The Phrase A Week Christmas Quiz

Phrases and Sayings Home

1. 'Hold your horses' was An instruction given by a horse race starter The last command given at the Battle of the Somme A line from Shakespeare's Henry V 2. 'Drat it' comes from A curse uttered on seeing a rat The translation from Latin of 'All is lost' A euphemistic version of 'God rot it' 3. 'Sprucing up' derives from The wearing of fashionable leather jackets Decorating a Christmas tree A variant of 'spicing up' 4. The phrase 'Salad Days' was coined by Noel Coward William Shakespeare Mrs Beeton 5. 'Baker's Dozen' originated as Thirteen - the number of ounces in a standard loaf Thirteen - the extra loaf added as bakers' insurance against giving short weight The title of a 1930's film 6. 'At loggerheads' originated from A fight using a weapon called a loggerhead The English coastal town of Loggerheads Fights between head-butting stags 7. The first person described as a 'living legend' and 'a legend in her own lifetime' was Florence Nightingale Marlene Deitrich Queen Elizabeth I 8. 'Grin like a Cheshire Cat' was coined by Lewis Carroll True False 9. 'Flotsam and jetsam' were The debris remaining after a shipwreck A 19th century musichall act The spots seen after looking at a bright light 10. 'Turn a blind eye' originates with Tailors turning jackets to hide worn out material Jesus forgiving men's evil Nelson deliberately refusing to see a signal at the battle of Copenhagen 11. The term 'Kangaroo court' originated in USA Australia England 12. 'A cock and bull story' originated At the Cock and Bull coaching inns in Buckinghamshire From cock fighting terminology In France, with the term cock a l'ane, meaning fanciful story 13. 'Brass monkeys' were the stacks of cannonballs used on marine fighting vessels True False 14. 'The beast with two backs' became part of the language in The 17th century The 19th century The 18th century The 20th century 15. 'Woe is me' was first used in The Bible Chaucer's Canterbury Tales Shakespeare's Hamlet 16. A 'dead ringer' was originally a horse substituted in order to gain advantage in a race False True 17. 'Namby Pamby' was A soft cheese A nursery rhyme character A parodying name for the poet Ambrose Philips 18. 'In the offing' derived from The name of the outer ring of an archery target A short form of 'in the offering' The name of the area of sea outside a harbour 19. 'Off with his head' was coined by King Henry VIII Lewis Carroll William Shakespeare 20. 'Umbrage' was first A type of medicine A town in the west of England A shady area 21. 'Heinz' 57 varieties' was coined by Mr. Heinz after the number of varieties of canned food he sold False - Heinz had 60 varieties at the time False - it was coined by someone else True 22. 'Currying favour' derives from The flavouring of curry The name of a mythical French horse A variant of 'carrying favour' 23. 'Boxing Day' got its name from Sporting events held on the day after Christmas The mating habits of hares The giving of gifts in boxes at Christmas 24. 'Humble pie' was The first meal served to monks after Christmas Named after the Victorian stable keeper James Humble A variant of 'umble pie', i.e. a pie made from innards 25. The phrase 'Catch 22' was in common use before Joseph Heller's 1961 novel True False 26. 'Rack and ruin' derives from A reference to sunken ships, which becaome covered with bladderack seaweed The names of the two jesters at the court of Henry VIII A variant of 'wreck and ruin' 27. 'Go off at half-cock' comes from Cock fighting Firing a gun by mistake Horse racing 28. The nonsense phrase 'A Spaniard in the Works' was coined by Salvador Dali Lewis Carroll John Lennon Reverend Spooner 29. The phrase 'taken aback' derived from Being led backwards in a blindfold Surprise at being stabbed in the back Nautical language 30. A 'tinker's damn' derived from the repairing of pots and pans True False 31. 'Smithereens' is/are Small shards of metal Another name for 'The Doldrums' A town in Ireland 32. 'Left in the lurch' comes from A bride left jilted at the church's lych gate The name of a prison cell in the Tower of London The French card game lourche Left for dead at the side of the road 33. 'Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year' was A traditional greeting by members of the German Royal Court Coined by US advertisers in the 1920s The text on the first Christmas card 34. 'Give up the ghost' comes from Dickens' Christmas Carol Charles the First's speech before his execution The Bible 35. 'Stealing one's thunder' was originated by Norse mythology The English playwright John Dennis The writers of Greek mystery plays 36. 'Run Amuk' comes from The Norse word 'runeamic' meaning pillage The Old English for 'run a mile' The Malayan word 'amok', meaning frenzy 37. The 'Teflon President' was first applied to Ronald Reagan Bill Clinton Abraham Lincoln 38. The incendiary bomb, the 'Molotov Cocktail' was Named after the Soviet premier Molotov Named after a Malayan bird The name of a cocktail first and bomb later 39. 'Below the salt' referred to Scholars expelled from Eton College Sailors buried at sea People of low status who didn't sit at the high table 40. 'He who can does; he who cannot, teaches' is a quotation of George Bernard Shaw Oscar Wilde Margaret Thatcher Charles Dickens 41. A 'whipping boy' was The Malayan term for victim - 'wai ping' A boy who took the punishment when an English prince did wrong A corruption of 'weeping boy' 42. 'Never-Never land' was Derived from 'not Netherland' - a 17th century English term meaning 'far away'. A region of Australian desert An invention of J M Barrie 43. 'The bee's knees' was A reference to the nectar on bees legs A Chicago nightclub A nonsense term 44. 'A woman needs a man like a fish needs a bicycle' was coined by the feminist Gloria Steinem False True 45. 'Hook, line and sinker' refers to A cocktail made from honey, orange and gin Fishing tackle The three pirates in Peter Pan 46. 'Beg the question' means Prompt a question to be asked Make a question irrelevant 47. 'Doolally' derives from The Irish eccentric George Dooley A sanatorium in Deolali, India 'Druel Alley' - the address of the Bedlam Clinic in London 48. 'The first water' referred to The first bottle of brandy taken from a barrel The practice of offering water first to the King in the English court Highest quality diamonds 49. The word 'posh' derives from 'Port out, starboard home' False True 50. 'The green-eyed monster', referring to jealousy comes from One of the seven deadly sins Shakespeare's Othello Thomas Hardy's Far From the Madding Crowd The Incredible Hulk