hooch

en-noun

hooch (countable and uncountable, plural hooches)

Abbreviation of hoochinoo, name of a specific liquor, from Tlingit Xutsnoowú Ḵwáan, the group that produced it, from Hutsnuwu (“grizzly bear fort”), the name of the village on Admiralty Island in which they lived.

he was so grief-stricken that he literally drowned his sorrow in “hootch-i-noo,” the native equivalent of whiskey. […] Had he not been so sad he would not have drunk the “hootch,” and if he had not drunk the hootch he would not have died: a perfectly reasonable and logical argument.

c. 1910, O.M. Salisbury, chapter 3, in Quoth the raven: A little journey into the primitive, Seattle: Superior Publishing Company, published 1962, page 17:

Bring on the free hooch!

1997, Kevin Smith, Chasing Amy, spoken by Banky Edwards (Jason Lee):

(Canada, US, informal) An alcoholic beverage, especially an inferior or illicit one and especially liquor such as whisky.


molasses

molass (singular)
mollasses (alternative)
malasses (alternative)
merlaasses (alternative)
molassey (alternative)
molassy (alternative)
melasus (alternative)
molassos (alternative)
malassoes (alternative)
malassos (alternative)
molossus (alternative)
melasses (alternative)
mallassus (alternative)
malosses (alternative)
mellasses (alternative)
milasses (alternative)
molassers (alternative)
molossoes (alternative)
molossos (alternative)
mullasses (alternative)
molosses (alternative)
melossus (alternative)
mollossus (alternative)
molossas (alternative)
molases (alternative)
mellosses (alternative)
moloses (alternative)
merlassers (alternative)
millasses (alternative)
molassisis (alternative)

From Portuguese melaços or Spanish melazos, from Late Latin mellacium (“must, honey-sweet thing”), from mel (“honey”) + -āceus (“-aceous”) + -ium, q.v. Some alternative forms derived or influenced by Spanish melaza and French mélasse, conjectured to derive from unattested Late Latin mellacea, from mel + -ācea.

der

Well, we had our breakfast of ship's bread and molasses, washed down with cannikins of something liquid - but not lovely.

1907 February 2, The Chronicle, Adelaide, page 50, column 2:

When you're well enough off so's you don't have to fret about anything but your heft or your diseases you begin to get queer, I suppose. And the queerer the cure for those ailings the bigger the attraction. A place like the Right Livers' Rest was bound to draw freaks, same as molasses draws flies.

1913, Joseph C[rosby] Lincoln, chapter V, in Mr. Pratt’s Patients, New York, N.Y., London: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC:

A thick, sweet syrup drained from sugarcane, especially (Canada, US) the still thicker and sweeter syrup produced by boiling down raw molasses.

melasse

thick brownish syrup refined from sugarcane


scrum

French: scrum

Either a back-formation from or an apocopic form of scrummage, a variant of scrimmage.

A scrum formed around Scott Brison in the House of Commons lobby shortly after he announced his candidacy for the federal Liberal leadership.

(Canada) A tightly packed group of reporters surrounding a person, usually a politician, asking for comments about an issue; an opportunity provided for a politician to be approached this way.

scrum

(Canada) a tightly packed group of reporters surrounding a spokesperson


berm

From Dutch berm (“strip of roadside grass, verge”), probably via French berme, from Middle Dutch barm, baerm, barem (“verge, bank”), from Old Dutch *barm, from Proto-West Germanic *barm, from Proto-Germanic *barmaz (“edge, border, seam”).

der

(mining, US, Canada) A small wall along the edge of a bench of an open-pit mine, intended to prevent items falling over the crest.


township

Portuguese: township

From Middle English towneship, townschip, tounshipe, tunscipe, from Old English tūnsċipe (“the inhabitants of a town; township”), equivalent to town + -ship.


transit

en-noun

transit (countable and uncountable, plural transits)

From French, from Latin transire (“to go across, pass in, pass through”), from trans (“over”) + ire (“to go”).

der

I always take transit to work.

(Canada, US) Any form of transport that can be used by a member of public (who usually pays a fare), as opposed to private ownership of e.g. cars; short form of public transit or mass transit


acetaminophen

Shortening of the chemical name para-acetylaminophenol. By surface analysis, acet- + amino- + -phen.

surf

You need to take acetaminophen / Or just a little aspirin / acetylsalicylic for the pain

1997, “The Druggist”, Joel Mabus (music):

(Canada, US) A white crystalline compound used in medicine as an anodyne to relieve pain and reduce fever.


luncheon meat

en-noun

luncheon meat (countable and uncountable, plural luncheon meats)


drive-in

→ Japanese: ドライブイン (doraibuin)

→ Portuguese: drive-in

Owners and sponsors of the drive-ins feel that in three-quarters of their patrons they have tapped a practically prehistoric strain of human—the hitherto non-movie-goer.

1975, David Manning White, Popular Culture, page 154:

This fact may seem surprising since the major movie studios, reluctant to risk cheapening their images by releasing first-run films to drive-ins, made only older movies affordable to drive-in operators.

2000, Mary Alampi, Dun & Bradstreet/Gale Group Industry Handbook, page 26:

At the end of June 1997, there were 325 cinema sites and 28 drive-in sites in Australia.

2000, Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2000 Year Book Australia, page 346:

(US, Canada, Australia) An outdoor cinema where movies are projected onto a large screen and patrons watch from inside their vehicles, listening either by a speaker or a designated radio frequency.

The teenagers went down to the drive-in to order some hamburgers and fries.

1965 May 7, Don Moser, The nightmare of life with Billy, LIFE, page 101,

(US, Canada) A restaurant where patrons remain in their vehicles to consume their meals; the meal may be ordered and delivered to one's vehicle by a carhop waiter; or may require patrons to use a service counter. The cars in the parking lot serve as the patrons' dining room, there being a lack of dining rooms and tables.

Even before franchising genius Ray A. Kroc approached Mac and Dick McDonald to become the licensing agent for their small San Bernardino (Calif.) restaurant, scores of drive-in operators had begun copying McDonald′s speedy burger-fries-and-shake menus. Love contends that Kroc′s success came largely from his commitment to automating the preparation of drive-in meals.

1986, Business Week, numbers 2967-2978, page 136:

For during the fabled Indiana blizzard of ′78, Tom found himself trapped inside the kitchen of the drive-in for three days before his family, and—more to the point—his customers, could reach him.

2006, Reid Duffy, Reid Duffy's Guide to Indiana's Favorite Restaurants: With a Recipe Sampler, page 135:

(US, Canada) A drive-through restaurant where patrons remain in their vehicles and order food and beverages via a speaker phone; the meal is delivered by a service window accessible by car.


911 (countable and uncountable, plural 911s)

9/11 attacks
Federal Communications Commission
National Emergency Number Association
United States

Chosen by the United States in the 1960s in place of the older British 999 number as a better way to avoid accidental calls from push-button telephones. It is officially pronounced "nine-one-one," not "nine-eleven," since "nine-eleven" refers to the 2001 attacks in New York and Washington. 9/11 is universally distinguished from 911 to refer the September 11, 2001 attacks. Officially written as 9-1-1 in regulations and materials from the United States National Emergency Number Association and Federal Communications Commission, which is also advocated by some media style guides.

911 is sending an ambulance.

(Canada, US, Belize, Liberia, Philippines, metonymically) Emergency services; emergency service personnel.

(Canada, US, Belize, Liberia, Philippines, colloquial, metonymically) An emergency phone call.

(Canada, US, Belize, Liberia, Philippines, colloquial, metonymically) An emergency.


en-verb

911 (third-person singular simple present 911s, present participle 911ing, simple past and past participle 911ed)

London hairstylist Rick Haylor for the John Frieda Salon—the man Nicole Kidman 911s when she wants her curly mop to lie down and look glamorous—tells you how to go straight.

1997 August 27, “50 New Fall Hair Looks”, in Cosmopolitan, volume 223, number 2, page 208:

(Canada, US, Belize, Liberia, Philippines, colloquial) To call emergency services.


twitterpated

en-adj

twitterpated (comparative more twitterpated, superlative most twitterpated)

more twitterpated (comparative)
most twitterpated (superlative)

From twitter + pated, i.e., having one's pate (“head”) in a twitter (confused). First used in the Disney movie Bambi (1942).

(Canada, US, informal) Smitten or love-struck; romantically infatuated.


growler

From growl + -er. Sense "jug" is 19th century American slang, of uncertain origin.

[…] their favoring breeze has the stink of nickel whiskey on its breath, and their sea is a growler of lager and ale […]

1940, Eugene O'Neill, The Iceman Cometh, act 1:

This container was a round lidded tin with a handle and was colloquially called a growler. […] to get daddy or mommy a growler of beer, which was, by the way, approximately a quart.

2002, Louis M. Soletsky, 100 Years of Medicine, iUniverse, →ISBN, page 104:

(informal, Canada, US, Australia) A kind of jug, often with a handle, used to carry beer and preserve carbonation.


watershed

From water + shed, a calque of German Wasserscheide, a compound of Wasser (“water”) + scheiden (“to divide”).

(hydrology, US, Canada) A region of land within which water flows down into a specified body, such as a river, lake, sea, or ocean; a drainage basin.

(Canada, British, television, radio) The time during the day which material of a more adult nature (e.g., violence, swear words, or sex) may be broadcast on television or radio, either one permitted by law or one contrived from convention (e.g. when children are not watching).

dos rombos

time after which adult material may be broadcast


territory

en-noun

territory (countable and uncountable, plural territories)

/ˈtɛɹɪˌtɔɹi/

Inherited from Middle English territorie, from Latin territōrium.

inh+

Northwest Territories
Northwest Territories

(Canada) One of three of Canada's federal entities, located in the country's Arctic, with fewer powers than a province and created by an act of Parliament rather than by the Constitution: Yukon, Northwest Territories, and Nunavut.


gross

en-adj

gross (comparative grosser or more gross, superlative grossest or most gross)

grosser (comparative)
more gross (comparative)
grossest (superlative)
most gross (superlative)

From Middle English gross (“whole, entire; flagrant, monstrous”), from Old French gros (“big, thick, large, stout”), from Late Latin grossus (“thick in diameter, coarse”), and Medieval Latin grossus (“great, big”), influenced by Old High German grōz (“big, thick, coarse”), from Proto-Germanic *grautaz (“large, great, thick, coarse grained, unrefined”), from Proto-Indo-European *gʰer- (“to rub, to stroke, to grind”).
Cognate with French grossier (“gross”). See also French dialectal grôt, groût (“large”) (Berry) and grô (“large”) (Burgundy), Catalan gros (“big”), Dutch groot (“big, large”), German groß (“large”), English great.

der

I threw up all over the bed. It was totally gross.

Mary Ann spent her lunch hour at Hastings, picking out just the right tie for Norman. The hint might not be terribly subtle, she decided, but somebody had to do something about that gross, gravy-stained clip-on number.

1978, Armistead Maupin, “Ties That Bind”, in Tales of the City, New York: Harper & Row, published 1989, page 293:

The next-door neighbor’s cat coughed up a hairball one day and the hair was not the cat’s. “That’s so gross!”

