What Word Is Missing From These Common Phrases?

This phrase originated in a 1580's work titled, "The Bugbears." There the phrase appeared as “Wold he haue me kepe nothing against a raynye day?"

"An apple a day keeps the doctor away" was first recorded in the 1860s as ‘‘Eat an apple on going to bed, and you’ll keep the doctor from earning his bread.” The current version was first recorded in 1922.

"Curiosity killed the cat" was originally a different phrase. It started as "care killed the cat." At the time, "care," in this sense, meant worry.

This phrase dates back to the 16th century. One early use appeared in John Lyly's "Euphues and his England."

The phrase "biting off more than you can chew" may date back to 1800s America. At the time, people often chewed tobacco and sometimes put too much in their mouths. Hence, literally biting off more than they could chew.

In the 1920s, the tango became a popular dance. The phrase "takes two to tango" entered common usage as the name of a 1952 Pearl Bailey song.

The concept of "those who live in glass houses should not throw stones" dates back to Geoffrey Chaucer's "Troilus and Criseyde," circa 1385. In 1651, Welsh poet George Herbert used the phrase as "Whose house is of glass, must not throw stones at another."

The phrase "apples to oranges" may have formed in the mid-1900s. However, a similar phrase about comparing apples to oysters appears in Shakespeare's "Taming of the Shrew."

In 1964, John Milton referred to a cloud having a silver lining in "Comus: A Mask Presented at Ludlow Castle." In the Victorian era,​ the expression was "There's a silver lining to every cloud."

This phrase does not have a clear origin. It is frequently attributed to Miguel de Cervantes, who wrote: "'Tis the part of a wise man to keep himself today for tomorrow, and not venture all his eggs in one basket."

​The phrase "Devil's advocate" comes from the Latin expression "advocatus diaboli." In medieval Europe, the role was a job title. The Vatican has records from the early 1500s that mention this role.

"You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink" was first recorded in 1175. It has been in continuous use since then.

In 1921, Wonder Bread became the first pre-sliced bread on the market. At the time, the company's ads said: "The greatest forward step in the baking industry since bread was wrapped." The phrase morphed into "The greatest thing since sliced bread."

Barking up the wrong tree comes from hunting dogs mistakenly barking up a tree where they think an animal is hiding. The first example of "barking up the wrong tree" in print was in 1932. James Kirke Paulding used it in his novel, "Westward Ho!"

This phrase originated in the United States sometime after 1796. In the 1800s, many food items, like eggs, cost a dime a dozen.

"Making a long story short" is not a new concept. The phrase formed in the 1800s. Henry David Thoreau used a variation of it in an 1857 letter.

"Jumping on the bandwagon" acquired its current meaning sometime before the 1890s. However, the phrase must have been created after 1855 because that is the year P.T. Barnum coined the word "bandwagon."

The "last straw" is a shortened version of "the last straw that breaks the camel's back." The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations claims it's a mid-17th-century​ proverb.

No one knows for sure where the phrase "pull yourself together" came from, but it may have been created in the late 1800s. It means to calm oneself down.

"Benefit of the doubt" was first recorded in the 1840s. It is thought to be related to the legal concept, "reasonable doubt."

The phrase "under the weather" originated with sailors. When they used it, it was to send an ill shipmate below deck to recover. Hence, he would be "under the weather."

"Giving someone the cold shoulder" first appeared in Walter Scott's "The Antiquary" in 1816. The folk etymology is that welcome guests were given a hot meal and unwelcome ones received​ a "cold shoulder of mutton."

The term gained popularity around World War II. During that time, it was used to describe a design that failed.

The phrase "hang in there" was popularized in the 1970s. During that decade, it appeared on a popular poster featuring a Siamese kitten clinging onto a bamboo pole.

"It's raining cats and dogs" was never literal. It comes from old English.

The phrase "cut some slack" entered common English usage around the mid-1900s. However, the origin of the phrase is from the late 1700s. It originally referred to loosening a part of a sail or rope.

Shakespeare may have coined "a wild goose chase." In "Romeo and Juliet," Mercutio uses the phrase in a conversation with Romeo.

In the 1800s, "a blessing in disguise" had solidified into its current usage. However, the phrase was known in the 1700s.

There are many theories as to how "break a leg" made its way into common language. The only thing we do know is that it originates from theater slang. It is thought that wishing someone bad luck would have the opposite effect.

The usage of it's not "rocket science" originally referred to how difficult that branch of science was. However, in 1980's American football the phrase really took off!

The phrase "chip off the same block" dates back to 1621. At that time, it appeared in "Sermons" by Bishop Robert Sanderson. The current phrase appeared in a June 1870 edition of The Athens Messenger, an Ohio newspaper.

This phrase is similar to "what you don't know can't hurt you." However, "ignorance is bliss" came from Thomas Gray's 1742 poem "Ode on a Distant Prospect of Eaton College."

"You catch more flies with honey than with vinegar" means that you will have more success being nice than being unkind. The first printed version of this phrase appeared in Benjamin Franklin's "Poor Richard's Almanac" in 1744.

The phrase was first published in 1570. Thomas Howell wrote "Counte not thy Chickens that vnhatched be." In modern English that would be "Don't count your chickens before they hatch."

"Going down in flames" entered common usage around 1915. It means the same thing as "going up in smoke."