Wind Idioms

Several words have become part of the language in being used in phrases. Last time we looked at ‘ground’ and now look at ‘wind’.

Nobody was long-winded until the 14th century – great days those, great days.

Not until 1830 did anyone get their second wind, and that was initially only used in hunting circles.

Orchestral wind instruments were not referred to by that collective term until 1876 – well that blows.

Knowing ‘which way the wind blows’, in a figurative sense, appears as early as the 14th century.

To get wind of, as in information, appears in writing in 1809.

Also figuratively ‘to take the wind from one’s sails’ is not seen until 1883.

Nobody had heard of ‘wind chill’ until 1939 (prior to that is was just ‘cold’).

Wind energy first appears in 1976.

Wind vanes appear as early as 1725, albeit they must have been used for centuries before then.

Around the end of the 14th century we started to ‘get wind of’, but it referred to scenting something. The figurative sense is first seen in 1809.

To wind, as in to make breathless, is seen from 1802 and used specifically when discussing pugilism.

Predictably windsocks were only first described in 1922.

Crosswind is first recorded in 1725.

Windbreaks must have been planted and used for centuries, but not described until 1861.

Windward first occurs in print in the 1540s.

Windsurfing was unheard of before 1969.

Windbreaker, the item of clothing, was coined in 1918.

Upwind was a nautical term used from 1838.

Windhover, an alternative name for the kestrel, is first attested in the 1670s.

Windfall, the fruit dislodged by a breeze, is first recorded in the middle of the 15th century. Interesting to note the figurative sense of ‘unexpected acquisition’ first appeared as early as 1540.

Windswept, not only originally referring to hair but still mainly used in that sense today, is first seen in 1932.

Windpipe, also known as the trachea, is first described in the 1520s.

Windscreen is first seen in 1905, the US windshield first appears three years earlier.

Whirlwind is first seen in the middle of the 14th century, it began as a Norse term hvirfilvindr.

Windmill is first recorded in the late 13th century, most mills were water powered prior to this, and the use of the word to describe someone waving their arms around first appears in 1888.

Ground Idioms

Several words have become part of the language in being used in phrases. Last time we looked at ‘moon’ and now look at ‘ground’.

To stand one’s ground is first recorded in 1707.

To ground in an electrical sense is first seen in 1870 and used in connection with telegraphy.

Grounds in the sense of ‘reason, motive’ is first seen around the end of the 11th century.

Grounds in the sense of ‘source, origin, cause’ is recorded since the end of the 14th century.

To run to ground is a fox hunting term first seen in print in 1719.

Nobody issued any ground rules before 1890, but then it referred specifically to rules laid down for a game or contest on a playing field. Not until 1953 had it been used in the more general sense.

To put on the ground in a figurative sense is first seen in the late 14th century when referring to such as a sermon or argument.

Nobody ran a ship to ground before the middle of the 15th century.

To ground, now most often something done to teenagers, first came to be used to refer to the denial of privileges in the Second World War and specifically to pilots.

Ground as in the past tense of the verb ‘to grind’ first appears in print in 1765.

Grounded, as in instruction through the basics, appears as early as 1540.

Grounds are found as a sediment in the bottom of a liquid, we often hear of coffee grounds, appears for the first time in the middle of the 14th century, well before coffee was drunk in Europe.

Grounds, as in an enclosed parcel of land, is recorded from the middle of the 15th century.

Groundhog, he who had a rather repetitive day in a film of that name, is also known as the American marmot and has been known as a groundhog since 1784.

Groundswell is an odd word, for it refers to a broad and/or deep swell of the sea and features no land at all. First seen in 1783, the figurative sense of ‘groundswell of opinion’ appears from 1817.

Ground floor will not have been popular until an upper floor became more common, hence unknown before 1600; while the figurative sense is not seen until 1864.

Ground breaking has had three distinctive phases beginning with the first sod being dug around 1650; next came the ceremonial planting or digging in 1884; and as an adjective in 1907.

Ground zero is first heard in 1946, a reference to the atomic blasts of that era.

Background appears in the 1750s to refer to that which is to the rear of the main focus of an image, earlier to that it was used, from the 1670s, in a more general sense; and in the figurative sense from 1854.

Groundless, as in ‘having no basis in fact’, is not recorded before the 1620s.

Groundling is first seen in 1620 when referring to a person attending a theatre in the pit where there was neither floor or benches (thus on the bare earth); and later came to refer to anything of bad or unsophisticated taste.

