Mayhew (a specialist in Middle English and early Modern English, etymology, and regional speech he was a close associate of Walter W. Worth a Jew’s eye “worth a great value.” About a century ago, the distinguished British philologist Anthony H. Let me pick up where I have just left off. In my database, I have a few expressions that may be of some interest to our readers. In any case, one thing has now come to light: this phrase is not of Jewish origin! Careful reference books say about kibosh: “Origin unknown.” Perhaps so, though extra caution is not always a virtue (see the posts for, 14 August 2013, and especially for 29 November 2017).
#DICTIONARY OF SLANG EXPRRESSIONS FULL#
To give a chance example: two recent and very full dictionaries of English slang-by Jonathon Green and Jonathan Lighter (the second one is unfinished above, there are no typos in the spelling of the authors’ names!)-suggest that despite some uncertainty the phrase put the kibosh on is probably of Jewish origin. Later research often produces more reliable results, but a new edition of a major reference work cannot always be expected. The authority of dictionaries is great, and the public never doubts that what is written there is correct.
I say “wisely,” because, as a rule, very little is known about the origin of this vocabulary. Our dictionaries of slang are excellent, but they, quite wisely, do not devote too much space to etymology. Slang comes in two “installments”: as words and as phrases.
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