William Shakespeare’s English may seem quite different from the language we use today, but many words and phrases we now use were created by the famed poet and playwright.
Some of the words first used by Shakespeare include excellent, dishearten, obscene, premeditated, accommodation, lonely, and the list goes on.
Critic Bernard Levin summed up in “Enthusiasms” (1983) some common phrases created by Shakespeare:
1. It’s Greek to me
2. Vanished into thin air
3. Budge an inch
4. Tongue-tied
5. Tower of strength
6. In a pickle
7. Knit your brows
8. Insist on fair play
9. Slept not one wink
10. Stand on ceremony
11. Laugh yourself into stitches
12. Short shrift
13. Too much of a good thing
14. Seen better days
15. Fool’s paradise
16. Be that as it may
17. Foregone conclusion
18. As luck would have it
19. It’s high time
20. That’s the long and the short of it
21. The game is up
22. Your own flesh and blood
23. Suspect foul play
24. Teeth set on edge
25. One fell swoop
26. Without rhyme or reason
27. Good riddance
28. Dead as a doornail
29. Eyesore
30. Laughing stock
31. For goodness’ sake
32. What the dickens
*Image of William Shakespeare via Shutterstock
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