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As he falls, the philosopher considers why there should be a particular word for the experience, when many equally simple concepts do not have specific names. In an evidently ironic commentary on the word, Lister has the philosopher summarize his thoughts with, "I concluded that the incidence of logodaedaly was purely adventitious." [38] [39]
The earliest record of this phrase is in 1512, in Narrenbeschwörung (Appeal to Fools) by Thomas Murner, which includes a woodcut illustration showing a woman tossing a baby out with waste water. It is a common catchphrase in German, with examples of its use in work by Martin Luther , Johannes Kepler , Johann Wolfgang von Goethe , Otto von ...
A pitch intentionally thrown to hit the batter if he does not move out of the way, especially when directed at the head (or the "bean" in old-fashioned slang). The word bean can also be used as a verb, as in the following headline: "Piazza says Clemens Purposely Beaned Him." [37]
Peg out [1] To die Slang: British. Also means 'to stop working' Peppered To be shot to death Slang Usually refers to being shot multiple times (i.e. peppered with bullet holes). Perish Synonym for death Neutral Pop one's clogs [2] To die Humorous, [1] Informal [2] British. "Pop" is English slang for "pawn."
[8] [9] The earliest scholarly citation Safire could find was a 1961 article in the journal American Speech, which defined the variation "out in left field" as meaning "disoriented, out of contact with reality." [9] [10] Linguist John Algeo told Safire that the phrase most likely came from baseball observers rather than from baseball fans or ...
The word strike has crept into common English usage to mean a failure, shortcoming, disadvantage, or loss. When a person has "gotten three strikes" or " struck out ", they have failed completely. Three-strikes laws are those which require the imposition of a more severe punishment for a criminal with a third conviction.
An idiom is a common word or phrase with a figurative, non-literal meaning that is understood culturally and differs from what its composite words' denotations would suggest; i.e. the words together have a meaning that is different from the dictionary definitions of the individual words (although some idioms do retain their literal meanings – see the example "kick the bucket" below).
Babies and small children in prams have a tendency to throw a temper tantrum when they don't get their own way, throwing all their toys that were in the pram out onto the floor in the process. By extension, the British phrase "to throw one's toys out of the pram" is used when we see similar behaviour in adults. It's not acceptable, although ...