What is the etymology of the term "private eye"?
2014年10月15日 · Try to figure this one out, Miss Private Eye! [Note: it is unclear as to whether this date is for the character or the actual text] The term private eye is used to convey spying by Balzac, in the 1928 Cousin Bette. Lisbeth, whom the baron endeavored to ally with Madame Marneffe, so as to keep a private eye upon the household ...
Is it derogatory or offensive to call a detective a dick?
The most pejorative implied sense of the word I've taken away from detective fiction comes from the slighting way police officers use the term to refer to dime-a-dozen private eyes. In that way, the word "shamus" is also used equally pejoratively.
Why are detectives/investigators referred to as "gumshoe"s?
2012年7月18日 · The senses of gumshoe leading to the 'private detective' sense all have to do with the idea that rubber-soled shoes give the wearer the ability to walk stealthily. The earliest examples show gumshoe used as an adjective meaning 'being a stealthy or surreptitious thief or tracker', and thus 'being a plainclothes police officer or a private ...
Origin of "eye teeth" - English Language & Usage Stack Exchange
The term eye teeth goes back to at least the 17th century. The earliest I found is in the fascinating 1657 Nature's Cabinet Unlock'd by Thomas Browne: And the 1660 Lexicon Tetraglotton, an English-French-Italian-Spanish Dictionary by James Howell shows the translations all include eye: Give [...] eye-teeth
What's a word or term for this kind of eyes or eyelids or for ...
2022年7月14日 · The epicanthal fold is on the side of the eye (inner corners), not the eyelid. The question said this wasn't the term they were looking for: "most of the upper eyelid is hidden not because of an extra fold of skin attaching the eyelid to the bridge of the nose, like with East Asian eyelids". See definition here –
What are word combinations similar to the effect of "Sofa King" …
2012年1月31日 · The British satirical magazine Private Eye runs letters with assumed names that can be read as words, and that section is titled Pseudo Names. I keep sending you examples of witty names that I keep making up, but you never print them.
expressions - Where does the phrase "on the lam" come from?
In his 1886 ''30 Years a Detective,'' Allan Pinkerton, the first ''private eye,'' explains an operation of pickpockets: ''After he secures the wallet, he will utter the word 'lam!' This means to let the man go and to get out of the way as soon as possible.''
pejorative language - Word for someone seeming deep and …
2019年10月21日 · Ref "Pseuds' Corner" in the satirical magazine Private Eye. – user1725145. Commented Oct 16, 2014 at 14:01.
Origin of "in a pig's eye" - English Language & Usage Stack …
For a long time there was a Pig’s Eye in Minnesota until a Catholic missionary by the name of Lucien Galtier arrived on the muddy banks of the Mississippi River in 1840 to establish a Christian community. The following year, in 1841, Galtier successfully renamed Pig’s Eye to its current name of Saint Paul after he began the construction of ...
phrases - "personal issue", "private issue", "personal affair", or ...
2013年2月22日 · "Private issue" would be somewhat misused here, because it is more typically used with regard to a product (often stocks or bonds) that are "issued" in a non-public way. ("Private matter," on the other hand, might possibly be used if you want to emphasize that the matter is not merely personal, but is in fact something you do not want to reveal ...