E
(as of Nov 26, 2007)- Early Bird Catches the Worm
- Easy as Pie
- Eleventh Hour
- Everything But the Kitchen Sink
- Every Tom, Dick, and Harry
Sample Idiom
Every Tom, Dick, and Harry
Sentence
This was supposed to be a small and intimate get together, but Gerry invited every
Tom, Dick, and Harry.
Explanation
every person in the neighborhood, especially very ordinary people
Origin
William Shakespeare used a phrase like this one in one of his plays around 1600. But
the third name is Francis. Later on, in the 1800, a lot of men were named Harry, and
somehow, that name replaced Francis, and joined Tom and Dick. Today, the idiom usually
means a put-down, spoken by a person who thinks he is more special than the others.
