head

pinch punch first of the month (alternative)

en-au-pinch and a punch for the first of the month.ogg

‘Pinch and a punch for the first of the month.’ I nurse my wounded arm and look down at my giggling son.
'You just hit me.'
'No I didn't. That's what you do on the first of the month.'
'Who says so?'
He looks at me exasperated.

2009, Ellie Nielsen, Buying a Piece of Paris: A Memoir, page 208:

(British, Ireland, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa) Said on the first day of a new month, while pinching and punching someone as a prank (especially by children). The victim may respond with "a flick and a kick for being so quick" and the original attacker may reply with "a punch in the eye for being so sly".


peacekeeper

officer of the peace
officer of the peace

(Canada, law enforcement) An officer of the peace (police officer) in a force run by a Canadian aboriginal community.


CATO

(Canada, military) Acronym of Cadet Administrative and Training Order.


motherhood statement

en-noun

motherhood statement (plural motherhood statements)

Probably from the fact that virtually everyone would say that motherhood is a positive thing.

[A]n objective needs to be followed up by some specific form of measurement or it is meaningless – It is a motherhood statement.

1976, Canadian Electronics Engineering, volume 20, Toronto, Ont.: Maclean-Hunter, →ISSN, →OCLC, page ccviii:

Technology transfer and the principle of making useful research and development information available to all public sectors is now being endorsed by everybody. I really don't know anybody who objects. As a matter of fact, by now it has become a motherhood statement. The question is, how do we achieve the blessed state of motherhood?

1979 June 12, Andrew Assur (witness), “Statement of Dr. Andrew Assur, Chief Scientist, U.S. Army Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory, Hanover, N.H.”, in The Role of the Federal Laboratories in Domestic Technology Transfer: Hearings before the Subcommittee on Science, Research and Technology of the Committee on Science and Technology, U.S. House of Representatives, […] (House of Representatives, Committee on Science and Technology; no. 96-77), Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, →OCLC, page 80:

When English judges speak of rights they often do so in terms that are usually imprecise and lacking in clear principle. The problem is worsened by the frequent judicial recourse to motherhood statements, which are not simply imprecise but provide generalised statements that are difficult to disagree with at a conceptual level. […] [M]otherhood statements assume or imply the existence of what [Martin] Loughlin described as an 'imaginary consensus' on important doctrinal principles.

2008, Matthew Groves, “The Surrogacy Principle and Motherhood Statements in Administrative Law”, in Linda Pearson, Carol Harlow, Michael Taggart, editors, Administrative Law in a Changing State: Essays in Honour of Mark Aronson, Oxford, Portland, Or.: Hart Publishing, →ISBN, page 93:

At worst, the term ‘ownership’ becomes a ‘motherhood statement’ which, whilst always sounding worthy, can be entirely lacking in specified content. The term ownership is used to imply varying degrees of local control that are typically not realized.

2009, Simon Chesterman, “Ownership in Theory and in Practice: Transfer of Authority in UN Statebuilding Operations”, in David Chandler, editor, Statebuilding and Intervention: Policies, Practices and Paradigms, Abingdon, Oxon., New York, N.Y.: Routledge, →ISBN, page 34:

One could say that at least Culpo's response referred to something specific in her life, and was not just the typical motherhood statement expected of polished beauty contestants – the proverbial Miss Universe answer.

2012 December 21, Rose-an Jessica Dioquino, Gian C. Geronimo, “Janine impresses in Q&A, says Miss Universe needs ‘strong mind’”, in GMA News and Public Affairs, Quezon City, archived from the original on 2018-12-17:

(chiefly Canada, US) A vague, feel-good platitude, especially one made by a politician, that most people would agree with.


concession

concession (usually uncountable, plural concessions)

From late Middle English concession, from Middle French concession, from Latin concessiō (“a grant, permission, conceding”), from concēdō.

der

Land granted by an authority for some specific purpose, particularly:

(Canada) A concession road: a narrow road between tracts of farmland, especially in Ontario, from their origin during the granting of concessions (see above).


drugstore

drugstores (plural)
drug store (alternative)

(chiefly US, Canada) Synonym of pharmacy, especially a small standalone general store which includes a pharmacy.


HST

en-noun

HST (countable and uncountable, plural HSTs)

harmonized sales tax
w:harmonized sales tax

(Canada) Initialism of harmonized sales tax, a combined federal and provincial sales tax collected in some provinces.


expiry

expiry (countable and uncountable, plural expiries)

(British, New Zealand, Australia, Canada) End; termination; expiration.

(British, New Zealand, Australia, Canada) Death.


headlight

(Canada, slang, vulgar, chiefly in the plural) A woman's erect nipples, partially masked by clothing.


mezzanine

PIE word
 *médʰyos
The noun is borrowed from French mezzanine, and from its etymon Italian mezzanino, from mezzano (“(adjective) middle; (noun) go-between”) + -ino (diminutive suffix). Mezzano is derived from Latin mediānus (“central, middle”, adjective), from medius (“mid, middle”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *médʰyos (“middle”)) + -ānus (suffix meaning ‘of or pertaining to’).
The adjective and verb are derived from the noun.

der

(Canada, US) The lowest balcony in an auditorium, cinema, theatre, etc.; the dress circle.


