Some Popular Idioms

I got bored one afternoon and was curious about the origin of "Every Cloud Has A Silver Lining... and that lead to my looking up a bunch of other idioms.. I put them on the site 'cause I figured a lot of people were not familiar with all these, and they are pretty interesting.

Every Cloud Has a Silver Lining

This expression of hope was used by the English poet John Milton in 1634. He must have noticed that if the sun is behind a dark cloud, light shines out around the edges like a silver lining. With this idiom, Milton said that even the worst situation (cloud) has something hopeful or more positive about it (silver lining).


Blue Blood

Though this expression has been used in English since the early 1800s, it actually comes from an older Spanish saying. Old, aristocratic Spanish families used to boast that their skin was fairly light because they had not intermarried with the darker - skinned Moors. The Spaniards' veins showed through their skins as visibly blue in color. If their skin was darker because they had intermarried, the blood would not appear so blue. Blue blood is a translation of the Spanish words sangre azul. Today anyone can be called a blue blood if he or she is of noble birth, a member of hight society, and so on.


straight from the horse's mouth

This is an old farming expression. When farmers buy horses, they look in their mouths to see the teeth. The farmer can find out a lot from looking at a horse's teeth, such as the age and physical health of the horse. The person trying to sell the horse might pretend that it is in a fit condition when really it is not, so farmers prefer to rely on looking at the teeth.


Rule of thumb

Based on the use of ones thumb as a rough measurement tool. Generally correct for course measures. Most old English measures of distance were based on the body measurements of the king -- the length of the foot, inch (thumb tip to first knuckle), cubit (elbow-to-fingertip), and yard (nose-to-fingertip).


Sleep tight

Before box springs were in use, old bed frames used rope pulled tightly between the frame rails to support a mattress. If the rope became loose, the mattress would sag making for uncomfortable sleeping. Tightening the ropes would help one get a good night sleep.


Square meal

British war ships in the 1700s including the HMS Victory did not have the best of living conditions. A sailors breakfast and lunch were sparse meals consisting of little more than bread and a beverage. But the third meal of the day included meat and was served on a square tray. Eating a substantial meal onboard a ship required a tray to carry it all. Hence a "square meal" was the most substantial meal served.


Straight and narrow

This phrase comes from the Bible and describes the path to heaven.


Tie the knot

Some marriage ceremonies actually tie together the wrists of the bride and groom.


Under the weather

Passengers aboard ships become seasick most frequently during times of rough seas and bad weather. Seasickness is caused by the constant rocking motion of the ship. Sick passengers go below deck, which provides shelter from the weather, but just as importantly the sway is not as great below deck, low on the ship.


With a grain of salt

Salt was thought to have healing properties and to be an antidote to poisons. To take (eat or drink) something "with a grain of salt" was to practice preventive medicine. One would do this if they were suspicious that the food might be poisonous or may cause illness.


Chew the Fat

Origin: In the 1800s the English would eat and talk while chewing fat.


Flying by the seat of your pants

Before airplanes had sophisticated instruments and flight control systems, and even today, planes are piloted by feel. Pilots can feel the reactions of the plane in response to their actions at the controls. Being the largest point of contact between pilot and plane, most of the feel or feedback comes through the seat of the pants. If you are "flying by the seat of your pants" your are responding to the feedback received.


Wing and a prayer

During World War One airplanes were still a novelty and untested in war. A "wing and a prayer" was first uttered when an American flyer came in with a badly damaged wing. His fellow pilots and mechanics were amazed he didn't crash. He replied he was praying all the way in. Another pilot chimed in that "a wing and a prayer brought you back."


Dicey situation

Many betting games of chance, like craps, are played with dice. The phrase refers to the risk and uncertainty of those games.


Put my two cents in

"Put my two cents in" originates from the older "put my two bits in" and has its origin in the game of poker. When playing poker you have to make a small bet before the cards are dealt called an "ante" to begin play in that hand.


Barking up the wrong tree

When using dogs in a foxhunt, the dogs sometimes corner the fox in a tree. The dogs will proceed to bark up at the fox. Barking up the wrong tree, where there is no fox, is a pointless exercise.


Lock stock and barrel

This phrase refers to the three primary components of a firearm. "Lock" is an archaic term for what is now called the "action" or the "receiver". It was originally called the "lock" because the mechanism locked the hammer back in the cocked position. The trigger releases the lock to fire the weapon. Stock is the portion of the firearm that the holds all the other parts together and provides a grip for the shooter. This is the part of the firearm that was traditionally made of wood. Barrel is of course the metal tube that the bullet is fired through. If you purchase a gun "lock, stock and barrel" you got the whole gun, complete.


Feather in your cap

It was once a common practice to award a feather to a soldier who had killed an enemy. These feathers were worn on the helmet, or other headgear and were considered symbols of social status much as modern soldiers receive and display medals.


Clean bill of health

This widely used term has its origins in the "Bill of Health", a document issued to a ship showing that the port it sailed from suffered from no epidemic or infection at the time of departure.


