It is easier to forgive an enemy that to forgive a friend. William Blake 1812
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FACE THE MUSIC---To confront or deal with a difficult situation.---"You made a mistake and now it is time to face the music."---There are a couple of possible meanings. It takes a certain amount of courage for one to get on stage in front of an audience, you would be facing the orchestra pit as well as the audience. Facing the music. When a soldier was being dismissed from his regiment it was sometimes the practice for the band to play "Rogue's March." He had to face the music.
FAINT HEART NEVER WON FAIR MAIDEN---If you don't speak up because you are afraid of rejection, you will never get a lady's attention.---(1570) Black Letter "Faint harte fair ladies never win."
FAIR AND SQUARE---Straightforward; honest.---"I think he treated me fair and square."---Oliver Cromwell (1604) There will clearly be no living for the Portugal unless he do that which is fair and square."
FAIR SHAKE---To treat fairly.---"Let's give him a fair shake."---When rolling dice you are advised to give the dice a fair shake, no sliding, making sure you cannot set them up.
FAIR TO MIDDLING---Average; tolerable.---"I feel fair to middling today."---Fair is moderately good, middling is mediocre. Also used as a term to grade cotton in the mills. Fair to middling was a grade just above average.
FAIR-WEATHER FRIEND---One who is loyal only when it involves no trouble for him.---"He certainly turned out to be a fair-weather friend.---Alexander Pope (1736) "My fair weather friends of the summer are going away for London."
FALL GUY---Loser; dupe; victim.---"You just wait, I am going to end up being the fall guy."---Originated in the late 19th century. Many of the wrestling matches were "rigged", the loser agreed to take a fall, and anyone who ends up with the blame or the lose is referred to as a fall guy.
FALLING APART LIKE A CHEAP SUIT---Someone loosing their composure; coming apart emotionally.---"Gary has had a tough time of it, he is coming apart like a cheap suit."---A suit not well made, when put under stress, will come apart at the seams.
FAMILIARITY BREEDS CONTEMPT---When you get to know someone you are privy to all their faults and may have contempt for them, when you first meet someone you have no basis on which to dislike them for whatever faults they may have. G. Harvey (1593) Works "Truth begetteth hatred; vertue enuy, familiaritie cotempt."
FAR BE IT FROM ME---Not something I'm likely to do.---"Far be it from me to tell him his wife has a boy friend."---Bible: Job 34:10 "Far be it from God, that he should do wickedness."
FAR CRY---Long distance---"We are a long cry from being finished"---"Cry" was a loud shout, it could not be heard at a long distance. Sir Walter Scott (1819) The Legend of Montrose "One of the Campbells replied, 'It is a far cry to Lochow'; a proverbial expression of the tribe, meaning that their ancient hereditary domains lay beyond the reach of an invading enemy."
FAR FETCHED---Not believable; built up story. Originally meant expensive goods bought from afar. Heywood (1546) Proverbs "Dere bought and far fet are deinties for ladies. Now generally means far off the mark or unbelievable.
new!FARCE---Absurd; ridiculous.---"This whole situation is a farce."---Originally from the Latin, "farcire", meaning "to stuff". Early plays were stuffed with jokes and low comedy scenes and were referred to as farces.
FAST AND FURIOUS---Intense; heated.---"It was busy, everything was going fast and furious."---Robert Burns (1793) Tam O'Shanter "As Tammie glow'red, amazed, and curious, the mirth and fun grew fast and furious."
FAT IS IN THE FIRE---Something has happened that is going to cause things to intensify, flare up.---"He told her he is leaving, the fat's in the fire now."---The analogy is that fat dripping from meat cooking over an open fire blazes up and burns the meat. Dekker (1603) Works "Then must he trudge to get gossips, such as she will appoint, or else all the fatte is in the fire."
FAUX PAS---A false step; a breach of manners of good conduct.---"I made a huge faux pas at the party last night."
