crook

en-adj

crook (comparative crooker, superlative crookest)

crooker (comparative)
crookest (superlative)

That work you did on my car is crook, mate.

Not turning up for training was pretty crook.

The soup was crook. It was onkus. A yellow-bellied platypus couldn′t drink it […]

1981, Herman Charles Bosman, The Collected Works of Herman Charles Bosman, page 101:

Things are crook at home at the moment.
“They′re always crook at my home.”

2004, Robert Barnard, A Cry from the Dark, page 21:

(Australia, New Zealand, slang) Bad, unsatisfactory, not up to standard.

I′m feeling a bit crook.

(Australia, New Zealand, slang) Ill, sick.

be crook at/about; go crook at

Ann explained to the teacher what had happened and the nuns went crook at me too.

2006, Jimmy Butt, Felicity Dargan, I've Been Bloody Lucky: The Story of an Orphan Named Jimmy Butt, page 17:

I went home on the tram, then Mum went crook at me because I was late getting home—I had tickets for Mum and her friend to go to the Regent that night and she was annoyed because I was late.

2007, Jo Wainer, Bess: Lost: Illegal Abortion Stories, page 159:

I went crook at them for not telling me and as soon as she was well enough I took her home to the camping area and she soon picked up.

2007, Ruby Langford Ginibi, Don′t Take Your Love to Town, page 100:

Mum went crook at me for wasting money, but when Don got a job and spent all his money on a racing bike, she didn′t say a thing to him.

2009, Carolyn Landon, Cups With No Handles, page 234:

(Australia, New Zealand, slang) Annoyed, angry; upset.


chop

en-noun

chop (countable and uncountable, plural chops)

→ Japanese: チョップ

From Middle English choppen, chappen (“to chop”), of uncertain origin, possibly onomatopoeic, or a variant of chap (“to become cracked”).
Cognate with Scots chap (“to chop”). Compare also Saterland Frisian kappe, kapje (“to hack; chop; lop off”), Dutch kappen (“to chop, cut, hew”), German Low German kappen (“to cut off; clip”), German kappen (“to cut; clip”), German dialectal chapfen, kchapfen (“to chop into small pieces”), Albanian copë (“piece, chunk”), Old English *ċippian (in forċippian (“to cut off”)). Perhaps related to chip.

cog

E, C. McsEnulty, who won the chop at the show on Thursday, cut through a foot lying block in 34 seconds[.]

1924 October 6, The Examiner, Launceston, page 2, column 6:

(Australia, New Zealand) A woodchopping competition.


mate

From Middle English mate, a borrowing from Middle Low German mate (“messmate”) (replacing Middle English mette (“table companion, mate, partner”), from Old English ġemetta (“sharer of food, table-guest”)), derived from Proto-Germanic *gamatjô, itself from *ga- (“together”) (related to German and Dutch ge-) + *matjô (from *matiz (“food”)), related to Old English mete (“food”)). From the same Middle Low German source stems German Low German Maat (“journeyman, companion”), German Maat (“naval non-commissioned officer”). Cognates include Saterland Frisian Moat (“friend, buddy, comrade, mate”), Dutch maat (“mate, partner, colleague, friend”). More at Old English ġe-, English co-, English meat. Doublet of maat.

I'm going to the pub with a few mates.

He's my best mate.

(colloquial, British, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, South Africa, sometimes elsewhere in the Commonwealth) A friend, usually of the same sex.

Excuse me, mate, have you got the time?

(colloquial, British, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, South Africa, sometimes elsewhere in the Commonwealth) Friendly term of address to a stranger, usually male, of similar age.


center

centers (plural)
centre (alternative Australia Canada Commonwealth Ireland New-Zealand South-Africa UK including usually)

From Middle English center, centre, from Middle French centre, from Latin centrum, from Ancient Greek κέντρον (kéntron), from κεντεῖν (kenteîn, “to prick, goad”). Doublet of centrum.
* (group theory): In the notation Z(G), the letter Z derives from the German Zentrum (“center”).

sentrum

point equidistant from all points on the perimeter of a circle

مَرْكَز

point in the interior of figure with mean coordinates

A certain mechanical implement functioning in the middle of a whole apparatus

(Australia, New Zealand) The ring in the gambling game two-up in which the spinner operates.


lemonade

en-noun

lemonade (countable and uncountable, plural lemonades)

→ Japanese: レモネード (remonēdo)

→ Korean: 레모네이드 (remoneideu)

→ Welsh: lemonêd

From French limonade, equivalent to lemon + -ade.

(UK, Australia, New Zealand) A clear, usually carbonated, beverage made from lemon or artificial lemon flavouring, water, and sugar.


Christmas tree

Christmas trees (plural)
Christmas's tree (alternative)
X-mas tree (alternative)
Xmas tree (alternative)

PIE word
 *dóru
[[File:Emoji u1f384.svg|thumb||200px|The emoji for Christmas tree: see the entry at 🎄.]]
From Christmas + tree, a calque of German Weynacht Baum (obsolete, 17th c.), Weihnachtsbaum, from Weynacht, Weihnacht (literary or poetic variant of Weihnachten (“Christmas”)) + -s- (genitive interfix) + Baum (“tree”). The custom of Christmas trees was adopted in the United Kingdom from Germany in the 19th century, having been popularized by their use by the royal family during the reign of Queen Victoria from 1837 to 1901.
Sense 3 (“Christmas party”) refers to the fact that there is usually a Christmas tree (sense 1) at the event.

joulukuusi

something which resembles a Christmas tree in appearance or shape

Another interesting and characteristic tree confined to the province of Auckland is the pohutukawa (Metrosideros tomentosa) or Christmas tree of the settlers, so called from its blooming at the Christmas season and taking the place, in household decoration, of the berried mistletoe and holly.

1884, Alex[ander] Wilson, “Auckland”, in Alex[ander] Wilson, Rutherford Waddell, T. W. Whitson, Maoriland: Illustrated Handbook to New Zealand, Melbourne, Vic.; Sydney, N.S.W.: George Robertson and Co. […] [for the Union Steam Ship Company of New Zealand], →OCLC, page 157:

Perhaps the most strikingly beautiful New Zealand flower is the pohutukawa (Metrosideros tomentosa), a close relation of the ratas. It, too, has brilliant red flowers, also spiky, and from their season of blooming it is sometimes called the Christmas-tree.

1907 October 26, Constance A[lice] Barnicoat, “New Zealand Wild Flowers”, in Country Life, volume XXII, number 564, London: George Newnes […], →OCLC, page 589, column 1:

Metrosideros tomentosa (Myrtaceae), 47571. From Auckland, New Zealand. Seeds presented by Mr. James W. Poynton. "The Christmas tree of our early settlers; native name 'pohutukawa.' It comes into bloom mostly during the Christmas week (midsummer here). The flowers are deep red and the tree is very pretty when in flower.[…]" (Poynton.)

[1919 August 28, James W. Poynton, quotee, Plant Immigrants, number 160, Washington, D.C.: Office of Foreign Seed and Plant Introduction, Bureau of Plant Industry, U.S. Department of Agriculture, →OCLC, page 1471:

Remember the early, not too early, mornings when you went together down a cliff-side track to the little beach fringed with crimson-flowering pohutukawa—a Garden of Eden touch for southern eyes. […] Then the scramble up the track, glimpsing the dark-red Christmas tree blossoms against the sea's azure, to the relish of fried eggs and bacon and good strong tea, swallowed hot, cup after cup—before the new-fangled coffee sipping.

1993, Ian Milner, “Waitaki Days, Waitaki Nights”, in Intersecting Lines: The Memoirs of Ian Milner, Wellington: Victoria University Press, →ISBN, page 66:

M. excelsa is a tree that is very significant to the history and people of New Zealand. […] [T]he New Zealand Christmas Tree’s Maori name of “Pohutukawa” translates closely to “head dress of red feathers” as the flowers according to legend were mistaken for feathers by a Maori chief[…].

2010, Felina Marie Cordova, Ronald Ross Watson, “New Zealand Christmas Tree: Historic Uses and Cancer Prevention”, in Ronald Ross Watson, Victor R. Preedy, editors, Bioactive Foods and Extracts: Cancer Treatment and Prevention, Boca Raton, Fla.: CRC Press, →ISBN, section IV (Nonbotanical Dietary Components), page 584:

pohutukawa

(New Zealand) Synonym of pohutukawa (“a coastal evergreen tree, Metrosideros excelsa, native to New Zealand and producing a brilliant display of red flowers with prominent stamens around Christmastime”)


tomato sauce

en-noun

tomato sauce (usually uncountable, plural tomato sauces)

A plastic tomato sauce bottle, which could have been cut in half to make a flower pot, was quickly surveyed along with other trophies, and received the death sentence. “In the bin, Bob.”

1979 June, Peter C. Harper, Robert Alexander Falla K.B.E., C.M.G., M.A., D.Sc., F.R.S.N.Z.: An Appreciation, page 356:

1980 January-May, Laurence Le Guay, Cruising World, page 98,
I quickly learned that there is a hell of a difference between tomato sauce and ketchup and that there is an even greater difference when it comes to mayonnaise: real American or the pseudo Australian — and I had always believed this to be a French concoction.

The event was a BBQ in the peaceful and picturesque System Garden at the University of Melbourne, Parkville campus. Food was plentifil and included a variety of sausages and veggie burgers, onions, bread and tomato sauce in addition to soft drinks.

2003 March, Microbiology Australia, page 46:

(UK, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, India, Pakistan, Myanmar, Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei) Tomato ketchup, used as a condiment.


shanghai

shanghais (plural)
shanghae (alternative)
shangeye (alternative)

From Scottish shangan, from Scottish Gaelic seangan, influenced by the Chinese city.

Turn, turn thy shang~hay dread aside,
Nor touch that little bird

‘Terry Madison. Instead of fiddling with that shanghai, give us a thought.’ ‘It’s a gongai,’ Swiftie said. ‘I mean that’s the name for a shanghai which is another name for a catapult...that Mr Delarue calls a slingshot.’

1982, Paul Radley, My Blue-Checker Corker and Me, Sydney: Fontana/Collins, page 61:

They scrounged around the camp […] and held out their filthy wings to the feeble sun, making themselves an easy target for Charles's shanghai.

1985, Peter Carey, Illywhacker, Faber and Faber, published 2003, page 206:

However, certain objects are excluded from being treated as a gun. These include a longbow, crossbow, slingshot or shanghai even though it is capable of propelling a projectile by means of an explosive force.

2020, Parliament of Singapore, “Guns, Explosives and Weapons Control Bill”, in Republic of Singapore Government Gazette, page 161:

(Australia, New Zealand) Synonym of slingshot.


shanghai

en-verb

shanghai (third-person singular simple present shanghais, present participle shanghaiing, simple past and past participle shanghaied)

shanghais (present singular third-person)
shanghaiing (participle present)
shanghaied (participle past)
shanghaied (past)
shanghae (alternative)
shangeye (alternative)

(Australia, New Zealand) To hit with a slingshot.


pat

pat (third-person singular simple present pats, present participle patting, simple past and past participle patted)

pats (present singular third-person)
patting (participle present)
patted (participle past)
patted (past)

From Middle English *patten, alteration (with loss of medial l) of platten, pletten (“to pat”), from Old English plættan (“to buffet, strike, slap, smack, give a sounding blow”), from Proto-Germanic *plat- (“to strike, beat”), from Proto-Indo-European *blod-, *bled- (“to strike, beat”). Cognate with Middle Dutch platten, pletten (“to strike, bruise, crush, rub”), German platzen (“to split, burst, break up”), Bavarian patzen (“to pat”), Swedish plätta, pjätta (“to pat, tap”). For loss of l, compare patch for platch; pate for plate, etc. See plat.

cog

Do you want to pat the cat?

(UK, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa) To stroke or fondle (an animal). Compare pet.


beehive

beehives (plural)
bee-hive (alternative)

From Middle English beehyve, equivalent to bee + hive.

Brian Small said that the Minister could not 'hide in the beehive any longer'

2004, Nicholas Tarling, International Students in New Zealand, →ISBN, page 114:

In New Zealand, this approach is taken one step forward in that Ministers physically sit together up in the beehive, as their building is known, rather than being based in the Departments.

