a list of words that are only ever used in one phrase and one phrase only

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1. fro - "to and fro"

― JZ, Tuesday, 23 August 2005 14:13 (twenty years ago)

2. petard - "hoisted on your own etc."

― Jordan (Jordan), Tuesday, 23 August 2005 14:16 (twenty years ago)

Tony Robinson did a whole special the other day where he demonstrated what a petard was.

(And actually, it has two meanings - one for people involved in medieval warfare, and another on ships!)

― I Dream Of Sleep (kate), Tuesday, 23 August 2005 14:19 (twenty years ago)

It's a kind of mediaeval grenade is it?

― Dadaismus (Dada), Tuesday, 23 August 2005 14:20 (twenty years ago)

http://www.merlinnj.com/shop/media/holy_hand_grenade.jpg

― g-kit (g-kit), Tuesday, 23 August 2005 14:21 (twenty years ago)

pyrrhic - as in 'pyrrhic victory'

― Bob Six (bobbysix), Tuesday, 23 August 2005 14:31 (twenty years ago)

jetsam
morans

― Haikunym (Haikunym), Tuesday, 23 August 2005 14:39 (twenty years ago)

"willy nilly"

― elmo (allocryptic), Tuesday, 23 August 2005 14:39 (twenty years ago)

2. petard - "hoisted on your own etc."

Funny, I was trying to come up with a list like this a couple years ago with a friend of mine, and this is the first one we came up with, I think.

― jaymc (jaymc), Tuesday, 23 August 2005 14:40 (twenty years ago)

woogie. (boogie woogie)

auk (auk and style)

― mark grout (mark grout), Tuesday, 23 August 2005 14:42 (twenty years ago)

Wasn't an Auk an extinct type of bird? (Or am I thinking Auroc, which is an animal anyway.)

― I Dream Of Sleep (kate), Tuesday, 23 August 2005 14:43 (twenty years ago)

I knew I was right!

http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/1/0/7/11073/11073-h/images/auk.jpg

― I Dream Of Sleep (kate), Tuesday, 23 August 2005 14:44 (twenty years ago)

The great auk is extinct, but there are still plenty of other auks around.

― NickB (NickB), Tuesday, 23 August 2005 14:46 (twenty years ago)

unrequited

― autovac (autovac), Tuesday, 23 August 2005 14:47 (twenty years ago)

(Actually the list I was trying to construct was more specifically words that were once in common usage but only exist now in an idiomatic context.)

― jaymc (jaymc), Tuesday, 23 August 2005 14:52 (twenty years ago)

'vim and vigour'
'spic and span'

― NickB (NickB), Tuesday, 23 August 2005 14:55 (twenty years ago)

'sleight of hand'
'fleet of foot' (in that sense of the word anyhow)

― NickB (NickB), Tuesday, 23 August 2005 15:02 (twenty years ago)

pale and wan

― mark grout (mark grout), Tuesday, 23 August 2005 15:02 (twenty years ago)

'and never the TWAIN shall meet'

― Sociah T Azzahole (blueski), Tuesday, 23 August 2005 15:03 (twenty years ago)

'as is my WONT'

― Sociah T Azzahole (blueski), Tuesday, 23 August 2005 15:03 (twenty years ago)

I don't agree about 'wan' - I use it and have heard it used alone quite frequently.

― Archel (Archel), Tuesday, 23 August 2005 15:05 (twenty years ago)

I don't agree about 'wan' - I use it and have heard it used alone quite frequently.

Well, you *are* on a Belle and Sebastian mailing list...

― I Dream Of Sleep (kate), Tuesday, 23 August 2005 15:08 (twenty years ago)

Hue and cry

― beanz (beanz), Tuesday, 23 August 2005 15:09 (twenty years ago)

hatch-"down the hatch" (not in the context of eggs)
render-"render unto Caesar what is Caesar's..."

― jocelyn (Jocelyn), Tuesday, 23 August 2005 15:09 (twenty years ago)

(xpost) zing!

― jaymc (jaymc), Tuesday, 23 August 2005 15:09 (twenty years ago)

'woe betide'
'kith and kin'

― NickB (NickB), Tuesday, 23 August 2005 15:11 (twenty years ago)

I always thought that "profusely" had a limited usage, in that I would wager that 80% of the time, it's used with one of the following words: cry, sweat, bleed, apologize, and thank.

