This book explores the intriguing origins and development of about 800 words and expressions in English.

Table of Contents

• Introduction
• A
• A-1
• aardvark
• aback (be taken aback)
• abacus
• abracadabra
• academy
• Achilles’ heel
• acid test
• add insult to injury
• adder
• aegis (under the aegis)
• agnostic
• agony
• aisle
• alarm
• Amazon
• ambition
• ambulance
• amethyst
• ampersand
• anorak
• antimacassar
• apocalypse
• apple (apple of one's eye; apple-pie order)
• apricot
• arctic
• arena
• argosy
• Armageddon
• arrant
• arrowroot
• artesian well
• arsenal
• the Ashes
• assassin
• atone
• augur
• auspices (under the auspices of)
• axe (have an axe to grind)
• B
• babel
• babes in the wood
• bacon (bring home the bacon)
• baffle
• baker's dozen
• balaclava
• the balloon goes up
• ballot
• ballpark figure
• banal
• bandy
• bankrupt
• bark up the wrong tree
• barnacle
• batty
• be all things to all men (or people)
• be-all and end-all
• bead
• beam (on one's beam-ends)
• beat about the bush
• because it's there
• bed (get out of bed on the wrong side)
• bedlam
• bee (have a bee in one's bonnet; the bee's knees; make a beeline)
• before you can say Jack Robinson
• beggar
• beggar description
• belfry
• bell, book, and candle
• bell the cat
• belt (below the belt)
• berserk (go berserk)
• best bib and tucker
• the best-laid schemes of mice and men
• beware the Greeks bearing gifts
• Big Ben
• big brother
• bikini
• Biro
• biscuit
• bite (bite the bullet; bite the dust; bite the hand that feeds one)
• bitter (to the bitter end)
• black (in someone's black books; black sheep)
• blackmail
• blarney
• blaze a trail
• the blind leading the blind
• blitz
• blockbuster
• bloody but unbowed
• bloomers
• blow hot and cold
• blue (blue-blooded; blue-chip; once in a blue moon)
• blurb
• board (above board; go by the board)
• bob's your uncle
• Bohemian
• a bolt from the blue
• bone (have a bone to pick; make no bones about something)
• bonfire
• boogie
• the boot is on the other foot
• born with a silver spoon in one's mouth
• borstal
• bottom line
• Boxing Day
• boycott
• brass (get down to brass tacks)
• brass monkeys
• brave new world
• breach (once more unto the breach)
• bread and circuses
• break a leg
• bridegroom
• broke (go for broke)
• browse
• buccaneer
• the buck stops here
• buff
• bulldozer
• bungalow
• burgle
• burn one's boats/bridges
• Burton (go for a Burton)
• bury (bury the hatchet; bury one's head in the sand)
• busman's holiday
• butter wouldn't melt in someone's mouth
• butterfly
• buttonhole
• by and large
• C
• cabal
• cake (take the cake)
• calculate
• calendar
• a can of worms
• cappuccino
• a card up one's sleeve
• cardigan
• carpetbagger
• carry coals to Newcastle
• cast pearls before swine
• cat (a cat has nine lives; let the cat out of the bag)
• cat-o’-nine-tails
• catch-22
• catch someone red-handed
• caviare to the general
• chance one's arm
• chapel
• chauvinism
• cheat
• cheek (turn the other cheek)
• cherry
• chess
• one's chickens come home to roost
• the Chiltern Hundreds
• chip (have a chip on one's shoulder)
• chivvy
• chocolate
• chop suey
• chortle
• claptrap
• clean (as clean as a whistle; make a clean breast of something)
• cloak and dagger
• cloud-cuckoo-land
• clue
• a cobbler should stick to his last
• cock-and-bull story
• coconut
• cold (give someone/get the cold shoulder)
• companion
• complexion
• a conspiracy of silence
• constable
• cook someone's goose
• cop
• cordon bleu
• corduroy
• corny
• the corridors of power
• countdown
• coup de grâce
• cover a multitude of sins
• coward
• cowslip
• crayfish
• creosote
• cretin
• criss-cross
• crocodile tears
• cross the Rubicon
• cupboard love
• curate (like the curate's egg)
• curfew
• currant
• curry favour
• cut the Gordian knot
• cut of someone's jib
• cut someone to the quick
• cut to the chase
• cynic
• D
• D-day
• dachshund
• damask
• damn with faint praise
• a Daniel come to judgment
• a dark horse
• Davy Jones’ locker
• days of wine and roses
• dead (as dead as the dodo; as dead as a doornail; a dead ringer)
• deadline
• death (at death's door)
• decibel
• decimate
• derrick
• desultory
• deus ex machina
• devil (between the devil and the deep blue sea; the devil to pay; let the devil take the hindmost; devil's advocate)
• dickens (what, how, etc the dickens)
• the die is cast
• diesel
• dirge
• distaff
• do as you would be done by
• Dr Livingstone, I presume
• dog (a dog in the manger; dog days)
• doldrums (in the doldrums)
• a doubting Thomas
• Down Under
• draconian
• dressed to the nines
• a drop in the ocean/bucket
• at the drop of a hat
• dunce
• the Dunkirk spirit
• Dutch
• E
• earmark
• eat humble pie
• eccentric
• electricity
• Elementary, my dear Watson!