Underground originally meant ‘below the surface’; it came to mean ‘secretive’ by the 1630s; it acquired the meaning of ‘subculture’ in 1953, taken directly from those working against Nazi occupation; and the railway sense is first seen in 1887, although the mode of transport had been in use since 1834 when it was referred to as ‘underground railway’.

Groundwater, in the modern sense of a water source extracted from below ground, is only seen since 1890. Prior to that, and at least from the middle of the 15th century, groundwater was that found at the bottom of a stream.

Fairgrounds have been known since 1741.

Overground would be supposed to have appeared as the same time as ‘underground’, yet surprisingly the term does not appear in print until 1879. (I wonder where the Wombles wombled free before underground and underground were first coined?)

No vessel was to have run aground until around 1500.

Playgrounds were unknown until 1780 and initially only used to refer to the recreational area associated with a school.

Foreground is first seen in an artistic sense in the 1690s when Dryden wrote Art of Painting; the figurative sense is not seen until 1816.

Rather predictably ‘groundwork’ was first used to refer to building foundations, seen from the middle of the 15th century; the more general sense is first seen from the 1550s.

Moon Idioms

Several words have become part of the language in being used in phrases. Last time we looked at ‘ice’ and now look at ‘moon’.

Man in the moon, as opposed to man on the moon, is derived from the idea the surface features can be seen to resemble a face on that side of the moon facing Earth. Mentioned since the 14th century, some reports say he carries a bundle of thorn twigs and is accompanied by a dog. The Japanese claim to see a ‘rice-cake-making rabbit’ – which is really stretching credibility.

The old moon in the new moon’s arms, seen in print for the first time in 1727, describes the first sliver of the new moon lit by the sun with the remainder visible by the faint illumination coming from reflected light from Earthshine.

To moon, as in wandering about as if in a daze, first appears in 1836.

Moonstruck, first seen around 1670, is another reference to someone apparently witless – here the link of lunacy to lunar.

To moon, as in to bare one’s buttocks, is first seen in 1968 – student slang likening the pale flesh of the untanned posterior to the silver light of the moon.

Blue moon is a something rarely occurring. In truth, a blue moon is a second full moon in a calendar month, an isn’t all that rare as it happens, on average, every 33 months – it is first spoken of in 1528. Other phrases which suggest a rare occurrence include: “at the Greek calends”; “in the reign of Queen Dick and Saint Geoffrey’s Day”; and “Nevermass” The song Blue Moon was written in 1934 and has been recorded multiple times in the last 90 years.

A moondial is the same as a sundial, it seen in 1680.

Moon face, probably not intended as a compliment, describes someone with a rather rounded face and is first recorded in 1854.

Moon dog is seen from the 1660s to describe a dog which howls at the moon- Neighbour’s dog howls each time it hears the ice cream van – does this make it a Cur-netto? A Whippy-et? A choc-cur spaniel? OK I’ll stop.

Moon shot is first recorded in 1958, a year before the first unmanned probe made a fly-by of the satellite.

Moon calf, a shapeless fleshy mass, first seen in the 1560s and sixty years later used as a derogatory term.

Half moon, which must have been seen since before humans were able to vocalize, is only recorded from the 1520s.

Honeymoon – so called because the Saxons would celebrate a union with a drink made brewed from honey.

Moonshine refers to illicitly distilled or smuggled liquor, first seen in 1785.

Nothing was described as moonlit until as recently as 1819.

Moonbeams have only been around since the 1580s.

The moonrace began in 1963.

Moonglow is a term coined in 1926.

Moonscape was first used in 1926.

Moonlight has been used since the 1670s.

Moonwalk was first used in 1966, despite Neil Armstrong not getting there for another three years. The dance move of the same name popularized by Michael Jackson was not coined until 1983.

Moonglade is a delicious expression and first used in 1860 to describe a track of moonlight on the water.

Moondoggle is a phrase coined in the 1960s by those who were skeptical of any financial benefits derived from space travel. Those same people who have Velcro fasteners on their trainers and Teflon coating on their pots and pans, I assume. Or perhaps they don’t have any uses for freeze drying, memory foam, scratch resistant spectacles, wireless headphones, air purifiers, solar cells, cochlear implants, shoe insoles, water filters, GPS, shoe insoles, foil blankets, power tools, camera phones, and how many more do you want? Incidentally, some idiot once told me his rationale for saying the moon landings didn’t happen was that a survey revealed one in six agreed with him.