― jaymc (jaymc), Tuesday, 23 August 2005 15:12 (twenty years ago)

haha, bloody poets showing up and saying "Nah, 'wan' is in common use"! (xpost to Archel)

― Martin Skidmore (Martin Skidmore), Tuesday, 23 August 2005 15:13 (twenty years ago)

'rent asunder'

― NickB (NickB), Tuesday, 23 August 2005 15:13 (twenty years ago)

(did I spell that right?)

― NickB (NickB), Tuesday, 23 August 2005 15:14 (twenty years ago)

'stark naked'

― NickB (NickB), Tuesday, 23 August 2005 15:16 (twenty years ago)

cleave (in the sense of join, not split) "cleave to one's principles"

― jocelyn (Jocelyn), Tuesday, 23 August 2005 15:18 (twenty years ago)

Ha ha Nick just reminded me of one of Billy Connelly's finest

Teacher: Woe betide the boy who plays football instead of coming into class

Young Billy: Who's this fucking Woby? He's got the right idea!

(or words to that effect)

― Rumpea, Tuesday, 23 August 2005 15:18 (twenty years ago)

"Render" is not uncommon.

― elmo (allocryptic), Tuesday, 23 August 2005 15:19 (twenty years ago)

The quick and the dead – quick as in alive
Hold fast – fast as in, er, not moving at all

― beanz (beanz), Tuesday, 23 August 2005 15:20 (twenty years ago)

You use a derivative of fast still - as in fasten.

― I Dream Of Sleep (kate), Tuesday, 23 August 2005 15:22 (twenty years ago)

Duh

― beanz (beanz), Tuesday, 23 August 2005 15:23 (twenty years ago)

I guess I meant render in the sense of "to pay", the whole action, not using "render payment" which is redundant.

― jocelyn (Jocelyn), Tuesday, 23 August 2005 15:24 (twenty years ago)

Brimstone
Mickle, muckle
Hale

― Markelby (Mark C), Tuesday, 23 August 2005 15:25 (twenty years ago)

'Hale', of course, is usually used in conjunction with 'twat'.

http://www.20six.co.uk/pub/channel26/hale_and_pace2.jpg

― beanz (beanz), Tuesday, 23 August 2005 15:31 (twenty years ago)

After the 'wan' thing I just shouldn't say that I use 'hale' and 'brimstone', should I?

― Archel (Archel), Tuesday, 23 August 2005 15:33 (twenty years ago)

Hale, Satan

― Sociah T Azzahole (blueski), Tuesday, 23 August 2005 15:35 (twenty years ago)

Hoist on his own petard is from Hamlet, right?

Pétard in French is slang for a joint.

― M. White (Miguelito), Tuesday, 23 August 2005 15:40 (twenty years ago)

"For 'tis the sport to have the enginer / Hoist with his owne
petar" Shakespeare, Hamlet III iv.

"Hoist" was in Shakespeare's time the past participles of a verb "to hoise", which meant what "to hoist" does now: to lift. A petard (see under "peter out" for the etymology) was an explosive charge detonated by a slowly burning fuse. If the petard went off prematurely, then the sapper (military engineer; Shakespeare's "enginer") who planted it would be hurled into the air by the explosion. (Compare "up" in "to blow up".) A modern rendition might be: "It's fun to see the engineer blown up with his own bomb."

― Hello Sunshine (Hello Sunshine), Tuesday, 23 August 2005 16:16 (twenty years ago)

cleave

the only word in the english languaged that means one thing and also its opposite.

― poortheatre (poortheatre), Tuesday, 23 August 2005 16:37 (twenty years ago)

nah, there's loads

― Slumpman (Slump Man), Tuesday, 23 August 2005 17:23 (twenty years ago)

eke!

― Huk-L (Huk-L), Tuesday, 23 August 2005 17:28 (twenty years ago)

quench

When is it ever used not in conjunction with "thurst" ?

― JTS, Tuesday, 23 August 2005 19:57 (twenty years ago)

short SHRIFT
out of KILTER

― Si.C@rter (SiC@rter), Tuesday, 23 August 2005 20:08 (twenty years ago)

.cx

― LeCoq (LeCoq), Tuesday, 23 August 2005 20:11 (twenty years ago)

Skipping 180 messages at this point... Click here if you want to load them all.

