Phrase Finder gives Matthew Arnold in 1865 as the first figurative use, and the organ he was writing about was a metaphor for the English mind.
Pull Out All the Stops: A Pipe Organ Phrase, Documented in 1865 Read More »
Samuel Sewall recorded axes being buried in 1680. Colden prints the phrase in 1747. This is one of the few idioms where both halves are on paper.
Bury the Hatchet: A Documented Practice and a Documented Phrase Read More »
Phrase Finder gives an October 1921 Canadian citation and traces the sense to an older idea of doing something plainly and abruptly, not to gooseflesh.
Cold Turkey Origin: A 1921 Newspaper, and the Bird Is a Red Herring Read More »
Phrase Finder lists five origin stories and settles none of them. The earliest citation is Dekker in 1602. Here is what each theory has behind it.
Mind Your Ps and Qs: Five Theories, One 1602 Citation, No Winner Read More »
Phrase Finder traces the phrase to Thomas North in 1579, already figurative. The social sense arrives later, and icebreaker ships come later still.
Break the Ice Origin: 1579, and the Ice Was a Trade Route Read More »
Phrase Finder records the phrase in Grose 1796, and it is about flogging, not surgery. Anesthesia arrived in 1846. The dates do not line up.
Bite the Bullet Origin: The Civil War Surgery Story Is Fifty Years Too Late Read More »
Phrase Finder dates the phrase to 1760 and calls the pig-in-a-poke explanation plausible but undocumented. Plausible is not the same as proven.
Let the Cat Out of the Bag: The Market Fraud Story Has No Citation Read More »
Phrase Finder dates the phrase to a 1908 US newspaper. A phrase first recorded in 1908 cannot come from ancient Greek ballots. Here is the trail.
Spill the Beans Origin: The Ancient Greek Voting Story Does Not Fit Read More »
Phrase Finder dates the phrase to 1785 and traces bucket to an old sense meaning beam. The suicide story has no citations behind it. Here is the trail.
Kick the Bucket Origin: The Bucket Was a Beam, Not a Pail Read More »
Everyone tells you proves once meant tests. World Wide Words says that is not where the phrase comes from either. Here is the Latin maxim and what it actually says.
The Exception That Proves the Rule: The Popular Fix Is Also Wrong Read More »