• eleventh (at the eleventh hour)
• end (make ends meet)
• enthusiast
• Epsom salts
• era
• esquire
• eureka
• exchequer
• explode
• an eye for an eye
• F
• face the music
• farce
• fast (play fast and loose with someone)
• feather (a feather in one's cap; feather one's nest)
• fell (at one fell swoop)
• female
• ferret
• fiddle while Rome burns
• fifth column
• filibuster
• a fine kettle of fish
• flagstone
• flak
• a flash in the pan
• a fly in the ointment
• foolscap
• foot (have one foot in the grave)
• forlorn hope
• foxglove
• freelance
• G
• galore
• the game isn't worth the candle
• garlic
• gauntlet (run the gauntlet)
• gauntlet (throw down the gauntlet)
• ghost (give up the ghost; Holy Ghost)
• gift (the gift of the gab; not look a gift horse in the mouth)
• gild the lily
• glitters (all that glitters is not gold)
• goat (get someone's goat)
• gobsmacked
• a good Samaritan
• gooseberry
• gorilla
• gossamer
• grace (there but for the grace of God, go I)
• Greek (all Greek to me)
• the green-eyed monster
• grin like a Cheshire cat
• grist (all grist to the (or one's) mill)
• guerrilla
• H
• haggis
• ha-ha
• halcyon
• hallmark
• hamburger
• hammer and tongs
• hangnail
• harbinger
• havoc
• hell (all hell breaks loose)
• helpmate
• hide one's light under a bushel
• hobnob
• Hobson's choice
• hog (go the whole hog)
• hoist by one's own petard
• holocaust
• honeymoon
• hook, line, and sinker
• hooray
• horoscope
• husband
• hustings
• hysteria
• I
• idiot
• ignoramus
• ignorance is bliss
• imbecile
• imp
• inch (give someone an inch and he'll take a mile)
• infantry
• intelligentsia
• iron (Iron Curtain; have many irons in the fire)
• italic
• itching palm
• Ivy League
• J
• jackpot
• jeep
• Jekyll and Hyde
• jeopardy
• Jerusalem artichoke
• Job's comforter
• jodhpurs
• jumbo
• jump on the bandwagon
• K
• kamikaze
• kangaroo
• ketchup
• kick the bucket
• kidnap
• kill the fatted calf/the goose that laid the golden eggs
• kipper
• knave
• knickers
• knight
• knock into a cocked hat
• know the ropes
• knuckle down/under
• L
• lackadaisical
• laconic
• a lame duck
• lampoon
• landlubber
• laser
• laurel (rest on one's laurels)
• a leap in the dark
• leap year
• leave in the lurch; leave no stone unturned
• leotard
• leprechaun
• the letter of the law
• lewd
• libel
• lick (lick into shape; a lick and a promise)
• life of Riley
• limbo
• limelight
• limerick
• Limey
• limousine
• liquorice
• a little learning is a dangerous thing
• lock, stock, and barrel
• loggerheads (at loggerheads)
• long in the tooth
• loo
• loophole
• at a loose end
• lose the (or one's) thread
• love (love; love me, love my dog)
• M
• as mad as a hatter/a March hare
• madrigal
• maelstrom
• magazine
• manna
• manner (to the manner born)
• manure
• marathon
• margarine
• marshal
• martyr
• masterpiece
• Maundy Thursday
• mausoleum
• mealy-mouthed
• meander
• meet one's Waterloo
• melodrama
• mercurial
• mesmerize
• mews
• midwife
• migraine
• mile
• milliner
• millstone around one's neck
• minion
• minutes
• moment of truth
• moot
• moron
• mountain (make a mountain out of a molehill)
• mulligatawny
• mumbo jumbo
• Munro
• muscle
• museum
• mushroom
• N
• nail (on the nail; nail one's colours to the mast)
• neighbour
• nepotism
• nest egg
• never-never land
• new (turn over a new leaf)
• news
• nick (in the nick of time)
• nightmare
• a nine days’ wonder
• noisome
• nose (on the nose)