2010, David Halpern, The Hidden Wealth of Nations, →ISBN, page 216:

As with other major buildings the beehive demonstrated the need for a standardized building drawing practice which could be applied — and understood

1977, New Zealand Libraries - Volumes 40-42, →ISBN, page 30:

(nonstandard, New Zealand) Alternative form of Beehive.


major

majors (plural)
majour (alternative obsolete)

[ˈmeɪ̯d͡ʒɚ(ɹ)]

[ˈmeɪ̯d͡ʒə(ɹ)]

[ˈmæɪ̯d͡ʒə(ɹ)]

From Middle English major, from Latin maior, comparative of magnus (“great, large; noble, important”), from Proto-Indo-European *méǵh₂yōs (“greater”), comparative of *meǵh₂- (“great”). Compare West Frisian majoar (“major”), Dutch majoor (“major”), French majeur. Doublet of mayor.

pääaineopiskelija

student specializing in a specified subject

Midway through his second year of college, he still hadn't chosen a major.

(education, Canada, US, Australia, New Zealand) The principal subject or course of a student working toward a degree at a college or university.

She is a math major.

A student at a college or university specializing on a given area of study.


melon

en-noun

melon (countable and uncountable, plural melons)

→ Cornish: melon

→ Japanese: メロン

→ Korean: 멜론 (mellon)

→ Welsh: melon

From Middle English meloun, melon, from Old French melon, from Late Latin melonem, from Latin melopeponem, from Ancient Greek μηλοπέπων (mēlopépōn), from μῆλον (mêlon, “apple”) + πέπων (pépōn, “ripe”).

(countable, Australia, New Zealand, derogatory) A member of the Green Party, or similar environmental group.


jandal

Blend of Japanese + sandal, originally a trademarked name.

(New Zealand) A flip-flop (type of footwear)


shan't

shalln't (alternative)
sha'n't (alternative)

From shall + -n't; contraction of shalln't or shall not, historically via shannot.

I shan't be coming back after the way you've treated me today.

That's not a threat, sir, for they have played fair with me, and I sha'n't sacrifice a penny of their money—unless they force me to do so. But—I'm in control. I'm sitting pretty. They can't unseat me, and I warn them not to try.

1922, Rex [Ellingwood] Beach, “chapter XXIV”, in Flowing Gold, New York, N.Y.: Grosset & Dunlap Publishers, by arrangement with Harper & Brothers, →OCLC, page 290:

(UK, Ireland, colloquial; archaic in US, Canada; dated in Australia, New Zealand) Contraction of shall not (negative auxiliary).


yam

Borrowed from Portuguese inhame and Spanish ñame, likely from Wolof ñàmbi (“cassava”) or a related word. The term was spelled yam as early as 1657.

yellow yam

Dioscorea cayenensis. Dioscorea panthaica

(New Zealand) An oca; a tuber from the species Oxalis tuberosa.


mug

→ French: mug → French: meugue

→ Finnish: muki

→ Maltese: magg

→ Swedish: mugg

→ Welsh: mẁg, mỳg

Early 16th century (originally Scots and northern English, denoting "earthenware, pot, jug"), of unknown origin, perhaps from North Germanic (compare Swedish mugg (“mug, jug”), Norwegian mugge (“pitcher, open can for warm drinks”), Danish mugge), or Low German mokke, mukke (“mug”), German Low German Muck (“drinking cup”), Dutch mok (“mug”), also of unknown origin. Perhaps related to Old English muga (“stack”) and Old Norse múgr (“mass, heap (of corn)”). Compare also Middle English mug, mog (“a measure of salt”).

cog

(UK, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Hong Kong, derogatory, slang) A stupid or contemptible person.


mug

en-verb

mug (third-person singular simple present mugs, present participle mugging, simple past and past participle mugged)

mugs (present singular third-person)
mugging (participle present)
mugged (participle past)
mugged (past)

(UK, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Hong Kong, slang) To learn or review a subject as much as possible in a short time; cram.


Aotearoa

/ˌɑː.əʊ.teəˈrəʊ.ə/

/aʊˌtæɪ.əˈrɐʉ.ə/

Borrowed from Maori Aotearoa (“long white cloud; North Island; New Zealand”), see there for more.

bor+

he found in the sea this island Aotearoa (the northern island of New Zealand), and he thought he would land there.

1855, Sir George Grey, Polynesian mythology and ancient traditional history of the New Zealand race: as furnished by their priests and chiefs:

(chiefly New Zealand, obsolete) The North Island of New Zealand.

Aotearoa / rugged individual / glistens like a pearl at the bottom of the world [...].

1981, Tim Finn, Split Enz, “Six Months in a Leaky Boat”:

The Maori in Aotearoa (the pair of major islands which Europeans have known as New Zealand) were part of the same oceanic culture.

2009, Diarmaid MacCulloch, A History of Christianity, Penguin, page 877:

You were a professor at the University of Hawai'i at Hilo and I know you went to Aotearoa to have some time there and gain some experiences.

2019, Kamaka Pili, “Ep. 37: Manulani Aluli Meyer - Hawaiian Epistemology” (4:35 from the start), in Aloha Authentic, via YouTube:

There then arose a triangle of settlement across the vast Pacific, which had as its points Hawai‘i, Rapa Nui and Aotearoa.

2020, Sujit Sivasundaram, Waves Across the South, William Collins, published 2021, page 10:

"We set a target for ourselves, Aotearoa, you've done it, but let's keep going," Ardern said, using a Maori name for New Zealand at a vaccination site, according to the Newshub news service.

2021 October 16, Lidia Kelly, “New Zealand vaccinates 2.5% of its people in a day in drive to live with COVID-19”, in William Mallard, editor, Reuters, archived from the original on 2021-10-16, Asia Pacific:

(chiefly New Zealand) New Zealand, a country in Oceania; the Māori name, used especially in a Polynesian or pre-colonial context.


pudding

en-noun

pudding (countable and uncountable, plural puddings)

→ Belarusian: пу́дынг (púdynh)

→ Burmese: ပူတင်း (putang:)

→ Chinese: 布丁 (bùdīng), 布甸 (bùdiàn)

→ Esperanto: pudingo

→ Estonian: puding

→ French: poudingue

→ Italian: puddinga

→? French: poutine (semantic loan)

desctree

→ French: pudding, pouding (post-1990 spelling)
→ Romanian: budincă
→ Turkish: puding

→ Dutch: pudding

→ German: Pudding

desc

→ Japanese: プディング (pudingu), プリン (purin)

→ Latvian: pudiņš

→ Lithuanian: pudingas

→? Michif: poutchine

→ Polish: pudding

→ Portuguese: pudim

→ Russian: пу́динг (púding)

→ Serbo-Croatian:

Cyrillic script: пу̀динг

Latin script: pùding

→ Spanish: budín, pudding, pudin, pudín

→ Swedish: pudding

→ Ukrainian: пу́динг (púdynh), пу́ндик (púndyk)

→ Welsh: pwdin

From circa 1305, Middle English podynge (“kind of sausage; meat-filled animal stomach”), puddynge, from Old French boudin (“blood sausage, black pudding”), from Latin botellus (“sausage, small intestine”). Doublet of boudin.
* An alternative etymology assumes origin from Proto-Germanic *put-, *pud- (“to swell”) (compare dialectal English pod (“belly”), Old English puduc (“wen, sore”), Low German puddig (“swollen”), Westphalian Puddek (“lump, pudding”), Puddewurst (“black pudding”). More at pout.

der

the proof of the pudding is in the eating

We have apple pie for pudding today.

(UK, Australia, New Zealand) Dessert; the dessert course of a meal.


knocking shop

knocking shops (plural)
knocking-shop (alternative)
knock shop (alternative)
knock-shop (alternative)

[A]lways reminds me of one of the costlier knocking-shops, you know—'Maison Japonaise' …

1945, Evelyn Waugh, “Epilogue”, in Brideshead Revisited […], London: Chapman & Hall, published 1952, →OCLC, page 300:

Bloody nonsense, "All come together"... Sounds like the motto of a knocking shop in Marrakesh.

1990, House of Cards, season 1, episode 1:

Mr Clark, an unrepentant philanderer now gone to the knocking shop in the sky, recorded for posterity his liaisons with Valerie, Josephine and Alison Harkess.

2004 June 12, Vikram Dodd, “Coven's footnote to Clark diaries”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:

[It] had made Mick's heart soar, if only briefly, at the thought that he and Alma might outlive the monster breeze blocks that were used to smash their home ground into crack dens, knocking shops and a despairing dust that settled everywhere on people's heartstrings.

2016, Alan Moore, Jerusalem, Liveright, page 30:

(chiefly Australia, British, New Zealand, slang) A brothel.


crust

en-noun

crust (countable and uncountable, plural crusts)

From Middle English cruste, from Anglo-Norman and Old French cruste, from Latin crusta (“hard outer covering”), from Proto-Indo-European *krustós (“hardened”), from *krews- (“to form a crust, begin to freeze”), related to Old Norse hroðr (“scurf”), Old English hruse (“earth”), Old High German hrosa (“crust, ice”), Latvian kruvesis (“frozen mud”), Ancient Greek κρύος (krúos, “frost, icy cold”), κρύσταλλος (krústallos, “crystal, ice”), Avestan 𐬑𐬭𐬎𐬰𐬛𐬭𐬀- (xruzdra-, “hard”), Sanskrit क्रूड् (krūḍ, “thicken, make hard”).

cog

(British, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, Canada, Northern US) A slice of bread cut from the end of a loaf; the heel.


semi

LL-Q1860 (eng)-I learned some phrases-semi.wav

The prefix semi- (from Latin) used as a noun.

I was hungry an' freezin' an' done caught a chill / When the lights of a big semi topped the hill

1967, Tommy Faile, “Phantom 309”, performed by Red Sovine:

All night we couldn′t hear each other speak because of the sound of semis changing gear to get over the hill.

2011, Eamonn Duff, Schapelle Corby: The Untold Story Behind Her Ill-Fated Drug Run, Australia: Allen & Unwin, unnumbered page:

(Australia, Canada, New Zealand, US) A semi-trailer; a tractor-trailer; an eighteen-wheeler; an artic.


sedan

The sense of "windowed chair" was first used by Sir Sanders Duncombe in 1634, possibly from a southern Italian dialect of Italian sede (“seat”), from Latin sedes. The "motorcar" sense was first recorded in 1912 in North America.

1986 May, Jack Keebler, U.S. Family Sedans - traditional technology takes on state of the art, Popular Science, page 24,
What we are observing in this sedan square-off is the cumulative effect of modern design technology on the family sedan.

In addition there was a companion four-door sedan, mounted on the C- 38 Series 121.5-inch platform and equipped with the 1 14-horsepower L-head six.

1996, Dennis Adler, Fifties Flashback: The American Car, published 2004, page 22:

The 1929 Model A Tudor sedan on these pages will receive a mild top chop of 3 inches, combined with the installation of a rear delivery door and a filled roof.

2005, Dennis W. Parks, American Hot Rod: How to Build a Hot Rod with Boyd Coddington, page 115:

(US, Australia, Canada, New Zealand) An automobile designed in a configuration with separate compartments for engine space, driver/passenger space and luggage space.


station wagon

From train station; station wagons were originally designed for transporting people and luggage between stations and country estates.

1952 November, Should You Buy A Station Wagon?, Kiplinger′s Personal Finance, page 45,
Trade-in values for station wagons have shown a marked improvement since the introduction of the all-steel body. In fact, a station wagon buyer need not worry about his investment′s depreciating any more than he would have to if he bought a four-door sedan.

The Negro was lying in a ditch on the left side of the road, face down, headed west, and the body more or less parallel to the road and about a car length behind the station wagon and a car length in front of Price′s car.

1983, Willie Morris, The Courting of Marcus Dupree, published 1992, page 164:

The prosperity of the postwar years, the baby boom, and the birth of suburbia sent the demand for station wagons soaring. As a result, by 1952 almost every manufacturer offered a station wagon model.

2005, Jim Hinckley, The Big Book of Car Culture: The Armchair Guide to Automotive Americana, page 184:

They rushed him to nearby Coledale Hospital in the back of a station wagon where doctors were standing by.