2002, Jeffrey Eugenides, Middlesex, New York: Picador, Book 3, p. 306:

(informal, Canada, US, Australia) Causing disgust.


Slurpee

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

From slurp + -ee. Originally a brand name.

(Canada, US) A slushie; a partially-frozen drink made of small ice crystals flavored with syrup.


fire truck

fire trucks (plural)
firetruck (alternative)

(firefighting, US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand) A ladder truck, a vehicle used by firefighters to gain access to the upper stories of a building. Typically, a fire truck has a hydraulic system which operates a large, heavy-duty ladder mounted on top of the truck body, space for portable ladders to be stored and compartments for holding other tools that may be needed. Unlike a fire engine, trucks do not have pumps or carry water.


roundabout

From round + about [from early 20th c.].

what you lose on the swings you gain on the roundabouts

(chiefly UK, New Zealand, Ireland, Canada, Australia and sometimes US) A road junction at which traffic streams circularly around a central island.


tarmac

en-noun

tarmac (countable and uncountable, plural tarmacs)

Clipping of tarmacadam, which is from tar + macadam (“crushed stones”). Originally a trademark owned by its inventor, Edgar Hooley.

How meek and shrunken did that haughty Tarmac become as it slunk by the wide circle of asphalt of the yellow sort, that was loosely strewn before the great iron gates of Lady Hall as a forerunner of the consideration that awaited the guests of Rupert, Earl of Kare, […].

1922, Michael Arlen, “3/1/1”, in “Piracy”: A Romantic Chronicle of These Days:

(loosely, UK, Ireland, Canada) Any bituminous road surfacing material.

(UK, Ireland, Canada) The driveable surface of a road.


tarmac

en-verb

tarmac (third-person singular simple present tarmacs, present participle tarmacking or tarmacing or tarmaccing, simple past and past participle tarmacked or tarmaced or tarmacced)

tarmacs (present singular third-person)
tarmacking (participle present)
tarmacing (participle present)
tarmaccing (participle present)
tarmacked (participle past)
tarmacked (past)
tarmaced (participle past)
tarmaced (past)
tarmacced (participle past)
tarmacced (past)

To your left is a green lane, partly tarmacked with chippings, which leads up to a little car-parking area.

2008, Valerie Belsey, Exploring Green Lanes in North and North-West Devon, →ISBN, page 108:

Residents in Bolton are angry after workmen tarmaced only one half of their road leaving the other half strewn with potholes.

2014, Taking the rough with the smooth: Bolton residents anger over half-tarmaced road, ITV Granada

(British, Canada) To pave with tarmacadam or a similar material.


habitant

(Canada) A member of a habitation colony at Stadacona founded by Samuel de Champlain, where Quebec City now lies.


gin up

gin up (third-person singular simple present gins up, present participle ginning up, simple past and past participle ginned up)

gins up (present singular third-person)
ginning up (participle present)
ginned up (participle past)
ginned up (past)

From gin (short for engine or generate) + up.

Near-synonym: spin up

So as the six-year conceptual design phase ends next month, and the design teams face extinction, the partners […] have begun frantic efforts to keep ITER alive, ginning up concepts for an "ITER light" that promise to cut costs in half while providing most of the features of the full-fat version.

1998, Science & Government Report, volume 28, page 10:

There will be pundits and politicians and politicians and special interest lobbyists publicly warning of a tyrannical all-out assault on liberty, not because that’s true but because they want to gin up fear or higher ratings or revenue for themselves.

2013 January 16, Barack Obama, The Most Vulnerable Among Us:

Her hope was that turning it into an NFT would be a bit of performance art and that the process would gin up conversation about the article but also about new ways for creators to make money and control the ownership of their work.

2021 March 24, Charlie Warzel, “What Are You Paying for When You Buy a GIF for $25,000?”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

Then I'll send out some tweets to help gin up the heat.

2023 April 18, “CALLOUS MAN: A Parody of Piano Man by Don Caron and David Cohen”performed by Parody Project:

(transitive, Canada, US) To generate, devise, or create.


roly-poly

en-noun

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

roly-polys (plural)
roly-polies (plural)
rolly polly (alternative)
rolly-poly (alternative)
rolly-pooly (alternative)

/ˌɹəʊlɪˈpəʊli/

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

suffix

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


donk

en-verb

donk (third-person singular simple present donks, present participle donking, simple past and past participle donked)

donks (present singular third-person)
donking (participle present)
donked (participle past)
donked (past)

We can donk all day, boys!

(slang, transitive, Canada, US) To mess around, to play


pain in the butt

en-noun

pain in the butt (plural pains in the butt)

The customers love it, but the employees think the new system is a pain in the butt.

(Canada, US, informal) A nuisance; a source of trouble or annoyance.


MLA

MLAs (plural)
M.L.A. (alternative)
M. L. A. (alternative)

Wanglin Lowangdong, incumbent MLA of Borduria Bogapani trails in the constituency.

2019 May 23, The Hindu Net Desk, “Arunachal Pradesh Assembly results live updates | BJP wins 7 Assembly seats, leads in both LS seats”, in The Hindu, archived from the original on 2022-11-12:

MLAs past and present gathered for an event at Stormont on Friday to mark the agreement's 25th anniversary.

2023 April 7, Chris Andrews, “Good Friday Agreement: Use courage and vision of 1998, says George Mitchell”, in BBC News:

(British, Canada, India, politics) Initialism of member of the legislative assembly.


mukluk

mukluks (plural)
makluk (alternative)
mackaluck (alternative)
muck-a-luck (alternative)
muckluck (alternative)
muck-luck (alternative)
muckluk (alternative)
mucluc (alternative)
muklek (alternative)

Borrowed from Yup'ik maklak (“bearded seal”), referring to sealskin used to make boots, originally derived from Proto-Eskimo *makla (“bearded seal, spotted seal”).

der

Her parkee, made of Caribou, it is a lovely fit, / And she's all right from muck-a-luck unto her dainty mit. / This lovely Klooch is fond of Hooch, and makes it very well.

1898 December 8, Medicine Hat News, page 5:

(Canada, US) A soft knee-high boot of sealskin or reindeer skin, originally worn by Inuit and Yupik.

[...] the Canadians’ [soldiers’] mukluks and sleeping bags were superior to anything in use. the mukluk, a rubber-soled boot with a calf-high outer nylon cover, has a thick woollen inner boot that keeps feet warm in the coldest of weather.

1966 April 27, Kingston Whig-Standard, page 26:

The skin is used to make mukluks, hats, parkas. We are resourceful and respectful of the animals, the land.

2004, Paola Gianturco, Celebrating Women:

(Canada, US) A laced winter boot resembling a traditional mukluk, with thick rubber sole and cloth upper.


rutter

(Canada, US, now historical) A type of plough used by lumberjacks to carve a track for a sleigh.


Scott

Scotts (plural)
Scot (alternative)
Scottie (alternative)
Scotty (alternative)

(philately, US, Canada) The Scott catalogue of postage stamps.


trough

From Middle English trogh, from Old English troh, trog (“a trough, tub, basin, vessel for containing liquids or other materials”), from Proto-West Germanic *trog, from Proto-Germanic *trugą, *trugaz, from Proto-Indo-European *drukós, enlargement of *dóru (“tree”).
See also West Frisian trôch, Dutch trog, German Trog, Danish trug, Swedish tråg; also Middle Irish drochta (“wooden basin”), Old Armenian տարգալ (targal, “ladle, spoon”). More at tree.

cog

The troughs were filled with leaves and needed clearing.

(Canada) A gutter under the eaves of a building; an eaves trough.


Queen's Counsel

head

Queen's Counsel (plural Queen's Counsel or Queen's Counsels, abbreviation QC)

Queen's Counsel (plural)
Queen's Counsels (plural)
QC (abbreviation)

Archibald was one of two Queen’s Counsels on Tortola, a distinguished title that permitted attorneys to be seated at the lead defense table when arguing a case before the court.

2003, Lisa Pulitzer, Murder in Paradise: The Mystery Surrounding the Murder of American Lois Livingston McMillen, New York, N.Y.: St. Martin’s Paperbacks, →ISBN, page 166:

Barr’s three Queen’s Counsel absorbed Kawashima as they pored over reports from both sides.

2020, Brian Deer, “Unblinded”, in The Doctor Who Fooled the World: Andrew Wakefield’s War on Vaccines, Brunswick, Vic.: Scribe Publications, →ISBN:

(UK, Canada, New Zealand, occasionally Australia) An honorific status officially conferred on senior or meritorious barristers (and occasionally other kinds of lawyer) during the reign of a queen.


glory hole

(Canada, fishing) An especially good place to fish, a particularly rich fishing spot.


buttfuck

(Canada, US, slang, vulgar) An act of anal intercourse.


buttfuck

en-verb

buttfuck (third-person singular simple present buttfucks, present participle buttfucking, simple past and past participle buttfucked)

buttfucks (present singular third-person)
buttfucking (participle present)
buttfucked (participle past)
buttfucked (past)

Asshole? I'm not the one who just got butt-fucked on national TV, Dwayne.

1988, Jeb Stuart, Steven E. de Souza, Die Hard, spoken by John McClane (Bruce Willis):

(Canada, US, slang, vulgar) To perform an act of anal intercourse.


hoser

Bob and Doug McKenzie
Rick Moranis
Second City Television

From hose + -er. The Canadian senses originally derive from hose (“to siphon gasoline from automobile gas tanks”), in reference to farmers who siphoned gas from farming vehicles; they were later reinforced by use to describe the players on the losing side of a game of shinny or hockey, who were required to hose down the rink to return it to a smooth state, and ultimately popularized in the 1980s by a sketch on the television show Second City Television, in which Rick Moranis and Dave Thomas played Bob and Doug McKenzie, who used the term as an insult for each other.

(Canada, slang) A person (especially a farmer) who siphons gasoline out of a vehicle or piece of equipment.

(Canada, slang) A person who hoses down a lake after a game of hockey, to return it to a smooth state.

We bet you know lots of hosers, eh. And you want to help them not be hosers.

1985, Canadian Dimension, volume 19, page 94:

This brings me to the second, more interesting genre of Canadian TV drama, one focused on what can be summarized as “hosers, whores, boozers, and losers.”

2012, Canadian Television: Text and Context, →ISBN, page ix:

As we laughed, we passed a table of scowling hosers and they gave our chortles an extra boost. They were beginning to come to terms with the notion that family resorts are not known for their abundance of poontang […]

2013, The Death of Cool: From Teenage Rebellion to the Hangover, →ISBN:

(Canada, slang) A clumsy, boorish person, especially an over-eating, beer-drinking man, or a man prone to petty infractions such as taking other people's food or drinks.


top shelf

top shelves (plural)
top-shelf (alternative)

* (US: best, or high quality): Possibly from the higher quality, thus more expensive, thus less often used liquors being stored on the less accessible top shelf behind a wet bar.
* (British: material with adult content): Such material is often stored on the top shelf in a newsagent's shop, where it is both less visible and harder to reach without being seen.

(Canada, ice hockey) The upper part of the goal.


pung

Shortened form of tom-pung, from the same Algonquian etymon as toboggan.

[…] they all crowded into the big pung sleigh, among straw and furry robes.

1908, Lucy Maud Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables, page 213:

(US, Canada) A low box-like sleigh designed to be pulled by one horse.


UI

en-noun

UI (countable and uncountable, plural UIs)

unemployment insurance
unemployment insurance#English

(Canada) Initialism of unemployment insurance.


cut the cheese

en-verb

cut the cheese (third-person singular simple present cuts the cheese, present participle cutting the cheese, simple past and past participle cut the cheese)

cuts the cheese (present singular third-person)
cutting the cheese (participle present)
cut the cheese (participle past)
cut the cheese (past)

This idiom references the foul smell emitted by some cheeses, many of which have a rind that keeps the odor in. Once the rind is pierced, as in the case of slicing it, the smell is released.

I cannot believe that you cut the cheese at the dinner table!

You know, did you cut some cheese? Did you fart?

1991, Hal Shymkus, Nightcrawlers, Bait, and Beer to Go, page 82:

(Canada, US, euphemistic, idiomatic, slang) To fart loudly.


washroom

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

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

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


two cents

That car won't last a week, it's not worth two cents.

(US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, idiomatic, colloquial) A nearly worthless amount, alluding to placing a copper penny on each of the eyelids of a pauper's or slave's body before burial.

не сто́ить вы́еденного яйца́ impf (ne stóitʹ výjedennovo jajcá, literally “to be not worth an eaten egg”)

не сто́ить ло́маного гроша́ impf (ne stóitʹ lómanovo grošá, literally “to be not worth a broken half-copeck coin”)


eraser

uitveër

thing used to erase something written or drawn

I have worn out the eraser on this pencil.

(Canada, US, Philippines) An object used to erase or remove something written or drawn by a pen or a pencil.

(Canada, US, Philippines) An object used to erase something written either by chalk on a chalkboard, by a marker on a whiteboard, or by some other erasable implement; a chalkboard eraser, whiteboard eraser, etc.


weathercock

From Middle English wetharcoke, weþercok, wedercoc, wederkok, equivalent to weather + cock.

(chiefly Canada, US) A kind of wind pump whose top behaves like a weather vane, moving with the wind direction, but which also has a wheel attached to measure wind speed.


pacifier

(Canada, US) A rubber or plastic device imitating a nipple that goes into a baby’s mouth, used to calm and quiet the baby.


broil

broil (third-person singular simple present broils, present participle broiling, simple past and past participle broiled)

broils (present singular third-person)
broiling (participle present)
broiled (participle past)
broiled (past)

From Middle English broylen, brulen (“to broil, cook”), from Anglo-Norman bruiller, broiller (“to broil, roast”), Old French brusler, bruller (“to broil, roast, char”), a blend of two Old French verbs:
* bruir (“to burn”), from Frankish *brōjan (“to burn, scald”)
* usler (“to scorch”), from Latin ustulō (“to scorch”)

To broil a pigeon. When you broil them, do them in the same manner, and take care your fire is very clear, and set your gridiron high, that they may not burn, and have a little parsley and butter in a cup. You may split them, and broil them with a little pepper and salt, and you may roast them only with a little parsley and butter in a dish.

1788, Hannah Glasse, The Art of Cookery, Made Plain and Easy: Which Far Exceeds Any Thing of the Kind Yest Published, page 6:

To broil Red Mullet. Neither seale nor gut your mullet, wipe them very clean in a cloth, butter half a sheet of writing paper for each fish, put them in, and fasten it all round; have a very clear fire, broil them very gently for twenty minutes, hen put them in a dish, with anchovy sauce and plain butter in boats.

1798, Richard Briggs, The English Art of Cookery…With Bills of Fare for Every Month in the Year…A New Edition, page 70:

To broil fish. To broil trout in a third way. When they are cleaned and washed, dry them well in a napkin. Then bind them about with packthread, sprinkle them with melted butter and salt, and broil them over a gentle fire, turning them from time to time.

1813, Bell Plumptre, Domestic Management; Or, the Healthful Cookery-Book, page 247:

(transitive, Canada, US, obsolete in the UK) To cook by direct, radiant heat.

жа́рить

на откры́том огне́

(transitive, Canada, US) To expose to great heat.

(intransitive, Canada, US) To be exposed to great heat.

жа́риться

на откры́том огне́


thru

American English
Merriam-Webster
Middle English

Modern use originated in American English as a phonetic and simplified spelling of through around 1839. The spelling had previously been one of several used in Middle English.

We wanted an overall treatment system that gave us optimum reliability and required a minimum of labor to operate - from primary clarifier thru sludge handling, …

1996 December, Joe Hastreiter, “Sludge Management Savings Found Among Reeds”, in Water Engineering & Management, volume 143, number 12, Scranton Gillette Communications, page 23:

… to respect human rights, then failing to explicitly define thru common understanding.

2003, Hasson Kevin J., “Religious Liberty and Human Dignity: A Tale of Two Declarations”, in Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy, volume 27, number 1, Harvard, pages 81–92:

As the technology improves, there is a possibility to reprogram adult stem cells for therapeutic cloning without "passing it thru" the preimplantation embryo, thus negating current ethical challenges to such research.

2004 December 22, Fredericks, Marcel / Odiet, Jeff A. / Miller, Steven I. / Fredericks, Janet, “Toward an Understanding of "Genetic Sociology" and Its Relationships to Medical Sociology and Medical Genetics in the Educational Enterprise.”, in Education, volume 125, number 2, Project Innovation, Inc., →ISSN, pages 222–235:

Going thru a great crisis of self-analysis, especially in relation to job, school, work, students.

2006 December,, Roxanne Mills, “Leadership in Higher Education and the Second Half of Life”, in Education, volume 127, number 2, Project Innovation, Inc., →ISSN, pages 294–302:

Myths and Legends of the Pimas of Arizona as received by J. William Lloyd from Comalk-Hawk-Kih (Thin Buckskin) thru the interpretation of Edward Hubert Wood.

2010 January, David Martinez, “Pulling Down the Clouds: The O'odham Intellectual Tradition during the "Time of Famine"”, in American Indian Quarterly, volume 34, number 1, University of Nebraska Press, →ISSN, pages 1–32:

If you see thru my eyes, you'd wish you weren't here, because all you will feel sadness and fear. It loneliness and sorrow if you see thru my eyes sit and talk to before you say goodbye. […] See thru my eyes and a tear you will see, I wish you could cry and cry with me.

2011, Fancine N. D'Aprile, From Hell on Earth to the Foot of the Cross, Trafford Publishing, →ISBN, page 157:

(Canada, US, informal) Nonstandard spelling of through.

(chiefly Canada, US) Abbreviation of through.


whiting

From Middle English whityng, whytyng, perhaps an alteration of Old English hwītling (“whiting”), remodelled after white + -ing (diminutive suffix). Related to the colour white. Cognate with Dutch wijting (“whiting”), Old Norse hvítingr (“a kind of whale”).

Merlangius merlangus
Merlangius merlangus#Translingual

Gadus chalcogrammus
Gadus chalcogrammus#Translingual

Theragra chalcogramma
Theragra chalcogramma#Translingual

Any fish of many species that resemble Merlangius merlangus:

(Canada) Alaska pollock (Gadus chalcogrammus, syn. Theragra chalcogramma).


windshield

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

For example, when trailers containing new automobiles were first piggybacked two areas of potential damage became evident: (1) diesel locomotive exhaust left a film of oil on the new autos; and (2) auto windshields could be scarred or cracked by the metal-tipped "tell-tales" which warn men atop trains of oncoming bridges or tunnels.

1960 November 27, David Morgan, “"Piggyback"—U.S. success story”, in Trains Illustrated, page 684:

I was at Park Safari Africa in Canada on the Canadian border. This was years ago outside of Plattsburgh, New York. And I had a new car at the time, and I was driving through, going through the monkey area. And they said 'beware of the monkeys.' So about ten of them circled my car. And this one special one, like he was the leader of the pack, jumped up on the hood and came right up to the windshield and looked in. So I was like making faces at him. [garbled] 'don't do that!' And believe it or not, he made like a face back. He jumped off the car. He took his fingernails and he peeled all the chrome on both sides of my car off. Picked it up, jumped on the hood, dropped it and left- looked at me and left.

2006 May 9, Penn Jillette, Michael Goudeau, quoting Pat, 34:52 from the start, in Penn Radio:

The new report said 413 million yuan spent on train windshields was wasted when design specifications were changed in March 2011, three months before the line opened.[…]
It found that Beichen district government in Tianjin had 340 million yuan in its own accounts instead of being paid promptly in compensation for land procured for the railway.

2012 March 19, Zhou Xin, Nick Edwards, “China audit details fraud, waste at Beijing-Shanghai railway”, in Michael Perry, editor, Reuters, sourced from BEIJING (Reuters), archived from the original on 2024-07-04, World:

Using her hands like windshield wipers, she tried to flick snow away from her mouth. When she clawed at her chest and neck, the crumbs maddeningly slid back onto her face. She grew claustrophobic.

2012, John Branch, “Snow Fall : The Avalanche at Tunnel Creek”, in The New York Times:

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

bitaʼ

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


windshield wiper

en-noun

windshield wiper (plural windshield wipers)

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

2012, John Branch, “Snow Fall : The Avalanche at Tunnel Creek”, in New York Time:

(automobiles, US, Canada) a device used to clear rain and dirt from a windshield; normally a pivoting arm with a rubber blade


sesh

(Australia, Canada, US, informal) A period of sustained cannabis smoking.

A session.
A period of sustained cannabis smoking.


cell phone

cell phones (plural)
cellphone (alternative)
cell-phone (alternative)

(chiefly Canada, US, New Zealand, Philippines) A portable, wireless telephone, which changes antenna connections seamlessly during travel from one radio reception cell to another without losing the party-to-party call connection.


facility

facility (countable and uncountable, plural facilities)

From Middle English facilite, from Middle French facilité, and its source, Latin facilitās. By surface analysis, facile + -ity. Doublet of faculty.


racket

rackets (plural)
racquet (alternative)
racketeering (alternative)

From Middle English raket, of uncertain origin.
Possibly cognate with Middle French rachette, requette (“palm of the hand”). From Arabic رَاحَةْ اَلْيَد (rāḥat al-yad, “palm of the hand”).
Alternatively, the term might be derived from Dutch raketsen instead, from Middle French rachasser (“to strike (the ball) back”).

unc

uncertain origin

der

رَاحَةْ اَلْيَد

(Canada) A snowshoe formed of cords stretched across a long and narrow frame of light wood.


boondoggle

Coined by American scout leader Robert H. Link in 1929; alternatively “boon doggle”. Compare woggle of similar sense, attested in same period.
In sense of “wasteful government program”, popularized in 1935 by The New York Times, in reference to New Deal programs which were claimed to feature people making such braids.

coinage

Opponents consider this another billion-dollar government boondoggle.

Senator John Stennis […] has been active and effective for so long as a member of the Armed Services Committee that he knows as well as any man can where the bodies are buried in the Pentagon and the boondoggles are buried in the defense budget.

