A sporting contest between rivals from the same district. Often referring to football (soccer) matches.
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- We Are In The Dog Days. They Have Nothing To Do With Dogs
Late July is when Britain reaches for the phrase 'dog days'. The Romans who coined it were not thinking about exhausted labradors on hot pavements.
22 July 2026
Based on Google Books usage over the last ~25 years. Refreshes each build.
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- Meaning Bully for you A congratulation now almost always delivered sarcastically: good for you, and I am not impressed. It began as sincere praise, from an old sense of bully meaning first-rate.
- Meaning From your lips to God's ears A reply to a hopeful prediction or wish, meaning: may God hear what you have just said and make it come true.
- Meaning Right back at you A reply that returns whatever has just been said, whether compliment, greeting, or insult, to the person who said it; the same to you.
- Meaning Spawn of Satan A person or thing regarded as utterly evil, now almost always used as comic exaggeration for misbehaving children, pets, or anything infuriating.
- Meaning Never a truer word spoken An emphatic way of agreeing that what someone has just said is exactly right.
- Meaning Sweating cobs To be sweating heavily; an informal British expression heard mainly in the Midlands and the north of England.
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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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