Armed to the teeth

This is a pirate phrase originating in Port Royal Jamaica in the 1600's. Having only single shot black powder weapons and cutlesses, they would carry many of these weapons at once to keep up the fight. In addition they carried a knife in their teeth for maximum arms capability.


Busting your chops

At the turn of the century, wearing very long sideburns-- called mutton chops or lamb chops -- was en vogue. Lamb chop side burns also made a comeback in the late 1960s. A bust in the chops was to get hit in the face. Since Mutton Chops are no longer considered high fashion, the term has come to be figurative rather than literal.


Can't hold a candle to

Before electric lights, someone performing a task in the dark needed a helper to hold a candle to provide light while the task was performed. Much as a helper might hold a flashlight today. Holding the candle is of course the less challenging role. Someone who is not even qualified to hold the candle is much less competent than the person performing the actual task.


Close but no cigar

Carnival games of skill, particularly shooting games, once gave out cigars as a prize. A contestant that did not quite hit the target was close, but did not get a cigar.


Dead as a door nail

Nails were once hand tooled and costly. When an aging cabin or barn was torn down the valuable nails would be salvaged so he could reuse them in later construction. When building a door however, carpenters often drove the nail through then bent it over the other end so it couldn't work its way out during the repeated opening and closing of the door. When it came time to salvage the building, these door nails were considered useless, or "dead" because of the bend.


Jump on the bandwagon

Old time political campaigns would attempt to gain supporters with what amounted to a small parade including a band for a candidate with sufficient support. Jumping on the bandwagon was akin to providing your support for this popular candidate.


Keep your shirt on

Before modern manufacturing techniques, shirts, and all clothes for that matter, required a lot of labor to make. They were more expensive than they are today. Someone thinking of starting a fight might take off his shirt to prevent damage. Telling someone to "keep his shirt on" was equivalent to telling him "I don't want to fight".


Pan out

Early prospectors panned for gold. They would swirl a mix of soil and water around the pan. Because Gold is very dense, with a little skill the pan could be swirled at just the right speed to allow the gold to settle to the bottom of the pan, while the dirt and low-density particles would wash over the side. This would continue until there was nothing left but gravel -- and maybe a little speck of gold if it "panned out"


Break a leg

"Break a leg" is sourced in superstition. It is a wish of good luck, but the words wish just the opposite. It was once common for people to believe in Sprites. Sprites are actually spirits or ghosts that were believed to enjoy wreaking havoc and causing trouble. If the Sprites heard you ask for something, they were reputed to try to make the opposite happen. Telling someone to "break a leg" is an attempt to outsmart the Sprites and in fact make something good happen. Sort of a medieval reverse psychology.


Brownie points

Browine is a house spirit in Scottish superstition. In England he is called Robin Goodfellow. His favorite abodes are farms, and at night he is said to busy himself doing little jobs for the family over which he presides. Although he was never seen, families often left offerings to show their thanks. Browine points refers to a person who does good deed for another and is looked upon favorably...gaining "bonus points".


Pardon my French

The French have been enemies of Britain for the past thousand years (on and off), and are even today thought of with some suspicion by a lot of British people. Perhaps because of this, the British (a very polite society) have considered the French to be vulgar and rude. To say "pardon my French" is to say that you are about to behave as a Frenchman would, i.e. you are about to say something vulgar.


Pull out all the stops

This phrase comes from the pipe organs in churches and classical music. Each pipe has a "stop" that acts as a baffle that controls the amount of airflow. The volume of the organ can be adjusted by adding or removing the stops. By pulling out all the stops, all pipes are playing at their loudest.


Read between the lines

Early in the days of sending secret messages people would write in substances that would only be revealed on plain paper with the use of a re-agent. For instance, lemon juice is normally transparent on paper, but when heated (say over a candle flame) it becomes discolored. Many people will probably remember the "Secret Agent" pens, which had a writing tip at one end and a revealer at the other. Obviously a courier delivering a blank piece of paper was a bit of a give-away, so the author of the message would write a seemingly innocuous letter in ink and then write the secret message in the spaces in between. The recipient would then have to treat the letter and read between the lines of the letter to get to the real message.


The cold shoulder

The shoulder of beef is a less desirable cut. Serving a cold piece of beef shoulder to your guests is a not so subtle message that they are not welcome in your home.


The third degree

This phrase origin can be found within the Masonic Lodge. Within the lodge there are 3 degrees; the Entered Apprentice, the Fellowcraft and the Master Mason. To become a Third-Degree or Master Mason, the highest rank, one must submit to questioning. The Mason's questioning for the third-degree was known to be an intense ordeal, frightening and unpleasant. Additionally, it is more physically challenging that the first two degrees. The term has come to be used for any long an arduous questioning or interrogation.


I'll be a monkey's uncle

The publication of Darwin's theory of evolution in the "Decent of Man" was greeted with derision and a great deal of skepticism. The idea that man is related by a common ancestor to apes and monkeys was considered the most outrageous of the claims. "I'll be a monkey's uncle" was originally a sarcastic remark by a non- believer of Darwin's theory and was intended to ridicule the theory of evolution.


Cool as a cucumber

A cut cucumber actually can feel cool to the touch. This is because they are very moist, evaporation of the moisture provides a cooling effect.