A collection of 1,500, fully researched phrase and saying origins, which you can view via the alphabetical list or search box above, or the categorized lists below.
Coined by Shakespeare
Biblical sayings
Sailor's lingo
Shakespeare added more phrases and sayings to the English language than anyone else. See this list of phrases from Shakespeare.
If it isn't Shakespeare and it isn't nautical there's a good chance it's one of these Biblical phrases.
The world of sail gave us more phrases and sayings than any other occupation. Check these nautical phrases.
Popular Fallacies
We get thousands of e-mails about phrases and sayings and postings on our bulletin board. Many of them are useful additions, but some are, well, nonsense. We've made a collection of the most popular of these - the Nonsense Nine.
