The language of the United Kingdom.
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The Phrase Finder
The meanings and origins of phrases, sayings, idioms and expressions.
Look up any phrase - we'll tell you what it means, where it came from, and how it's been used. 2405+ meanings, 363+ idioms, 10,636+ thesaurus entries.
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The phrase "A nod is as good as a wink to a blind horse" was the title of an album by the British group Faces in 1971. This group is most known for its member Rod Stewart.
My folks used "collary wobbles" to mean stomach upset, as in, e.g., "If you eat all that fresh fruit (several apples, pears, oranges, etc.), you get the collary wobbles." I am 89…
In the USA, I once heard a slang noun obviously derived from "harum-scarum": "hurmer-skurmer", meaning a reckless man.
Spotted something we have got wrong, or know an earlier use? Every entry has a form at the foot of the page.
From the Phrase Finder Digest
- Four Christmas Phrases Everyone Repeats Have A Documented Paper Trail
Shops start playing carols and stacking tins of biscuits weeks before December even arrives, which makes Christmas the longest-running seasonal hook of the year. The phrases that travel with it, from a bishop's 1534 letter to a 1977 political jibe, have a better paper trail than most people assume.
21 October 2026
- Old Soldiers Never Die: The Song Behind The Saying
Remembrance Sunday brings out a handful of phrases we repeat without thinking about where they came from. Two are older than any war fought in living memory, and one has a history most people get wrong.
14 October 2026
Based on Google Books usage over the last ~25 years. Refreshes each build.
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- MeaningCry stinking fishTo talk down one's own efforts, goods or abilities, usually to one's own disadvantage.
- MeaningLove and marriage go together like a horse and carriageLove and marriage naturally belong together, each one incomplete or pointless without the other.
- MeaningYou can't keep a good man downSomeone with enough determination and resilience will always recover from setbacks and succeed in the end.
- MeaningCut your coat to suit your clothTo limit your plans or spending to what your actual resources allow.
- MeaningHorse of a different colourA horse of a different colour is something that is a completely separate and distinct matter from whatever has just been mentioned.
- MeaningNot the ill wind which blows no man to goodA comic, boastful twist on the proverb that bad luck is never entirely bad, used by Shakespeare's Pistol to claim that someone else's misfortune has worked out well for him.
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Phrases.org.uk has been documenting the meaning and origin of phrases, sayings and idioms since 1997. Every entry is researched and written by Gary Martin, with citations to the earliest printed use we can find.
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