Useful Dictionary of Word and Phrase Origins
Useful Dictionary of Word and Phrase Origins
Editor/Author
Manser, Martin
Publication Year: 2018
Publisher: Manser
Price: Core Collection Only

ISBN: 978-1-54-394264-4
Category: Language & Literature - Composition (Language arts)
Book Status: Available
Table of Contents
This book explores the intriguing origins and development of about 800 words and expressions in English.
This book is found in the following Credo Collections:
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