially acceptable; he who sits “below the salt” is just an also-ran, an ordinary person, perhaps even inferior in social standing. The allusion is to the dining customs in the houses of the nobility and gentry in medieval days. The saltcellar (properly “saler”), … Read more

Although the expression “to shake a stick at” does have a literal meaning, to threaten with a stick, we in the United States give it much more fanciful interpretations. If we say, “There are more filling stations in town than one can shake a stick at,” we mean nothing more than that the town contains … Read more

There are as many versions of Aesop’s Fables as there are publishers who have reprinted them with added tales from other sources. The version from which we took this story of “The Shepherd-boy and the Wolf” runs as follows: A shepherd-boy who kept his flock a little way from a village for some time amused … Read more

The expression “to strain at a gnat and swallow a camel” means: To make a fuss over trifles but accept great faults without complaint. This, as are many others, is a Biblical expression. It is found in Matthew xxiii, 24-26: “Ye blind guides, which strain at a gnat and swallow a camel. Woe unto you, … Read more

It is the auctioneer’s hammer that is referred to in the phrase “to put under the hammer”. The small mallet used by him when tapping “once,” to indicate that the item on sale is about to be “going” to the latest bidder; “twice,” to give reluctant bidders another chance; “three times,” as notice that the … Read more

The expression “hair and hide” means: The whole works; every part; the entirety. The first part, hair and hide, has long been used in the same sense. In fact, five hundred years ago, in the metrical Life of St. Cuthbert, we find: “pai were destroyed, bath hare and hyde.” The second part, horns and tallow, … Read more

The phrase “call off the dogs” means: Cease some objectionable line of conduct, procedure, conversation, inquiry, or the like; break off an unprofitable or disagreeable course. The analogy is that of the chase, in which dogs following a wrong scent are called off.

The expression “in hot water” means: In trouble; in a pretty kettle of fish; in a pretty how-de-do; behind the 8-ball; on the spot; up Salt Creek; domestically, in the dog house. When one considers that, during the Dark Ages especially, one of the favorite tests of guilt or innocence of a crime called for … Read more

The phrase “hold your horses” means: Don’t be in too great a hurry; take it easy; watch your step; keep your shirt on; be patient; control your temper. This homely admonition traces back to the American county fair of old, to the races which, among the menfolk especially, were the main features of the day. … Read more

The phrase “to split hairs” means: To quibble; to make fine distinctions; to cavil or become captious over trifles. Thanks to the great degree of refinement in modern equipment, a hair may be split or divided lengthwise into numerous fine filaments. In fact, not long since, we were told of a drill so fine that … Read more

The expression “to keep one’s pecker up” means: To maintain one’s courage or resolution; not to get down in the mouth; to keep a stiff upper lip. In fact, we might say that “lip” and “pecker” are two terms for the same thing, as the lip corresponds with the beak or pecker of a bird. … Read more

Of course we “turn the heat on,” in this modern age, when we adjust the thermostat to a higher thermometer reading, and thus start up the oil-burning or gas-fired furnace or the electric heater. But in current slang, the “heat” is of a different nature. At first, it would seem, it was that of the … Read more

The expression “with a high hand” means: Overbearing in manner; arrogantly. In the Bible, Numbers xxxiii, 3, the chronicler used the expression in the sense of “triumphantly,” in the description of the departure of the Israelites from Egyptian bondage: “And they departed from Rameses in the first month, on the fifteenth day of the first … Read more

The phrase “itching palm” means: A wistful desire for money; a hankering for gain; avariciousness; readiness to receive a bribe. Other bodily parts were metaphorically said to itch, even before Shakespeare’s time, such as an “itching tongue,” a craving to repeat gossip; an “itching ear,” a craving to hear something new; an “itching foot,” a … Read more

The expression “by the great horn spoon” is a mild oath, about as innocuous as “by the beard of the prophet,” not as strong as “great jumping Jehoshaphat.” Delvers into our language have been trying to figure out just what a “great horn spoon” was. So far, the search has been unsuccessful. Apparently it first … Read more

The phrase “to keep one’s eye on the ball” means: To be closely attentive; to be alert, alive and kicking, on one’s toes; to sit up and take notice. This has been popular American speech in a figurative sense for at least fifty years. In source, although applicable to any sport in which a ball … Read more

The expression “rings a bell” means: To start a train of recollection; to strike a familiar chord; also, to appeal to one, to strike one’s fancy. Partridge, in A Dictionary of Slang, says that this is from “the bell that rings when, at a shooting gallery, a marksman hits the bull’s-eye.” We don’t agree with … Read more

The phrase “to ride the gravy train” means: To acquire wealth; become prosperous; live on Easy Street; have a profitable business or an easy or well-paid position. Probably the expression actually arose in railroading lingo, in which a gravy run or a gravy train meant an easy run with good pay for the train crew, … Read more

The expression “in the doghouse” means: In a predicament; in a pickle; in a pretty how-de-do; in disgrace. This American slang of the early twentieth century came into being through analogy. Anyone who was considered, usually by a man’s wife, to be “going to the dogs” was, in theory at least, thought to be fit … Read more

“Getting down to grass roots” is something that politicians or office seekers repeatedly do, or do in their speechifying preceding an election. Grass roots, apparently, are rediscovered perennially at those times. Actually, this homely American phrase means nothing more than getting down to the underlying principles or basic facts of a matter, and may be … Read more

The expression “duck soup” means: Extremely easy; easy as rolling off a log; hence, a cinch. American slang of some twenty-five years’ standing. Probably derived from “a sitting duck,” namely one resting on the water, thus easily shot by a hunter; hence, figuratively, an easy mark, any person who lays himself wide open to ridicule … Read more

The phrase “come hell or high water” means: Let the consequences be whatever they may, however ill. We’d say that this is considerably older than the date 1915, shown for it in A Dictionary of Americanisms. In fact, we heard it commonly employed in Colorado and Wyoming some years earlier, and it is the sort … Read more

No one has ever yet found teeth in a hen, nor is likely to. So the expression “as scarce as hen’s teeth” is just another example (American) of exaggerated statement not intended to be taken literally, to impress the listener with the fact that the item under discussion, whatever it may be, does not exist, … Read more

Cerberus, in classical mythology, was the three-headed dog that guarded the entrance to Hades, permitting the dead to enter, but preventing their shades from leaving. Sometimes those who entered were greeted in friendly manner by the several heads, but others might be met by fierce and angry snarls. Accordingly, friends placed in the hands of … Read more

We have little doubt that the original expression was “hell bent for breakfast,” cowboy slang of the past thirty or forty years, typifying the rush from bunkhouse to cookshack at the clang of the breakfast gong, automobile tire rim or triangle. In fact, some writers still have their characters say, “hell for breakfast,” though the … Read more

The expression “to hoe one’s own row” means: To make one’s own way; to be independent, beholden to no one; to paddle one’s own canoe, peddle one’s own papers, blow one’s own nose. This was farm lingo, and is still applicable in a literal sense on any farm on which most labor is performed without … Read more

Back in 1854 Congress, admitting Kansas and Nebraska as territories, weakly made the slave question a matter of local option. But abolitionists among the new settlers were at first in the minority. “How are you on the goose?” became a customary question put to any newcomer in a community, especially in Kansas. It was never … Read more

The expression “all my eye and Betty Martin” means: All humbug; sham; stuff and nonsense; apparent but not real; imaginary. The age, even of the first part of this expression, is unknown. Grose, in A Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue (1785), was the first to give it mention, but it is likely that “all … Read more