Questions tagged [origin-unknown]
Words and phrases whose origin is unknown or in serious dispute, according to reputable reference works.
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What is the origin of "take one's medicine"? [closed]
I would really like to know where the idiom "take one's medicine" comes from. At first l thought it was another version of taste of their own medicine, but I found that these two have ...
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What is the origin and meaning of the female given name "Zorado"?
As far as I can tell this name crops up mid 1800s, and (informal analysis) looks like it peaks circa 1890-1915. In the present day I'd say it is extremely rare, but I can find living Zorado women and ...
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Where did the phrase "bring to the table" originate?
I couldn't find where the phrase "bring to the table" originated. Please share your thoughts and any information you have.
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What could be the origin of 'cherry-merry' in Indian English to mean 'baksheesh'?
I was looking through a book about Indian English (Sahibs, Nabobs, and Boxwallahs: A Dictionary of the Words of Anglo-India) and I noticed the following definition (edited lightly):
Cherry-merry: ...
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What's the origin of the idiom "fish for a compliment"
I have been searching for the origin of the phrase "fish for a compliment", but I couldn't find anything on the internet. Goose egg!
The Free Dictionary defines the idiom
fish for ...
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Why do South Indians call restaurants 'hotels'?
In South India, it's common to use the word 'hotel' when referring to what North Indians (and most of the rest of the world) know as a 'restaurant.' It's not just a phenomenon seen among small, micro-...
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Why does a draw mean a game/match/contest that ends with no winner?
A draw is a match/game/contest that ends with no outright winner, or both teams or players having the same score. The more usual term in North America is a tie, whereas a draw is usual elsewhere. A ...
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The eerie origin of "eerie"
Eerie is a rather common word but its origin is somewhat strange. In fact, OED doesn't provide the origin of the word eerie, but provides the etymology where it is given as a variant of an obsolete ...
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Origin of the phrase "pit of despair"
I can't find much online about the etymology/origin of the phrase besides mention of a psychologist naming a torture chamber for experiments he did on monkeys:
The pit of despair was a name used by ...
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Who "died peacefully" first and when?
The question came to my mind when I read the recent news of the death of Queen Elizabeth II, first appeared in the official Twitter account of The Royal Family as:
The Queen died peacefully at ...
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What is the origin of "hug"?
Hugging is a universal form of endearment and the verb hug is a very common word in English, yet the origin of the word is unknown.
OED boldy says that "Appears late in 16th cent.: origin unknown....
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Usage of the word "candle" to refer to a specific item in a list
In Maltese English, whenever items in a list are preceded by letters or Roman numerals instead of numbers, we would say that the list is made up of candles. Let us suppose we have the following two ...
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Origin of Aussie Slang "Stack" and "Stacked it"
Bit of a weird one but I'm wondering where the slang "stack it" in terms of falling over comes from.
Stack:
(Australia, slang) A fall or crash, a prang.
2016 June 19, Tom Williams, “Watch ...
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What is the origin of short form headlines in media/the news?
Every now and then one comes across a shortened form of headlines in media, mostly the news. For example:
Study: Inflation Forcing More Americans To Choose Between Buying Groceries, Aston Martin DBS [...
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Where does the word stoothing come from? Is it used in any other contexts apart from "stoothing wall"?
My father uses the expression "stoothing wall" to refer to a stud or internal wall. What is the origin of the word "stoothing" ? Is it ever used in any contexts other than "...
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