I have an app for students, Scots ABC. It has a random word generator, from which I just learned the word “oorie.”

― Shifty Henry’s Swing Club (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 26 November 2023 04:20 (two years ago)

Doesn’t have any of the example sentences though, for one thing.

― Shifty Henry’s Swing Club (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 26 November 2023 04:32 (two years ago)

auk (auk and style)
― mark grout (mark grout), Tuesday, August 23, 2005 2:42 PM (eighteen years ago) bookmarkflaglink

Turns out "auk and style" doesn't exist as a saying at all, I'd heard "dressed in auk and style" but maybe it was really "dressing up in style" or something. I do know of one song where I'd misheard the latter for the former, but I'm sure my hearing predates it.

Unless, y'know, you know?

― Mark G, Sunday, 26 November 2023 09:50 (two years ago)

two years pass...

perched - "precariously perched"

― visiting, Tuesday, 2 December 2025 19:58 (six months ago)

I've definitely heard the word "perched" without adverbs or modifiers

― Now read it backwards. (dog latin), Tuesday, 2 December 2025 20:13 (six months ago)

caboodle

― budo jeru, Tuesday, November 21, 2023 3:35 PM (two years ago) bookmarkflaglink

lol, i was going to post this again. not sure why i'm so fixated on this word

― budo jeru, Tuesday, 2 December 2025 20:16 (six months ago)

xp yeah i thought more about that after posting... i guess it's just not a work i really ever hear and the phrase stuck out to me.

― visiting, Tuesday, 2 December 2025 20:19 (six months ago)

*a word

― visiting, Tuesday, 2 December 2025 20:19 (six months ago)

"Precariously" might work though! I'm struggling to think about ways to use that word without saying "perched"

― Now read it backwards. (dog latin), Tuesday, 2 December 2025 20:48 (six months ago)

Both are used all the time... separately.

― Tony Bubbles (Tom D.), Tuesday, 2 December 2025 20:56 (six months ago)

petard

― Edward Albee Sure (Neanderthal), Tuesday, 2 December 2025 21:04 (six months ago)

bored shitless

― Tony Bubbles (Tom D.), Tuesday, 2 December 2025 21:09 (six months ago)

... I forgot scared shitless, so ignore that.

― Tony Bubbles (Tom D.), Tuesday, 2 December 2025 21:09 (six months ago)

betwixt and between

― henry s, Tuesday, 2 December 2025 21:41 (six months ago)

i've heard betwixt used alone many times, but rarely heard "betwixt and between"!

― map, Tuesday, 2 December 2025 21:44 (six months ago)

What is wreaked? Mostly havoc.

Occasionally vengeance. But generally when you have some havoc, it's being wreaked. And if you are going to wreak something, it's probably havoc.

― calmer chameleon (Ye Mad Puffin), Tuesday, 2 December 2025 22:14 (six months ago)

Spic and span, pretty much always discussed together. Ditto flotsam and jetsam.

― calmer chameleon (Ye Mad Puffin), Tuesday, 2 December 2025 22:15 (six months ago)

you've got your flotsam, you've got your jetsam, badda bing badda boom

― budo jeru, Tuesday, 2 December 2025 22:27 (six months ago)

xp i can think of solo uses of both spic and span 😬

― map, Tuesday, 2 December 2025 22:32 (six months ago)

Two years late, but..."auk and style"??? What the fuck are you on about, Mark G?

― Nasty, Brutish & Short, Tuesday, 2 December 2025 23:24 (six months ago)

Helter, and indeed, skelter.
Also, can you champ at anything other than the bit?

― Zelda Zonk, Tuesday, 2 December 2025 23:55 (six months ago)

And I don't think you can ever walk, stroll or jog amok

― Zelda Zonk, Tuesday, 2 December 2025 23:58 (six months ago)

Jog amok!

― Now read it backwards. (dog latin), Wednesday, 3 December 2025 12:15 (six months ago)

I've been chuckling to myself about that since you posted it Zelda Zonk

― Now read it backwards. (dog latin), Wednesday, 3 December 2025 12:16 (six months ago)

Thither, as in 'hither and...', which I guess is 'here and there'. Hither you'll find in hither and yon or come hither. But thither? Can't think of another usage.

― hennohenno moheji (Matt #2), Wednesday, 3 December 2025 14:30 (six months ago)

Kipling uses it in the last stanza of a fake Horace ode, presumably because it sounds archaic and works with the meter.

