A ride on the carousel in San Diego’s Balboa Park has Martha pondering the origin of the phrases to grab the brass ring, meaning to achieve something difficult, and to reach for the brass ring, meaning to try hard to reach a goal, and by...
The exhortation grab a root and growl is a way of telling someone to buck up and do what must be done. The sense of grabbing and growling here suggests the kind of tenacity you might see in a terrier sinking his teeth into something and refusing to...
Some novels grab you from the get-go. “I am an invisible man.” “Call me Ishmael.” “The cold passed reluctantly from the earth, and the retiring fogs revealed an army stretched out on the hills, resting.” Martha...
Grab some popcorn, slip into a folding seat, and you’re ready to watch the coming attractions. But if they’re shown before the main feature, why in the world are movie previews called trailers? Enjoy these old movie trailers at Turner...
choreplay n.— «Forget crimson roses and chocolates. Grab a broom. Unload the dishwasher. Play with the kids. Now, that’s hot. That’s choreplay.» —“Want to get your woman in the mood? Try doing housework” by Helena...
fish with feet n.— «Digital magazines—the flappable, page-by-page replication of a publication’s print edition, rather than content uploaded individually to a magazine’s Web site—have been around for about a decade, and Zinio has long...