• MAD AS A WET HEN---Furious.---"She was mad as a wet hen."---Imaginative phrase, minds eye view of how a hen would react to being wet.--- (1946).  American Speech.  "Everybody that was not ax'd was mad as a wet hen."
• MAINTAIN THE STATUS QUO---Keep things as they are.---"The status quo will be maintained no matter who gets elected."---Latin meaning the existing state of affairs.---(1833).  Edinburgh Review.  "The status quo was to be maintained in Luxembourg during negotiations respecting that duchy."
• MAKE A CLEAN BREAST OF IT---Confess; tell all.---"There is no use trying to cover it up, I am going to make a clean breast of it."---(1753).  The Scots Magazine.  "He pressed him to make a clean breast, and tell him all."
• MAKE A LONG STORY SHORT---Get to the point.---"To make a long story short........."---160 B.C. Latin Ut multa paucis verba unose obnuntiem. To make a long story short, I'll tell you in one word.
• MAKE A MOUNTAIN OUT OF A MOLEHILL---To make much ado about nothing.---"You are making a mountain out of a molehill."---Nicholas Udall (1548). Paraphrase of Erasmus. "The Sophistes of Grece coulde through their copiosness make an Elephant of a flye, and a mountaine of a mollehill."
• MAKE ENDS MEET---To balance one's income and expenditures.---"I just can't seem to make ends meet."---Ends referring to the beginning and ending of the year.  In the 18th century income was irregular, especially for farmers, causing uncertainty as to whether they could make ends meet.---Fuller (1662).  Worthiest.  "Worldly wealth he cared not for, desiring only to make both ends meet."
• MAKE HAY WHILE THE SUN SHINES---To do something while a good opportunity exists.---"You have to make hay while the sun shines."---Grass used to make hay must be dried after it is cut; rain is likely to spoil it.---Heywood (1546).  Proverbs.  "When the sunne shyneth make hey."
• MAKE NO BONES ABOUT IT---To do or say without hesitation or scruple.---"He made no bones about it he just told the plain truth."---Armin (1608).  Nest of Ninnies.  "Which, making no bones of, the sweete youth gaue his doings thus."
• MAKE ONE'S BLOOD BOIL---Infuriating.---"The whole situation is enough to make your blood boil."---Thomas Otway (1675).  Alcibiades.  "I am impatient, and my blood boyls high."
• MAKE OR BREAK---No middle ground, either success or failure, all or nothing.---"It is going to be either make or break."---15th century  "make or mar."
• MAKE THE FUR FLY---Cause a fight or argument.---"That'll make the fur fly."---Two animals fighting. Samuel Butler (1663). Hudibras. "I'll make the fur fly "bout the ears of the old cur."
• MAKE THE GRADE---Come up to a standard; achieve a desired result.---"I think he is going to do well, he will make the grade."---(1930).  Publishers Weekly.  "Can the seasonal bookshop make the grade...?"
• MAKE TRACKS---Leave; flee.---"I am going to make tracks before they get here."---(1827).  The Spirit of Seventy Six.  "Another made up his mind to bow his neck and make tracks."
• MAKES YOUR HAIR STAND ON END---Irritating, frightening or unnerving experience.---"Every time I see Jimmy it makes my hair stand on end."---Bible:  Job 4:13.  "Fear came upon me, and trembling, which make all my bones to shake.  then a spirit passed before my face; the hair of my flesh stood up."
• MAKES YOUR MOUTH WATER---To anticipate something keenly or wish you could have it.---"Just the sight of that cherry pie makes my mouth water."---Animals salivate at the sight of food.  Richard Eden (1555).  Newe Worlde.  "These craftie foxes [cannibals] beganne to swallow theyr spettle as their mouthes watered for greediness of theyr prey."
• MAN DOES NOT LIVE BY BREAD ALONE---People have spiritual as well as physical needs.---Bible: Deuteronomy 8:3.  "And he humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know; that he might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the Lord doth man live."
• MAN OF FEW WORDS---One who gets directly to the point.---Bible:  Ecclesiastes 5:2  "Be not rash with thy mouth, and let not thine heart be hasty to utter any thing before God; for God in heaven, and thou upon earth; therefore let thy words be few."
• MANY ARE CALLED BUT FEW ARE CHOSEN---Everyone is welcome to apply, but only the most qualified are accepted.---Bible: Matthew 22:11. "Then said the king to the servants, bind him hand a foot, and take him away, and cast him into outer darkness; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. For many are called, but few are chosen."
