Browse phrases beginning with: [A][B][C][D][E][F][G][H][I][J][K][L][M][N][O][P][Q][R][S][T][U,V][W][X,Y,Z] Copper-bottomedMeaning Genuine - something that can be relied on. Origin It is unusual for an idiomatic phrase to have such a literal derivation as this. 'Copper-bottomed' originally described ships that were fitted with copper plating on the bottom of their hulls. The process was first used on ships of the British Navy in 1761 to defend them against wood-boring insects and to reduce infestations by barnacles. On 18th August 1780, The Edinburgh Advertiser published an extract of a letter from a Falmouth sailor to his father:
It wasn't long before the phrase began to be used figuratively, to refer to anything that was reliable and trustworthy. Washington Irving, in his work Salmagundi, 1807, included this line:
See also - Nautical Phrases. |