guardrail

guardrails (plural)
guard rail (alternative)

A rail set alongside a dangerous place as a barrier, to improve safety.

(Canada, US) A strengthened barrier installed on the sides of a (usually major) road to keep vehicles on the highway and reduce the risk and/or impact of crashes.


my word

My word! What is that!?

(idiomatic, Australia, New Zealand, UK, dated, US, Canada) An expression of surprise.

(idiomatic, Australia, New Zealand, UK, dated, US, Canada) Indeed.


sugarbush

From sugar + bush, in reference to the sugary maple sap.

Meronyms: sugarhouse, sugar shack

Many a small family farm in Vermont had a sugarbush back in the day.

In some 21st-century sugarbushes, plastic tubing conveys the sap to the sugarhouse.

Indeed, acid rain has long been pointed to as the culprit in the diminished productivity and value of northern Maine and Vermont sugarbush (maple syrup producing trees).

1999, U.S. Congress, NOx State Implementation Plans: hearing before the Subcommittee on Clean Air, Wetlands, Private Property, and Nuclear Safety http://books.google.com/books?vid=ISBN0160606748&id=zB0xrjRFjT8C&q=sugarbush+maple&dq=sugarbush+maple&pgis=1

2001, Howard Paap, Northern Land: Life with the Ojibwe http://books.google.com/books?vid=ISBN1878569783&id=E49tv0IUbzwC&pg=PA23&lpg=PA23&ots=NgTARD3OW6&dq=sugarbush+maple&sig=Jd72oibGUPlSUo6EOGJfaOvspgM
The labor I offer in my friends' sugarbush is strenuous, but it brings a welcome fatigue.

Then rough lean-tos and later huts were constructed near the sugarbush to offer some protection to the syrup and the boiler.

2006, Elaine Elliot, Maple Syrup http://books.google.com/books?vid=ISBN088780697X&id=vt4_fhFTbt8C&pg=PP1&lpg=PP1&ots=BmfhDZmEgM&dq=sugarbush+maple&sig=lW6_ddQPMID-HehrnePAt3p7llA#PPA1,M1

(Canada, US) A wooded area with sugar maples or other trees tapped for sugaring.


candy cane

(US, Canada) An edible candy in the shape of a cane or staff, generally consumed during Christmas time and usually having a peppermint flavor.


shit disturber

shit disturbers (plural)
shit-disturber (alternative)

"To be a fan of Gonzales is to be disappointed often," he says. "It's to be someone who maybe loves the piano album and then goes to a show and is like ‘Why is this guy spitting on us? Why is this guy climbing all over us?’" . . . . "I just have a complicated personality," he adds. "I'm a shit disturber."

2008 June 2, Leah Collins, “Gonzales has Soft Power, not star power”, in canada.com, retrieved 2009-02-17:

(Canada, vulgar) A person who causes needless difficulties or distress for others; a troublemaker.

The band’s leader, Joe “Shithead” Keithley, shows no signs of slowing down. . . . He’s still an unapologetic shit-disturber, but it’s evident that the veteran antiauthoritarian is turning into something akin to (gasp!) a respected authority figure.

2007 February 8, John Lucas, “D.O.A.’s punk veterans won’t give up the fight”, in Georgia Straight, Vancouver, Canada, retrieved 2009-02-17:

You can last longer as a shit disturber if you can locate fellow unbureaucrats within the system.

1973, The Social Worker: Le Travailleur Social, vv 41-42, p 205:

“We were to be ‘shit disturbers.’” Those who suggested conventional approaches were told to get out of the CYC.

1969: Canadian Press, “Anti-religious: CYC trainee kicked out because of ‘allegiance with God,’ in Ottawa Citizen, 1969-11-14, p 5

(Canada, vulgar) A person who voices or encourages a viewpoint opposed to the status quo; an iconoclast.


overpass

/ˈəʊvə(ɹ)pɑːs/

/əʊvə(ɹ)ˈpɑːs/

The homeless man had built a little shelter, complete with cook-stove, beneath a concrete overpass.

By visible evidence, this Saturday morning is a comparatively placid one. Earlier in the week a young man had died after being stabbed in a flat, and from the overpass at Archway Road, darkly referred to as “suicide bridge,” another man had jumped to his death.

2018 February, Robert Draper, “They are Watching You—and Everything Else on the Planet: Technology and Our Increasing Demand for Security have Put Us All under Surveillance. Is Privacy Becoming just a Memory?”, in National Geographic, Washington, D.C.: National Geographic Society, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2018-06-14:

A section of a road or path that crosses over an obstacle, especially another road, railway, etc.


whack-a-mole

en-noun

whack-a-mole (countable and uncountable, plural whack-a-moles)

whack-a-moles (plural)
Whac-A-Mole (alternative)
whac-a-mole (alternative)

/ˈʍæk.əˌməʊl/

From whack + a + mole (“small, burrowing, insect-eating mammal of the family Talpidae”), from the arcade game Whac-A-Mole which involves quickly and repeatedly hitting the heads of mechanical moles with a mallet as they pop up from holes. The name of the arcade game was coined in 1977 when it was first sold in the United States; the original game released in Japan in 1975 was called モグラ退治 (Mogura Taiji, literally “Mole Extermination”).

com

Trying to get rid of spam e-mails is like whack-a-mole: as soon as you delete one, another appears.

Identify a challenge. Put your shoulder into it. Make it go away. Just as it disappears, whoops, here comes another one. It's like a game of whack-a-mole. Trust me, you'll never run out of quarters.

2007 November, Gil Schwartz, “The Office Politic: Escape from the Job Monster”, in David Zinczenko, editor, Men’s Health, volume 22, number 9, Emmaus, Pa.: Rodale, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 122, column 1:

What is unbearable, in fact, is the feeling, 13 years after 9/11, that America has been chasing its tail; that, in some whack-a-mole horror show, the quashing of a jihadi enclave here only spurs the sprouting of another there; that the ideology of Al Qaeda is still reverberating through a blocked Arab world whose Sunni-Shia balance (insofar as that went) was upended by the American invasion of Iraq.

2014 November 17, Roger Cohen, “The horror! The horror! The trauma of ISIS [print version: International New York Times, 18 November 2014, page 9]”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2021-06-10:

Some flew across the United States; some were planning to fly into London from Europe, though, like many of us, they could only try their best to keep up with the government’s air corridor whack-a-mole.

2020 August 29, Rebecca Nicholson, “Tom Cruise: Another groundbreaking role for cinema’s cheerleader”, in Katharine Viner, editor, The Guardian, London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2021-10-16:

With power being redistributed automatically and surging through other circuits as the system tried to reroute electricity to keep things operational, various parts of the ship began to flicker internally as more and more breakers began to trip and were reset, only to trip again. Then, one of the engineers, tired of playing whack-a-mole, tied one of the more important breakers down so that it physically couldn't trip. This turned out to be a mistake, and a cascade overload crippled the ship's radar, radios, and power training on most of her guns. With no way of communicating with Washington, South Dakota simply held course whilst men in the switchboard room tried their best to reset the ship's entire electrical grid.

2021 March 17, Drachinifel, 13:14 from the start, in Guadalcanal Campaign - The Big Night Battle: Night 2 (IJN 3(?) : 3 USN), archived from the original on 2022-07-14:

(idiomatic, chiefly Canada, US) The practice of trying to stop problems, etc., that repeatedly occur in an apparently random manner; also, the act of dealing with such matters in a piecemeal manner without achieving a complete solution.

der Kampf gegen die Hydra

practice of trying to stop problems, etc., that repeatedly occur in an apparently random manner; act of dealing with such matters in a piecemeal manner without achieving a complete solution

but see הַכֵּה בַּחֲפַרְפֶּרֶת (haké bakhafarpéret, literally “hit the mole”)

חֲסַל אֶת הַחֲפַרְפֶּרֶת (khasál et hakhafarpéret, literally “kill the mole”)

מִשְׂחַק צֵיד חֲפַרְפָּרוֹת (miskhák tséd khafarparót, literally “game of hunting moles”)


first responder

en-noun

first responder (plural first responders)

pelastustyöntekijä

a member of an emergency service who is first on the scene at an emergency

Many survivors tried to describe what they felt, but words failed them. Hard to imagine, too, the emotions of the first responders – the ambulance crews, the medics and the police – faced by ghastly mayhem. It must have felt overwhelming, but they did their jobs and doubtless saved many lives.

2017 August 20, “The Observer view on the attacks in Spain”, in The Observer:

At the same time the hazard warning lights and, once the vehicle has come to a standstill, the Mercedes-Benz emergency call system is activated and the doors and windows are unlocked, to make access to the interior easier for any first responders.

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

In July, the New Taipei city government organized a large-scale drill with its disaster services and the Defense Ministry. Included for the first time was urban warfare, such as how first responders would react to an attack on a train station or a port.

2022 September 4, Huizhong Wu, “Military reserves, civil defense worry Taiwan as China looms”, in AP News, archived from the original on 2022-09-05:

A member of an emergency service who is first on the scene, or among those first on the scene, at an emergency.

A member of an emergency service trained to provide emergency medical care.


Saturdays

(US, Canada) On Saturday; each Saturday.


bluestone

bluestone (countable and uncountable, plural bluestones)

Any of several bluish-grey varieties of stone used for construction:

(US, Canada) A feldspathic sandstone found in the US and Canada.


herky-jerky

en-adj

herky-jerky (comparative more herky-jerky, superlative most herky-jerky)

more herky-jerky (comparative)
most herky-jerky (superlative)

/ˈhəːkiˌd͡ʒəːki/

While all that herky-jerky mathcore in your collection might not fit the bill, put some Portishead on your Pod and the attached OhMiBod will respond rhythmically in kind.

Lynn has learned the herky-jerky schedule of the university. She has learned about me, and how I respond to its quirks—like a river flowing with hiccups.

2013, Bruce R. Swinburne, Stem: Cells That Divide, page 271:

The resulting battlefield is a surface of rough textures, lumbering machines, and brutalist geometric lines, broken up only by the movement of the Mimics, whose herky-jerky darting resembles sped-up stop-motion.

2014 June 5, Ignatiy Vishnevetsky, “Edge Of Tomorrow puts Tom Cruise through an action-packed Groundhog Day”, in AV Club:

(Canada, US, informal) Having an irregular spasmodic movement.


Christmas cracker

en-noun

Christmas cracker (plural Christmas crackers)

(British, Canada, New Zealand) A table decoration, in the form of a large paper sweet wrapper, constructed around a cardboard tube typically containing a paper hat, silly joke and a small novelty or toy; a pair of people pull the ends of the cracker causing an embedded device to make a crack sound as the cracker breaks in two and the contents are released.


bobsled

bobsled (countable and uncountable, plural bobsleds)

(US and Canada) A sled used to go down a bob track.

(uncountable, US and Canada) The sport of travelling down a bob track as fast as possible.


Queen Anne's lace

There were wildflowers alongside the vegetable patches at the edge of the pavement, Queen Anne’s lace whispering against Kirsten’s outstretched hand.

2014, Emily St. John Mandel, Station Eleven, Picador (2022), page 49:

Daucus carota
Daucus carota#Translingual

(Canada, US) A flowering plant, species Daucus carota, especially the flowering part of the plant.


high roller

high rollers (plural)
high-roller (alternative)

/ˈhaɪ ˈɹəʊlə/

/ˈhaɪ ˈɹoʊlɚ/

The "Baron" bowed. This was a new complication, but it was all in the day's work. Of course, the whole thing was plain enough. Fatty Welch was "working" some swell guys who thought he was a real high-roller. Maybe he was going to pull off some kind of a job that very evening. Perhaps this big chap in the swagger flannels was one of the gang. Barney was thinking hard. Well, he'd take the tip and play the hand out.