MLB

There was no repeat rainbow rebellion during last Saturday’s Pride Night at Tropicana Field after MLB introduced a policy this season forbidding teams from changing their uniforms to mark local themed events.

2023 June 12, Tom Dart, “US culture wars come to baseball as MLB celebrates Pride month”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:

Major League Baseball
w:Major League Baseball

(US, Canada, baseball) Initialism of Major League Baseball.


jitney

1886, originally for a five-cent US coin (a nickel); use for taxis and buses due to these services originally charging five cents as fare, popularized circa 1915.
The etymology is uncertain; it is believed to originate from Louisiana Creole jetnée, from French jeton (“token, coin-sized metal disc”), though this is disputed. Evidence for the Louisiana Creole French origin includes the geographic distribution (Southeastern US, especially Black/African-American), and early spelling as gitney, which is common French spelling for the /ʒi/ pronunciation.

(Canada) An informal lawn bowling, curling, or darts competition in which all players present are randomly drawn into teams.


attending

All the new interns had heard of his operative speed, his finesse under the attending's glare, and his memorization of the current surgical literature.

2002, Harry Lee Kraus, Could I Have This Dance?, page 45:

All too often when taking a history, residents and attendings in a hurry will simply use the cut-and-paste function to save time and bypass asking potentially important questions that have been asked before.

2009 March 11, “Doctor-Patient-Computer Relationships”, in New York Times:

(Canada, US) A physician on the staff of a hospital, especially the principal one that supervises a patient's care.


Poppy Day

From being the last day on which the commemorative poppy flower is worn.


returned

en-adj

returned (comparative more returned, superlative most returned)

more returned (comparative)
most returned (superlative)

There are about thirty full-blooded returned men in this state whom I believe are not entitled to the old-age pension.

1941, Pearl Gibbs, radio broadcast, in Heiss & Minter, Macquarie PEN Anthology of Aboriginal Literature, Allen & Unwin 2008, p. 38

(US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand) Back home having been discharged from military service.


chica

"But, I thought you wanted to come with us. There are some hot chicas just waiting for the Black Wolf boys."

2005, Magnolia Belle, Black Wolf: Lakota Man:

(Canada, US, informal) A Latin-American girl; a Latina.


chico

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(Canada, US, informal) A Latin-American boy; a Latino.


DIA

Department of Indian Affairs
w:en:Department of Indian Affairs

(Canada, historical) Initialism of Department of Indian Affairs.


cougar

From French couguar, from Portuguese cuguardo, a deformation of Brazilian Portuguese suçuarana (earlier çuçuarana), perhaps from Old Tupi suasuarana (“deerlike animal”), from suasú (“deer”); compare sɨwasuarána (“cervine”)) or perhaps from Guaraní guaçuara).

A cougar approached Warren at the Palomino Club and asked for a dance.

I am 26 years old and in a respectful but super-sexual relationship with a recent divorcée in her 40s. (A "cougar," in local slang.)

[2001 June 7, Dan Savage, “Count Every Vote”, in The Stranger:

Barney Stinson: She's a cougar, Ted! / Robin Scherbatsky: I thought you said you can't be a cougar if you're over 50.

2010, “Home Wreckers”, in How I Met Your Mother, season 5, episode 20 (television production):

“Younger can be good. How much younger?” Regina asked, inspecting the appetizer plates for any lingering bites. “I don't know,” Alexa said frowning. “Why does that matter?” “Less than eight years makes you a Puma. Over eight years makes you a Cougar,” Regina said wisely, grinning as Lauren nodded excitedly in agreement.

2011, Donna McDonald, Dating A Cougar, →ISBN:

(Canada, US, slang) An older woman who actively seeks the casual, often sexual, companionship of younger men, by implication a female “sexual predator”.

kotka

slang: older woman who seeks younger men


homestead

Ultimately from Old English hamstede through an unattested Middle English word. Cognate with German Heimstatt, Dutch heemstede and Swedish hemstad. By surface analysis, home + stead.

чифлик

He owned exactly six hundred and forty acres of what stretched outside his door; his own original homestead and timber claim, making three hundred and twenty acres, and the half-section adjoining, the homestead of a younger brother who had given up the fight, gone back to Chicago to work in a fancy bakery […]

1913, Willa Cather, chapter 2, in O Pioneers!, Part 1:

A house together with surrounding land and buildings, especially on a farm; the property comprising these.

(Canada, US) A parcel of land in the interior of North America, usually 160 acres, that was distributed to settlers from Europe or eastern North America under the Dominion Lands Act of 1870 in Canada or the Homestead Act of 1862 in the United States.


colourization

Canada standard spelling of colorization.


elevator music

Used in the first elevators to reduce anxiousness.

(US, Canada) Bland, inoffensive music played as a background in elevators and businesses (such as offices and shopping malls).


redstart

Inherited from Middle English *redstert; equivalent to red + start (“tail”). Compare Dutch roodstaart, Danish rødstjert.

