QUESTIONS & ANSWERS SECTION INDEX
Pieces originate in questions asked by subscribers to the World Wide Words newsletter and are as eclectic as you could wish.
A
A flea in one’s ear; Abbreviation lb for pound; Abracadabra; Acid test; Across the board; Adam’s off ox; Aga saga; Agitory; Ahoy!; Aksed versus asked; All mouth and trousers; All my eye and Betty Martin; All wool and a yard wide; All-singing, all-dancing; Apostrophes; Apple of one’s eye; April; Arfanarf; Argy-bargy; Arms akimbo; Artefact versus artifact; Ascian; Ash; At sixes and sevens; Aunt Sally.
B
Back to square one; Bad cess; Bail out; Balls-up; Banter; Barbarian; Barbecue; Barking mad; Bated breath; Bear up; Beat the band; Bee’s knees; Beg the question; Beggar on horseback; Believe you me; Bells and whistles; Besmitten; Bespoke; Best bib and tucker; Between versus among; Beyond the pale; Big Apple; Big cheese; Big girl’s blouse; Big pond; Big shot; Bill; Bint; Birds and the bees; Bistro; Black Maria; Blackbirding; Bless your cotton socks; Blighty; Blivet and nitnoid; Blockbuster; Bloke; Blot one’s copy book; Blow the gaff; Blower; Blue; Blue blood; Blue-plate special; Bob’s your uncle; Bobby; Bog-standard; Bohemian; Boilerplate; Bold as brass NEW ; Bonce; Boodle bag; Books without the letter ‘e’; Boot; Bootleg; Bossy; Boxing Day; Boycott; Bozo; Brand spanking new; Brass monkey weather; Brass ring; Brass tacks; Brassed off; Brassiere; Break a leg; Break one’s duck; Briar pipe; Bridie; Bringing Home the Bacon; Brouhaha; Brown study; Brownie points; Buck up; Buckley’s chance; Bug; Bulldozer; Bulls and bears; Bumbershoot; Bumf; Bun fight; Bunny rabbit; Butter no parsnips; Butter wouldn’t melt in his mouth; Butterfly; Butterscotch; By and large; By Jove; By the great horn spoon.
C
C3; Cack-handed; Camp; Can of worms; Carpet; Carry the can; Case in point; Cash on the nail; Cast aspersions; Catbird seat; Caught red-handed; Centrifical force; Chaise longue; Chalk and cheese; Chance your arm; Charley horse; Cheap at half the price; Cheese it!; Chequered past; Chestnut; Chew the fat; Chew the scenery; Chickens coming home to roost; Chillaxing; Chin wag; Chip off the old block; Chip on one’s shoulder; Chock-a-block; Chook; Chow; Chunder; Church key; Circular; Claptrap; Clean one’s clock; Cleft stick; Cloud nine; Cobblers; Cock a snook; Cock and bull story; Cockles of your heart; Cockpit; Cocktail; Cock-up; Cold shoulder; Colon; Colonel; Column; Come a cropper; Come hell or high water; Compleat v complete; Cool; Cooties; Cop; Cop-out; Coppice; Country names in -stan; Countryside; Crackpot; Crap; Cream; Cream crackered; Crib; Crimony; Crocodile tears; Crush; Cry all the way to the bank; Cupertino; Curate’s egg; Curmudgeon; Cut and dried; Cut the mustard; Cut your stick.
D
Dab hand; Darby and Joan; Dauncy; Davy Jones’ locker; Daylight robbery; Dead as a doornail; Dead cat bounce; Dead reckoning; Deadhead; Dealybob; Dear John letter; Death toll; Dekko; Denigrate; Derby; Devil to pay, the; Dibs; Dichotomy; Dick’s hatband; Diddler; Different to; Digs; Disgruntled and gruntled; Dog in the manger; Dog-and-pony show; Dogsbody; Done and done; Donkey’s years; Doolally tap; Doozy; Dopp kit; Double possessive; Double-dog dare you; Doughboy; Down to the wire; Drag; Dreaded lurgi; Dressed to the nines; Dribs and drabs; Drum and Gaff; Dry run; Duck soup; Ducks and drakes; Duct tape; Dude; Duke’s mixture.