1905 September, Arthur [Cheney] Train, “The Extraordinary Adventure of the Baron de Ville”, in McAllister and His Double, New York, N.Y.: Charles Scribner's Sons, →OCLC, page 59:

One who has a lot of money and lives luxuriously.

flambeur

one who has a lot of money and lives luxuriously


weigh station

(Canada, US) A place on the highway where trucks stop to get weighed.


slicker

From slick (“to smooth or make slick”) + -er.

(originally Canada, US) A waterproof coat or jacket.


strip mall

April 19 2002, Scott Tobias, AV Club Fightvillehttp://www.avclub.com/articles/fightville,72589/
Fightville resembles a real-life Foot Fist Way, in that much of the action takes place within the cinder-block walls of a strip-mall gym, this one located next to a Piggly Wiggly in Lafayette, Louisiana.

The karate school where she took tai chi was in a strip mall near the Three Rivers depot. There's a convenience store, a bike shop, Happy Joy Chinese, and Caputo's Martial Arts. I got out, walked to the door, opened it a crack. Twenty or so little kids in karate suits stood with their hands clasped as if in prayer. "Bow to the master, bow to the flag," the instructor said.

2008, Wally Lamb, The Hour I First Believed, Ch.1, at p.9-10

(US, Canada) A shopping center consisting of a row of stores with separate entrances from the outdoors, typically along a road and/or with a parking lot in front.


streaky

en-adj

streaky (comparative streakier, superlative streakiest)

streakier (comparative)
streakiest (superlative)

Jones has always been a streaky hitter

(chiefly of a person, usually Canada, US) Having alternating periods of good and bad performances; inconsistent.


Lunchables, made by Kraft Heinz, took its packaged ready-to-eat kids meals directly into K-12 school lunchrooms nationwide through the National School Lunch Program (NSLP) for the first time last year.

2024 April 9, Parija Kavilanz and Sandee LaMotte, “Consumer Reports says Lunchables ‘should not be allowed on menu’ for schools, petitions USDA for removal”, in CNN:

(Canada, US, Philippines, education) Kindergarten through 12th grade (US) / grade 12 (Canada and the Philippines).


junior school

A school providing primary education to children.

(Canada, chiefly Ontario) A school teaching children from kindergarten to Grade 5; an elementary school.


seigneur

seigneurs (plural)
seignior (alternative)

Borrowed from Middle French seigneur, from Old French seignor. Doublet of seignior, senhor, senior, señor, senyor, signore, sir, and sire.

doublet

(Canada) A landowner in Canada; the holder of a seigneurie.


doubloon

From French doublon, from Spanish doblón, augmentative of doble (“double”), because it was worth twice a pistole.

(Canada, slang, numismatics) Clipping of doubloonie.


labor union

labor unions (plural)
labour union (alternative Canada UK)

(Canada, US) A continuous association of wage-earners for the purpose of maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment; a trade union.


blue law

Years ago, because of the Blue Laws, we couldn't serve drinks on Sunday over the bar, so we set up tables in the aisles. And we'd have different acts on a stage up front.

1976 February 7, Rose Flower, quoting Jimmy McGrath, “Playland: The Friendliest Place In Town”, in Gay Community News, volume 3, number 32, page 13:

(Canada, US, now historical) A restrictive religious-based law in colonial New England, especially preventing leisure activities on a Sunday.

[I]t's actually a way around the Swiss blue laws demanding that shops close from Saturday afternoon until Monday morning. The laws apply everywhere but the airport, so they built a massive supermarket in the Swiss Air terminal.

2001, David Sedaris, diary entry January 22, in Theft by Finding, Back Bay Books 2017, p. 441

(Canada, US, by extension) Any puritanical or restrictive law, especially one that prohibits or restricts commercial activity on a Sunday.


VOC

VSC

volatile sulphur compound/volatile sulfur compound

(sports, Canada) Vancouver Organizing Committee; the organizer of the 2010 Vancouver Olympics

(Canada, radio, historical) Voice of Canada; former name of RCI (Radio Canada International)


bachelorette

/ˌbatʃələˈɹɛt/

/ˌbætʃləˈɹɛt/

/ˌbætʃələˈɹɛt/

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

Coordinate term: spinster

(Canada) A very small bachelor (single room) apartment.


fruit machine

From fruit + machine.
* (slot machine): From originating with machines with fruit pictures
* (criminology): From being a machine used to identify fruits (“homosexuals”)
* (food): From being a machine containing fruits

(Canada, criminology, slang) A device developed to identify homosexual people by measuring their physical responses to different kinds of pornography.


soother

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

Customs earlier received a referral from a related organisation that suspected unsafe soother holders were being supplied on the market.

2024 April 9, Hong Kong Government Press Release, Hong Kong Customs alerts public on two unsafe soother holders:

(Canada, Ireland) A pacifier; a plastic device that goes into a baby’s mouth, used to calm and quiet the baby.


carryall

(Canada, US, dated) A light, covered carriage drawn by a single horse


elementary school

en-noun

elementary school (countable and uncountable, plural elementary schools)

On one offshore island Wuciou (also Wuqiu), the song of the only elementary school had these lyrics:
We are the little friends of the frontier, good students of Wuciou elementary school. We are not afraid of stormy winds and frightening waves; bravely and [with] perseverance, we advance forward. Our school is erected on the lonely island of the ocean. We will study hard, and are not afraid of gongfei on the opposite shore.

2015, Language, Politics and Identity in Taiwan: Naming China, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 32:

(Canada, US, historically UK) A children’s school, typically older than toddlers and younger than adolescents. In the U.S., elementary schools cover grades 1 through 5, and the ages of the children are usually 6-11 years. At a minimum, elementary schools will teach basic reading, writing, arithmetic, and history.


Duluth pack

Duluth pack is a brand name of the Duluth Tent and Awning Co. They were designed in the early 1880s, but the term is commonly used to refer to any packs of the same style.

(US, Canada) A traditional piece of luggage used in canoe travel, particularly in the Boundary Waters region of northern Minnesota and Ontario. A specialized type of backpack, made of either heavy canvas or nylon, that are approximately square in order to fit easily in the bottom of a canoe.


catty-cornered

(US, Canada) Alternative form of catty-corner: cater-corner.


catty-cornered

(US, Canada) Alternative form of catty-corner: catercorner.


Gaspesian

Derived from the Mi'kmaq word Kespek, + -ian.

(US, Canada) The Mi'kmaq people of Gaspé.


riprap

riprap (countable and uncountable, plural ripraps)

ripraps (plural)
rip-rap (alternative)
rip rap (alternative)

Apparently a reduplication (with vowel dissimilation) of rap (“blow, stroke”).

(chiefly Canada, US) Rocks or other materials used to shore up an embankment, deter or prevent erosion, guide shipping, or serve as a temporary mooring.


pogey

pogey (usually uncountable, plural pogeys)

pogeys (plural)
pogie (alternative)
pogy (alternative)

1891, meaning "poorhouse", possibly from British hobo slang. 1954 assistance.

There were no jobs for the unemployed, however. And thus many hundreds of thousands went “on the pogey,” although all available evidence indicates that they loathed doing so. To accept relief was an admission of defeat and failure, a humiliating stigma, whether the relief was indirect or direct.

1984, Michiel Horn, The Great Depression of the 1930s in Canada (Canadian Historical Booklet no. 39), Canadian Historical Association, p 10

(Canada, slang, uncountable, often with the) Government financial assistance, particularly employment insurance.


coziness

coziness (usually uncountable, plural cozinesses)

(chiefly Canada, US) Alternative spelling of cosiness.


chiropodist

A chiropodist says, as long as people are fools enough to abuse their feet, the prospect for his employment is good.

1863, Virginia Penny –, The Employments of Women:

(UK, Canada) A practitioner of chiropody.


assfuck

assfucks (plural)
arsefuck (alternative)

Too much wetness ruins a good assfuck. The friction is part of what gets me off.

2001, Penthouse Magazine, Letters to Penthouse XII: It Just Gets Hotter, page 124:

And they go on, hanging around me in the pit, talking loudly about assfucks and who spits, who swallows, and how loud they can be when they come.

2001, Phyllis Coletta, Prior Bad Acts, page 43:

(Canada, US, vulgar) Sodomy, anal sex, an act of anal intercourse.

He'd cruised in after work, the week's aggravating assfucks sloughed off...

2005, Michael Amorel, Horror Between the Sheets, page cdxxxviii:

Can't anyone take a nice warm and relaxing bubblebath without some assfuck ruining it?!

Eat my dust, assfuck!

1996-99, Daniel Curzon, "Drivers from Hell", Collected Plays of Daniel Curzon, Volume VI, page 199

(Canada, US, vulgar) A jerk; an obnoxious person.

(Canada, US, vulgar) An act of stunning betrayal.


assfuck

en-verb

assfuck (third-person singular simple present assfucks, present participle assfucking, simple past and past participle assfucked)

assfucks (present singular third-person)
assfucking (participle present)
assfucked (participle past)
assfucked (past)
arsefuck (alternative)

But she can't look away, either, when Barbara and Jack start to assfuck. To Agnes, it looks grotesque. The angle is wrong, like the angle of a broken limb.

2001, Patrick Flynn, Agnes Among the Gargoyles, page 32:

(Canada, US, vulgar) To engage in anal intercourse.

"You boys tried to assfuck me," he said softly, menacingly, "...and it backfired."

2000, Francis Dipietro, Nest: 28 Tales of Pulp Fiction, page 78:

We assfuck their minds.

1997, Meredith Sue Willis, Trespassers, page 218:


graduate student

en-noun

graduate student (plural graduate students)

(Canada, US) A university student, usually already possessing a four-year degree, who is working on a master's degree or Ph.D.


potato chip

I'll take a potato chip, and eat it!

2007 December 8, “目線 [Glare]”, in デスノート [Death Note], spoken by Light Yagami (Brad Swaile), Ocean Productions, via Adult Swim:

(Canada, US, Australia, Singapore, Philippines, Hong Kong, New Zealand) A potato crisp, a thin slice of potato that has been fried.


mouffle

The young wolves divided the spoil into four portions ; but one of them retained the tongue and the other the mouffle (upper lip), which are the chief delicacies of the animal.

1923, Sir James George Frazer, Folk-lore in the Old Testament:

(Canada) The loose covering around the nose and upper lips of the moose or elk. Prized for stewing or roasting.


thrift shop

thrift shops (plural)
thriftshop (alternative)

Some thrift shops, glutted with flimsy, synthetic wares, have stopped accepting fast-fashion donations.

2021 February 6, Rachel Monroe, “Ultra-fast Fashion Is Eating the World”, in The Atlantic:

(Canada, US) A shop which sells mainly used goods (especially clothes) at low prices.


rounder

It becomes quite apparent that not all first rounders are created equal. A sixth-overall pick is approximately twice as valuable as a 30th-overall selection, which would be important for NHL front offices and outside observers to keep in mind when they casually discuss the idea of trading pending UFA rental players at the cost of a first-rounder.

2015 February 24, Stephen Burch, “Analyzing the value of NHL draft picks”, in Sportsnet:

(Canada, US, informal, in combination) A sports league draft selection in a specified round or the player drafted with that selection.


stuffed animal

(US, Canada) A soft toy in the form of an animal.


mountain hare

Lepus americanus
Lepus americanus#Translingual

(Canada, US) Any of various hares found in mountainous country, especially a snowshoe hare (Lepus americanus) or a white-tailed jackrabbit (Lepus townsendi).


