Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
When speaking with a British person, you don't want to be described as "dim," "a mug," or "a few sandwiches short of a picnic."
This is a list of catchphrases found in American and British english language television and film, where a catchphrase is a short phrase or expression that has gained usage beyond its initial scope. These are not merely catchy sayings.
Words with specific British English meanings that have different meanings in American and/or additional meanings common to both languages (e.g. pants, cot) are to be found at List of words having different meanings in American and British English. When such words are herein used or referenced, they are marked with the flag [DM] (different meaning).
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).
This is a list of idioms that were recognizable to literate people in the late-19th century, and have become unfamiliar since. As the article list of idioms in the English language notes, a list of idioms can be useful, since the meaning of an idiom cannot be deduced by knowing the meaning of its constituent words. See that article for a fuller ...
A proverbial phrase or expression is a type of conventional saying similar to a proverb and transmitted by oral tradition. The difference is that a proverb is a fixed expression, while a proverbial phrase permits alterations to fit the grammar of the context. [1] [2] In 1768, John Ray defined a proverbial phrase as:
While some slang words and phrases are used throughout Britain (e.g. knackered, meaning "exhausted"). Others are restricted to smaller regions, even to small geographical areas. [1] The nations of the United Kingdom, which are England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, all have their own slang words, as does London.
Please keep this category purged of everything that is not an article about a word or phrase. For a list of words relating to English phrases, see the English phrases category of words in Wiktionary , the free dictionary.