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Past Tim Lambert

Below is a list of old sayings and where they came from. Nevertheless, sometimes information technology is impossible to say for certain how an old maxim originated. Sometimes we can but give the most likely explanation.

ACHILLES HEEL

In Greek mythology, Thetis dipped her son Achilles in the mythical River Styx. Anyone who was immersed in the river became invulnerable. However, Thetis held Achilles past his heel. Since her hand covered this part of his trunk the water did non bear upon information technology and then it remained vulnerable. Achilles was somewhen killed when Paris of Troy fired an arrow at him and it striking his heel.

AM I MY BROTHER'S KEEPER?

Similar many old sayings in the English language, this 1 comes from the Bible. In Genesis, Cain murdered his blood brother Abel. God asked Cain 'Where is your brother?'. Cain answered 'I don't know. Am I my brother's keeper?'.

Apple tree OF MY Heart

This phrase also comes from the Bible. In Psalm 17:8 the writer asks God 'keep me as the apple tree of your eye'.

BAKERS DOZEN

A baker'due south dozen means thirteen. This old saying is said to come up from the days when bakers were severely punished for baking underweight loaves. Some added a loaf to a batch of a dozen to be above suspicion.

BEAT Almost THE BUSH

When hunting birds some people would vanquish almost the bush to drive them out into the open. Other people would and so take hold of the birds. 'I won't crush nearly the bush' came to hateful 'I volition go direct to the signal without any delay'.

ON YOUR BEAM ENDS

On a ship, the beams are horizontal timbers that stretch across the send and support the decks. If you lot are on your beam-ends your ship is leaning at a dangerous angle. In other words, y'all are in a precarious situation.

BEELINE

In the by, people believed that bees flew in a straight line to their hive. So if you fabricated a beeline for something you went direct for information technology.

BEYOND THE Pale

Originally a stake was an expanse under the say-so of a sure official. In the 14th and 15th centuries, the English language king ruled Dublin, and the surrounding area was known as the pale. Anyone 'across the pale' was seen as savage and dangerous.

BIG WIG

In the 18th century when many men wore wigs, the most of import men wore the biggest wigs. Hence today of import people are chosen big wigs.

BITE THE BULLET

This former saying means to grin and bear a painful situation. It comes from the days before anesthetics. A soldier about to undergo an operation was given a bullet to bite.

THE BITER BEING BITTEN

In the 17th century, a biter was a con man. 'Talk about the biter being bitten' was originally a phrase about a con human being being beaten at his own game.

Bitter Terminate

Anchor cable was wrapped around posts called bitts. The concluding slice of cablevision was chosen the bitter end. If you let out the cable to the bitter end in that location was nothing else you could practise, you had reached the end of your resources.

THE Blind LEADING THE Blind

In Matthew 15:14 Jesus criticized the Pharisees, the religious authorities of his 24-hour interval, maxim 'they are blind leaders of the bullheaded'.

Bluish-BLOOD

This means aloof. For centuries the Arabs occupied Spain but they were gradually forced out during the Centre Ages. The upper class in Spain had paler skin than most of the population as their ancestors had not intermarried with the Arabs. As they had pale skin the 'blue' blood running through their veins was more visible. (Of course, all blood is red but it sometimes looks blueish when running through veins). Then bluish-blooded came to mean upper class.

BOBBIES, PEELERS

Both these nicknames for policemen come from Sir Robert Skin who founded the starting time modern police forcefulness in 1829.

TO BOOT

If y'all get something to kicking it means you get it actress. Even so, information technology has nothing to do with the boots you article of clothing on your anxiety. Information technology is a corruption of the one-time give-and-take bot, which meant profit or advantage.

Built-in WITH A Silver SPOON IN YOUR Rima oris

In one case when a child was christened it was traditional for the godparents to give a silver spoon as a souvenir (if they could afford it!). However, a child built-in in a rich family did not accept to wait. He or she had it all from the start. They were 'born with a silver spoon in their rima oris'.

A BROKEN REED

This phrase is from Isaiah 36: 6. When the Assyrians laid siege to Jerusalem 1 of them stood exterior the walls and asked if they hoped for aid from Arab republic of egypt. He described Egypt as a 'broken reed'.

CHAP

This word is derived from the old word Chapman which meant a merchant or trader. It, in plow, was derived from ceapman. The old give-and-take ceap meant to sell.