FEAST OR FAMINE---Extremes of success or failure.---"Lately it seems as though it is either feast or famine."---Thomas Fuller (1732). Gnomologia. "Is there no mean, but fast or feast?"
FEATHER IN HIS CAP---Reward---"That's another feather in his cap."---The American Indians added a feather to their headgear whenever an enemy was slain. (1657) Catalogue of British Books. "It's recorded that Solomons Library was the feather in the plume of his glorious enjoyments."
new!FEED A COLD, STARVE A FEVER---Old wives tale about how to treat these illnesses; if you want to recover from a cold you eat well, if you have a fever, abstain from food. ---J. Withals (1574) Short Dictionary.---Mark Twain (1865) The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calavaras County "It was policy to feed a cold and starve a fever.
FEEL ONE'S OATS---Full of energy: spry.---"He is up and at em today, he is feeling his oats."---A horse that is fed well on grain and oats is lively and full of energy. Oats have an invigorating effect on horses.
FEEL THE PINCH---Suffer a hardship or deprivation.---"Since inflation went up I can really feel the pinch."---Shakespeare King Lear "Necessity's sharp pinch." (1861) London Times "So much money having been spent, all the classes felt the pinch."
FERRET OUT---To find; find a solution; force out of hiding.---"I am going to try to ferret out this problem."---Comes from a corruption of an old expression used to describe "a thief with fur". This pink eyed animal was brought from Africa to Europe by the Crusaders. It was found to be fond of eggs and the egg stealer became know as a ferret. The ferret was adept at, and widely used, to hunt rats, rabbits and other burrowing animals.
new!FESS UP---Tell what you know; tell the truth.---"If he fesses up things will go easier on him."
FEW AND FAR BETWEEN---Rare; infrequent.---"On Tybee Island crimes are few and far between."---Thomas Campbell (1799) The Pleasure of Hope "Cease, ever joy, to glimmer on my mind, but leave, oh! leave the light of hope behind! What though my winged hours of bliss have been, like angel visits, few and far between."
FIDDLE WHILE ROME BURNS---To display callousness or indifference in the face of crisis.---"He fiddled while Rome burned."---In A.D. 64 a great fire laid waste to much of Rome. It was believed that the emperor Nero was involved and that he played his lyre while watching the city burn.
new!FIELD DAY---Celebration; happy occasion; occasion of triumph; exposition.---"He is having a field day with his new motorcycle."---Often associated with "Hay Day" when farmers celebrated the harvest of hay, a party was held in the fields and new farm equipment was demonstrated.
FIFTH WHEEL---Useless; not necessary.---"I don't know why they hired him, he is like a fifth wheel."---Taylor (1644) Crop-care Curried "As much pertinent as the fifth wheele in a coach."
FIGHT FIRE WITH FIRE---Respond to harsh or underhanded attacks with similar methods.---Shakespeare (1607) Coriolanus "One fire drives out one fire; one nail, one nail; Rights by rights falter, strengths by strengths do fail."
FIGHT TOOTH AND NAIL---Fight fiercely; cling tenaciously.---"We had to fight tooth and nail to keep our business open."---Ninian Winget (1562) Certaine Tractates "Contending with tooth and naill." Erasmus (1533) Enchiridion Militis Christiani "Take and holde this with toth and nayle, that to be honour onely which springeth to true vertue."
FIGURES LIE AND LIARS FIGURE---Don't always trust figures, liars may be doing the figuring.---Charles H. Grosvenor (1833 - 1917) Governor of Ohio. "Figures won't lie, but liars will figure."
FILE 13---Trash can.---"Just put that report in file 13."
FILL THE BILL---Meet the need; serve the purpose.---"That new piece of machinery will certainly fill the bill."---(1860) Transactions of th Illinois Agricultural Society "Austin Seedling, Fr. W. hopes well from because of its great vigor, but doubts if it fills the bill."