2007, Wendy Lewis, See Australia and Die: Tales of Misadventure Down Under, unnumbered page:

Two Johns (John Hoban and John Groutsch) came to Essendon airport in their Holden station wagon to take me back to Tocumwal for an interview.

2011, Balaji Rao, From India to Australia, unnumbered page:

(US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, automotive) A body style for cars in which the roof is extended rearward to produce an enclosed area in the position and serving the function of the boot (trunk) of a sedan or saloon.


automobile

→ Alabama: mobìlika

→ Hawaiian: ʻokomopila

→ Unami: hatëmopil

From French automobile, from Ancient Greek αὐτός (autós, “self”) + French mobile (“moving”), from Latin mōbilis (“movable”), equivalent to auto- (“self”) + mobile.

Surprisingly, this analysis revealed that acute exposure to solvent vapors at concentrations below those associated with long-term effects appears to increase the risk of a fatal automobile accident.

2013 July-August, Philip J. Bushnell, “Solvents, Ethanol, Car Crashes & Tolerance”, in American Scientist:

(US, Canada, Philippines, Australia, New Zealand) A type of motor vehicle designed to move on the ground under its own stored power and intended to carry a driver, a small number of additional passengers, and a very limited amount of other load. A car or motorcar.


buck

From Middle English bukke, bucke, buc, from Old English buc, bucc, bucca (“he-goat, stag”), from Proto-West Germanic *bukk, *bukkō, from Proto-Germanic *bukkaz, *bukkô (“buck”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰuǵ- (“ram”). Doublet of puck (billy goat).
Currency-related senses hail from American English, a clipping of buckskin as a unit of trade among Indians and Europeans in frontier days (attested from 1748).
The idea of rigidly standing implements is instilled by Dutch bok (“sawhorse”) as in zaagbok (“sawbuck”).
The sense of an object indicating someone’s turn then occurred in American English, possibly originating from the game poker, where a knife (typically with a hilt made from a stag horn) was used as a place-marker to signify whose turn it was to deal. The place-marker was commonly referred to as a buck, which reinforced the term “pass the buck” used in poker, and eventually a silver dollar was used in place of a knife, which also led to a dollar being referred to as a buck.

Can I borrow five bucks?

Won't yer give Jake ten bucks ter buy hisself some close, so he look nice 'mong de gemmens?

1873, John Morris, Wanderings of a Vagabond:

(US, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, informal) A dollar (one hundred cents).

A unit of a particular currency
A dollar (one hundred cents).


root

en-verb

root (third-person singular simple present roots, present participle rooting, simple past and past participle rooted)

roots (present singular third-person)
rooting (participle present)
rooted (participle past)
rooted (past)
wrout (alternative dialectal)
rout (alternative dialectal)
wroot (alternative obsolete)

From Middle English wrōten (“to dig with the snout”), from Old English wrōtan, from Proto-West Germanic *wrōtan, from Proto-Germanic *wrōtaną (“to dig out, to root”). Related to Old English wrōt (“snout; trunk”). Loss of initial w- probably due to influence from the related noun (Etymology 1).

inh

(Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, vulgar, slang) To sexually penetrate.

еба

coarse slang: to have sexual intercourse


root

roots (plural)
wrout (alternative dialectal)
rout (alternative dialectal)
wroot (alternative obsolete)

Fancy a root?

Ken was in the good mood he'd been in for weeks. Nothing like a regular root to turn him into the jolly green giant.

2018, Melissa Lucashenko, Too Much Lip, University of Queensland Press, published 2023, page 113:

(Australia, New Zealand, vulgar, slang) An act of sexual intercourse.

(Australia, New Zealand, vulgar, slang) A sexual partner.


rego

en-noun

rego (usually uncountable, plural regos)

From registration + -o (diminutive suffix).

The police pulled me over for driving with an expired rego.

You might give these people a badge or some livery for their boat and you can give them a discount on the rego of their boat.

2003, Australian Senate, Parliamentary Debates (Hansard), page 18057:

They gave us permission to drive in Australia under the British rego, meaning we still had our GB number plates.

2007, Archie Gerzee, WOW! Tales of a Larrikin Adventurer, page 223:

When you come to buy or sell a car, every state has its own regulations, particularly with rego (registration).

2008, Ryan Ver Berkmoes, Peter Dragicevich, Justin Flynn, Paul Harding, East Coast Australia, page 501:

(uncountable, colloquial, Australia, New Zealand) Registration for a motor vehicle.

David couldn′t drive his car as he hadn′t paid his rego.

(uncountable, colloquial, Australia, New Zealand) The fee required for such registration.

“They also got the regos of the cars. There were two commercial travelers whose cars were trapped inside by the pickets, and they got hit with writs.[…]”

1984, Renfrey Clarke, The Picket: Tasmanian Mine Workers Defend Their Jobs, page 84:

A line of cars was parked along one side, presumably belonging to the sex workers and their clients. ‘Get their regos,’ Borghini said to one of his people.

2010, Alex Palmer, The Labyrinth of Drowning, HarperCollins Australia, unnumbered page:

(countable, colloquial, Australia, New Zealand) The registration number of a motor vehicle, used by police to access registration details such as the identity of the owner.


tramp

From Middle English trampen (“to walk heavily”), from Middle Low German trampen (“to stamp”) (trampeln (“to walk with heavy steps”), see trample) or from Middle Dutch trampen (“to stamp”), from Proto-West Germanic *trampan (“to step”). Doublet of tremp.
Cognate with Dutch trampen (“to stamp, kick, step”), dialectal German trampen (“to step, walk, tread”), whence commoner German trampeln (“to trample”). Probably related to trap.

der

I got in with the American Fur Company and set out for another tramp to trade with the Indians on the North and South Platte Rivers.

1861, E. J. Guerin, Mountain Charley, page 40:

The starting place for the tramp is reached over a gravel road that begins on Route 3 about a mile south of Gorham spur.

1968, John W. Allen, It Happened in Southern Illinois, page 75:

Speaking of knockout panoramas, if you′re fit then consider doing the taxing, winding, 8km tramp up Mt Roy (1578m; five to six hours return), start 6km from Wanaka on Mt Aspiring Rd.

2005, Paul Smitz, Australia & New Zealand on a Shoestring, Lonely Planet, page 734:

The 1½-hour tramp passes through banksia, gum, and wattle forests, with spectacular views of peaks and valleys.

2006, Marc Llewellyn, Lee Mylne, Frommer′s Australia from $60 a Day, page 186:

(Australia, New Zealand) A long walk, possibly of more than one day, in a scenic or wilderness area.


barking mad

(British, New Zealand, informal) Completely insane.


pash

en-verb

pash (third-person singular simple present pashes, present participle pashing, simple past and past participle pashed)

pashes (present singular third-person)
pashing (participle present)
pashed (participle past)
pashed (past)

‘You gonna pash her?’
‘We only just started going together,’ I said. Pash her? Already? I hadn’t even kissed a girl properly yet.
‘Do you know how to pash?’ It sounded like a challenge. Jed Wall was a bit like that. When he wasn’t just hanging he was fighting or pashing or something that no one else was good at.

2003, Andrew Daddo, You’re Dropped!, →ISBN:

2005, Gabrielle Morrissey, Urge: Hot Secrets For Great Sex, HarperCollins Publishers (Australia), unnumbered page,
There are hundreds of different types of kisses; and there are kissing Kamasutras available in bookshops to help you add variety to your pashing repertoire.

A few hours later, having pashed near the bins outside a supermarket, I stumbled towards my tube station certain I had met the love of my life.

2023 January 31, Clem Bastow, “My bad trip – I met a handsome Scot with a crossword and thought it was true love”, in The Guardian:

(Australia, New Zealand, slang) To snog, to make out, to kiss.


pash

Anyway, the point is, my first pash — or snog, or whatever you want to call it — was so bloody awful it’s a miracle I ever opened my mouth again.

2003, Frances Whiting, Oh to Be a Marching Girl, page 18:

(Australia, New Zealand) A passionate kiss.


cup

→ Farefare: kɔpɩ

→ Hebrew: קאפ (kap)

→ Japanese: カップ (kappu)

desc

→ Kashubian: kopsa (Canada, United States)

→ Korean: 컵 (keop)

→ Maori: kapu

Inherited from Middle English cuppe, coppe, from the merger of Old English cuppe (“cup”) and Old English copp (“cup, vessel”).
Old English cuppe is a borrowing from Late Latin cuppa, itself of obscure origin, but probably from earlier Latin cūpa (“tub, cask”), from Proto-Indo-European *kewp- (“a hollow”). Old English copp, however, is from Proto-West Germanic *kopp (“round object, bowl, vessel, knoll, summit, crown of the head”), from Proto-Germanic *kuppaz, from Proto-Indo-European *gew- (“to bend, curve, arch”) (whence also obsolete English cop (“top, summit, crown of the head”), German Kopf (“top, head”)).
The Middle English word was further reinforced by Anglo-Norman cupe and Old French cope, coupe, from Latin cuppa. Compare also Saterland Frisian Kop (“cup”), West Frisian kop (“cup”), Dutch kop (“cup”), German Low German Koppke, Köppke (“cup”), Danish kop (“cup”), Swedish kopp (“cup”). Doublet of coupe, hive, and keeve.

unk

obscure

cog

that and a dollar will get you a cup of coffee

that and a nickel will buy you a cup of coffee

that and twenty-five cents will get you a cup of coffee

there's many a slip between the cup and the lip

there's many a slip twixt the cup and the lip

(Australia, New Zealand) A metric unit of measure equal to 250 mL.


sauce

en-noun

sauce (countable and uncountable, plural sauces)

sauces (plural)
sawce (alternative obsolete)

→ Japanese: ソース

→ Scottish Gaelic: sabhs

PIE word
 *séh₂ls
From Middle English sauce, from Old French sause, from Vulgar Latin *salsa, noun use of the feminine of Latin salsus (“salted”), past participle of saliō (“I salt”), from sal. Doublet of salsa.
For the meaning development compare Ancient Greek ἥδυσμα (hḗdusma) ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *swéh₂dus (whence also English sweet).

source (non-rhotic, horse–hoarse merger)

what's sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander

[meat] pie and [tomato] sauce

(UK, Australia, New Zealand, India) Tomato sauce (similar to US tomato ketchup), as in:


manu

In the sense of a manufacturer; clipping of 'manufacturer'

For those that don't know what a manu is, you've got your standard bomb, which everyone does, where you curl up and enter the water feet first. But a manu is when you are in a v-shape and essentially your tailbone or lower back enters the water first while you hold that v-shape.

2013 February 22, Elisha Rolleston, “Best water bombs: Nothin' but manus”, in Stuff:

An area of the outdoor pool at Whakatāne Aquatic Centre has been set aside for manus (bombing) after a nine-year-old boy nearly drowned last month.