1971 September 19, Tom Wicker, “In the Nation”, in The New York Times, retrieved 2018-08-13:

By its strictest definition, a boondoggle is a recreational trip out of town, but it has been blurred by threadbare jokes to mean any trip that is desirable, whether for work or not.

2005, Nicholas Johnson, “Chapter 3 Notes”, in Big Dead Place, →ISBN:

Klein dismantles the boondoggle that is cap and trade.

2014 November 6, Rob Nixon, “Naomi Klein’s ‘This Changes Everything’”, in New York Times:

For cynics, it is a boondoggle plagued by delays (it began in 2007 and was supposed to begin experiments in 2016, but this will not now happen until 2025), questionable management and ballooning costs (double the original estimate).

2019 May 2, “Iter, a reactor in France, may deliver fusion power as early as 2045”, in The Economist, →ISSN:

(Canada, US, figuratively, usually politics) A waste of time and/or money; a pointless activity.


resume

resumes (plural)
résumé (alternative)
resumé (alternative)

Borrowed from French résumé, past participle of résumer (“to summarize”), from Latin resūmere (“to take back”); compare resume.

(chiefly Canada, US, Australia) A summary or account of education and employment experiences and qualifications; a curriculum vitae (often for presentation to a potential future employer when applying for a job).


balaclava

Balaklava
Battle of Balaclava
Crimean War

From the city of Balaklava in Crimea, from Ottoman Turkish بالقلاوه (modern Turkish balıklava), alteration of بالقلاغه (balıklaga, “fishing ground”). During the Crimean War the British troops suffered from cold due to improper clothing. When the news spread in the home front after the Battle of Balaclava in 1854, the people began knitting warm clothing for the soldiers, including woollen caps to be worn under the helmet, which were named balaclavas by the troops.

George Ronald Waite, 33, known as Balaclava Bill because of the dark blue woollen hood he wore while robbing seven banks of $46,200 over the past two years, was sentenced yesterday to 15 years in Kingston Penitentiary.

1969 January 10, “Robbed seven banks, Balaclava Bill given 15-year term in jail”, in Globe and Mail, Toronto, page 1:

(chiefly UK, Canada) A ski mask with holes for the eyes and, sometimes, the nose and mouth, which may be rolled up and worn like a toque or pulled over the face for greater protection.


widdle

en-adj

widdle (comparative widdler, superlative widdlest)

widdler (comparative)
widdlest (superlative)

(childish or mocking, chiefly US, Canada) Little.


Victorian

From Victoria (“capital of British Columbia, Canada”) + -an (suffix forming adjectives and agent nouns); incorporated as a city in 1862, the settlement which preceded the city was named Fort Victoria after Queen Victoria in 1843.

suffix

(Canada) Of, or native or relating to, the city of Victoria, the capital of British Columbia, Canada.


Victorian

(Canada) A person from the city of Victoria, the capital of British Columbia, Canada.


tab

Apocopation (shortening) of (variously) tabulate, tabulator, or tabulation.

(informal, chiefly Canada, US) A restaurant bill.

Put this round on my tab, please, barman.

(informal, chiefly Canada, US) Credit account, e.g., in a shop or bar; slate


mierda

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

Directly from Spanish mierda, from Latin merda. Doublet of merde.

(Canada, US, neologism, vulgar, in Spanish contexts) Shit.


jerkoff

jerkoffs (plural)
jerk off (alternative)
jerk-off (alternative)

Someone told me once that there's a right and wrong
Punishment was sure for those who dare to cross the line
But it must not be true
For jerk-offs just like you and
Maybe it's just bullshit
I should play God
And shoot you myself

1992, “Jerk-Off (live)”, performed by Tool:

All New Yorkers have this feeling that anyone who's not from New York is a jerk-off. And I couldn't believe that someone had the balls to shoot at me.

1992, Eric Lee, Saigon to Jerusalem: conversations with U.S. veterans of the Vietnam War who […] , page 25:

I think she's a very nice girl, but she's marrying that jerkoff.

1998, Tim Herlihy, The Wedding Singer, spoken by Robbie Hart (Adam Sandler):

(idiomatic, vulgar, derogatory) Someone who behaves obnoxiously, rudely, inappropriately, or is ignorant of certain social norms, usually a male.

Widerling

rude, mean, nasty, ignorant, obnoxious person

[…]Slob or Slop for a dirty child, Beans for a child who breaks wind, Jerk-off for a child who masturbates.

1935, S. Z. Orgel, J. Tuckman, “Nicknames of Institutional Children”, in American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, volume 5, number 3, →DOI, page 279:

(idiomatic, vulgar, rare) Someone who masturbates.


Caucasian

en-adj

Caucasian (comparative more Caucasian, superlative most Caucasian)

more Caucasian (comparative)
most Caucasian (superlative)
caucasian (alternative)

Johann Friedrich Blumenbach
Mugan plain
Sergey Prokudin-Gorsky
The Big Lebowski

From Caucasus (“mountain range in Eastern Europe between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea”) + -ian (suffix forming adjectives with the sense ‘from, related to, or like’, or forming nouns with the sense ‘one from, belonging to, relating to, or like’). The anthropological sense (no longer regarded as scientific) was popularized by the German anthropologist and physician Johann Friedrich Blumenbach (1752–1840), based on the belief that the first humans originated from there.
Noun sense 2 (“cocktail”) was popularized by the film The Big Lebowski (1998): see the quotation.

nb...

Praemissa est epistola ad virvm perillvstrem Iosephvm Banks baronetvm regiae Societatis Londin. praesidem

Caucasian bear

Ursus arctos syriacus or Ursus arctos arctos

(Canada, US, Singapore) Of a person: having a white complexion and European ancestry; white.


Caucasian

Caucasians (plural)
caucasian (alternative)

The male Caucasian, twenty-four, a skier, was said to have been missing for over three hours.

2008, Ridley Pearson, chapter 2, in Killer View, Jove premium edition, New York, N.Y.: Jove Books, published 2009, →ISBN:


post office

en-noun

post office (countable and uncountable, plural post offices)

post offices (plural)
postoffice (alternative)
post-office (alternative)

(Canada, US, uncountable) A party game involving the exchange of kisses.


/ˌtiː ˈθɹiː/

(Canada) A tax reporting form used by estates and trusts.


recess

recess (countable and uncountable, plural recesses)

The noun is borrowed from Latin recessus (“act of going back, departure, receding, retiring; (figuratively) retreat, withdrawal; (metonymically) distant, secluded, or secret spot, corner, nook, retreat; recessed part, indentation”) (also Late Latin recessus (“decree or resolution of the Diet of the Holy Roman Empire”)), from recēdō (“to go back, recede, retire, withdraw; to go away, depart; (by extension) to disappear, vanish; to separate; to stand back, be distant; to yield”) (from re- (prefix meaning ‘back, backwards’) + cēdō (“to go, move, proceed”)) + -tus (suffix forming action nouns from verbs); influenced by Middle French recès, French recès (“a break, pause; break between classes in school; school vacation; ebbing of tide; reduction”) (also Anglo-Norman recès and Old French recès (“hiding place; hollow”).
Sense 5 (“decree or resolution of the diet of the Holy Roman Empire, etc.”) is possibly influenced by Italian recesso and refers to a decree or resolution made just before a meeting ends.
The adjective and verb are derived from the noun.
Cognates
* Catalan recés
* Italian recesso
* Middle French recès (modern French recès)
* Portuguese recesso
* Spanish receso

syvyys

hidden, innermost, or inaccessible place or part of a place

فُسْحة

temporary stoppage of an activity — see also break, pause

Students who do not listen in class will not play outside during recess.

(countable) A temporary stoppage of an activity; a break, a pause.

(Australia, British, Canada, US, Philippines, education) A time away from studying during the school day for a meal or recreation.


football player

en-noun

football player (plural football players)

football players (plural)
football-player (alternative)

(Canada, US) One who plays gridiron football.

(Canadian football, Canada) One who plays Canadian football.


graduand

/ˈɡɹæd͡ʒuːˌænd/

Attested since 1882. From Medieval Latin graduandus, gerundive of graduō (“to graduate”).

2005, Mike Amos, Proud Return of the Pigeon Boy, Northern Echo (Darlington, UK); Jul 14, 2005.
In order to add jollity to the proceedings, said the dean, each graduand would find beneath his seat a little tub of bubbles, complete with mortar board cap.

(British, Canada) A student who has completed the requirements for, but has not yet been awarded, a particular degree.


have a nice day

祝你今天過得愉快 /祝你今天过得愉快 (zhù nǐ jīntiān guò de yúkuài) (no exact equivalent exists; literal translation provided)

Thank you. Have a nice day.

You can reach my parents at their places of business. Thank you for stopping by. I appreciate your concern for my well-being. Have a nice day!

1986, John Hughes, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, spoken by Ferris Bueller (Matthew Broderick):

(US, Canada, rather formal). A polite parting during daytime.


chum

Originally American English, from the 1850s. Perhaps from Powhatan.

The whale’s floating body also forms a chum slick on the surface—a trail of blood, oil, and chunks of fat and flesh that might stretch for miles across the water. […] This chum slick is what attracts sharks from afar. Seabirds are drawn to it too.

2021 March 18, Sarah Zhang, “A Gruesome Feeding Frenzy in the Atlantic Ocean”, in The Atlantic:

Most of us have seen the movie “Jaws”. Sheriff Brody is complaining about being the lucky one in charge of creating a chum line out of the back of the boat. The bucket is full of an awful combination of fish parts and blood. As he ladles scoop after scoop into the ocean, clearly, it was ^([sic]) working…

2020, “The Best Methods to Go Chumming”, in Bait Binder, Coastal Baits, LLC, archived from the original on 2020-09-27:

(fishing, chiefly Canada, US) A mixture of (frequently rancid) fish parts and blood, dumped into the water as groundbait to attract predator fish, such as sharks.


sizeable

en-adj

sizeable (comparative more sizeable, superlative most sizeable)

more sizeable (comparative)
most sizeable (superlative)

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

City look stronger, fitter and more motivated than last season and even at this early stage the gap feels like a sizeable advantage.

2015 August 16, Daniel Taylor, The Guardian:

(British, alternative in Canada) Alternative spelling of sizable


square away

en-verb

square away (third-person singular simple present squares away, present participle squaring away, simple past and past participle squared away)

squares away (present singular third-person)
squaring away (participle present)
squared away (participle past)
squared away (past)

I have almost squared away the last of the paperwork from that job.

(idiomatic, US, Canada) To finish, complete, tidy or put in order.


mom

moms (plural)
mam (alternative)
Mom (alternative)
mum (alternative)
Mum (alternative)

(Canada, South Africa, US, West Midlands, colloquial, informal) Mother.

(spoken by the father) I don't share it with mom! Right, mom?

(by extension) used as a term of address for one's wife


mom

mom (third-person singular simple present moms, present participle momming, simple past and past participle mommed)

moms (present singular third-person)
momming (participle present)
mommed (participle past)
mommed (past)
mam (alternative)
Mom (alternative)
mum (alternative)
Mum (alternative)

The shock of my news had worn off, and now she'd want to know where I was, how I was doing, and she'd sniff out that I was with someone. “I just wanted to check in on you.” That was Mom. Totally unashamed about momming me.