Chock-A-BLOCK

When pulleys or blocks on a sailing ship were pulled so tightly together that they could not be moved whatever closer together they were said to be chock-a-block.

COALS TO NEWCASTLE

Before railways were invented appurtenances were often transported by h2o. Coal was transported past send from Newcastle to London by bounding main. Information technology was called sea coal. Taking coals to Newcastle was evidently a pointless exercise.

Cock A HOOP

This phrase comes from a primitive tap called a spile and shive. A shive was a wooden tube at the bottom of a butt and a spile was a wooden bung. You lot removed the shive to let the liquid flow out and replaced it to cease the flow. The spile was sometimes called a cock. If people were extremely happy and wanted to celebrate they took out the erect and put it on the hoop on the pinnacle of the barrel to let the beverage menses out freely. So it was cock a hoop. So cock a hoop came to hateful ecstatic.

Erect AND Balderdash STORY

This phrase was get-go recorded in the 17th century. It probably comes from an actual story about a cock and a bull that is now lost.

CLOUD CUCKOO LAND

This phrase comes from a play called The Birds by the Greek dramatist Aristophanes (c.448-385 BC). In the play, the birds decide to build a utopian city called Deject cuckoo land.

COPPER

The old word cop meant to grab or capture so in the 19th century policemen were called coppers considering they grabbed or defenseless criminals.

CROCODILE TEARS

These are insincere displays of grief or sadness. It comes from the former belief that a crocodile wept (insincerely!) if information technology killed and ate a man.

Cutting AND RUN

In an emergency rather than booty upward an ballast the sailors would cut the anchor cable and then run with the air current.

WHAT THE DICKENS!

This old saying does not come from the writer Charles Dickens (1812-1870). It is much older than him! It has been around since at to the lowest degree the 16th century. Originally 'Dickens' was another name for the Devil.

Unlike KETTLE OF FISH

In the past a kettle was not necessarily a device to boil water to brand a cup of tea. A pot for boiling food (similar fish) was as well called a kettle. Unfortunately, nobody actually knows why we say 'adissimilar kettle of fish'.

DON'T Look A GIFT Horse IN THE Rima oris

This old maxim ways don't examine a gift also closely! Y'all can tell a horse'due south age by looking at its teeth, which is why people 'looked a equus caballus in the rima oris'.

DOUBTING THOMAS

This phrase comes from John 20: 24-27. Later on his resurrection, Jesus appeared to his disciples. Yet, ane of them, named Thomas, was absent. When the others told him that Jesus was live Thomas said he would not believe it until he saw the marks on Jesus' hands and the wound on his side caused past a Roman spear. Jesus appeared again and told Thomas Stop doubting and believe!

Down AT HEEL

If the heels of your shoes were worn down yous had a shabby appearance.

DUTCH COURAGE

In the 17th century England and Holland were rivals. They fought wars in 1652-54, 1665-67 and 1672-74. It was said (very unfairly) that the Dutch had to drink alcohol to build up their courage. Other insulting phrases are Dutch treat (meaning you pay for yourself) and Double Dutch meaning gibberish.

DYED IN THE WOOL

Wool that was dyed earlier it was woven kept its color better than wool dyed after weaving or 'dyed in the piece'.

EARMARKED

This comes from the days when livestock had their ears marked so their owner could be hands identified.

EAT Potable AND Be MERRY

This quondam maxim is from Ecclesiastes 8:15 'a man has no better matter under the sun than to eat and to drink and be merry'.

ESCAPED BY THE Peel OF YOUR TEETH

This phrase comes from the Bible, from Chore nineteen:20.

Anxiety OF CLAY

If a person we admire has a fatal weakness nosotros say they have feet of clay. This phrase comes from the Bible. Male monarch Nebuchadnezzar dreamed of a statue. It had a caput of gold, artillery, chest of silver, abdomen, and thighs of bronze and its legs were of iron. Still, its feet were made of a mixture of iron and clay. A rock hit the statue's anxiety and the whole statue was broken. Daniel interpreted the dream to be about a series of empires, all of which would eventually be destroyed. (Daniel 2:27-44).

FIDDLE WHILE ROME BURNS

In that location is a legend that when Rome burned in 64 Advertisement Emperor Nero played thelyre (non the dabble!). Historians are skeptical nigh the story.

