Taken aback Meaning Surprised or startled by a sudden turn of events.

Origin 'Aback' means in a backward direction - toward the rear. It is a word that has fallen almost into disuse, apart from in the phrase 'taken aback'. Originally 'aback' was two words: 'a' and 'back', but these became merged into a single word in the 15th century. The word 'around' and the now archaic 'adown' were formed in the same way. 'Taken aback' is an allusion to something that is startling enough to make us jump back in surprise. The first to be 'taken aback' were not people though but ships. The sails of a ship are said to be 'aback' when the wind blows them flat against the masts and spars that support them. A use of this was recorded in the London Gazette in 1697: "I braced my main topsails aback." If the wind were to turn suddenly so that a sailing ship was facing unexpectedly into the wind, the ship was said to be 'taken aback'. An early example of that in print comes from an author called Eeles in the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, 1754: "If they luff up, they will be taken aback, and run the hazard of being dismasted." Note: 'to luff' is to bring the head of a ship nearer to the wind. The figurative use of the phrase, meaning surprised rather than physically pushed back, came in the 19th century. It appeared in The Times in March 1831: "Whigs, Tories, and Radicals, were all taken aback with astonishment, that the Ministers had not come forward with some moderate plan of reform." Charles Dickens also used it in his American Notes in 1842: "I don't think I was ever so taken aback in all my life."

Ab o ve b o a r d
Me a ni ng Openly; without any trickery. O r i gi n

It is sometimes suggested that the board in question is the deck of a ship and that this comes from the seafaring practice of concealing pirates below decks (below board) in order to lull victim ships into a false sense of security. The opposite, 'above board' was considered to symbolize openness and fairness. There's no evidence to support that derivation and it seems clear that this term originated in the gaming community. If card players keep their hands above the table (board) they can be seen to be playing fairly. Beaumont & Fletcher's The Custom of the Country, 1616, includes this line: "Yet if you play not fair play and above board too, I have a foolish gin here, I say no more." [Laying his hand upon his sword] Given the phrase 'above board', we might expect there to be a 'below board' or 'beneath the board'. Neither of these is recorded, although 'under board' was used briefly. Sir Christopher Heydon used it in In Defence of Judiciall Astrology, 1603: "After the fashion of iugglers, to occupie the minde of the spectatour, while in the meane time he plaies vnder board." The phrase that won out as the converse of 'above board' was clearly 'under hand', now usually written as a single word. This dates back to the 17th century too, for example, in this line from Cyril Tourneur's The Atheist's Tragedie, 1611:

"He does it under hand."

Ac hi l l e s ' h e e l
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Parts of the body

Me a ni ng A weak or vulnerable factor. O r i gi n

The legend of Achilles has it that he was dipped into the river Styx by his mother Thetis in order to make him invulnerable. His heel wasn't covered by the water and he was later killed by an arrow wound to his heel. Although the legend is ancient, the phrase wasn't picked up in English until the 19th century. It is used as a metaphor for vulnerability, as in this early citation, an essay by Samuel Taylor Coleridge in The Friend; a literary, moral and political weekly paper, 1810: "Ireland, that vulnerable heel of the British Achilles!"

Ac i d t e s t
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American phrases
Me a ni ng

A sure test, giving an incontestable result. O r i gi n Gold prospectors and dealers need to be able to distinguish gold from base metal. The original acid test was developed in the late 18th century and relied on nitric acid's ability to dissolve other metals more readily than gold. To confirm that a find was gold it was given 'the acid test'. A test sample was used to mark a touchstone and the degree to which it dissolved when the acid was added determined whether it was gold. Various other later tests also used acid and these are all called 'acid tests'. The earliest citation I have found of a figurative use of the phrase (that is, one where no actual test is performed) is from the Wisconsin paper The Columbia Reporter, November 1845: "Twenty-four years of service demonstrates his ability to stand the acid test, as Gibsons Soap Polish has done for over thirty years."

A punning variant of the term arose in the 1960s hippy community. Ken Kesey and his Merry Pranksters began holding 'Acid Test' parties in San Francisco in 1965. The attendees were serenaded by The Grateful Dead and given drinks of Kool-Aid spiked with lysergic acid diethylamide. 'Acid' was of course the colloquial name of LSD. It's not clear exactly what was being

tested; survival possibly. The 'test' parties were referred to in Jefferson Airplane's 1965 A Song for All Seasons: Since the acid test... They say your drummer he's crazy as a loon Last night they found him baying at the moon For those who have never experienced the joys of Kool-Aid, with or without the mystery ingredient, it's a soft drink. Its original name was 'Fruit Smack'; perhaps that's what Kesey had in mind?

Ad a m ' s a l e
Me a ni ng Water. O r i gi n 'Adam's ale' is a jokey reference to the only drink available to Adam - the first man, in the biblical and Koranic traditions. It alludes to the simplicity and purity of life in the biblical Eden before the fall. This is in contrast to the association of strong drink with evil and the devil. 'The demon drink' was a metaphor frequently used by supporters of the Temperance Movement; a speech made at the Whole World's Temperance Convention, New York, September 1853, included the opinion: "There is no excuse for the drunkard, and there is much less for the tempter of Drunkenness. He has taken the trade of Satan into his own hands..." The term 'Adam's ale' is now used less than previously, although it was in common use until the mid to late 20th century. The earliest printed citation is from William Prynne's The soveraigne power of parliaments and kingdomes, 1643:

"They have beene shut up in prisons and dungeons ... allowed onely a poore pittance of Adams Ale, and scarce a penny bread a day to support their lives." Of course, there has to be a beer with that name. Various ales using the brand name Samuel Adams are brewed by the Boston Beer Company, although to be grammatically correct they are Adams' ales.