• notch
• nutshell (in a nutshell)
• O
• oaf
• off the cuff
• ogre
• ombudsman
• on cloud nine
• onomatopoeia
• orc
• orgy
• osprey
• ostracize
• over (all over bar the shouting; over the moon; over the top)
• ozone
• P
• Pacific Ocean
• paddle one's own canoe
• pagan
• paint the town red
• pale (beyond the pale)
• palindrome
• pallbearer
• pan out
• pandemonium
• panoply
• pantomime
• parasite
• parchment
• pecking order
• pedigree
• peg (take someone down a peg or two)
• perk
• person
• pickaxe
• pickle (in a pickle)
• pie in the sky
• piranha
• plain sailing
• Platonic
• poet laureate
• polecat
• Pommy
• pooh-pooh
• posh
• possum (play possum)
• pot (go to pot; the pot calling the kettle black)
• potato
• one's pound of flesh
• the powers that be
• powwow
• precarious
• prestige
• primrose path
• protocol
• pupil
• push the envelope
• pyjamas
• Pythonesque
• Q
• Quaker
• queue
• quiche
• quiz
• R
• rack (go to rack and ruin)
• rain (rain cats and dogs; take a rain-check on something)
• reason (ours not to reason why)
• red (red herring; red-letter day; red tape; like a red rag to a bull; see red)
• riding
• riff-raff
• rigmarole
• ring the changes
• room (no room to swing a cat)
• roses all the way
• rostrum
• round robin
• rule the roost
• Russian roulette
• S
• sabotage
• sacrament
• salad days
• the salt of the earth
• sandwich
• sanguine
• satellite
• saxophone
• scapegoat
• sceptical
• scream blue murder
• seventh (in seventh heaven)
• shamefaced
• shanks's pony
• shelf (shelf; on/off the shelf; shelve)
• sherry
• shibboleth
• ship (like ships that pass in the night)
• shipshape and Bristol fashion
• short (give someone short shrift)
• show a leg
• shrapnel
• sideburns
• silhouette
• sinecure
• siren
• six (at sixes and sevens)
• skin (by the skin of one's teeth)
• slapstick
• slave
• sleuth
• slipshod
• slogan
• smog
• snob
• soccer
• sock (put a sock in it)
• sow the dragon's teeth/wild oats
• spam
• span
• spike someone someone's guns
• spill the beans
• spinster
• spitting image
• spoil the ship for a ha'porth of tar
• spoke (put a spoke in someone's wheel)
• spree
• square (back to square one)
• starboard
• steeplechase
• step up to the plate
• stepchild
• steward
• stoic
• stop (pull out all the stops)
• straight from the horse's mouth
• the straw that broke the camel's back
• strike while the iron is hot
• strontium
• suede
• sure (as sure as eggs is eggs)
• swallow (one swallow does not make a summer)
• swan song
• swap horses in mid-stream
• swashbuckling
• T
• taboo
• tail (have one's tail between one's legs; turn tail)
• talk nineteen to the dozen/turkey
• tally
• tantalize
• Tarmac
• tawdry
• teddy bear
• throw in the towel/sponge
• tinker's cuss/dam
• tip
• tit for tat
• titanic
• tommy
• Topsy (like Topsy, it just growed)
• Tory
• tram
• trip the light fantastic
• Trojan horse
• troll
• tulip
• tycoon
• U
• ultramarine
• upstage
• V
• vermicelli
• virago
• vox pop
• W
• wagon (on the wagon)
• wake
• walnut
• warm the cockles of one's heart
• warpath (on the warpath)
• wash one's hands of something
• wedlock
• whipping boy
• whisky
• whistle-blower
• Whitsun
• win one's spurs
• winkle
• a wolf in sheep's clothing
• wood (touch/knock on wood)
• wool (pull the wool over someone's eyes; wool-gathering)
• the writing on the wall
• X
• X-rated
• X-ray
• Y
• Yankee
• yellowhammer
• yoga
• Yuletide
• Z
• zany
• zealot
• zombie