Where does the expression "work like the dickens" come from?
147550
http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/233450.html\n\nMeaning\nA lot; as in 'hurts like the dickens'. \n\nOrigin\nNothing to do with Charles Dickens. Dickens is a euphemism for the word devil, possibly via devilkins. Shakespeare used it in 'the Merry Wives of Windsor: 'I cannot tell what the dickens his name is my husband had him of.'
776739
In the novel, A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens: he conveys and captures the growing anger, depression and desperation of the peasantry. Many repetitions, symbols and contrasts of  imagery,  bring surprise and wonder to the book and grab hold of the reader. These details are expressed in chapter five, throughout the wine casket scene.\nYou need to italicize the title of the book and come up with and ending. Also I have just cut out the extra verbage, but I think this reads better now. I am not sure about the semi colon after dickens name but if you end with a summary of the book in a sentence you will do great.
914180
I have seen it used, but cannot find it in any dictionary.  It seems to be used "as in a liberal sense" or using prudence in a poetic license context.
1067579
Interesting question that others have been pondering on as I see.\nHere's a link that takes the expression back to at least 1946 when used as the title of a book about psychiatric problems provoked in troops in wartime (a topical subject)\nhttp://www.tomfolio.com/bookdetailssu.asp?b=7070&m=106\nSmokey Stover thought on this forum that it dated back to 1940\nhttp://www.phrases.org.uk/bulletin_board/46/messages/1021.html\nSomeone elso gives the authorship to Robert Owen, the 18th century textile owner and philanthropist which certainly predates the others http://www.giga-usa.com/quotes/authors/robert_owen_a001.htm\n\nHow am I doing?
702480
Often used to denote the British author George Bernard Shaw.
361336
The phrase is derived from the practice of quickly jotting down calculations on the piece of paper nearest to hand, which in pre-email days often meant the back of an envelope. Another possible origin for the phrase is a widespread myth that Abraham Lincoln wrote the Gettysburg address on the back of an envelope while on the train to Gettysburg.\n\nThe physicist refered to by your professor is Feynman.
639470
This is a references to an old phrase started, not England, but Scottland... the term was mistranslated by the English in the midst of war. The Term was used by the Scottish to bring out their weapons and black axes, the axes weren't really black but that's a different story. In any case... it is now used to mean "Get ready for the worse"
1004137
We would say "pinch, poke..you owe me a coke"\nI imagine it originated in some play ground somewhere....obviously after coke originated
490801
Great Expectations by Dickens.  Its the tale of a boy who never quits, never gives up on his dream....of being with his true love....
463172
The quote you are thinking of is probably "standing on the shoulders of giants" which was used by Sir Isaac Newton in a letter to Robert Hooke. He said "If I have seen further it was by standing on the shoulder of giants". Incidentally, the phrase is etched onto the side of the 2 pound coin in the United Kingdom.
1062834
From Shakespeare:\n\nA thankful heart is not only the greatest virtue, but the parent of all the other virtues.\n\nBeggar that I am, I am even poor in thanks, but I thank you; and sure, dear friends, my thanks are too dear a halfpenny.
1170816
This originated in the early 1980s. It is generally regarded as an American expression. This item from the New York newspaper the Syracuse Herald-American, Feb. 1982, which is the earliest version in print that I can find, puts that in some doubt. It's in a piece by Jerry Buck, writing out of Los Angeles, about actress Lauren Tewes
454568
Not according to this etymology website:\njob  \n1557, in phrase jobbe of worke "piece of work" (contrasted with continuous labor), perhaps a variant of gobbe "mass, lump" (c.1400, see gob). Sense of "work done for pay" first recorded 1660. Slang meaning "specimen, thing, person" is from 1927. The verb is attested from 1670. On the job "hard at work" is from 1882. Jobber "one who does odd jobs" is from 1706. Job lot is from obsolete sense of "cartload, lump," which may also be ult. from gob.
1083579
Try reading historical texts on the Industrial Revolution, and novels by Charles Dickens.
534929
This expression, meaning "be very careful to behave correctly",\nhas been in use from the 17th century on.  Theories include:  an\nadmonishment to children learning to write; an admonishment to\ntypesetters (who had to look at the letters reversed); an\nadmonishment to seamen not to soil their navy pea-jackets with\ntheir tarred "queues" (pigtails); "mind your pints and quarts";\n"mind your prices and quality"; "mind your pieds and queues"\n(either feet and pigtails, or two dancing figures that had to be\naccurately performed); the substitution of /p/ for "qu" /kw/ in the\nspeech of uneducated ancient Romans; or the confusion by students\nlearning both Latin and Ancient Greek of such cognates as _pente_\nand _quintus_.  And yes, we've heard the joke about the instruction\nto new sextons:  "Mind your keys and pews."
250056
Yes, it is a reference to Erol Flynn.  Apparently, he was a pretty wild guy.  According to IMDB:\n\n"The phrase "In like Flynn," stems from his 1942 trial for statutory rape."
58830
it's from old English for "a regular occuring payment" like a salary (as opposed to per diem, or per job pay).