A farm labourer driving his car may be advised to ‘put yer foot down’ on the accelerator, but on a tractor he would be told to ‘ give it some welly’ (Wellington boot), but both of these instructions are English and not dialectal idioms. Modern needs produce new idioms that are characteristic of present conditions. The earliest instance that I have found is from the Conclusion of Lincolnshire Dialects (Richard Kay Publications – Boston, Lincolnshire, 1976), by George Edward Campion (1908-77): This originally referred to putting one’s foot down on the accelerator pedal in a motor vehicle. In British English, the noun welly, also wellie, short for wellington (boot), is used figuratively in the sense of force, power, frequently in the phrase to give it some welly and variants. This term now denotes a knee-length waterproof rubber or plastic boot, worn in wet or muddy conditions. Named after Arthur Wellesley (1769-1852), 1 st Duke of Wellington, the term wellington (boot) originally denoted a high boot covering the knee in front and cut away behind, later also a somewhat shorter boot worn under trousers.
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