Wink IN THE PAN

Muskets had a priming pan, which was filled with gunpowder. When flint hit steel information technology ignited the powder in the pan, which in turn ignited the chief charge of gunpowder and fired the musket ball. However, sometimes the pulverization in the pan failed to light the primary charge. In that case, yous had a wink in the pan.

Wing IN THE OINTMENT

This old saying comes from the Bible. In Ecclesiastes x:i the writer says that dead flies give perfume a bad smell (in old versions of the Bible the word for perfume is translated 'ointment').

FLYING COLORS

If a fleet won a clear victory the ships would sail dorsum to port with their colors proudly flying from their masts.

FREELANCE

In the Middle Ages, freelances were soldiers who fought for anyone who would hire them. They were literally free lances.

FROM THE HORSES ' Mouth

You can tell the age of a horse by examining its teeth. A horse dealer may lie to yous but you can ever discover out the truth 'from the horse's mouth'.

Get THE SACK

This comes from the days when workmen carried their tools in sacks. If your employer gave you the sack it was fourth dimension to collect your tools and get.

GILD THE LILY

This phrase is fromKing John past William Shakespeare. 'To gild refined gold, to pigment the lily is wasteful and ridiculous excess'.

GO THE EXTRA MILE

By law, a Roman soldier could force anybody to carry his equipment 1 mile. In Matthew v:41 Jesus told his followers 'if somebody forces you to go i mile go 2 miles with him'.

GO TO POT

Whatever farm animal that had outlived its usefulness such as a hen that no longer laid eggs would literally go to pot. It was cooked and eaten.

GOLLY, GOSH

In the past information technology wasn't polite to use the exclamation 'God!' Instead people said Golly! or Gosh! Sometimes they said 'heck' instead of Hell.

Goodbye

This is a contraction of the words God be with ye (y'all).

HAT Fob

This comes from cricket. Once a bowler who took three wickets in successive deliveries was given a new hat past his club.

HIDING YOUR Calorie-free Under A BUSHEL

A bushel was a container for measuring grain. In Matthew xv:15 Jesus said 'Neither do men light a candle and put it under a bushel simply on a candlestick'.

HOBSONS CHOICE

This means to take no choice at all. In the 16th century and the early 17th century if you went on a journeying y'all could hire a horse to take y'all from 1 boondocks to another and travel using a relay of horses. (That was better than wearing out your own equus caballus on a long journeying over very poor roads). In the early 1600s, Thomas Hobson was a human being in Cambridge who hired out horses. Even so, he would not let customers cull which horse they wanted to ride. Instead, they had to ride whichever equus caballus was nearest the stable entrance. So if you hired a horse from him you were given 'Hobson's selection'.

HOIST By YOUR Ain PETARD

A petard was a type of Tudor bomb. It was a container of gunpowder with a fuse, which was placed confronting a wooden gate. Sometimes all things did not become to program and the petard exploded prematurely bravado you lot into the air. Yous were hoisted by your own petard.

HOLIER THAN THOU

This comes from the Bible, Isaiah 65:5, the Onetime Testament prophet berates people who say 'stand by thyself, come not near me for I am holier than thou'.

HUMBLE PIE

The expression to eat humble pie was in one case to eat umble pie. The umbles were the intestines or less flavory parts of an animal and servants and other lower-class people ate them. So if a deer was killed the rich ate venison and those of depression condition ate umble pie. In fourth dimension information technology became corrupted to eat humble pie and came to mean to debase yourself or act with humility.

Kicking THE Saucepan

When slaughtering a pig you tied its back legs to a wooden beam (in French buquet). As the animal died information technology kicked the buquet.

KNOW THE ROPES

On a sailing ship, it was essential to know the ropes.

KNUCKLE UNDER

Once knuckle meant any joint, including the articulatio genus. To knuckle under meant to kneel in submission.

LAMB TO THE SLAUGHTER

This is from Isaiah 53:seven 'He is brought as a lamb to the slaughter'. Later this verse was applied to Jesus.

RESTING ON YOUR Award, Look TO YOUR LAURELS

In the aboriginal world winning athletes and other heroes and distinguished people were given wreaths of laurel leaves. If you are resting on your laurels you are relying on your by achievements. If you need to look to your laurels it means you have competition.