• MARK MY WORDS---Remember what I say; a prediction.---"He will not be here tomorrow, mark my words."---Bible:  Isaiah 28:23.  "Give ye ear, and hear my voice; hearken, and hear my speech."
• MARRIAGE IS A GREAT INSTITUTION, BUT WHO WANTS TO LIVE IN AN INSTITUTION
• MARRIAGE MADE IN HEAVEN---Perfect match.---"There is a marriage made in heaven."---Painter (1567).  Pal. of Pleasure.  "True it is that marriages be done in heaven, and performed on earth."
• MAY DAY---Distress call, usually from Aviators.---(Possible)  Comes from the French word "m'aidez" meaning "help me".
• MEASURE TWICE CUT ONCE---Make sure before you cut.---Florio (1591).  Second Frutes.  "Alwaies measure manie, before you cut anie."
• MEET YOUR WATERLOO---Suffer a setback or defeat.---"I think he has met his waterloo."--- In 1815 Napoleon, who had dominated Europe, was finally defeated at the battle of Waterloo in Belgium by British and Prussian forces.
• MESS UP A FREE MEAL---Very inept.---"I don't believe he screwed that up, he could mess up a free meal."
• MICHIGAN BANKROLL---A wallet stuffed with one dollar bills.---"He is acting big but all he has is a Michigan bankroll."
• MIDAS TOUCH---Apparent ability to make money at anything one does.---"I never would have believed it, he made money on the deal, he must have the midas touch."---In Greek mythology, Midas was a legendary king of Phrygia; in return for a kindness, Dionysus gave him the power to turn anything he touched to gold.  Richard Lassels (1670).  The Voyage of Italy.  "Brave Raphael, whose only touch of a finger could, Midas like, turne gally pots to gold..."
• MIGHT MAKES RIGHT---Strength in a bad cause often wins.---Heywood (1546).  Proverbs.  "Might overcometh right."
• MILESTONE---An important event in one's life.---"When I retired it was a milestone in my life."---The Latin word for one thousand (mille) gave rise to the modern mile. Among the Romans this unit represented one thousand paces of five feet each. In order to make it easy to mark distances from the center of Rome, trained pacers placed stones along imperial roads at each unit of measurement. Used in modern times on the national road (Rt. 40) in the United States. The meaning broadened to mean any important mark as in birth, death, marriage or other important events.
• MILLSTONE AROUND THE NECK---A burden or heavy obligation.---"This project is becoming a millstone around my neck."---Bible:  Matthew 18:16.  "But whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea."
• MIND LIKE A STEEL TRAP
• MIND YOUR P'S AND Q'S---Be precise.---"You had better mind your p's and q's."---18th century saying.  A tab in the local pub once indicated p (pints) and q (quarts); the publican or drinker could be admonished to keep them straight.---A child learning to read and write may have difficulty with p's and q's.---In the early days of printing the type was set by hand in wooden frames. As the print was set by hand, and backwards, it was easy to mix the two up.---Hannah Cowley (1779).  Who's the Dupe?  "You must mind your P's and Q's with him, I can tell you."
• MISERY LOVES COMPANY---It is easier to take pain if someone is experiencing it with you.---Latin maxim first written by Publilicus Syrus, first century B.C. "It is a consolation to the wretched to have companions in misery."  Chaucer (1374).  Troylus.  "Men seyn, to wrecche is consolacioun, to have another felawe in his peyne."
• MISERY MAKES STRANGE BEDFELLOWS---Misfortune may force us to befriend people we would otherwise avoid.---Shakespeare (1611.) Tempest.  Trinculo: "Alas! the storm is come again! my best way is to creep under his gaberdine; there is no other shelter hereabout; misery acquaints a man with strange bedfellows."
• MISS IS AS GOOD AS A MILE (A)---In escaping something or in failure, whether by a small or large margin, the result is the same.---Thomas Fuller (1655).  History of the University of Cambridge.  "An hair's breadth fixed by a divine finger shall prove as effectual a separation from danger as a mile's distance."
• MOLLYCODDLE---Pampered; protected.---"All she does is mollycoddle that kid.:"---Molly was a name once given to an effeminate man.  To coddle and make a softie out of someone.
• MOMENT OF TRUTH---Time for decision; crisis point.---"Well, tomorrow will be the moment of truth."---Ernest Hemingway (1932). Death in the Afternoon.  "The whole end of the bullfight was the final sword thrust, the actual encounter between the man and the animal, what the Spanish call the moment of truth."