2022 February 23, Diane McCarthy, “Special space allocated for manus after near drowning”, in RNZ, archived from the original on 2022-02-23:

(New Zealand, diving) A method of diving similar to a cannonball/bomb but with the lower back entering the water first, causing a large splash.


joker

From joke + -er, but in the sense of a playing card possibly by alteration of Jucker, also the origin of the name of the card game euchre.


chip

→ Basque: txip

→ Bulgarian: чипс (čips)

→ Catalan: xip

→ Czech: čip

→ Danish: chip, chips

→ Dutch: chip, chips

→ Ewe: tšipsid

→ Finnish: sipsi, chipsi, chips

→ French: chips

→ Galician: chip

→ Georgian: ჩიპსი (čiṗsi)

→ German: Chip

→ Greek: τσιπ (tsip), τσιπάκι (tsipáki)

desc

→ Hebrew: צִ׳יפְּס, צִ׳יפּ

→ Hebrew: צִ׳יפְּס, צִ׳יפּ (chips, chip)

→ Hijazi Arabic: تشبس (tšips, tšibs), شبس (šips, šibs)

→ Hungarian: csip, csipsz, chip, chips

→ Indonesian: cip

→ Italian: chip

→ Japanese: チップ (chippu), チップス (chippusu)

→ Khmer: ឈីប (chiip)

→ Korean: 칩 (chip), 칩스 (chipseu)

→ Latvian: čipsis

→ Macedonian: чипс (čips), чип (čip)

→ Norwegian: chips

→ Persian: چیپس (čips)

→ Polish: czip, czips, chip, chips

→ Portuguese: chipe, chip, chips

→ Romanian: chips, cip

→ Russian: чипс (čips), чип (čip)

^ → Armenian: չիպ (čʻip)

→ Serbo-Croatian:

Cyrillic script: чипс, чип

Latin script: čips, čip

→ Slovene: čips

→ Spanish: chip, chips

→ Swahili: chipsi, chips

→ Swedish: chips, chipp

→ Turkish: cips, çip

→ Ukrainian: чипс (čyps), чип (čyp)

→ Welsh: tsip

→ Yiddish: טשיפּל (tshipl)

Noun from Middle English chip, chippe, from Old English ċipp (“chip; small piece of wood, shaving”), from Old English *ċippian (“to cut; hew”) – attested in Old English forċippian (“to cut off”) –, from Proto-West Germanic *kippōn (“to cut; carve; hack; chop”), from Proto-Germanic *kippōną (“to chip, chop”), from Proto-Indo-European *ǵeyb- (“to split; divide; germinate; sprout”). Related to Dutch kip, keep (“notch; nick; score”), Dutch kippen (“to hatch”), German Low German kippen (“to cut; clip; trim; shorten”), German kipfen (“to chop off the tip; snip”), Old Swedish kippa (“to chop”). Compare also chop.
The formally similar Old English ċipp, ċypp, ċyp (“a beam; log; stock; post”), from Proto-Germanic *kippaz (“log; beam”) (whence Old Saxon kip (“post”), Old High German kipfa, chipfa (“axle, stave”), Old Norse keppr (“cudgel, club”)) is a different, unrelated word either borrowed from Latin cippus (“stake; pale; post”) or borrowed from the same source language as the Latin.
Verb from Middle English chippen, from Old English *ċippian (“to cut; hew”) – attested in Old English forċippian (“to cut off”) – see above.

cog

I always say the best way to judge an establishment is by its chips because if you can’t master that, what can you do?

2023 July 21, Billie Schwab Dunn, “I Tried Wetherspoons Food for the First Time-I Feared I'd Get Scurvy...”, in Daily Star:

Do you want ketchup, mustard, or mayonnaise on your chips?

Fish and chips is a traditional British dish.

(UK, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, archaic in Canada, usually in the plural) A deep-fried strip of potato; see also usage note at french fries.

They made their own potato chips from scratch... He ate a tortilla chip with guac... served with a side of apple chips...

(US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, especially in the plural) A thin, crisp, fried slice of potato, a crisp; occasionally a similar fried slice of another vegetable or dried fruit.

skyfie

thin, crisp, fried piece of potato or vegetable

(New Zealand, northern) A receptacle, usually for strawberries or other fruit.


stuff

en-verb

stuff (third-person singular simple present stuffs, present participle stuffing, simple past and past participle stuffed)

stuffs (present singular third-person)
stuffing (participle present)
stuffed (participle past)
stuffed (past)

From Middle English stuffen (“to equip, furnish”), borrowed from Old French estoffer, estofer (“to provide what is necessary, equip, stuff”), borrowed from Old High German stoffōn, from Proto-West Germanic *stoppōn (“to clog up, block, fill”). More at stop.

der

He skidded off the road and totally stuffed his brand new car.

(transitive, British, Australia, New Zealand) To break; to destroy.

His wife came home early and found him on the couch stuffing the maid.

(transitive, vulgar, British, Australia, New Zealand) To sexually penetrate.


ratshit

en-adj

ratshit (comparative more ratshit, superlative most ratshit)

more ratshit (comparative)
most ratshit (superlative)

In the morning I was ratshit, just a bundle of nerves.

1987, Stuart Rintoul, Ashes of Vietnam: Australian Voices, page 94:

For a moment Cashin thought that he would be sick, that he would spew over Hopgood.
‘You′re looking ratshit,’ said Hopgood. ‘Even more ratshit.’

2005, Peter Temple, The Broken Shore, page 162:

When I was a little girl, my mother had this ratshit recorder, reel to reel, there were no cassettes then,... anyway, when I was lonely or hurt or scared, she'd play it for me. It was THE HIGH AND THE MIGHTY.

2006, John Ford Noonan, “The Raunchy Dame in the Chineses Raincoat”, in Glenn Young, editor, The Best American Short Plays 2003-2004, page 114:

‘That′s ratshit advice, Danny!’ Sammy, realising Bullnose was making a meal of it, cut in.

2009, Bryce Courtenay, The Story of Danny Dunn, published 2011, page 273:

"The letter is written by the dictator of a rat-shit little country."

2020 June 23, John Bolton, The Room Where It Happened: A White House Memoir, New York, N.Y.: Simon & Schuster, →ISBN, page 125:

(Australia, New Zealand, slang, vulgar) Of very poor quality, badly substandard, useless; damaged or broken; unwell, exhausted.


rip

From Middle English rippen, from earlier ryppen (“to pluck”), ultimately from Proto-Germanic *rupjaną, *ruppōną (compare West Frisian rippe, ripje, roppe, ropje (“to rip”), Dutch dialectal rippen, Low German ruppen, German Low German röpen, German rupfen), intensive of *raupijaną (compare Old English rīpan, rīepan (“to plunder”), West Frisian rippe (“to rip, tear”), German raufen (“to rip”)), causative of Proto-Indo-European *roub- ~ *reub- (compare Albanian rrabe ‘maquis’, possibly Latin rubus (“bramble”)), variant of *Hrewp- (“to break”). More at reave, rob.

(UK, Eton College) A black mark given for substandard schoolwork.


rubber

en-noun

rubber (usually uncountable, plural rubbers)

desc

→ Kashubian: roberk (Canada, United States)

→ Sikaiana: lapa

From rub + -er.
The sense of the substance comes from its ability to function as an eraser, displacing earlier caoutchouc. The senses not having to do with rubbing or erasing are secondarily derived from the name of the substance.

For example, they may use paddle pop sticks, hand span, pencils, rubbers, mathematics equipment (i.e. base 10 material) or anything else the teacher can find to measure the lengths of nominated objects.

2006, Lisa Kervin, Research for Educators, page 148:

Drawing materials, he thought, I used to love drawing as a lad. I can afford some plain paper and pencils, surely? And a rubber, too. He smiled at the memory of an elderly uncle, also fond of drawing, who′d always called rubbers ‘lead eaters’.

2010, Anna Jacobs, Beyond the Sunset, unnumbered page:

Stan stole a diary and some pens, pencils, ink and rubbers during his early days as a POW working on the Singapore docks.

2011, Patrick Lindsay, The Spirit of the Digger, Revised edition, unnumbered page:

(countable, Australia, India, Brunei, New Zealand, UK) An eraser.


choice

From Middle English choys, from a merger of the noun above and Middle English chyse, chuse, chys, chis (“choice, excellent”), from Old English ċīes (“choice; dainty; nice”), related to Old English ċēosan (“to choose”).

inh

choise (alternative obsolete)
choyse (alternative obsolete)

"I'm going to the movies." —"Choice!"


lieutenant

lieutenants (plural)
leftenant (alternative obsolete)
leftenaunt (alternative obsolete)
lieftenant (alternative obsolete)
lieftenaunt (alternative obsolete)
lieutenaunt (alternative obsolete)

→ Irish: leifteanant

→ Malay: leftenan

→ Swahili: luteni

From Middle English lieutenant, lieftenaunt, from Anglo-Norman lieutenant, lyutenaunt, leu tenant, leu tenaunt (“deputy, lieutenant”), from Old French lieu (“place”) + tenant (“holder”). Doublet of locum tenens.

пору́чик

in imperial Russian army (1730–1917), armies of White movement, and in armies of other Slavic nations

по́ру́чник

in certain Slavic armies—a non-dictionary form in limited use instead of поручик to more precisely reproduce local terminology

commissioned officer
commissioned officer

lieutenant commander
lieutenant commander

(military) The lowest junior commissioned officer rank(s) in many military forces, often Army and Marines.

(military, Canada, Australia, New Zealand) A naval Commissioned Officer who holds the rank above sub-lieutenant and below lieutenant commander.


crescent

crescents (plural)
cres. (alternative abbreviation)

From Middle English cressaunt, from Anglo-Norman cressaunt and Old French creissant (“crescent of the moon”) (French croissant), from Latin crēscēns, present active participle of crēscō (“arise, thrive”), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱreh₁- (“to grow”). See Old Armenian սերիմ (serim, “be born”) and սերեմ (serem, “bring forth”), Ancient Greek κόρη (kórē, “girl”) and κούρος (koúros, “boy”), Latin creāre (“produce, create, bring forth”) and Ceres (“goddess of agriculture”). Doublet of croissant.
The pronunciation with /z/ is a comparatively recent innovation due to the influence of words such as pheasant and present.


bloody

en-adv

bloody (comparative more bloody, superlative most bloody)

more bloody (comparative)
most bloody (superlative)
bloudy (alternative obsolete)
bl**dy (alternative)

From Middle English blody, blodi, from Old English blōdiġ, blōdeġ (“bloody”), from Proto-West Germanic *blōdag, from Proto-Germanic *blōþagaz (“bloody”), equivalent to blood + -y. Cognate with Dutch bloedig (“bloody”), German blutig (“bloody”), Danish blodig (“bloody”), Swedish blodig (“bloody”), Icelandic blóðugur (“bloody”). See Wikipedia for thoughts on sense evolution.

Walk! Not bloody likely. [Sensation]. I am going in a taxi. [She goes out].

1912 (date written), [George] Bernard Shaw, “Pygmalion”, in Androcles and the Lion, Overruled, Pygmalion, London: Constable and Company, published 1916, →OCLC, Act III, page 153:

"Dice are no bloody good," David said.

1994, Robert Jordan, Lord of Chaos, page 109:

(informal, Australia, British, India, Ireland, Newfoundland, New Zealand, South Africa, mildly vulgar) Used to express anger, annoyance, or shock, or for emphasis.


rooted

en-adj

rooted (comparative more rooted, superlative most rooted)

more rooted (comparative)
most rooted (superlative)

I'm going to have to call a mechanic, my car's rooted.

(Australia, New Zealand, slang) Broken, damaged, non-functional.


identity

en-noun

identity (countable and uncountable, plural identities)

From Middle French identité, from Latin identitās.

The body of a well known old identity named James Conroy […] was found in the water yesterday afternoon…

1887 July 19, “Drowned at Williamstown”, in The Age, Melbourne:

2013 April 4, “Cricket identities consult lawyers”, in New Zealand Herald:

2016 January 13, “Kings Cross identities arrested in connection with murder”, in The Sydney Morning Herald:

(Australia, New Zealand) A well-known or famous person.


fluffy

From fluff + -y. Compare German flauschig (“fluffy”).

(New Zealand) A babycino (frothy milk drink).


tablespoon

tablespoons (plural)
table spoon (alternative)
table-spoon (alternative)

(Australia, New Zealand, Northern UK) A spoon too large for eating, usually used for cooking or serving.


centre

centres (plural)
center (alternative US)

From Middle English center, centre, from Middle French centre, from Latin centrum, from Ancient Greek κέντρον (kéntron), from κεντεῖν (kenteîn, “to prick, goad”). Doublet of centrum.

So after a short spell in the brass foundry the wisest course was to follow with a similar period in the steel foundry, where much important work was done, including the manufacture of centres for wheels.

1944 November and December, A Former Pupil, “Some Memories of Crewe Works—II”, in Railway Magazine, page 343:

The phrase 'Imperial Manila' is used throughout the archipelago to denote the capital-heavy decision-making and the imposition of the will and culture of the political and economic centre on the peripheries.

2018, Balázs Áron Kovács, Peace Infrastructures and State-Building at the Margins, Springer, →ISBN, page 280:

(British spelling, Canadian spelling, Ireland, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand) Alternative spelling of center.

topapū

A position in Rugby football in the back line


loony left

Tories Play Loony Left Card

1986: Headline in The Guardian, 18 Nov 1986

The Earl of Halsbury ([Hansard] 1986 p310) spoke of how he had been ‘warned that the loony left is hardening up the lesbian camp and that they are becoming increasingly aggressive'.

1988, Michael Urben, Biography and Education:

1988: John Twitchin, Introduction to The Black and White Media Book
The term ‘anti-racist' has become associated with ‘left-wing sentimentality', not to say ‘loony left extremism'.

I sold the story to The Sun for school funds. They led with TROUBLESOME TOT over another piece about LESBIAN LOONY LEFT IN RIOTS.

1989: Fred Sedgwick, Here Comes the Assembly Man: A Year in the Life of a Primary School (referring to an event in 1988)

They claimed that the London Boroughs Grant Scheme should be eliminated so that ‘public money' would no longer be spent on ‘"loony left" projects such as black lesbian groups'.

1992: Kenneth (EDT) Plummer, Modern Homosexualities: Fragments of Lesbian and Gay Experiences, referring to "leaflets distributed by the Conservative Party local constituency association in Surbiton before the May 1991 elections"

The exaggerations of the Thatcher [Conservative] governments, and the fabrications of the tabloid press, concerning the measures invoked by certain Labour councils in order to tackle discrimination and disadvantage led to coinage of the term 'loony Left'. The Government and its allies in the media ridiculed and reviled the principles and policies of such Labour councils, leading people to believe that one would not be allocated a job or house unless one was a disabled vegetarian single-parent lesbian from an 'ethnic minority' background.

1995, Peter Dorey, British Politics Since 1945:

The republican resolution was an example of the influence of the 'loony left' in the Labor Party.

1996: Mark McKenna, The Captive Republic: A History of Republicanism in Australia 1788-1996 (quoting Dr John Hewson, Leader of the Opposition)

[Political correctness] flourished for a while in what became known as ‘loony left' local authorities where public policies passionately favoured minority needs, the dubious as well as the deserving.

1996, Understanding Journalism, John Wilson:

[Linda] Bellos, who was active in promoting lesbian rights as well as supporting black community initiatives, was depicted as the embodiment of the ‘loony left' and her commitment to opposing racism, sexism and homophobia was caricatured.

1998, Julia Sudbury, Other Kinds of Dreams: Black Women's Organizations and the Politics of Transformation:

The Christic Institute, the looniest fringe group of the loony left, which publicised a number of bizarre conspiracy theories in which virtually every ill on earth could be traced to "secret teams" at the CIA involved in the narcotics trade.

1999, Barbara Olsen, Hell to Pay: The Unfolding Story of Hillary Rodham Clinton:

In most cases, they follow not the loony left in the Legislature, but Bush's biggest California backer, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger

2006, Peter Schrag, California: America's High-Stakes Experiment:

(British, Australia, New Zealand, derogatory, politics) Left-wing politicians or activists whose policies or ideas are considered to be ridiculous or too politically correct.


fry

From Middle English fryen, borrowed from Old French frire, from Latin frīgō (“to roast, fry”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰer-. Cognate with Ancient Greek φρύγω (phrúgō, “I roast, bake”), Sanskrit भृज्जति (bhṛjjati, “to roast, grill, fry”), भृग् (bhṛg, “the crackling of fire”). Replaced native Middle English hirsten, from Old English hierstan (“to fry”).

cog

(Australia, New Zealand, cooking) The liver of a lamb.


programme

/ˈpɹoʊˌɡɹæm/

Our programme for today’s exercise class includes swimming and jogging.

The programme about Greek architecture starts at 9:00 on Channel 4.

ITEC is the Indian Technical and Economic Cooperation Programme.

It had been arranged as part of the day's programme that Mr. Cooke was to drive those who wished to go over the Rise in his new brake.

1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter VIII, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC:

Thus once a computer programme has been prepared, vastly different conditions can be inserted and experimented with at the expense of a few hours of computer time.

1961, New Scientist, volume 9, number 226, page 679:

It had been sixteen years since the BBC’s Grace Wyndham Goldie wrote her internal memo about luring him back to make sociological/scientific TV programmes. Now a second note had circulated, from the science department, proposing that he should present the Corporation’s next educative megaseries.

2012, Kate Bassett, “Mid-Seventies Onwards: Operatic beginnings and The Body in Question”, in In Two Minds: A Biography of Jonathan Miller, London: Oberon Books Ltd, →ISBN, page 219:

British, New Zealand, and India standard spelling of program.


corn

en-noun

corn (usually uncountable, plural corns)

Kashubian: kòrné (Canada)

Tok Pisin: kon

→ Maori: kānga

Inherited from Middle English corn, from Old English corn, from Proto-West Germanic *korn, from Proto-Germanic *kurną, from Proto-Indo-European *ǵr̥h₂nóm (“grain; worn-down”), from *ǵerh₂- (“grow old, mature”). Cognate with Dutch koren, German Low German Koorn, German Korn, Danish korn, Norwegian Bokmål korn, Norwegian Nynorsk korn and Swedish korn; see also Albanian grurë, Russian зерно́ (zernó), Czech zrno, Latin grānum and Lithuanian žirnis. Doublet of grain, gram, granum, and grao.
The sense maize (Zea mays) is an ellipsis of Indian corn that developped in 18th century North America.

doublet

what does that have to do with the price of corn

The planting or sowing of maize, exclusively called corn, was just accomplished on the Town Hill, when I reached it.

1809, Edward Augustus Kendall, Travels Through the Northern Parts of the United States:

Corn was the staff of life for many Indian people before contact, and it became the staff of life for many European colonists. Corn was higher in nutrition than most other grain crops. John Lawson, who travelled in South Carolina and into the interior Indian country in 1701, was one of the many colonists who sang the praises of corn.

1998 February 18, Colin G. Calloway, New Worlds for All: Indians, Europeans, and the Remaking of Early America, JHU Press, →ISBN, pages 51–52:

(US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, uncountable) Maize, a grain crop of the species Zea mays.


mozzie

2012, John Basham, Caravan Survival Guide, Explore Australia Publishing, unnumbered page,
As they can carry some dreadful diseases, mozzie defence is very important. It seems the types of mozzies and midges change from area to area.

(UK, Australia, New Zealand) Alternative form of mossie (“mosquito”).


righto

right-ho (alternative)
righteo (alternative)
rightio (alternative)
right-oh (alternative)
right-o (alternative)

"You can count me in." "It may be really rather formidable. We shall have possibly to tackle a prize-fighter." "Right-o!" said Malone, cheerfully.

1925 July – 1926 May, A[rthur] Conan Doyle, “Which Introduces Some Very Physical Phenomena”, in The Land of Mist (eBook no. 0601351h.html), Australia: Project Gutenberg Australia, published April 2019:

(colloquial, especially British, New Zealand, Australia, Ireland) Okay; all right.


sprog

en-noun

sprog (countable and uncountable, plural sprogs)

1940s, originally service slang. Perhaps from obsolete sprag (“lively young man”), of unknown origin.

To test this hypothesis further, he and his mate Fifer persuaded 16 women, heavy with child, to read a story called The Cat in the Hat to their unborn sprogs, twice a day, during the last few weeks of their pregnancies.

1984 September 13, Donald Gould, Forum: Suck it and see, page 54:

Any guardianship or trusts that you set up when your children were little sprogs may no longer be needed.

2008, Julian Knight, Wills, Probate, & Inheritance Tax For Dummies, UK, unnumbered page:

Kids will love the climbing wall and NZ′s highest vertical slide. If the sprogs get bored with reality, movie make-believe (p232) is right next door.

2010, Brett Atkinson, Sarah Bennett, Scott Kennedy, New Zealand′s South Island, Lonely Planet, page 220:

(UK, Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, informal, humorous) A child.


super

Jane looked forward to collecting a large super payout when she retired.

(Australia, New Zealand, informal) Clipping of superannuation.


Alsatian

Alsatians (plural)
alsatian (alternative)

Even the dogs here are restrained, Jesse thought, unlike the feral Alsatians back home that would sprint barking from the bottom of the garden straight through the house and smash themselves against the inside of the door until their owners appeared and locked them away.

2020, Paul Mendez, Rainbow Milk, Dialogue Books (2021), page 56:

(Australia, New Zealand, British, dated US) A German shepherd dog.


agro

en-adj

agro (comparative more agro, superlative most agro)

more agro (comparative)
most agro (superlative)
aggro (alternative)

Trolls turns to me agro/sexy. "You're a weirdo who makes others feel weird cause you don't fit in...leave!"

2019 December, Justin Blackburn, The Bisexual Christian Suburban Failure Enlightening Bipolar Blues, page 90:

(Australia, New Zealand, British, slang) angry


gib

From the trademark GIB, registered by Fletcher Building Holdings Limited, the major brand of plasterboard in New Zealand.


gib

en-verb

gib (third-person singular simple present gibs, present participle gibbing, simple past and past participle gibbed)

gibs (present singular third-person)
gibbing (participle present)
gibbed (participle past)
gibbed (past)

As the wallpaper stripping progresses the damage to walls becomes more apparent. It may require more variation orders for gibbing of walls as well as ceilings.

2014 October 4, Chris Hutching, “An earthquake repair story from the south”, in NBR:


soldier

soldiers (plural)
soldior (alternative obsolete)
soldiour (alternative obsolete)
souldier (alternative obsolete)
souldior (alternative obsolete)
souldiour (alternative obsolete)

Inherited from Middle English soudeour, from Old French soudier or soudeour (“mercenary”), from Medieval Latin soldarius (“soldier (one having pay)”), from Late Latin solidus, a type of coin. Displaced Old English cempa (whence obsolete kemp).
(red herring): An allusion to soldiers' red uniforms; red herring is, reciprocally, a slang term for "soldier".

der

Beside his egg was a plate of buttered toast, already cut up into soldiers.

2008, Nicholas Drayson, A Guide to the Birds of East Africa, page 180:

(British, Australia, Ireland, New Zealand) A piece of buttered bread (or toast), cut into a long thin strip for dipping into a soft-boiled egg.


zucchini

zucchinis (plural)
zucchini (plural)
zucchina (alternative)
zucchino (alternative)

→ Japanese: ズッキーニ

Borrowed from Italian zucchini, plural of zucchino, diminutive of zucca (“squash”). Ultimately related to courgette through the original Latin cucurbita. Compare Sicilian cucuzza.

Cucurbita pepo
Cucurbita pepo#Translingual

(Australia, New Zealand, Canada, US, Philippines) A courgette; a variety of squash, Cucurbita pepo, which bears edible fruit.

(Australia, New Zealand, Canada, US, Philippines) The edible fruit of this variety of squash.


scull

en-verb

scull (third-person singular simple present sculls, present participle sculling, simple past and past participle sculled)

sculls (present singular third-person)
sculling (participle present)
sculled (participle past)
sculled (past)
skol (alternative)

See skull. The verb sense may derive from Danish/Norwegian/Swedish skål.

2005, Jane Egginton, Working and Living Australia, The Sunday Times, Cadogan Guides, UK, page 59,
In 1954, Bob Hawke made the Guinness Book of Records for sculling 2.5 pints of beer in 11 seconds.

That way you get your opponent so gassed up from sculling beer that all he can think about is trying to burp without spewing.

2005, Stefan Laszczuk, The Goddamn Bus of Happiness, page 75:

For a livelier scene, head here on Friday or Saturday night, when mass beer-sculling (chugging) and yodeling are accompanied by a brass band and costumed waitresses ferrying foaming beer steins about the atmospheric, cellarlike space.

2006, Marc Llewellyn, Lee Mylne, Frommer′s Australia from $60 a Day, 14th edition, page 133:

After a three-day Torquay-to-Sydney road trip with his hosts, Noll rejoined his American temmates, unshaven and stinking of alcohol, the Team USA badge ripped from his warm-up jacket and replaced by an Aussie-made patch of Disney character Gladstone Gander sculling a frothy mug of beer.

2010, Matt Warshaw, The History of Surfing, page 136:

I sipped it. It was thick and sweet and yuck. It went somewhere and did something I couldn't pinpoint. I sculled the rest.

(Australia, New Zealand, slang) To drink the entire contents of a drinking vessel without pausing.


para

(New Zealand) Synonym of king fern (“the plant Ptisana salicina”).


jab

Originally a Scottish (unclear if Scots or Scottish English) form of English job (“peck, poke, thrust”), from Middle English jobben.

A 'painless' sticking plaster flu jab that delivers vaccine into the skin has passed important safety tests in the first trial in people.

2017 June 28, Michelle Roberts, “Painless flu jab patch for people scared of injections”, in BBC News:

(British, Australia, New Zealand, sometimes Philippines) A vaccination, whether or not delivered via conventional injection.


bludger

If she is doing the work of two parents because her husband has died or left her or is violent and has driven her and the kids from home, then suddenly she is a bludger.

2005, Australian House of Representatives, Parliamentary Debates: House of Representatives: Official Hansard, volume 270, page 84:

(Australia, New Zealand, slang, derogatory) A person who avoids working, or doing their share of work, a loafer, a hanger-on, one who does not pull their weight.


unco

en-adj

unco (comparative more unco, superlative most unco)

more unco (comparative)
most unco (superlative)

‘Aren′t he the most unco kid you ever come across?’ Norm refused to have Kevin on his boat even if he begged to be taken because he was too clumsy.

2006, Alexis Wright, Carpentaria, page 106:

(slang, New Zealand, Australia) Uncoordinated.


kai

Borrowed from Maori kai. Doublet of makan (via Malay) in Malaysian and Singaporean English varieties.

Actually, I'm not sure I like these new hangis using the foil, it tends to stop the juices getting through to the stones and I reckon the hangi kai is drier to the palate.

1995, Graeme Williams, The soc.culture.new-zealand FAQ:

Got to go now and get some kai.

2003, Carmen, “Is there really a censor in NZ?!”, in nz.general (Usenet):

When the sausage man handed the kai over, Kerry passed two wieners to a pair of skinny white kids who had been watching the queue the whole time.

2018, Melissa Lucashenko, Too Much Lip, University of Queensland Press, published 2023, page 118:

(Australia, New Zealand, informal) Food.


smoko

smokos (plural)
smoke-o (alternative)
smoke-oh (alternative)
smokeho (alternative)

We saw the innards of a submarine, and afterwards, at smoke-oh, I entertained the men with my story of the bagman's battle with John Oliver O'Dowd.

1985, Peter Carey, Illywhacker, Faber and Faber, published 2003, page 516:

2005, Lexie Simmons, Darrell Lewis, Kajirri, the Bush Missus, Central Queensland University Press, page 16,
This area was the general meeting place for all the Aboriginal workers who had some time to spare. The house girls took their smoko or lunch there and were soon joined by everyone else who′d stopped work after the smoko or lunchtime bell.

2007, Lewis Yerloburka O′Brien, Mary-Ann Gale (transcriber), And the Clock Struck Thirteen: The Life and Thoughts of Kaurna Elder Uncle Lewis Yerloburka O′Brien as told to Mary-Ann Gale, page 163,
One day Ox-head came up to us during smoko to have a yarn and to help himself to some lollies another bloke, Seth, had bought.

2008, Ann Jones, Put the Billy On, Glass House Books, Australia, page 85,
‘You chaps should have a camp this afternoon,’ Dad suggested as they finished their meal. ‘You must be tired out. There′s a couple of stretchers upstairs along the verandah. Have a camp on those and we′ll wake you for smoko,’ and the party dispersed until the bell was rung.

(colloquial, Australia, New Zealand and nautical) A cigarette break from work or military duty; a brief cessation of work to have a smoke, or (more generally) to take a small rest, snack etc.


manoeuvre

From Middle French manœuvre (“manipulation, manoeuvre”) and manouvrer (“to manoeuvre”), from Old French manovre (“handwork, manual labour”), from Medieval Latin manopera, manuopera (“work done by hand, handwork”), from manu (“by hand”) + operari (“to work”). First recorded in the Capitularies of Charlemagne (800 AD) to mean "chore, manual task", probably as a calque of the Frankish *handwerc (“hand-work”). Compare Old English handweorc, Old English handġeweorc, German Handwerk.

der

The system also reacts to unexpected traffic situations and handles them independently by employing evasive manoeuvres within the lane or by braking manoeuvres

2021, “Mercedes-Benz self-driving car technology approved for use”, in Fleet news:

UK, Canada, Ireland, South Africa, Australia, and New Zealand spelling of maneuver.


manoeuvre

en-verb

manoeuvre (third-person singular simple present manoeuvres, present participle manoeuvring, simple past and past participle manoeuvred)

manoeuvres (present singular third-person)
manoeuvring (participle present)
manoeuvred (participle past)
manoeuvred (past)

Three pairs of double doors are provided on each side, wide enough to take pallet trucks, and strengthened floors to allow the trucks to manoeuvre inside the vehicle.

1959 November, “Talking of Trains: S.R. Motor Luggage Vans”, in Trains Illustrated, page 523:

(transitive) UK, Canada, Ireland, South Africa, Australia, and New Zealand spelling of maneuver.


bake

From Middle English baken, from Old English bacan (“to bake”), from Proto-West Germanic *bakan, from Proto-Germanic *bakaną (“to bake”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰeh₃g- (“to roast, bake”).
Cognate with West Frisian bakke (“to bake”), Dutch bakken (“to bake”), Low German backen (“to bake”), German backen (“to bake”), Norwegian Bokmål bake (“to bake”), Danish bage (“to bake”), Swedish baka (“to bake”), Ancient Greek φώγω (phṓgō, “roast”, verb).

cog

A fish bake made with cod chunks, sliced parboiled potatoes, […]

2009, Dictionary of Food: International Food and Cooking Terms from A to Z, →ISBN:

If you happen to have small, heat-proof glass or ceramic pots in your kitchen (known as ramekins) then you can make this very easy pasta bake in fun-size, individual portions.

2009, Rosalind Peters, Kate Pankhurst, Clive Boursnell, Midnight Feast Magic: Sleepover Fun and Food:

(especially UK, Australia, New Zealand) Any of various baked dishes resembling casserole.


duvet

From French duvet, from Middle French duvet, from Old French duvet (“down, the feathers of young birds”), alteration of dumet, dumect, which in turn derives from dum, dun (“down, feathers”), from Old Norse dúnn (“down, down feather”), from Proto-Germanic *dūnaz (“down”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰewh₂- (“to smoke, fume, raise dust”).
Cognate with Icelandic dúnn (“down”), Danish dun (“down”), German Daune (“down”), Dutch dons (“down”). More at down.

der

(British, Ireland, New Zealand, Canada) A quilt or usually flat cloth bag with a filling (traditionally down) and usually an additional washable cover, used instead of blankets; often called a comforter or quilt, especially in US English.


breakdown

en-noun

breakdown (countable and uncountable, plural breakdowns)

breakdowns (plural)
break-down (alternative)

sınma

failure, particularly one which is mechanical in nature

(originally and chiefly New Zealand, countable, chiefly attributive) An act of splitting logs of wood using a large saw in a sawmill; also, the saw used; or (rare) the building in which the process is carried out.

pelkkaus

act of splitting logs of wood using a large saw in a sawmill; the saw used; the building in which the process is carried out


haem

haem (countable and uncountable, plural haems)

Haem is ubiquitous, abundant and necessary for energy metabolism. Most bacteria have a haem biosynthesis pathway, but nevertheless, since haem is a major source of iron (an essential metal), microbes take up exogenous haem to retrieve iron.

2010, Pierre Cornelis, Simon Andrews (editors), Iron Uptake and Homeostasis in Microorganisms, page 17:

Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, South Africa, and UK standard spelling of heme.


trapezium

trapezium (plural trapeziums or trapezia)

Recorded since 1570, learned borrowing from Late Latin trapezium, from Ancient Greek τραπέζιον (trapézion, “irregular quadrilateral”, literally “a little table”), diminutive of τράπεζα (trápeza, “table”). Doublet of trapeze.

uder

(geometry, British, Australia, New Zealand) A quadrilateral with two sides parallel.

(restrictively) A quadrilateral with two sides parallel and two sides non-parallel.


park

building

antonym(s) of “a piece of ground in or near a city”

→ Dhivehi: ޕާކު (pāku)

→ Georgian: პარკი (ṗarḳi)

⇒ Hokkien: 拋車 /抛车 (pha-chhia)

→ Irish: páirc

→ Japanese: パーク (pāku)

→ Scottish Gaelic: pàirc

⇒ Teochew: 拋車 /抛车 (pa¹ cia¹)

→ Welsh: parc

From Middle English park, from Old French parc (“livestock pen”), from Medieval Latin parcus, parricus, from Frankish *parrik (“enclosure, pen, fence”). Cognate with Dutch perk (“enclosure; flowerbed”), Old High German pfarrih, pferrih (“enclosure, pen”), Old English pearroc (“enclosure”) (whence modern English paddock), Old Norse parrak, parak (“enclosure, pen; distress, anxiety”), Icelandic parraka (“to keep pent in under restraint and coercion”). More at parrock, paddock.

cog

2003, “Johnny”, "Melbourne Blackout", in Sleazegrinder (editor), Gigs from Hell: True Stories from Rock and Roll′s Frontline, page 174,
We got to the 9ᵗʰ Ward and as luck would have it I found a park for my bro′s car right out the front.

Once they′d entered the floors of parking spaces, James found a park relatively easily, but Mark had difficulty, and only a swift sprint allowed him to catch up as James walked through the throngs of people in the casino with the determination of a man who didn′t want to be delayed.

2010, Sandy Curtis, Dangerous Deception, Australia: Clan Destine Press, unnumbered page:

2011, Antonia Magee, The Property Diaries: A Story of Buying a House, Finding a Man and Making a Home … All on a Single Income!, John Wiley & Sons Australia, unnumbered page,
We finally found a park and walked a few blocks to the building.

(Australia, New Zealand, colloquial) A space in which to leave a car; a parking space.


ay

For example, New Zealanders tended to say "ay" at the end of sentences, but in the Asian community people used different tags to check whether people were still listening.

2013 November 13, “Surprising changes in the way Aucklanders speak”, in Stuff:

New Zealand spelling of eh (question tag)


aye

(New Zealand) Alternative spelling of ay (question tag)


lair

(Australia, New Zealand, colloquial) A person who dresses in a showy but tasteless manner and behaves in a vulgar and conceited way; a show-off.


sub-lieutenant

acting sub-lieutenant
acting sub-lieutenant

(military, navy) A commissioned officer of the navy whose rank is immediately below that of a lieutenant.

(Australia, Canada, New Zealand) A commissioned officer of the navy ranking above an acting sub-lieutenant and below a lieutenant.


gas station

(Canada, US, New Zealand) A filling station or a petrol station; an establishment which sells gasoline (petrol) and often also diesel.

pompstasie

an establishment which sells gasoline to pump directly into a car


nancy

From Nancy, pet form of the female given names Agnes and Anne, under influence from earlier nan (“serving girl, maid; male homosexual”), itself from Nan, another pet form of the same names. Compare Mary.

(British, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, US, derogatory, slang, offensive) An effeminate man, especially a homosexual.


burke

en-verb

burke (third-person singular simple present burkes, present participle burking, simple past and past participle burked)

burkes (present singular third-person)
burking (participle present)
burked (participle past)
burked (past)

As soon as the executioner proceeded to his duty, the cries of ‘Burke him, Burke him—give him no rope’... were vociferated... ‘Burke Hare too!’

(UK, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, slang) To murder by suffocation.

"I don’t know that," interrupted the landlady; "Williams is a good hanging name: there was Williams who murdered the Marr's family, and Williams who burked all those poor dear children; I dare say he is some relation of theirs; but to think of his coming to the White Hart—it's no place for his doings, I can tell him: he sha'n't poison his wife in my house; out he goes this very night—I'll take the letter to him myself."

1832, Letitia Elizabeth Landon, The Keepsake 1833, One Peep was Enough, pages 303–304:

Perhaps he is Burked, and his body sold for nine pounds.

1833, T. Hook, Parson's Daughter, II. i. 26:

‘You don’t mean to say he was burked, Sam?’ said Mr. Pickwick, looking hastily round.