Maecenas waits me on the Esquiline
Thither tonight go I
And shall this dawn restore us, Virgil mine,
To dawn? Beneath what sky?

― Lily Dale, Wednesday, 3 December 2025 16:11 (six months ago)

went thither in search of adventure.

(Example from wordreference.com, though indeed it seems far more likely these days to be used with "hither".)

― Kim Kimberly, Wednesday, 3 December 2025 16:13 (six months ago)

Good King Wenceslas

Bring me meat and bring me wine!
Bring me pine logs hither!
You and I shall see him dine
when we beat them thither!

― Tracer Hand, Wednesday, 3 December 2025 17:08 (six months ago)

Sorry BEAR them thither

― Tracer Hand, Wednesday, 3 December 2025 17:13 (six months ago)

i got some logs for ya King Wencie

― Edward Albee Sure (Neanderthal), Wednesday, 3 December 2025 17:14 (six months ago)

"Hither and thither" there.

― Kim Kimberly, Wednesday, 3 December 2025 17:15 (six months ago)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xckDFpXa6po

― Tony Bubbles (Tom D.), Wednesday, 3 December 2025 17:17 (six months ago)

sure but the only other available rhyme was “zither” which is an untenable word for medieval bohemia

― Tracer Hand, Wednesday, 3 December 2025 17:44 (six months ago)

I hereby withdraw thither from thread consideration

― hennohenno moheji (Matt #2), Wednesday, 3 December 2025 18:59 (six months ago)

one month passes...

"panacea" only ever used afaict in the phrase "not a _________"

― Tracer Hand, Monday, 12 January 2026 09:10 (four months ago)

There's also no silver bullet

― Alba, Monday, 12 January 2026 09:14 (four months ago)

Very rarely a one size fits all solution

― Alba, Monday, 12 January 2026 09:14 (four months ago)

"Universal panacea" is a phrase I think I've come across.

― ledge, Monday, 12 January 2026 09:42 (four months ago)

Obviously there isn't one.

― ledge, Monday, 12 January 2026 09:42 (four months ago)

“universal panacea” is redundant

― Tracer Hand, Monday, 12 January 2026 12:09 (four months ago)

Gentlemen, you can't argue about lazy writing in here!

― Andrew Farrell, Monday, 12 January 2026 12:21 (four months ago)

Not unless you know the recall code.

― Eric Blore Is President (James Redd and the Blecchs), Monday, 12 January 2026 19:38 (four months ago)

On tenterhooks

― Wearing red lipstick and maintaining a neutral expression (Tom D.), Thursday, 15 January 2026 07:55 (four months ago)

Good King Wenceslas
Bring me meat and bring me wine!
Bring me pine logs hither!
You and I shall see him dine
when we beat them thither!

Missed this at the time, but the Oxford Book of Carols calls the lyrics to GKW “doggerel”.

― ICE = Tonton Macoute (Boring, Maryland), Thursday, 15 January 2026 13:31 (four months ago)

A tenter is a frame for stretching fabrics. Compare the word tent. Both come from the Latin word for stretching, which also gives us words like tendon.

Anyway the fabric is held to the tenter by means of small hooks. Hence tenterhooks.

― calmer chameleon (Ye Mad Puffin), Thursday, 15 January 2026 13:56 (four months ago)

At Christmas eve church service we sang all the verses of all the hymns, and later the other alto said "Next time we don't do all the verses. The cutoff is 'thither.' Anything with thither, we don't sing."

Later her (adult) daughter asked "What the heck is a thither?" which led to a hilarious family riff about cutting things with thithers.

― Ima Gardener (in orbit), Thursday, 15 January 2026 14:24 (four months ago)

if you hear a zither
don't dither

― Tracer Hand, Thursday, 15 January 2026 16:23 (four months ago)

I would be remiss if I did not...

― Venus of Willendorf on Golf (jaymc), Tuesday, 27 January 2026 15:28 (four months ago)

How remiss of you not to think of at least one other usage of that word.

― Wearing red lipstick and maintaining a neutral expression (Tom D.), Tuesday, 27 January 2026 16:33 (four months ago)

You're forgetting my daughters, Miss and Remiss.

― calmer chameleon (Ye Mad Puffin), Tuesday, 27 January 2026 16:53 (four months ago)

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