B
Baaaa Humbug see also
babble
babe (euphemisms for woman) see also Call Me Madam,
Babel, Tower of (Biblical story)baby (euphemisms for woman) seealso Call Me Madam, Woman, and Breadstuffs, Lords, Ladies, and Duffs
baby with the bathwater, throw thebackside (obscenities)
bacon, saving our
bad eggs
bad hair day see also Letting Our Hair Down...Hair of the Dog
bad luck, Roman explanation ofbag, giving the
bag, letting the cat out of thesee also Raining Pet Peeves
balance see also Striking Bargains, Balances and Chords
balance, striking
balderdash!
ball bounces, that's the way theball of wax, the whole
ball, having a
ball, playing (football slang)
Ballistic...Shoot Ones Bolt
ballocks and bulls see also Follow the Bouncing Bill
balloons, trial
ballots
ballyhoo
bamboozle
banal
bananas, top (burlesque origins)bananas, went
bandit
bandwagon, get on the
banishment
bank tellers
bans
barbarian
Barbarians and Savages
Barber Poles
bare bones
Bare Facts
bargains, striking
barista
Barnum, P.T. (suckers)
Barrelhead...Pay Through the Nosesee also The Nose Knows and Right On!
bars, gay
baseball business (professionals)see also Baseball, Playing Hardball and Making Sacrifices, Everything's Coming Up Roses, and Major and Bush Leagues
Baseball see also Playing Hardball and Making Sacrifices, Everything's Coming Up Roses, and Major and Bush Leagues
Basic Training, Courses and Curricula
basis and basics
Basketball Hoopla
bathetic
battle of Lexington (marching tune)battle of Monmouth (Molly Pitcher)Battle Royal see also Yankee Doodle Dandy and Woman
Battle-Ax to Grind, A see also Burying the Hatchet and an Ax to Grind and Grinding It Out
beans, amounts to a hill of
bear, teddy see also Bears and Bulls
bearding
bearer, torch
bearings, losing ones
Bears and Bulls see also A Bull Story and Follow the Bouncing Bill
Beat generation (Ginsberg and Keruoac)
Beatles (The Fab Four)
beatniks
bed, getting up on wrong side ofbedlam
Bedlam: Berserk Rabbit Runs Amokbee, queen
beeline, make a
bees in bonnet
bees knees, the
beeswax
beget
behind the eightball
believing, seeing is
bell, answer the
bell, sound as a
bellwether
beloved, original meaning ofBenedict Arnold (turncoat)
benefit of clergy, without theberserk
Best/Right Foot...Wrong Side of the Bed see also Tough Luck
between the devil and the deep blue sea
beverage
biblical ghosts
Big Apple, The
Big Cheeses and Muck-a-Mucks
big for boots or britches
big heads
big league see also Baseball, Playing Hardball and Making Sacrifices, and Everything's Coming Up Roses
Big Macs
big shot see also Choosy
big stick, the (Roosevelt)
Big Tease, The see also Letting Our Hair Down...Hair of the Dog
big wheel, the
bigots
bigwig
bilious temper see also Temper, Temper and Testing One's Mettle
bill of health, clean seealso Holistic Health
bill, filling the see also Kicking Habits and Footing the Bill
bill, footing the see also Follow the Bouncing Bill
Bing Crosby
bingo
bird, eat like a (misnomer)
birdbrain, the anomaly
birdie, in golf terms
birdies, talkative see also Birds of a Feather
Birds of a Feather see also A Little Birdie Told Me...Birdbrain,What's Eating You?, Teeing Off, Albatross around one's neck, Stool Pigeons...Sing Like a Canary,Something to Crow About, Talking Turkey, Cold Turkey, and Feathers in Caps...Panache & Pennants
birds, a sign of success
birds, for the
Birds, The (Aristophanes' comedy)see also Birds of a Feather
Birth Control
Bite the Bullet
bites, sound
bitter end
bizarre
Bizarre Bigots
Black Magic (origin of jinxes)
black sheep see also Sheepskin Alert
blackball
blackguards
Blackmail
blade, gay
blaggards
blahs and barbarians
Blazers, Cardigans, Bluchers et albleeding hearts see also Pour Favor
blind, fly see also Flying Colors
blinded to the truth (hoodwink)blinked, ...and they
blitz
Blitzing...Running & Tacklingblockbuster, original meaning ofblow a fuse
blowing off some steam
Blowing One's Top
blowing smoke
blowing them off
bluchers
blue chip
blue connotations
Blue Laws and Feeling Bluesee also Laying Down the Law, Sweet Talk and Lemons, and Attorneys, Shysters et al
blue moon, once in a
blue smoke and mirrors
