Ear: To make a pig's ear out of something means to do a job messily. I can't find an origin for this either but, again, it may be associated with rhyming slang.
In November 2005 Gary Mason wrote: "Can I suggest (as an origin) the saying, "You can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear." i.e. if you've got rubbish, you'll never make anything of value from it, but usually applied disparagingly when observing someone trying to teach a "bumpkin" manners. The "pig's ear" is a lump for rubbish."
Earmark: To earmark something. This comes from the ancient habit of marking cattle ears with a tab to indicate ownership. In biblical times the custom even extended to human property. In Exodus xxi, 6 it says of a servant who declined to go free after six years' service : "his master shall bore his ear through with an awl; and he shall serve him forever". In the 19th century the term came to be applied to money designated for a special purpose. Later it spread to the wider application used today.
Ears: If someone is wet behind the ears they are regarded as being inexperienced and new to a task. The saying is many hundred of years old and comes from the fact that many animals, when they are new born, have a small depression behind the ears. The young themselves are wet at birth and this depression is the last thing to dry out. By the time it does, the animal is a little older and possibly wiser.
Eavesdropping: To be caught eavesdropping implies that a person has been deliberately trying to overhear a conversation not intended for their ears. The word and its implication go back centuries to the time when most houses had no gutters; the rain dripped off the roofs but the roofs themselves projected well beyond the walls. This area inside where the water dripped was known originally as the Eavesdrip and later as the Eavesdrop. People sheltering here were somewhat protected from the rain, but could also overhear what was going on in the house.
Eight. When someone is described as being one over the eight, then they are reckoned to be drunk. The saying is based on the belief that you don't get drunk on a mere 8 pints of beer, but need one more! The expression is seemingly unknown in the US but is widespread in the UK and Ireland.
Egg: To egg on means to urge someone to continue doing something that is, perhaps, a little dubious, such as a schoolboy being encouraged by his classmates to make faces at the teacher behind his back. Why Egg? This could be an adulteration of the word Edge and the expression should perhaps really be to edge on.
However! there is another, more likely origin. In this case egg derives from the old English eggian which means "to spur" or "to incite".
A curate's egg; anything that is a less than perfect but which has its good points is often described as being like the "Curate's egg". This comes from a famous "Punch" cartoon of the 19th century in which a young curate is seen having breakfast with his Bishop. The curate's egg is clearly not fresh and, when asked by the Bishop "how is your egg?", is forced to politely reply "excellent, in parts".
As sure as eggs is eggs is used to describe a certainty but, again, why eggs? This is another possible adulteration, this time eggs is really "X" and the saying should be As sure as X is X.
Elephant: A white elephant is something which is a liability, more trouble than it's worth. The saying is based on the supposed habit of the King of Siam who, if he wished to get rid of a particular courtier, gave a gift of a white elephant. The courtier dared not offend the King with a refusal although he was fully aware that the cost of upkeep of such an animal was ruinous.
End: To keep/hold your end up
means to persevere at, keep going with, carry on with a certain task - you
don't give up in any circumstances without a 'fight'. I can't find an exact
origin for this particularly British phrase, but it's not difficult to see
an analogy with cricket, where two batsmen are in play, one at each end of
the batting area/wicket. One batsman may be much better than the other but,
in order to stay batting, the good one must always have someone at the
other end. Thus, the weaker of the two is told to 'keep/hold his end up'.
Ends: If one is at loose ends then there is not much of anything to be done; life is a little dull and boring. The ends here are almost certainly those of rigging ropes on a sailing ship. There were many such ropes associated with the sails and the ends were tightly bound to prevent them unravelling. When there was little else to do the Captain would order his men to check the ropes and repair any of those with loose ends.
To make (both) ends meet is to live within one's means, but what are the ends in this instance? Most probably the term comes from accountancy where meet used to be an adjective meaning "equal" or "balanced". The end was the end of the financial year in which both profit and loss accounts had to be balanced: the ends had to be met
An alternative explanation is that it came from tailoring or dressmaking, in which the amount of cloth available might only just be sufficient to complete the garment, so that it would wrap completely around the body, making the ends meet. A saying with this sense occurs in Polish.
Eyewash: It's a load of eyewash implies that something is a load of rubbish or is Bunkum. Why such use has arisen I haven't been able to find out.
Eyes: To keep one's eyes peeled means to be alert, observant. This seems an odd phrase, but dates back to the 1820s in Britain, when Sir Robert Peel established the first organised police force. The officers were known as 'peelers, or 'bobbies'. They were expected to be particularly observant and to keep their eyes 'peeled', after their founder's orders! Of the two popular names, only 'bobby' survives.
