fits and starts, by

In bursts of activity, spasmodically. The fits portion of this expression dates from the sixteenth century, and the pairing with starts came soon afterward, in the early seventeenth century. “Thou hast these things only by fits and starts,” wrote Robert Sanderson in one of his Sermons (1620). John Ray’s proverb collection of 1670 put it slightly differently: “By fits and girds, as an ague takes a goose.”

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fit like a glove, to

To suit or conform extremely well. The analogy dates back at least to the eighteenth century. Tobias Smollett used it in Humphry Clinker (1771): “The boots . . . fitted me like a glove.” See also TO A T.

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fit as a fiddle

In excellent health, in good working order. The proverbial likening of human good health to a fiddle dates from 1600 or earlier, but there is no completely convincing explanation of the analogy. It appeared in print in the early seventeenth century and was in John Ray’s proverb collec- tion of 1678. Fit in those days meant “appropriate,” as “fitting” still does, but why a fiddle should be considered especially appropriate is unknown. It was only in the nineteenth century that the meaning of physical fitness was attached to the expression, where it remains today.

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fish to fry, to have better/bigger/other

To have other, more important matters to attend to. Referring to fish cookery, this term dates from the seven- teenth century. “I fear he has other fish to fry,” wrote John Evelyn in his Memoirs (1660). Actually, this term also appeared in an early translation of Rabelais’s Pantagruel (1552) by Motteux, but it did not seem to catch on until later.

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fish story, a

A tall tale. This term alludes to the tendency of sports fish- ermen (and women) to exaggerate the size of their catch, and originated in America in the early nineteenth century. It may have been invented by the journalist who described an event he termed “a fish story,” the appearance of shoals of whitefish in such large numbers that they choked a channel and prevented a steamboat from passing (St. Louis Enquirer, Dec. 8, 1819).

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fish out of water, a

A person who is out of his or her element. It pre- sumably was observed in ancient times that fish cannot survive long out of water, because their gills cannot take oxygen from the air if they are dry. St. Athanasius is credited as the first to transfer this idea to human beings out of their usual environment, sometime before A.D. 373. The simile reappears in numerous fourteenth-century writings, by John Wycliffe, Geoffrey Chaucer, and others, and survives as a cliché to the present day.

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fish or cut bait

Get on with what you’re doing or quit and give some- one else a chance; stop putting it off. This metaphor, alluding to a fisherman who ties up the use of a boat or rod when he could at least be preparing bait for others to use, originated in nineteenth-century politics. It appeared in the Congressional Record in 1876, when Congressman Joseph P. Cannon, telling the Democrats to vote on a bill that would legalize the silver dollar, said, “I want you gentlemen on the other side of the House to ‘fish or cut bait.’” A ruder twentieth-century American version is shit or get off the pot.

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first things first

The most important task should have priority. The implica- tion of this expression, which dates from the nineteenth century, is that there may well be no time to do more than the most important thing. Or, as Shirley Conran put it (in Superwoman, 1975), “First things first, second things never.”

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first magnitude/order/water, of the

The best; of the highest quality. Magnitude refers to the grading of the brightness of stars, the first being the brightest. It has been transferred to other matters since at least the seven- teenth century. “Thou liar of the first magnitude,” wrote William Congreve in 1695 (Love for Love, 2.2). Water refers to a system for grading diamonds for their color or luster (the latter being akin to the shininess of water), the best quality again being termed the first. This grading system is no longer used, but the transfer to other matters has survived since the early nineteenth cen- tury. Sir Walter Scott’s journal has, “He was a . . . swindler of the first water (1826). Order, which here refers to rank, is probably more often heard today than either of the others. It dates from the nineteenth century. The OED cites “A diplomatist of the first order,” appearing in a journal of 1895. A synony- mous term, first rate, originated from the time the Royal Navy’s warships were rated on a scale of one to six, based on their size and the weight of the weapons they carried. By the 1700s this term, along with second-rate, third- rate, and so on, was later transferred to general use, most often as a hyphen- ated adjective. For example, “He’s definitely a second-rate poet, nowhere near as good as his father.”

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first come, first served

The prompt get first choice. This idea was stated by Chaucer (c. 1386) in The Wife of Bath’s Tale, “Whoso first cometh to the mill, first grist,” and was cited as a proverb by Erasmus. An early refer- ence with the exact modern wording dates from about 1545, in Henry Brinklow’s Complaynt of Roderick Mors. See also EARLY BIRD CATCHES THE WORM.

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first blush, at

Without prior knowledge; at first glance. The earliest use of this expression dates from the sixteenth century, when blush meant not a reddening of the cheeks with embarrassment but “glimpse.” Thus, “Able at the first blushe to discearne truth from falsehood,” wrote Philip Stubbes (The Anatomie of Abuses, 2:7) in 1583.

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first and foremost

Most notable, most important. This tautological expression—first and foremost mean just about the same thing—has survived since the fifteenth century, when it was recorded in a work by William Cax- ton (1483). Deemed a cliché by the mid-nineteenth century, it is still popu- lar with lecturers and others who like to enumerate the various points of their argument or elements of a list.

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fire on all cylinders

Go all out. The term comes from automobiles, where it means all of a car’s cylinders have been ignited and the engine is fully pow- ered. It has been used figuratively since the second half of the 1900s, as in “That was a great speech; he was really firing on all cylinders.” See also PULL OUT ALL THE STOPS.

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fire away

Go ahead; say what you must say; ask what you will. This expression, referring to a gun loaded to the muzzle, dates from the early days of firearms and was transferred to other proceedings by the eighteenth century, as in “Mr. Burney fired away in a voluntary [on the organ]” (Freder- ick Marryat, Poor Jack, 1775).

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finishing touch(es)

The final stroke(s) that ensure completion or per- fection. The term is derived from painting, that is, the last stroke of the artist’s brush, and was soon transferred to any creative effort, ranging from cake-baking to assembling a costume. Its earliest appearance in print dates from the mid-eighteenth century, and Eric Partridge concluded it became a cliché within a hundred years.

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finger itches to, one’s/my

I am (one is) extremely eager to do some- thing. The use of “itch” for “desire” is almost as old as the desire to scratch something that itches. “Our fingers wyll itch at hym,” wrote John Stubbs (The Discoverie of a Gaping Gulf, 1579), and soon afterward Shakespeare wrote, “If I see a word out, my finger itches to make one” (The Merry Wives of Windsor, 1601, 2.3). Considerably later came Charles Kingsley with his “The men’s fingers are itching for a fight” (Hypatia, 1853), which subsequently was shortened to itching for a fight. See also ITCHY PALM

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finger in every pie, to have a

To be involved in numerous activities, usually in the sense of meddling. This metaphor from finger-licking in the kitchen dates from the sixteenth century. Shakespeare used it in Henry VIII (1.1), where the Duke of Buckingham complains of Cardinal Wolsey, “No man’s pie is freed from his ambitious finger.”

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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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