Following is a list of words and phrases whose etymologies are currently discussed at Wilton's Etymology Page. To see one of these items, click on it in the alphabetical list below. This will take you to the item at Dave Wilton's Web site .
Dave Wilton regularly adds items to his list, so at any given time the list at his site will probably contain new items that are not in the list below. To see the very latest, go to <http://www.wordorigins.org/thelist.htm>.
Dave Wilton's home page is at <http://www.wordorigins.org/home.htm>.
| America | Balling the Jack | Balls to the Wall |
| Barbecue | Bated Breath | Bedlam |
| Beefeater | Big Apple | Bit/Byte |
| Bimbo | Bizarre | Blackmail |
| Blimp | Blind Tiger | Blockbuster |
| Bloody | Blue Moon | Blurb |
| And Bob's Your Uncle | Bogart | Bogey |
| Booby | Boondocks | Boondoggle |
| Booze | Brass Tacks | "Break a Leg" |
| Broad | Brothel | Brownie Points |
| Buckley's Chance | Bug | Bullpen |
| Bulls and Bears | Bumper Crop | Bunk |
| Busman's Holiday | "Buy The Farm" | Cabal |
| Call a Spade a Spade | Cancer | Capitol/Capital |
| Catch-22 | Caucus | Cesarean Section |
| Chad | Charger Plate | Charley Horse |
| China | Church Key | Cloud Nine |
| Cockpit | Cocktail | Cold ... Brass Monkey |
| Cold Turkey | Cold War | Condom |
| Cop | Cotton-Picking | Cracker |
| Crackerjack | Crap/Craps | Curfew |
| Curmudgeon | Cut the Mustard | Cyber- |
| Dago | Dark and Stormy Night | Deadline |
| Denim/Jeans | Devil to Pay | Dirt Poor |
| Dixie | Dog Eat Dog | Dollar |
| Dollars to Doughnuts | Dolly | Dongle |
| Doozy | Dope | Doughboy |
| Drag Race | Dressed to the Nines | Dry Run |
| Dukes | Dunce | Dutch Treat |
| Easter | Egg On | Eighty-Six |
| Ethnic Cleansing | Eureka | Evolution |
| Face the Music | Faggot | Fat Lady Sings |
| Field Day | Filibuster | Five-By-Five |
| Fire | Flea Market | Flying Colors |
| Fortnight | Free Lunch | French Kiss |
| Fuck | Fudge | The Full Monty |
| Fuzz | Gargoyle | Gay |
| G.I. | Glitch | Globalization |
| Graveyard Shift | Green Room | Gringo |
| Guerrilla | Guinea | Gun |
| Gung Ho | Hackney | Handicap |
| Happy as a Clam | Harlot | Hat Trick |
| Heathen | Hell-Bent for Leather | Hell in a Handbasket |
| Hello | Hermetic Seal | Hero |
| Hobson's Choice | Hogan's Goat | Honeymoon |
| Hooch | Hooker | Hooky |
| Hooligan | Humble Pie | Hunky-Dory |
| Hustings | Hysteria | Indian Summer |
| In Like Flynn | Ivy League | Jack Robinson |
| Java | Jaywalk | Jazz |
| Jeep | Jerk | Jerry-Built/Jury Rig |
| John Bull | Jones | Kangaroo/Kangaroo Court |
| Katy, Bar the Door | Keister | Kick The Bucket |
| Kilroy Was Here | Kit and Caboodle | Kitty-corner |
| Knickerbocker | Knight | Ku-Klux Klan |
| Lead-Pipe Cinch | Leatherneck | Left Wing |
| Life of Riley | Lock and Load | Lock, Stock, and Barrel |
| Lollygag | Long in the Tooth | Lord |
| Lukewarm | Lynch | Martini |
| Mayday | Mayhem | Milquetoast |
| Misdemeanor | Mojo | Moll |
| Morphology | Mortgage | Muckety-Muck |
| Mulligan | Murphy's Law | Narc |
| Neck of the Woods | Nerd | News |
| New York Minute | Nigger | Nightmare |
| OK | The Old Army Game | On the Fritz |
| On the Lam | Orange | Mind Your P's & Q's |
| Pagan | Pandemonium | Paparazzi |
| Peanut/Peanut Gallery | Peloton | Phony |
| Piccaninny | Picnic | Pig |
| Pipe Dream | Pizzazz | Plugged Nickel |
| Poker | Politically Correct | Polka Dot |
| Poop Deck | Port/Larboard/Starboard | Posh |
| Pound Sand | Pull the Wool Over His Eyes | Pushing the Envelope |
| Pussyfoot | Quiz | Rabbit Test |
| Rain Cats and Dogs | Raincheck | Rap Sheet |
| The Real McCoy | Redhanded | Red Herring |
| Redneck | Reggae | Rhubarb |
| Ring Around the Rosie | Riot Act, Reading the | Roger |
| Round Robin | Rube Goldberg | Rule of Thumb |
| Sabotage | Salad Days | Sam Hill |
| Say "Uncle" | Scab | Scapegoat |
| Scot free | Sea-change | Secretary |
| Shark | Short Shrift | Skedaddle |
| Skid Row | Sleep Tight | Smart Alec |
| Smoking Gun | Soho | S.O.S. |
| Southpaw | Spud | Star |
| State of the Art | Station Wagon | Stool Pigeon |
| Swan Song | Tabloid | Taps |
| Teetotal | Testify | Third Degree |
| Three Sheets to the Wind | Threshold | Throw the Baby Out With the Bathwater |
| Tinker's Damn | Tongue In Cheek | Tow-Headed |
| Trailer | Trench Mouth/Foot | Turkey |
| Twenty-Three Skidoo | Uncle Sam | Under the Weather |
| United Nations | Up To Snuff | Vampire |
| Wag the Dog | Wake | Weird |
| Welch | The Whole Nine Yards | The Whole Shebang |
| Widow | Widow's Peak | Wog |
| Wop | Yankee |
A reader may wonder why the links to the words in the above list are being provided
at this site
instead of a single link being provided to Dave Wilton's Web site. The
answer is that
listing the words at this site causes them to be picked up by the two search indexes,
so that if
a user searches on one of the words using one of the two search facilities provided
for this Web
site, he or she will find it here and will be given a link directly to the word at
Dave Wilton's
Web site.