IDIOM OF THE DAY

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PECKER

keep your pecker up remain cheerful. British informal

I Pecker is probably been used here in the sense of 'a bird's beak or bill'. and by extension ;a person's face or expression'. The phrase has been current in British English since the mid 19th century, but it has rather  different connotations in the US, where pecker is an informal term for penis.

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NUTMEG

a wooden nutmeg  a false or fraudulent thing. US

 I A wooden nutmeg was a piece of wood shaped to resemble a nutmeg and fraudulently sold as the real thing. This deception was particularly associated with the inhabitants of Connecticut, giving rise to the nickname 'the nutmeg state'.

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HOOK

by hook or by crook by one means or another; by fair means or foul.

I The hook referred to here is probably a billhook or heavy curved pruning knife; one of the earliest recorded instances of this phrase is in Gower's Confessio Amantis (1390), which uses the rare word hepe (meaning 'a pruning knife') in place of a hook.

Various folk etymologies for the expression have been put forward, none of them entirely convincing. In 1822 William Corbbett wrote of people who lived near woodland being allowed, under the ancient forest law of England, to gather dead branches for fuel, which they may have brought down from the trees  literally by hook or by crook

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HUMBLE

eat humble pie make a humble apology and accept humiliation.

I Humble pie is from a mid 19th-century pun based on umbles, meaning ' offal ', which was considered to be an inferior food.

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PAINT

paint the Forth Bridge used to indicate that a task can never be completed.

I The steel structure of the Forth Railway Bridge in Scotland has required continuous repainting; it is so long that once the painters reach one end, they have to begin again at the other.

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RED

a red letter day a pleasantly memorable, fortunate , or happy day.

I In church calendars, a saint's day or church festival was traditionally distinguished by being written in red letters.

[malt]

Brand spanking new

Meaning: A new or unused object.

Origin: This idiom originates from doctors spanking a newborn baby to make it cry to start breathing.

Why do doctors smack the bum of new born babies   to knock the dicks off the stupid ones.....  so I've been told.

[tommynew]

Hoist with your own petard

to fall into your own trap

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FLYNN

be in like flyn seize an opportunity; be successful. Australian

I The Flynn referred to in this expression is Errol Flynn, the Australian-born actor, who had a reputation as a notable playboy.

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EXPECT

what can (or do ) you expect ?

I  A more elaborate statement of the same sentiment is the proverb what can you expect from a pig but a grunt ?

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STOP

pull out all stops make a very great effort; go to elaborate lengths.

I The stops referred to here are those of an organ. Although this is an early 20th-century expression, Matthew Arnold, in the Preface to Essays in Criticism (1865) refers to an attempt on his behalf  'to pull out a few more stops in that ..... somewhat narrow-toned organ, the modern Englishman'.

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LAND

land of nod   a state of sleep.

I In the Bible, the Land of Nod was the place to which Cain was exiled after the murder of his brother Abel (Genesis 4:16). It has been used punningly to refer to sleep since the 18th century, notably by Jonathan Swift in Polite Conversation (1731-8): I'm going to the Land of Nod'.

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TABLE

Turn the tables   reverse your position relative to someone else, especially by turning a position of disadvantage into one of advantage.

I  Until the mid 18th century, tables was the usual name for the board game backgammon. Early instances of the use of this phrase, dating from the mid 17th century, make it clear that it comes from the practice of turning the board so that a player had to play what had previously been their opponent's position.

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T

to a T (or tee) exactly; to perfection. informal

I This origin of this idiom, which dates back from the late 17th century, is uncertain.

Attempts to link T with either a golfer's tee or a builder's T-square are unconvincing. It is  possible that the underlying idea is that of completing the letter T by putting in the cross stroke, but the early 17th -century expression to a tittle was identical in meaning, and it is possible that T may be an abbreviation of tittle.

[rufusredtail]

TAR

tar and feather smear with tar and then cover with feathers as a punishment.

I This practice was introduced in Britain in 1189, when Richard 1 decreed that it should be the punishment for members of the navy found guilty of theft. It seems to have been intermittently imposed on other wrongdoers in Britain and has sometimes been inflicted on an unpopular or scandalous individual by a mob.