New answers tagged idioms
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Accepted
on top of the world and over the moon
It is true that dictionaries define both idioms as meaning very pleased, delighted, very happy about something.
On top of the world expresses the joy and elation one feels when reaches the top of a ...
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1
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Accepted
Why are unequipped hands "bare" but unequipped eyes "naked"?
It is essentially arbitrary, but there might be a bit of "following the leader" going on in the case of eyes.
Hands
To give us an idea of how arbitrary the description is, we can look at ...
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When did the phrases like "move your ass" take on their modern meaning in American English?
Probably not.
The Oxford English Dictionary attests no documented written evidence for this sense have been used before the latter half of the twentieth century. Their earliest citation dates only ...
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-3
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Why are unequipped hands "bare" but unequipped eyes "naked"?
It falls down to Semantic nuances.
"Bare hands" refers to hands without any covering or tools. The word "bare" in this context emphasizes the lack of protection or equipment. This ...
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How do you say derogatorily "you should be happy about what I did to you"?
You cannot tell someone to feel honored that you have condescended to involve yourself in their piddling life—not if you want them to actually feel honored. But if the intention is to belittle them, ...
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How do you say derogatorily "you should be happy about what I did to you"?
The expression "Don't bite the hand that feeds you" might be appropriate.
Cambridge defines "to bite the hand that feeds you" as "to act badly toward the person who is helping ...
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What is the etymology of the idiom "To stink/smell to high heaven?"
Etymology Online has substantially revised its discussion of "stink to high heaven since lbf's answer appeared six years ago. Here is the current relevant text at Etymonline:
The emphatic verbal ...
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What is the origin of the idiom "Hong Kong dog"?
It seems far more likely that "dog" comes from the verb "to dog"
OED
1.b. transitive. figurative. Of some immaterial agent (in early use personified), as misfortune, ill health, ...
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What is the origin of the idiom "Hong Kong dog"?
One possible source of the term "Hong Kong dog" that Hugo's answer raises is the idea of being "bitten by a dog." This takes on a slightly different dimension if an item in "...
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What is the origin of the idiom"like stink"?
The full OED has it as definition 3.b. 1929– like stink, furiously, intensely. Cf. like adv. B.1c. colloquial. Their first citation is 1929...
If you see a Minnie coming..you have to judge it and run ...
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'My bad' vs 'My bag'
Other posters have asked about the expression "my bad" in several other posts that overlap with this one but are not duplicates. For example, Is "my bad" a correct English phrase? ...
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'My bad' vs 'My bag'
I'm from Boston and grew up in a black urban community where spades playing is an especially important cultural activity, and right of passage. The phrase had only ever been "my bag". I was ...
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