What Information Does Phrase Finder Give for Each Phrase or Saying?

Phrase Finder (phrases.org.uk) gives you three core things for each entry: the meaning of the phrase in plain English, its origin or earliest known usage, and notes on how it has been used over time. Entries are also cross-linked to related material — idioms, proverbs, and thesaurus groupings — so you can move from one expression to a cluster of them. The site is a reference dictionary, not a translator or a corpus tool, so it is best suited to answering "what does this mean and where did it come from?"

What each entry typically contains

The site describes its own scope as telling you "what it means, where it came from, and how it's been used." In practice, an entry is built around:

• Meaning — a plain-English explanation of the phrase, including figurative senses where the literal words would mislead you.
• Origin — the earliest known usage the site has researched, with dates and sources where available.
• Usage over time — how the expression has appeared in print and speech, which helps distinguish a living phrase from an archaic one.
• Related entries — links into idioms, proverbs, and the phrase thesaurus.

The "Meaning of the day" example on the homepage, All present and correct, shows the pattern: a short definition ("Everything, or everyone, is accounted for") followed by a link to the full origin.

The four main sections

Phrase Finder organises its content into distinct collections, and knowing which one you are in tells you what kind of answer to expect.

The thesaurus is the outlier: it is not organised by meaning but by the words inside the phrase, so it is the section to use when you remember a fragment ("the bee's knees") rather than a definition.

How to look a phrase up

1. Search by the phrase itself. The homepage search box takes the expression you have in mind. Popular searches listed on the site include heavens to murgatroyd, revenge is a dish best served cold, don't look a gift horse in the mouth, and saved by the bell.
2. Read the meaning first, then the origin. The meaning is written to be understood without prior knowledge; the origin section is where the research and citations sit.
3. Follow the cross-links. If the entry points to an idiom or a thesaurus grouping, that is usually the fastest route to neighbouring expressions.
4. Check the reader notes. The site publishes reader corrections and extensions — 155 published notes at the time of writing — which sometimes push an origin date earlier than the main entry states.

How reliable is it, and when should you use something else?

Phrase Finder states that its entries are cited as a reference by Wikipedia, The New York Times, the BBC, and 35 other trusted sources, with 704 live citations across 480 of its meanings. Individual citation counts listed include 180 meanings cited by Wikipedia, 61 by the BBC, and smaller numbers for The Atlantic, TIME, NASA, Smithsonian Magazine, and JSTOR. The site was established in 1997 and is researched and written by Gary Martin.

That makes it a reasonable first stop for meaning and origin. It is less suited to:

• Academic citation of first usage. Reader notes show that origins get revised — one note traces "no love lost" to 1585 in a specific Elizabethan publication, and another cites the Dictionary of American Regional English for an 1883 Overland Monthly reference. For scholarly work, follow the sources the entry names rather than citing the entry itself.
• Current usage frequency. The site explains how phrases have been used, but it is not a corpus or a trend tool.
• Non-English phrases. The collection is English-language.

What you will not find

There is no indication on the site of paid tiers, accounts, or login requirements for reading entries, and no pricing information is presented in the material available. Treat the dictionary content as the product; the interactive "Guess the phrase" game is an additional feature drawn from the same dictionary.