ATA

Alberta Teachers' Association
w:Alberta Teachers' Association

(Canada) Initialism of Alberta Teachers' Association, a trade union in Alberta.


stubby

While most stubbies looked alike, there was one distinct stubby brought out by Carling-O′Keefe.[…]The era of the stubby was short, however. Although a superior container, it was not chic enough for the 1980s drinker.

1998, Randy Ray, Mark Kearney, The Great Canadian Trivia, page 201:

Annie looked at him a bit surprised and came in, and he realized she carried a bottle of beer with her. Not a stubby, but a long neck.

2002, A. S. Finney, Gully Ghost, US: Eloquent Books, page 74:

Near the memorial were some wine casks and an unopened stubby of beer, whose label was yet to fade, which had been left to slake the thirst of the deceased.

2004, Michael McGirr, Bypass: The Story of a Road, Pan Macmillan Australia, published 2005, page 117:

Another notable thing that happens this month is the debut of Spycatcher on Star TV.[…]But come Wednesday night, he sits in the TV room with his stubby of Foster′s beer and watches Steve Nolan catch dirty foreigners (called Commies) selling secrets to some Russian organization called the KGB.

2005, Vikas Swarup, Q & A, Black Swan, published 2006, page 133:

I had everything planned, and later I kept a stubby behind the spare tire of my ′37 Ford until the bottle was better aged than the beer. I don′t know what happened to it but I′m surprised that it didn′t explode with the heat of that summer.

2008, Albert Drake, The Age of Hot Rods: Essays on Rods, Custom Cars and Their Drivers from the 1950s to Today, US: McFarland & Co, page 45:

A schooner (425ml in Queensland), when you allow for the collar, is not much more beer than a stubby. A stubby of home brew costs me 25 cents.

2008, Ron Bowden, The Lazy Brewer′s Handbook, Australia: BOOKSnTHAT, page 4:

The Liquor Trades Union member concedes that both dogs are quite clever, but says his is even cleverer. His dog, named Measure, is told to go and fetch a stubby of beer and pour seven ounces into a ten-ounce glass. It does this perfectly.

2009, Graham Seal, Great Australian Stories: Legends, Yarns and Tall Tales, ReadHowYouWant, published 2010, page 253:

Anyhow, so I goes into the bar and there′s the donkey having a beer with a tourist. See, the way they done it was, they′d hold up the stubby and the donkey would just guzzle it down, like there was no tomorrow.

2009, Bill Marsh, Great Australian Stories: Outback Towns and Pubs, published 2011, unnumbered page:

(Australia, Canada, US) A small, squat beer bottle.


colonizer

Don't scare me like that, colonizer!

2018 January 29, Ryan Coogler, Joe Robert Cole, Black Panther, spoken by Shuri (Letitia Wright):

"Howard University is supposed to be a safe space for black people and we don't need you colonizers infiltrating it," said Charlemagne, radio personality and the co-host of The Breakfast Club.

2019 April 25, Dream McClinton, “Dog walkers at Howard University infringe on 'black Mecca', students say”, in The Guardian, archived from the original on 2021-11-06:

"Disgusted isn't even close to a word for it," they wrote. "How?? how is this okay?? she was a REAL LITTLE GIRL — to do this her, to us, over and over again… i am just at a loss. disgusting. does she not deserve rest? reclamation? honor? you colonizers make me vom," she wrote.

2022 March 9, Samantha Ibrahim, “Marvel switching 'King Conan' character after indigenous community backlash”, in New York Post, archived from the original on 2022-03-15:

Jokes and memes about colonizers' bland-ass food resonate, and not because of their originality or comedic genius; implicit in those quips is a declaration of allegiance with people whose ancestral lands were once plundered by colonial powers for spices and other riches.

2022 August 23, Jenny G. Zhang, “What We Talk About When We Talk About "White People Food"”, in Bon Appétit, archived from the original on 2022-12-14:

(US, Canada, slang, derogatory, neologism) A white person.


eighth note

(Canada, US, music) A note having one-eighth the duration of a whole note; a quaver.


carding

carding (countable and uncountable, plural cardings)

(Canada, law enforcement) A police practice where an officer stops, questions, and documents information from a person to gather intelligence, when no crime or suspicion of crime has been committed.


turtleneck

turtlenecks (plural)
turtle neck (alternative)
turtle-neck (alternative)

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

(Canada, US) A high, close-fitting collar, turned back on itself and covering all or most of the neck, on a sweater or similar garment.

I've got billions and billions of rhymes to flex / 'Cause I've got more rhymes than Carl Sagan's got turtlenecks

2004, “Hey Fuck You”, in To the 5 Boroughs, performed by Beastie Boys:

Still, Jobs became friends with fashion designer Issey Miyake, who had designed some Sony uniforms, and asked him to make some black turtlenecks that he liked.

2012, Karen Blumenthal, Steve Jobs: The Man Who Thought Different, A&C Black, →ISBN, page 183:

turtleneck sweater
turtleneck sweater#English

(Canada, US) Ellipsis of turtleneck sweater.


correctional

en-adj

correctional (comparative more correctional, superlative most correctional)

more correctional (comparative)
most correctional (superlative)

correctional officer, correctional policy, correctional services.

(chiefly US, Canada) Of or pertaining to the imprisonment or rehabilitation of convicted criminals.


pantleg

pantlegs (plural)
pant leg (alternative)
pant-leg (alternative)

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

Joan recognized her as the girl whose son had sissied on her pants. She was still dabbing at her pantleg with a damp paper towel.

1979, Rhea Kohan, Save Me a Seat, →ISBN, page 25:

(Canada, US) One leg of a pair of pants, a trouser leg (UK English).


CSIS

w:Canadian Security Intelligence Service

(Canada) Acronym of Canadian Security Intelligence Service.


uncheck

en-verb

uncheck (third-person singular simple present unchecks, present participle unchecking, simple past and past participle unchecked)

unchecks (present singular third-person)
unchecking (participle present)
unchecked (participle past)
unchecked (past)

Uncheck the “save my password” box.

If you uncheck either of these check boxes, [Microsoft] Expression Web 2 will create all new Web pages with uppercase tag names and/or attributes. Current Web standards require that HTML tag names and attributes be lowercase. Therefore, pages created with either of these boxes unchecked will not be compatible with existing standards.

2008 March, Jim Cheshire, “Using Web Page Views”, in Using Microsoft Expression Web 2, special edition, Indianapolis, Ind.: Que Publishing, Pearson Education, →ISBN, page 138:

graphical user interface
graphical user interface

(graphical user interface, US, Canada) To remove a checkmark.


jackoff

Deverbal from jack off (“to masturbate”).

deverbal

(slang, vulgar, derogatory) A jerkoff (mean, nasty, or obnoxious person), a jerk, an asshole.


QEW

(Canada, initialism) The Queen Elizabeth Way, a heavily-traveled Canadian highway connecting the Peace Bridge at Buffalo, New York to Toronto, Ontario.


TTC

Toronto Transit Commission
w:Toronto Transit Commission

(Canada, transport) Initialism of Toronto Transit Commission.

to take the TTC to work

(Canada, transport) Public transportation, such as trains or buses, operated by the Toronto Transit Commission.


two-spirit

two-spirits (plural)
two spirit (alternative)

The noun is derived from two + spirit, coined in 1990 at the Third Annual Inter-tribal Native American, First Nations, Gay and Lesbian American Conference held in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, based on Ojibwe niizh manidoowag (“two spirits”) (coined at the same conference), from niizh (“two”) + manidoo (“spirit”) + -wag (suffix denoting the third-person plural of an animate noun); the term was created to replace berdache in anthropological literature which was considered offensive.
The adjective is derived from the noun.

The Lakota, by the way, called their Two-Spirits winkte and wapetokeca which means "people with special powers."

2006, Walter L[ee] Williams, Toby Johnson, “About the Historical Accuracy of this Novel”, in Two Spirits: A Story of Life with the Navajo, Maple Shade, N.J.: Lethe Press, →ISBN, page 322:

"The elders will tell you the difference between a gay Indian and a Two-Spirit," he [Joey Criddle] said, underscoring the idea that simply being gay and Indian does not make someone a Two-Spirit.

2006 October 8, John Leland, “A spirit of belonging, inside and out”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2024-12-19:

The term/identity of two-spirit does not make sense unless it is contextualized within a Native American frame […] Today, most people associate the term with LGBT Natives; however, the work of the two-spirit organizations is more akin with the traditional understanding

c. 2013, Harlan Pruden, Se-ah-dom Edmo, “Two-spirit People: Sex, Gender & Sexuality in Historic and Contemporary Native America”, in ESIT Weekly, [Olympia, Wash.]: Washington State Department of Children, Youth & Families, published 18 March 2022, archived from the original on 2025-03-29, page [2]:

(chiefly Canada, US) A Native North American bisexual, homosexual, or gender-variant person; especially one belonging to a traditional tribal third-gender, fourth-gender, or transgender cultural category that has a ceremonial role.

ayagigux̂

Native North American gender-variant, bisexual, or homosexual person — see also berdache

he'émáné'e

male-bodied trans person; hermaphrodite; gay man

mixo'ge (transvestite or transgender person)

st'amia (intersex/bigender person; female-bodied trans person)

êyihkwêw

especially in Plains Cree; male-bodied trans-/bi-/third-gender person

ckúsaat

Skiri Pawnee: male-bodied person who lives and dresses as a woman

tonoo'tcim

Kocheyali; sometimes used of two-spirits

tonochim

Tachi Yokuts; sometimes used of two-spirits


two-spirit

A Hupa two-spirit male told me: / I was real feminine as a child, from as early as I can remember. […] Within the family, Indians believe you can be whatever you choose.

1996, Walter L[ee] Williams, “Two-spirit Persons: Gender Nonconformity among Native American and Native Hawaiian Youths”, in Ritch C. Savin-Williams, Kenneth M. Cohen, editors, The Lives of Lesbians, Gays, and Bisexuals: Children to Adults, Fort Worth, Tex.; Philadelphia, Pa.: Harcourt Brace College Publishers, →ISBN, part 4 (Cultural and Mental Health Issues), page 421:

[I]t should come as no surprise that many Native American gay, lesbian, transgender, and other two-spirit people consider the term "berdache" derogatory.

1997, Sue-Ellen Jacobs, Wesley Thomas, Sabine Lang, “Introduction”, in Sue-Ellen Jacobs, Wesley Thomas, Sabine Lang, editors, Two-spirit People: Native American Gender Identity, Sexuality, and Spirituality, Urbana; Chicago, Ill.: University of Illinois Press, →ISBN, page 4:

In Canada there are now aboriginal (as we are termed in Canadian English) AIDS projects in the provinces of British Columbia, Alberta, Ontario and Nova Scotia, due almost entirely to the efforts of two-spirit (gay/lesbian) people.

1997, Ron Rowell, “Developing AIDS Services for Native Americans: Rural and Urban Contrasts”, in Lester B. Brown, editor, Two Spirit People: American Indian, Lesbian Women and Gay Men, Binghamton, N.Y.; London: Harrington Park Press, →ISBN, page 88:

Instead of seeing two-spirit persons as transsexuals who try to make themselves into "the opposite sex", it is more accurate to understand them as individuals who take on a gender status that is different from both men and women. […] Two-spirit people were respected by native societies not only due to religious attitudes, but also because of practical concerns. […] Two-spirit persons assisted their siblings' children and took care of elderly relatives, and often served as adoptive parents for homeless children.