FINE TOOTH COMB---Figurative tool with which one conducts a thorough search or investigation.---"I have looked everywhere, I went through the house with a fine tooth comb."---(1891) Century Magazine "I'll go through this town like a fine tooth comb but what I'll find him."
FINDERS KEEPERS, LOSERS WEEPERS---Old children's saying, if you found something it was yours.---J. T. Brockett (1825) Glossary of North Country Words
FINISHING TOUCH---Final bit of work to finish something.---"It is almost finished now, I am just putting on the finishing touches."---horace Walpole (1707) Reflexions upon Ridicule "A mind well turn'd, receives the finishing stroke and polish from science."
FIRE AND WATER ARE GOOD SERVANTS BUT BAD MASTERS---They are good if under control.---(1562) Bulwarke of Defense "Fire and water is a very good servant, but it is a cruell maister."
FIRST AND FOREMOST---A leading person or point.---"But first and foremost I want to thank Jim for his help."---William Caxton (1483) "And such one is that weneth first and formest that often fyndeth her the last of all."
FIRST COME, FIRST SERVED---(1475) Paston Letters "For who comyth fyrst to the mylle, fyrst must grynd."
FISH OR CUT BAIT---Make a choice; do something useful; don't be idle.---Joseph G. Cannon (Congressman from Illinois) (1876) "Now I want you gentlemen on the other side of the House to 'fish or cut bait.'"
FIT AS A FIDDLE---Very well.---"What a morning, I feel fit as a fiddle today."---Haughton (1616) Eng. For Money "this is excellent, I' faith; as fit as a fiddle!"
new!FIT TO A TEE---Exact; perfect.---"When he finished the suit it fit to a T."---Alluded to a T-square used by architects and draftsmen to make lines perfectly on a drawing or set of plans.
new!FIT TO BE TIED---Upset; angry.---"When she saw the mud I tracked in, she was fit to be tied."---Those prone to "fits" were sometimes tied down during these episodes.
FLABBERGASTED---Made speechless with amazement; astonish.---"I was absolutely flabbergasted by the events that occurred."---(18th Century slang).
FLASH IN THE PAN---A temporary success or attraction.---"He was just a flash in the pan."---The "pan" was a part of an old flintlock musket or rifle. The flint would ignite the gunpowder in the pan and ignite the main charge. Sometimes the powder in the pan went off, or flashed, but the weapon failed to fire. Charles James (1810) A New and Enlarged Military Dictionary "An explosion of gunpowder without any communication beyond the touch hole."
FLAT AS A PANCAKE---Udall (1542) "His nose as flat as a cake, bruised or beaten to his face."
FLATTERY WILL GET YOU NOWHERE---Don't bother with flattery it isn't going to have any effect.---Shakespeare (1593) Richard III "He does me double wrong that wounds me with the flatteries of his tongue."
new!FLIVER---A small cheap automobile.
new!FLUKE---A chance happening.---"Joe made it through high school, that was a fluke."---Word from the Northern English dialect.---John Mill (18th Century) "The transfer of power has gone on by flukes and leaps in the dark.---(Nautical) The wind at sea when it is light and variable; a wind that has not settled and is not blowing from one direction.
FLY BY NIGHT---Undependable; one who sets up a business operation, makes some money and departs abruptly.---"That was sure a fly by night operation, they left town over the weekend."---Thomas Love Peacock (1823) Maid Marian "Would you have her married to a wild fly by night that accident made and earl and nature a deer stealer?"
FLY IN THE OINTMENT---A hitch in ones plans; an obstacle.---"There is a fly in the ointment somewhere."---Bible: Ecclesiastes 10:1 "Dead flies cause the ointment of the apothecary to send forth a stinking savor: so doth a little folly him that is in reputation for wisdom and honour."
FLY OFF THE HANDLE---Get very angry.---"He really flew off the handle when he found out."---Alluded to taking out one's frustrations chopping wood and to do it so vigorously that the axe head would actually fly off the handle.