A LEOPARD Can Not CHANGE HIS SPOTS

This is another one-time saying from the Bible. This one comes from Jeremiah 13:23 'Can an Ethiopian change his pare or a leopard his spots?'.

Let THE CAT OUT OF THE Pocketbook

This old saying is probably derived from the days when people who sold piglets in numberless sometimes put a cat in the handbag instead. If you allow the cat out of the pocketbook yous exposed the trick.

LICK INTO SHAPE

In the Middle Ages, people thought that bear cubs were born shapeless and their mother literally licked them into shape.

LILY-LIVERED

Means cowardly. People once believed that your passions came from your liver. If you were lily-livered your liver was white (because information technology did not comprise any blood). Then yous were a coward.

A Petty BIRD TOLD ME

This onetime proverb comes from the Bible. In Ecclesiastes 10:20 the author warns us not to curse the king or the rich even in private or a 'bird of the air' may report what you say.

LOCK, STOCK AND Barrel

This phrase comes because guns used to have 3 parts, the lock (the firing mechanism), the stock (the wooden barrel of the gun) and the barrel.

A LONG SHOT

A long shot is an option with only a small-scale adventure of success. In the past guns were only accurate at short range. So a 'long shot' (fired over a long distance) only had a small gamble of hitting its target.

LONG IN THE Tooth

When a horse grows old its gums recede and if you lot examine its rima oris it looks 'long in the tooth'.

MAD AS A HATTER

This phrase comes from the fact that in the 18th and 19th centuries chapeau makers treated hats with mercury. Inhaling mercury vapor could crusade mental disease.

MAUDLIN

This is a corruption of Magdalene. Mary Magdalene was a follower of Jesus. In paintings, she was often shown weeping tears of repentance. So she became associated with sentimentality.

MOOT POINT

This comes from the Saxon word moot or mote, which meant a meeting to discuss things. A moot indicate was i that needed to be discussed or debated.

Smash YOUR COLORS TO THE MAST

In boxing, a ship surrendered by lowering its flag. If you nailed your colors to the mast y'all had no intention of surrendering. You were totally loyal to your side.

NAMBY-PAMBY

This was originally a nickname for the poet Ambrose Philips (1674-1749) who was known for writing sentimental poetry.

NICKNAME

This is a abuse of eke name. The sometime word eke meant alternative.

NO Rest FOR THE WICKED

This phrase comes from the Bible. In Isaiah 57:21 the prophet says: 'there is no peace saith my God to the wicked'.

ON TENTERHOOKS

Afterward it was woven wool was pounded in a mixture of clay and water to clean and thicken information technology. This was called fulling. Afterward, the wool was stretched on a frame called a tenter to dry. Information technology was hung on tenterhooks. So if you were very tense, like stretched cloth, you were on tenterhooks.

PANDEMONIUM

This comes from John Milton's poem Paradise Lost. In Hell the chief city is Pandemonium. In Greek Pandemonium means 'all the devils'.

PASTURES NEW

In 1637 John Milton wrote a verse form called Lycidas, which includes the words 'Tomorrow to fresh woods and pastures new'.

PAY ON THE Smash

In the Middle Ages 'nails' were flat-topped columns in markets. When a buyer and a seller agreed bargain money was placed on the smash for all to see.

PEARLS BEFORE SWINE

In Matthew 7:6 Jesus warned his followers not to give what is sacred to dogs and non to throw pearls (of wisdom) before swine (the ungodly).

PEEPING TOM

According to fable, a man named Leofric taxed the people of Coventry heavily. His wife, lady Godiva, begged him not to. Leofric said he would finish the tax if she rode through the streets of Coventry naked. So she did. Peeping Tom is a much later addition to the story. Everybody in Coventry was supposed to stay indoors with his or her shutters airtight. However, peeping Tom had a sneaky look at Godiva and was struck blind.

PEPPERCORN RENT

In the Center Ages and Tudor Times rents were sometimes paid in peppercorns considering pepper was so expensive. Peppercorns were actually used as a form of currency. They were given equally bribes or as part of a helpmate's dowry.

A PIG IN A POKE

This is something bought without checking it first. A poke was a bag. If you bought a pig in a poke it might turn out the 'squealer' was really a puppy or a cat. (Run across Sold A Pup).

