blend into the woodwork
To go unnoticed or hide in a crowd
Browse English 49241
All languages English Tiếng Việt
Where will you be? Anywhere UK & IrelandUnited StatesOnline slangBusiness jargon
Blenheim Palace
The mansion near Woodstock, Oxfordshire, given by the nation to the Duke of Marlborough, for his
Blenheim Steps
Going to Blenheim Steps meant going to be dissected, or unearthed from one's grave. There was an anatomical school, over which Sir Astley Cooper presided at Blenheim Steps, Bond Street. Here "re- surrectionists" were sure to find a ready mart for their gruesome wares, for which they received sums of money varying from £3 to £10, and sometimes more.
blerry
Bloody.
bless someone with
To give someone a quality or thing
bless you
Recognized English idiom; full definition pending editorial review.
blessed event
The birth of a child
blessing
A small quantity over and above the measure, usually given by hucksters dealing in peas, beans, and other vegetables.
blest
A vow; "BLEST if I’ll do it," i.e., I am determined not to do it; euphemism for CURST.
blether
To bother, to annoy, to pester. "A BLETHERING old nuisance" is a common expression for a garrulous old person.
blew
Or BLOW, to inform, or peach, to lose or spend money.
blewed
Drunk.
blewed
A man who has lost or spent all his money is said to have BLEWED it. Also used in cases of robbery from the person, as, "He’s BLEWED his red ’un," i.e., he’s been eased of his watch.
blick
A pistol.
blicker
A handgun.
blicky
A pistol.
blimp out
Recognized English idiom; full definition pending editorial review.
blind
A feint, pretence, or shift.
blind
A pretence, or make-believe.
blind as a bat
A bat is not blind, but if disturbed and forced into the sunlight it cannot see, and blunders about. It sees best in the dusk.
blind as a beetle
Beetles are not blind, but the dor-beetle or hedge-chafer, in its rapid flight, will occasionally bump against one as if it could not see.
blind as a mole
Moles are not blind, but as they work underground, their eyes are very small. There is a mole found in the south of Europe, the eyes of which are covered by membranes, and probably this is the animal to which Aristotle refers when he says, " the mole is blind.
blind as an owl
Owls are not blind, but being night birds, they see better in partial darkness than in the full light of day.
blind cheeks
The breech. Buss blind cheeks; kiss mine a-se.
blind date
Social engagement between two people who have not met before
blind ditch
One which cannot be seen. Here blind means obscure, or concealed, as in Milton's "In the blind mazes of this tangled wood" (Cotntts, 181).
blind excuse
A poor or insufficient excuse. A blind ale-house, lane, or alley; an obscure, or little known or frequented ale-house, lane, or alley.
blind harpers
Beggars counterfeiting blindness, playing on fiddles, &c.
blind hedge
A ha-ha (q. v.) . Blind Magistrate, The. Sir John Fielding, knighted in 1761, was born blind. Sitting at Bow Street, he was m the commission of the Peace for Middlesex, Surrey, Essex, and the liberties of Westminster.
blind leaders of the blind
Those who give advice to others in need of it, but who are, themselves, unfitted to do so. The allusion is to Matt, xv, 14.
blind leading the blind
Incompetent people guiding others who are also incompetent
blind spot
This is a small area not sensitive to light, situated on the retina where the optic nerve enters. The term is used figuratively to describe some area in one's discernment where judgment and under- standing are lacking.
blind with science
Recognized English idiom; full definition pending editorial review.
blind-half-hundred
The Fiftieth Regiment of Foot; so called through their great sufferings from ophthalmia when serving in Egypt.
blind-hookey
A game at cards which has no recommendation beyond the rapidity with which money can be won and lost at it; called also WILFUL MURDER.
blind-man’s-holiday
Night, darkness. Sometimes applied to the period "between the lights."
blindman's buff
A play used by children, where one being blinded by a handkerchief bound over his eyes, attempts to seize any one of the company, who all endeavour to avoid him; the person caught, must be blinded in his stead.
blindman's buff
A very old-established name for an old and well-known children's game. "Buff" here is short for "buffet," and is an allusion to the three buffs or pats which the "blind man" gets when he has caught a player.
blindman's holiday
The hour of dusk, when it is too dark to work, and too soon to light candles. The phrase was in common use at least as early as Elizabethan times.
blink first
To give in or back down first in a confrontation
blink of an eye
Recognized English idiom; full definition pending editorial review.
blink-fencer
A person who sells spectacles.
blinker
A blackened eye.—Norwich. Also a hard blow in the eye. BLINKERS, spectacles.
blinkers
Spectacles.
blinking
bloody
blivit
A gadget.
bloated aristocrat
A street term for any decently dressed person. From the persistent abuse lavished on a "bloated and parasitical aristocracy" by Hyde Park demagogues and a certain unpleasant portion of the weekly press.
blob
(from BLAB), to talk. Beggars are of two kinds—those who SCREEVE (introducing themselves with a FAKEMENT, or false document) and those who BLOB, or state their case in their own truly "unvarnished" language.
block
The head. "To BLOCK a hat," is to knock a man’s hat down over his eyes.—See BONNET. Also a street obstruction.
block and tackle
A system of pulleys and ropes for lifting heavy loads
block houses
Prisons, houses of correction, &c.
block ornaments
The small dark-coloured and sometimes stinking pieces of meat which used to be exposed on the cheap butchers’ blocks or counters; matters of interest to all the sharp-visaged women in poor neighbourhoods. Since the great rise in the price of meat there has been little necessity for butchers to make block ornaments of their odds and ends. They are bespoke beforehand.
block out
to ignore or exclude something
blocked at both ends
Finished. The game is blocked at both ends; the game is ended.
blocking and tackling
Fundamental or basic aspects of a task or project
bloke
A man; "the BLOKE with the jasey," the man with the wig, i.e., the Judge. Gipsy and Hindoo, LOKE. North, BLOACHER, any large animal.
blood
A riotous disorderly fellow.
blood
A fast or high-mettled man. Nearly obsolete, but much used in George the Fourth’s time.
blood and gore
Violent or gruesome acts and their consequences
blood and guts
A fixed-order word pair (irreversible binomial); full definition pending editorial review.
Advertisement
Ad space — ads help keep Idiomer free. Premium will remove them.