FLY THE COOP---Escape.---"He flew the coop and nobody has seen him since."---As pigeons do when the door of the coop is opened.
FOAM AT THE MOUTH---Show anger.---"He was foaming at the mouth, he was so mad."---An analogy to a dog with distemper or rabies. Such a dog drooled and acted in an erratic manner. (1440) Jacob's Well "the man fomyd out at his mowth."
FOOL ME ONCE SHAME ON YOU, FOOL ME TWICE SHAME ON ME---Baily (1713) Dict. "If a man deceive me once shame on him, if he deceives me twice, shame on me." Baily (1736) "The wise man is deceived but once, the fool twice."
FOOLS LIVE POOR TO DIE RICH---A fool will hord his money and not enjoy the fruits of his labor.---Bohn (1855)
FOOLS PARADISE---Living in a dream world; unable to realize one's surroundings.---"The boy is living in a fools paradise."---The saying was known as early as 1462. It appeared in the Paston Letters. "I would not be in a fools paradise."
FOOT IN MOUTH DISEASE---The capacity for saying the wrong thing at the wrong time.---"The Senator has foot in mouth disease."---(1970) Manchester Guardian Weekly "President Nixon's latest onset of foot in mouth disease unfortunately came just as the American Trial lawyers Association was about to hold its annual meeting in Miami."
FOOTLOOSE AND FANCY FREE---At liberty, particularly with respect to romance.---Footloose: Ready to move. Fancy: Old - being in love. Shakespeare A Midsummer Night's Dream "And the imperial votaress passed on in maiden meditation, fancy free."
FOR THE BIRDS---Worthless; overstated.---"His new policy concerning the job is for the birds."---J. D. Salinger (1951). Catcher in the Rye. Holden Caulfield is quoting and then commenting on a blurb issued by his preparatory school. "'Since 1888 we have been molding boys into splendid, clear thinking young men.' Strictly for the birds."
FOR THE LIFE OF ME---I can't do it.---"For the life of me I can't understand her."---William Lithgow (1632) "For my life I could never attain to any perfect knowledge thereof."
FOR THE UMPTEENTH TIME---Having to repeat over and over.---"I have told you for the umpteenth time to quit that."---Slang.
FOR WANT OF A NAIL THE KINGDOM WAS LOST---In any undertaking, no detail is to small to ignore.---John Gower (1390) Confessio Amantis "Par ung seul clou perd on ung bon cheval." (By just one nail one loses a good horse.)
FOR WHAT IT'S WORTH---Take it for whatever you think it's worth.---"Don't believe every thing Harry says, take it for what it's worth."---William Langland (1377) Piers Plowman "Take we her wordes at worthe, for her witnesse be trewe."
FOR CRYING OUT LOUD---What you are saying is preposterous.---(20th Century) Possibly a minced oath for "For Christ's Sake."
new!FOR LOVE NOR MONEY---Something you wouldn't do for either.---"I wouldn't be in his shoes for love nor money"
FOR WANT OF A NAIL THE SHOE WAS LOST---Something insignificant can sometimes cause a lot of trouble.---T. Adams (1630) Works " The want of a nayle looseth the shooe, the losse of a shoe troubles the horse, the horse endangereth the rider, the rider breaking his ranke molests the company, so far as to hazard the whole army."
FORGIVE AND FORGET---Put aside your hard feelings and don't hold grudges for past infractions.---William Langland (1546.) Piers Plowman. Shakespeare (1605) King Lear Lear: "You must bear with me: Pray you now, forget and forgive; I am old and foolish."
FOREGONE CONCLUSION---Something already decided.---"It is a foregone conclusion that they are going to raise taxes."---Shakespeare Othello Iago: "Nay, this was but his dream."nbsp; Othello: But this denoted a foregone conclusion: "Tis a shrewd doubt, though it be but a dream."