(Canada, US) A species of warbler native to the Americas, Setophaga ruticilla, only distantly related to Phoenicurus.


submarine sandwich

en-noun

submarine sandwich (plural submarine sandwiches)

US ante-1940. From its resemblance to a submarine.

"Well, honey, you can have spaghetti and meat balls," said the girl. "But why don't you order a submarine sandwich? My, that's good! Mmm."
"What is a submarine sandwich?"
"Well, a submarine sandwich comes two ways, the 15¢ one is seven inches long, and for a quarter you get one twelve inches long—"

1942, Ludwig Bemelmans, “Vacation”, in I Love You, I Love You, I Love You!, New York: Viking Press, pages 147–148:

(US, Canada) A sandwich made on a long, cylindrical roll split lengthwise.


Black Friday

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

From black (“bad; ill-omened; marked by disaster”). Friday is an ill-omened day according to ancient superstition, so a Friday that was darkened by another ill-omen (such as being the 13th) or an actual disaster became known as "Black Friday". Philadelphia police applied the term to the day after Thanksgiving because the large number of people out shopping made traffic chaotic. Later, PR efforts purposely invented the incorrect, more positive "etymology" (which is a very popular urban legend and false etymology that was even in Wiktionary from 2008 to 2015) that the name was given because this day is supposedly the first day of the year on which retailers typically posted profits ('in the black') rather than losses ('in the red').

Coordinate term: Cyber Monday

en:day after US Thanksgiving, a busy shopping day

(US, Canada, UK, business, retailing) The day after US Thanksgiving Day, generally regarded as the first day of the Christmas season, and the busiest shopping day of the year. Observed in the US, Canada, and more recently to an extent, the UK.


grade school

In contrast to high schools, the subsequent secondary school type, classes of this kind of school do not have typical nicknames.
In a grade school all classes are simply enumerated 1st to 8th grade (called form or year in British English).
In a high school, on the other hand, school year groups are in everyday parlance referred to as freshman/sophomore/junior/senior year.

(US, Philippines, rarely Canada, education) Elementary school; primary school.


blackcap

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(Canada, US) Whitebark raspberry (Rubus leucodermis).


honky

honkies (plural)
honkey (alternative)
honkie (alternative)

Sense of “factory hand” attested from 1946. Compare hunky, bohunk.
Most likely from hunky (“Hungarian, Slav, eastern European; any white person”), an African-American vernacular shortening of Hungarian. Another possible etymon is Wolof xonq (“red, pink”), a term frequently used in African languages to describe white men.
As a term of racial abuse it was popularized by the Black Panther Party starting from 1967, who sought a rebuttal to nigger.

For quotations using this term, see Citations:honky.

(US, Canada, derogatory, ethnic slur) A white (Caucasian) person.


paska

paska (countable and uncountable, plural paskas)

From Ukrainian па́ска (páska) and Russian па́ска (páska), borrowing from Ancient Greek πάσκα (páska), phonetic variant of πάσχα (páskha), from Aramaic פסחא (pasḥa), from Hebrew פֶּסַח (pesaḥ). Doublet of Pesach.

(Canada) A traditional Ukrainian egg bread, often decorated, used in Easter traditions.


scad

Unknown, early 17th century, perhaps related to shad. In sense “large amount”, US 1869, of unknown origin, presumably from large shoals/schools of the fish.

scads of money

You take temporary employment for office employees and there are a whole scad of people doing that and nothing else.

1966, United States. Congress. Senate. Labor and Public Welfare, Manpower Services Act of 1966 and Employment Service Act of... (page 295)

Galleries everywhere are awash in these brand-name reductivist canvases, […], mimicking a set of preapproved influences. (It’s also a global presence: I saw scads of it in Berlin a few weeks back, and art fairs are inundated.)

2014 June 17, Jerry Saltz, “Zombies on the Walls: Why Does So Much New Abstraction Look the Same?”, in New York Magazine:

(chiefly in the plural, informal, Canada, US) A large number or quantity.


finding

From Middle English fyndyng, Old English findincge; equivalent to find + -ing.

Boot and Shoe Findings and Leather Establishments[…] Yocum & Wilson, 225 n 2d st, Shoe Findings, Leather, Last, and Shoe Peg Warehouse

1844, John O’Brien, O’Brien’s Philadelphia Wholesale Business Directory, page 72:

(Canada, US, generally plural) Tools or materials used in shoe making or repair. [from 19th century]


Jell-O

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Trademarked by Pearle Bixby Wait and named by his wife, May Wait. From gelatin and jelly, following a then relatively popular trend to add “O” to the end of products.

jello (alternative)
Jello (alternative)
Jell-o (alternative)
JELL-O (alternative)

For quotations using this term, see Citations:Jell-O.

(US, Canada) A brand of dessert made from gelatin.


expungement

expungement (countable and uncountable, plural expungements)

In a memorandum in support of the expungement motion, Atty. John Ward argues that the retention of his clients' records "is and will be of great harm to them."

1979 April 7, David Brill, “BPL Arrests: A Year Later”, in Gay Community News, page 1:

(US, Canada) The process by which the record of a criminal conviction is erased, destroyed or sealed.


cantaloupe

cantaloupes (plural)
cantaloup (alternative)
canteloupe (alternative)
cantelope (alternative)

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

From French cantaloup, from Italian Cantalupo (a place name), from Italian canto + lupo, literally "howl of the wolf".
Named after a former Papal summer estate near Rome, where the melons were first grown after being introduced to Europe.

