Entry 1
Brum brum
MeaningChild's play idiom expressing the sound of a vehicle.
Usage Worldwide.
Example
- Mummy, my toy train goes chuff, chuff, chuff and my car goes brum, brum.
Pronunciation
Idioms · 14 entries
Reduplication
What does "Reduplication" mean?
Child's play idiom expressing the sound of a vehicle.
Brum brum
Easy-peasy
Britain, mid-20th century.
Fuddy-duddy
USA, 19th century.
Gee gee
Gender bender
USA, 1970s.
Hocus pocus
Britain, 17th century.
Jelly belly
Britain, late 19th century.
Mellow yellow
USA, 1960s. Referred to in the Donovan song of the same name, as ‘electrical banana’.
Mumbo jumbo
Britain, 18th century. Deriving from an African source.
Nip slip
USA, late 20th century.
Nitty-gritty
USA, mid 20th century.
The heebie-jeebies
USA, 20th century. The origin isn’t known but heebie-jeebie was formerly the name of a dance.
Toy-boy
Britain, 1980s.
Whipper snapper
Entry 2
Easy-peasy
MeaningSomething that is extremely easy. Often used by children. Sometimes used by adults to demote an achievement that was accomplished with little apparent effort.
Usage Worldwide, but most common in Britain.
Example
- Jenny must have loosened the jar lid. She couldn't get it off but when she gave it to me it just screwed right off. Easy-peasy.
Pronunciation
Entry 3
Fuddy-duddy
MeaningAn old-fashioned and foolish type of person.
Usage Worldwide.
Example
- He irons his socks. He's a real fuddy-duddy.
Entry 4
Gee gee
MeaningChildish term for a horse.
Usage Widely used, but more in the UK than elsewhere and mainly in conversation with small children.
Example
- Now Jimmy, whats that picture? Is it a bar lamb or is it a gee-gee?
Pronunciation
Entry 5
Gender bender
MeaningA person who adopts a deliberately androgynous appearance, by use of uni-sex make-up, hair-style and clothing. Probably influenced by 'bender' being an earlier slang term for homosexual.
Usage Worldwide.
Example
- With his eye-liner and lurex catsuits, David Bowie was the archetype gender bender.
Pronunciation
Entry 6
Hocus pocus
MeaningA term used to denote magic or trickery.
Usage Worldwide.
Example
- He claimed to have evidence of the Loch Ness Monster, but it turned out to be a lot of hocus pocus.
Pronunciation
Entry 7
Jelly belly
MeaningAn overweight person.
Usage Worldwide, but not common everywhere. Most used in Britain and Australia.
Example
- I wish I could cut down on the cakes and get some more exercise - I'm turning into a real jelly belly.
Pronunciation
Entry 8
Mellow yellow
MeaningDried banana peel, used as an intoxicant.
Usage Worldwide, as the song title although few are aware of the drug connection.
Example
- He's tried everything else - grass, acid, speed, magic mushrooms. Now he's started on mellow yellow.
Pronunciation
Entry 9
Mumbo jumbo
MeaningNonsense or meaningless speech.
Usage Worldwide.
Example
- His speech about magical phenomenology seemed to make sense at the time but now I realise it was just mumbo-jumbo.
Pronunciation
Entry 10
Nip slip
MeaningThe inadvertent exposure of a womans nipple.
Usage Mostly USA and UK and not amongst the older generations.
Example
- Wearing a low cut dress like that, a nip slip was almost inevitable.
Pronunciation
Entry 11
Nitty-gritty
MeaningThe important aspects of a situation; the heart of the matter.
Usage Worldwide.
Example
- The solicitor spent ages listing the business details of Grandad's will. We were all waiting for him to get to the nitty-gritty when we found out how much money we would inherit.
Pronunciation
Entry 12
The heebie-jeebies
MeaningA state of nervous anxiety or fear.
Usage Worldwide.
Example
- I didn't like staying in that old house overnight. The creaks and bumps gave me the heebie-jeebies.
Pronunciation
Entry 13
Toy-boy
MeaningA woman's much younger male lover.
Usage Worldwide.
Example
- Julia took us all by surprise after the kids left home. She left too and set up house with a 19-year old toy-boy.
Pronunciation
Entry 14
Whipper snapper
MeaningA child or impertinent youth.
Usage Widely used but a little old fashioned.
Example
- The fourth form have challenged the teachers to a tug of war. We can't lose against a bunch of kids - let's show those whipper snappers how it's done.
Pronunciation