etymology - What is the origin of the phrase "cut the mustard ...
May 4, 2011 · Cut the mustard probably relates to cutting the mustard plant, before it goes to seed, to protect the crops from being over-grown with mustard. The earliest uses of the phrase all cropped up in rural areas - and the context in which the phrase was used is suggestive of the relationship with cutting the plant to prevent it from going to seed, as ...
Origin and meaning of phrase "cut the cheese"
People who cut the mustard in the car have to get out and walk. (TFD) It’s difficult to track down the origin of this expression, but according the The Phrase Finder: “Cut” has been used for flatulence since the 1800s, as testified by several sources and continued today in the mainly American expression, “To cut a fart”.
What does it mean - English Language & Usage Stack Exchange
Jun 6, 2011 · It is a shortening of two old phrases: "to cut the mustard" and also "to cut ice". The former originated in the early 1880s in the Midwestern US. The latter originated in the early 1890s in the Northeastern US. The specifier "mustard" or "ice" began to be dropped in the 1940s. "Hack" became an alternative in the 1950s. "CAN'T CUT THE MUSTARD - ...
What's the origin of the idiom "to cut your teeth on something"?
May 27, 2013 · 1694 Congreve Double Dealer II. iv, Like a child that was cutting his teeth. Lady Hatton's use of the phrase occurs in a letter to her husband, dated March 31, 1677, in Correspondence of the Family of Hatton, Chiefly Letters Addressed to Christopher First Viscount Hatton, volume 1 (1878): Poor little Susana is very ill about her teeth.
hyphenate "cutting-edge" & "state-of-the-art" following to-be …
Jan 12, 2015 · cutting edge n. "the party’s campaign began to lose its cutting edge" cutting-edge adj. "If you are a scientist, you may have pioneered cutting-edge technology." And, modifier: He said the new kitchen is much more modern and state of the art, … but. a new state-of-the-art hospital. Note that
etymology - What's the origin of the idiom "cut corners"? - English ...
Aug 28, 2013 · An article entitled 'About "Going Straight On"' in The Oxford Magazine and Church Advocate (Vol. III., October 1863, No. 36, page 340) warns us of the pitfalls of cutting corners: I do not believe, either, in what we used to call cutting corners or going short roads to places. The short road I have always found is in the end the longest.
How did the letter Z come to be associated with sleeping/snoring?
May 26, 2011 · First of all, zzzz (or z-z-z-z) is sound of snoring, from at least 1918. (Sometimes "a tiny saw cutting through a log" [1948] would be used, and both the snore and saw would make the same z-z-z-z sound.) Over time, this became associated with sleep in general, but most comic reference books (e.g. 2006's KA-BOOM!
Is there a difference between "leading edge" and "bleeding edge"?
@TomAnderson "The fundamental idea is that it's just a bit beyond the cutting edge." Actually, bleeding starts after the cutting edge has gone past (and usually deeper). Thus in actuality it is the cutting edge that is just a bit beyond the bleeding edge, while the …
If I quote only the middle part of a sentence, do I use ellipses?
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"on time" vs. "on-time" - English Language & Usage Stack Exchange
Dec 16, 2010 · My guess is that this usage is informal. Certainly it is possible to hyphenate words to convert them into adjectives. A good example is the noun cutting edge, which can be used as an adjective thus: MIT is a hot spot for cutting-edge physics. on time is special, as it is an adverb, but it is not uncommon to see it as an adjective thus: