grabass

en-verb

grabass (third-person singular simple present grabasses, present participle grabassing, simple past and past participle grabassed)

grabasses (present singular third-person)
grabassing (participle present)
grabassed (participle past)
grabassed (past)

The Paranoids were singing, to the tune of ‘Adeste Fideles’: […] grabassing around, trying to push each other over the side.

1966 March, Thomas Pynchon, The Crying of Lot 49, Philadelphia, Pa.; New York, N.Y.: J[oshua] B[allinger] Lippincott Company, →OCLC:


toothbrush

toothbrush (third-person singular simple present toothbrushes, present participle toothbrushing, simple past and past participle toothbrushed)

toothbrushes (present singular third-person)
toothbrushing (participle present)
toothbrushed (participle past)
toothbrushed (past)

From tooth + brush. Compare Saterland Frisian Tuskebäärsel (“toothbrush”), West Frisian toskboarstel (“toothbrush”), Dutch tandenborstel (“toothbrush”), German Zahnbürste (“toothbrush”), Danish tandbørste (“toothbrush”), Swedish tandborste (“toothbrush”), Icelandic tannbursti (“toothbrush”).

cog

In Rome, a restorer toothbrushed away some candle-grime over God's Sistine Chapel eye to reveal an eyebrow of Groucho Marx proportion.

1997, Matthew Remski, Dying for Veronica:

I toothbrushed the stale rum stink from my mouth and stared at myself in the cabinet mirror.

(transitive) To clean or scrub with a toothbrush.


roly-poly

en-noun

roly-poly (countable and uncountable, plural roly-polys or roly-polies)

roly-polys (plural)
roly-polies (plural)

/ˌɹəʊlɪˈpəʊli/

The noun is apparently derived from roll (“to turn over and over”) + -y (suffix forming adjectives with the sense ‘having the quality of’), reduplicated with a change of the initial consonant. Compare rolly (“having the ability to roll, rolling”, adjective), which is attested since the 19th century.
Sense 1.7 (“mischievous or worthless person”) is possibly influenced by poll (“head; (archaic) scalp; (by extension) person”).
The adjective and adverb are attested later than the noun, and so are probably derived from it.

rolly-pooly

game in which balls are rolled or bowled into holes

A roly-poly had found his way inside the house; I reasoned that the tiny varmint had crawled up the steps. […] The creatures are no more than an inch long, and when you touch them they roll themselves into a tight gray ball.

1960 July 11, Harper Lee, chapter 25, in To Kill a Mockingbird, Philadelphia, Pa., New York, N.Y.: J[oshua] B[allinger] Lippincott Company, →OCLC, part 2, page 251:

Terrestrial isopods, commonly known as pill bugs, sow bugs, or roly-polys, are generally familiar to most of us.

1995, Henry W. Robison, Robert T. Allen, “Subphylum Crustacea: Crustaceans”, in Only in Arkansas: A Study of the Endemic Plants and Animals of the State, Fayetteville, Ark.: University of Arkansas Press, →ISBN, page 45:

From the window, she sees them discover a colony of roly-polies (tiny gray bugs that roll into miniature balls in the presence of danger). She delights in the wonder and fun of the children as they play gently with the tiny bugs.

1997, Clark M. Williamson, Ronald J[ames] Allen, “Worship as the Power of God”, in Adventures of the Spirit: A Guide to Worship from the Perspective of Process Theology, Lanham, Md., Oxford, Oxfordshire: University Press of America, →ISBN, page 76:

[Romy Tinkle] What is that thing, Quincy?! / [Quincy Tinkle] Um … It's a giant Rolly Polly (Pill Bug). It's been living entirely on my body-building protein powder, apparently!!

2002 May 26, J[effrey] J. Rowland, Wigu Adventures (webcomic), archived from the original on 2009-12-13:

(Canada, US) In full roly-poly bug: a small terrestrial invertebrate which tends to roll into a ball when disturbed, such as a woodlouse (suborder Oniscidea, especially a pill bug (family Armadillidiidae) or a sowbug (family Porcellionidae)) or a pill millipede (superorder Oniscomorpha).


pigsty

Coordinate term: (sometimes synonymous) hoghouse

The lower pasture also contains a pigsty.

An enclosure where pigs are kept, either a building or part of one.


fag hag

From fag + hag. First use appears c. 1965 in the publication The Guild Dictionary of Homosexual Terms.

Susan "Suki" Eagan, manager of the Boston bar Chaps, describes her own personal odyssey as "local debutante to fag hag to fag bar owner."

1977 August 27, Steve Savage, Susan "Suki" Eagan, “Everything You Wanted to Know About Suki, But Were Too Distracted In Chaps to Ask Her”, in Gay Community News, volume 5, number 8, page 8:

Becoming a glam fag hag was not about money or privilege. Au contraire. Any working-class girl was eligible. All she had to do was get a job in a fag-rich environment, be it a hair salon or a department store.

2012, Simon Doonan, Gay Men Don't Get Fat, Penguin, →ISBN:

(sometimes derogatory, slang, LGBTQ) A woman who enjoys the company of gay men.


chick flick

From chick (“young woman”) + flick (“movie”), chosen for the rhyme.

Films like Russ Meyers’ ‘Beyond the Valley of the Dolls’ (1970) and ‘Twilight People’ (1972) […] Corman’s ‘Black Mama, White Mama’ (1972), another chick-flick set in a slammer in the Philippines.

(dated, slang) A sexually exploitative or pornographic film depicting women, intended for straight men.


evil eye

/ˌiːvl̩‿ˈaɪ/

From Middle English ivel eie (“evil eye; envy”), from Old English eage yfel, a calque of Latin oculus malus, from oculus (“eye”) + malus (“bad, evil, wicked; destructive, hurtful, injurious; unfavourable, unlucky”).

nb...

Edited with Introduction and Glossary from the Royal MS. 7 C iv. in the British Museum by E. W. Rhodes, M.A. Langton Fellow of the Owens College, Victoria University, Manchester

Each of the young men, in saluting the new-comer, made mechanically, and with care to conceal it from him, a slight gesture or sign with their fingers; for Arbaces, the Egyptian, was supposed to possess the fatal gift of the evil eye.

1834, [Edward Bulwer-Lytton], “The Blind Flower-girl, and the Beauty of Fashion.—The Athenian’s Confession.—The Reader’s Introduction to Arbaces of Egypt.”, in The Last Days of Pompeii. […], volume I, London: Richard Bentley, […]; successor to Henry Colburn, →OCLC, book I, page 25:

The ὀφθαλμὸς βάσκανος, or evil eye, is frequently mentioned by ancient writers. […] Various amulets were used to avert the influence of the evil eye. The most common of these appears to have been the phallus, called by the Romans fascinum, which was hung round the necks of children (turpicula res).

1842, Charles Anthon, “FA′SCINUM”, in edited by William Smith, A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities […], 3rd American edition, New York, N.Y., Cincinnati, Oh.: American Book Company, published 1843, →OCLC, pages 431–432, column 1:

A common dread was the evil eye, and the chief charm against it was in the form of a knotted cord woven by a "wise woman".

1936, Rollo Ahmed, “The Ancient Magic of the East”, in The Black Art, London: Senate, Studio Editions, published 1994, →ISBN, page 26:

A wicked look conveying dislike or envy that in many cultures is believed to be able to cause bad luck or injury; also, the ability to cause bad luck or injury through such a look, supposed to be possessed by some people.

syri i keq

wicked look conveying dislike or envy believed to be able to cause bad luck or injury; the ability to cause bad luck or injury through such a look

Isma laughed, but Hira drew her shoulders in tighter, reached out to touch the evil eye that hung on her wall and which Isma had always assumed to be merely decorative.

2017, Kamila Shamsie, Home Fire, Bloomsbury (2018), page 11:

The charm used to ward off the evil eye; a nazar.

For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed euill thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, / Thefts, couetouſneſſe, wickedneſſe, deceit, laſciuiouſneſſe, an euill eye, blaſphemie, pride, fooliſhneſſe: / All theſe euill things come from within, and defile the man.

1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Mark 7:21–23, column 1:

[A] Noble Venetian, vvho is ſtill a Merchant, told me, they vvill ſpeedily find out ſome Method to redreſs it; probably by making a free Port, for they look vvith an Evil Eye upon Leghorne, that dravvs to it moſt of the Veſſels bound for Italy.

1705, J[oseph] Addison, “Venice”, in Remarks on Several Parts of Italy, &c. in the Years 1701, 1702, 1703, London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC, page 84:

If you tell me, "Good morning" / I'm gonna tell you, "That's a lie" / If you say I'm old, baby / I'm gonna give you the evil eye

1964 February 18, Lionel Hampton, Leonard Feather (lyrics and music), “Evil Gal Blues”, in Unforgettable: A Tribute to Dinah Washington, performed by Aretha Franklin, New York, N.Y.: Columbia Records, →OCLC:

(often humorous) A look conveying disapproval, envy, hostility, etc.


redskin

en:Native American name controversy#Controversial terminology

From red + skin.
References to indigenous Americans' skin being red can be found from the 1580s, although not consistently (another European in 1584 described indigenous Americans as "yellowish"); in some cases the reference may be not to their skin color per se but to their painting themselves with red paint. A letter ostensibly from 1699, which was formerly cited as the earliest reference to "red skins", was not published until 1900 and is now recognized as fake.
The earliest documented instance of the term "redskin" is from a 1769 discussion between the Piankeshaw and John Wilkins, this and other early uses appear to be translating terms meaning red + skin, flesh, or people that the tribes of the Illinois / Mississippi Valley area used to refer to themselves when communicating with the French (who translated such terms as French peau-rouge) and with English-speakers (whence redskin).
Piecewise doublet of Rauðskinna.

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

(ethnic slur, offensive) A Native American.


washroom

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

From wash + room in reference to its sinks, but generally used euphemistically outside of Canada and the United States.

(Canada, rarely US, euphemistic) A room with a toilet, particularly a public toilet.


deadhead

From dead + head. Some senses are derived from theater jargon (originally spelled dead head) for audience members admitted without paying, which probably arose in analogy to dead weight or deadwood in reference to their lack of contribution to revenue or in reference to their unenthusiastic (dead) response to performances. Perhaps even from Latin caput mortuum, alchemy term for distillation residue. As Paul Quinion writes: Similarly, the term was applied to a dull or lazy person, one who contributes nothing to an enterprise, only in the early years of the twentieth century, well after the theatrical and transport senses had become well established.

A train or truck moved between cities with no passengers or freight, in order to make it available for service.


sneak peek

Visit the website for a sneak peek of their new movie.

(informal) A preview, especially of something not yet public.


cheat sheet

Coordinate term: cheater

If you have trouble remembering all the trigonometric identities, the book has a cheat sheet in back that lists them.

en:small document to aid test-taking, especially when clandestine

A sheet of paper (or a digital analogue thereof) containing notes used to assist (with or without permission) on a test; especially, such a sheet used secretly and improperly.


washbasin

A basin used for washing, (now) particularly a permanently installed sink, fitted with a water supply and a drain, for washing the hands and face.


farmhand

(baseball) A player in the minor leagues.


nitwit

First attested in the 1910s in the US Northeast. Likely from German nit, dialectal form of nichts (“nothing”), or Yiddish ניט (nit), dialectal form of נישט (nisht, “no”), although some dictionaries give the alternative etymology nit (“louse egg; something very small”) + wit.

compound

If you don't remember you are a nitwit. If you do answer, well, you know what the penalty is for perjury.

1918, State Bar Association of Connecticut, Annual Report, page 82:

1921, Emmett Campbell Hall, “Need a Hero be a Nitwit?”, in The Editor, page 58:

"Don't be a nitwit, honey!" says Adele. "Here, let me open the door! Ma be I did leave them lights on, though it ain't ike me!"

(informal) A scatterbrained or stupid person.


wannabe

Written form of a reduction of want to be, analysable as wanna + be. Wannabe can be considered a conversion, category change, or functional shift.
While occasionally appearing in print, usually as a less reduced phrase, the popularity of the word took off in the mid-1980s following the Madonna wannabe fashion trend: wannabe at the Google Books Ngram Viewer.

Hollywood's restaurants are full of wannabe actors waiting to be discovered.

Who the hell is that woman messing in my files? GET HER OUT OF HERE! I won't have my system messed up by some wannabe "expert" who'll be gone next week! Damn strangers who think they know it all but don't care about what we're really trying to achieve here.

2012, BioWare, quoting Sho D'hen, Mass Effect 3 (Science Fiction), Redwood City: Electronic Arts, →OCLC, PC, scene: Mars:

He had the reputation of a wannabe hardman, riding his cousin's coattails.

2022, Liam McIlvanney, The Heretic, page 251:

(informal, derogatory, often attributive) Someone who wishes to be someone or do something, but lacks the qualifications or talent; an overeager amateur; an aspirant.

rádoby

someone who wishes to be like someone, but lacks the qualifications


well-wisher

From well (“in a desirable manner; so as one could wish”, adverb) + wisher.

[T]hose honest gentlemen that are always exposed to the wit and raillery of their well-wishers and companions; that are pelted by men, women, and children, friends and foes, and in a word, stand as butts in conversation, for every one to shoot at that pleases.

1711 May 6 (Gregorian calendar), [Richard Steele], “WEDNESDAY, April 25, 1711”, in The Spectator, number 48; republished in Alexander Chalmers, editor, The Spectator; a New Edition, […], volume I, New York, N.Y.: D[aniel] Appleton & Company, 1853, →OCLC, pages 308–309:

[T]he actual traytor or rebel is guilty of perjury in the eye of the lavv; the ſecret promoter, or vvell-vviſher of the cauſe, is ſo before the Tribunal of conſcience.

1716 January 20 (Gregorian calendar), Joseph Addison, “The Free-holder: No. 6. Monday, January 9. [1716.]”, in The Works of the Right Honourable Joseph Addison, Esq; […], volume IV, London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], published 1721, →OCLC, page 380:

Nor did he ſeem to have made an unreaſonable reply to them both, and it vvas eaſy for a ſpeech to be received favorably amongſt vvellvviſhers.

1761, Titus Livius [i.e., Livy], chapter L, in [anonymous], transl., Titus Livius’s Roman History from the Building of the City. […], volume VII, Edinburgh: […] A[lexander] Donaldson and J[ohn] Reid, for Alexander Donaldson, →OCLC, book XXXIII, page 235:

[G]ive me the hopes of my dear girl's approaching felicity, equal to the deſires of / Her ſincereſt VVellvviſher, / LAVINIA RAWLINS.

1770, “Letter XIV. Miss Lavinia Rawlins, to Mrs. Gertrude Coningsby.”, in The History of Lavinia Rawlins. […], 2nd edition, volume I, London: […] [F]or the editor; and sold by F. Noble, […]; and J. Noble, […], page 111:

She had still, however, her friends and well-wishers, many of whom thought, that as she was a lone woman, and known to be well to pass in the world, she would act wisely to retire from public life, and take down a sign which had no longer fascination for guests.

1823 December 23 (indicated as 1824), [Walter Scott], “An Old-World Landlady”, in St Ronan’s Well. […], volume I, Edinburgh: […] [James Ballantyne and Co.] for Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Hurst, Robinson, and Co., →OCLC, pages 21–22:

"You see before you," she said, with choking utterance, "one who, fallen and degraded as she is, would still venture to hope that she has a friend, at least a wellwisher, in Mr Thornton. If I am mistaken in this, alas! I am friendless."

1827, [Thomas Hamilton], chapter III, in The Youth and Manhood of Cyril Thornton. […], volume II, Edinburgh: William Blackwood; London: T[homas] Cadell, →OCLC, page 70:

"[…] [I]t would be a nice opportunity for any of his well-wishers to pay him a visit, if they knew how straight the path was made before them." / "I am none of his well-wishers, sir: I don't care for him."

1849, Currer Bell [pseudonym; Charlotte Brontë], “Levitical”, in Shirley. A Tale. […], volume I, London: Smith, Elder and Co., […], →OCLC, page 15:

Already a J72 0-6-0T has been promised by a well-wisher and will be re-painted in North Eastern Railway livery.

1962 August, “Society Column: Keighley & Worth Valley Railway Preservation Society”, in Modern Railways, Shepperton, Surrey: Ian Allan Publishing, →ISSN, →OCLC, unnumbered page:

I'm a well-wisher, in that I don't wish you any specific harm.

1997, Ken Keeler, “El Viaje Misterioso de Nuestro Jomer (The Mysterious Voyage of Homer)”, in The Simpsons, season 8, episode 9, spoken by Moe Szyslak (Hank Azaria):

At each stopping place I stepped out of the train to chat to well-wishers.

2020 January 15, Nigel Harris, “HST’s East Coast Farewell Tour”, in Rail, Peterborough, Cambridgeshire: Bauer Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 34:

Someone who extends good wishes, or expresses sympathy, to someone else.

добразычлі́вец

someone who extends good wishes to someone else

доброжела́тел

someone who expresses sympathy to someone else

I never saw your chancellor, nor his chaplain. The latter has a good deal of learning, and is a well wisher to be an author: your chancellor is an excellent man.

1711 March 18 (Gregorian calendar), Jonathan Swift, “[Dr. Swift’s Journal to Stella.] Letter XVII.”, in Thomas Sheridan, John Nichols, editors, The Works of the Rev. Jonathan Swift, […], new edition, volume XIV, London: […] J[oseph] Johnson, […], published 1801, →OCLC, page 372:

(obsolete, rare) Followed by to: someone who has an ambition to be or become something.


windscreen

Oh no! A vandal has just smashed our windscreen! Susan, can you go and call the insurance company?

(UK, Ireland, Commonwealth) A transparent screen made of glass, located at the front of a vehicle in order to protect its occupants from the wind and weather.


wind farm

From wind + farm, from the idea that the wind turbines are “farming” the wind to produce electricity.

Then roughly 176 wind generators of 1.8 megawatts each would be located at each wind farm affecting an area of 15 × 176 or 2640 acres (4.1 sq mi) but directly using only about 176 acres (0.3 sq mi).

1978, Wind Energy Study (Pacific Northwest Region): Final Report, page 204:

The windy weather last weekend set a new renewable power record and resulted in some households being paid to charge their electric cars to help balance the grid. Wind farms in Britain generated more than 16 gigawatts of power for the first time on Sunday evening.

2019 December 10, “Stormy weather blows in new wind power record”, in Chris Evans, editor, The Daily Telegraph, London: Telegraph Media Group, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 2:

Rob Schofield, proprietor of Nundle's only pub, […] feels that the windfarm could bring a much-needed boost to the town, which lost jobs after the amalgamation of Nundle Shire Council with Tamworth Regional Council.

2021 October 23, Tom Plevey, “Reaping the wind turbines: The little town in the Great Dividing Range split by green energy plan”, in Katharine Viner, editor, The Guardian, London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2021-12-02:

A collection of wind turbines, especially a large-scale array, used to generate electricity.

集合型風力発電所

しゅうごうがたふうりょくはつでんしょ


earring

From Middle English erering, from Old English ēarhring (“ear-ring”), from Proto-West Germanic *auʀahring, equivalent to ear + ring. Cognate with West Frisian earring (“earring”), Dutch oorring (“earring”), German Low German Ohrring (“earring”), German Ohrring (“earring”), Danish ørering (“earring”), Swedish örring (“earring”).


windowpane

Another form is called a windowpane. Windowpanes are small thin squares of gelatin treated with LSD that look like little pieces of plastic.

2004, Mary M. Jensen, Introduction to Emotional and Behavioral Disorders, page 94:

When you place a windowpane of LSD on your tongue and watch the world transform into a Salvador Dalí landscape of radiant colors, shimmering geometric shapes, and morphing phantasmagoria while your sense of self dissolves—

2011, Susana Martinez-Conde, Stephen L. Macknik, Sandra Blakeslee, Sleights of Mind:


bluejacket

It never entered his mind that here was a matter which from its extreme questionableness, it was his duty as a loyal blue-jacket to report in the proper quarter.

1924, Herman Melville, chapter 13, in Billy Budd, London: Constable & Co.:

‘[…] I’m not sure’, she continued, ‘that I won’t throw myself overboard, for the mere pleasure of being rescued by a blue-jacket […]’

1928, Virginia Woolf, chapter 4, in Orlando: A Biography, London: The Hogarth Press, →OCLC; republished as Orlando: A Biography (eBook no. 0200331h.html), Australia: Project Gutenberg Australia, July 2015:

The Navy and the Indian tribes up and down the Coast took part in the races, the Navy rowing their heavy ship's boats round from Esquimalt Harbour, manned by blue-jackets, while smart little pinnaces “pip-pipped” along commanded by young midshipmen.

1942, Emily Carr, “Regatta”, in The Book of Small, Toronto, Ont.: Oxford University Press, →OCLC:

(nautical) A seaman of a British warship


stopgap

The noun is derived from stop (“to close or block (an opening)”) + gap, from the phrase to stop a gap. The adjective is from an attributive use of the noun, and the verb is derived from the noun.

временна мярка

As witness the following. Mr Strudwick, the regular master of the form, happened on one occasion to be away for a couple of days, and a stop-gap was put in in his place. The name of the stop-gap was Mr Somerville Smith. He and Farnie exchanged an unspoken declaration of war almost immediately.

1903, P. G. Wodehouse, “Chapter 4”, in A Prefect's Uncle:

A short-term fix or temporary measure used until something better can be obtained; that which serves as an expedient in an emergency; a band-aid solution.

(specifically) A person appointed or hired to fill a position temporarily until a permanent appointment or hire can be made; a temp.


scapegrace

From scape (“(archaic) escape”) + grace (“grace of god”).

He is now laden with that superabundant energy which makes a fool of a man, and a scapegrace of a boy, and he wants to work it off.

1859, George Meredith, chapter 4, in The Ordeal of Richard Feverel. A History of Father and Son. […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), London: Chapman and Hall, →OCLC:

An infantry officer in the trenches, Graves wrote of his rocky and scapegrace return to civilian life: "I still had the Army Habit of commandeering anything of uncertain ownership that I found lying about; also a difficulty in telling the truth--it was always easier for me now, when charged with any fault, to lie my way out in Army style."

2002, Jonathan Shay, Odysseus in America: Combat Trauma and the Trials of Homecoming:

A wild and reckless person (especially a boy); a scoundrel.


windshield

The freezing rain covered our windshield with ice and we couldn't see a thing.

(Canada, US, Philippines) A transparent screen made of glass, located at the front and back of a vehicle in front of its occupants to protect them from the wind force generated by the vehicle's speed and inclement weather.

bitaʼ

screen located in front of a vehicle to protect from wind and weather


wristwatch

/ˈɹɪstˌwɒt͡ʃ/

/ˈɹɪstˌwɔt͡ʃ/

/ˈɹɪstˌwɑt͡ʃ/

/ˈɹɪstˌwɔt͡ʃ/

A watch that is worn on a strap or band fastened around the wrist

કાંડાઘડિયાળ

kā̃ḍāghḍiyāḷ


sheepdog

(US, slang, law enforcement) A police officer.


windmill

From Middle English wyndmylne, wyndmylle, equivalent to wind + mill. Cognate with Scots wyndmyln, wyndmyl, Saterland Frisian Wíendmäälne, West Frisian wynmûne, Dutch windmolen, Afrikaans windmeul, Dutch Low Saxon windmölle (Achterhooks), wiendmeule (Drents, Veluws), German Low German Windmöhl, German Windmühle, Danish vindmølle, Norwegian Bokmål vindmølle, Norwegian Nynorsk vindmølle, vindmylne, Swedish vindmölla, Icelandic vindmylla.

A child's toy consisting of vanes mounted on a stick that rotate when blown by a person or by the wind.

A breakdancing move in which the dancer rolls his/her torso continuously in a circular path on the floor, across the upper chest, shoulders and back, while twirling the legs in a V shape in the air.

Any of various muscle exercises in which a large deal of the body makes a great circle, typically one where a kettlebell is raised overhead and the torso is rotated to the other side with the hand reaching its foot (hitting the core, glutes, hamstrings, trapezius, rhomboids, deltoids and rotator cuffs) but sometimes even a windshield wiper.


workload

The amount of work assigned to a particular worker, normally in a specified time period

charge de travail

The amount of work that a machine can handle or produce


wheelbarrow

en-verb

wheelbarrow (third-person singular simple present wheelbarrows, present participle wheelbarrowing, simple past and past participle wheelbarrowed)

wheelbarrows (present singular third-person)
wheelbarrowing (participle present)
wheelbarrowed (participle past)
wheelbarrowed (past)

/ˈʍiːl.bæɹ.əʊ/

General American, Mary–marry–merry merger

From Middle English whelbarwe; equivalent to wheel + barrow.

(transitive, aviation) To cause the weight of an aeroplane to become concentrated around the nosewheel.


cubrecama

→ Tagalog: kubrekama

Verb-object compound, composed of cubre (“to cover”) + cama (“bed”).


breakwater

/ˈbɹeɪkˌwɔːtə/

From break + water. Compare Dutch breekwater (“breakwater”). Contrast with firebreak.

[…]there is a channel, some three miles wide between the city and the mainland, and some mile and a half wide between it and the sandy breakwater called the Lido, which divides the lagoon from the Adriatic,

1853, John Ruskin, “The Throne”, in The Stones of Venice, volume II (The Sea-Stories), London: Smith, Elder, and Co., […], →OCLC, § VI, page 8:

But there's a pier or breakwater runs out into the sea just here, which we could defend longer than anything else, like Horatius and his bridge.

1908, G[ilbert] K[eith] Chesterton, The Man Who Was Thursday: A Nightmare, Bristol: J[ames] W[illiams] Arrowsmith, […]; London: Simpkin, Marshall, Hamilton, Kent & Company, →OCLC, page 259:

They sailed around a breakwater that hadn't existed on Peregrine's last trip and tied in at the moorage.

1992, Vernor Vinge, A Fire Upon the Deep, New York: Tor Books, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 70:

A construction in or around a harbour designed to break the force of the sea and to provide shelter for vessels lying inside.

(nautical) A low bulkhead across the forecastle deck of a ship which diverts water breaking over the bows into the scuppers.

bulbo

(on beaches) A wooden or concrete barrier, usually perpendicular to the shore, intended to prevent the movement of sand along a coast.


code of conduct

en-noun

code of conduct (plural codes of conduct)

What use have I ever had from this religion that has been dinned into me? It gave me false ideas of the world and nature which I have had to unlearn. It gave me an unworkable code of conduct which I never tried to follow, but I got into trouble for it.

1901, Harold Fielding, The Hearts of Men:

In spite of the maturity of his years and of the savage rigidity of the mould that had formed him, his nature was undergoing an expansion. There was a burgeoning within him of strange feelings and unwonted impulses. His old code of conduct was changing.

1906 May–October, Jack London, chapter VI, in White Fang, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., published October 1906, →OCLC, part 4 (The Superior Gods):

That iron-bound code of conduct which rules the Anglo-Indian, in the first days of the voyage had threatened to ostracize Karamaneh and Aziz, by reason of the Eastern blood to which their brilliant but peculiar type of beauty bore witness.

1916, Sax Rohmer [pseudonym; A. H. Ward], chapter XXXII, in The Return of Dr. Fu-Manchu:

Mr Blunkett quit after breaking the ministerial code of conduct over paid work he took while out of the Cabinet. John Hutton is to replace him.

2005 November 2, “Blunkett quits after ‘mistakes’”, in BBC News:

The conversational free-for-all on the Internet known as the blogosphere can be a prickly and unpleasant place. Now, a few prominent figures in high technology are proposing a blogger code of conduct to clean up the quality of online discourse.

2007 April 9, Brad Stone, “Bloggers debate need for code of conduct”, in The International Herald Tribune:

Nodding to critics who contend that the movie industry hasn’t done enough to fight sexual harassment, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced on Thursday that it would be establishing a “code of conduct” for its members.

2017 October 27, Sopan Deb, “Motion Picture Academy Moves to Institute Code of Conduct”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

(ethics) A set of rules dictating acceptable behaviour and decisions in a specified environment.


slaughterhouse

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


kickback

kickback (countable and uncountable, plural kickbacks)

(uncountable, bridge) In contract bridge, an ace asking convention initiated by the first step above four of the agreed trump suit.


big shot

→ Macanese: tiro-grandi (calque)

Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see big, shot.


loudmouth

Coordinate term: motormouth

I hear every word spoken by the loudmouth in the next office.

(slang, derogatory) One who talks too much or too loudly, especially in a boastful or self-important manner.


doghouse

"But, honey, whar yo' ole man gwine ter sleep?" "Dey's straw in de barn, en pine shatters in de doghouse!" she shouted, slamming the window.

1902, Thomas Dixon, The Leopard's Spots: A Romance of the White Man's Burden--1865-1900, page 61:

Any small house or structure or enclosure used to house a dog.

This berth of mine was commonly called a doghouse (a box about six feet long, four high, and two broad,) containing a mattress fitted about 18 inches from the deck.

1840, James Holman, Travels in Madeira, Sierra Leone, Teneriffe, St. Jago, Cape Coast, Fernando ..., page 411:

p. 1927, United States Code Annotated
[…] so as to render railroad liable for death of brakeman falling from tender, notwithstanding construction of doghouse on top of tender for brakeman's use.

The yacht is well equipped and has accommodations for six people. A teak doghouse over the forward part of the cockpit affords […]

A rotary rig could have drilled that much in a day. Oscar had been here a month. He kept a careful log on the doghouse wall […]

2005, Alan Cockrell, Drilling Ahead: The Quest for Oil in the Deep South, 1945-2005, page 276:

A structure of small size, similar to a doghouse, but offering useful shelter for a human.

Mechanically, an equipment cover with an opening, with a shape resembling a doghouse.

During the slave trade, slaves were packed into every available niche aboard the slave ships, including the officers' cabins. The officers slept on deck in semi-cylindrical boxes, nicknamed "dog houses." The term "in the dog house" grew to describe being in a difficult situation due to the extreme discomfort of sleeping in these boxes.

1981, Charles Snelling, “Nomenclature of Ships”, in Naval Sea Systems Command publication:

(nautical) A difficult or demoralizing situation.

A traffic signal with five sections: two on the bottom, two in the middle, and one on top.

He didn't even know where he was taking her. He had assumed she would suggest a place she wanted to eat, the movie she wanted to see. Now he suspected she was waiting for him to make the decision. Unfortunately, he hardly knew the area. He didn't want to risk taking her to the local doghouse.

2011, Christopher Pike, Until the End: The Party; The Dance; The Graduation, page 161:

(informal) Any shabby or disreputable establishment.


treehouse

From tree + house. First use appears c. 1867. See cite below.

so that I am high and dry, and have all the better view too, quite a grand flight of steps-a broad ladder-up into my house. The Mahaga lads and I call it my tree-house.

1867, Charlotte Mary Yonge, Life of John Coleridge Patteson, Missionary Bishop of the Melanesian Islands, Volume 2, page 177:

(chiefly US) A house, or similar structure within a tree, or several trees, built with light materials.


poetic justice

/pəʊˌɛtɪk ˈd͡ʒʌstɪs/

From poetic + justice, a variant of poetical justice, coined by the English literary critic Thomas Rymer (c. 1643 – 1713) in the work The Tragedies of the Last Age Consider’d and Examin’d (1678): see the quotation.

coinage

For though historical Juſtice might reſt there; yet poetical Juſtice could not be ſo content. It vvould require that the ſatisfaction be compleat and full, e're the Malefactor goes off the Stage, and nothing left to God Almighty, and another VVorld.

[1678, Thomas Rymer, “The Tragedy of Rollo Duke of Normandy”, in The Tragedies of the Last Age Consider’d and Examin‘d […], London: […] Richard Tonson […], →OCLC, page 26:

Poetic Juſtice, vvith her lifted ſcale; / VVhere in nice balance, truth vvith gold ſhe vveighs, / And ſolid pudding againſt empty praiſe.

1728, [Alexander Pope], “Book the First”, in The Dunciad. An Heroic Poem. […], Dublin, London: […] A. Dodd, →OCLC, page 3, lines 40–42:

[T]he great object [of a comedy] is to cauſe a hearty laugh, in the accompliſhment of vvhich, the rules of the drama and the exerciſe of reaſon are often held in defiance; at the ſame time that poetic juſtice is carefully adminiſtered, and the vices of human nature are held up to merited execration.

1798 December, “Theatre. [Review of Laugh When You Can by Frederic Reynolds.]”, in The Universal Magazine of Knowledge and Pleasure: […], volume CIII, London: […] W. Bent, […], →OCLC, page 424:

[W]e cannot expect, nor does poetic justice allow, that a man shall act contary to his own nature through any force of will.

1894, Charles W. Hodell, “Shakespeare’s Opening Scenes as Striking the Key-note of Dramatic Action and Motive”, in Charlotte Porter, Helen A[rchibald] Clarke, editors, Poet Lore: A Magazine of Letters, volume VI, numbers 6–7, [Philadelphia, Pa.: Poet-Lore Co.]; New York, N.Y.: AMS Reprint Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 345:

Literary history, not to mention countless Grade B movies and television serials, teaches us that poetic justice is a standard formula for popular entertainment. […] Since very few people learn their morality from the theater, the enduring appeal of poetic justice must come from the fact that it satisfies needs that go much deeper than simple moral improvement. We can begin to get an insight into these needs by recognizing that poetic justice is a conscious or unconscious imitation of ideal justice.

1969, O[sborne] B[ennett] Hardison [Jr.], “Three Types of Renaissance Catharsis”, in Renaissance Drama, volume 2 (New Series), Evanston, Ill.: Northwestern University Press, →ISSN, →JSTOR, →OCLC, section II, page 9; republished in Arthur F. Kinney, editor, Poetics and Praxis, Understanding and Imagination: The Collected Essays of O. B. Hardison Jr., Athens, Ga., London: University of Georgia Press, 1997, →ISBN, part 2 (Poetics), page 83:

poetical justice
poetical justice#English

(narratology) Synonym of poetical justice (“the idea that in a literary work such as a poem, virtue should be rewarded and vice punished”)


sunshine

en-noun

sunshine (usually uncountable, plural sunshines)

In the Coverdale Bible in 1535, in Genesis and Exodus about 1250 as Middle English sunnesine; synchronically sun + shine. Compare isolated Old English sunsċīn (“mirror”).

Alright sunshine, safe to cross now.

(UK, Ireland) Friendly form of address often reserved for juniors.

OK, sunshine, listen up and listen good. There's five vandalised telephone boxes out there and I know you're responsible.

(UK, Ireland) Ironic form of address used to an inferior or troublemaker.

Good morning, sunshine!

(humorous) Used to address someone who has just woken up and/or is very sleepy.


sunshine

Because of the sunshine law, we could go to the planning meeting.

(chiefly US) Open to and permitting public access, especially with regard to activities that were previously closed-door or back-room meetings.


носорог

ru-noun+

носоро́говый

носоро́г • (nosoróg) m anim (genitive носоро́га, nominative plural носоро́ги, genitive plural носоро́гов, feminine носоро́жиха, relational adjective носоро́говый or носоро́жий, diminutive носоро́жик)

носоро́г (canonical)
nosoróg (romanization)
носоро́га (genitive)
носоро́ги (nominative plural)
носоро́гов (genitive plural)
носоро́жиха (feminine)
носоро́говый (adjective relational)
носоро́жий (adjective relational)
носоро́жик (diminutive)
носоро́г (nominative singular)
носоро́ги (nominative plural)
носоро́га (genitive singular)
носоро́гов (genitive plural)
носоро́гу (dative singular)
носоро́гам (dative plural)
носоро́га (accusative singular)
носоро́гов (accusative plural)
носоро́гом (instrumental singular)
носоро́гами (instrumental plural)
носоро́ге (prepositional singular)
носоро́гах (plural prepositional)

Ru-носорог.ogg

Bahuvrīhi compound of нос (nos, “nose”) + -о- (-o-) + рог (rog, “horn”), a calque of Ancient Greek ῥινόκερως (rhinókerōs). Cognates include Ukrainian носорі́г (nosoríh), Belarusian насаро́г (nasaróh).

cal

носоро́гъ — Pre-reform orthography (1918)


lickspittle

en-verb

lickspittle (third-person singular simple present lickspittles, present participle lickspittling, simple past and past participle lickspittled)

lickspittles (present singular third-person)
lickspittling (participle present)
lickspittled (participle past)
lickspittled (past)

A compounding: lick (“pass one’s tongue over”) + spittle (“saliva”); the verb may derive by back-formation from the nominal derivation lickspittling (see below).

"[Y]ou take his side, and that is wrong! ...If some young school teacher, or some young lad, lickspittles to him, it's bad enough."

1886, Aylmer and Louise Maude, The Light Shines in Darkness, translation of original by Leo Tolstoy, act 1:

(transitive and intransitive) To play the toady; take the role of a lickspittle to please (someone).


maidservant

From Middle English maide servant; equivalent to maid + servant.

Sixe dayes thou ſhalt labour, and doe all thy worke. / But the ſeuenth day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou ſhalt not doe any worke, thou, nor thy ſonne, nor thy daughter, nor thy man ſeruant, nor thy maid ſeruant, nor thine oxe, nor thine aſſe, nor any of thy cattel, nor thy ſtranger that is within thy gates, that thy man ſeruant and thy maid ſeruant may reſt as well as thou.

1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Deuteronomy 5:13–14, column 2:

"A great people were they. They conquered till none were left to conquer, and then they dwelt at ease within their rocky mountain walls, with their man servants and their maid servants, their minstrels, their sculptors, and their concubines, and traded and quarrelled, and ate and hunted and slept and made merry till their time came."

1886 October – 1887 January, H[enry] Rider Haggard, She: A History of Adventure, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., published 1887, →OCLC:

But a man who holds so tightly to what he calls his rights over what he calls his debts will hold tightly also to what he calls his rights over her whom he calls his wife. No sir smile neighbour shall covet his ox or his wife or his manservant or his maidservant or his jackass. / —Or his jennyass, Buck Mulligan antiphoned.

1922 February, James Joyce, Ulysses, Paris: Shakespeare and Company, […], →OCLC:


pique-nique

→ Catalan: pícnic

desctree

→ English: picnic, pic-a-nic, picknick (archaic)
→ Japanese: ピクニック (pikunikku)
→ Punjabi: ਪਿਕਨਿਕ (piknik)
→ Polish: piknik
→ Swahili: pikniki

→ Galician: pícnic

→ German: Picknick

→ Portuguese: piquenique

→ Romanian: picnic

→ Russian: пикни́к (pikník)

→ Sicilian: picchinicchi

→ Spanish: pícnic

→ Turkish: piknik

From pique + nique, from piquer (“to pick”, verb) + nique (“small thing”).


AFL-CIO

(US, labour) Initialism of American Federation of Labor-Congress of Industrial Organizations.


butterfingers

/ˈbʌtəˌfɪŋɡəz/

/ˈbʌtɚˌfɪŋɡɚz/

From butter + fingers (suggesting that someone is clumsy and drops things as if their hands are coated in slippery butter), from butterfingered.

I am such a butterfingers. That’s the third drink I’ve spilled today.

[A]t every bad attempt at a catch, and every failure to stop the ball, he launched his personal displeasure at the head of the devoted individual in such denunciations as—"Ah, ah!—stupid"—"Now butter-fingers"—"Muff"—"Humbug"—and so forth—ejaculations which seemed to establish him in the opinion of all around, as a most excellent and undeniable judge of the whole art and mystery of the noble game of cricket.

1836 March – 1837 October, Charles Dickens, “How Mr. Winkle, instead of Shooting at the Pigeon and Killing the Crow, Shot at the Crow and Wounded the Pigeon; […]”, in The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club, London: Chapman and Hall, […], published 1837, →OCLC, page 69:

“[…] Please don't handle them [birds’ eggs], Me! They are very fragile, and I would’nt^([sic – meaning wouldn’t]) lose them for anything.” / “I must hold them—just this once,” persists Me. “Don’t think I shall be such a butter[-]fingers as to break them. I’ve handled heaps of eggs before these!”

1883, Frances I[sabelle] M. Kershaw, “Master Me”, in Baby: A Study of Baby Life, London: Burns and Oates, […], →OCLC, page 95:

Someone who tends to drop things; (more generally) someone who is clumsy or uncoordinated; a klutz.

ру́ки из жо́пы расту́т (rúki iz žópy rastút, literally “hands growing from the buttocks”)

ру́ки как крюки́ (rúki kak krjukí, literally “hands like hooks”)


rocket scientist

en-noun

rocket scientist (plural rocket scientists)

You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to see that that idea won’t work.

"OK," you say, "I understand that definition and although I'm not a rocket scientist, it appears to make sense. What else is there? I just want a couple of F-16s to go along with my AEGIS Destroyers and Abrams Tanks. Push the button and send the planes."

1989 fall, Gary G. Geilenfeldt, “Initial Support or Initial Shock”, in The DISAM Journal of International Security Assistance Management, volume 12, number 1, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Oh.: Defense Institute of Security Assistance Management, →OCLC, page 100:

While visiting another province, I remarked that I thought a particular cabinet minister was not exactly a rocket scientist. The reply from a fellow cabinet minister in that province was, 'Yes, I agree. A is not a rocket scientist. But I'm sorry to say that about 25 per cent of the people in this province are decidedly not rocket scientists, and they deserve representation, too.' And that story is only half in jest.

1998, Allan Blakeney, Sandford Borins, “Choosing a Cabinet”, in Political Management in Canada: Conversations on Statecraft, 2nd edition, Toronto, Ont., Buffalo, N.Y.: University of Toronto Press, →ISBN, part 1 (The Political Dimension), pages 16–17:

[Sandra] Witelson delved into her collection and retrieved the brains of contributors who were both mentally and physically healthy, with IQs from 107 to 125. No dunces here, but no rocket scientists either.

1999 November, Jim Wilson, “Science: Unlocking Einstein’s Brain”, in Joe Oldham, editor, Popular Mechanics, volume 176, number 11, New York, N.Y.: The Hearst Corporation, →ISSN, →OCLC, pages 42 and 44:

It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that as a culture we are obsessed with almost every aspect of technology.

2000, Rajani Sudan, “Sexy SIMS, Racy SIMMS”, in Beth E. Kolko, Lisa Nakamura, Gilbert B. Rodman, editors, Race in Cyberspace, London: Routledge, →ISBN, page 69:

But then, in my experience, there are no rocket scientists on the NYPD.

2019 December, Cleo Coyle [pseudonym; Alice Alfonsi and Marc Cerasini], chapter 16, in Brewed Awakening, New York, N.Y.: Berkley Prime Crime, Berkley Books, →ISBN, page 63:

(hyperbolic, idiomatic, chiefly in the negative) One qualified to handle or understand things which are very complex or confusing; a very intelligent person.

bůhvíjaký génius

one qualified to handle or understand things which are very complex or confusing

avoir fait Polytechnique (pas besoin d'avoir fait Polytechnique pour …)


brickbat

The noun is derived from brick + bat (“a bit, piece; specifically, part of a brick with one whole end”). The verb is derived from the noun.

brickbats

small rocky particles moving as a group in space

[S]he sēt [sent] a brick back after him & hit him on þᵉ back, […]

[1563 March 30 (Gregorian calendar), John Foxe, “George Tākerfield [Tankerfield] a Faythful Martyr and Witnes of the Gospel, Constantly Suffering for the Testimonie of the Same”, in Actes and Monuments of These Latter and Perillous Dayes, […], London: […] Iohn Day, […], →OCLC, book V, page 1251 [1320]:

[Y]ᵉ body of King Charles the First was privately putt into the Sand about White-hall; and the coffin that was carried to Windsor and layd in K. Hen[ry] 8^(th's) vault was filled with rubbish, or brick-batts.

1687 February, John Aubrey, “Lotts”, in James Britten, editor, Remaines of Gentilisme and Judaisme, London: [F]or The Folk-lore Society by W. Satchell, Peyton, and Co., […], published 1881, →OCLC, page 91:

Fragments of glass kept company with the dust on the floor, together with a choice collection of stones, brickbats, and other missiles,—which not improbably were the cause of their being there.

1897 March 13 – June 19, Richard Marsh [pseudonym; Richard Bernard Heldmann], “What was Hidden under the Floor”, in The Beetle (The Adelphi Library; 4), London: T[homas] Fisher Unwin, […], published 1920, →OCLC, book IV (In Pursuit), page 275:

No doubt he, like me, had been buoying himself up for years with the thought that we should never meet again and that, whatever brickbats life might have in store for him, he had at least got Bertram out of his system. A nasty jar it must have been for the poor bloke having me suddenly pop up from a trap like this.

1960, P[elham] G[renville] Wodehouse, chapter 3, in Jeeves in the Offing, Harmondsworth, Middlesex [London]: Penguin Books, published 1963 (1975 printing), →OCLC, page 33:

A piece of brick, rock, etc., especially when used as a weapon (for example, thrown or placed in a sock or other receptacle and used as a club).

murikka

I beſeech ye friends, ere the brickbats flye, reſolve me and your ſelves, is it blasphemy, or any vvhit diſagreeing from Chriſtian meekneſſe, […] for me to anſvver a ſlovenly vvincer of a confutation, that, if he vvould needs put his foot to ſuch a ſvveaty ſervice, the odour of his Sock vvas like to be neither Musk, nor Benjamin?

1642 April, John Milton, An Apology for Smectymnuus; republished in A Complete Collection of the Historical, Political, and Miscellaneous Works of John Milton, […], volume I, Amsterdam [actually London: s.n.], 1698, →OCLC, page 179:

Not honoured, hardly even envied; only fools and the flunkey-species so much as envy me. I am conspicuous,—as a mark for curses and brickbats. What good is it?

1843 April, Thomas Carlyle, “The Didactic”, in Past and Present, American edition, Boston, Mass.: Charles C[offin] Little and James Brown, published 1843, →OCLC, book IV (Horoscope), pages 292–293:

And Mr [Manmohan] Singh has little control over this mutinous mix; his party boss, Sonia Gandhi, the Italian-born widow of a murdered Congress leader, runs the show. This arrangement has assured Mr Singh many brickbats, and little freedom to dodge.

2008 June 26, “Manmohan Singh’s burning ambition”, in The Economist, London: The Economist Group, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2023-07-25:

A broken bone heals far more quickly and durably than the emotional and psychic injuries inflicted by a savage word, which is where the brickbat derives its power. The many libel and defamation suits that litter the courts show that the figurative brickbat hurts just as much as, if not more than, the literal one.

2020 February 7, Shashi Tharoor, “Shashi Tharoor’s Word of the Week: Brickbat”, in Hindustan Times, New Delhi: HT Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2023-05-21:

(figurative) A piece of (sharp) criticism or a (highly) uncomplimentary remark.


brickbat

en-verb

brickbat (third-person singular simple present brickbats, present participle brickbatting, simple past and past participle brickbatted)

brickbats (present singular third-person)
brickbatting (participle present)
brickbatted (participle past)
brickbatted (past)

We had two boys arrested, both colored, for brick-batting a colored woman in her house. They were sent to the chaingang for 12 months each.

1904, “Crime in Georgia”, in W[illiam] E[dward] Burghardt Du Bois, editor, Some Notes on Negro Crime, Particularly in Georgia […] (The Atlanta University Publications; 9), Atlanta, Ga.: Atlanta University Press, →OCLC, page 38:

To attack (someone or something) by swinging or throwing brickbats (noun sense 1).

heittää kiviä

to attack (someone or something) by swinging or throwing brickbats

(figurative) To assail (someone or something) with (sharp) criticism.

arvostella kärkevästi

to assail (someone or something) with (sharp) criticism


easy street

From easy (“at ease, comfortable”) + street.

Stocks are light, while packers will be able to get financial aid, which will, so far as that is concerned, place them on "easy street."

1813, Financial Year Book of the Daily Commercial News, San Francisco, Calif.: Commercial News Pub. Co., →OCLC, page 55, column 2:

Once after this I asked the "pardners" if Jimsey's mascot was bringing him luck. / "Yes, lady," said Tom, "we walks on de shady side of de street now—don't we, Jimsey?" / "Yes, we lives on Easy street."

1890 August, Marie L[ouise] Marsh, “[The Sketch Book—Character in Outline] Jimsey’s Mascot”, in Current Literature: A Magazine of Record and Review, volume V, number 2, New York, N.Y.: The Current Literature Publishing Co., →OCLC, page 121, column 2:

There was big money in it—the fellows who did that job might live on Easy Street the rest of their lives.

1919, Upton Sinclair, “Jimmie Higgins Puts His Foot in It”, in Jimmie Higgins […], Pasadena, Calif.: Upton Sinclair, →OCLC, section II, page 83:

Honestly, Sally, it's the chance of a lifetime. It would put you right on easy street. Isn't there really any way you could get your money out of this other thing and take on this deal?

1921 October 8 – December 31, P[elham] G[renville] Wodehouse, chapter XIV, in Mostly Sally [The Adventures of Sally], 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: George H[enry] Doran Company, published 23 March 1923, →OCLC, section II, page 256:

Sometimes I'm tired and I wonder / What's so all-fired important / About being someplace at some time / Oh, but I don't really mind / 'Cause I could be on Easy Street

1972 October, Carole King (lyrics and music), “Bitter with the Sweet”, in Rhymes & Reasons:

Easy street, easy street / Where the rich folks play (yeah, yeah, yeah) / Move them feet to easy street / When you get there, stay

1977, “Easy Street”, in Martin Charnin (lyrics), Charles Strouse (music), Annie (soundtrack):

(originally US, idiomatic, informal) Chiefly preceded by on: a carefree lifestyle or situation, especially as as a result of becoming wealthy.

kissanpäivät

(informal) carefree lifestyle or situation, especially as resulting from being wealthy


fancy pants

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-fancy pants.wav

From what I hear fancy pants is dancing real good with that fat pig.

2008, Ivan Narayan, Kill Or Be Killed: The Henry Street Affair, page 135:

(US) A person wearing fancy clothing; a member of a social elite.


toolbox

(computing) A set of pre-existing routines for use in writing new programs.


sabelotodo

es-noun

sabelotodo m or f by sense (plural sabelotodos)

Verb-object compound, composed of sabe (“to know”) + lo (“it”) + todo (“all”), literally “know it all”.

es-verb-obj

A Entoven padre lo retrata como a un ingenuo que se cuidó poco de la educación del hijo y, al mismo tiempo, lo consideraba su “obra maestra”: un repelente sabelotodo, un niño prodigio de Saint-Germain-des-Près, el barrio del poder intelectual parisino.

2020 September 23, “Venganza, enredos y trapos sucios en Saint-Germain-des-Près”, in El País:

He portrays Entoven Sr. as a naive man who took little care of his son's education and, at the same time, considered him his “master work”: a repulsive know-it-all, a child prodigy from Saint-Germain-des-Près, the neighborhood of Parisian intellectual power.


sacacorchos

Verb-object compound, composed of saca (“to remove”) + corchos (“corks”).


shoestring

The noun is derived from shoe + string. The adjective is derived from the noun, while the verb is derived from terms such as shoestring catch and shoestring tackle.

Your shoestring is untied.

I am ſure ſhe is not half ſo beautiful, and vvill even venture to ſay, that ſhe is not vvorthy to tie her majeſty's ſhoe-ſtrings.

1755, Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, “The Pleasant Artifice Practised to Extricate Our Enamoured Knight from the Most Rigorous Penance He had Imposed upon Himself”, in T[obias] Smollett, transl., The History and Adventures of the Renowned Don Quixote. […], volume I, London: […] A[ndrew] Millar, […], →OCLC, part I, book IV, page 221:

(chiefly US) The string or lace used to secure a shoe to the foot; a shoelace.


airbag

In a fast German car / I'm amazed that I survived / An airbag saved my life

1997, “Airbag”, in OK Computer, performed by Radiohead:

However, the challenges for the railway world are much greater than for automotive as we generally have more occupants, higher speeds, greater masses, higher energies, and an absence of seatbelts or airbags to contend with.

2021 December 29, Dominique Louis, “Causal analysis: crashworthiness at Sandilands”, in RAIL, number 947, page 32:

(automotive) A protective system in automobiles in which when a crash occurs, a bag containing nitrogen, formed by the explosive decomposition of sodium azide, quickly inflates in front of the driver or passenger, preventing injury to the head. Side air bags, including the back seat passengers, also prevent injury.


war crime

/ˈwɔɹ ˌkɹaɪm/

[W]ar crimes are such hostile or other acts of soldiers or other individuals as may be punished by the enemy on capture of the offenders. […] [A]lthough among the acts called war crimes are many which, such as abuse of a flag of truce or assassination of enemy soldiers for instance, are crimes in the moral sense of the term, there are others which, such as taking part in a levy en masse on territory occupied by the enemy for instance, may be highly praiseworthy patriotic acts. Because every belligerent can and actually must in the interest of his own safety punish these acts, they are termed war crimes, whatever may be the motive, the purpose, and the moral character of the respective act.

1906, L[assa Francis Lawrence] Oppenheim, “Means of Securing Legitimate Warfare”, in International Law: A Treatise, volumes II (War and Neutrality), London, New York, N.Y.: Longmans, Green, and Co. […], →OCLC, part II (War), section IV (Punishment of War Crimes), § 251, pages 263–264:

[Paragraph] 441. The term "War Crime" is the technical expression for such an act of enemy soldiers and enemy civilians as may be visited by punishment or capture of the offenders. […] [Paragraph] 442. War crimes may be divided into four different classes:– (i) Violations of the recognized rules of warfare by members of the armed forces. (ii) Illegitimate hostilities in arms committed by individuals who are not members of the armed forces. (iii) Espionage and war treason. (iv) Marauding.

1914, J[ames] E[dward] Edmonds, L[assa Francis Lawrence] Oppenheim, “The Laws and Usages of War on Land”, in Hugh Godley, editor, Manual of Military Law, 6th edition, London: War Office; His Majesty’s Stationery Office, published 1917, →OCLC, page 302:

If, this time, there is going to be, after the victory of the United Nations, due punishment of these abominable war crimes, perpetrated in breach of the laws of war by enemy nations and for which enemy individuals must be held responsible, it would be a grave mistake to concern ourselves at this stage merely with the discussion of the most appropriate tribunals to deal with such charges, or with the minutiae of juridical analysis.

1942 October 7, John Simon, 1st Viscount Simon, “[Collective Notes Presented to the Governments of Great Britain, the U.S.S.R. and the U.S.A. and Relative Correspondence] Statement of the Lord Chancellor in the House of Lords”, in Punishment for War Crimes, New York, N.Y.: United Nations Information Office, published [1943], →OCLC, page 30:

To be sure, there is a strong argument that aiding and abetting a recognized international-law war crime such as terrorism is itself an international-law war crime. And there are other similar war crimes.

2012 October 16, Brett Kavanaugh, Circuit Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, “Hamdan v. United States [No. 11-1257]”, in West’s Federal Reporter: Cases Argued and Determined in the United States Courts of Appeals (3d Series), volume 696, St. Paul, Minn.: West Publishing Co., →ISSN, →OCLC, paragraph 66, page 1251:

To deal with war crime such as rape a mobile court system was created in the DRC [Democratic Republic of the Congo].

2015, Mariam M. Kurtz, Mwamini Thambwe Diggs, “Wartime Rape: A Case Study of the Democratic Republic of Congo”, in Mariam M. Kurtz, Lester R. Kurtz, editors, Women, War, and Violence: Topography, Resistance, and Hope, volume 1, Santa Barbara, Calif., Denver, Colo.: Praeger Security International, ABC-CLIO, →ISBN, page 193:

The two primary ones are that by the time anyone bothered to codify rules of war, lighthouses went on the list of "do not attack" pretty much immediately, and so it would be a rather pointless war crime to commit; the second reason is related to why they went on the list of "do not attack" targets very quickly, and that is that lighthouses are completely nondiscriminatory as to who they alert to what's going on in terms of danger and coastlines and hidden rocks and such[…]

2020 June 21, “Drachinifel” [pseudonym], “The Drydock” (6:33 from the start), in YouTube, episode 099, archived from the original on 2022-08-08:

Condoleezza Rice pops up on Fox to be told by the anchor: "When you invade a sovereign nation, that is a war crime." With a solemn nod, the former secretary of state to George Bush replies: "It is certainly against every principle of international law and international order."

2022 March 17, Aditya Chakrabortty, “Western values? They enthroned the monster who is shelling Ukrainians today”, in Katharine Viner, editor, The Guardian, London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2023-06-14:

(criminal law, international law) A punishable offence under international law for violations of the laws of war by any person or persons, military or civilian.

criminal law; international law; criminal law; international law


Aga saga

Rhyming phrase, named for the AGA cooker, a type of stored-heat oven popular in British country houses in the early 20th century. Coined in 1992 by novelist Terence Blacker in reference to the work of Joanna Trollope.

2007, Saying that, if Judy does retire and write a rollicking Aga-saga about, say, a middle-aged woman with a loving, ambitious yet utterly frustrating husband, I'd certainly buy it in the three-for-two. — Grace Dent, The Guardian, 22 Jun 2007, G2, p. 3

(British, sometimes derogatory) A kind of popular novel set in a suburban or rural location and featuring domestic and emotional themes involving middle-class characters.


quitamanchas

Verb-object compound, composed of quita (“to remove”) + manchas (“stains”).


quitaesmalte

Verb-object compound, composed of quita (“to remove”) + esmalte (“nail polish”).


quebracho

English: quebracho

Italian: quebracho

Portuguese: quebracho

Verb-object compound, composed of quebra (“to break”) + hacha (“axe”), with the suffix changed to -o.


quitasol

Verb-object compound, composed of quita (“to remove”) + sol (“sun”).


quitanieves

Verb-object compound, composed of quita (“to remove”) + nieves (“snows”).

Nada nuevo en la cordillera Cantábrica si no fuese porque este escenario es el que ha provocado la muerte de un operario de una quitanieves, César Fernández, a la que un alud arrasó el viernes por la noche en el concejo de Aller, muy cerca de León.

2021 January 4, Juan Navarro, “Rescate imposible entre aludes en el puerto de San Isidro”, in El País, retrieved 2021-01-04:

Nothing new in the Cantabrian Mountains if it were not for the fact that this scenario is what caused the death of a snowplow operator, César Fernández, which [referring to the snowplow] was devastated by an avalanche on Friday night in the municipality of Aller, very close to León.


hothead

From hot + head. Compare English hotbrain (“a hothead”); Middle English hot-heorte, hat-heorte (“anger”), Old English hātheort (“furious, angry, irascible, passionate, ardent”, literally “hot-heart”).

cog

The club was full of eager young hotheads who never seemed to be able to agree on anything.

(derogatory) One who angers easily or goes in search of arguments or fights.

brushoved

one who angers easily or goes in search of arguments or fights


airstrip

The outfitter deposited us at a small airstrip out in the bush, promising to pick us up again in a week's time.

An aircraft landing field, usually with one runway and only basic facilities.


airship

From air + ship.
* (jocular British sense): is in imitation of worship "form of address for magistrates et al., possibly also an oblique reference to Colonel Blimp.

Airships are posited to be cheaper to operate over time than fixed-wing aircraft, but as there are no large fleets, this is hard to prove in practice.

(aviation) A lighter-than-air aircraft that can be propelled forward through the air as well as steered.

(US, law enforcement, aviation) A police air unit, a police helicopter.

On weekends, I liked to spend my time at the airport watching the various airships take off and land.

I only make them to add perhaps a little weight to my view that, whether one thinks of Their Lordships of the Admiralty, or of Their Airships of the Air Ministry, or of Their Coalships of Lansdowne House, or of any other governing body, what is vastly more important than the precise theoretical form of the superstructure is the will—and the capacity—throughout the organisation to make the organisation work.

1947, Great Britain. National Coal Board, A Selection of General Addresses Delivered Before the National Coal Board Summer School, Cambridge, 1947, →OCLC, page 10:

Then where does the Navy come in, since it is generally agreed that the primary role of the Navy is the protection of our merchant ships? It is obvious that neither their Lordships of the Admiralty nor their Airships of the Air Ministry will relinquish their power without a struggle.

1953, The Aeroplane, Temple Press, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 311:

And all the time, ever present but out of sight, "their Airships,” as they called the RAF top brass, were also watching, praying.

1971, Basil Boothroyd, Prince Philip: An Informal Biography, page 217:

But their Airships insisted that we fly there.

2006 June 30, Roy Bagshaw, Alan Pollock, Malcolm Thomas, Ray Deacon, RAF Little Rissington: The Central Flying School, 1946–76, Pen and Sword, →ISBN, →OCLC:

Trespassing on superior ground was frowned upon, and although it was difficult to look serious, and infra dig to salute when wearing only swimming trunks, a deferential nod on passing their Airships was expected and its absence noted!

2006, Kel Palmer, A Roving Commission, iUniverse, published 2013, →ISBN, →OCLC, page 541:

For the Air Council – 'their airships', in counterpoint to the Board of Admiralty – nuclear deterrence and the manned bomber were the overriding concerns of the postwar era.

2010 May 19, R. Moore, Nuclear Illusion, Nuclear Reality: Britain, the United States and Nuclear Weapons, 1958-64 (Nuclear Weapons and International Security since 1945), Springer, →ISBN, →OCLC, page 18:

"Their Airships back in London didn't give a bugger about Malta," he [Tom Neil] says

2013, James Holland, Fortress Malta: An Island Under Siege 1940-1943:

An advance party from No 1 Flight had travelled this route some days previously to wherever 'Their Airships' decreed.

2015 April 19, Tony Blackman, Anthony Wright, Valiant Boys: True Stories from the Operators of the UK's First Four-Jet Bomber, Grub Street Publishing, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 51:

Still, when their Airships said 'Jump', we minions invariably replied 'How high?'

2019 March 19, Derek J. Sharp, A Cold War Fighter Pilot in Peacetime and War, Fonthill Media, →ISBN, →OCLC:

(British, derogatory, chiefly in the plural) A high ranking official of the RAF, viewed as arrogant and distant.


airship

en-verb

airship (third-person singular simple present airships, present participle airshipping, simple past and past participle airshipped)

airships (present singular third-person)
airshipping (participle present)
airshipped (participle past)
airshipped (past)


make-work

I once described this rather vulgarly as a Euro-wanking make-work project and I do not resile from that.

2011 November 10, Lord Gilbert, House of Lords Hansard:

They are more sympathetic to immigration, free markets, and free trade, and less sympathetic to protectionism, make-work policies, and government intervention in business.

2011, Steven Pinker, The Better Angels of Our Nature, Penguin, published 2012, page 802:

(chiefly US) An activity or task assigned or undertaken for the sake of activity or busy-ness, rather than because of a particular need.


toothache

en-noun

toothache (countable and uncountable, plural toothaches)

From Middle English toth-ake, from Old English tōþeċe. Equivalent to tooth + ache.


cockblock

en-verb

cockblock (third-person singular simple present cockblocks, present participle cockblocking, simple past and past participle cockblocked)

cockblocks (present singular third-person)
cockblocking (participle present)
cockblocked (participle past)
cockblocked (past)

From rhyming compound of cock + block; likely a back-formation from cockblocker. First use appears c. 1972. See cite below.

(by extension) To prevent someone from achieving a goal, aggressively getting in the way (e.g., an intentionally difficult level of a video game).


pigpen

[ˈpʰɪɡˌpʰɛn]


carrot top

The actress is known for her carrot top.

(informal, derogatory) A person with red hair; a redhead.


tapeworm

en-noun

tapeworm (countable and uncountable, plural tapeworms)

(countable) Any parasitical worm of the class or infraclass Cestoda, which infest the intestines of animals, including humans, often infecting different host species during their life cycle.

(countable) A broad fish tapeworm, Diphyllobothrium latum.

We used to have a lot of tapeworm down in my neck of the woods, but we don't have much now.

1967, Senator Hill, United States. Congress. Senate, Labor--Health, Education, and Welfare appropriations for 1968: Hearings before the subcommittee of the Committee on Appropriations, volume 8, page 1819:


tapeworm

en-verb

tapeworm (third-person singular simple present tapeworms, present participle tapeworming, simple past and past participle tapewormed)

tapeworms (present singular third-person)
tapeworming (participle present)
tapewormed (participle past)
tapewormed (past)

(intransitive) To move along in a wriggling manner, like a tapeworm.

(transitive) To treat (an animal) for tapeworm infection.


witching hour

/ˈwɪt͡ʃɪŋ ˌaʊə/

/ˈwɪt͡ʃɪŋ ˌaʊ(ə)ɹ/

From witching (“of or pertaining to witchcraft or sorcery, or to witches or sorcerers”, adjective) + hour. Sense 1 (“midnight”) was popularized by the reference to the “witching time of night” in the play Hamlet (written c. 1599–1602; published 1603) by the English playwright William Shakespeare (1564–1616): see the quotation.

compound

(originally and chiefly US, stock market) The final hour of trading each month during which certain stock options expire, leading to a higher trading volume and greater price volatility.


runaway

Runaways are vulnerable to criminal exploitation.

Thou runaway, thou coward, art thou fled?

c. 1595–1596 (date written), William Shakespeare, “A Midsommer Nights Dreame”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene ii]:

If any man of his owne heade and without leaue, walke out of his precint and boundes, taken without the princes letters, he is broughte againe for a fugitiue or a runaway with great shame and rebuke, and is sharpely punished.

1556, Ralph Robinson, Utopia: originally printed in Latin, 1516, translation of original by Sir Thomas More, page 96:

A person or animal that runs away or has run away; a person, animal, or organization that escapes captivity or restrictions.

آبِق

a person or organization that escapes captivity or restrictions

The drivers were generally boys […] They would stop the team when other boats passed and at locks while waiting for the water to rise or fall. They could also be useful in preventing or stopping runaways. Horses were easily startled and might bolt off the tow path or into the canal itself.

2012, John H. White, Jr., Wet Britches and Muddy Boots, page 171:

The act of running away, especially of a horse or teams.


runaway

en-adj

runaway (comparative more runaway, superlative most runaway)

more runaway (comparative)
most runaway (superlative)

zeal without knowledge is a runaway horse

a runaway donkey

(of a horse or other animal) Having escaped from the control of the rider or driver.

a runaway marriage

Pertaining to or accomplished by running away or eloping.

a runaway thief


bigwig

First arose in the 1730s, from big + wig. Formerly, English men of authority wore wigs. Bigwig plays on the idea that higher authority is denoted by a larger wig.

The company bigwig is gathering his staff together for a meeting today.

[…] more innocently, and no doubt profitably, than if he had dined at a big-wig's board or bemused himself with smoke and beer among his brethren of the pen.

1891, Grace L. Keith Johnston, The Halletts: A Country Town Chronicle, volume 3, page 34:

Before her hay-day, she attended many derbys under her dad's celebrity where she'd hobnob with the bigwigs in Millionaire's Row.

2016 May 5, “Reality star Bethenny Frankel talks hats, hangovers and her Kentucky Derby party at Empire City Casino”, in New York Daily News:

(humorous) A person of importance to a group or organization.


kith and kin

From Middle English kith and kynne.
Literally, friends (“kith”) and family (“kin”).

I had neither kith nor kin in England, and was therefore as free as air—or as free as an income of eleven shillings and sixpence a day will permit a man to be.

1891, A[rthur] Conan Doyle, A Study in Scarlet. A Detective Story, 3rd edition, London, New York, N.Y.: Ward, Lock, Bowden, and Co., […], published 1892, →OCLC:

Surely all those abominable rebels must see that their obstinacy and treachery redounds upon their own kith and kin.

1916, Baroness Orczy, Leatherface: A Tale of Old Flanders:

آل

this may or may not include friends; if friends to be specifically added then use "الصحب والآل". Note this is the old Arabic equivalence to Kith and Kin, for modern formal usage "الأصدقاء والأقارب" is typically used

hozzátartozók (this may or may not include friends; if not, "és barátok" can be added)


chupapiedras

Verb-object compound, composed of chupa (“to suck”) + piedras (“stones”).


shot-glass

A vessel of about 30ml volume, used for the measurement of spirituous liquors.


redcoat

The street sounds to the soldiers’ tread, / And out we troop to see: / A single redcoat turns his head, / He turns and looks at me.

1896, A[lfred] E[dward] Housman, “[Poem] XXII”, in A Shropshire Lad, New York, N.Y.: John Lane Company, The Bodley Head, published 1906, →OCLC, stanza 1, page 32:

He did not come in the dawning; he did not come at noon; / And out o' the tawny sunset, before the rise o' the moon, / When the road was a gypsy's ribbon, looping the purple moor, / A red-coat troop came marching— / Marching—marching— / King George's men came marching, up to the old inn-door.

1906 August, Alfred Noyes, “The Highwayman”, in Poems, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., published October 1906, →OCLC, part 2, stanza I, pages 48–49:

The series ran from 1980 until 1988, and won a BAFTA for Best Comedy Series in 1984. It was based on Perry’s experiences working as a Redcoat in Butlins.

A member of the entertainment staff at Butlin's holiday camps in the United Kingdom, who wear red blazers.


redcoat

en-verb

redcoat (third-person singular simple present redcoats, present participle redcoating, simple past and past participle redcoated)

redcoats (present singular third-person)
redcoating (participle present)
redcoated (participle past)
redcoated (past)

To work as a redcoat, in Butlin's. Also capital Redcoat


sunlight

en-noun

sunlight (countable and uncountable, plural sunlights)

From Middle English sonnelight, sunneliht, from Old English sunnan lēoht (“sunlight”), equivalent to sun + light. Cognate with Dutch zonlicht (“sunlight”), German Low German Sünnenlücht (“sunlight”), German Sonnenlicht (“sunlight”).

cog

Sunlight on the skin gives you vitamin D.

The solitary, lumbering trolls of Scandinavian mythology would sometimes be turned to stone by exposure to sunlight. Barack Obama is hoping that several measures announced on June 4th will have a similarly paralysing effect on their modern incarnation, the patent troll.

2013 June 8, “Obama goes troll-hunting”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8839, page 55:

All the electromagnetic radiation given off by the Sun, especially that in the visible spectrum that bathes the Earth.

রোদ

electromagnetic radiation given off by the sun

(figuratively) Brightness, hope; a positive outlook.


sunlight

en-verb

sunlight (third-person singular simple present sunlights, present participle sunlighting, simple past and past participle sunlighted)

sunlights (present singular third-person)
sunlighting (participle present)
sunlighted (participle past)
sunlighted (past)

To work on the side (at a secondary job) during the daytime.


amuse-bouche

fr-noun

amuse-bouche m (plural amuse-bouche or amuse-bouches)

amuse-bouche (plural)
amuse-bouches (plural)

From amuse + bouche; a bowdlerization of amuse-gueule.


hairpin

→ Japanese: ヘアピン

From hair + pin, 1788 (as hair pin). Adjective sense 1906 in hairpin turn etc.

(music) An elongated horizontal v-shaped sign placed underneath a staff to indicate a crescendo or decrescendo.


rotten borough

/ˌɹɒtn̩ ˈbʌɹə/

/ˌɹɑtn̩ ˈbʌɹoʊ/

From rotten (“in a state of decay”) + borough (“type of administrative district”), because such boroughs were regarded as having “decayed” due to their voters moving away to other places.

compound

[…] Queen's Crawley was no longer so populous a place as it had been in Queen Bess's time—nay, was come down to that condition of borough which used to be denominated rotten–yet, as Sir Pitt Crawley would say with perfect justice in his elegant way, "Rotten! be hanged—it produces me a good fifteen hundred a year."

[1847 January – 1848 July, William Makepeace Thackeray, “Crawley of Queen’s Crawley”, in Vanity Fair […], London: Bradbury and Evans […], published 1848, →OCLC, page 57:

(historical) A parliamentary borough that was represented in Parliament although the number of voters had diminished so greatly that they were largely controlled by the main landowner; such boroughs were abolished in the 19th century.

burgu usteldu

parliamentary borough represented in Parliament although the number of voters had diminished so greatly they were largely controlled by the main landowner; parliamentary constituency or electoral district in a similar situation


brainchild

en-verb

brainchild (third-person singular simple present brainchilds, present participle brainchilding, simple past and past participle brainchilded)

brainchilds (present singular third-person)
brainchilding (participle present)
brainchilded (participle past)
brainchilded (past)

John Law brainchilded the establishment of a national bank to expedite and secure the creation of credit.

2015, Mary Lindemann, The Merchant Republics:

(transitive, rare) To think up (an idea or innovation); to come up with.


cornmeal

en-noun

cornmeal (countable and uncountable, plural cornmeals)

She made a kind of polenta from cornmeal and chicken broth, with some cheese sprinkled on top.

Dried corn (maize) milled (ground) to a coarse meal.


chop shop

Apparently his stolen car had been taken to a chop shop, as the police only recovered the frame.

Once the car is in a chop shop, a skilled cutter can reduce it to salable parts in half an hour to 45 minutes.

1979, “The Car-Theft Boom”, in Newsweek, page 100:

New York City sports a number of chop shops, as do Chicago, Detroit and most other large metropolitan areas.[…]If they can′t find the right engine, the junkyard may call a chop shop contact to get someone on the street looking for the right make and year.

1987 August 14, Ed Heney, “Outsmart the Car Thieves”, in Kiplinger's Personal Finance, page 32:

“A chop shop disassembles the entire car, so they need a location that is secluded, like a warehouse or a vacant factory — although today′s forfeiture laws tend to discourage chop shops.”

2009, Taylor Joseph, Allison Investigates, Four Star Publishing, page 94:

(US) A facility where stolen motor vehicles are disassembled in order to sell their mechanical parts.


gang bang

(US, slang) Protecting gang turf, especially when dealing drugs or other black market objects.


daydream

From day + dream. Compare West Frisian deidream (“daydream”), Dutch dagdroom (“daydream”), German Tagtraum (“daydream”), Swedish dagdröm (“daydream”), Icelandic dagdraumur (“daydream”).

A spontaneous series of thoughts while awake not connected to immediate reality.

ма́ра

a spontaneous and fanciful series of thoughts


daydream

en-verb

daydream (third-person singular simple present daydreams, present participle daydreaming, simple past and past participle daydreamt or daydreamed)

daydreams (present singular third-person)
daydreaming (participle present)
daydreamt (participle past)
daydreamt (past)
daydreamed (participle past)
daydreamed (past)

Stop daydreaming and get back to work!

(intransitive) To have such a series of thoughts; to woolgather.

pensar en la inmortalidad del cangrejo

thinking about the immortality of the crab


double whammy

From double + whammy (“evil spell; curse or hex”), popularized by the American cartoonist Al Capp (1909–1979), in his classic comic strip Li’l Abner (1934–1977).

compound

Australia had looked the brighter side initially, probing for gaps in England’s defensive spacing and taking an early lead via Christian Lealiifano's first successful penalty. Their opponents took a while to make any kind of consistent front-foot impression before [Jonny] May's double whammy inside four minutes banished their jangling nerves.

2019 October 19, Robert Kitson, “England into World Cup semi-finals after bruising victory over Australia”, in Katharine Viner, editor, The Guardian, London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2022-07-22:

A series of two events that causes adverse effects; a twofold blow or setback.


dimwit

(derogatory) A person who is deficient in intelligence.


stop press

From stop the presses, US newspaper-printing jargon.

stop-press when used as a noun in attribution

1989, Textual Introduction to The Anatomy of Melancholy, Robert Burton http://books.google.com/books?ie=UTF-8&hl=en&id=C64iQVqCm3MC&pg=RA1-PR51&lpg=RA1-PR51&sig=JpcrTaGG5EdPxJjr2U8VwuilsEw
Three of the errata corrections had already been made as stop-press corrections …

Faked Stop Press! announcements in newspapers. A valuable trick because it can always be claimed that the announcement was ‘hushed up’. It is also easy to fake the printing of the Stop Press.

2002, Russell Miller, Behind the Lines http://books.google.com/books?ie=UTF-8&hl=en&id=iAtuxaBlfRkC&pg=PA103&lpg=PA103&sig=erWM7_pq0H8pCDJnv5W4-5bxlv0

2005, Mary Norway, The Sinn Fein Rebellion As I Saw It, http://books.google.com/books?ie=UTF-8&hl=en&id=kdp6DLzb6KcC&pg=PA65&lpg=PA65&sig=TWkyRKxWPtmbwiGPh_BvuIQNwlA
Another lady thought she would drive a lesson home, so she said: “But you said it was a ‘Stop press,’ and you knew it was not.”
“It is, miss, but sure they hadn’t time to print the ‘stop press’ on it!!”
(“Stop press” is the latest news, usually printed on the back of the paper.)

STOP PRESS: As this issue of RAIL went to press, the RMT announced that it too would be taking strike action on the Tube on March 15

2023 March 8, “Tube drivers announce "first day of action"”, in RAIL, number 978, page 11:

(UK, journalism) The event or news article important enough to delay or interrupt the print, or require a reprint, of a publication, particularly of a newspaper edition.


stop press

en-verb

stop press (third-person singular simple present stops press, present participle stopping press, simple past and past participle stopped press)

stops press (present singular third-person)
stopping press (participle present)
stopped press (participle past)
stopped press (past)

(UK) Used to announce an event or news article important enough to delay or interrupt the print, or require a reprint, of publication, particularly of a newspaper edition.

(idiomatic, UK) Used to grab attention, implying importance, news-worthiness, etc.


lackluster

en-adj

lackluster (comparative more lackluster, superlative most lackluster)

more lackluster (comparative)
most lackluster (superlative)

A faded, and an ancient dragon he was; and many a wintry storm of rain, snow, sleet, and hail, had changed his colour from a gaudy blue to a faint lack-lustre shade of gray.

1842 December – 1844 July, Charles Dickens, chapter 3, in The Life and Adventures of Martin Chuzzlewit, London: Chapman and Hall, […], published 1844, →OCLC, page 19:

He sat looking at her with lack-lustre eyes. The light suddenly came back into them.

1885, William Dean Howells, chapter XIX, in The Rise of Silas Lapham:

The actor gave a lackluster performance in his latest film.

An allegedly true story emerges as a lackluster riff on American Hustle and The Wolf of Wall Street with a scrappy turn from an overly disguised lead star[.]

2016 December 30, Jordan Hoffman, “Gold review – the priciest ore is a bore in Matthew McConaughey misfire”, in The Guardian:

It’s fascinating to see a show wrap up in a manner wherein many of the flaws so clearly occur offscreen rather than on; the plague of season eight hasn’t been lackluster episodes, for the most part (though “The Last Of The Starks” was a definite low point).

2019 May 19, Alex McLevy, “The final Game Of Thrones brings a pensive but simple meditation about stories (newbies)”, in The A.V. Club, archived from the original on 2019-05-22:

Pressure on the UK government to commit to concrete measures and not just “lacklustre” verbal condemnation if Israel goes ahead with annexation of parts of the West Bank has been stepped up by a coalition of 14 British charities and human rights groups.

2020 June 29, Patrick Wintour, “UK criticised for 'lacklustre' response to Israel West Bank plans”, in The Guardian:

Tory MPs said Raab had been “lacklustre”, with one saying his position was “untenable”.

2021 August 20, Martin Farrer, “Friday briefing: ‘Lacklustre’ Raab under pressure to quit”, in The Guardian:

(figurative) Not exceptional; not worthy of special merit, attention, or interest; having no vitality.

fat

not exceptional; not worthy of special merit, attention, or interest; having no vitality


lackluster

en-noun

lackluster (countable and uncountable, plural lacklusters)

(uncountable) Lack of brightness or points of interest.

(countable) A person or thing of no particular brilliance or intelligence.


feeding frenzy

feeding frenzy (plural feeding frenzies)

When the terrified, bleeding cow was washed overboard into the river, the hungry piranhas entered a feeding frenzy, turning the water red with blood.

