Example: I was in disbelief when I heard about Kevin's new car. But he opened the garage and lo and behold there was a blue Ferrari.
Origin: "Lo" is a word meaning "to call attention to" or "to express surprise". "Behold" is a word meaning "to gaze upon or observe". Both words are not well known or frequently used, especially "lo".
Example: If I have to lay it out in lavender for you, your relationship was over when she burned down your house.
Origin: A practice used to make a word or words stand out in a printed page by printing them in a different color. Lavender being chosen because it is alliterative.
Meaning: Living easily without having to work hard, to have an easy life.
Example: While I'm out working hard all day, you are home living the life of Riley.
Origin: "Living the life of Riley" was popularized by a radio show of the 1940s, which spawned a television program in 1948 that originally starred Jackie Gleason but later starred William Bendix as the lead character.
Chester A. Riley was a sort of layabout, working class Brooklyn riveter who always managed to do everything with the minimum of effort, just getting by. The show was very funny and very popular.
"What a revoltin' development this is," was the catch phrase sweeping the country in the summer of 1943. This expression of Riley was a big part of this "typical" family man.
Riley managed to change any ant-hill of a problem into a Grade-A disaster! For 8 years, Riley's weekly mishaps included his wife, their two kids, co-worker Gillis, and the friendly undertaker Digby "Digger" O'Dell. The funeral director ended each appearance with a "Cheerio, I'd better be shoveling off."
"Living the life of Riley" came into the language to indicate a state of being to wished for but, probably, never to be attained. In fact the phrase pre-dated the radio program.
Example: Daddy needs a new Porsche. The old one is getting a bit long in the tooth.
Origin: Strange as it may seem this phrase's origin is closely related to the origin of the phrase "Don't look a gift horse in the mouth".
The age of a horse can be roughly determined by examining its teeth, since a horse's gums recede as they age. The longer the teeth of a horse appear to be, the older the horse.
This expression derives from veterinary medicine -- some animals have teeth that continue to grow much like fingernails. For example rabbits and rats need to gnaw hard objects to wear down their growing teeth.
Meaning: To be poor, to have difficulty supporting yourself.
Example: Most people who marry young start out living hand to mouth.
Origin: During the Great Depression and other times of economic scarcity, people often did not know when or where the next meal was coming from. In such a case, when you get something in your hand that can be eaten, it goes into the mouth immediately: ergo "hand to mouth."