Trevor, like an Aussie outbacker, eats snacks and a pickup meal of bread, cantaloupe, olives, mangoes, and melon.

2010, Mary Ellen Snodgrass, Peter Carey: A Literary Companion, page 100:

Cucumis melo Cantalupensis Group, a cultivar group melon with sweet aromatic orange flesh, including two main types:

(Australia, Canada, US) Reticulatus Group (now merged into Cantalupensis Group), with strongly netted rind, also known as American cantaloupe, muskmelon or rockmelon.


bouncy castle

(UK, Canada, New Zealand) Synonym of bouncing castle


connected

en-adj

connected (comparative more connected, superlative most connected)

more connected (comparative)
most connected (superlative)

It wasn't as though there were groups of kids from mob-connected families who socialized exclusively; in fact, a consequence of growing up in a huge city like New York was that you had several groups of friends, simply due to the number and density of people.

2010, Nick Apuzzo, Connected, →ISBN, page 23:

(Canada, US) Involved with organized crime, specifically someone not (yet) working for a crime organization, but referred to as a "friend" by made guys/wise guys inside the organization.


pork rind

en-noun

pork rind (countable and uncountable, plural pork rinds)

(US, Canada, food) A snack food made from cured pork skin; pork scratchings.


potluck

potluck (countable and uncountable, plural potlucks)

potlucks (plural)
pot luck (alternative)
pot-luck (alternative)

From pot + luck. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, sense 3 (“a shared meal consisting of whatever guests have brought”) is unlikely to have been influenced by potlatch even though it has the same meaning.

тюрлюгювеч

meal consisting of whatever food is available

Last evening, at the Free Trade Club, a dinner was given by Hon. Robert R. Roosevelt to a large number of his friends. Though invitations had been issued for a week previous, the feast was decidedly of an impromptu character as far the viands went. [...] Cards of invitation of an amusing character were issued, on which the menu was indicated, with the names of the improvised cooks who were to concoct gumbo, lobster cutlets, plumb pudding, various salads, and coffee. [...] Course followed course in the most tumultuous way. Culinary inspirations and cookery nocturnes of all flavors and tastes crowded one on another. Anything like system was discarded, and this was thought likely to destroy the artistic effects of this pot-luck picnic.

1879 March 26, “The pot-luck picnic. An impromptu and enjoyable dinner–a display of culinary skill.”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2019-07-16, page 5:

Then we had a potluck dinner. Each family brought a different dish. I always like Mrs. Rowlani's Persian rice best. I ate three helpings. Lisa likes it too, but she picks out the raisins and gives them to Fred [a dog].

1981, Wendy Heller, My Name is Nabil, Los Angeles, Calif.: Kalimát Press, →ISBN:

One of the most neglected areas in the study of American celebrations remains the small group festive gathering. As discussed by Linda T. Humphrey, the Small Group Festive Gathering is "somewhere between festival and ritual … and the solitary sandwich, (when) small groups of people get together to share food and drink and to have a good time" [...]. Among the examples she provides are potlucks, cocktail parties, and reunions.

1984, Sue Samuelsen, Ray Kepner, “Bocce Ball Meets Hacky-sack: A Western Pennsylvania Independence Day Gathering”, in Bonita Freeman-Witthoft, Thomas E. Graves, editors, Keystone Folklore, volume 3, number 2 (New Series), West Chester, Pa.: Department of Anthropology and Sociology, West Chester University, for the Pennsylvania Folklore Society, →OCLC, page 26:

Throw a class partay and tell stoodents to bring a potluck. Tell stoodents them can bring crakers & cheez wiz, salad bowl for vegtablians, [...]

2014, Jeremiah Toed, “Teacher, Please Intradouche Me 2 Hot Girl in the 1ˢᵗ Row??”, in Beth Schaefer, Grade A Papers: A Funny Coffee Table Book for Teachers and the Universe: 30 Wacky, Whimsical Student Papers Plus 4 Hilarious Parodies of Composition Theorists, Evanston, Ill.: Books on a Whim, →ISBN, page 52:

Potlucks are the time for fun, unfussy dishes. [...] Thankfully, people now enjoy lots of different flavors. Nevertheless, a potluck with people you don't know well might not be the time to bring that tripe recipe you've always wanted to try.

2016, Kristin Donnelly, “Rules of the Potluck”, in Modern Potluck: Beautiful Food to Share, New York, N.Y.: Clarkson Potter/Publishers, Crown Publishing Group, →ISBN, page 16:

(originally Canada, US) A shared meal consisting of whatever guests have brought (sometimes without prior arrangement); a potlatch; also, a dish of food brought to such a meal.


broiler

→ Finnish: broileri

→ Italian: broiler

→ Latgalian: broilers

→ Spanish: broiler

→ Swedish: broiler

From broil + -er (agent noun suffix) or, for the chickens, + -er (patient suffix).