PIN MONEY In the 16th and 17th centuries it was mutual to give your wife or girl a small amount of money for pins and other necessary things.

POT LUCK

In the past, all kinds of food went into a large pot for cooking. If you saturday down to a meal with a family y'all frequently had to take 'pot luck' and could never be quite sure what you would exist served.

THE POWERS THAT Exist

This comes from Romans thirteen:1 when Paul says 'the powers that be are ordained of God'.

PRIDE GOES Before A Autumn

This onetime saying comes from the Bible, from Proverbs 16:eighteen 'Pride goes before destruction and a haughty spirit earlier a fall'.

PULL THE WOOL OVER MY EYES

In the 18th century, information technology was the fashion to wear white, curly wigs. they were nicknamed wool possibly because they resembled a sheep's fleece.

PULL OUT ALL THE STOPS

This proverb comes from church organs. Pulling out a stop lets air menstruum through a pipe and brand a audio.

RACK AND RUIN

Rack has cypher to do with the torture musical instrument. It is a modification of 'wrack' which was an culling style of maxim 'wreck'.

READ THE Riot Deed

Following a constabulary of 1715, if a rowdy grouping of 12 or more people gathered, a magistrate would read an official statement ordering them to disperse. Anyone who did not, after one hour, could be arrested and punished.

RED HERRING

Poachers and other unsavory characters would drag a herring beyond the ground where they had merely walked to throw dogs off their scent. (Herrings were made red by the procedure of curing).

RED Tape

This phrase comes from the days when official documents were bound with red tape.

Cerise LETTER DAYS

In the Middle Ages, saint's days were marked in crimson on calendars. People did not piece of work on some saint's days or holy days. Our word holiday is derived from holy day.

Band True, RING OF TRUTH

In the past coins were actually made of gold, silver, or other metals. Their value depended on the amount of gold or argent they contained. Some people would brand counterfeit coins by mixing gold or argent with a cheaper metal. However, you could check if a coin was genuine past dropping information technology. If it was made of the proper metallic it would 'band true' or take the 'ring of truth'.

RUB SALT INTO A WOUND

This is derived from the days when salt was rubbed into wounds as an antiseptic.

RULE OF THUMB

This comes from the days when craftsmen used their thumbs for making rough measurements.

SALT OF THE EARTH

This is another Biblical phrase. Information technology comes from Matthew 5:13 when Jesus told his followers 'Yous are the salt of the World'.

SCAPEGOAT

In the Old Attestation (Leviticus 16: 7-10) two goats were selected. I was sacrificed. The other was spared simply the High Priest laid his hands on it and confessed the sins of his people. The goat was and so driven into the wilderness. He was a symbolic 'scapegoat' for the people's sins.

SCOT FREE

This has nothing to do with Scotland. Scot is an old discussion for payment so if you went scot-free you went without paying.

TO SEE A MAN About A DOG

This old proverb showtime appeared in 1866 in a play by Dion Boucicault (1820-1890) called the Flying Scud in which a character makes the excuse that he is going 'to run into a human being about a dog' to get away.

SENT TO COVENTRY

The most likely caption for this old saying is that during the English Civil State of war Royalists captured in the Midlands were sent to Coventry. They were held prisoner in St Johns Church and the local people shunned them and refused to speak to them.

Ready YOUR TEETH ON EDGE

This is from Jeremiah 31:30 'Every homo that eats the sour grape, his teeth shall be attack edge'.

Shambles

Originally a shamble was a bench. Butchers used to set upwards benches to sell meat from. In time the street where meat was sold often became known as the Shambles. (This street proper noun survives in many towns today). All the same, because butchers used to throw offal into the street slaughterhouse came to mean a mess or something very untidy or disorganized.

SHIBBOLETH

This is a give-and-take used by members of a item grouping. Information technology identifies people every bit members of the grouping. It comes from the Old Testament Judges 12: 5-seven. Two groups of Hebrews, the Gileadites and the Ephraimites fought each other. The Gileadites captured the fords over the River Hashemite kingdom of jordan leading to Ephraim. If a man wanted to cross a ford they fabricated him say 'Shibboleth' (a Hebrew word meaning ear of grain). The Ephraimites could non pronounce the discussion properly and said'Sibboleth'. If anyone mispronounced the word the Gileadites knew he was an enemy and killed him.