He tried to tell me how to live, to mom me, I told him fuck off, […]

2022, Sean Thor Conroe, Fuccboi, Hachette, →ISBN:

(transitive, Canada, US, informal) To care for in a motherly way.


bathing suit

bathing suits (plural)
bathing-suit (alternative)

(US, Canada) A tight-fitting garment worn for swimming, especially the one piece garment worn by women and girls; a swimsuit.


at loose ends

(US, Canada) Without any activity or purpose.


conflicted

en-adj

conflicted (comparative more conflicted, superlative most conflicted)

more conflicted (comparative)
most conflicted (superlative)

I felt conflicted about whether he liked me or not.

He sees a pretty woman in a pod and decides to make her his, subsuming her lifetime of hopes and dreams (not to mention her bodily autonomy) to his own desire for companionship, and lies to her in order to fulfill that desire. But he’s a nice guy, and he felt conflicted about it before he did it, so it’s… understandable? Or at least forgivable? Apparently?)

2016 December 20, Katie Rife, “Passengers strains the considerable charms of Chris Pratt and Jennifer Lawrence”, in The Onion AV Club, archived from the original on 2018-04-23:

(Canada, US, informal) In a state of personal or emotional conflict.


hightail it

en-verb

hightail it (third-person singular simple present hightails it, present participle hightailing it, simple past and past participle hightailed it)

hightails it (present singular third-person)
hightailing it (participle present)
hightailed it (participle past)
hightailed it (past)
high-tail it (alternative)

He started to hightail it out of there, but I stopped him at the door.

The cat hightailed it out of the bushes.

[…] I suggest you hightail it over to your girlfriend's house ASAP, man!

2002 March 11, Michael Chapman; Matthew Chapman, “Strong Bad Email #17: studying”, in Homestar Runner, spoken by Strong Bad (Matthew Chapman):

"Great! A guy getting off a night shift who hasn't been laid in years finds his wife in flagrante with some hamburger-faced guy who hightails it out the front door in his underwear. We're walking into a hornet's nest, Jackson."

2004, Rex Pickett, Sideways, St. Martin's Griffin, →ISBN, page 292:

Whilst sinking, there was still a small chance that Hornet might be towed out of the danger zone and then reboarded, but, by now, the Japanese Navy surface forces were getting closer, and the order was given to scuttle Hornet instead. But, she proved remarkably hard to actually encourage to sink at any pace but her own. A number of torpedoes and several hundred 5-inch shells later, the two destroyers assigned to the job seemed none the closer to actually finishing it, and they were forced to hightail it out of the area. Shortly after ten o'clock that night, the Japanese forces came across the still-afloat, and still-ablaze, Hornet, but, concluding, at this point, that taking her as a prize wasn't particularly likely, they put four Long Lances into her, and Hornet finally sank just after one-thirty in the morning.

2021 February 3, Drachinifel, 21:35 from the start, in Guadalcanal Campaign - Santa Cruz (IJN 2 : 2 USN), archived from the original on 2022-12-04:

I made awkward small talk with my seat neighbor and high-tailed it home before the socializing began in earnest.

2022 April 5, Michal Leibowitz, “'I Didn't Feel Like Going, but I'm Glad I Did': My Motto of the Moment”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

(informal, chiefly Canada, US) To hurry or run; often, to flee.


ho-hum

en-adj

ho-hum (comparative more ho-hum, superlative most ho-hum)

more ho-hum (comparative)
most ho-hum (superlative)
ho hum (alternative)

She wore ho-hum clothes, but practical ones.

(dated, US, Canada) Boring; not interesting or novel.


ho-hum

Look at all this paperwork. Ho-hum!

(dated, US, Canada) Used to express boredom, uninterest or lack of novelty.

hohhoijaa

interjection used to express boredom, disinterest or lack of novelty


Member of Parliament

en-noun

Member of Parliament (plural Members of Parliament)

Members of Parliament (plural)
MPs (plural)
member of parliament (alternative)

(UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand) A representative elected by the voters of an electoral district to a house of a parliament.


House of Commons

“House”, in this term, means a deliberative assembly, while “the Commons” stands for “the common people”, as opposed to nobility.

مَجْلِس عُمُوم

lower house in UK or Canadian parliament

(Canada, politics) The lower house of the Canadian Parliament.


House of Commons

House of Commons (plural Houses of Commons)

Houses of Commons (plural)
house of commons (alternative)

Right across western Canada, the "house of commons" is the biffey. Now that should tell you something about the way westerners feel about the goings-on in Ottawa.

1987, Chris Thain, Cold as a Bay Street Banker's Heart, page 86:

(Canada slang, humorous euphemistic) An outhouse: an outbuilding used as a lavatory.


crib

crib (countable and uncountable, plural cribs)

From Middle English crib, cribbe, from Old English crib, cryb, cribb, crybb (“couch, bed; manger, stall”), from Proto-West Germanic *kribbjā, from Proto-Germanic *kribjǭ (“crib, wickerwork”), from Proto-Indo-European *grebʰ-, *gerbʰ- (“bunch, bundle, tuft, clump”), from *ger- (“to turn, twist”).
Cognate with Saterland Frisian Kräbbe, Krääb, Krääf (“crib”), West Frisian krêbe (“crib”), Dutch krib (“crib, manger”), German Krippe (“rack, crib”), Danish krybbe (“crib”), Icelandic krubba (“crib”). Doublet of crèche. The sense of ‘stealing, taking notes, plagiarize’ seems to have developed out of the verb.
The criminal sense may derive from the 'basket' sense, circa the mid 18th century, in that a poacher could conceal poachings in such a basket (see the 1772 Samuel Foote quotation). The cheating sense probably derives from the criminal sense.


realize

en-verb

realize (third-person singular simple present realizes, present participle realizing, simple past and past participle realized)

realizes (present singular third-person)
realizing (participle present)
realized (participle past)
realized (past)
realize (infinitive)
realise (alternative)

desc

→ Portuguese: realizar (“to realize, become aware of”) (semantic loan)

PIE word
 *reh₁ís
From real (adjective) + -ize (suffix denoting the making of what is indicated by the word it is attached to), possibly modelled after French réaliser, Middle French réaliser (“to make real; to convert (something) into assets or cash”), from real (“actual, real”) + -iser (suffix denoting the making of what is indicated by the word it is attached to). Real is derived from Old French reel, from Latin reālis (“actual, real”), from rēs (“deed; event; matter; thing”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *reh₁ís (“goods; wealth”)) + -ālis (suffix forming adjectives of relationship).

أَدْرَكَ

(transitive) to become aware of or understand (a fact or situation); (intransitive) to become aware of or understand a fact or situation

apiolarse / caer en la cuenta / darse cuenta / percatarse / coscarse / caer en cuenta [de]

tehdä todeksi

(transitive) to cause (something) to seem real; to present (something) clearly to the mind, a person, etc., so that it seems real; (intransitive) to cause to seem real

بَاعَ

(transitive) to convert (an asset or property) into a more easily usable form such as money, especially by selling the asset or property; (intransitive) to convert an asset or property into a more easily usable form such as money

He realized that he had left his umbrella on the train.

She desperately yelled at her young daughter, frantic to make her realize what she had done.

[S]he cannot realize the change we must undergo. She has no idea of poverty but in the abstract: she has only read of it in poetry, where it is allied to love.

1819 June 23, Geoffrey Crayon [pseudonym; Washington Irving], “The Wife”, in The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent., number I, New York, N.Y.: […] C[ornelius] S. Van Winkle, […], →OCLC, page 49:

But Scott, unaccountable as it seems, evidently failed to realize how far superior is Clara Mowbray [in Saint Ronan's Well] to all his other heroines of the same rank or class.

1825–1832, Algernon Charles Swinburne, “The Journal of Sir Walter Scott”, in Studies in Prose and Poetry, London: Chatto & Windus, […], →OCLC, page 17:

Have faith in God! He shall dispose thy lot, / Nor weep for woe thou realisest not: / They shall precede thee to the better land, / And meet and greet thee on its joyful strand.

[1849], “‘Woman, Why Weepest Thou?’”, in Memorials of Bertie’s Brother and Infant Sister. […], London: Ward and Co., […], →OCLC, page 79:

For so bight and placid was the farewell voyage of the little spirit [of a child], […] that it was impossible to realize that it was death that was approaching.

1851 June – 1852 April, Harriet Beecher Stowe, “Death”, in Uncle Tom’s Cabin; or, Life among the Lowly, volume II, Boston, Mass.: John P[unchard] Jewett & Company; Cleveland, Oh.: Jewett, Proctor & Worthington, published 20 March 1852, →OCLC, page 109:

Utterly helpleſs, thou wert ſinking for ever, and realiſedſt not the fearfulneſs of thy poſition, for thus wert thou born and nurtured.

1865, [Henry] Suso, “Light after Darkness”, in [anonymous], transl., Spiritual Voices from the Middle Ages. […], London: Joseph Masters, […], →OCLC, part V (Of the State of Grace), paragraph 97, pages 75–76:

No matter how early I came down, I would find him on the veranda, smoking cigarettes, or[…]. And at last I began to realize in my harassed soul that all elusion was futile, and to take such holidays as I could get, when he was off with a girl, in a spirit of thankfulness.

1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter IV, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC, page 46:

Praise be to God! thou realizest that wine / is a juice that frees the heart from a hundred pains.

1898, Omar Khayyam, “Quatrains of Omar Khayyām (Ousely MS., 140, Bodleian Library, Oxford): Quatrain 81”, in Edward Heron-Allen, transl., The Ruba’iyat of Omar Khayyām: A Facsimile of the MS in the Bodleian Library […], London: H. S. Nichols, →OCLC, page 14:

SHE wakened in sharp panic, bewildered by the grotesquerie of some half-remembered dream in contrast with the harshness of inclement fact, drowsily realising that since she had fallen asleep it had come on to rain smartly out of a shrouded sky.

1914 November, Louis Joseph Vance, “An Outsider […]”, in Munsey’s Magazine, volume LIII, number II, New York, N.Y.: The Frank A[ndrew] Munsey Company, […], published 1915, →OCLC, page 378, column 1:

I realized at once that indescribable quiver in the air of momentous events.

1916 January, Hugh Walpole, “The Forest”, in The Dark Forest, London: Martin Secker […], →OCLC, part II, page 245:

And for the first time she realised what it was to escape from the smallish perfection of England, into the grander imperfection of a great continent.

1920, D[avid] H[erbert] Lawrence, “The Journey Across”, in The Lost Girl, London: Martin Secker […], →OCLC, page 325:

[…] Uxbridge thought it could safely ignore the railway[…]. Like many other towns which adopted similar tactics, Uxbridge soon realised its mistake.

1952 March, R. K. Kirkland, “The Railways of Uxbridge”, in The Railway Magazine, London: Tothill Press, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 147:

Do you realize that everyone you know someday will die?