E
Eavesdropper; Egg on one’s face; Eggcorns; Eggplant; Egregious; Eighty-six; Elephant and Castle; Elephant in the room; Embuggerance; Enquire versus inquire; Enthuse; Envision versus envisage; Esprit de l’escalier; Exception that proves the rule.
F
Face the music; Faffing; Faggot; Fainites; Fair cop; Fair dinkum; Fair to middling; Fall guy; Feckless; Fiddler’s Green; Fiddlesticks; Fight like Kilkenny cats; Film trailer; Finagle; Fine fettle; Fink; First, second and third worlds; Fist; Flat; Flummox; Fog; Foot the bill; For appearance’s sake; For Pete’s sake; Forte; Forthwith; Fossick; Frequency of initial letters; Frick and Frack; Friend and pitcher; Fro; From pillar to post; From whence; Fuck; Fuddy-duddy; Funk; Funner and funnest; Fuzz.
G
Gadget; Gander; Gandy dancer; Garbage in, garbage out; Garnish versus Garnishee; Gas and gaiters; Geronimo; Get one’s goat; Gibus; Gig; Gingerly; Girl and youth; Git; Give it some welly; Give no quarter; Go hence without day; Goat and Compasses; Gobsmacked; Going south; Going to hell in a handbasket; Goldbricking; Golf; Gone for a Burton; Goody two shoes; Gorp; Gotham; Grapefruit; Grass roots; Grass widow; Gravy train; Great Scott; Green room; Green-ink letter; Gringo; Grog; Groovy; Ground zero; Groundswell; Grub; Gubernatorial; Guff; Guinea pig; Gussied up; Gyp: pain; Gyp: thieve.
H
Hackneyed; Hairbrained; Hairy at the heel; Hammer and tongs; Handicapped; Hang a Louie; Hang fire; Hangover; Hap; Happy as a clam; Happy as a sandboy; Happy as Larry; Hard graft; Harsh one’s mellow; Hat trick; Have one’s guts for garters; Have your cake and eat it; Head over heels; Heat; Heath Robinson; Heavens to Betsy; Heebie-jeebies; Heighth; Hem and haw; Herb; High dudgeon; High jinks; High Street; Hill of beans; Hillbillies; Hippie; His nibs; Historical forms of the possessive; Hobo; Hobson’s choice; Holy cow!; Holy smoke; Home in on; Honeymoon; Hoodwink; Hoo-ha; Hooker; Hooplehead; Hoosier; Hop the twig; Hopefully; Horns of a dilemma; Horse latitudes; Horsefeathers; Hot dog; How’s your father; Huckleberry; Hue and cry; Hullabaloo; Hunker down; Hunky-dory; Hush puppy.
I
I could care less; I feel good; I should cocoa; Immense chemical names; In cold blood; In like Flynn; In the field; Indefinite article before words starting with h; Indexes versus indices; Indian summer; In-laws; Irish twins; Irregardless; It ain’t over till the fat lady sings; It’s a dog’s life; It’s Greek to me; Ivory tower; Ivy League.
J
Jackpot; Jacob’s join; Jake-leg; Jalopy; Jamoke; Jay-walking; Jazz; Jericho; Jesus H Christ; Jimmy a lock; Jinx; Joe; Joe Soap; John; John Doe; Johnny-on-the-spot; Jolly hockey-sticks; Joystick; Juju & jujube; Jukebox; Jumbo; Jump the shark; Jumper; Jumping Jehoshaphat; Jury rigged.
K
Kangaroo court; Katy bar the door; Keep mum; Keep your eyes peeled; Kelsey’s nuts; Ketchup versus catsup; Kettle of fish; Kick the bucket; Kilometre; Kilroy was here; Kilter; King Charles’s Head; Kip; Kippers and curtains; Kiss the gunner’s daughter; Kitty; Kitty-corner; Kludge; Know the ropes; Know your onions.