A wild, turbulent situation in which multiple sharks or other predatory fish attack one or more edible creatures simultaneously, in competition with each other.

The manager hesitated to open the doors to the thronging holiday crowds, knowing that a feeding frenzy would soon ensue near the display of coveted toys.

(idiomatic, by extension) A voracious competition among would-be purchasers, etc. for limited resources.

Karen's new students thought treat day was a feeding frenzy and horded the snack table.

(informal) An event in which participants erratically grab and eat food.


cease and desist

From cease (“stop”), and desist (“to not do again”).

a cease-and-desist letter; a cease-and-desist order

copyright infringement
copyright infringement

(law, chiefly attributive) A demand that one stop and not resume continuing a certain behavior, such as copyright infringement, trademark infringement, slander, or libel.


bookmaker

From Middle English bokmakere, boke maker, equivalent to book + maker.

A person who compiles books from the writings of others.

(gambling) A person (or a business) who calculates odds and accepts bets, especially on horse racing; a bookie.

مُرَاهِن

a person who calculates odds and accepts bets; a bookie


bang straw

Strange fastened it to his cane, for he fancied his little stick even on shipboard. With this he sprung onto the bulwark and roared out to Williams: 'I've not struck, sir! Tell your bloody bang-straws to try and hit my stick!'

1938 December 14, James Norman Hall, “The Cheerful Tortoise (Doctor Dogbody's Leg)”, in The Windsor Magazine, volume 89, number 528, page 9:

(idiomatic, archaic) A farmer's servant, especially a thresher.


pool noodle

A long, slender tube or rod, extruded from buoyant foam and usually brightly coloured, used as an exercise tool or toy in swimming pools.

游泳棒

long, slender tube or rod used as an exercise tool or toy in swimming pools


hairball

A small wad of fur or mass of hair formed in the digestive system of a cat or other animal, from hair ingested while grooming.

The contract negotiations are turning into a real hairball.

(slang, figuratively) A messy, tangled, intractable issue.


tall tale

He returned on Monday with a tall tale about a 100-pound fish he had caught.

The head-in-sand idea is a threadbare, 2,000-year-old hand-me-down from the Roman naturalist Pliny, who sometimes passed on tall tales.

2020 August 4, Richard Conniff, “They may look goofy, but ostriches are nobody’s fool”, in National Geographic Magazine:

(idiomatic) A tale or story which is fantastic and greatly exaggerated; also, an account of questionable veracity; a lie, an untruth.


snowplough

A "J36" 0-6-0 with the normal snowplough had to give up at Lumphanan and returned home, whereupon a Stanier Class "5" with a large snowplough and two coaches of workmen with shovels, went up and eventually drove a path through to Ballater.

1960 March, “The January blizzard in the North-East of Scotland”, in Trains Illustrated, page 139:

In another initiative, NR [Network Rail] is to fund snowploughs for fitting to NYMR's [North Yorkshire Moors Railway's] Class 25 diesel loco, facilitating the clearance of snow from the line as far west as Battersby under a track access agreement.

2019 October, James Abbott, “Esk Valley revival”, in Modern Railways, page 78:

(British spelling) Alternative form of snowplow


snowplough

en-verb

snowplough (third-person singular simple present snowploughs, present participle snowploughing, simple past and past participle snowploughed)

snowploughs (present singular third-person)
snowploughing (participle present)
snowploughed (participle past)
snowploughed (past)


potshot

A shot taken at an easy or random target.

He takes his share of potshots (mostly at the Da Vinci surgical robot), but the conscience of the film is in the stories of Essure, a procedure marketed to women as a hassle-free alternative to tubal ligation

2018 July 26, Ignatiy Vishnevetsky, “A documentary muckraker takes on the tech sector of health in The Bleeding Edge”, in The Onion AV Club, archived from the original on 2018-07-29:

Criticism of an easy target; a cheap shot.


potshot

potshot (third-person singular simple present potshots, present participle potshotting, simple past and past participle potshotted)

potshots (present singular third-person)
potshotting (participle present)
potshotted (participle past)
potshotted (past)


pooper scooper

A scoop for the collection of pet excrement, especially that of dogs.


heavyweight

(uncountable, boxing) The professional boxing weight class for boxers weighing more than 190 pounds; a boxer in that division.


child's play

From child + -’s + play, originally referring literally to play by a child.

Compared to my last job, this is child’s play.

The brawny craftsman finds it no child's play to mould his unpliant rugged masses; neither is guidance of men a dilettantism: what it becomes when treated as a dilettantism, we may see!

1839 (indicated as 1840), Thomas Carlyle, “Laissez-Faire”, in Chartism, London: James Fraser, […], →OCLC, pages 52–53:

In every county there were elderly gentlemen who had seen service which was no child's play.

1849, Thomas Babington Macaulay, chapter III, in The History of England from the Accession of James II, volume I, London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, →OCLC, page 322:

He'd pull his bars apart like bow and bow-string, / And let them go and make them twang until / His hands had worn them smooth as any ox-bow. / And then he'd crow as if he thought that child's play— / The only fun he had.

1914, Robert Frost, “A Servant to Servants”, in North of Boston, London: David Nutt […], →OCLC, page 74:

I knew something of the railway engineer's uncanny genius for finding a path through such barriers if any path existed; yet I also knew the path would be no child's play.

1949 January–February, F. G. Roe, “I Saw Three Englands–1”, in The Railway Magazine, London: Tothill Press, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 11:

(idiomatic) Something particularly easy or simple.

누워서 떡 먹기 (nuwoseo tteok meokgi, literally “eating rice cakes while lying down”)

식은 죽 먹기 (sigeun juk meokgi, literally “eating cold porridge”)


milestone

From mile + stone. Compare Dutch mijlsteen (“milestone”), German Low German Mielensteen (“milestone”), German Meilenstein (“milestone”), Swedish milsten (“milestone”).

cog

A stone milepost (or by extension in other materials), one of a series of numbered markers placed along a road at regular intervals, typically at the side of the road or in a median.


tearoom

From tea + room. In reference to a lavatory, probably as a variant of t-room (“toilet room”).

I'm deathly afraid of the tearooms though, John. Some of my best friends have been entrapped and busted by the fuzz.

1973, chapter II, in Deep Dick, page 21:

I had run into Grant in a tea-room—The busy main floor crapper—a few months earlier.

1975, chapter III, in Hard-Headed Dick, page 39:

The euphemistically named "tea room" has been used in sexual subcultures among men who have sex with men (MSM) to describe public sex environments, usually public toilets, where men meet other men in sexual interaction... The term itself might be outdated...

2014, A Cultural Encyclopedia of the Penis, page 216:

(euphemistic, slang) A public lavatory, especially (US, gay slang, dated) as a meeting place for gay men.


puntaspilli

Verb-object compound, composed of punta (“to push”) + spilli (“pins”).


appuntaspilli

Verb-object compound, composed of appunta (“to pin”) + spilli (“pins”).


teamwork

From team + work. Compare West Frisian teamwurk (“teamwork”).

Sonic: OK then, let’s get ready to do this. We’ll show that creep the REAL SUPER POWER of TEAM WORK!

2003, Sonic Team USA, Sonic Heroes, Sega, published 2003, PlayStation 2, Windows, GameCube, Xbox, level/area: Last Story:

Having put partisan interests to one side, Greenwood set about making teamwork a watchword for her chairmanship, while seeking the broadest possible participation in subsequent inquiries.

2020 June 3, Lilian Greenwood talks to Paul Stephen, “Rail's 'underlying challenges' remain”, in Rail, page 33:

The cooperative effort of a team of people to achieve a common goal.


Techtelmechtel

de-noun

Techtelmechtel n (strong, genitive Techtelmechtels, plural Techtelmechtel)

Techtelmechtels (genitive)
Techtelmechtel (plural)
Techtelmechtel (nominative singular)
Techtelmechtel (definite nominative plural)
Techtelmechtels (genitive singular)
Techtelmechtel (definite genitive plural)
Techtelmechtel (dative singular)
Techtelmechteln (dative definite plural)
Techtelmechtel (accusative singular)
Techtelmechtel (accusative definite plural)

From Austrian Dechtlmechtl. The word probably derives from Yiddish פֿאַרדעכטיק (fardekhtik, “hidden, secret”), from דאַך (dakh, “roof, covering”).


teacup

"There isn't wind enough to capsize a tea-cup in a gutter," said Rasmus, and shifted his chew of tobacco with a little black chalk pipe, while he looked around him on all sides.

1886, Peter Christen Asbjørnsen, translated by H.L. Brækstad, Folk and Fairy Tales, page 182:

A small cup, usually with a handle, commonly used for drinking tea; normally sits in a saucer as part of a tea set.


earthshine

/ˈɜː(ɹ)θʃaɪn/

(astronomy) Reflected earthlight visible on the Moon's night side.


armband

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

(swimming) One of a pair of inflatable plastic bands, normally worn on the upper arms, to help the wearer (often a child) float in water and learn to swim.

braçalet flotador

one of a pair of inflatable plastic bands to help the wearer float in water and learn to swim


back burner

In restaurants, the back burner is the place that chefs leave their sauces and soup stocks to simmer while they are engaged in other, more immediately pressing, and faster operations on the front burners.

2005, David Rosenwasser, Jill Stephen, Writing Analytically, Cengage Learning, →ISBN, page 38:

Also, avoid reaching across a lit burner in the front of the stove to stir a pot on a back burner. Turn the front burner off while you tend to food on a back burner.

2008, Frances E. Ruffin, Kitchen Smarts, The Rosen Publishing Group, Inc, →ISBN, page 33:

(countable) A section of a stove used to keep some pots warm while one focuses on others.


rail hail

(slang) Hail accelerated to high speeds by heavy winds.


fag stag

(slang, vulgar) A heterosexual man who socializes with or enjoys the company of homosexual men.


jompikumpi

jompikumpi (nominative singular)
jommatkummat (nominative plural)
jompikumpi (accusative nominative singular)
jommatkummat (accusative nominative plural)
jommankumman (accusative genitive singular)
jommatkummat (accusative genitive plural)
jommankumman (genitive singular)
jompienkumpien (genitive plural)
jompainkumpien (genitive plural rare)
jompienkumpain (genitive plural rare)
jompainkumpain (genitive plural rare)
jompaakumpaa (partitive singular)
jompiakumpia (partitive plural)
jommassakummassa (inessive singular)
jommissakummissa (inessive plural)
jommastakummasta (elative singular)
jommistakummista (elative plural)
jompaankumpaan (illative singular)
jompiinkumpiin (illative plural)
jommallakummalla (adessive singular)
jommillakummilla (adessive plural)
jommaltakummalta (ablative singular)
jommiltakummilta (ablative plural)
jommallekummalle (allative singular)
jommillekummille (allative plural)
jompanakumpana (essive singular)
jompinakumpina (essive plural)
jommaksikummaksi (singular translative)
jommiksikummiksi (plural translative)
jommattakummatta (abessive singular)
jommittakummitta (abessive plural)
jompinekumpine (comitative plural)

Dvandva compound of jompi + kumpi, which are related to the stems jo- and ku-.

Jompikumpi teistä valehtelee.


fastball

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

The pitcher had a blazing fastball.

(specifically) A four-seam fastball, which is a backspin pitch thrown with a ball gripped in the direction to cause four of the seams of the ball to cross the flight path and released with roughly equal pressure by the index and middle fingers


gumshoe

"Who's this gumshoe guy from the bush league tailin' us?"

1920, William MacLeod Raine, chapter 20, in The Big-Town Round-Up: