Damask comes from Damascus. The name first pointed to goods associated with the city, then became the fabric term many people know today.

“Run the gamut” began in music, where gamut meant the full range of notes. Today the phrase means covering a complete range.

This saying suggests that the hardest moment may come just before improvement. Learn its meaning, background, and modern use.

“Go haywire” started with tangled wire on farms and ranches, then became a common way to describe plans or machines going wrong.

“From whence” can be redundant because whence already means “from where,” but the phrase has a long history in English.