FORK OVER---Pay; make restitution.---"He made me fork over the money I owed him."---Peasants who rented land from the nobility were required to promise pay in silver. At harvest time, landlords sent collection agents for the annual rent. If the tenant had not sold his crop and had no silver he had to make payment in kind with his harvest. Shrewd agents often allowed less than market value for grain or produce accepted in lieu of silver. So a peasant was literally forced to deliver his rent with a pitchfork.
FORTY WINKS---Nap.---"I think I will lay down and take forty winks."---Pierce Egan (1828) "An uncommonly big gentleman, told out, taking forty winks.
FREE AS A BIRD---Able to do whatever one pleases.---"I am out of the service now, I am as free as a bird."---Heywood (1533) A Mery Play between the Pardoner and the Frere, the Curate and Neybour Pratte "As free as be the byrdes that in the ayre flee."
new!FRICK AND FRACK---A pair; always together.---"When you see one you see the other, we call them frick and frack."---A skating comedy team that performed with a traveling show called the Ice Follies which started in 1936. Alliteration obviously accounts for the popularity of this expression.
FROM BAD TO WORSE---The situation is deteriorating.---"Things have gone from bad to worse since the day began."---Edmund Spenser (1579) Shepheardes Calendar "Must not the world wend in him common course, from good to badde, and from badde to worse?"
FROM HAND TO MOUTH---Saving nothing, using up resources as quickly as they are acquired; economically precarious way of living.---"They are living from hand to mouth."---Arbuthnot (1712) John Bull "He has a numerous family, and lives from hand to mouth."
FROM PILLAR TO POST---From one thing to another.---"I have been going from pillar to post all day."---Hazlitt (1575) Appius and Virginia "Thus in hurly burly, from pillar to post, poor Haphazard daily was toss'd."
new!FROM STEM TO STERN---Completely; everything.---"We cleaned the house from stem to stern."---Nautical term: The stem is the vertical member to which the plates or side beams of a ship are attached to form the prow or forward part of a ship. The stern is of course the rear of the ship.---Tennison "Idylls of the King." Describing Arthurs sombre barge: "...dark as a funeral scarf from stem to stern."
FROM THE BOTTOM OF ONE'S HEART---With deep feeling.---"I love her from the bottom of my heart."---(1545) Book of Common Prayer "If on of the parties be content to forgive from the bottom of the heart all that the other hath trespassed against him...."
FROM THE HORSE'S MOUTH---The truth; straight dope.---"I am telling you, I got it straight from the horse's mouth."---You can tell the age of a horse accurately by looking at its teeth. The horse's pairs of permanent teeth appear in succession at definite ages.
FROM THE SUBLIME TO THE RIDICULOUS---From great to small; success to failure; noble to ignoble.---"This situation has gone from the sublime to the ridiculous."---Thomas Payne "The Age of Reason" (1794) "The sublime and the ridiculous are often so nearly related, that it is difficult to class them separately. One step above the sublime makes the ridiculous, and one step above the ridiculous makes the sublime again."
FROM THE WORD GO---From the outset; from the start.---"He has been a pain in the butt since the word go."---(1838) Knickerbocker Magazine "You have perjured yourself, from the word go; you have equivocated from Dan to Beersheba." Dan is the northernmost and Beersheba the southernmost city of the Holy land.
FULL HEAD OF STEAM---Having power; getting about ready to do something.---"He's getting up a full head of steam now."---Mark Twain (1889) A Yankee at the Court of King Arthur "I had got a good head of reserved steam on."
FULL OF BEANS---Energetic.---"He is really full of beans today."---Beans were always known to be an energy producing food. Not to mention other things.
new!FULL TILT---Full speed; all out.---"By the time we got to the bottom of the hill we were going full tilt."---Originated in ancient times when jousting, or tilting, was in vogue. The contestants coming at each other on horseback with lances as fast as the horses could carry them, at "full tilt".
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