Curt SHRIFT

A shrift was a confession fabricated to a priest. Criminals were allowed to brand curt shrift before they were executed. then if yous gave somebody short shrift you gave them a few minutes to confess their sins earlier conveying out the execution.

SHOW YOUR TRUE COLORS

Pirate ships would arroyo their intended victim showing a false flag to lure them into a false sense of security. When information technology was too late for the victim to escape they would show their true colors-the jolly roger!

SOLD A PUP

If you bought a piglet the seller placed information technology in a pocketbook or sack. Sometimes, with his hands out of sight, the seller would skid a puppy into the sack. If yous were swindled in that way you were sold a pup.

SPINNING A YARN

Ropes were fabricated in ports everywhere. The rope makers chatted while they worked. They told each other stories while they were spinning a yarn.

SPICK AND Span

Today this means neat and tidy but originally the saying was spick and bridgenew. A span was a wood shaving. If something was newly congenital it would have tell-tale wood chips then it was 'span new'. Spick is an former discussion for a smash. New spicks or nails would be shiny. Still, words and phrases frequently change their meanings over centuries and spick and span came to mean slap-up and tidy.

SPINSTER

A Spinster is an unmarried adult female. Originally a spinster was but a woman who fabricated her living by spinning wool on a spinning bicycle. However, it was then common for single women to support themselves that way that by the 18th century 'spinster' was a synonym for a heart-aged unmarried adult female.

SPOIL THE SHIP FOR A HA'PENNY WORTH OF TAR

Originally 'send' was sheep and the saying comes from the do of covering cuts on sheep with tar.

A SQUARE MEAL

In that location is a popular myth that this maxim comes from the time when British sailors ate off square plates. In reality, the phrase began California in the mid-19th century and information technology simply meant a good repast for your money, equally in the phrase 'off-white and square'. Subsequently the saying made its way to Britain.

Beginning FROM SCRATCH

This phrase comes from the days when a line was scratched on the footing for a race. The racers would starting time from the scratch.

Direct-LACED

This phrase was originally STRAIT laced. The old English word strait meant tight or narrow. In Tudor times buttons were mostly for decoration. Laces were used to hold clothes together. If a adult female was STRAIT laced she was prim and proper.

THE STRAIGHT AND NARROW

This comes from Matthew 7:fourteen. In the King James Bible published in 1611 Jesus says: 'Strait is the gate and narrow is the way which leadeth to life'. The old English give-and-take strait meant tight or narrow but when it went out of employ the phrase changed to 'STRAIGHT and narrow'.

STRIKE WHILE THE Iron IS HOT

This phrase comes from the days when blacksmiths lifted fe objects from the furnace and hammered it. They could only hammer the object into shape while the iron was hot before it cooled down.

SWAN SONG

This comes from an one-time belief that swans, who are normally silent, burst into cute songs when they are dying.

SWASHBUCKLER

A buckle was a kind of small shield. Swash meant the racket caused by hitting. Brash men struck their swords against their bucklers as they walked around boondocks. So they became known as swashbucklers.

SWINGING THE Atomic number 82

Onboard ships, a lead weight was attached to a long rope. A knot was tied every half-dozen feet in the rope. The lead weight was swung and and then thrown overboard. When it sank to the seabed y'all counted the number of knots that disappeared and this told y'all how deep the sea was. Some sailors felt it was an easy job and 'swinging the lead' came to mean avoiding difficult piece of work. In time it came to hateful feigning illness to avoid work.

TAKE SOMEBODY Nether YOUR WING

In Luke 12:34 Jesus laments that he wished to gather the people of Jerusalem as a hen gathers her chicks nether her wings but Jerusalem was not willing.

TAKEN Aback

If the wind all of a sudden inverse direction a sailing ship stopped moving forward. It was 'taken aback', which was a fleck of a stupor for the sailors.

TAWDRY

This is a corruption of St Audrey because cheap jewelry was sold at St Audrey's off-white in Ely, Cambridgeshire.

THORN IN MY SIDE

This comes from the Bible. In ii Corinthians 12:vii, Paul states that he was given a 'thorn in my mankind' to prevent him from becoming proud. We are non told what the 'thorn' was, maybe it was some form of illness.

THROUGH THICK AND THIN

This old saying was in one case 'through a thicket and thin woods'. It meant making your way through a dense wood and through ane where trees grew more thinly.