2000 June – 2002 April (date recorded), Wayne Coyne, Steven Drozd, Dave Fridmann, Michael Ivins (lyrics and music), “Do You Realize??”, in Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots, performed by The Flaming Lips, Burbank, Calif.: Warner Brothers Records, published 16 July 2002, →OCLC:

In his submission to the UN, [Christof] Heyns points to the experience of drones. Unmanned aerial vehicles were intended initially only for surveillance, and their use for offensive purposes was prohibited, yet once strategists realised their perceived advantages as a means of carrying out targeted killings, all objections were swept out of the way.

2013 June 7, Ed Pilkington, “‘Killer robots’ should be banned in advance, UN told [online version: ‘Killer robots’ pose threat to peace and should be banned, UN warned]”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 188, number 26, London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2023-04-11, page 6:

As the 1857 to Manchester Piccadilly rolls in, I scan the windows and realise there are plenty of spare seats, so I hop aboard. The train is a '221'+'220' combo to allow for social distancing – a luxury on an XC train as normally you're playing sardines, so I make the most of it.

2020 December 2, Paul Bigland, “My Weirdest and Wackiest Rover yet”, in Rail, Peterborough, Cambridgeshire: Bauer Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 68:

To become aware of, understand, or appreciate (a fact or situation, especially something which has been true for some time).

en:become aware of, understand, or appreciate

Over the mind of the tourist, visiting the Old World for the first time,—countries where have transpired thrilling events recorded in history, what an immensity of thought and feeling sweeps! It was thus with Natalie; she could not realize that she was treading in the footsteps of royalty, who living in long past days, had held sway over this land, had looked upon this land of "merrie England" as their home.

1859, Ferna Vale [pseudonym; Emma V. Hallett], “We are Going Home”, in Natalie; or, A Gem among the Sea-weeds. […], Andover, Mass.: W[arren] F[ales] Draper, →OCLC, page 286:

That any civilized human being in this nineteenth century should not be aware that the earth travelled round the sun appeared to be to me such an extraordinary fact that I could hardly realize it.

1887, A[rthur] Conan Doyle, “A Study in Scarlet”, in Beeton’s Christmas Annual, London; New York, N.Y.: Ward, Lock & Co., part I (Being a reprint from the reminiscences of John H. Watson, M.D., […]), chapter II (The Science of Deduction), page 9:

To sense (something) strongly or vividly as if real.

konscii

to sense (something) strongly or vividly as if real


dit

From French dit (“called”). Doublet of ditto.

(Canada, obsolete) Indicator of a declared surname originating from Canadian French.


American Indian

en-noun

American Indian (plural American Indians)

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

American + Indian. The noun is attested since 1702, the adjective since shortly thereafter.

(Canada) An indigenous person from the United States.


Down's syndrome

(chiefly British, Canada) Alternative form of Down syndrome


amber alert

amber alerts (plural)
AMBER alert (alternative)
AMBER Alert (alternative)

After Amber Hagerman (1986–1996), a girl who was abducted and killed in Arlington, Texas. The upper-case spelling indicates a backronym: America's Missing: Broadcasting Emergency Response.

(US, Canada) A public notification of a child abduction.


loop

From Middle English loupe (“noose, loop”), earlier lowp-knot (“loop-knot”), of North Germanic origin, from Old Norse hlaup (“a run”), used in the sense of a "running knot", from hlaupa (“to leap”), ultimately from Proto-Germanic *hlaupaną (“to leap, run”). Compare Swedish löp-knut (“loop-knot”), Danish løb-knude (“a running knot”), Danish løb (“a course”). More at leap. The verb is derived from the noun.

der

Arellano formerly cavorted for the Galicias in the fast-paced National-American Soccer loop.

1963 September 27, “Italias Vie In Bayonne On Sunday”, in The Jersey Journal, page 17:

(Canada, US, dated, sports) A sports league


major in

en-verb

major in (third-person singular simple present majors in, present participle majoring in, simple past and past participle majored in)

majors in (present singular third-person)
majoring in (participle present)
majored in (participle past)
majored in (past)

John majored in Computer Science, while Jane majored in Art.

(US, Canada, education) To take (something) as one's major field of study in an institute of tertiary education (such as a college or university).


Murphy bed

We lived in just one room with a Murphy bed and a kitchen that looked out on the alley.

2021, Rickie Lee Jones, Last Chance Texaco, Grove Press, published 2022, page 104:

(Canada, US) A light type of bed designed to be folded up or swung into a wall or closet for storage when not in use.


enamoured

en-adj

enamoured (comparative more enamoured, superlative most enamoured)

more enamoured (comparative)
most enamoured (superlative)

UK, Australia, New Zealand, and Canada spelling of enamored


beat off

en-verb

beat off (third-person singular simple present beats off, present participle beating off, simple past beat off, past participle beaten off or beat off)

beats off (present singular third-person)
beating off (participle present)
beat off (past)
beaten off (participle past)
beat off (participle past)

Example 1: "I don't need a girlfriend. I just need some swimsuit catalogs, so I can beat off six or seven times a day."

2003, David Burke, The Slangman guide to dirty English: dangerous expressions Americans use, page 13:

(intransitive, idiomatic, vulgar, colloquial, chiefly US, Canada) To masturbate by stimulating one's own penis.


legislature

/ˈlɛd͡ʒɪsˌleɪt͡ʃɚ/

/ˈlɛd͡ʒɪsləˌt͡ʃʊə/

/ˈlɛd͡ʒɪslət͡ʃə/

1676, from stem of legislator + -ure, cognate with French législature.

օրենսդիր մարմին

Appendix:Moby Thesaurus II/48 § legislature

Appendix:Moby Thesaurus II/93 § upper house

Appendix:Moby Thesaurus II/50 § lower house

Appendix:Moby Thesaurus II/55 § national assembly

A governmental body with the power to make, amend and repeal laws.

(Canada) The legislative assembly of a province or territory, as opposed to the federal parliament.

legislative building
legislative building


boy toy

boy toys (plural)
boytoy (alternative)
boy-toy (alternative)

(US, Canada, idiomatic, colloquial) A gigolo or younger man who is sexually pursued by an older person.


snirt

We then have what we call ‘snirt’ storms.

1975, United States House Committee on Appropriations Subcommittee on Agriculture and Related Agencies, Agriculture and Related Agencies Appropriations for 1976, page 175:

Snirt or a mixture of snow and dirt is the term popularly applied to the windrows of dirt along the roads during a Minnesota winter.

1985, United States House Committee on Agriculture, General Farm Bill of 1985: Hearings Before the Committee on Agriculture, page 924:

‘Snirt’ is a thing of the spring.

1997, William S. Burroughs, Last Words, Grove Press, →ISBN, page 73:

[…] it wasn't a hard winter. Only a couple of blizzards and snirt and snuss storms.

2004, Dean Norman, Studio Cards: Funny Greeting Cards and People Who Created Them, Trafford Publishing,, →ISBN, page 131:

(Canada, US) Snow that is dirty, often seen by the side of roads and parking lots that have been plowed.


remuda

To one side of the barn was a remuda of work-horses, perhaps twenty in all.

2003, Stephen King, Wolves of the Calla:

Buddy did not know what his mother was going to do, but he was sure that whatever she did would be right; so he hoisted his saddle on the handiest fresh horse, and loped off to drive in the remuda, feeling certain that his father would move swiftly to save his cattle that ranged back in the foothills, and that the saddle horses would be wanted at a moment's notice.

A big remuda had been driven up, Cayuse ponies mixed with larger American horses.

2013, Philipp Meyer, The Son, Simon & Schuster, published 2014, page 29:

(Canada, US) A herd of horses from which the horses to be used for a particular purpose are selected.


specialty

specialties (plural)
speciality (alternative)

From Middle English specialte, Old French specialte, especialte, from Latin specialitas.

An attribute or quality peculiar to a species.


polling station

en-noun

polling station (plural polling stations)

Dastis defended the Spanish police’s actions as they tried to halt the referendum, even though other members of the government have apologised for the violent scenes when officers raided polling stations, charged the crowds with batons and fired rubber bullets.

2017 October 22, Sam Jones, “Catalonia weighs up declaration of independence”, in the Guardian:

(British, Canada, Australia) a place where voters go to cast their ballot in an election or referendum; a voting station


tightass

tightasses (plural)
tight-arse (alternative)

Back-formation of tight-assed; equivalent to tight + ass.

(slang, mildly vulgar) Someone who does not know how to have fun, or who is so worried about insignificant things as to ruin any fun that anyone around them may be having.

Spaßtöter

person that does not know how to have fun

jitterbug

person worried about insignificant things


Eddie

(Canada, informal) A member of the Loyal Edmonton Regiment.


sepulcher

(Canada, US) Alternative form of sepulchre


sepulcher

en-verb

sepulcher (third-person singular simple present sepulchers, present participle sepulchering, simple past and past participle sepulchered)

sepulchers (present singular third-person)
sepulchering (participle present)
sepulchered (participle past)
sepulchered (past)


eggplant

en-noun

eggplant (countable and uncountable, plural eggplants)

eggplants (plural)
egg-plant (alternative)

From egg + plant, originally applied only to the white-colored, egg-shaped variety.

Solanum melongena
Solanum melongena#Translingual

(Canada, US, Australia, New Zealand, Philippines) The plant Solanum melongena.

(Canada, US, Australia, New Zealand, Philippines) The edible fruit of the Solanum melongena: an aubergine.

eggplant:

(Canada, US) A dark purple color, like that of the skin of this fruit.


dainty

en-adj

dainty (comparative daintier, superlative daintiest)

daintier (comparative)
daintiest (superlative)

From Middle English deynte (as noun), from Old French deintié, from Latin dignitātem. Doublet of dignity.

As for thoſe People of the Eaſt, (Goa, Calecute, Malaca,) they vvere a Fine, and Dainty People; Frugall, and yet Elegant, though not Militar.

1622 (date written), Francis [Bacon], “An Advertisement Touching an Holy VVarre. […]”, in William Rawley, editor, Certaine Miscellany VVorks of the Right Honourable Francis Lo. Verulam, Viscount S. Alban. […], London: […] I. Hauiland for Humphrey Robinson, […], published 1629, →OCLC, page 104:

Those dainty limbs which nature lent / For gentle usage and soft delicacy.

1634 October 9 (first performance), [John Milton], edited by H[enry] Lawes, A Maske Presented at Ludlow Castle, 1634: […] [Comus], London: […] [Augustine Matthews] for Hvmphrey Robinson, […], published 1637, →OCLC; reprinted as Comus: […] (Dodd, Mead & Company’s Facsimile Reprints of Rare Books; Literature Series; no. I), New York, N.Y.: Dodd, Mead & Company, 1903, →OCLC:

However, with the dainty volume my quondam friend sprang into fame. At the same time he cast off the chrysalis of a commonplace existence.

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

The cutting sides were gay with heather in bloom, and masses of dainty Scots bluebells, while patches of clear sky overhead were bringing life and colour to the sea.

1947 January and February, O. S. Nock, “"The Aberdonian" in Wartime”, in Railway Magazine, page 9:

UUho when he ſhal embrace you in his arms
UUil tell how many thouſand men he ſlew.
And when you looke for amorous diſcourſe,
Will rattle foorth his facts of war and blood:
Too harſh a ſubiect for your daintie eares.

c. 1587–1588, [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, →OCLC; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire, London: Scolar Press, 1973, →ISBN, Act III, scene ii:

And let us not be dainty of leave taking, / But shift away.

c. 1606 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Macbeth”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene iii]:

Fastidious and fussy, especially when eating.


dainty

(Northwestern Ontario, Canadian Prairies, British Columbia, usually in the plural) A fancy cookie, pastry, or square, frequently homemade, served at a social event.