2010 October 11, Walter L[ee] Williams, “The ‘two-spirit’ people of indigenous North Americans”, in Alan Rusbridger, editor, The Guardian, London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2025-03-25:

(chiefly Canada, US) Of, pertaining to, or being a two-spirit (noun sense).

duspirita

of, pertaining to, or being a two-spirit


mechanical pencil

en-noun

mechanical pencil (plural mechanical pencils)

(Canada, US) A pencil with a replaceable and mechanically extendable lead that wears away with use, designed to provide lines of constant thickness without requiring sharpening, and typically featuring a small eraser at the end opposite the tip.


900 number

In the original North American Numbering Plan, phone numbers beginning with an area code of "800" were reserved for so called toll-free numbers, where the party receiving the call pays the charges. The telephone companies later developed a corresponding set of numbers beginning with the area code "900" which would permit the owner of the number to receive additional fees from the caller.

(Canada, US) A telephone number for which an extra charge is assessed, part of which is returned to the owner of the number.


ratepayers group

ratepayers group (plural ratepayers groups)

(US, Canada) A collection of residents representing a geographic or otherwise connected residential or business area who together ensure that their communities development interests are known, represented and supported.


motorhead

The sportos, the motorheads, geeks, sluts, bloods, wastoids, dweebies, dickheads - they all adore him. They think he's a righteous dude.

1986, John Hughes, Ferris Bueller's Day Off (Motion Picture), spoken by Grace Wheelberg (Edie McClurg):

Amelia may soon return to her roots in TV production as she completes an exciting pilot about car culture, a nice integration of vocation and avocation for this particular motorhead.

2023 December 13, “SoCal Car Guru Motorhead Mama Shares Sage Advice for Potential EV Buyers”, in Golden State:

(US, Canada, slang) A car, truck, or motorcycle enthusiast.


Quebecker

(Canada) Alternative spelling of Quebecer.


Newfie joke

Gerald Thomas, one of the finest folklore scholars in Canada today, contributed a Newfie joke collection.

1979, R. S. Tallman, "Canadian Folklore" (review of Folklore of Canada by Edith Fowke, McClelland & Stewart, 1976), The Journal of American Folklore, vol. 92, no. 364, p. 231

(Canada, informal) A brief, humorous, often ridiculous story, the tone of which may range from playful to deeply offensive, which depicts Newfoundlanders as rustic, unsophisticated, or lacking in intelligence.


in service

About 20,600 Vélib’ bicycles are in service here, with more than 1,450 self-service rental stations.

2008 July 13, Steven Erlanger, “A New Fashion Catches on in Paris: Cheap Bicycle Rentals”, in New York Times:

(chiefly US and Canada) Available for use; operational.


KD

KD (countable and uncountable, plural KDs)

Lots of people who grew up eating KD keep a box in their cupboard just in case. You never know when you'll need comfort and convenience.

2010, Margaret Meikle, How Much Does Your Head Weigh?, page 159:

(Canada, informal) Kraft Dinner: a packaged dry macaroni and cheese mix.


lookit

Nonstandard reanalysis of look at (that).

Ah lookit deputy, with all due respect to you, if you come in here and act like an ass that's exactly the label that you'll gain

2010 May 20, Miriam Lord, quoting Dick Roche, “As asses roar it's business as usual in the chamber”, in The Irish Times:

Lookit! I'm old enough now, I'll wear what I want!

2010 September 14, Rosemary MacCabe, “MTV VMAs mark two: the young guns”, in The Irish Times, archived from the original on 2015-06-13:

Paddy said yesterday morning: "Lookit he didn't murder anybody. He is not a bad lad."

2014 March 24, Paul Williams, Fionnan Sheahan, Sam Griffin, “Mum tells gardai how drunk TD sent lewd message to schoolgirl”, in Irish Independent:

(colloquial, informal, Canada, US, Ireland) look, listen; see here, pay attention; the thing is, to be honest

He went right on cackling, "Lookit lookit lookit. Oh Jesus, lookit. Lookit lookit." The blast had shattered all the windows, and flames were shooting out of all of them.

2010, Anel Viz, Fairies in the Bottom of the Garden, page 18:

(colloquial, informal, Canada, US) behold!; look at that; look here or there; look!


prideful

en-adj

prideful (comparative more prideful, superlative most prideful)

more prideful (comparative)
most prideful (superlative)

‘The man is ill-tempered, envious, and above all prideful.’

2000, George R.R. Martin, A Storm of Swords, Bantam, published 2011, page 475:

(chiefly Scotland, Canada, US) Full of pride; haughty, arrogant.


momism

en-noun

momism (countable and uncountable, plural momisms)

(Canada, US, informal) Excessive attachment to one’s mother.

(Canada, US, informal) An utterance, piece of advice, etc. from one's mother.


OAS

(Canada) Initialism of Old Age Security.


sugarhouse

sugarhouses (plural)
sugar house (alternative)
sugar-house (alternative)

Holonym: sugarbush

(Canada, New England) A small cabin or shack where sap collected from sugar maples is boiled into maple syrup.


Sunday roast

(British, Canada, Australia, New Zealand) A traditional roast dinner, eaten on a Sunday, consisting of roast meat and trimmings.


CQ

(Canada) Knight of the National Order of Quebec


federalist

federalists (plural)
fœderalist (alternative)

/ˈfɛdəɹəlˌɪst/

(Canada, politics) Supporter of the view that the province of Québec should remain within the Canadian federal system; an opponent of Québec‐based separatism or sovereigns.


chirper

I could barely understand a word that chatty chirper said.

(Canada, slang, mildly derogatory) A person who speaks with a distinct English or Welsh accent.


Frenchie

I dreamt that Ruairi Quinn was smokin' marijuana in the Dail. Barry Desmond handing Frenchies out to scuts in Fianna Fail.

1985, “Delerium Tremens” (track 2), in Ordinary Man, performed by Christy Moore:

Gone are the terms we used in our youth the frenchies, frangers, rubbers, joes, french letters, gumboots, rubbers, johnnies, parachutes and plastic fantastics — these days they're just condoms.

2002 February 7, Janine Burgess, “Armour against pleasure?”, in The Timaru Herald:

The poster was designed by Aboriginal health workers in northern Queensland for use in remote Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities, where the slogan was sometimes modified to ‘Use Frenchies’ because the word ‘condom’ was not in common use.

2004, Paul Sendziuk, Learning to Trust: Australian Responses to AIDS:

(UK, Ireland, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, slang) A condom; abbreviated form of French letter.


signalize

en-verb

signalize (third-person singular simple present signalizes, present participle signalizing, simple past and past participle signalized)

signalizes (present singular third-person)
signalizing (participle present)
signalized (participle past)
signalized (past)
signalise (alternative)

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

(transitive, chiefly Canada, US) To furnish (a traffic intersection) with a traffic signal.


plex

Ultimately from -plex, from Latin plectere

Most new housing has taken the form of single-family dwellings, not plexes, and levels of home ownership have risen steadily.

2001, Thomas F. McIlwraith, Edward K. Muller, North America: The Historical Geography of a Changing Continent, page 457:

English-style terraced houses or the cheaper type of Montreal plexes that opened directly onto the street made such a way of life possible, but just barely.

2004, Richard Harris, Creeping Conformity: How Canada Became Suburban, 1900-1960, page 34:

(Canada) A building, such as a duplex or triplex, with a number of apartments (typically two to four) that all open directly to the outside.


pea-souper

pea-soupers (plural)
peasouper (alternative)
pea souper (alternative)

From pea soup + -er (suffix meaning ‘person or thing connected with’);
* (dense, yellowish fog”): from the appearance of the fog
* (French-Canadian person): may be from the prevalence of pea soup in French cuisine: compare pea soup (“(slang, derogatory) French person”).

suffix

A man bumped into a lamp post during a pea-souper; he immediately apologised to it, not realising what it was.

I can hear the bell on the buoy, but I can’t see anything in this pea-souper.

The dust surrounded us like a London pea-souper.

2004, Andrea Levy, chapter 35, in Small Island, London: Review, page 346:

(British, Canada, informal) A dense, yellowish fog, often mixed with smoke; a pea-soup fog, a smog.

Those pea-soupers are the worst drivers on the road!

(Canada, slang, derogatory) A French-Canadian person, especially a Francophone from the province of Québec.


QPP

en-noun

QPP (countable and uncountable, plural QPPs)

Sûreté du Québec
Sûreté du Québec#English

(law enforcement, Canada, uncountable) Initialism of Quebec Provincial Police (Sûreté du Québec); the police force of the Canadian province of Quebec..

Quebec Provincial Police

Quebec Pension Plan
Quebec Pension Plan#English

(Canada) Initialism of Quebec Pension Plan.


hemorrhagic fever

hemorrhagic fever (countable and uncountable, plural hemorrhagic fevers)

haemorrhagic fever
haemorrhagic fever#English

(pathology, US, Canada) Alternative form of haemorrhagic fever.


postsecondary

In its revised budget, the government has increased funding for postsecondary education.

(education, US and Canada) Of or pertaining to education or educational institutions subsequent to secondary school or high school.


postsecondary school

postsecondary school (plural postsecondary schools)

McGill University is a well-known Canadian postsecondary school.

(education, US and Canada) An educational institution (usually a college or university) which is attended after graduation from secondary school or high school.


mama's boy

mama's boys (plural)
Mama's boy (alternative)
mamma's boy (alternative)
Mamma's boy (alternative)
mammie's boy (alternative)
Mammie's boy (alternative)
mammy's boy (alternative)
Mammy's boy (alternative)
momma's boy (alternative US)
Momma's boy (alternative US)
mommie's boy (alternative US)
Mommie's boy (alternative US)
mommy's boy (alternative US)
Mommy's boy (alternative US)
mumma's boy (alternative UK)
Mumma's boy (alternative UK)
mummie's boy (alternative UK)
Mummie's boy (alternative UK)
mummy's boy (alternative UK)
Mummy's boy (alternative UK)

He's such a mama's boy that he can't even ask a girl out for a date without his mother's approval.

And now we have plenty of mama’s boys who just want to have fun, who just want to —I don't know— use some women, have fun, have great sex, but they are not able to offer this responsibility in case something happens (!) so that’s why women, they are insecure because sex is something very precious that we have to offer; we women, because it’s our bodies, and our bodies, uhm, we become pregnant and men cannot become pregnant, so we bear all of these risks. And, for us, it’s a huge opening if we say yes to a man, if we give ourselves to a man, it’s not only that we open —uh, I’m sorry for the expression— our legs, but, it’s just that we open our heart and soul and we trust that this man is responsible; and if something happens (!) he will take action, he will be there (!) for us; he will behave... [nodding] like a man.

2020, Alexandra, 8:48–9:45 from the start, in Strong women and weak men, spoken by speaker, Family Code, via YouTube:

(informal, idiomatic, derogatory, Canada, US) A male who has a very close bond with his mother, and may consequently be perceived as soft or effeminate.


round robin

round robins (plural)
round-robin (alternative)

/ˌɹaʊnd ˈɹɒbɪn/

From round (adjective) + robin. Sense 1 (“senses relating to something with a round shape, or which goes around”) is connected with the word round, while sense 2 (“senses relating to people, animals, or plants”) is connected with some English regional senses of the word robin where it is used in the names of various fish and plants which are not related to the red-breasted bird. However, apart from the alliteration, it is not clear why the two words came to be linked together in compounds. It is possible that the term was first used to refer to sense 1.13.1 (“consecrated host”) which appears to be the earliest attested sense, and then extended to other senses either having the sense of round or robin.
Alternatively, it has been suggested that the term is a corruption of French ruban rond (literally “round ribbon”), referring to the practice in 17th-century France of signing on ribbons which were then attached to petitions of grievances in a circular manner: see sense 1.1. However, this etymology does not explain the senses of the term unrelated to a signed document.

der

Senses relating to people, animals, or plants.

