Got my Back up. In allusion to cats, which set up their backs on being confronted by their own species or by a ferocious dog.
Got my Dander up. The word dander here is a corruption of dandruff, which, though it means only the scurf on the head, has come to be curiously applied to the hair itself; as when the fur of enraged animals is raised.
Got the Bullet. Suddenly discharged from one’s occupation; “fired out,” as it were.
Got the Push. Ousted from one’s place of employment. Metaphorically to have been pushed off the premises.
Got the Sack. An expression derived from the sack in which mechanics and artisans generally carried their own tools. When engaged to work the tools were assigned to a proper place in the workshop, while the master took possession of the sack. On discharging his men he returned them the sack.
Go to. An Old English expression which leaves something to the imagination. Originally it must have implied a place where there is much caloric. In its popular acceptation it meant simply “Get along with you!”
Go to Bath. An expression signifying that a person is talking nonsense. When the west of England was the fashionable health resort silly and slightly demented folk were recommended to “Go to Bath, and get your head shaved.”
Go to Bungay. The curt answer received by persons who asked where they could get the once fashionable leather breeches. Bungay, in Suffolk, was the only place where they were made. This expression travelled over to New England with the first emigrants, and is still common in that portion of the United States.
Go to Jericho. Jericho was the name given by Henry VIII. to the Manor of Blackmore, near Chelmsford, whither he often retired quite suddenly from affairs of State. At such times his courtiers suspected some fresh freak of gallantry, and said he had “gone to Jericho.” Moreover, when in a testy mood, his Queen would tell him to “go to Jericho!”
Go to Putney. A very old expression, tantamount to consigning a person beyond the pale of London society or civilisation.