Cloud Idioms

Several words have become part of the language in being used in phrases. Last time we looked at ‘water’ and now look at ‘cloud’. The original word in Old English referred to a hill – a cloud was called a skie - and look at hills in the distance and you’ll see why the two were confused. Having made that point, it is obvious any ‘cloud’ references have to come after the change from ‘hill’.

Under a cloud is first seen at the end of the 15th century.

In the clouds, fanciful or unreal, is seen from the 1640s.

Cloud nine is recorded by 1950, although the term’s origin is disputed. In the 1950s we also find ‘cloud seven’ with the same inference.

Cloud bursts did not happen until 1817.

Rainclouds were unknown until around 1800 – one has to wonder what they thought came from them before this.

Oort cloud was named in 1949 after Dutch astronomer Jan Hendrick Oort, who proposed the idea that comets came from a mass of bodies orbiting outside that of Pluto. Oort was right.

Cloud cuckoo land is an imaginary city in the air first seen in 1830 after the translation of Aristophanes’ Nephelokkygia (The Birds) from 414BCE. Within a decade of the translation ther term had entered the English language for any dreamland region.

Cloudlet, predictably a small cloud, is seen since 1788 – and yet I have never heard the term used.

Cloudscape, another I have never heard of, is found from 1852.

Cloudless has been used since 1590 – this I have heard and it has always struck me as odd. It’s the same as describing the night sky as ‘sunless’.

Clouds have only had a silver lining since 1843. It comes from John Milton’s work Comus.

Becloud is seen since 1590s, but with two decades it had taken on the figurative sense of ‘to obscure’.

Similarly ‘overcloud’ had the obvious meaning before the figurative ‘to cover with gloom’ from the 1590s.

Water Idioms

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

Water tower is first recorded at the end of the 13th century.

Watering can is first seen in 1690, although water can had been in use for at least three centuries prior to that.

Water hole is recorded by 1670.

Watering place has been recorded since the middle of the 15th century, but not until 1965 did it take on the meaning of a public house or similar.

Hot water was just that until 1530, when it became used to mean ‘in trouble’.

Hot water bottles became popular from 1813 for stone or earthenware warmers; from 1853 the softer version of vulcanised rubber was introduced.

Waterpipes have been in use for millennia, but not referred to as same until the end of the 14th century.

Water closets are named from 1755, although the flush toilet had been produced two centuries earlier by Sir John Harrington.

As a noun the water ski is recorded from 1931, as a verb it had to wait until 1953 – hence the question is, what were they doing on water skis for more than two decades.

The water table, the level of water underground where the rock/soil is saturated, has only been known as such since 1879.

A water moccasin is a snake found in the southern USA, described as such in 1821.

The water wheel, the means of powering a watermill, is first recorded around the end of the 14th century. Around this time mills were powered by wind as well as water, and thus the mill wheel would have suggested a water-powered construction.

Dish water, that water used to wash the pots and pans, comes from the late 15th century; but the term came to be used for anything overly weak (be it broth, soup, coffee, tea) from 1719.

Watermarks on paper are not made by water, but the term was coined in 1708.

Watershed in the figurative sense has been known since 1878, although today it is rarely used to refer to anything but a cut-off point for broadcasting.

We all know what a waterbed is, although does anyone realize its introduction in the 1970s was a reinventing? In 1844 the same technology was employed for invalids in order to reduce or prevent bed sores; and the original sense was simply a bed on board a ship, used since 1610.

Water colour originally referred to a pigment soluble in water; only since 1854 has it been used in the art world.

The waterline on a vessel has been used since 1620; since 2011 I’m told it also refers to the inner rim of the eyelid when applying makeup.

Nothing was described as waterproof until 1799, although they must have been waterproof or their boats would have sunk.

Sea Idioms

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

Sea change, a phrase meaning ‘to transform’, has rather fallen out of use in the modern era but has been recorded since around 1660. Indeed, it appears in my friend Shakespeare’s The Tempest.

Sea legs refers to the ability of someone to walk confidently on the deck of a ship regardless of the rolling and pitching of the vessel and has been known since 1712.

All at sea is a way to convey a meaning of ‘perplexed’, and has been recorded since 1768. Prior to that, and since the late 12th century, it had the very different meaning of ‘out of sight of land’. The two must be connected in conveying ‘lost’.

North Sea which, as popularized by Billy Connolly, is famously always cold, hasn’t always been known as the North Sea. To the English it was the German Sea for most of recorded history and until at least 1836; the North Sea at that time referred to that part of the ocean now known as the Bristol Channel. The Dutch referred to it as the North Sea to distinguish from the Southern Sea (or Zuider Sea). As if to complete this baffling nomenclature, the Danes decided they would know it as the West Sea.

Sealions have been known as such since the 1690s, although applied to any species of eared seals. Hitler codenamed his planned invasion of Britain ‘Operation Sealion’ in July 1940, but had abandoned these plans by October of that year. But sealions were also a species of lobster, and recorded as such since the end of the 16th century.

Dead Sea is known as such for its high salt content. It is not exactly devoid of life, but nothing of any size is found there. The Bible calls it the Salt Sea, and is also known as the ‘Sea of the Plain’, and the ‘East Sea’, and the Asphalite Sea. Confused? So you should be, for this Dead Sea – with 26% salt content as opposed to the 3% to 4% of the ocean, is not a sea but a lake.

Red Sea is thought to be named for the algae of that colour which blooms in its waters; or a tribal name; or the sandstone found around its shores; or perhaps ‘red’ to represent ‘south’ as ‘black’ represents ‘north’. (No, neither do I.)

Sea breezes blow from the sea onshore, at least they have since the 1690s.

Sea mew is an old name for the gull, known as such for its call and recorded from the 15th century.

Sea monsters are prolific in mythologies around the globe, but nobody called them such before 1580. Sea serpents debuted in 1640; while alternative names of sea wolf and sea dragon are also found.

Man has produced salt by evaporating sea water for millennia, but the term ‘sea salt’ is unrecorded before the end of the 16th century.

Sea anemones were named as such from 1742; but eight years later the same creature was also referred to as a sea pudding.

Sea captain is first found in 1610.

Sea power, a reference to a dominant naval power, is found from 1849.

Sea dogs referred to the harbor seal from the 1590s; it referred to ‘pirates’ from 1650; and to any sailor from 1823.

Sea horses were first named in the 1580s, but the term had been used for more than two centuries to refer to the walrus.

The sea floor has only been known as such since 1832, prior to that it was the sea bottom.

Sea urchins were named in the 1590s, described as a kind of crabfish that has prickles instead of feet. In the 19th century the same creatures were called ‘whore’s eggs’ in Newfoundland.

Sea level is first seen in 1806 and then described the mean level between high and low tides.

Nothing was described as ‘sea going’ until 1829.

Sea shore is a term found since 1520.

Seaside was coined much earlier, certainly in use by 1200.

Nothing was said to be overseas until 1580.

Seafaring has been used since around 1200.

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.