(Canada, US, rare) A freshwater sunfish native to eastern North America, either the pumpkinseed (Lepomis gibbosus) or the redbreast sunfish (Lepomis auritus).


first floor

(Canada, US, Philippines) The floor of a building at the level of the street or surrounding ground; the ground floor


horse's ass

there are more horses' asses than horses

At the party he behaved like a real horse's ass.

(Canada, US, vulgar, idiomatic) A jerk; an unpleasant, unlikable person; an asshole.

That is one horse's ass of a paint job.

(Canada, US, vulgar, idiomatic) A thing or person which is visually unappealing.


butt-ugly

en-adj

butt-ugly (comparative more butt-ugly, superlative most butt-ugly)

more butt-ugly (comparative)
most butt-ugly (superlative)
butt ugly (alternative)
buttugly (alternative)

(Canada, US, slang, derogatory) Extremely ugly.


notwithstanding clause

en-noun

notwithstanding clause (plural notwithstanding clauses)

Section Thirty-three of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms

Secretary of State Lucien Bouchard is standing firm on his defence of Quebec's use of the constitutional "notwithstanding" clause to safeguard the French language in that province.

1989 January 12, Ross Howard, “Bouchard stands firm in defending Quebec on language move”, in The Globe and Mail, Toronto, page A4:

Literary critic William Empson identified seven kinds of ambiguity. Had he looked further, he might have discerned an eighth—Canada's constitutional debate, complete with notwithstanding clauses, devolutions and non-derogations, asymmetries and distinct identities.

1990, Keith Henderson, "Creative ambiguity" (Review of A Canadian Challenge by Christian Dufour), The Globe and Mail, Toronto, 15 Dec, p. C24

The struggle for gay rights took a historic leap forward yesterday with a landmark Supreme Court of Canada decision. . . . Alberta Premier Ralph Klein suggested his province might use the Constitution's notwithstanding clause to override any similar decision affecting Alberta.

1999 May 21, Kirk Makin, “Gay couples win rights”, in The Globe and Mail, Toronto, page A1:

(Canada, law) Section 33 of Part I (Charter of Rights and Freedoms) of the Canadian Constitution Act (1982), which permits the creation of laws without regard for certain constitutional rights. Specifically, under section 33 the federal and provincial governments may enact laws "notwithstanding" section 2 (Fundamental Freedoms) and sections 7 through 15 (Legal and Equality Rights) of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Such laws may be in effect for up to five years and are renewable.


Masshole

This damn Masshole cut in front of my car!

You're a typical Massachusetts driver, known affectionately as a "Masshole." Bit of advice: Don't ever go to Ohio, or you will get arrested within five miles of the border.

2002, John Sheirer, Free Chairs, →ISBN, page 132:

(Canada, US, derogatory, slang) A contemptible or obnoxious person from Massachusetts.

(derogatory, slang) Especially, an obnoxious or irresponsible automobile driver from Massachusetts.

OK massholes it is pouring rain, possibly all day. It is going to be more of a pain to get out and vote.

(Massachusetts, slang, usually self-referential) Any resident of Massachusetts.

Massachusetts; usually self-referential; Massachusetts; usually self-referential

God-damned Masshole trespasser who maybe ought to have his arrogant ass kicked for the hell of it.


cloverleaf interchange

cloverleaf interchange (plural cloverleaf interchanges)

(US, Canada) A junction of two highways, one crossing over the other, having a series of exit and entrance ramps, arranged in the form of a four-leaf clover, such that traffic may proceed from either highway in all directions.


partial cloverleaf interchange

partial cloverleaf interchange (plural partial cloverleaf interchanges)

partial cloverleaf interchanges (plural)

cloverleaf interchange
cloverleaf interchange

(US, Canada) A variation on the cloverleaf interchange in which there are fewer loop ramps.


Ogopogo

The ogopogo made no attempt to devour the sailboat crew, as he is reported to have done some years ago in the case of some Indians.

1930 July 19, “Mysterious Ogopogo Is Accused of Capsizing a Canadian Boat”, in The New York Times, page 17:

(Canada, cryptozoology) A large serpentlike aquatic creature, similar to the Loch Ness monster, which is said to live in Lake Okanagan, British Columbia, Canada.


Igopogo

The story of Lake Simcoe's monster started 11 years ago, when Wellington Charles, a fishing guide on the lake for many years, first sighted a mysterious marine animal. He described it as having a neck like a stovepipe with a face like a boxer dog. At the time, he named the thing Igopogo.

1963 July 1, “Igopogo, Simcoe Monster, Reported Sighted Again”, in The Globe and Mail, page 1:

(Canada, cryptozoology) A large aquatic creature, similar to the Loch Ness monster, which supposedly lives in Lake Simcoe, Ontario, Canada.


Manipogo

The creature was dubbed Manipogo in 1957, from a blend of Manitoba + Ogopogo.

(Canada, cryptozoology) A large aquatic creature, similar to the Loch Ness monster, which supposedly lives in Lake Manitoba, Canada.


Memphre

While there have been more than 100 reported sightings of a Lake Memphremagog creature called Memphre, a photograph submitted by two unnamed Quebec residents will not be recorded among them.

1986 October 11, “Photo of monster exposed as hoax”, in The Gazette, Montreal, Que., page F12:

(Canada, cryptozoology) A large aquatic creature, similar to the Loch Ness monster, which supposedly lives in Lake Memphremagog, Quebec, Canada.


Timbit

From Tim + bit.
A brand name: From Tim (the name of Canadian hockey player Tim Horton, and the doughnut shop chain he founded, now Tim Hortons) + bit.

When colleague John Stackhouse was searching for a title for his lovely book on travelling across Canada, he decided to go with Timbit Nation.

2003 June 26, Roy MacGregor, “When size definitely matters: How you order a coffee reveals what type of Canadian you are”, in The Globe and Mail, page A2:

(Canada) A bite-sized doughnut ball sold at the Canadian Tim Hortons restaurant chain and sometimes jocularly regarded as an icon of Canadian culture.

timbit

genericization of the trademark, used in Canada to refer to any donut hole ball pastry informally


Bloc Quebecois

(Canada) Alternative spelling of Bloc Québécois.


NDP

But it was decided that a member of the Federal Parliament could not be president or associate president of the party. A NDP member elected in such party office would, however, be entitled to complete his parliamentary term.

1961 August 4, “Delegates Reject Full-Time Treasurer”, in The Globe and Mail, Toronto, →ISSN, page 9:

Mr. Green agreed that the Columbia River treaty was indeed a problem. He said that the Liberals and the NDP both wanted re-negotiation.

1962 July 17, Willis C. Armstrong, “Telegram from the Embassy in Canada to the Department of State”, in Charles S. Sampson, James E. Miller, editors, Foreign Relations of the United States, 1961–1963, volumes 13, West Europe and Canada, Washington: US Government Publishing Office, published 1994, →ISBN, page 1188:

New Democratic Party
New Democratic Party#English

(Canada) Initialism of New Democratic Party


out of gas

After twelve hours straight at the office, he was about out of gas and decided to go home and rest.

(Canada, US, idiomatic) Tired; lacking energy or motivation.


delicata

So named because of its delicate skin that does not need to be peeled before cooking and can be eaten.

But once you've tasted the sweet flesh of a delicata or slipped the strands of a spaghetti squash out of its shell, you'll never again regard winter squash as merely an agricultural art piece.

1992 October 10, Nanette Blanchard, “Autumn's Glory”, in Vegetarian Times, page 67:

You will need one medium butternut or two or three delicatas.

2004, Jack Bishop, Richard G. Jung, “Winter Squash Risotto with Sage and Parmesan”, in A Year in a Vegetarian Kitchen, →ISBN, page 354:

The best winter squashes (delicata, for example) have edible skins and are amazing just chunked and roasted with a little oil[…].

2009 January 17, Mark Bittman, “Stale spices, canned beans are no-nos for new year”, in Toronto Star:

(Canada, US) An heirloom variety of winter squash, oblong in shape and having a cream-colored skin with green stripes


in the hospital

(Canada, US, idiomatic) Admitted as a patient in a hospital.


sugar bush

The lake abounds with the choicest species of fish, and in the vicinity are found sugar bushes and rice fields.

1851, Executive Documents, v 1, n 1, Washington DC: United States Senate, p 93

(Canada, US) A wooded area with sugar maples or other trees tapped for sugaring.


multistory

(US, Canada) Alternative spelling of multi-storey.


pickerel

From Middle English pikerel; equivalent to pike + -rel.

(Canada) Walleye, A species of gamefish, Sander vitreus, native to the Northern U.S. and Canada with pale, reflective eyes.


teeter-totter

teeter-totters (plural)
teetertotter (alternative)

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

Either from teeter + totter, or from a reduplication of either element.

(Canada, US, often childish) A seesaw; a piece of playground equipment consisting of a long board with seats at either end, with a pivot point in the center.


teeter-totter

en-verb

teeter-totter (third-person singular simple present teeter-totters, present participle teeter-tottering, simple past and past participle teeter-tottered)

teeter-totters (present singular third-person)
teeter-tottering (participle present)
teeter-tottered (participle past)
teeter-tottered (past)
teetertotter (alternative)

(Canada, US, intransitive) To ride a seesaw.


motorsports

Canada, US standard spelling of motorsport (“the class of all motorsports”).


yogourt

en-noun

yogourt (countable and uncountable, plural yogourts)

From French yogourt, yoghourt, from Turkish; see yogurt.


sympathize

en-verb

sympathize (third-person singular simple present sympathizes, present participle sympathizing, simple past and past participle sympathized)

sympathizes (present singular third-person)
sympathizing (participle present)
sympathized (participle past)
sympathized (past)
sympathise (alternative UK)

Borrowed from French sympathiser. By surface analysis, sympathy + -ize. Displaced native Old English efnþrōwian (literally “to suffer with or together”).

ncog

Henry V. The southern wind
Doth play the trumpet to his purposes,
And by his hollow whistling in the leaves
Foretells a tempest and a blustering day.
Henry IV. Then with the losers let it sympathize,
For nothing can seem foul to those that win.

c. 1597 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The First Part of Henry the Fourth, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene i]:

Green, for example, is a pleasing Colour, which may come from a blue and a yellow mix’d together, and by consequence blue and yellow are two Colours which sympathize:

1695, Charles Alphonse du Fresnoy, translated by John Dryden, De Arte Graphica. The Art of Painting, London: W. Rogers, page 175:

Then personal appearance sympathised with mental deterioration: he acquired a slouching gait and ignoble look; his naturally reserved disposition was exaggerated into an almost idiotic excess of unsociable moroseness […]

1847 December, Ellis Bell [pseudonym; Emily Brontë], chapter 8, in Wuthering Heights: […], volume (please specify |volume=I or II), London: Thomas Cautley Newby, […], →OCLC:

(intransitive) To agree; to be in accord; to harmonize.


aboiteau

(Canada, Acadia) Alternative form of aboideau.


hibachi

c. 1870, from Japanese 火鉢 (hibachi, “a charcoal-powered heating brazier”, literally “fire pot”).

bor

(Canada, US) A cooking method and performance art in which the chef grills pieces of food on a hot metal griddle in front of the guests; teppanyaki. This terminology is virtually unknown in Japan.

(Canada, US) The griddle used in such cuisine; teppan.


RESP

(Canada) Acronym of registered education savings plan, an investment vehicle allowing caregivers to save for their children's post-secondary education, offering subsidies and potential tax advantages.


RRSP

(Canada) Registered Retirement Savings Plan—a program regulated by the federal government of Canada, offering tax advantages to help Canadian residents accumulate financial wealth, through a wide range of investment instruments, in order to provide financial security and income during retirement.