L
Lead-pipe cinch; Lead-swinger; Left holding the bag; Let the cat out of the bag; Lickety-split; Lieutenant; Life of riley; Lightning in a bottle; Like a banshee; Like the clappers; Like the dickens; Likeness; List slippers; Living daylights, the; Lizzie Tish (or Tizzy Lish); Lobbyist; Loblolly boy; Lock, stock and barrel; Long arm of the law; Long johns; Loo; Lope; Lord love a duck; Losing one’s marbles; Lukewarm; Lynch.
M
Mad as a hatter; Mad as hops; Make a hames of something; Make ends meet; Make no bones about it; Malacia; Man of straw; Mangel-wurzel; Mare’s nest; Marylebone stage; Mash note; Mayfair; Mazoola; McGuffin; Merismus; Mess; Mickey Finn; Milquetoast; Mind your beeswax; Missing opposites; Mogadored; Moggie; Mollycoddling; Mollydooker; Moniker; Monkey’s uncle; Monkey’s wedding; Monstering; Mooch; Mooncalf; Moot point; More than one way to skin a cat; Morgan’s Orchard; Mortarboard; Mosey; Moxie; Muchness; Mufti; Mullered; Mummer; Mumpsimus; My giddy aunt; Myriad.
N
Naff; Nauseous versus nauseated; Nave; Navvy; Nebbishy; Needs must when the devil drives; New York minute; News; Niche; Nick of time; Niggardly; Nineteen to the dozen; Nit-picking; Nitty-gritty; No names, no pack drill; No soap; Noggin; Nonce; Nosy parker; Not a word to Bessie!; Not by a long chalk; Not this little black duck!; Not to be sneezed at; Nothing like leather.
O
Ocker; OK; Old Dart; Old leather-arse; Ollie ollie oxen free; On a wing and a prayer; On all fours; On one’s tod; On pins and needles; On tenterhooks; On the Adrian; On the ball; On the fritz; On the QT; On the wagon; On your uppers; Once upon a time; One another; One fell swoop; One might as well be hanged for a sheep as a lamb; Oneirodynia; One-off; Orange; Orey-eyed; Organogram; Orientated versus oriented; Out of sorts; Out of whack; Over a barrel; Over the moon; Over the yardarm; Oxford comma.
P
Pain versus pine; Pair of pants; Palooka; Panhandle; Panic button; Patient; Peanut gallery; Pear-shaped; Peruse; Peter out; Philogynist; Picnic; Pie in the sky; Piffy on a rock bun; Pig in a poke; Piggyback; Pigs might fly; Pinch of salt; Pinkie; Piping hot; Pitch; Play it by ear; Pleased as Punch; Plonk; Plurals in ‘-en’; Po-faced; Pogey; Point-blank; Policy wonk; Pollyanna; Pom; Pop goes the weasel; Pop one’s clogs; Posh; Potboiler; Prat; Predominately versus predominantly; Pretty; Preventative or preventive; Proof of the pudding; Pull (out) the plug; Pulling one’s leg; Punctuation and quotation marks; Purl; Purse-lipped; Push the envelope; Put on (the) dog; Put the mockers on.
Q
Q followed by U; Quack; Queen of Spain’s Legs; Queer somebody’s pitch; Queer Street; Quiz.
R
Raining cats and dogs; Ramping cat; Range; Read the riot act; Real McCoy, the; Rear its ugly head; Receipt versus recipe; Restive versus restless; Reticent versus reluctant; Reticule; Retort; Rhykenology; Riff-raff; Right as rain; Ringer / Dead ringer; Road; Road metal; Rod; Roger; Rogue; Round-robin; Rule of thumb; Rum do; Rush the growler.
