Baths consisted of a big tub filled with hot water. The man of the house had the privilege of the nice clean water, then all the other sons and men, then the women and finally the children–last of all the babies. By then the water was so dirty you could actually lose someone in it–hence the saying
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John Neil (1825) – Brother Jonathan
“As if the Yankee man were determined to leave the briggadier without a leg to stand upon, as a lawyer would say.”
John Fletcher (1624) – A Wife for a Month
‘She is very honest, and will be hard to cut as a rough diamond.’
A doornail is the strike plate against which the door knocker strikes. Because it has been hit so many times, it must be dead.
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Dawned on Me
Harriet Beecher Stowe used the phrase in Uncle Tom’s Cabin. (1852).