gild the lily, to

To add excessive ornament; to pile excess on excess. This term is a condensation of Shakespeare’s statement in King John (4.2), “To gild refined gold, to paint the lily . . . is wasteful and ridiculous excess.” Earlier (sixteenth-century) versions of this idea cited whitening ivory with ink (Erasmus, Adagia) and painting fine marble (George Pettie, Petite Pal- lace). Byron quoted Shakespeare correctly (“But Shakespeare also says, ’tis very silly to gild refined gold, or paint the lily”), in Don Juan (1818), but sometime during the succeeding years it became the cliché we now know.

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gift of gab

Fluency of speech; also, a tendency to boast. Gab, both the noun meaning “speech” and the verb meaning “to chatter,” is believed to have come from the Gaelic dialect word gob, for “mouth.” Indeed it so appeared in Samuel Colvil’s Whiggs Supplication (1695): “There was a man called Job . . . He had a good gift of the Gob.” During the next century it became gab, as in William Godwin’s Caleb Williams (1794): “He knew well enough that he had the gift of the gab.” Later “the” was dropped.

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ghost of a chance

See NOT A  GHOST  OF A  CHANCE.

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ghost of a chance

See NOT A  GHOST  OF A  CHANCE.

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get wind of something, to

To acquire knowledge; to hear a rumor. This expression transfers the ability of many animals to detect the approach of others from their scent carried by the wind. Originating about 1800, the term appeared in print in B. H. Malkin’s translation of Gil Blas (1809): “The corregidor . . . got wind of our correspondence.”

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get up on the wrong side of bed

See GOT UP ON THE WRONG SIDE OF BED.

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get up and go

Vital energy, enthusiasm. The Random House Unabridged Dictionary (1987) hyphenates this term and lists it as a noun, originating in the United States in the early years of this century. However, it has numer- ous precedents, the most common of which was get up and get, still used in some parts of the United States (President Lyndon Johnson’s wife, Lady Bird, was quoted as saying it in the early 1960s). The OED gives a 1907 use of the current cliché: “I wish . . . folk here had a little git-up-and-go to them” (N. Munro, Daft Days).

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fine-tooth comb, to go over with a

To search for or investigate with scrupulous care. Although combs have been known since the time of ancient Egypt, and presumably some had finer teeth than others, the term “fine- tooth comb” dates only from the first half of the nineteenth century. The transfer of combing out nits to other kinds of search or investigation took place only in the late nineteenth century.

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fine fettle, in

In excellent condition. This expression comes from the old dialect verb “to fettle,” which meant to put right. It was first put as “in good fettle,” and was so used throughout the nineteenth century. Alliteration has helped it to survive.

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fine and dandy

Excellent. This redundant American colloquialism—fine and dandy both mean excellent—today is most often used ironically, for a circumstance that is far from excellent. Originally, however, in the early 1900s, it was stated straightforwardly, as in “‘Has she recovered from her fall?’ ‘Yes, she’s fine and dandy now.’”

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find it in one’s heart, (not) to

To be inclined to do something; or to be unwilling to do something. This expression implies that a person is doing considerable soul-searching concerning an action, and as a cliché it may be obsolescent. It first appeared in the sixteenth century, in Sir Thomas More’s Utopia: “They cannot find in their hearts to love the author thereof.” It also appears in the King James Bible (1611) in the second Book of Samuel (7:27): “Therefore hath thy servant found in his heart to pray this prayer unto thee.”

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finders, keepers

Those who obtain something simply by discovering it are entitled to keep it. There are several versions of this expression, all of them referring to the law that a person who finds something, even if it is someone else’s property, may keep it for himself or herself. The earliest ref- erences are in writings of the Roman playwright Plautus and date from approximately 200 B.C. Two millennia later, D. M. Moir (Mansie Wauch, 1824) referred to “the auld Scotch proverb of ‘he that finds, keeps, and he that loses seeks.’” Charles Reade also called it a proverb: “Losers seekers, finders keepers” (It Is Never Too Late to Mend, 1856). The modern schoolyard version is “Finders keepers, losers weepers.” Legal implications aside, the poetic rhythm of this expression no doubt helps account for its long life.

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filthy lucre

Money acquired by dishonorable means. The term comes from St. Paul’s Epistle to Titus (1:11), in which he criticizes those who teach things which they ought not “for filthy lucre’s sake.” Later the term came to be used ironically for money in general, even if it had been honestly earned. Perhaps scruples have changed, for the term is heard less often today.

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fill the bill, to

To satisfy the requirements, to suit a purpose. This term originally came from the nineteenth-century American stage, where the posters announcing a program would list the star attractions and then add lesser-known entertainers to complete the show (or fill out the bill). By mid-century the term had been transferred to other areas, where it acquired a more primary sense of providing what was needed. Thus a politi- cal article in Harper’s Magazine in 1890 included the comment. “They filled the bill according to their lights.”