1836 March – 1837 October, Charles Dickens, “Chapter 31”, in The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club, London: Chapman and Hall, […], published 1837, →OCLC:

(UK, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, slang, historical) To murder for the same purpose as Burke, to kill in order to have a body to sell to anatomists, surgeons, etc.

The reporters left it out... Those who spoke in favour of the poor men, were what the reporters call burked.

1835, J. A. Roebuck, Dorchester Labourers, 6/1 (note):

He put away—burked—the Directors' letter, and went in to talk to Riley

1888, Rudyard Kipling, “A Bank Fraud,”, in Plain Tales from the Hills, Folio, published 2005, page 128:

Socrates and Plato burked the issue.

(UK, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, slang) To smother; to conceal, hush up, suppress.


faeces

en-noun

faeces pl (normally plural, singular faex)

This paper reports on ingestion of soil by dairy cows using titanium analysis of faeces by the X-ray fluorescence technique, and gives the range of soil intakes of a year on both an individual and a herd basis.

1968 May, W. B. Healy, “Ingestion of Soil by Dairy Cows”, in New Zealand Journal of Agricultural Research, page 487:

The fact that dogs have a well developed sense of smell suggests that they might be able to use the odour of faeces as a means of communicating.

1984 April 19, David F. Chantrey, James B. Reid, C. E. Davie, “Dog Business”, in New Scientist, page 48:

Urine and faeces are complete fertilizers of high quality with low levels of contaminants such as heavy metals. Urine is rich in nitrogen, while faeces are rich in phosphorous, potassium and organic matter.

2004, Håkan Jönsson, Håkan Jönsson, Anna Richert Stintzing, Björn Vinnerås, Eva Salomon, Guidelines on the Use of Urine and Faeces in Crop Production, page 1:

UK, Canada, Ireland, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, and India standard spelling of feces.


nappy

A diminutive in -y. The base is probably napkin but possibly French nappe directly (note that napkin is already a diminutive).

You will notice that disposable nappies are sold in boy and girl versions. They vary in where the thickest padding is provided.

1995, Jennie Lindon, Lance Lindon, Leandra Negrini, Caring for Young Children, page 60:

Other equipment required was soap for hand washing and washing of nappies, a washing line for the drying of nappies,[…].

2005, Medical Association of Malawi, “Malawi Medical Journal: The Journal of Medical Association of Malawi”, in (Please provide the book title or journal name), volume 17, page 39:

You could burn disposable nappies (not a very practical option); otherwise, it′s probably best to take a supply of large plastic bags or nappy sacks with you and to dispose of them as thoughtfully as you can.

2008, Isabelle Young, Healthy Travel: Asia & India, 2nd edition, Lonely Planet, page 275:

In response we mailed hundreds of nappies to students in halls. On the nappy was a simple message, IT'S A LOT EASIER TO PUT ON A CONDOM.

2009, Chris Arnold, Ethical Marketing and The New Consumer, page 55:

(British, Ireland, Australia, South Africa, New Zealand) An absorbent garment worn by a baby or toddler who does not yet have voluntary control of their bladder and bowels or by someone who is incontinent; a diaper.


crayfish

crayfish (plural crayfishes or crayfish)

crayfishes (plural)
crayfish (plural)
crawfish (alternative)
craifish (alternative)
crafish (alternative)
crefish (alternative)
crevis (alternative)
crevyssh (alternative)

Alteration (by folk etymological influence of fish) of Middle English crevis, from Old French crevice ("crayfish"; > Modern French: écrevisse), from Frankish *krebitja (“crayfish”), diminutive of Frankish *krebit (“crab”), from Proto-Germanic *krabitaz (“crab, cancer”), from Proto-Indo-European *gerbʰ-, *gerebʰ- (“to scratch, crawl”).
Akin to Old High German krebiz ("edible crustacean, crab"; > Modern German Krebs (“crab”)), Middle Low German krēvet (“crab”), Dutch kreeft (“crayfish, lobster”), Old English crabba (“crab”). More at crab.

gloss

"crayfish"; > Modern French: <i class="Latn mention" lang="fr">écrevisse</i>

gloss

"edible crustacean, crab"; > Modern German <i class="Latn mention" lang="de">Krebs</i> (“crab”)

(Australia, New Zealand, South Africa) A rock lobster (family Palinuridae).


chatty

en-adj

chatty (comparative chattier, superlative chattiest)

chattier (comparative)
chattiest (superlative)

Now there are plans to put up a cheap and chatty wooden fence which will not provide anything like the security the old wall did and it will not have the same character.

2014, Ian Robson, “Fenham residents campaign against plans to replace wall with wooden fence”, The Chronicle:

(British, Australia, New Zealand, dated or dialect) Infested with lice; or, (figuratively) dirty, worn or of poor quality; lousy.


take up

en-verb

take up (third-person singular simple present takes up, present participle taking up, simple past took up, past participle taken up)

takes up (present singular third-person)
taking up (participle present)
took up (past)
taken up (participle past)
take one up (alternative)

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-take up.wav

elfogad

to accept (a proposal, offer, request, etc.) from

(transitive) To set about doing or dealing with (something).

(transitive, Australia, New Zealand) To begin occupying and working (a plot of uncultivated land), to break in.


American football

tlb

(UK, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, India, Pakistan, Myanmar, South Africa, Singapore, Malaysia, Brunei)

"Chain mail, or an American football suit - that's what you'll want."

1912, Arthur Conan Doyle, The Lost World […], London; New York, N.Y.: Hodder and Stoughton, →OCLC:

A team sport similar to rugby football, played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end.


section

From Middle English seccioun, from Old French section, from Latin sectiō (“cutting, cutting off, excision, amputation of diseased parts of the body, etc.”), from sectus, past participle of secāre (“to cut”). More at saw.

разрэ́з

surgery: incision or the act of making an incision

(New Zealand) A piece of residential land; a plot.


section

en-verb

section (third-person singular simple present sections, present participle sectioning, simple past and past participle sectioned)

sections (present singular third-person)
sectioning (participle present)
sectioned (participle past)
sectioned (past)

Tribunals were set up as watchdogs in cases of compulsory detention (sectioning). […] Informal patients, however, could be sectioned, and this was often a fear of patients once they were in hospital.

1998, Diana Gittins, Madness in its Place: Narratives of Severalls Hospital, 1913-1997, Routledge, →ISBN, page 45:

The doctor then sectioned her, making her an involuntary patient, and had her moved to a secure ward.

a. 2000, Lucy Johnstone, Users and Abusers of Psychiatry: A Critical Look at Psychiatric Practice, Second edition, Routledge, published 2000, →ISBN, page xiv:

After explaining that for 7 years, from ’88 to ’95, I was permanently sectioned under the Mental Health act, robbed of my freedom, my integrity, my rights, I wrote at the time;- […]

2006, Mairi Colme, A Divine Dance of Madness, Chipmunkapublishing, →ISBN, page 5:

(UK, Australia, New Zealand) To commit (a person) to a hospital for mental health treatment as an involuntary patient. So called after various sections of legal acts regarding mental health.


chunder

chunder (third-person singular simple present chunders, present participle chundering, simple past and past participle chundered)

chunders (present singular third-person)
chundering (participle present)
chundered (participle past)
chundered (past)

Unknown and debated origin. Possibly a shortening of Chunder Loo, itself a presumed rhyming slang for spew (said to be derived from the cartoon character “Chunder Loo of Akim Foo”, drawn by Norman Lindsay for a series of boot-polish advertisements in the early 1900s), but the rhyming slang usage is not actually recorded. Alternatively, possibly from the nautical phrase "*Watch under!" ("Look out below!"), used to warn people on lower decks that someone above was vomiting over the side of the ship, though this is likewise unsubstantiated and may simply be due to folk etymology. Also possibly from tunder, a dialectal pronunciation of thunder; or borrowed from Scots *junder, junner, chunner (“to bump, knock against", also "to break or spill the contents of”), a frequentative form of jund, chund, jundie (“to jog, jostle, annoy, upset”). First attested in c. 1950.

unk

Unknown and debated origin

I come from a land down under / Where beer does flow and men chunder / Can't you hear, can't you hear the thunder? / You better run, you better take cover

1980, Colin Hay, Ron Strykert, “Down Under”, performed by Men at Work:

2008, Isabelle Young, Tony Gherardin, Central and South America, Lonely Planet, page 70,
There are plenty of winding roads, diesel fumes, crowded public transport and various less than sweet odours to get you chundering when you′re on the move in this part of the world, so take a good supply of motion sickness remedies if you know you′re susceptible to this.

“You might have chundered,” said Kate, laughing, “but at least you didn′t get any on yourself—sign of a true lady.”

2009, William Efford, Picaroon, page 313:

Pretty soon just about everyone onboard was leaning over the rail chundering like sick dogs.

2010, Norman Jorgensen, Jack′s Island, page 3:

(Australia, New Zealand, British, slang) To throw up, to vomit, particularly from excessive alcohol consumption.


brownie

en-noun

brownie (countable and uncountable, plural brownies)

→ Belarusian: бра́ўні (bráŭni)

→ Chinese: 布朗尼 (bùlǎngní)

→ Dutch: brownie

→ French: brownie

→ German: Brownie

→ Hungarian: brownie

→ Irish: donnóg (calque)

→ Italian: brownie

→ Japanese: ブラウニー (buraunī)

→ Lithuanian: braunis

→ Norwegian Nynorsk: brownie

→ Polish: brownie

→ Portuguese: brownie

→ Russian: бра́уни (bráuni)

→ Kazakh: брауни (brauni)

→ Spanish: brownie

→ Thai: บราวนี (bpraao-níi)

→ Turkish: brownie, browni, brovni

→ Welsh: browni

From brown + -ie (diminutive suffix). In folkloric sense, originally Scots.

It was an amusing sight to see the three of us, each with a huge hunch of “browny” (bread sweetened with brown sugar and currants) in one hand, and a lump of ice in the other, for there was no water within reach.

1883, James Edge Partington, “A Race Meeting in the Bush—A Graphic Though Ungallant Picture—Life on an Australian Stock Farm—[…]” (chapter VII), in Random Rot. A Journal of Three Years’ Wanderings about the World., Altrincham: […] [T]he Guardian Office, page 312:

They rode quietly along to the stockman’s hut, gave their message, rested their horses for half-an-hour, and had some tea without milk, and a piece of cake made of flour, fat, and sugar, commonly known as [“]browny.”

1890, E[lphinstone] Davenport Cleland, “‘The Shaking’ Mallee Tree”, in The White Kangaroo. A Tale of Colonial Life. Founded on Fact., London: Wells Gardner, Darton, & Co., […], page 57:

Four o’clock, “Smoke O!” again, and more tea and “brownie” (a bread sweetened with sugar and currants).

1890 September 20, M. Hirst Browne, “Shearing-Time in the Riverine”, in The Argus, number 13,804, Melbourne, Vic., page 13, column 6:

Roast mutton and brownie are given us to eat, and with a billy of tea beside us we are comfortable enough, prisoners and all.

1892, Gilbert Parker, “Glimpses of Australian Life: In Time of Drought”, in Round the Compass in Australia, Melbourne, Vic., […]: E[dward] W[illiam] Cole, […], part I, page 36:

Pile of “brownie” on the bare black boards at the end of the table.

1900, Henry Lawson, “‘A Rough Shed’”, in On the Track, Sydney, N.S.W.: Angus and Robertson, […], page 129:

Undoubtedly our Christmas dinner was a huge success—from a black fellow’s point of view it was the most sensible thing we Whites had ever organised; for half the Vealer, another huge pudding, several yards of sweet currant “brownie,” a new pipe apiece, and a few pounds of tobacco had found their way to the “humpy”; […]

[1908], Jeannie Gunn, chapter XXIII, in We of the Never-Never, London: Hutchinson & Co. […], page 251:

As he spoke I tossed some tea into a billy-can of boiling water and as we sipped at our pannikin of tea and ate at a slice of brownie, old Mirawong told me the story of Manbuk and the seven sisters of the heavens.

1959, W[illiam] E[dward] (Bill) Harney, “Of crocodiles and stars”, in Tales from the Aborigines, London: Robert Hale Limited, […], part one (Tales of Fantasy), page 40:

However, a couple of days later, I was passing near Old Jim’s camp and he called us over for a mug of tea and a hunk of brownie.