THROW Downwards THE GAUNTLET

In the Middle Ages, a gauntlet was the glove in a suit of armor. Throwing down your gauntlet was a way of challenging somebody to a duel.

TONGUE IN CHEEK

In the 18th century sticking your natural language in your cheek was a sign of contempt. It is not clear how speaking with your tongue in your cheek took on its modern meaning.

TOUCH AND Get

This sometime saying probably comes from ships sailing in shallow waters where they might touch on the seabed and then go. If and then, they were manifestly in a unsafe and uncertain situation.

Affect Wood

In Celtic times people believed that benevolent spirits lived in trees. When in trouble people knocked on the tree and asked the spirits for assistance.

Have NO TRUCK WITH

Truck originally meant barter and is derived from the French word 'troquer'. Originally if you had no truck with somebody you refused to trade with him or her. It came to hateful you refused to have anything to do with them.

TRUE BLUE

This phrase was originally true every bit Coventry blueish as the dyers in Coventry used a bluish dye that lasted and did not wash out hands. Notwithstanding, the phrase became shortened.

TURN THE OTHER CHEEK

Jesus told his followers not to retaliate against violence. In Luke vi:29 he told them that if somebody strikes yous on i cheek turn the other cheek to him as well.

TURN OVER A NEW Leaf

This means making a fresh outset. Information technology meant a leaf or folio of a book.

TURNED THE CORNER

Ships that had sailed past the Cape of Good Hope or Cape Horn were said to take 'turned the corner'.

Up THE POLE

The pole was a mast of a ship. Climbing it was dangerous and, not surprisingly, you had to be a chip crazy to go upwardly there willingly. So if you were a bit mad you were upwards the pole.

WARTS AND ALL

When Oliver Cromwell 1599-1658 had his portrait painted he ordered the artist not to flatter him. He insisted on being painted 'warts and all'.

Wash MY HANDS OF

The Roman governor, Pontius Pilate, refused to be involved in the death of an innocent person (Jesus). Then he washed his hands in front of the crowd, symbolically disassociating himself from the execution.

Habiliment YOUR HEART ON YOUR SLEEVE

In the Middle Ages, knights who fought at tournaments wore a token of their lady on their sleeves. Today if you lot make your feelings obvious to everybody you wear your center on your sleeve.

WEASEL WORDS

This phrase is said to come up from an quondam conventionalities that weasels could suck out the within of an egg leaving its shell intact.

WEIGH ANCHOR

The 'weigh' is a corruption of the old give-and-take wegan which meant comport or lift.

WENT WEST

Once criminals were hanged at Tyburn – w of London. And so if y'all went west you went to be hanged.

WIDE Berth

A berth is a place where a transport is tied up or anchored. When the ballast was lowered a transport would tend to motility virtually on the ballast cablevision so it was important to give information technology a wide berth to avoid collisions. Today to give someone a broad berth is to steer clear of them.

WILLY-NILLY

This phrase is believed to be derived from the old words will-ye, nill-ye (or will-he, nill-he) meaning whether you want to or non (or whether he wants to or non).

WIN HANDS DOWN

This old saying comes from equus caballus racing. If a jockey was a long way ahead of his competitors and certain to win the race he could relax and put his easily down at his sides.

WHEAT FROM THE CHAFF

In the aboriginal world, grain was hurled into the air using a tool called a winnowing fork. Wind separated the edible part of the grain (wheat) from the lighter, inedible part (crust). In Matthew 3:12 John the Baptist warned that on the judgment day Jesus would divide the wheat from the chaff (practiced people from evil).

WHIPPING BOY

People one time believed that in the 16th century princes had boys who were whipped in their place every time they were naughty. Historians now think it'south a myth, or at least it was unusual merely theconventionalities gave rise to the maxim.

WHITE ELEPHANT

In Siam (modernistic-solar day Thailand) white or pale elephants were very valuable. The king sometimes gave a white elephant to a person he disliked. It might seem like a wonderful gift but it was actually a punishment because information technology price so much to keep!

A WOLF IN SHEEP'S Clothing

In Matthew seven:15 Jesus warned his followers of fake prophets maxim they were like 'wolves in sheep'south clothing' outwardly disarming.

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Source: https://localhistories.org/the-origins-of-some-old-sayings/