Spirit_of_Sky все записи автора Meaning

To create a new phrase.

Origin

'To coin a phrase' is now rarely used with its original 'invent a new phrase' meaning but is almost always used ironically to introduce a banal or clichéd sentiment. This usage began in the mid 20th century; for example, in Francis Brett Young's novel Mr. Lucton's Freedom, 1940:

"It takes all sorts to make a world, to coin a phrase."


Shakespeare, the greatest coiner of them all, also referred to the coining of language in Coriolanus, 1607:

"So shall my Lungs Coin words till their decay."