S
Safe as Houses; Safe harbour / Safe haven; Salad days; Salt of the earth; Sam Hill; San fairy ann; Sand; Sandy-grey russet; Saved by the bell; Say (or cry) uncle; Scot free; Scotch; Scran; Screaming ab-dabs; Scuttlebutt; Sea change; See a man about a dog; Segue; Send to Coventry; Settle a score; Sha’n’t versus shan’t; Shaggy dog story; Shake a stick at; Shank’s mare; Sharpshooter; Shilling ordinary; Shindig; Shirttail relative; Shit; Shiver my timbers; Shoo-in; Shoot one’s cuffs NEW ; Shoot oneself in the foot; Short shrift; Shot; Shrink; Shufti; Shyster; Sick abed on two chairs; Sick as a dog; Silver bullet; Since Hector was a pup; Singular or plural verb with ‘none’; Singular they; Skell; Skinny; Skive; Skivvies; Skosh; Skunk works; Sky-blue pink; Slang; Slanging match; Sleep tight; Sleeping one’s head into train oil; Sling one’s hook; Smart Alec; Smart as paint; Smarty pants; Snit; Snob; So dull you could ride to China on them; Soapbox; Sock it to them; Soft sawder; Soup and fish; Sow one’s wild oats; Spatchcock; Spelling bee; Spelunking; Spendthrift; Spick and span; Spiff; Spitting feathers; Spitting image; Spiv; Spoil; Spoonerism; Sport one’s oak; Spot of tea; Square; Square meal; Squaw; Stars and garters; Start from scratch; State of the art; Stationary versus stationery; Steal one’s thunder; Steam radio; Stemwinder; Step-; Stick one’s oar in; Stick-in-the-mud; Sticky wicket; Stiff upper lip; Stone the crows; Stonking; Stool pigeon; Strait and narrow; Suffonsified; Sugar and sure; Sunday throat; Swag; Swain; Swamper; Swan song; Swashbuckling; Swearing on one’s testicles; Sycophant; Synecdoche and metonymy.
T
Take the biscuit; Take the mickey; Take the piss; Talk turkey; Tall tale; Tapping the Admiral; Tarred with the same brush; Tattoo; Tchotchke; Teaching one’s grandmother to suck eggs; Teetotal; Teller; Tempest in a teapot; Terms using Dutch; The abbreviation pp; The cat’s mother; The ending -ati; The ending -wards; The endings ‘-ise’ and ‘-ize’; The whole megillah; Theodolite; There’s the rub; Three sheets in the wind; Through the grapevine; Throw a tub to a whale NEW ; Throw in the towel; Tickety-boo; Tide one over; Time out of mind; Tinhorn; Tinker’s damn; Tinny; Tip; To a T; To be in someone’s black books; To boot; To buy the farm; To wit; Toad-eater; Toast; Toe the line; Toe-rag; Toise; Tom; Ton; Top dog; Top notch; Touch wood/knock on wood; Tracklements; Trig and trim; Trimmer; Trip the light fantastic; Troubleshoot; True facts; Try and; Tub thumping; Turn up for the book; Turnpike; Tussie-mussie; Twaddle; Twee; Two-car funeral.
U
Un- versus In-; Under the rose; Under weigh; Understand; Until, till and ‘til; Up in Annie’s room; Up to snuff; Up to speed; Upsidaisy.
V
W
Waddle; Waffling; Waiting for the other shoe to drop; Walker!; Watch; Watershed; Wax poetic; Well heeled; West Brit; Wet one’s whistle; Whelmed; Which came first: he or she?; While versus whilst; While versus wile; Whim-wham for a goose’s bridle; Whip round; Whistle-stop tour; Whole ball of wax; Whole cloth; Whole kit and kaboodle; Whopper-jawed; Whose; Whys and wherefores; Widget; Widow’s peak; Widowered; Wigs on the green; Windy City; Within a gnat’s ...; Woebegone; Won’t; Words for the numbers following ten; Work cut out; Worth the candle; Wrong side of the bed.
Y
Ye gods and little fishes!; Year’s mind; Yehudi did it; Yonks; Your name is mud.
Z