who laid the rail
adv. phr.— «Oh, these boys of mine are cowmen from who laid the rail. They’re not out to rob a neighbor.» —by Andy Adams Wells Brothers: The Young Cattle Kings , 1911. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
Books were rare treasures in the Middle Ages, painstakingly copied out by hand. So how to protect them from theft? Scribes sometimes added a curse to the first page of those books that was supposed to keep thieves away — and some were as vicious as...
What’s the best way for someone busy to learn lots of new words quickly for a test like the GRE? Looking up their origins can help. Or, record yourself reading the words and definitions and play them back while you’re doing other chores...