1959, H[arold] P[ercival] ‘Duke’ Tritton, Time Means Tucker, Arncliffe, N.S.W.: Akron Press, published 1984, →ISBN, pages 58–59:

Edward E[llis] Morris
w:Edward Ellis Morris

Macmillan and Co. Limited
w:Macmillan Publishers

Benjamin E[li] Smith
w:Benjamin Eli Smith

The Century Dictionary
w:Century Dictionary

C[harles] T[albut] Onions
w:Charles Talbut Onions

(uncountable, cooking, Australia and New Zealand) A sweet bread with brown sugar and currants.

(Australia, New Zealand, colloquial) A tall, long-necked beer bottle, made from brown coloured glass.


sunnies

From sunglasses + -ie (“diminutive suffix”), retaining the plural form.

She took off her sunnies and polished them, a little vigorously.

2005, Dave Franklin, Manic Streets of Perth, published 2011, unnumbered page:

With Heath wearing a black beanie and his trademark sunnies, the couple arrived in Perth at 12.20 p.m. after flying in from the US via Sydney.

2008, Janet Fife-Yeomans, Heath: A Family′s Tale, page 97:

2009, Susan Lyons, Sex Drive, Kensington Press, US, page 160,
“Sunscreen for you.” Her skin was a light golden brown. “And sunnies and a hat.” He slipped on his own sunglasses.

Bring the Prada sunnies, the papers and an appetite if you′re heading here for breakfast.

2009, Justine Vaisutis, Australia, Lonely Planet, page 525:

I can see it now: these sunnies are going to be your fave in no time!.

2024 October 8, Megan Uy, Tarah-Lynn Saint-Elien, “65+ Fall Prime Day Fashion Deals Your Closet Is Begging You to Shop”, in Cosmopolitan:

(chiefly Australia, New Zealand, informal) Sunglasses.


bogan

Unknown. First appeared in Australia in the 1980s. Possibly in reference to supposedly unsophisticated people from remote outback places such as the Bogan River or Bogan Gate (cf. dubbo from Dubbo).

Bogans were Lockie's least favorite kind of people.

1999, Tim Winton, Lockie Leonard, Scumbuster, page 6:

The Reservoir I grew up in was populated by menacing, toothless Torana-driving bogans, crushed menthol-smoking pensioners and toddlers who swore.

2009, Catherine Deveny, Free to a Good Home, page 47:

(Australia, New Zealand, slang, derogatory stereotype) An unsophisticated person from a working class background.

(New Zealand, slang, derogatory, ethnic slur) An Anglo-Celtic member of a lower socioeconomic group, stereotypically classified as wearing black jumpers or black concert T-shirts.

westy

Australia (esp. Sydney), NZ (esp. Auckland)

(New Zealand, slang, derogatory) A petrolhead.


station

→ Hindi: स्टेशन (sṭeśan)

→ Irish: stáisiún

→ Malay: stesen

desc

ਸਟੇਸ਼ਨ (sṭeśan)

→ Punjabi: سٹیشن/ਸਟੇਸ਼ਨ (sṭeśan)

→ Scottish Gaelic: stèisean

→ Swahili: stesheni

→ Urdu: سْٹیشَن (sṭeśan), اِسْٹیشَن (isṭeśan)

From Middle English stacioun, borrowed from Anglo-Norman estation, from Latin statiōnem, accusative of statiō (“standing, post, job, position”), whence also Italian stazione. Doublet of stagione. Cognate with Ancient Greek ἵστημι (hístēmi), στάσις (stásis), Old English standan (whence English stand).

There was movement at the station, for the word had passed around, / that the colt from old Regret had got away,

1890, A. B. Paterson, The Man From Snowy River:

1993, Kay Walsh, Joy W. Hooton, Dowker, L. O., entry in Australian Autobiographical Narratives: 1850-1900, page 69,
Tiring of sheep, he took work on cattle stations, mustering cattle on vast unfenced holdings, and looking for work ‘nigger-bossing’, or supervising Aboriginal station hands.

The romance of the gritty station owner in a crumpled Akubra, his kids educated from the remote homestead by the School of the Air, while triple-trailer road trains drag tornadoes of dust across the plains, creates a stirring idea of the modern-day pioneer battling against the elemental Outback.

2003, Margo Daly, Anne Dehne, Rough Guide to Australia, page 654:

(Australia, New Zealand) A very large sheep or cattle farm.

A place where workers are stationed.
A very large sheep or cattle farm.


scab

en-verb

scab (third-person singular simple present scabs, present participle scabbing, simple past and past participle scabbed)

scabs (present singular third-person)
scabbing (participle present)
scabbed (participle past)
scabbed (past)

From Middle English scabb, scabbe (also as shabbe, schabbe > English shab), from Old English sċeabb and Old Norse skabb, both from Proto-Germanic *skabbaz (“scab, scabies”), from Proto-Indo-European *skabʰ- (“to cut, split, carve, shape”). Doublet of shab. Cognate with German Schabe (“scabies”), Danish skab (“scab, scabies”), Swedish skabb (“scab, scabies”), Latin scabies (“scab, itch, mange”). Related also to Old English scafan (“to scrape, shave”), Latin scabere (“to scratch”), English shabby.

der

I scabbed some money off a friend.

2004, Niven Govinden, We are the New Romantics, Bloomsbury Publishing, UK, page 143,
Finding a spot in a covered seating area that was more bus shelter than tourist-friendly, I unravelled a mother of a joint I′d scabbed off the garçon.

2006, Linda Jaivin, The Infernal Optimist, 2010, HarperCollins Australia, unnumbered page,
I′d already used up me mobile credit. I was using a normal phone card, what I got from Hamid, what got it from a church lady what helped the refugees. I didn′t like scabbing from the asylums, but they did get a lotta phone cards.

I′ve told Fred we can see a movie this weekend, but that just seems like a money-wasting activity. And I can′t keep scabbing off my best friend.

2010, Fiona Wood, Six Impossible Things, page 113:

(transitive, UK, Australia, New Zealand, informal) To beg (for), to cadge or bum.


cider

en-noun

cider (countable and uncountable, plural ciders)

→ Bulgarian: са́йдер (sájder)

→ Finnish: siideri

→ Jersey Dutch: sâiter

→ Japanese: サイダー (saidā)

→ Korean: 사이다 (saida)

[ˈsʌɪ̯ɾə(ɹ)]

From Middle English sider, cidre, sidre, from Old French cisdre, sidre (“beverage made from fermented apples”), from Medieval Latin sīcera, from Ancient Greek σίκερα (síkera, “fermented liquor, strong drink”), from Hebrew שֵׁכָר (šēḵār, “liquor”). Doublet of cyser. Displaced native English apple wine.

der

Apfelsaft (may be specified as trüber Apfelsaft)

са́йдер

non-alcoholic sparkling beverage (apple)

サイダー

non-alcoholic sparkling beverage (lemon-lime)

The procedures for cyser are identical to cider with a notable exception: honey is a much more complex sugar than cane or corn sugars, meaning honey takes a long time to clear and an even longer time (at least six months) to ferment out[…]

1995, Paul Correnty, The Art of Cidermaking, Brewers Publications:

(British, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, Canada) An alcoholic, often sparkling (carbonated) beverage made from fermented apples; hard cider; apple cider.


placer

From place + -er (suffix apparently denoting association).

suffix

This is a “placer” sheep, as it is called. The prerequisites to this condition are that the young sheep must be still nursing, but must have begun to nibble grass. It must be the young of a mother that has been somewhat isolated, away from the corral and away from the herd, by herself out on the prairie. Now, when the mother dies, the lamb remains close to the mother′s body[…].

1951, Josiah Macy, Jr. Foundation, Problems of Infancy and Childhood, volume 4, page 101:

1971, American Society of Animal Science. Journal of Animal Science, Volume 32, Pages 601-1298, page 1281,
In Australia “placer” lambs are also destroyed, for these too are of little use; they will return constantly to one place, not staying with the flock.

(ethology, sheep, Australia, New Zealand) A lamb whose mother has died and which has transferred its attachment to an object, such as a bush or rock, in the locality.


fascine

en-verb

fascine (third-person singular simple present fascines, present participle fascining, simple past and past participle fascined)

fascines (present singular third-person)
fascining (participle present)
fascined (participle past)
fascined (past)

The noun is borrowed from French fascine (“bundle of kindling; bundle of branches used to build defences, fill in ditches, etc.; logs arranged horizontally between piles on the banks of a watercourse as an erosion barrier”), from Old French faissine, from Latin fascīna (“bundle of sticks”), from fascis (“bundle of sticks, faggot, fascine; bundle, package; burden, load”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *bʰask- (“band; bundle”)) + -īna (the nominative, vocative, or ablative feminine singular of -īnus (suffix forming nouns)).
The verb is derived from the noun.

der

(transitive, originally military, chiefly New Zealand) To use fascines to build or reinforce (something), or to fill in (a trench, etc.).


cracker

From Middle English craker (“a boaster”), equivalent to crack (“to break, snap, utter, make a sound”) + -er. From crack (verb), the sound made when one is broken. The hard "bread" and "biscuit" sense is first attested in 1739. The computing senses of cracker, crack, and cracking were promoted in the 1980s as an alternative to hacker, by programmers concerned about negative public associations of hack, hacking (“creative computer coding”). See Citations:cracker. Various theories exist regarding the term's application to poor white Southerners. One theory holds that it originated with disadvantaged corn and wheat farmers (corncrackers), who cracked their crops rather than taking them to the mill. Another theory asserts that it was applied due to Georgia and Florida settlers (Florida crackers) who cracked loud whips to drive herds of cattle, or, alternatively, from the whip cracking of plantation slave drivers. Yet another theory maintains that the term cracker was in use in Elizabethan times to describe braggarts (see crack (“to boast”)); a letter from 1766 supports this theory.

suf

She's an absolute cracker!

The show was a cracker!

A cracker of a day.

And just before the interval, Kolarov, who was having one of his better games in a City shirt, fizzed in a cracker from 30 yards which the Wolves stopper unconvincingly pushed behind for a corner.

2011 January 15, Saj Chowdhury, “Man City 4 - 3 Wolves”, in BBC:

(slang, chiefly British, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand) A fine, great thing or person (crackerjack).


fibre

en-noun

fibre (countable and uncountable, plural fibres)

tlb

(British, Canada, Australia, Ireland, New Zealand, South Africa spellings)

From French fibre, from Old French, from Latin fibra.

The microscope showed several different fibres stuck to the sole of the shoe.

(countable) A single piece of a given material, elongated and roughly round in cross-section, often twisted with other fibres to form thread.

Under this map, any two values in the fibre of a given point on the circle differ by 2π.

(mathematics) The preimage of a given point in the range of a map.

säie

mathematics: preimage of a given point in the range of a map

(category theory) Said to be of a morphism over a global element: The pullback of the said morphism along the said global element.

It is the deeper parts of such cells which give rise to delicate muscular fibres or networks of fibres, while the superficially placed body of the cell myoblast), the part which produces the above, performs other functions, and usually bears a cilium.

1892, Carl Friedrich Wilhelm Claus, edited by F. G. Heathcote, Elementary Text-book of Zoology:

(cytology) A long tubular cell found in bodily tissue.


primer

US, irregular, but common; borrowed from Etymology 2

From Middle English primer, primere, from Medieval Latin primarius and primarium (“prayer book”) possibly via Anglo-Norman primer (“prayer book”), from prima (“prime the liturgical hour and office”) + -arius and -arium (suffix forming related objects). Its use for schoolbooks derived from the late medieval and early modern use of such prayer books to teach reading.

nowrap

<i class="Latn mention" lang="la">-arium</i> (suffix forming related objects).

(New Zealand, obsolete) An elementary school class; an elementary school student.


redundant

en-adj

redundant (comparative more redundant, superlative most redundant)

more redundant (comparative)
most redundant (superlative)

From Latin redundāns, present participle of redundō (“to overflow, redound”), from red- (“again, back”) + undō (“to surge, flood”), from unda (“a wave”).

Four employees were made redundant.

(chiefly British, Ireland, New Zealand, Australia) Dismissed from employment because no longer needed.