• MONDAY MORNING QUARTERBACK---Second guessing.---"He is a Monday morning quarterback."---It is easy to say how the strategy of the football game should have been laid out on Monday morning after seeing the game played.---Barry Wood (1932).  What Price Football.  "A kind of sportswriter known to football players and coaches as a "Monday morning quarterback'" who, "not content with reporting the game, must analyze it."
• MONEY BEGETS MONEY---Those who already have money find it easy to make more.---Benjamin Franklin (1748.) Letter to My Friend A. B.  "Remember that money is of prolific generating nature. Money can beget money, and its offspring can beget more."
• MONEY BURNS A HOLE IN HIS POCKET---Someone who cannot save; spend everything you get.---"He won't have his money long, it is burning a hole in his pocket."---More (1530).  Works.  "A little wanton money, which burned out the bottom of his purse."
• MONEY CAN'T BUY HAPPINESS---Money can buy material things, but real happiness must be truly earned.---Rousseau (1750.)  "Money buys everything, except morality and citizens."
• MONEY CAN'T BUY HAPPINESS BUT IT CAN BUY ANY KIND OF MISERY YOU WANT---Firehouse cliche
• MONEY DOESN'T GROW ON TREES
• MONEY IS A GOOD SERVANT BUT A BAD MASTER---One needs money to survive but don't let become your master.  (See: Money is the root of all evil.)---Bohn (1855).
• MONEY IS THE ROOT OF ALL EVIL---Greed leads to most of the worlds evils.---Incorrect quote which is often used.  Bible:  Timothy 6:10.  "For the love of  money is the root of all evil....."
• MONEY TALKS---Money will get things done; don't talk about it show me the money.---"Money talks and bullshit walks."---Torriano (1666).  Piazza Univ.  "Man prates, but gold speaks.
• MONKEY BUSINESS---Foolish or mischievous activity.---"Stop the monkey business and do what you were told to do."  (Dad liked to use this one)---Generally, just playing around as a monkey might do.
• MONKEY SEE, MONKEY DO
• MONTH OF SUNDAYS---A long period of time.---"Good to see you, I haven't seen you for a month of Sundays."---The literal meaning would be about 7 1/2 months.  Frederick Marryat (1832).  Newton Foster.  "It may last a month of Sundays."
• MORE CHINS THAN A CHINESE PHONE BOOK---Chubby; fat.---"Gary has put on the weight, he has more chins than a Chinese phone book."
• MORE OR LESS---To be close to a given amount or meaning, a little more or a little less.---"The statement in the paper was more or less what I told the reporter."---(1225).  Ancren Riwle.  "More oder lesse."
• MORE THAN ENOUGH IS TOO MUCH---Don't be greedy.---(1629).  Book of Merry Riddles.
• MORE THAN I BARGAINED FOR---To get more than expected.---"He wasn't expecting that, he got more than he bargained for."---Normally used in a negative context.  More trouble than one expected.
• MORE THAN ONE WAY TO SKIN A CAT---There is more than one way of doing something.
• MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING---Needless fuss.---Title of a Shakespeare play (1598).  Richard Hyrde (1529).  "They make great ado about many small matters."
• MUFF---Any bungling action.---"The ball was hit right to him and he muffed it."---A garment used by the dutch made of fur, cylindrical and open at both ends. Used to put your hands in to keep them warm. The expression to muff something came from the fact that when your hands were in the muff your reactions were slowed by having to remove your hands from the muff. If for instance your hat blew off, you may look quite inept trying to catch it.
• MUG---Your face.---"Look at that face, what a mug."---Beer mugs made in the late 18th century were often shaped to represent human heads. Some depicted famous persons, others were caricatures of ordinary heads. A person not noted for their classical beauty often bore a more than superficial resemblance to a face on a mug. That inevitably led to joshing from friends and associates.
• MUM'S THE WORD---Keep quiet; don't say a word.---Shakespeare (1590.) Henry VI.  Hume: "Seal up your lips, and give no words but mum."
• MUSIC HATH CHARMS TO SOOTHE THE SAVAGE BEAST---Music can soften even very violent people.---Shakespeare (1604.) Measure for Measure.  Duke: "Tis good; though music oft hath such a charm, to make bad good, and good provoke to harm."
• MY LIPS ARE SEALED---I can't or won't tell you; I am pledged or have pledged myself to secrecy.---"I know she is going to ask me but my lips are sealed."---Fanny Burney (1792).  Cecillia.  "I make it quite a principal to seal up my lips from the moment I perceive him."

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

[HOME]

edited by Linda Clark