Browse dictionary
Showing 1-20 of 23 results in 23 entries
1. absit omen, phr. View full entry 1594
...‘May the omen be absent’: used as an imprecation when referring to a possible undesirable event, in the hope that it will not come to pass....
2. anathema maranatha, phr. View full entry 1526
...These words occur together in 1 Cor. xvi. 22. According to modern criticism, maran atha is a distinct sentence having no connection with anathema; but in...
3. cock-a-hoop, phr. View full entry 1529
...Phrase. to set (the) cock on (the) hoop, cock a hoop: app. to turn on the tap and let the liquor flow; hence, to drink without stint; to drink and...
4. † cock-and-pie, phr. View full entry 1550
...Used in an asseveration....
5. † drop vie | drop-vie, phr. View full entry 1598
...To drop pieces of money or the like in competition or rivalry, trying which can outdo the other; to compete in alternate efforts, to bid against each other, to vie....
6. et alibi, phr. View full entry 1549
...In printed or written text: ‘and elsewhere’ (in the specified text)....
7. exempli gratia, phr. View full entry 1569
...For the sake of example; for instance. Freq. abbreviated to e.g. (see e.g.), occas. ex. gr....
8. experto crede, phr. View full entry 1579
...Believe one who has experienced or tried; believe me, I know....
9. facilis descensus Averni, phr. View full entry ?1566
...‘The descent into Avernus is easy’: easy is the descent into hell. Chiefly fig.: it is easy to slip into evil or immoral ways....
10. festina lente, phr. View full entry 1590
...Make haste slowly. Also as quasi- (Cf. haste)...
11. hand to mouth, phr. (adj. and n.) View full entry 1509
...from hand to mouth: by consuming food as soon as it is obtained; with attention to immediate wants only; without provision for the future; improvidently, thriftlessly....
12. heart of grace, phr. View full entry 1530
...in phrase to take heart of grace, heart a grace, to pluck up courage. Cf. take heartheart49....
13. how-do-ye | how-d'ye | howdy, phr. and n. View full entry 1570
...The phrase how do ye?, how do you? (cf. how-do-you-do1) = how are you? how fare you?: see do13b. Freq. in colloq....
14. invita Minerva, phr. View full entry 1584
...When one is not in the vein or mood; without inspiration....
15. non placet, phr. and n. View full entry 1572
...In a university or Church assembly: expressing a negative vote upon a proposition. Also in extended use....
16. nosce te ipsum, phr. View full entry ?1527
...‘Know yourself’; the proverb ‘nosce te ipsum’ expressing this. Also in extended use....
17. probatum est, phr. and n. View full entry 1526
...Orig. in recipes or prescriptions: ‘it has been proved or tested’. Hence more generally, used as a formula of approval or recommendation, or to indicate a proven truth....
18. quid pro quo, phr. and n. View full entry ?1535
...One thing in place of another; esp. with reference to a medicine which is or may be substituted for another. Obs....
19. quot homines tot sententiae, phr. View full entry 1539
...‘There are as many opinions as there are men’: expressing the fact that there is considerable diversity of opinion, and the difficulty of bringing about agreement....
20. sus. per coll., phr. View full entry 1560
...abbreviation of Latin suspendatur per collum ‘let him be hanged by the neck’, in the entry of a capital sentence in the jailer's books; an entry of this against a...