CESG

Government Communications Headquarters
Registered Education Savings Plan

(Canada) Canada Education Savings Grant—a subsidy provided by the federal government of Canada to Canadian residents enrolled in an RESP (Registered Education Savings Plan), in order to help defray the costs of higher education for the enrollee's children.


get sick

en-verb

get sick (third-person singular simple present gets sick, present participle getting sick, simple past got sick, past participle (UK) got sick or (US) gotten sick)

gets sick (present singular third-person)
getting sick (participle present)
got sick (past)
got sick (UK participle past)
gotten sick (US participle past)

(Canada, US) Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see get, sick.


blank cheque

(Australia, New Zealand, British, Canada) Alternative form of blank check.


nursery school

en-noun

nursery school (countable and uncountable, plural nursery schools)

kindergarten

borrowed from German "Kindergarten"; mainly Canada, the U.S. and Australia

(Canada, British) An educational institution for small children (normally around 3 to 5 years old, who not yet have begun primary school).

çerdhe

a school for pre-school children — see also kindergarten


CFS

CFS (countable and uncountable, plural CFSs)

Canada Flight Supplement
w:Canada Flight Supplement

(Canada, aviation) Initialism of Canada Flight Supplement (a pilot's guide to aerodromes, air control zones, and airways in Canadian airspace and Canadian air traffic control zones).


trey

PIE word
 *tréyes
From Middle English treye, from Anglo-Norman trei or treis, from Old French treis (“three”). Doublet of three and tres.

(US, Canada, basketball, informal, obsolete) A three-pointer.


Mondays

Downtown Library will be open Mondays from 10 am to 6 pm starting Jan. 25.

2010 January 15, “Recession boosts library attendance”, in The Spokesman Review, Spokane, WA:

Delicious is open from 9am to 6pm Mondays to Saturdays and from 10am to 4pm on Sundays.

2010 January 14, Eleanor Patmore, “Afternoon tea is back in Stortford!”, in Herts and Essex Observer:


Wednesdays

We are closed Wednesdays in the Summer.

Wednesdays we would go bowling.

(US, Canada) On Wednesday; each Wednesday.


Thursdays

(US, Canada) On Thursday; each Thursday.


sergeant major

sergeant major (plural sergeant majors or sergeants major)

sergeant majors (plural)
sergeants major (plural)

(Canada) A senior non-commissioned appointment in the Army of a company or unit, directly responsible to the officer in charge for their soldiers' performance, standards, discipline, morale, welfare, et al, that can be held by a Warrant Officer or above.


truck driver

truck drivers (plural)
truckdriver (alternative)
truck-driver (alternative)

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

(US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand) A person employed to drive a truck, especially a tractor-trailer or other large industrial truck.


drive truck

en-verb

drive truck (third-person singular simple present drives truck, present participle driving truck, simple past drove truck, past participle driven truck)

drives truck (present singular third-person)
driving truck (participle present)
drove truck (past)
driven truck (participle past)

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

My uncle was a truckdriver. He drove truck for Roadway for years.

(chiefly Canada, US, trucking, colloquial) To drive trucks, especially semi-trailer trucks, especially as one's occupation.


agri-food

en-noun

agri-food (countable and uncountable, plural agri-foods)

agri-foods (plural)
agrifood (alternative)

/ˈæɡɹiˌfuːd/

The Liberal statement does draw attention to its potential future agenda, namely, fisheries, forestry, agri-food, and mining, all resource-based sectors.

1982, G. Bruce Doern, How Ottawa Spends Your Tax Dollars: National Policy and Economic Development, 1982, James Lorimer & Company, →ISBN, page 21:

2007, F. Scala, A. Raio, A. Zoina, and M. Lorito, "Biological Control of Fruit and Vegetable Diseases with Fungal and Bacterial Antagonists: Trichoderma and Agrobacterium", chapter 7 of S. B. Chincholkar and K. G. Mukerji (eds.), Biological Control of Plant Diseases, Haworth Press, →ISBN, page 177,
Sales of organic products have increased dramatically in recent years (for instance, in Europe), and organic farming is the fastest-growing sector of agriculture and an important point in the EU agri-food policy.

(chiefly Canada, also US and Ireland, Australia) The business of producing food agriculturally (as opposed to through hunting, fishing, gathering, and so on); food so produced.


Yannick

From French Yannick, from Breton Yannig.


supreme court

(Canada) In certain provinces, a superior court of original jurisdiction, which however is inferior to the province's court of appeals.


half bath

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


soccer player

soccer players (plural)
soccer-player (alternative rare)

(soccer, US, South Africa, Canada, Australia, New Zealand) One who plays soccer, especially professional soccer.


go snake

en-verb

go snake (third-person singular simple present goes snake, present participle going snake, simple past went snake, past participle gone snake)

goes snake (present singular third-person)
going snake (participle present)
went snake (past)
gone snake (participle past)

Industry watchers note that high prices and record revenues likely mean the sector is headed for strong profits, despite its challenges. / “Prices have gone snake. If you think about it, the tariffs have been a constant over the whole thing. […]” observed James Beck, a forestry professor at the University of Alberta.

2004 August 23, Geoffrey Scotton, “Alberta lumber sales roar: Exports, prices put industry on record pace”, in Calgary Herald, Calgary, Alberta, page D4:

“On the road, refs are going to make their calls; I know that,” Hillis said Friday. “I'm a big boy, I've been on the road before. But there were two really hard fouls (on Wright and Matt Cherkas) . . . and I finally went snake.[”]

2004 November 6, “Cougars slammed by Wesmen”, in Leader-Post, Regina, Sask., page C8:

A few days after I got home from the ER, my mother called to yell at me. Since it turned out I wasn't dying, I hadn't told her of my medical adventure. I didn't want to worry her. Big mistake. A family member ratted me out and my little, white-haired mother went snake on me.

2007 April 18, Kim Ross-Polito, “Sidelines”, in The Crestline Advocate, number 29, Crestline, OH, page 2:

Note: All terms are idiomatic unless stated otherwise.

(idiomatic, chiefly Canada, informal) To act in an erratic or unrestrained manner.


fibre bundle

(British, Canada) Alternative spelling of fiber bundle.


hydroplaning

en-noun

hydroplaning (countable and uncountable, plural hydroplanings)

(automotive, US, Canada) The loss of contact with the road because of surface water; the act of aquaplaning.


redlining

redlining (countable and uncountable, plural redlinings)

(systematic denial): From the red outlines used by the HOLC to mark D-rated neighborhoods with minority occupants.

Admittedly, our metropolitan plan was an exercise in hope. There were million reasons why it might not have worked. But it represented a responsible way to try to begin atoning for the public housing ghettos, the racial zoning and covenants, the redlining, the “Negro removal,” and the other policies and practices that had given us the two separate and unequal societies described by the Kerner report.

2007, Alexander Polikoff, Waiting for Gautreaux: A Story of Segregation, Housing, and the Black Ghetto, Northwestern University Press, →ISBN, page 120:

(Canada, US) The systematic denial of various services to residents of specific, often racially associated, neighborhoods or communities, either directly or through the selective raising of prices.


mudroom

mudrooms (plural)
mud room (alternative)

We made sure to hang our wet clothes on the hook in the mudroom when we came in from the snow.

In the mud room, I grabbed my wool-lined jacket and headed back out.

2008, Wally Lamb, The Hour I First Believed, Ch.2, at p.28

(Canada, US) A room used as a barrier between indoors and outdoors.


moviegoer

(chiefly Canada, US) Person who regularly frequents movie theaters.


pencil crayon

You'll notice that all the illustrations are done in different media: some with pencil crayons, some with felts, some with paint, some with chalk pastels.

1989, Anne D. Forester, Margaret Reinhard, The Learners' Way, page 116:

(Canada, UK, Ireland) A coloured pencil.


minivan

→ Japanese: ミニバン (miniban)

→ Korean: 미니밴 (minibaen)

→ Russian: минивэ́н (minivɛ́n)

→ Thai: มินิแวน (mí-ní-wɛɛn)

A small van, especially (Canada, US, Australia, New Zealand, Philippines) one primarily used for family transport.


wowzer

(New Zealand, Canada, slang) Something of great interest or beauty.


JK

(Canada) Initialism of junior kindergarten.


homebody

homebodies (plural)
home-body (alternative)
home body (alternative)

Although my uncle likes to travel, my aunt is a homebody, so he usually comes with us while she stays home with her cats.

After Phillis left Mrs. Weston's room, she was on her way to her cabin, when she noticed Aunt Peggy sitting alone at the door. She was rather a homebody; yet she reproached herself with having neglected poor old Peggy, when she saw her looking so desolate and dejected.

1852, Mary Henderson Eastman, “chapter XIV”, in Aunt Phillis's Cabin:

Daddy did improve over the next few weeks, but it became apparent that he would be unable to live alone. I believe this must have been one of the most difficult times in his life. Not only had he lost his wife, he had lost his health and his home. He had always been a home body, insisting on being home by sundown. There were chores to do, his animals to tend. He was busy and happy.

2000, Roberta Zybach Yarbrough, A Trek in the Desert. Finding a Path Through Grief, Xlibris, →ISBN, page 63:

(Canada, US, informal) A person who prefers to remain at home, rather than participate in social events elsewhere.


hotcake

hotcakes (plural)
hot cake (alternative)

→ Alutiiq: haatkiik

→ Cantonese: 克戟 (hak¹ kik¹)

→ Cebuano: hatkeyk

→ Japanese: ホットケーキ (hottokēki)

→ Spanish: hotcake

For breakfast he ordered a stack of hotcakes with butter and syrup.


mom-and-pop

mom and pop (alternative)
Mom and Pop (alternative)
Mom-and-Pop (alternative)

Mom-and-pop diners are disappearing from American streets and being replaced by bland corporate giants.

(US, Canada, typically of a business) Small and unsophisticated, typically because operated by a couple or a family.

a conduzione familiare

small and unsophisticated because run by a couple


hangashore

From Irish aindeiseoir (“sickly person, wretch”).


passive armour

en-noun

passive armour (countable and uncountable, plural passive armours)

passive armours (plural)
passive armor (alternative US)

(British, Canada) Shielding that is chemically inert (unlike reactive armour) and does not require electricity or active sensors to operate. It is usually made of metal, ceramic, or in some cases, composite materials.


garbage can

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

(Canada, US) A receptacle, usually roughly cylindrical and wider at the top than at the bottom, which serves as a place to discard waste materials.


flunker

(slang, Canada, US) Someone who has flunked: failed in an examination, been kept back to repeat a grade, or flunked out of school.


bare-butt

(Canada, US, slang) With the buttocks exposed, as for a spanking or a mooning.

It has taken millions of years of evolution — pelagic, geologic, biological, and cultural — to create the Monterey Peninsula of today, a charming series of communities that appeal to bare-butt, stoned-out hippies as much as to some of the wealthiest and most talented people in the world.

2001, Thom Akeman, Monterey Peninsula: A Cypress Shore, Graphic Arts Center Publishing, published 2001, →ISBN, page 7:

Although Horcón has tolerated bare-butt bathing for some years, the municipalidad of Pichilemu wants to be the first to officially accept nudism, despite the opposition of its parish priest, who declared 'nudism leads to adultery'.

