Bristol:
Ship-shape and Bristol fashion means that everything is neat and tidy.
This saying comes from two aspects of the old Bristol docks in the days
before the Floating Harbour was established in the 1830s. Bristol had,
and still has, one of the largest differences of water level between
ebb and flood in the World, something like 10 metres. At low tide ships
in the harbour, if not really properly constructed and laden, would
either break their backs or their cargoes would shift. Because of this,
Bristol ships were always first class in these respects, hence the
saying. The Floating Harbour was constructed by Brunel in order to
overcome the tide problem.
Brown: In a brown study, means to be in a mood of apparent
concentration, often with melancholic overtones. This saying comes
directly from the French phrase "Sombre rêverie". Sombre and brun
(=English brown) both mean Sad, gloomy, dull. The expression is
recorded in the 1811 dictionary.
Browned off, meaning "fed up", is a now somewhat dated expression,
common in the second World War. Its origin is uncertain, but it seems
probable that it is related to "brown study", since both imply a sense
of sadness.
However an alternative offering goes back to London slang where a
"brown" was a penny. To be browned off in this sense meant that you had
to give a penny, say to a bothersome brother, to go away and not be a
nuisance.
Brush: To get the brush off means to be given a rebuff. I can find no
recorded suggestion for this one, but the actual act of brushing off
some dust or hair from an article may be the simple basis. However this
type of "brush off" is frequently more gentle than the act implied in
the saying.
If
someone is said to be tarred with the same brush then they are regarded
as someone who shares the sins or faults of another. The reference is
probably to the tarring of sheep. Owners of a flock of sheep, which
can’t be branded, used to mark their wool all in the same place with a
brush dipped in tar to distinguish them from sheep of another flock. An
alternative suggestion is that the phrase in some way relates to the
'tarring & feathering' punishment of the past. How, eludes me.
Buck: To pass the buck implies the passing of a responsibility on to
someone. The original responsibility was that of dealing at poker. In
order to remind a player that it was his turn to deal, a marker was
placed in front of him. This marker was called a "buck" and is
generally reckoned to have been a knife, but why "buck"? Some say that
it was because the handle was made of buck horn. Others reckon that the
marker was a silver dollar. Dollars have long been called bucks and
this comes from the early 1800s practice of classifying skins as
"bucks" or "does". Skins from bucks were generally larger and thus more
valuable.
The very
English, and now nearly obsolete expression " don't give me any of that
old buck" has a very different origin. "Buck" here comes from the Hindi
Bukh describing what British soldiers styled a "swagger walk".
To
buck up your ideas seems of unrelated origin to any of the above. Maybe
it's based on a bucking horse or 'buck' in the sense of an 18thC
dashing fellow. Victoria Dennis wrote in March 2005. According to the
SOED it derives from the eighteenth-century "buck" meaning a dashing
gallant fellow (a figurative sense of "buck" meaning "stag". Thus to
"buck up" meant first to smarten up one's appearance, then to make
haste, to energise oneself generally.
Bucket:
To kick the bucket; when this occurs, then someone has died. The origin
goes back to the time when meat came to the market, not in a
refrigerated van, but on the hoof. The animals were killed in the
market square and hung by their feet from a frame so that the blood
could drain. The frame was called a "bucket beam", and, I guess, some
of the animals were still having their dying agonies; some would bang
against the frame, hence the expression.
A bucket shop is a term used to describe a shop where cheap tickets,
usually airline ones, can be purchased. Before that it described an
illegal brokerage house that often cheated its customers. The original
Bucket shops were unsavoury bars where patrons could buy beer in
buckets. In 1882 the Chicago Board of Trade prohibited grain
transactions of less than 5000 bushels. Illegitimate trading houses
continued to deal in smaller lots; larger houses, if they illegally
wished to sell small amounts of grain, sent down to the illegal traders
for a bucketful.
Bugbear: It's a bugbear is used to describe a burden or problem, often
one producing fear or anxiety. In olden times a goblin was also known
as a bug and the saying probably comes from the English folklore goblin
(bug) who was said to be in the shape of a bear and who ate children.
Bull: A cock and bull story is a story full of probable make-believe
and unlikely to be true. The origin of the saying is likely to be
nothing more spectacular than the fables and tales of old where animals
were supposed to be able to speak, often telling fantastic tales.
However, as is often the case, there is another possibility. This one
comes from stage coach days. In Stony Stratford were two coaching inns,
the Cock and the Bull. London coaches changed horses at the Cock and
the Birmingham coaches at the Bull. Both sets of passengers exchanged
jokes and news, some of it doubtful. This banter is said to have given
rise to the saying. Since the saying goes back to the 1620s, before
stage coaches, and similar sayings occur in French and dialect Scots -
'cockalayne', from the French version - this explanation is unlikely.
