Slang expertJonathon Greenhas an amazing interactive timeline taken from his monumental , three - volumeGreen ’s Dictionary of Slangonterms for death . Like his other timeline of terms forsexandnaughty bits , a great deal of human creativity is on display . The list goes all the way back to 1350 , to a term that we still hump today ( dead as a doornail ) . Many of the terms are still conversant , such asbite the dust(1749),kick the bucket(1820),feed the fishes(1820 ) , andhang up one ’s hat(1854 ) , but quite a few are less known — and delicious . Here are 35 honest-to-god slang terms you could employ to avoid talking too instantly about that thing we do n’t care to think about .
1.Turn over the perch ( 1594 )
2.Yield the gasconade a pud ( 1599 )
3.Put to bed with a shovelful ( 1707 )
4.Put into one ’s cool crepe ( 1725 )
5.Slip one ’s wind ( 1772 )
6.Go out with a wooden habeas ( 1785 )
7.Hop the twig ( 1797 )
8.Lose the number of one ’s mess ( 1814 )
9.Booked by the Gravesend omnibus ( 1838 )
10.Measure over the counter ( 1841 )
11.Cut the painter ( 1850 )
12.Ride old Charon ’s Ferry - boat ( 1854 )
13.Hand in one ’s checks ( 1857 )
14.Take a blinder ( 1859 )
15.Lay down one ’s knife and forking ( 1864 )
16.Make a die of it ( 1866 )
17.Go up Green River ( 1872 )
18.Stick one ’s spoonful in the wall ( 1873 )
19.Climb the golden staircase ( 1883 )
20.Deal one ’s final lay - out ( 1887 )
21.Push cloud ( 1887 )
22.Climb the oily celestial pole ( 1890 )
23.Pull the string ( of the shower bath ) ( 1893 )
24.Do a seven ( 1894 )
25.Snuff one ’s glim ( 1900 )
26.Throw in one ’s toe ( 1901 )
27.Take the count ( 1902 )
28.Shoot one ’s star ( 1903 )
29.Toss in one ’s agate ( 1906 )
30.Chuck up one ’s bunch of Little Phoebe ( 1909 )
31.Go trumpet cleaning ( 1915 )
32.Become a landholder ( 1916 )
33.Answer the last axial rotation call ( 1936 )
34.Hand in one ’s dinner party pail ( 1937 )
35.Climb the six understructure ladder ( 1950 )
This lean first appeared in 2015 and was republished in 2019 .
