These were known as 'safety coffins' and designs were registered in the 19th century and up to as late as ; for example:. The Improved Burial Case. Patent No. August 25, As well as a handy bell, Vester's device had the novel enhancement of a glass screen to view the coffin's occupant. In Norse mythology , Odin is not a storm god, his "animals" are a horse and two ravens, cats have nothing to do with either Odin or witches, and rain is not connected with any divinity.
Odin presides over the Wild Hunt in late Scandinavian folklore , not mythology. The Wild Hunt, which is known in most of northern Europe, is obviously associated with stormy weather, but Odin's following is made up of flying corpses, not of cats, dogs, or witches.
So yes Odin is associated with stormy weather, but everything else is pretty much made up. Liberman thinks it most likely originated from a sentence by Gabriel Harvey and documented by the Oxford English Dictionary that reads : " Instead of thunderboltes shooteth nothing but dogboltes or catboltes. In other words, they likened a heavy rainstorm to heavy metal bolts falling out of the sky.
At some point, Liberman believes the "bolt" was dropped either as a joke or to make it easier to say, causing the phrase to make no sense today. And while that does match the phrase's current meaning — saved by a last-minute intervention — and even though being buried alive was a very real fear with actual " safety coffins " designed at this time , this is not where the phrase actually comes from.
Instead, "saved by the bell" is boxing slang that became common in the late 19th century. A boxer who was about to be defeated would be saved if the bell that marked the end of a round rang out. Eventually, the phrase hit the mainstream. But "dead ringer" is said to come from the same false source as "saved by the bell" — that people were buried with bells in case they weren't actually dead. They were "dead ringers.
But this could not be more wrong. Instead, "dead ringer" comes from US horse racing , when cheating owners would switch one horse with another and showcase it under a false name and pedigree to defraud bookies. The term "ringer" comes from an old slang usage of "ring," which meant to exchange or substitute something counterfeit for something real. The "dead" was added for emphasis. Because the horses would have to look alike to be switched, the phrase evolved to mean two things that look extremely similar.
Wikimedia Commons People who are "upper crust" are upper-class, wealthy members of society. The phrase was said to date back to a tradition in which bread was divided according to everyone's status.
For instance, the burnt bottom would go to servants; the family would get the middle portion; and the honored guests would receive the top of the loaf, or its "upper crust. The only source that even hints at such a custom is a book called " Boke of Nuruture " dating from that says "cut the upper crust for your lord. A likelier scenario is that because the upper class was at the top of society, using bread as a metaphor they would be considered "upper crust. Read More. November 08, To top. Sign up for free and get access to exclusive content:.
Free word lists and quizzes from Cambridge. Tools to create your own word lists and quizzes. Word lists shared by our community of dictionary fans. Sign up now or Log in. Definitions Clear explanations of natural written and spoken English. Click on the arrows to change the translation direction. Follow us.
0コメント