railway spine
Medicine (now historical )
noun
A disorder characterized by pain in the back with sensory and motor nervous dysfunction, occurring especially after a railway accident (originally attributed to solely to physical, and later also to psychological, trauma).
Origin
Mid 19th century; earliest use found in John Erichsen (1818–1896), surgeon.
- bettong
- bettor
- be tuned in
- between
- between a rock and a hard place
- between jobs
- between ourselves (or you and me)
- between the devil and the deep blue sea
- between you and me and the bedpost (or the gatepost or the wall)
- between you and me and the gatepost
- between you and me and the wall
- be twice the man/woman (that someone is)
- betwixt
- betwixt and between
- be two a penny
- be two (or ten) a penny
- beun
- be unable to believe one's eyes (or ears)
- be unable to hear oneself think
- be unable to (or be hardly able to) believe one's luck
- be unable to punch one's way out of a paper bag
- be unable to see the wood (or the forest) for the trees
- be under no illusion (or illusions)
- be under the illusion that
- be up shit creek