2005, Tim Burford, Chile: The Bradt Travel Guide, Globe Pequot Press, published 2005, →ISBN, page 369:

[…] All the while, he's paddling toward the beach, and when he got up there, the shark was cruising around on the inside. So he took his shorts off, threw them to the shark and just walked bare-butt down the beach. […]

2009, Stuart Holmes Coleman, Fierce Heart: The Story of Makaha and the Soul of Hawaiian Surfing, St. Martin's Press, published 2009, →ISBN:

(Canada, US, slang, by extension) Stark naked.


iced tea

iced tea (countable and uncountable, plural iced teas)

iced teas (plural)
ice tea (alternative)

→ Japanese: アイスティー (aisutī)

→ Korean: 아이스티 (aiseuti)

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

(Canada, Philippines) Sweetened iced tea, flavoured with lemon.


red-eye

red-eye (countable and uncountable, plural red-eyes)

red-eyes (plural)
red eye (alternative)
redeye (alternative)

The noun is derived from red + eye; sense 2.3 (“strong but poor-quality whiskey”) and sense 3 (“overnight airplane flight”) are probably so named because they may cause people to develop bloodshot eyes.
The verb is derived from the noun.

The red-eye (Vireo olivaceus), [...] The first (the red-eye) is one of the most abundant birds in the woods of the northern states. In the spring months, he is one of the most conspicuous of our singers, and, though his notes are short, they are very musical and lively.

1851, J[ohann] G[eorg] Heck, “Sub-order 3. Dentirostres, Tooth-billed Birds.”, in Spencer F[ullerton] Baird, transl., Iconographic Encyclopædia of Science, Literature, and Art. … Translated from the German, … In Four Volumes, volumes II (Botany, Zoology, Anthropology, and Surgery), New York, N.Y.: Rudolph Garrigue, […], →OCLC, pages 550–551:

The Red-eye sings with clear to slurred whistles using a variety of phrasings. It scolds with a harsh "dzur." [...] Red-eyes are common in city and town parks.

1998 June, W[illiam] Bruce McGillivray, Glen P[eter] Semenchuk, “Shrikes and Vireos”, in The Federation of Alberta Naturalists Field Guide to Alberta Birds, Edmonton, Alta.: Federation of Alberta Naturalists, →ISBN, page 196:

(countable) Any of various animals that have red eyes.

(Canada, US) The red-eyed vireo (Vireo olivaceus), a small American songbird.

(countable) Types of beverages or sauces.

(Canada, regional) A drink consisting of beer with tomato juice.


grow op

First use appears c. 1998. A clipping of grow operation.

Police sweep massive grow op: ‘Sophisticated organized crime’ behind pot: Police

1998 Aug. 21, Province (Vancouver, Canada), final edition, p. A8 [headline]


ASC

Advertising Standards Canada
w:Advertising Standards Canada

(Canada) Initialism of Advertising Standards Canada.


butt-naked

Probably related to (and perhaps simply a variant of) buck naked. It is not clear which of the two forms came first, but the earliest written evidence suggests that buck naked is present some four decades earlier.

They could hardly have all marched off butt-naked.

1998, John Peel, The Outer Limits: The Vanished, New York: Tor Kids, →ISBN, page 8:

He cannot picture life without alcohol, drugs or butt-naked rooftop escapades.

2008, Chris Kovach, chapter 11, in Alcoholics Synonymous, →ISBN:

(Canada, US, informal) Stark naked, completely nude.


street hockey

(Canada, US) An informal version of hockey (ice hockey) played on a quiet street, with a ball instead of a puck.


jello

jello (usually uncountable, plural jellos)

jellos (plural)
Jell-O (alternative)
Jello (alternative)

Genericization of the brand name Jell-O.

The jello was gone in five minutes and the cigarette smoked.

1940, Carson McCullers, The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter, Houghton Mifflin, published 2004, →ISBN, page 306:

Distribution of cherry jello was stepped up to college campus towns across America.

2002, Rich Zubaty, Your Brain Is Not Your Own, →ISBN, page 159:

She didn't want to eat anything heavy and decided that jello had zero fat content.

2006, Xana, Harvest Moon, AuthorHouse, →ISBN, page 178:

(Canada, US) A dessert made by boiling gelatine, sugar and some flavoring (often derived from fruit) and allowing it to set.


provincehood

(Canada) The status of being a province.


close enough for government work

en-adj

close enough for government work (not comparable)

en-au-close enough for government work.ogg

Originally nonironic (meaning good enough to meet especially high standards); later evolved to mean good enough, though only barely.

(Canada, idiomatic, humorous) Acceptable; equivalent to government work, neither worse nor better.


second-degree murder

en-noun

second-degree murder (countable and uncountable, plural second-degree murders)

tappo

act or crime of murder with intent, but without premeditation

roughly equivalent concept in Finnish law

szándékos, de nem előre megfontolt szándékkal elkövetett emberölés

(law, chiefly US, Canada) The criminal offence of murder in a form defined as less serious than first-degree murder; the precise distinction may vary by jurisdiction but typically involves second-degree murder being intentional but not premeditated.

(law, chiefly US, Canada) An act that constitutes the crime of second-degree murder.


whole note

(Canada, US, music) A semibreve, a musical note four beats long in 4/4 time.


trashman

trashmen (plural)
trash man (alternative)

(US, Canada) Someone whose job it is to collect refuse from people's homes and take it to be processed.


garbage man

garbage men (plural)
garbageman (alternative)

(Australia, US, Canada) Someone, usually male, whose job it is to collect refuse from people's homes and take it to be processed.


loosey-goosey

en-adj

loosey-goosey (comparative more loosey-goosey or loosier-goosier or loosey-goosier, superlative most loosey-goosey or loosiest-goosiest or loosey-goosiest)

more loosey-goosey (comparative)
loosier-goosier (comparative)
loosey-goosier (comparative)
most loosey-goosey (superlative)
loosiest-goosiest (superlative)
loosey-goosiest (superlative)
loosey goosey (alternative)
loosy-goosy (alternative)

They said that he couldn't hit International League pitching because he was too loosey-goosey at the plate.

1946 July 8, “By Jim Coleman”, in The Globe and Mail:

“All these other guys are scared to death,” the pinch-hitter kept telling himself as he walked towards the plate, “I’m loosey-goosey, I’m loosey-goosey, I’m loosey-goosey.”

1955, Trent Frayne, “Why Big-League Goalies CRACK Up”, in Maclean's, archived from the original on 2022-04-09:

(sports, originally baseball, Canada, US) relaxed


assmonkey

assmonkeys (plural)
ass monkey (alternative)

Near-synonym: assclown

"Look," said Mayer, suddenly nervous, "there's no sense in acting like complete ass monkeys over this. I'm sure we can reach a mutually beneficial settlement."

2000, Martin DiPietro, “The Pull”, in Nest: 28 Tales of Pulp Fiction, →ISBN, page 72:

“You little assmonkey!” The kid danced away to the front of the car.

2002, Brian Rockstroh, Far From Grace, →ISBN, page 10:

"God, love," I said, "Annnnnd ... trampolines!" ¶ "You are such an assmonkey."

2004, Stacey Cochran, The Band, →ISBN, page 188:

(Canada, US, slang, humorous) An obnoxious or contemptible person; a jerk.


redbird

red tanager
red tanager#English:_Q1587905

(Canada, US) Any of several unrelated American songbirds having red plumage.

northern cardinal
northern cardinal#English:_Q726389

Then she chanced to look up and catch sight of a redbird in a tree.


hybrid vigour

UK, Australia, and Canada spelling of hybrid vigor.


labour union

(Canada, British spelling) Alternative spelling of labor union.


forty-ninth parallel

(Canada, US) A nickname for the approximately 1200-mile (1900-kilometer) portion of the border between Canada and the USA, extending along the forty-ninth parallel of latitude from Lake of the Woods to the Pacific Ocean.

(Canada, US, nonstandard) A nickname for the entire border between Canada and the USA.


East Indian

East Indian (comparative more East Indian, superlative most East Indian)

more East Indian (comparative)
most East Indian (superlative)

From East Indies + -ian. May also be analyzed as east + Indian.

(Canada, Caribbean) Of or pertaining to the people, products, or culture of India, or South Asia in general.


garbage bag

The road was full of garbage bags awaiting the arrival of the trash men.

(Canada, US) A plastic bag produced for the disposal of household waste.

كِيس قُمَامَة

plastic bag for the disposal of household waste


trash bag

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

The road was full of trash bags awaiting the arrival of the garbage men.

(Canada, US) A plastic bag for the disposal of household waste.

(Canada, US, derogatory, informal) A disrespectful person.


deadbeat dad

If the '90s offer one villain by consensus, it is the deadbeat dad, that selfish fugitive condemned by liberals and conservatives alike for his irresponsible behavior and generous contributions to the cycle of welfare dependency.

1995 April 3, David Van Biema, “Dunning Deadbeats”, in Time:

(chiefly US and Canada, idiomatic, derogatory) A man, especially one who is divorced or estranged from his partner, who fails to provide monetary child support when he is legally required to do so.

padre negligente / irresponsable / incumplidor


aluminize

en-verb

aluminize (third-person singular simple present aluminizes, present participle aluminizing, simple past and past participle aluminized)

aluminizes (present singular third-person)
aluminizing (participle present)
aluminized (participle past)
aluminized (past)

US, Canada, and Oxford British English standard spelling of aluminise.


aluminized

US, Canada, and Oxford British English standard spelling of aluminised.


Robertson screwdriver

en-noun

Robertson screwdriver (plural Robertson screwdrivers)

From Canadian inventor P. L. Robertson (1879-1951).

The Robertson-head screw has a square hole in the head, made in three different sizes, and must be driven with a special Robertson screwdriver.

1963, Alonzo Wass, Building construction estimating:

The Robertson screwdriver is among the tools found at hardware stores and building supply outlets across Canada.

2002, Mark Kearney, Randy Ray, I Know that Name!: The People Behind Canada's Best-known Brand Names from Elizabeth Arden to Walter Zeller:

Robertson screwdrivers have colour-coded handles, to make it easy to determine which size you will require.

2007, William S. Peckham, Michael C. Hammar, Never Hang Wallpaper With Your Wife: Decorating and Renovating From a Guy's Point Of View:

(chiefly Canada) A type of screwdriver having a square tip, designed to drive a Robertson screw.


ass clown

(Canada, US, slang, derogatory) Alternative form of assclown.


summer cottage

(Canada, US) A cottage rented out in the summer to vacationers.


shinplaster

From shin + plaster.
Probably coined during the American War of Independence (1775–1783). Named for its resemblance to, and suitability for makeshift use as, a bandage for dressing the shin.

(historical, Canada informal) A 25¢ banknote.


end run

(American football) A running play in which the player carrying the ball attempts to avoid being tackled by evading the defending players from the opposing team.


grannies

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

And there I was, standing in the middle of the room, in my bra and undies, wearing a Burger King crown, balancing on one leg and praying. A peal of laughter arose from the rest of the girls, who were all clothed. ‘I knew she’d be wearing grannies!’ I heard someone say.

2007, Karen Yampolsky, Falling out of Fashion, Headline Publishing Group, published 2009, →ISBN:

“I’m just a little shocked.” / Monica laughs. “Shocked! You should have seen his face when he pulled down my shorts! He looks at me and says, ‘I wasn’t expecting a hot number like you to wear grannies.’ Then we have hot wild sex in the parking lot of the gym!” […] “What did Jena say?” / Monica laughs. “I guess you didn’t expect me to catch you climbing out of a Ford wearing grannies!’”

2011, Lexi Michaels, Time for a Fresh One, AuthorHouse, →ISBN, page 19:

“See, you’ve been enhancing yourself all along. A thong serves a specific purpose as does a balconette, or demicup, otherwise you’d just be wearing grannies all the time, right? I mean, if all you wanted to do was cover your ass and support your boobs.”

2012, Quincy Poaches, Dismal: The Maria Patterson Memoirs, Xlibris, →ISBN, page 167:

(US, Canada, slang, derogatory) Granny panties.