(cooking, Canada, US) A device used to broil food; part of an oven or a small stove; known as a grill in British English.


Great White North

The rite of spring in eastern Canada has begun. Sweet and pure, maple syrup epitomizes the Great White North in all its unspoiled glory.

2007 March 26, Pamela Cuthbert, “The less sweet side of maple syrup”, in Macleans.ca, retrieved 2008-06-15:

(chiefly Canada, Michigan, informal) Canada


mudsled

(Canada) a small sled used by children to play on


offence

offence (countable and uncountable, plural offences)

British, Australia, New Zealand, and Canada standard spelling of offense.


clothes peg

clothes pegs (plural)
clothes-peg (alternative)
clothespeg (alternative)

(British, Australia, New Zealand, Canada) An object (usually made of wood or plastic) used to attach wet laundry to a clothesline so that it (the laundry) can dry.

مِشْبَك مَلَابِس

an object used to attach wet laundry to a clothesline


licence

licence (countable and uncountable, plural licences)

In some areas they have attempted to decasualize certain types of employment and to control street-trading by a local licensing system requiring juveniles to obtain their licences through the committees.

1944, The Labour Gazette, volume 44, page 720:

Serlio criticises the artistic licence taken by both ancient and contemporary architects, here specifically related to the confusion created by the rich decoration of the arch–in his illustrations, he stripped the monument of most of its beautifully […]

2017, Allison Sherman, Artistic Practices and Cultural Transfer in Early Modern Italy: Essays in Honour of Deborah Howard, Routledge, →ISBN:

UK, Canada, Australia, South Africa, Ireland, New Zealand, Malaysia, and Singapore standard spelling of license.


licence

en-verb

licence (third-person singular simple present licences, present participle licencing, simple past and past participle licenced)

licences (present singular third-person)
licencing (participle present)
licenced (participle past)
licenced (past)

(UK, Canada, South Africa, nonstandard) Misspelling of license.


Francophonie

1968, from French francophonie (“French speakers, collectively”), from francophone (“French speaker”) + -ie.

uder

Organisation internationale de la Francophonie

francophonie (alternative)
Francophony (alternative)

(Canada) French speakers in Canada, collectively (often francophonie).


tardy slip

The teacher accepted her tardy slip and allowed her to come into the classroom after the bell.

(Canada, US) A piece of paper given to a student who is late to school, to authorize the student to proceed to class.


goose egg

From the oval shape of both a goose's egg and the Arabic numeral zero (0).

I missed every question on the quiz and got a goose egg.

Grandmaster and grand duffer alike prefer the all-important point to the ignominious goose egg.

1949 March, I. A. Horowitz, “Readers' Games”, in Chess Review:


hoarding

Making inquiries she came to a hoarding, within which were excavations denoting the foundations of a building; and on the boards without one or two large posters announcing that the foundation-stone of the chapel about to be erected would be laid that afternoon at three o’clock by a London preacher of great popularity among his body.

1894 December – 1895 November, Thomas Hardy, chapter VIII, in Jude the Obscure, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, […], published 1896, →OCLC:

A hoarding is a legal requirement for the safety of the public on a building site. There are rules about its height and construction. But of course it is also the perfect opportunity: a blank canvas on which to show a vision of the life soon to be lived behind it.

2014 September 25, Hugo Macdonald, “Could those utopian hoardings for new developments get any more nauseating?”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:

They’re a familiar sight to many: the eye-roll-inducing, over-the-top development hoardings and adverts that celebrate the (inevitably luxury and, to most people, unaffordable) developments soon to be added to the city skyline.

2015 October 2, Francesca Perry, “What are the most ridiculous property development adverts you've seen?”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:

The west side is one massive building site, although it's hard to appreciate what's going on behind all the hoardings.

2022 November 16, Paul Bigland, “From rural branches to high-speed arteries”, in RAIL, number 970, page 57:

(construction, UK, Ireland, Hong Kong, Canada, Australia, New Zealand) A temporary fence-like structure built around building work to add security and prevent accidents to the public.


savoury

en-adj

savoury (comparative savourier, superlative savouriest)

savourier (comparative)
savouriest (superlative)

(British, Canada, Australian and New Zealand spelling) Alternative form of savory


budge

en-verb

budge (third-person singular simple present budges, present participle budging, simple past and past participle budged)

budges (present singular third-person)
budging (participle present)
budged (participle past)
budged (past)
bouge (alternative)
budg (alternative)

Borrowed from Middle French bouger, from Old French bougier, from Vulgar Latin *bullicāre (“to bubble; seethe; move; stir”), from Latin bullīre (“to boil; seethe; roil”). More at boil.

der

Hey, no budging! Don't budge in line!

(Upper Midwestern US, Indiana, western Canada) To cut or butt (in line); to join the front or middle rather than the back of a queue.

Upper Midwestern US; Indiana; Upper Midwestern US; Indiana


digestive

From Old French digestif, from Late Latin dīgestīvus. Doublet of digestif.

I bought a packet of chocolate digestives.

I made a mistake and bought plain digestives instead of chocolate ones.

(UK, Ireland, Canada) A digestive biscuit.


pimpernel

From Anglo-Norman pimpernele et al., Middle French pimpinelle (“burnet saxifrage”) et al., from Medieval Latin pimpinella, pipinella, most likely from piper (“pepper”) because its fruit resembled peppercorns, although variants may suggest other derivations, bipinnella the bipennis (“two-winged”).

(Canada, US) A yellow pimpernel (Taenidia integerrima)


jack off

jack offs (plural)
J-O (alternative)
J/O (alternative)

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

Nonstandard spelling of jackoff (“a jerkoff”).


shoulder check

en-verb

shoulder check (third-person singular simple present shoulder checks, present participle shoulder checking, simple past and past participle shoulder checked)

shoulder checks (present singular third-person)
shoulder checking (participle present)
shoulder checked (participle past)
shoulder checked (past)

(intransitive, Canada, US) To look backwards over one's shoulder while driving or biking, before changing lanes or making a turn, to see if any vehicles are in one's blind spots.


shoulder check

(Canada, US) An instance of looking backwards over one's shoulder while driving or biking, before changing lanes or making a turn, to see if any vehicles are in one's blind spots.


tire gauge

tire gauges (plural)
tire gage (alternative)
tyre gauge (alternative)

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(US, Canada) A device used to measure the pressure of vehicle tires.


tire-pressure gauge

en-noun

tire-pressure gauge (plural tire-pressure gauges)

tire-pressure gauges (plural)
tyre-pressure gauge (alternative)


tire-pressure

tire-pressures (plural)
tyre-pressure (alternative)

(US, Canada) the pressure of the air in a vehicle tire


two-four

two-fours (plural)
two four (alternative)

From the two digits used to form the number twenty-four, decimal 24, in place notation.

Happy and me chip in together and buy a two-four of Labatt's plus a couple of bags of potato chips.

1980, Sundogs: Stories from Saskatchewan, page 85:

“Winston, Maxine and I are going to the beer store to buy a two four, would you mind staying here with baby until I get back?”

2007, Michell Downey, Beauty and the Beast Within, page 233:

(Canada, slang) A case of twenty-four bottles or cans of beer.


clothespin

At a hundred and thirty pounds, Altman is poised as a clothespin, fierce as a horned owl.

2016 October 3, Tad Friend, “Sam Altman’s Manifest Destiny”, in The New Yorker:

(US, Canada) A clip or fastener used to secure garments to a clothesline while drying, and sometimes for other applications requiring holding or pinching.


traffic circle

(US, Canada) an intersection with a circular shape and, usually, a central island


high school

high school (countable and uncountable, plural high schools)

high schools (plural)
highschool (alternative)

Inherited from Middle English hyȝ scole (“school for higher education”), equivalent to high + school. Cognate with Dutch hogeschool (“academy, university, graduate school”), German Hochschule (“academy, college, university”).

cog

(Canada, US, Philippines, Australia, Scotland) A secondary school.


fellowship

en-verb

fellowship (third-person singular simple present fellowships, present participle fellowshipping or (US also) fellowshiping, simple past and past participle fellowshipped or (US also) fellowshiped)

fellowships (present singular third-person)
fellowshipping (participle present)
fellowshiping (US also participle present)
fellowshipped (participle past)
fellowshipped (past)
fellowshiped (US also participle past)
fellowshiped (US also past)

From Middle English felowschipe, felawshipe, felaȝschyp, equivalent to fellow + -ship; or perhaps adapted from Old Norse félagskapr, félagsskapr (“fellowship”). Compare Icelandic félagsskapur (“companionship, company, community”), Danish fællesskab (“fellowship”), Norwegian fellesskap (“fellowship”).

cog

The megachurch he attends is too big for making personal connections, so he also fellowships weekly in one of the church's small groups.

After she got married, she stopped fellowshipping with the singles in our church.

Oure lorde Jesu came in manere of a pilgrym and felauschipped [Aldh felischippede] with hem.
Our lord Jesus came in the manner of a pilgrim and fellowshipped with them.

c. 1410, Hans Kurath quoting Nicholas Love (translator), The Mirror of the Blessed Life of Jesus Christ, fifth edition (1989), quoted in Middle English Dictionary, translation of Meditationes Vitae Christi by Pseudo-Bonaventura, (Gibbs MS. c.1400), page 463

(intransitive, now chiefly religious, especially in Canada, US) To join in fellowship; to associate with.


quill

en-verb

quill (third-person singular simple present quills, present participle quilling, simple past and past participle quilled)

quills (present singular third-person)
quilling (participle present)
quilled (participle past)
quilled (past)

From late Middle English quyl, which is first attested in the early 15th century with the meanings "fragment of reed" and "shaft of a feather", probably from Low German and Middle Low German quiele, possibly ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *gʷelH- (“to pierce, stick”).
Compare Middle High German kil (“large feather, quill”), which is derived from the Low German term.

cog

For quotations using this term, see Citations:quill.

(US and Canada, especially Appalachia and the Prairies, transitive) To subject (a woman who is giving birth) to the practice of quilling (blowing pepper into her nose to induce or hasten labor).


traveller's cheque

(British, Canada) A preprinted cheque for a fixed amount, often in a foreign currency, issued by a bank that may be used instead of cash; may usually be replaced if lost or stolen.


serviceberry

serviceberries (plural)
service-berry (alternative)
service berry (alternative)

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

Compound of service (“sorb tree”) + berry. (The first part is from Latin sorbus, not English service (“assistance”).)

com+

(Canada, US) Any plant of the genus Amelanchier of small deciduous trees and large shrubs in the family Rosaceae.


Flag Day

A day commemorating the adoption of a national flag.

(Canada) February 15, for the inauguration of the Canadian flag in 1965, National Flag of Canada Day.

National Flag of Canada Day
National Flag of Canada Day


tuck shop

tuck shops (plural)
tuck-shop (alternative)
tuckshop (alternative)

One way is to make the sandwiches then choose the three most popular sandwiches to sell in the tuck shop.

1989, Jenny Ridgwell, Louise Davies, Skills in Home Economics: Technology, Heinemann Educational Publishers, page 11:

If possible a school must have a place for a tuck shop.

1996, K. S. Sidhu, “School Organisation And Administration”, in India, Sterling Publishers, page 90:

You had a small amount of pocket money and this increased as you went along and there was a tuck shop where you could spend your earnings.[…]I became a senior boy and then a pefect and it became my responsibility to run the tuck shop.

2005, Susan K. Moore, I Remember Bare Bottoms and Stinging Nettles, page 108:

In this case, the problem is that the tuck-shop has stopped making money and will have to close if you can′t find out what is wrong.

2009, R. Burger, B. P. Carels, S. Els, FET College Series: Life Orientation: NCV 4, South Africa: Pearson Education, page 163:

However, a trend for healthier tuck shops, selling fruit in particular, had already emerged a few years before legislation was introduced.

2009, Maria Cross, Barbara MacDonald, Nutrition in Institutions, UK: Wiley, page 49:

‘That note you′re holding is an order for the Crobost Stores, to restock the tuck shop.’

2011, Peter May, The Blackhouse, UK: Quercus, page 23:

(UK, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Canada, Singapore, India) A shop selling confectionery, especially one in or near a school.


hydro

en-noun

hydro (countable and uncountable, plural hydros)

From prefix hydro-, from Ancient Greek ὕδωρ (húdōr, “water”). Canadian sense "electricity" from the fact that hydroelectricity is the prevalent source of electricity in much of Canada and many electric companies have the word "Hydro" in their names.

I won't have lights until my house gets the hydro turned on.

She was having trouble paying the hydro.

He crashed his car against a hydro pole.

(Canada, uncountable) electrical power supply; specifically, electrical power provided by a utility (as a publicly-owned one); payment or bills for this.


invigilate

en-verb

invigilate (third-person singular simple present invigilates, present participle invigilating, simple past and past participle invigilated)

invigilates (present singular third-person)
invigilating (participle present)
invigilated (participle past)
invigilated (past)

Borrowed from Latin invigilātus, past participle of invigilō (“to stay awake, watch over”).

Professor Burns will be invigilating over the final examinations to ensure that the students do not cheat.

(UK, Canada, ambitransitive) To oversee a test or exam.


two by four

Well, Moses stood on the Red Sea shore, And smote the water with a two by four

1959, Nat King Cole, Oh, Mary, don't you weep.:

Date debatable, Ledbelly - from a traditional folk song, Linin' Track
Moses stood on the Red Sea shore, smotin' that water with a two by four

(chiefly Canada, US) A length of sawn wood of cross section approximately 2 inches by 4 inches, most often employed as structural framing lumber (dimension or dimensional lumber).

бичме́

A length of sawn wood 2 inches by 4 inches

He'll plan a two by four/But not for me.

1930, George, Ira Gershwin, But Not for Me:

(chiefly Canada, US, dated) A small, modest building.


YBYSAIA

(Canada, US, slang) Initialism of you bet your sweet ass I am: a strong affirmative response.


Tylenol

(Canada, US, pharmacology) A brand of acetaminophen (“paracetamol”)


Tylenol

en-noun

Tylenol (countable and uncountable, plural Tylenols)

(Canada, US, uncountable) Alternative form of tylenol (genericized trademark) (the pharmaceutical drug acetaminophen (“paracetamol”))

tylenol

(Canada, US, countable) Alternative form of tylenol (a tablet containing this drug)


rez

(Canada, slang) Clipping of residence; dormitory.


boardwalk

A man, whom we had noticed walking rather uncertainly, as if not sure whether he was going up or down hill, at this crisis came to a pause, staggered off the boardwalk, and leaned against the fence.

1865 June, “Godey’s Arm-chair”, in [Louis Antoine Godey and Sarah Josepha Hale], editors, Godey’s Lady’s Book and Magazine, volume LXX, Philadelphia, Pa.: L[ouis] A[ntoine] Godey, →OCLC, page 557, column 2:

[A]bout the beginning of the war the greatest concern of [Ulysses Simpson] Grant was to get a good boardwalk laid from his house to the store. […] It is related, that after one of his great victories, some gentlemen of Galena had the walk laid, and telegraphed the General: "Rest easy, the walk is down."