I am not eager at forbidden dainties

(obsolete) An affectionate term of address.


s'more

non-rhotic, without the horse–hoarse merger

A contraction of some more, so called because they are meant to be so tasty that you always want some more.

1990, Margaret Kenda, Cooking Wizardry for Kids
S’Mores are a traditional favorite cook-out food with Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts.

2003, Sheri Joseph, Bear Me Safely Over
She bit into the s’more, and the melted marshmallow goo fell over her lip, onto her chin.

2003, Cynthia Kaplan, I’m Like This
I’d had too many s’mores.

(US, Canada) A snack food made by combining graham crackers, marshmallows (frequently toasted) and chocolate, a typical camping fireside treat.


downtown

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

(chiefly US, Canada) The main business part of a city or town, usually located at or near its center.

middestad

either the lower, or the business center of a city or town


cooler

They served wine coolers in the afternoon.

(Canada, South Africa, countable or uncountable) A type of drink made with alcohol, especially wine, mixed with fruit juice.


ardour

en-noun

ardour (countable and uncountable, plural ardours)

I rushed towards her, and embraced her with ardour; but the deathly languor and coldness of the limbs told me, that what I now held in my arms had ceased to be the Elizabeth whom I had loved and cherished.

1816 June – 1817 April/May (date written), [Mary Shelley], chapter VI, in Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus. […], volume III, London: […] [Macdonald and Son] for Lackington, Hughes, Harding, Mavor, & Jones, published 1 January 1818, →OCLC, page 120:

The purpose of my visit, and the frightful abnormalities it postulated struck at me all at once with a chill sensation that nearly over-balanced my ardour for strange delvings.

1931, H. P. Lovecraft, chapter 6, in The Whisperer in Darkness:

British, Canada, and Australia spelling of ardor


EA

EA (countable and uncountable, plural EAs)

educational assistant
educational assistant#English

(Canada) Initialism of educational assistant.


blue box

gray-box testing
white box (software engineering)

(chiefly British and Canada) A blue container used for the collection of household waste (such as tin cans and newspapers) for recycling by a municipal authority.


babushka

babushkas (plural)
babushki (plural)
babooshka (alternative)
baboushka (alternative)

Borrowed from Russian ба́бушка (bábuška, “grandmother, granny”), diminutive of ба́ба (bába, “old woman”).

bor

“Say hello to old Stanley,” he called as she pattered down the steps into the street, flung a babushka over her license plate and screeched away down Telegraph.

1966 March, Thomas Pynchon, chapter 5, in The Crying of Lot 49, New York, N.Y.: Bantam Books, published November 1976, →ISBN, page 79:

The crowd falls silent, momentarily stunned, while a heavyset woman in a babushka pushes her way through, broadcasting the news […].

1982, TC Boyle, Water Music, Penguin, published 2006, page 78:

(Northern US, Canada) A traditional floral headscarf worn by an Eastern European woman, tied under the chin.


open house

We′re holding an open house this weekend at 77 Parkway Road.

I took my sign out of the boot and put it up that morning, then arranged the advertising and open house viewings as soon as I returned to my office.

2009, Peter Yong Huang, The Australian Dream and $1 Properties, page 133:

Avoid boredom. Avoid starvation. Why hang around a homeowner′s refrigerator all day while sitting at a deadbeat open house? Do what they have done in Australia for years. Hold multiple open houses in one day.

2011, Danielle Kennedy, Warren Jamison, How to List and Sell Real Estate, 4th edition, page 155:

(chiefly US, Canada, Australia) A period of time, usually several hours in a day, during which a house which is for sale is open for inspection or tour by interested parties.

näyttö

(chiefly US, Australian) time when a house for sale is open for inspection


centre of gravity

en-noun

centre of gravity (plural centres of gravity)

center of gravity
center of gravity#English

(physics) British and Canada standard spelling of center of gravity.


homecoming

From Middle English hom-comyng, home komyng, home-cumyng, home-commynge, equivalent to home + coming. Probably an alteration of earlier Middle English hom-come, homkome, hame-come, ham-cume, from Old English hāmcyme (“homecoming; return”).

der

Many alumni come back for homecoming, and many freshmen are advised to flee.

homecoming ball

homecoming game

homecoming party

homecoming rave

(Canada, US, also attributive) In colleges and high schools, a tradition centred around a football game, a parade and the "coronation" of a Homecoming Queen.

harvest homecoming
harvest homecoming#English

Ellipsis of harvest homecoming.; A traditional (street) party and/or dance near the start of the school year, at around fall mid-terms. Traditionally marking the start of harvest break, where students go home in autumn to harvest the crops on the family farms.


privateer

/ˌpɹaɪ.vəˈtɪə/

/ˌpɹaɪ.vəˈtɪɚ/

From private + -eer, probably after volunteer.

(motor racing, chiefly Canada, US) A private individual entrant into a race or competition who does not have the backing of a large, professional team.

yksityiskuski

motor racing: private individual entrant


take five

en-verb

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

takes five (present singular third-person)
taking five (participle present)
took five (past)
taken five (participle past)
take a five (alternative)

Hey, stop fighting! Take five, people!

(US, Canada, informal) To take a short, typically five-minute, break from some activity.


meths

(UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, informal) methylated spirits.


centered

en-adj

centered (comparative more centered, superlative most centered)

more centered (comparative)
most centered (superlative)
centred (alternative)

(especially Canada, US) emotionally stable, calm, serene; having a balanced mind


stat

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

(Canada, informal) A statutory public holiday (also as stat holiday).


stampede

→ German: Stampede

The noun is derived from Mexican Spanish estampida (“a stampede”), from Spanish estampida, estampido (“a bang, a crack (sound)”), from Old Occitan estampida, from Gothic 𐍃𐍄𐌰𐌼𐍀𐌾𐌰𐌽 (stampjan), from Proto-Germanic *stampōną (“to compress, squeeze; to stamp”), from Proto-Indo-European *stembʰ- (“to trample down”).
The verb is derived from the noun.

der

(Canada, US) An event at which cowboy skills are displayed; a rodeo.


Beaver

* As an English surname, capitalization of beaver. This sense is also translated from several Native American names such as Cheyenne homa'e and Creek Echaswvlke of the same meaning. Doublet of Bieber and Bever.
* Also as an English surname, from the placename Belvoir in Leicestershire.

en:member of the youngest wing of the Scout movement

(originally Canada) A member of the youngest wing of the Scout movement, composed of groups for children, traditionally boys, of approximately five to seven years of age.


Bell

(US, Canada) a telephone utility; a Baby Bell.


Brown

en-adj

Brown (comparative more Brown, superlative most Brown)

more Brown (comparative)
most Brown (superlative)

From Middle English Broun, originally a nickname for someone with brown hair or a dark complexion. In the United States, sometimes an anglicization and translation of German Braun. Doublet of Bruno and Braun.

(chiefly US, often Canada and UK) Alternative letter-case form of brown (“of a dark complexion”)


Brownie

From brownie (“helpful elf”). Specifically, inspired by the story "The Brownies" by Juliana Horatia Ewing (published in 1870, The Brownies and Other Tales), in which two children, Tommy and Betty, learn that children can be helpful brownies or lazy boggarts.

1958 July 14, Boot by a Brash Brownie, LIFE, page 124,
In Toronto young Brownies of the Girl Guides, the Canadian girl scouts, stood in parade formation with full-fledged Guides.

The ideal Brownie pack, according to the 1960 Guide Commissioner′s Handbook, would contain Brownies who were ‘alert, clean, tidy and punctual. Their uniform should be correct.’

1997, Doug Owram, Born at the Right Time: A History of the Baby-Boom Generation, page 102:

Another Guide group that persevered through internment was the 1st Chefoo (which had Brownies, Guides and Rangers) in Shandong province, China.[…]The November 2, 1942, entry in the Brownie logbook pleads for cheerfulness in the face of adversity: “We are in need of smiles. Have you got them ready, Brownies?”

2009, Tammy M. Proctor, Scouting for Girls: A Century of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts, page 85:

(British, Canada, Australia) A junior Girl Guide.


Canadien

(Canada) A French Canadian (male or of unspecified sex).


Chuck

Shortening of Edmonchuk. So named because of the large Ukrainian population; -чук (-čuk) is common suffix in Ukrainian surnames.


D

From the position (4) of the letter D in the English alphabet.

(education, chiefly Canada, US) A grade awarded for a class, better than outright failure (which can be F or E depending on the institution) and worse than a C.


Genesis

From Ancient Greek γένεσις (génesis, “creation, beginning, origin”).

der

(Canada, US, video games) A video game console, the Sega Genesis.


Hill

* As an English surname, from the noun hill, shortened from Hilary, and from Old English hild (“battle”).
* As a German surname, shortened from Hildebrand, related to the last sense above.
* As a Finnish surname, calque of Finnish Mäki (“hill”).

(Canada, with "the") Parliament Hill; the Parliament of Canada; the parliamentary precinct in Ottawa as opposed to parliamentary functions elsewhere in the country


Inc

after nouns
Inc. (alternative)
inc (alternative)
inc. (alternative)

(chiefly Canada, US) Incorporated, corporation, an adjective describing a type of (business) company that carries certain legal obligations.


Lab

(Canada) Alternative form of Lab. Abbreviation of Labrador. (a region of Canada)


Labour

(UK, Canada) Misspelling of Labor, an Australian political party.


Mac

(US, Canada) A diminutive for a person with a surname that starts with "Mac" or "Mc".


Molly

en-noun

Molly (countable and uncountable, plural Mollies)

From Moll, diminutive lambdacism of Mary + -y.

(Canada, US, slang, uncountable) Alternative letter-case form of molly: the crystalline or powdered form of MDMA.


Mommy

I wish Mommy and Daddy didn't argue so much.

(Canada, US, chiefly used by young children) One's mother


Mr.

Messrs. (plural)
Mr (alternative)
MR (alternative)

Mr. John Doe

Mr. Doe

But only if one forgets that Mr. Tester is 50 years old, he’s seasoned in state politics, he ran a canny, gloves-off campaign, and he’s the kind of charismatic, hard-to-peg, Western neopopulist (like his friend, Gov. Brian Schweitzer of Montana) who might be, even now, redefining in certain far-reaching ways what it means to be a Democrat.

2007 January 7, Deirdre Mcnamer, “They Came From Montana”, in The New York Times:

(Canada, US, Philippines) Abbreviation of mister. A title used before the surname in theory, though not generally in practice, above some undefined social level, too old to be addressed as “Master”, not a knight or of some higher rank, and, in Britain though not in the United States, not entitled to be addressed as “Dr.”.


Mr.

(US, Canada) Abbreviation of March (month).


Mrs.

Mrs. (plural Mmes. or Mesdames or (rare) Mrses.)