Blue Streaks and Stolen Thunderblue, true
blues, the
blurb
bobby (slang for English policemen)bodyguard (right hand man)
boffo
bogey(man)
boggle
bogus
Bohemians, Beats, and Hippiesboiling the pot
bois de vache (booshwah)
Boleslaus, king of Poland (lap dogs)
bolt, shooting ones
Bomb, Applause, and Plaudits
bombast
bonchief and mischief
bone of contention see also Shake, Rattle, and Roll
bone to pick or crow to pluck?see also Shake, Rattle, and Rollbone up on
Boneheads and Dunces
bones about it, make no see alsoFunny Bones
bones, funny
bonnet, bees in
bookkeeping on the cuff
books made of leaves
books, cook the
boors
booshwah
bootlegger (McCoy)
boots, too big for
bootstraps, pull oneself up by the
booty fellow (bosom buddy)
Borden, Lizzie (ax to grind)see also A Battle-Ax to Grindand Grinding It Out
boring, useless talk (bunk)
bosh
bosom
Bosom Buddies
bottom (obscenities)
bottom, hit rock
bottoms up, sinister origins ofboudoir
bouquet, Irish
bowels open, mouth shut
boxer (McCoy)
boxers
boy birds or cocks (obscenities)see also Birds of a Feather
Boy Scouts (gay)
Boycott...Mickey Mouse
bra
brains of a bird, a compliment really see also Birds of a Feather, What's Eating You?,Teeing Off, Albatross around one's neck, Stool Pigeons...Sing Like a Canary,Something to Crow About, Talking Turkey, Cold Turkey, and Feathers in Caps...Panache & Pennants
brainstorming (talking a blue streak)
branch, olive
brand
Brand New Slogans
brass hat
brass tacks, getting down to
brassiere
brats, precocious ones
brazen
bread and butter
bread and money see also Money and the Almighty Dollar
Breadstuffs, Lords, Ladies, and Duffs see also Call Me Madam,Woman, and Oh, You Beautiful Doll...
break a leg, knee, your neck, or an ankle (various meanings of)
breakfast
breaks of the game
breast supporter
bribe (soaping) see also Greasing Palms with Subsidiesand Smoothing the Way
bribery
Brief but Uplifting Tale, A
bright-eyed and bushy-tailed
brilliant intellect (genius)
bring home the bacon
britches, too big for
British HMS Blazer
brows (high, low, and middle)Br-r-r-r!
Brudenell, James Thomas (7th Earl of Cardigan)
Brummel, Beau (lining pockets)see also Blazers, Cardigans, Bluchers et al
brush-off, give the
bubble
buck naked
Buck...Passing the Buck
buckets and hoops (basketball)buddy, bosom
budget
Budget Alert...Budget Alert
buff, in the
buffoons
bug off
bug out, slang for desertion
bug see also The Walls have ears...Mum...Sub Rosaand A Fly on the Wall at the Flea Market
bugbear and bugaboo
Bugs and Bogus Bogeymen
Bugs and Pests
bulge
Bull Story, A see also A Bull Story, Bears and Bulls, Seeing Red Carpets, and Follow the Bouncing Bill
bullet, bite the see also Choosy
bullheaded
bullish fury (seeing red)
bump and grind
bumpkin
Buncombe, impact on American language
Bunkum...Bunk see also Magic Moments
bunt
Bunyan, John (muckraker in Pilgrim's Progress)
burden of a dead bird seealso Birds of a Feather
Buren, Martin Van (O.K.)
Burgers et al
Burgess, Gelet (blurb)
burn the bra movement
bursar
Burying the Hatchet and an Ax to Grind see also A Battle-Ax to Grind and Grinding It Out
bush league see also Baseball, Playing Hardball and Making Sacrifices, Everything's Coming Up Roses, The Little Bush That Could (I), and (II)
bush, various connotations of seealso The Little Bush That Could (II)bushwa see also The Little Bush That Could (II)
bushwhack
business of baseball (professionals) see also Everything's Coming Up Roses and Major and Bush Leagues
business, monkey
butter people see also Laying It On
butterine (magarine)
buttocks
buttons, pushing the right onessee also When Push Comes to Shove
butty companion (bosom buddy)buy a pig in a poke see also Pigging Out, What's Eating You?, Pork Barrels and Lining Pockets
buying it
buzz off
buzz words
buzzes and hints (putting bugs in peoples' ears) see also Going Apiary, In One Ear, Fly on the Wall at the Flea Market, A,and The Walls have ears...Mum...Sub Rosa
By George!
caboodle
cabs
Cadets, Caddies, and Cads
Caesar
cake, piece of
cake, that takes the
cakewalk
Call Me Madam see also Woman, Breadstuffs, Lords, Ladies, and Duffs, and Oh, You Beautiful Doll...
