backward blessing
A curse. To say the Lord's Prayer backwards was to invoke the devil.
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backwards and forwards
Knowing something very well
bacon
He has saved his bacon; he has escaped. He has a good voice to beg bacon; a saying in ridicule of a bad voice.
bacon
The body, "to save one’s BACON," to escape.
bacon and eggs
a traditional breakfast dish
Baconian Philosophy
A system of philosophy based on principles laid down by Francis Bacon, Lord Verulam, in the 2nd book of his
Baconian Theory
The theory that Lord Bacon wrote the plays attributed to Shake- speare.
Bactrian Sage
Zoroaster, or Zarathrusthra, the founder of the Perso-Iranian religion, who is supposed to have flourished in Bactria (the modern Balkh) before 800 B.C.
bad
"to go to the bad," to deteriorate in character, to be ruined. Virgil has an almost similar phrase, in pejus ruere, which means, by the way, to go to the worse.
bad actor
A person or entity causing trouble or problems
bad apple
Bad entity.
bad bargain
One of his majesty's bad bargains; a worthless soldier, a malingeror. See MALINGEROR.
bad blood
A lasting feeling of hatred or anger between individuals or groups
bad blood
Vindictiveness, ill-feeling; hence, to make bad blood, or to stir up bad blood, to create or renew ill-feeling and a vindictive spirit.
bad books
in someone's disfavor
bad business
An unprofitable or unsuccessful venture
bad company
People who have a negative influence on others
bad egg
A person who is unpleasant or untrustworthy
bad egg
A scoundrel or rascal.
bad egg
A disreputable character; a thoroughly bad fellow. A bad excuse is better than none. An adage that first appeared in Nicolas Udall's Ralph Roister Bolster (1541), the first comedy written for the English stage.
bad for somebody
harmful or unfavorable to someone
bad hair day
a day when everything goes wrong
bad iron
A person considered worthless or useless
bad is the best choice
The least undesirable option is chosen
bad joke
Something unpleasant or of poor quality
bad looker
Someone who is unattractive
bad lot
A term derived from auctioneering slang, and now generally used to describe a man or woman of indifferent morals.
bad money drives out good
Less desirable options displace more desirable ones
bad news
Unwelcome or unpleasant information
bad news bears
a person or thing that consistently brings bad news
bad news travels fast
Unwelcome information spreads quickly
bad old days
A time in the past that was unpleasant or difficult
bad penny
A person who consistently causes trouble or difficulty
bad taste in one's mouth
a lingering feeling of disgust or distaste
bad thing
An undesirable or unfortunate event
bad trip
A disturbing or unpleasant experience
bad trot
a person with unpleasant or annoying behavior
bad word
a swear word or profanity
bad words
Words not always bad of themselves but unpleasant to "ears polite," from their vulgar associations.
badge
A term used for one burned in the hand. He has got his badge, and piked; he was burned in the hand, and is at liberty. Cant.
badge bunny
A person who collects and displays many badges or certifications
badge of honor
A symbol of pride or achievement
badge-coves
Parish Pensioners. Cant.
badger
To tease, to annoy by "chaffing." Suggestive of drawing a badger.
badgers
A crew of desperate villains who robbed near rivers, into which they threw the bodies of those they murdered. Cant.
badminton
Blood,—properly a peculiar kind of claret-cup invented at the Duke of Beaufort’s seat of that name. BADMINTON proper is made of claret, sugar, spice, cucumber peel, and ice, and was sometimes used by the patrons of the Prize Ring as a synonym for blood.
Baedeker Raids
A phrase first used in Britain April 29th, 1942, to describe German air raids which, in reprisal for damage done to Cologne and Lubeck, were deliberately directed on historic monuments (e.g. Bath, Canterbury, Norwich) listed as such in Baede- ker's guide.
baffaty
Calico. Term used in the drapery trade.
bag
He gave them the bag, i.e. left them.
bag
To seize or steal, equivalent to "collar."
Bag o' Nails
Corruption of Bacchanals. A not uncommon inn-sign, The Devil and the Bag o* Nails, represents Pan, with his cloven hoofs and his horns, accompanied by satyrs.
bag of bones
A person who is very thin or frail
bag of mystery
A sausage.
bag of nails
He squints like a bag of nails; i. e. his eyes are directed as many ways as the points of a bag of nails. The old BAG OF NAILS at Pimlico; originally the BACCHANALS.
bag of tricks
A set of skills or methods used to achieve something
Baga de Secretis
Records in the Record Office of trials for high treason and other State offences from the reign of Edward IV to the close of the reign of George III.
baggage
Heavy baggage; women and children. Also a familiar epithet for a woman; as, cunning baggage, wanton baggage, &c.
bagman
A commercial traveller. This word is used more in reference to the old style of commercial travellers than to the present.
bags
Trousers.
bags
Trousers. Trousers of an extensive pattern, or exaggerated fashion, have sometimes been termed HOWLING-BAGS, but only when the style has been very "loud." The word is probably an abbreviation of bumbags. "To have the BAGS off," to be of age and one’s own master, to have plenty of money. BAGS OF MYSTERY is another phrase in frequent use, and refers to sausages and saveloys. BAG OF TRICKS, refers to the whole of a means towards a result. "That’s the whole bag of tricks."
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