French dressing

French dressing (usually uncountable, plural French dressings)

Named in the Anglophone world for the early origins, in French vinaigrettes, that inspired later versions, although the present-day conventions for the dressing's composition do not directly reflect the original French influence; more at Wikipedia. Compare french fries regarding the name mostly not reflecting any direct French influence.

Italian dressing

vinegar, oil, herbs and spices; a vinaigrette

Thousand Island dressing and Russian dressing

(Canada) A salad dressing that is a uniform viscous sauce with a tangy sweet flavour. It is generally made from vegetable oil, vinegar, mustard, honey, water, and spices.


tyee

(Canada) A large chinook salmon that weighs more than 13.5 kg.


homebrew

homebrew (countable and uncountable, plural homebrews)

Homebrews, American imports, former big-leaguers—the Terriers had it all.

2006, David Menary, Terrier Town: Summer of ’49, page 19:

(Canada, sports, countable) A player who plays for the team named after their own native town.


eat one's Wheaties

en-verb

eat one's Wheaties (third-person singular simple present eats one's Wheaties, present participle eating one's Wheaties, simple past ate one's Wheaties, past participle eaten one's Wheaties)

eats one's Wheaties (present singular third-person)
eating one's Wheaties (participle present)
ate one's Wheaties (past)
eaten one's Wheaties (participle past)

An allusion to the breakfast cereal Wheaties, long advertised as the "Breakfast of Champions", and its long-standing association with sports celebrities.

But he just couldn't get the ball through the goal posts (poor Harry . . . he didn't eat his Wheaties, or else his shoe was on backwards).

1971 October 19, Haney Reilly, “Another game, another loss but Hawkeyes looked better”, in Telegraph-Herald, Iowa, USA, retrieved 2011-07-01, page 17:

Jo-Ann Wonsik answered a Herald want ad for a career requiring day after day of heavy lifting. . . . "And you've got to eat your Wheaties on this job," she said.

1994 September 11, “Garbage Collector Lifts Away Worries”, in Miami Herald, page 1B:

Of all the movie promotions in all the towns in all the world, Keanu Reeves had to walk into this one: a California Institute of Technology forum at which he was asked, “How could an alien being grow so fast without violating standard mass- and energy-conservation laws?” . . . He paused. “I ate my Wheaties.”

2008 December 10, Felicity Barringer, “Science Students Get a Real-Life Lesson, in Science Fiction”, in New York Times, retrieved 2011-07-01:

(US and Canada, idiomatic) To prepare or fortify oneself for an activity requiring exertion.


built like a brick shithouse

en-adj

built like a brick shithouse (not comparable)

EN-AU ck1 built like a brick shithouse.ogg

From the figurative extension of the idea that an outhouse is overbuilt if one builds it with bricks.

Sonia is a hot young blonde who is built like a brick shithouse! She is stacked and well put together.

2005 March 18, Hot Azz Sonia, “SONIA'S BUILT LIKE A BRICK SHITHOUSE!”, in alt.sex.phone.ads (Usenet):

(US, Canada, simile, idiomatic, colloquial, vulgar) (Of a woman) Having an athletic or muscular body; often implying also having large breasts or an attractive body.


PWA

professional wrestling
professional wrestling

(professional wrestling, Canada) Initialism of Pure Wrestling Association.


blackfish

en-noun

blackfish (plural blackfishes or blackfish)

(Canada, US) Either of two dark-coloured fish of the west Atlantic, the tautog of New England (Tautoga onitis) and the black sea bass (Centropristis striata).


sickle-cell anemia

sickle cell anaemia (alternative)
sickle-cell anaemia (alternative)

(Canada, US) The most common form of sickle-cell disease, with anemic effects.

鐮刀型紅血球疾病 /镰刀型红血球疾病

disease characterized by sickle-shaped red blood cells

鎌状赤血球症

かまじょうせっけっきゅうしょう


senioritis

I don't know, but "senioritis" is real, as I discovered in my senior year. Senioritis is a frame of mind particular to high-school seniors.

1984, W. Dean Memering, Frank O'Hare, The Writer's Work: Guide to Effective Composition - Page 121

And right now she has a raging case of senioritis. […] Whether you call it senioritis or senior slump, there's no disguising the collective sigh of relief […]

2003, Barbara Cooke, Carleton Kendrick, Take Out Your Nose Ring, Honey, We're Going to Grandma's: Hanging In ... - Page 111

I worked hard my senior year, something that was particularly difficult due to the senioritis that many others were feeling. But it paid off!

2007, Vault Editors, The College Buzz Book - Page 336

(US, Canada) A tendency of seniors in high school or college to skip class or slack off due to a desire to move on, or because they have already been accepted by a college and their further academic performance is no longer as relevant.


-ass

tlb

(originally African-American Vernacular, chiefly Canada, US, slang, vulgar)

Partially from ass, and partially from a corruption or simplification of assed.

That's some Nixon-ass shit he's pulling.

What's that formal-ass language you're using? We're at a party!

-like

resembling; forms adjectives from nouns only


deadfall

en-noun

deadfall (countable and uncountable, plural deadfalls)

Heaver forest growth on the north-facing slopes, together with considerable deadfall and soil cover, makes geologic interpretation there difficult.

1967, Calvin S. Bromfield, “Introduction”, in Geology of the Mount Wilson Quadrangle, Western San Juan Mountains, Colorado: […] (Geological Survey Bulletin; 1227), Washington, D.C.: United States Government Printing Office, →OCLC, page 6:

(uncountable, Canada, US) Coarse woody debris; deadwood.

A fifth negative test pit was excavated near the largest creek at Middle Point. As well, the roots of all deadfalls within the corridor were examined for the presence of cultural material. Deadfalls were more common in the drier areas, especially near stream channels.

1988 February, Rachel Joan Dale, J. David McMahan, “Research Methodology and Results”, in Cultural Resources Survey of the Proposed North Douglas Highway Extension, Outer Point to Point Hilda (Project No. 68870) (Office of History and Archaeology; report no. 12), Anchorage, Ak.: Office of History and Archaeology, Division of Parks and Outdoor Recreation, Alaska Department of Natural Resources, →OCLC, page 9:

We should go up to the forest and see if we can find more dry deadfalls. That green wood you were trying to burn last night was all smoke and no heat.

2012, Robin Hobb [pseudonym; Margaret Astrid Lindholm Ogden], City of Dragons (The Rain Wild Chronicles; 3), London: Harper Voyager, →ISBN:

(countable, specifically) A fallen tree.

Coarse woody debris; deadwood.
A fallen tree.

It [the wolverine] is so cunning as rarely to enter a deadfall itself, but will carefully pull it to pieces and then eat the bait in safety. I was informed by hunters at Selkirk Settlement that they sometimes lost the successful result of several days' trapping by a single wolverine, which, following their path, would pull down every deadfall, or destroy any animal already caught.

1859, Robert Kennicott, “The Quadrupeds of Illinois Injurious and Beneficial to the Farmer. [Wolverine, or Glutton.]”, in Report of the Commissioner of Patents for the Year 1858: Agriculture (House of Representatives, 35th Congress, 2d Session; executive document no. 105), Washington, D.C.: James B[lair] Steedman, printer, →OCLC, page 246:

The beaver trap is a deadfall of considerable weight, nicely adjusted over the animal's road or track, frequently on a dam. […] The animal passing under the deadfall has to step on a little stick raised an inch or two above the ground, and this brings down the deadfall on its back.

1876, John J. Rowan, “The Trapper”, in The Emigrant and Sportsman in Canada. […], London: Edward Stanford, […], →OCLC, page 369:

It was a week after the taking of the black fox that Skookum Bill, on a short exploring trip a few miles west of their cabin, came across a deadfall which held a dead marten. He took the marten, and, when he returned, said to Dobbs: "I didn't know you'd built any deadfalls in the timber past the big draw?"

1922 November 25, A[rthur] M[urray] Chisholm, “A Thousand a Plate”, in Western Story Magazine, volume XXX, number 4, New York, N.Y.: Street & Smith Corporation, →OCLC, chapter II, page 90, column 2:

Marten, wolverine, lynx, ermine, fox, mink, beaver, and land otter were plentiful in the general vicinity of Kijik and traps and deadfalls were set for them.

1974, Alaska Planning Group, United States Department of the Interior, “History and Archeology”, in Final Environmental Statement: Proposed Lake Clark National Park, Alaska, Washington, D.C.: United States Government Printing Office, →OCLC, part II (Description of the Environment), section A (Existing Environment), pages 61–62:

(countable, Canada, US, hunting) A kind of trap for animals, consisting of a heavy board or log that falls on to the prey.

piège assommoir

trap consisting of a heavy object that falls on to the prey


gross out

[T]his film is refreshingly low on scatological gags and other gross-out humor, preferring all-purpose bad jokes to bathroom ones.

1993 May 21, Janet Maslin, "From 'Rambo' to Rodham, Smirking All the Way" (film review of Hot Shots! Part Deux), New York Times (retrieved 22 April 2014)

. . . another ramshackle assortment of sight gags, scares, laughs and gross-outs […]

2014 April 19, Stephen Schaefer, "Wayans’ ‘Haunted’ sequel fails to scare up laughs" (film review), Boston Herald (retrieved 22 April 2014)

On the surface, the film is a globe-trotting gross-out caper in which Nobby, who's from a hellish version of the titular Lincolnshire town ("twinned with Chernobyl"), is reunited with his long-lost brother Sebastian (Mark Strong), who has become a spy for the British secret services.

2016 February 23, Robbie Collin, “Grimsby review: ' Sacha Baron Cohen's vital, venomous action movie'”, in The Daily Telegraph (London):

(informal, chiefly Canada, US) Something which sickens, causes distress, or appalls by reason of being disgusting, gory, or repulsive.


gross out

en-verb

gross out (third-person singular simple present grosses out, present participle grossing out, simple past and past participle grossed out)

grosses out (present singular third-person)
grossing out (participle present)
grossed out (participle past)
grossed out (past)

Lisa likes him clean-shaven. "You know, when there's things crawling out of your beard or whenever you've got food left from lunch or dinner, I don't know, that just kind of grosses me out," she says.

2013 Aug. 22, Ann Oldenburg, "Beardless 'Duck Dynasty' brother reveals wild past" (video game review), USA Today (retrieved 22 April 2014)

The Stick of Truth is a game where you can choose to use a toilet and then, later, fling the result at your enemies to weaken them by grossing them out.

2014 March 4, Chris Suellentrop, "Trey Parker and Matt Stone Make a ‘South Park’ Game" (video game review), New York Times (retrieved 22 April 2014)

(informal, transitive, chiefly Canada, US) To sicken or distress (someone) by being disgusting, gory, or lewd.


555-2368, 1-555-321-2368, and (555)234-2368 are all 555 numbers; they aren’t real.

(Canada, US, fiction) Pertaining to a fake telephone number. The local exchange and area code number 555 was reserved in North American dialing plan for fictional numbers, prior to the 21st century.


water fountain

Network Rail says the introduction of free water fountains at its managed stations has helped to save the equivalent of three million plastic bottles from entering landfill.

2020 March 11, “Network News: Water fountains cut plastic waste”, in Rail, page 23:

(US, Canada) A mechanical device designed to dispense small quantities of drinking water, usually in a public place such as a school or office.

飲水機 /饮水机

device designed to dispense drinking water


where there's smoke, there's fire

en-au-where there's smoke, there's fire.ogg

with a grain of salt
with a grain of salt

(UK, US, Australia, Canada, New Zealand) If there is a hint of something occurring it could indeed be true, but such rumors should be taken with a grain of salt.

لَا دُخَانَ بِلَا نَار

if there is a hint of something occurring it could indeed be true, but rumors should be handled with skepticism