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Results tagged with idioms
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user 9001
Idioms are a group of words established by usage as having a meaning not deducible from those of the individual words. Use [idiom-requests] if you are searching for an idiom with a particular meaning.
4
votes
What does "quick parts" mean?
According to thesaurus.com, quick parts is a synonym of intelligence or wisdom:
[Nouns] intelligence, capacity, comprehension, understanding; cuteness, sabe [U.S.], savvy [U.S.]; intellect; nous, …
- 68.1k
2
votes
Accepted
If one says "Amid much fanfare", what does he mean?
It's this second meaning:
fanfare NOUN
ˈfænfeə(r) ˈfænfer
1 [countable]
a short loud piece of music that is played to celebrate somebody/something important arriving
- A fanfare of …
- 68.1k
2
votes
"armed to the teeth", "mortgaged to the hilt", okay, but what about "mortgaged to the teeth"?
According to A Collection of Confusable Phrases: False 'friends' and 'enemies' in Idioms and Collocations by Yuri Dolgopolov, "to the teeth" can mean fully armed our completely involved, and gives an example …
- 68.1k
1
vote
Meaning of "whip into a lather"
Several dictionaries include a definition of lather that refers to horse sweat. For example, from Merriam-Webster:
1 a : a foam or froth formed when a detergent (as soap) is agitated in water
1 …
- 68.1k
1
vote
Meaning and origin of "in so many words"
The OED says "in so many words" is after classical Latin totidem verbīs, meaning in that exact number of words, or those exact words, or in words expressing the same meaning.
Their first quotation i …
- 68.1k
3
votes
Accepted
What is a "Churchill moment"?
Churchill moment seems to be fairly recent as a set phrase and doesn't even register in Google Ngrams or Trends. Google Insights for Search only has two small peaks (100 in May 2011, 71 in March 2012) …
- 68.1k
8
votes
Accepted
How did the term "to favor" come to signify a limp?
The OED has this use of the verb favour dating back to the 16th century:
7. To deal gently with; to avoid overtasking (a limb); to ease, save, spare. Now colloq. (esp. in stable parlance) and dial.
1 …
- 68.1k
2
votes
Accepted
what does somebody's "release date" mean?
"Josephine's release date" means when she was born. The author is joking that his first print book was released on almost the same day his daughter was born.
- 68.1k
6
votes
What is the origin of the idiom 'all the rage'?
Cerberus describes the evolution of the phrase well, and I'm surprised it's so old - it still feels quite new. Here's some antedatings.
OED's own antedatings
The rage
First, the OED online has shuf …
- 68.1k
7
votes
Accepted
What's the origin of the phrase to "do one"?
The OED says it's chiefly and originally Liverpool and Lancashire slang and compares it to do a bunk and do a runner. Their earliest citation is the Liverpool soap opera Brookside from 1990:
Look …
- 68.1k
11
votes
Where does the phrase "dry run" come from?
In addition to the dried out riverbed, a dry run can also be a dry enclosure for poultry to run in. But for practice meaning, Etymonline.com says "Dry run is from 1940s" and there's plenty of US milit …
- 68.1k
13
votes
Accepted
What does "fly by the seat of one's pants" mean?
The meaning and origin is covered in this article on The Phrase Finder. An extract:
Meaning
Decide a course of action as you go
along, using your own initiative and
perceptions rather tha …
- 68.1k
8
votes
Accepted
Why does the gorilla weigh exactly 800 pounds?
The oldest reference I found in Google Books is Treks Across the Veldt by Theodore J. Waldeck in 1944:
... for there was almost no exaggerating the strength of a seven- or
eight-hundred-pound go …
- 68.1k
2
votes
What phrase is less idiomatic than "softball question"?
A leading question could be a slanted to get the answerer to say something they don't want to. So I would keep it clear and simple and use easy question.
- 68.1k
4
votes
What does "tool" really mean?
From Urban Dictionary:
1. tool
One who lacks the mental capacity to know he is being used. A fool. A cretin. Characterized by low intelligence and/or self-steem.
That tool dosen't even know …
- 68.1k