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filled to the brim

As full of something as possible. The transfer from a container filled to the very top to other matters took place in the sixteenth century, so by 1601 Shakespeare wrote, “He will fill thy wishes to the brimme” (Antony and Cleopatra,” 3.13). W. S. Gilbert used the term to describe the three little maids in The Mikado (1885): “Filled to the brim with girlish glee.”

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figment of the imagination, a

An imaginary occurrence; a pipe dream. This expression is tautological, since figment means a product of fic- titious invention. Nevertheless, it has been used since the mid-nineteenth century. It appeared in Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre (1847): “The long dishevelled hair, the swelled black face, the exaggerated stature, were fig- ments of imagination.”

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fight tooth and nail

See TOOTH AND NAIL.

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fighting mad

Infuriated. This colloquial expression of American origin dates from the late nineteenth century. William James used it in a letter of 1896: “If any other country’s ruler had expressed himself with equal moral ponderosity, wouldn’t the population have gone twice as fighting-mad as ours?”

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fighting chance, a

A possibility of success through great effort. An Americanism dating from the late nineteenth century, this phrase has been used in a large variety of contexts. For example, “Free school breakfasts and lunches will give these inner-city children a fighting chance of graduating,” or “Hunting with a bow and arrow gives the deer a fighting chance.”

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fight fire with fire

Counter an evil or adversity with equal force. The Greek philosopher Plato counseled just the opposite—don’t add fire to fire—and was quoted by numerous subsequent writers, from Plutarch to Erasmus. Nevertheless, the idea that fire is put out by fire prevailed. “The only way I know how to fight fire is with fire,” wrote Stewart Sterling (Down among the Dead Men, 1943).

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fig, not care/give/worth a

See NOT CARE/GIVE A FIG.

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fifth wheel

An unneeded extra, a superfluous person or thing. This expression was already listed as a proverb in the sixteenth century in a French collection; in its complete form it pointed out that the fifth wheel on a wagon does nothing but impede it (C. B. Bouelles, Proverbia Vulgaria, 1531). Thomas Dekker repeated it in a play (Match Me in London, 1631, Act I), again in fairly literal fashion: “Thou tyest but wings to a swift gray hounds heele, and addest to a running charriot a fift Wheele.” But it also was being used figuratively during this period, and has continued to be ever since.

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field day, to have a

To take part in an enjoyable, exciting occasion or pursuit. The expression dates from the mid-1700s and originally meant a special day set aside for troop maneuvers and exercises, as it still does in military circles. Early in the 1800s it began to be transferred to civilian occasions, at first involving groups of people (such as a school outing), and later to any pleasant experience, as in “Mike’s having a field day with his new camera.”

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fiddle while Rome burns, to

To busy oneself with trivial matters during a crisis. The expression comes from the legend that during the burning of Rome (A.D. 64), the Emperor Nero played his lyre while watching the spec- tacle from a high tower. Indeed, the historian Suetonius alleged that Nero had ordered the fire set in order to see how Troy had looked when it burned. The expression was probably already a cliché by the time Charles Kingsley wrote in Westward Ho! (1855), “It is fiddling while Rome burns to spend more pages over . . . Rose Saltenere, while the destinies of Europe are hang- ing on the marriage between Elizabeth and Anjou.”

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drive (someone) up the wall, to

To harry someone to the point of mad desperation. The image here is forcing a person to escape a pest by literally climbing up and over a wall. An earlier version was to drive to the wall, the wall being as far as one could go to escape. It dates from the sixteenth cen- tury. “I am in this matter euen at the harde walle, and se not how to go fur- ther,” wrote Sir Thomas More (1557). The current cliché dates from the twentieth century, and probably comes from the behavior of an addict deprived of drugs or alcohol who actually tries to climb the walls of a room or cell in desperation (see also DRIVE TO DRINK). However, it is most often used to express exasperation at being “driven crazy”: “‘Mad as a hatter,’ said Gillian Soames complacently. ‘Stark raving bonkers. Up the wall. Round the twist’” (Robert Barnard, Death and the Chaste Apprentice, 1989).

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drive (someone) to drink, to

To annoy someone to distraction. A twen- tieth-century Americanism, this expression implies that alcohol-induced oblivion is the only form of escape from the pest in question. W. C. Fields turned it around in his quip, “I was in love with a beautiful blonde once— she drove me to drink—’tis the one thing I’m indebted to her for” (quoted in Whole Grains, by A. Spiegelman and B. Schneider). See also DRIVE UP THE WALL.

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drive a hard bargain, to

To  exact  as  much  as  possible  from  a  transac- tion. Drive in this expression is in the sense of vigorously carrying through something.  It  was  so  used  as  long  ago  as  the  sixteenth  century,  when  Sir Philip Sidney wrote, “There never was a better bargain driven” (My True Love Hath  My  Heart,  1583).  Hard,  in  the  sense  of  “unyielding,”  is  coupled  with bargain  even  earlier, in  a  translation  from  the  Greek  of  Suidas  (Lexicon,  c. A.D. 950): “A hard bargainer never gets good meat.”

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drink like a fish, to

To  drink  a  great  deal,  usually  meaning  alcoholic beverages. The  simile  comes  from  the  fish’s  breathing  apparatus,  which causes it to be openmouthed much of the time, so that it looks as if it were constantly  drinking.  The  expression  is  quite  old,  appearing  in  print  in the  mid-seventeenth  century,  and  has  outlived  drinking  like  frogs,  like elephants, and like knights templar, as well as the medieval proverb, to drink like a pope. The newer synonym to drink under the table calls up an image of inebriated persons rolling under the table.

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dribs and drabs

Small  quantities. This  phrase,  dating  from  the  early nineteenth  century,  consists  of  nouns  that  rarely  appear  elsewhere.  Drib, originating in the early 1700s, probably alludes to “dribble” or “trickle”; drab has meant a petty sum of money since the early 1800s.

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dressed to kill/to the nines

Very fashionably attired. The first expres- sion is a nineteenth-century Americanism. It appears in print in E. G. Paige’s Dow’s Patent Sermons, c. 1849 (“A gentleman tiptoeing along Broad- way, with a lady wiggle-waggling by his side, and both dressed to kill”). The precise analogy is no longer known. “Kill” may allude to the idea of making a conquest, or perhaps it is an extension of something “done to death”— that is, overdone. Dressed to the nines, also put as dressed up to the nines, is British in origin and literally means elaborately dressed to perfection. The “nines” were singled out to signify “superlative” in numerous other contexts from the late eighteenth century on, but no one is quite sure why. Some say it is because nine, as the highest single-digit number, symbolizes the best. Today, however, it is the numeral ten that signifies the best (as, for example, in Olympics judging). Other writers suggest that nines is a corruption of “to then eyne”—that is, to the eyes—but this interpretation doesn’t make much sense either. Describing an old department store holding its final sale before closing and lavishly decorated for Christmas, Mary Cantwell observed that “the corpse was dressed to the nines” (New York Times, Dec. 1989).

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dream team

An outstanding combination of individuals or factors that promises huge success. This term originated in the second half of the twen- tieth century in sports, where it signified a team made up of the best play- ers. It soon was transferred to other venues, as in the New York Times headline for a story about wealthy lawyer Johnnie L. Cochran (Sept. 3, 2000), “Finding a ‘Dream Team’ for his Finances.” It is well on its way to cliché- dom.

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dream on

See IN YOUR DREAMS.

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draw the line at, to

To set a specific limit, particularly on one’s behav- ior. This expression, heard in such contexts as “He drew the line at outright cheating,” comes from drawing some sort of boundary, but no one is quite certain as to what kind. Some speculate it comes from the early game of court tennis, in which the court had no specific dimensions and the players had to draw their own lines. Others believe it signified a line cut by a plow across a field to designate the property boundary. The term was used figura- tively from the late eighteenth century on and was probably a cliché by the time W. S. Gilbert wrote, “I attach but little value to rank or wealth, but the line must be drawn somewhere” (H.M.S. Pinafore, Act I).

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draw/pull in one’s horns, to

To retreat, to back down. This expres- sion, which dates back at least to the mid-fourteenth century, refers to the practice of snails, which can withdraw the soft, projecting parts of their body inside their shell when they feel threatened. The snail has no genuine horns. Rather, the front end of its muscular foot has sensory tentacles that look a little like horns, whence the expression. About 1350 an unknown chronicler wrote about Richard the Lionhearted in a particular campaign, “They . . . gunne to drawen in their hornes as a snayle among the thornes.” It has been a cliché since about 1800.

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draw a veil over, to

To conceal; to say no more about something. A cliché from the mid-nineteenth century, this analogy to hiding one’s face behind a veil is often used to gloss over the details of an embarrassing situation. Daniel Defoe, long known as a historian before he turned his hand to fiction, wrote in The True- born Englishman (1701), “Satyr, be kind! and draw a silent Veil! Thy native En- gland’s vices to conceal.”

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draw a blank, to

To be unable to remember or to find something. The term refers to a losing ticket in a lottery, which has no number printed on it—that is, it is blank. It first appeared in print in the early nineteenth century.

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draw a bead on (someone), to

To take careful verbal aim at a person. An Americanism dating from about 1830, the term comes from aiming a revolver or rifle, on which the “bead” was a small knob on the foresight. It was being used figuratively by about 1930.

