circulating capital
Wages, or raw material. This sort of capital is not available a second tune for the same purpose.
Browse all entries 4942
All languages English Tiếng Việt
circumbendibus
A roundabout way, or story. He took such a circumbendibus; he took such a circuit.
circumbendibus
A roundabout way, a long-winded story.
Circumlocution Office
A term applied in ridicule by Dickens in Little Dorrit to our public offices, because each person tries to shuffle off every act to someone else; and before anything is done it has to pass through so many departments and so much time elapses that it is hardly worth having bothered about it.
circumstances alter cases
Changing circumstances can alter the nature of a situation or decision
circumstantial evidence
That based on corrobor- ative incidents.
cit
A citizen of London.
citaye
A city.
city banker
A wanker.
city centre
The central area of a city
City of Refuge
Moses, at the command of God, set apart three cities on the east of Jordan, and Joshua added three others on the west,, whither any person might flee for refuge who had killed a human creature inadvertently. The three on the east of Jordan were Bezer, Ramoth, and Golan; the three on the west were Hebron, Shechem, and Kedesh (Deut. iv, 43;/<w/z. xx, 1-8).
civil liberty
The liberty of a subject to conduct his own arTairs as he thinks proper, provided he neither infringes on the equal liberty of others, nor offends against the good morals or laws under which he is living.
Civil List
The grant voted annually by Parliament to pay the personal expenses of the Sovereign, the household expenses, and the pensions awarded by Royal bounty; before the reign of William III it embraced all public expenditure, except that on the army and navy.
civil reception
A house of civil reception; a bawdy-house, or nanny-house. See NANNY-HOUSE.
Civil Service Estimates
The annual Parlia- mentary grant to cover the expenses of the diplomatic services, the post office and tele- graphs, education, the collection of the revenue, and other expenses neither pertaining to the Sovereign nor the armed services,
civil tongue
Polite and respectful language
civil war
Wai? between citizens (civiles)* In English history the term is applied to the war between Charles I and his Parliament; but the War of the Roses was a civil war also. In America, the War of Secession (1861-65).
Civility costs nothing and buys everything (Mary Wortley Montagu)
Politeness is inexpensive but can achieve great things
civility money
A reward claimed by bailiffs for executing their office with civility.
Ciwie Street
In the 1939-45 War this was the term by which men in the Services referred to civilian life.
Clabber Napper's Hole
Near Gravesend; said to be named after a freebooter; but more likely the Celtic Caerber Varber (water-town lower camp).
clack
A tongue, chiefly applied to women; a simile drawn from the clack of a water-mill.
Clack Dish
A dish or basin with a movable lid. Some two or three centuries ago beggars used to proclaim their want by clacking the lid of a wooden dish.
clack-box
A garrulous person, so called from the rattle formerly used by vagrants to make a rattling noise and attract attention.—Norfolk.
clack-loft
A pulpit, so called by orator Henley.
clacker
A testicle.
claggum
Boiled treacle in a hardened state, hardbake.—See CLIGGY.
claim someone's life
cause someone's death
clam
A dollar.
clam smacker
A lesbian.
clamp down on
to suppress or control something strictly
clan
A family's tribe or brotherhood; a word much used in Scotland. The head of the clan; the chief: an allusion to a story of a Scotchman, who, when a very large louse crept down his arm, put him back again, saying he was the head of the clan, and that, if injured, all the rest would resent it.
clank
A silver tankard. CANT.
clank napper
A silver tankard stealer. See RUM BUBBER.
clap
To strike the palms of the hands together, creating a sharp sound.
clap
A venereal taint. He went out by Had'em, and came round by Clapham home; i.e. he went out a wenching, and got a clap.
clap
To place; "do you think you can CLAP your hand on him?" i.e., find him out. CLAP is also a well-known form of a contagious disease.
clap cheeks
To have sex or have sex with.
clap eyes on
to see something or someone for the first time
clap on the shoulder
An arrest for debt; whence a bum bailiff is called a shoulder-clapper.
clap one's hands red
to applaud enthusiastically
clap up
to imprison
clap-trap
High-sounding nonsense. An ancient theatrical term for a "TRAP to catch a CLAP by way of applause from the spectators at a play."—Bailey’s Dictionary.
clapper
The tongue of a bell, and figuratively of a man or woman.
clapper
The tongue. Said of an over-talkative person, to be hung in the middle and to sound with both ends.
clapper claw
To scold, to abuse, or claw off with the tongue.
clapperdogeon
A beggar born. CANT.
Clarenceux King of Arms
So called from the Duke of Clarence, brother of Edward IV. His jurisdiction extends over England south of the Trent.
clarendon type
A bold-faced, condensed type, such as that used for the "catch-words" which head these articles.
claret
French red wine; figuratively, blood. I tapped his claret; I broke his head, and made the blood run. Claret-faced; red-faced.
claret
Blood.—Pugilistic. Otherwise Badminton—which see.
claret cup
A drink made of claret, brandy, lemon, borage, sugar, ice, and carbonated water.
clash of the ash
Recognized English idiom; full definition pending editorial review.
clashy
A low fellow, a labourer.—Anglo-Indian.
class
The highest quality or combination of highest qualities among athletes. "He’s not CLASS enough," i.e., not good enough. "There’s a deal of CLASS about him," i.e., a deal of quality. The term as used this way obtains to a certain extent among turfites.
class clown
A student who entertains classmates with jokes and antics
Classic Races
The five chief horse-races in England, all for three-year-olds, are: The One Thousand Guineas, for fillies only, and the Two Thousand Guineas, for fillies and colts,
Classic, a book which people praise and don't read. (Mark Twain)
A highly acclaimed book that is rarely actually read
Classical Latin
The Latin of the best authors of the Golden or Augustan Age (about 75 B.C. to A.D. 145), as Livy, Tacitus, and Cicero (prose), Horace, Virgil, and Ovid (poets).
clawed off
Severely beaten or whipped; also smartly poxed or clapped.
Advertisement
Ad space — ads help keep Idiomer free. Premium will remove them.