Mmes. (plural)
Mesdames (plural)
Mrses. (plural rare)

That left me an orphan and folks were at their wits’ end, so Mrs. Thomas said, what to do with me. […] Finally Mrs. Thomas said she’d take me, though she was poor and had a drunken husband. She brought me up by hand. Do you know if there is anything in being brought up by hand that ought to make people who are brought up that way better than other people? Because whenever I was naughty Mrs. Thomas would ask me how I could be such a bad girl when she had brought me up by hand--reproachful-like.

1908, L. M. Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables:


Ms.

To protest the sandwich chain’s use of azodicarbonamide in its bread, Ms. Hari posted a video of herself chewing another item in which the chemical is found: a yoga mat.

2015 March 13, Courtney Rubin, “Taking On the Food Industry, One Blog Post at a Time”, in The New York Times:


Muppet

Diane Sawyer
Elmo
Jim Henson
Kevin Clash
Muppet

Coined by Jim Henson as an alteration of puppet. Henson had claimed the word was a blend of marionette + puppet, but later recanted.

'I'll come, if you like,' Paul says. 'I'm not asking you, Muppet,' Kit snaps.

English version: I'm A Cockney Geezer, You Muppet. No, you are an upper middle class, public school educated wanker (it takes one to know one) and I feel I must apologize to everyone on behalf of the land of my birth for the many crimes to cinema committed in the wake of Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (1998).

2011, Julian Hoxter, Write What You Don't Know, page 45:

She tilts her head towards him, and whispers in his ear, “Of course I do, you Muppet. I keep telling you to trust The Source and our guides; don't I?"

2013, Guy Dance, Soul Brigade: The Mission of Light, page 245:

What's your fucking name you Muppet? I won't ask you again.

2018, Peter D. Bull, Undercover, page 13:

Not that kind of atmosphere, you Muppet. A cut it with a knife atmosphere.

2021, Margaret de Rohan, The Icarus Affair:

(UK, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Eastern US, South Africa, slang, derogatory) Alternative form of muppet (fool).


Patriot

(Canada, historical) Synonym of Patriote (A devolution-of-power supporter in Lower Canada during the Canadian Rebellions of 1837-1838 (Patriots' War).)

Patriote

(Canada, historical) A devolution-of-power supporter in Upper Canada during the Canadian Rebellions of 1837-1838 (Patriot War).


Peg

I just got back from the Peg.

(Canada, slang) Abbreviation of the city of Winnipeg. Usually preceded by "the".


Pez

Derived from the letters at the start, the middle and the end of German Pfefferminz (“candy with peppermint flavor”), the first Pez flavor.

(Canada, US) A kind of candy in the form of small blocks that is sold in small plastic dispensers.


Rock

* As an English surname, from the noun rock. Compare Roach.
* Also as an English surname, misdivision of Middle English atter oke (“at the oak”). Compare Nock.
* As an English occupational surname, from Old Norse rokkr (“distaff”). Compare Rocker.
* As an Irish surname, translated from names like Mac Conchairge (“son of the hound of the rock”), from cú + carraig, see also McHarg.
* As a German surname Röck, variant of the personal name Rocco, see Roche.
* Also as a German surname, from the noun Rock (“skirt gown”).
* As a French surname, shortened from Roquebrune, Rocquebrune (see Rocque) or Larock.
Compare Roch.

Newfoundland and Labrador
Newfoundland and Labrador

(Canada, preceded by "the" or "The") Nickname of the island of Newfoundland in the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador.


Sally

A diminutive lambdacism of Sarah. Compare Hal from Harry and Moll from Mary.

(slang, drugs, Canada, US) Alternative letter-case form of sally: the crystalline or powdered form of MDA.


Senate

(Canada) The Senate of Canada; the upper house of the Canadian parliament; "the Senate".


White

White (disambiguation)#Places in the United States

(chiefly US, sometimes Canada and UK) Alternative letter-case form of white (“of or relating to white complexion or Europeans”)


Worship

(Canada, archaic) A form of address of a mayor.


Y

He had sat next to Cindy returning from the Y and smelled the chlorine on her. A sodden Band-Aid had clung by a few lingering bits of stickum to her knee.

2001, Jonathan Franzen, The Corrections:

(Canada, US) Clipping of the YMCA or YWCA.


Y

Of course, the audience up here at the Bronx “Y” will probably be a little parochial, but if I make good in the lecture, I might one day end up speaking down at the Lex. Ave. “Y” where great thinkers like Norman Mailer and Seymour Krim are always airing their views.

1963 (date written), John Kennedy Toole, A Confederacy of Dunces, London: Penguin Books, published 1980 (1981 printing), →ISBN:

When a 50ish woman at my Y learned that I was about to turn 80, she exclaimed, “80 is the new 60, and you set a great example for the rest of us!”

2021 May 17, Jane E. Brody, “A Birthday Milestone: Turning 80!”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

(Canada, US, informal) A particular facility run by the YMCA/YWCA.


Yank

“This time,” he General Alphonse-Pierre Juin] told the Yanks, “you have not crossed to win new victories but to preserve peace. […]”

1951 June 11, “The Yanks Are Coming: U.S. shows world we are playing for keeps as 4th Division leaves to join Eisenhower's NATO army”, in Life, page 38:

(slang, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, Canada, UK, sometimes derogatory, by extension) An American: someone from the United States.


pt

pt (countable and uncountable, plural pts)

(Canada, dated, uncountable) Initialism of physical training, a physical education class in grade school.


english

Uncertain. It is speculated to relate either to people from England introducing the technique for billiards or bowling in the United States, or perhaps from a particular person with the surname English.

English (alternative)
English (alternative)

You can't hit it directly, but maybe if you give it some english.

There was a magical way of putting English on the dice to result in a six.

2005, S. Moran, Bronx Boy: Book One of The Zombie Island Trilogy, page 179:

(uncountable, Canada, US) Spinning or rotary motion given to a ball around the vertical axis, as in pool, billiards or bowling; spin, sidespin.

ингалс

spinning or rotary motion around the vertical axis


popsicle

From the trade name Popsicle, a blend of (soda) pop or lollipop + Epsicle (original trade name), itself a blend of Epperson (surname of the inventor) + icicle.

blend

(chiefly US, Canada) Frozen fruit juice, flavored sugar water, or the like, on a stick, of a size to be one serving.


metis

Borrowed from French métis, from Late Latin mixticius, from Latin mixtus (“mixed”). Akin to mestizo, which came from Spanish.

(chiefly Canada, US) Alternative letter-case form of Metis (“a member of one of three Canadian Aboriginal peoples; any person of mixed European and Indigenous descent”)


gesundheit

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

From German Gesundheit (literally “health”), from gesund (“healthy”). The adjective is cognate with English sound, from Old English ġesund (“sound, safe, healthy”).

cog

Everybody Was at It, and There Was No One to Say Gesundheit

1897 July 24, “SNEEZES INTERRUPTED COURT”, in The Albany Law Journal, volume 56, number 4, page 67:

I used to play a game with David and Douggie, Dennis and Drew — stop their sneezes midsniff just by placing my pinkie finger against their nostrils and saying gesundheit before it was time.

2000, Abby Frucht, Polly's Ghost: A Novel (Fiction), Scribner, →ISBN, page 55:

(Canada, US) Said to someone who has just sneezed.


sideline

sidelines (plural)
side line (alternative)
side-line (alternative)

(Canada) A secondary road, especially a byroad at right angles to a main road.


buckle

The noun is derived from Middle English bokel (“spiked metal ring for fastening; ornamental clasp; boss of a shield; a shield, buckler; (figurative) means of defence”) [and other forms], from Old French boucle, bocle (“spiked metal ring for fastening; boss of a shield; a shield”) [and other forms], from Latin buccula (“cheek strap of a helmet; boss of a shield”) (from bucca (“soft part of the cheek”)).
Noun sense 2 (“great conflict or struggle”) is probably derived from verb sense 1.2.1 (“to apply (oneself) to, or prepare (oneself) for, a task or work”).
The verb is derived from Middle English bokelen, bukelen (“to fasten (something) with a buckle or clasp; to fasten, make fast; to wrap; to arch the body”) [and other forms], from bokel (noun) (see above) + -en (suffix forming the infinitive of verbs).
In verb sense 1.2.1, the sense “to apply (oneself) to, or prepare (oneself) for, a task or work” was derived from the now obsolete sense “to equip (oneself) for a battle, etc.”, and originally alluded to armour being buckled on to the body.

nb...

bocle, bocul, bocule, bocull, boculle, bogil, bogyll, bokell, bokle, bokull, bokyll, bokylle, boucle, bukel, bukkel, bukle, bukyll, bukylle

إِبْزِيم

A metal clasp with a hinged tongue or a spike through which a belt or strap is passed and penetrated by the tongue or spike, in order to fasten the ends of the belt together or to secure the strap to something else.

(Canada, heraldry) An image of a clasp (sense 1) used as the brisure of an eighth daughter.

solki

image of a clasp used as the brisure of an eighth daughter


buckle

en-noun

buckle (countable and uncountable, plural buckles)

Origin uncertain. Probably from Middle English bokelen (“to arch the body”), from Middle French boucler (“to bulge”, literally “to take the shape of a shield boss”), from the same ultimate origin as Etymology 1 above. In some senses, possibly from buck (“to bend, yield, buckle”) + -le (frequentative suffix).

suf

(countable, Canada, US, baking) Usually preceded by a descriptive word: a cake baked with fresh fruit (often blueberries) and a streusel topping.

murukuorrute-hedelmäkakku

cake baked with fresh fruit and a streusel topping


tamper

en-verb

tamper (third-person singular simple present tampers, present participle tampering, simple past and past participle tampered)

tampers (present singular third-person)
tampering (participle present)
tampered (participle past)
tampered (past)

From Middle French temprer (“to temper, mix, meddle”). Doublet of temper.

der

(US, Canada, in professional sports) To discuss future contracts with a player, against league rules.


collegiate

From Middle English collegiate, from Medieval Latin collēgiātus (“colleague”), from collēgium (“community, group”).


fanny

en-noun

fanny (countable and uncountable, plural fannies)

19th century. Ultimately from Fanny, pet form of the name Frances. Compare dick, John Thomas, mickey.

Children, sit down on your fannies, and eat your lunch.

Get off your fanny and get back to work!

(Canada, US, informal) The buttocks; arguably the most nearly polite of several euphemisms.


CSA

Canadian Space Agency
w:Canadian Space Agency

(Canada, space flight) Initialism of Canadian Space Agency.

Canadian Standards Association
w:Canadian Standards Association

(Canada) Initialism of Canadian Standards Association.


solicitor

solicitors (plural)
solicitour (alternative)

From Middle French soliciteur. Equivalent to solicit + -or.

(Canada, US) A person soliciting sales, especially door to door.


aging

aging (countable and uncountable, plural agings)

(gerontology) The accumulation of damage to macromolecules, cells, tissues and organs with the passage of time; the progressing loss of health, mobility, vibrancy and body functionality, resulting in biological death.


aging

en-adj

aging (comparative more aging, superlative most aging)

more aging (comparative)
most aging (superlative)
ageing (alternative)

The aging artist could no longer steadily hold the brush.