apples
Clipping of apple and pears or apples and pears (“stairs”).
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apples and pears
a rhyming slang expression for stairs
apples of perpetual youth
In Scandinavian mythology, the golden apples of perpetual youth, in the keeping of Idhunn, daughter of the dwarf Svald, and wife of Bragi. It is by tasting them that the gods preserve their youth.
Apples of Sodom
Thevenot says — "There are apple-trees on the sides of the Dead Sea which bear lovely fruit, but within are full of ashes." Josephus, Strabo, Tacitus, and others speak of these apples, and are probably referring to the gall-nuts produced by the insect Cynips wsana. The phrase is used figuratively for anything disappointing.
apples to apples
Comparing similar things to each other
apples to apples, oranges to oranges
Comparing similar things to each other
apply for something
to formally ask for something
apply oneself
To work hard and devote oneself to a task or activity
apply to somebody
to be relevant or suitable for a person
appro
Contraction of approbation, a word much in use among jewellers. Most of the extensive show of chains, watches, and trinkets in a shop window is obtained "ON APPRO," i.e., "on sale or return."
appy
Appendix.
apres moi le deluge
After me the deluge — I care Jtot what happens after I am dead and gone.
april fool
Any one imposed on, or sent on a bootless errand, on the first of April; which day it is the custom among the lower people, children, and servants, by dropping empty papers carefully doubled up, sending persons on absurd messages, and such like contrivances, to impose on every one they can, and then to salute them with the title of April Fool. This is also practised in Scotland under the title of Hunting the Gowke.
April fool
Called in France tm poisson d'Awil Gy.v.), and in Scotland a gowk (cuckoo).
April showers
Flowers.
April showers bring forth May flowers
Difficult times can lead to better circumstances later
apron string
Tied to or controlled by someone, often a parent or spouse.
apron string hold
An estate held by a man during his wife's life.
apron-string hold
to control someone tightly
apron-string tenure
A tenure held in virtue of one's wife. Tied to his mother's apron- string. Completely under his mother's thumb. Applied to a big boy or young man who is still under mother rule.
aqua pumpaginis
Pump water.
Arabia Felix
Felix is a mistranslation by Ptolemy of Yemen, which means to the "right*' — i.e. of Mecca.
Arabian Desert on the W
Since World War I — as a consequence of which it was freed from Turkish rule and constituted a separate king- dom—its name has been changed to Irak (#,v.), or Iraq.
arabian was one
The others were Byerley Turk, the charger of Capt. Byerley at the Battle of the Boyne, and Godolphm Arabian, brought to England in 1730 by Edward Coke, from whose hands he passed into the possession of the Earl of Godolphm.
Arbor Day
A day set apart in Canada and the United States for planting trees. It was first inaugurated about 1885 in Nebraska.
arcadian beasts
An old expression, to be found in Plautus, Pliny, etc.
arch doxy
A woman considered the most skilled or prominent in a particular field of vice
arch duke
A comical or eccentric fellow.
arch rogue, dimber damber upright man
The chief of a gang of thieves or gypsies.
archimedean screw
An endless screw, used for raising water, etc., invented by Archimedes.
Arcos Barbs
War steeds of Arcos, in Andalusia, very famous in Spanish ballads. See BARB.
Arden of Feversham
This tragedy, first printed in 1592, was at one time attributed to Shakespeare; it is possibly the work of Thomas
are you deaf
Recognized English idiom; full definition pending editorial review.
are your ears burning
Recognized English idiom; full definition pending editorial review.
area sneak
A thief who commits depredations upon kitchens and cellars.
Aretinian Syllables
Ut, re, mi, fa, sol, la, used by Guido d'Arezzo in the llth century for his hexachord, or scale of six notes. They are the first syllables of some words in the opening stanza of a hymn for St. John's Day (see DOH). Si, the seventh note, was not introduced till the "17th century.
Argand Lamp
A lamp with a circular wick, through which a current of air flows, to supply oxygen to the flame, and increase its brilliancy. Invented by Aime Argand, 1789.
argol-bargol
To bandy words.—Scotch.
aris
arse
aristotle
A bottle.
ark
A boat or wherry. Let us take an ark and winns, let us take a sculler. CANT.
ark ruffians
Rogues who, in conjunction with watermen, robbed, and sometimes murdered, on the water, by picking a quarrel with the passengers in a boat, boarding it, plundering, stripping, and throwing them overboard, &c. A species of badger. CANT.
arm candy
An attractive person accompanying someone to an event
arm in arm
Walking in a friendly way with arms linked.
arm to the teeth
Heavily armed or prepared for battle
arm up
to prepare for a challenge
arm's length
At a distance to avoid intimacy or involvement
armchair quarterback
Someone who criticizes or advises from a position of inexperience
armed and dangerous
Considered to be a threat, often due to possessing a weapon
armed at all points
Armed to the teeth; having no parts undefended. A figure like your Father, Ann'd at all points exactly, Cap a Pe, Appears before them.
Armistice Day
Hostilities in World War I ended at 11 o'clock on November llth, 1918, when an armistice was signed. In subsequent years November llth was kept as Armistice Day, marked by a two-minute silence and cessation of work at 11 a.m., followed in various places by ceremonies. In 1946 the old name was changed to Remembrance Day, to include a memorial of the close of the 1939-45 war and it is kept on the Sunday nearest llth November.
armour
In his armour, pot valiant: to fight in armour; to make use of Mrs. Philips's ware. See C--D--M.
Army or Navy
It was almost entirely used to get men for the Navy. Edward IU set up a Com- mission of Empressment, 1355.
army volunteer
a person who joins the army by choice
aroint thee
A phrase that first appears in Shakespeare's Macbeth (I, iii, 6) and King Lear (III, iv, 129), on both occasions in connexion with witches. It signifies "get ye gone," "be off"; and its origin js unknown. The Brownings made a verb of it, Mrs. Browning in her To Flush — "Whiskered cats arointed flee," and Browning in The Two Poets of Ci oisic, and elsewhere.
around Robin Hood's barn
to take a long and indirect route
around the Horn
sailing around Cape Horn
around the world
everywhere in the world
arrah now
An unmeaning expletive, frequently used by the vulgar Irish.
arrive at
to reach a conclusion or decision
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