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dragon lady

A fierce and formidable woman. The term comes from a popu- lar comic strip of the 1930s, “Terry and the Pirates,” which featured such a woman. In the mid-eighteenth century the word dragon alone was used to describe a fierce and violent person of either sex, although by the mid-1800s it was so used only for a woman. Possibly this was the original source for the comic-strip dragon lady.

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come

See under COMES.

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color of your money, let’s see the

Back up your claim with hard evi- dence. A twentieth-century Americanism, according to Eric Partridge, it originated in gambling or betting, as a challenge or to make sure that the bettor actually had enough cash to cover a bet. One writer holds that it was already common in eighteenth-century England, but his citation is not verifi- able. In any event, it is unlikely that the actual hue of the money was in doubt, unless the questioner felt it might be counterfeit. More likely “color” was used figuratively for something readily identifiable.

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cold water, to pour/throw

To discourage, to dampen pleasure or enthu- siasm. The analogy dates back at least to Roman times, when Plautus used it (Aquam frigidam suffundunt, “They pour cold water on us”), and also appears in William Scarborough’s collection of Chinese proverbs (1875).

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cold turkey

Abrupt withdrawal from any habitual activity. This term, which came into use in the early twentieth century primarily for withdrawal from some addictive substance (drug or alcohol), soon was transferred to quitting other habits and activities. Its ultimate origin is unclear. It may have come from TO TALK TURKEY, which was sometimes put as “to talk cold turkey,” both meaning to speak in an unvarnished way about an unpleasant matter.

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cold shoulder, to give/show the

To snub someone; to assume a distant manner, or show indifference. The term dates from the early nineteenth cen- tury and was frequently used by Sir Walter Scott. It is believed to come from the custom of serving hot meat to welcome guests, and of serving a cold shoulder of mutton or beef, considered a much inferior dish, when they had outstayed their welcome.

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cold heart, a

A dispassionate, unaffectionate individual. This term already meant lack of love in Shakespeare’s time. In his Antony and Cleopatra (3:13) Antony asks the queen if she now prefers Caesar to him, saying, “Cold- hearted toward me?” and she, denying it, replies, “Ah! dear, if I be so, from my cold heart let heaven engender hail, and poison it in the source; and the first drop in my neck.”

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cold hands, warm heart

Undemonstrativeness need not signify lack of feeling. In the singular the term appears in a collection of sayings published by Vincent Lean in 1902 (“A cold hand and a warm heart”). A similar idea is behind Alan S. Blinder’s book on economic policymaking, Hard Heads, Soft Hearts (1987), which claims it is not only possible but necessary to have an economic policy that is both rational and efficient (hardheaded) and socially compassionate (softhearted).

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cold fish, a

A person who is unfeeling, or at least shows no emotion. “Cooler than a fish on a cake of ice,” P. G. Wodehouse put it (Money in the Bank, 1942). He was scarcely the first. Shakespeare wrote, “It was thought she was a woman and was turned into a cold fish” (Autolycus telling of a ballad against the hard hearts of maids, TheWinter’s Tale, 4.4). See also COLD HEART

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cold feet, to get/have

To be timid; to back off from some undertaking. This expression appears to date from the nineteenth century, at least in its present meaning. In the early seventeenth century it was an Italian proverb that meant to have no money; it was so used by Ben Jonson in his play Volpone. The source of the more recent meaning is obscure. Some believe it comes from soldiers retreating in battle because their feet are frozen. Another source cites a German novel of 1862 in which a card player with- draws from a game because, he claims, his feet are cold.

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cold enough to freeze the balls off a brass monkey

Frigid, extremely cold. This term, already known by 1835, comes from naval warfare, in the days when cannonballs were stacked in pyramid form on brass trays called “monkeys.” In cold weather the metal would contract and the balls fall off. For a similar hyperbole, see CHILLED TO THE BONE.

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cold comfort

That’s little or no consolation. “Colde watz his cumfort,” reads a poem of unknown authorship written about 1325. The alliterative phrase appealed to Shakespeare, who used it a number of times (in King John, The Tempest, The Taming of the Shrew). It acquired cliché status by about 1800. Stella Gibbons used it in the title of her humorous book Cold Comfort Farm (1932).

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cold blood, in

Calculatedly ruthless. This expression comes from the days when it was commonly believed that blood rules the temper and was boiling hot when one was excited and ice-cold when one was calm. The French call it sang-froid, a term taken over in English with the same meaning. Thus Byron wrote of Don Juan, “Cross-legg’d with great sang-froid among the scorching ruins he sat smoking.” In more recent times Truman Capote used the term as the title of a detailed account (1965) of a deliberate act of murder

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coin a phrase, to

To fashion an expression. This term, dating from the 1940s, is often used ironically to apologize for using a cliché, as in “He acts like the cock of the walk, to coin a phrase.” Of course it can also be used straightforwardly and refer to inventing an expression, a usage dating from the late 1500s.

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