1868, James S[anks] Brisbin, chapter III, in The Campaign Lives of Ulysses S. Grant and Schuyler Colfax, Cincinnati, Oh.: C. F. Vent & Co., publishers; […], →OCLC, page 57:

From the height of the boardwalk the sea lay before them, silver and stony, fold on fold of it, stretching east into the mist and clouds.

1963 winter, Josephine W[inslow] Johnson, “Coney Island in November”, in The Virginia Quarterly Review, volume 39, number 1, Charlottesville, Va.: University of Virginia, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 453:

Oh when the sun beats down and burns the tar up on the roof / And your shoes get so hot you wish your tired feet were fire proof / Under the boardwalk, down by the sea, yeah / On a blanket with my baby is where I'll be

1964 June, Kenny Young, Arthur Resnick (lyrics and music), “Under the Boardwalk”, performed by The Drifters:

New Jersey was reeling on Wednesday from the impact of Hurricane Sandy, which has caused catastrophic flooding here in Hoboken and in other New York City suburbs, destroyed entire neighborhoods across the state and wiped out iconic boardwalks in shore towns that had enchanted generations of vacationgoers.

2012 October 31, David M. Halbfinger, “New Jersey reels from storm’s thrashing”, in The New York Times, archived from the original on 2012-11-01:

A slightly elevated path for pedestrians over sandy or swampy ground, typically made out of wood; specifically (Canada, US) one running alongside a body of water or beach.


granola

en-adjective

granola (comparative more granola, superlative most granola)

more granola (comparative)
most granola (superlative)

Globe Pequot Press
Graham flour
Granula
James Caleb Jackson
Will Keith Kellogg
granola

Earlier, with a capital g, it was a proprietary name for a kind of breakfast cereal, registered in 1886 by Will Keith Kellogg and in use into the early 20th century. It was initially known as Granula and renamed Granola to avoid legal problems with James Caleb Jackson, who invented a similar cereal in 1863, named Granula after the granules of Graham flour, the main ingredient. The food and name were revived in the 1960s. By 1967, it appears in American English, probably from Italian grano (“grain”) or granular, with the commercial suffix -ola.

You see more and more of the granola hippie activist types these days.

[…]behind them a granola-looking mom in denim overalls and a t-shirt was pulling in to do her drop-off . . . from a Prius.

2013 November 21, Jame Schaefer, Tobias Winright, Environmental Justice and Climate Change, page 228:

Rather, the anti-vax movement is almost entirely a phenomenon of the affluent crunchy granola Left—as everyone across the political spectrum acknowledged until the last week or so.

2015 February 13, Dennis Saffran, “The Orwellian Campaign To Project Anti-Vaccination Onto Republicans”, in The Federalist:

Yet some experts believe that voices from the far right are beginning to drown out those of the crunchy granola crowd.

2020 June 18, Kiera Butler, “The Anti-Vax Movement’s Radical Shift From Crunchy Granola Purists to Far-Right Crusaders”, in Mother Jones:

(chiefly Canada, US, of a person) Eating healthy food, supporting the protection of the environment, and having liberal views.


ticked

en-adj

ticked (comparative more ticked, superlative most ticked)

more ticked (comparative)
most ticked (superlative)

(Canada, US, slang) Ticked off; annoyed.


flivver

Judge Rummy
Tad Dorgan
The Sun (New York City)

Unknown, early 20th c.; in 1919, cartoonist Tad Dorgan claimed to have created the term in his comic strip "Judge Rummy".

Billy being too poor to own a car, had hired a cheap flivver for the day, and was purposely ten minutes behind the time, but to his disgust found the procession not yet started.

1920 July, Lyman Seelye, “Quite a Picnic”, in The Overland Monthly:

These workers were often joined by impoverished small farmers from Oklahoma, Kansas, and Missouri who pooled their resources to buy a flivver and follow the harvest into the Dakotas and Canada.

1998, Nigel Anthony Sellars, Oil, Wheat & Wobblies: The Industrial Workers of the World in Oklahoma, 1905-1930, University of Oklahoma Press, →ISBN, →OL, page 180:

(colloquial, dated, Canada, US) An automobile, particularly one which is old and inexpensive.


hardscrabble

his hardscrabble peanut farm

In the case of Allegheny Briskow, poverty, the drought, the grinding hardships of these hard-scrabble Texas counties, had dwarfed the intellect, the very soul of a splendid young animal.

1922, Rex Ellingwood Beach, chapter V, in Flowing Gold:

Villages in the more remote and hard-scrabble regions, including some mountain areas, are being abandoned, and nature is starting to creep back.

2018, Tim Flannery, Europe: A Natural History, page 286:

(Canada, US, of land) Requiring much work to farm, and ultimately not very productive.

He leads a hardscrabble existence.

Being the savage’s bowsman, that is, the person who pulled the bow-oar in his boat (the second one from forward), it was my cheerful duty to attend upon him while taking that hard-scrabble scramble upon the dead whale’s back.

1851 November 14, Herman Melville, chapter 72, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC:

While Rose tried to keep up with Westbrook, the Knicks’ Carmelo Anthony struggled mightily, going 4 of 19 for 18 hardscrabble points.

2016 November 28, Mike Vorkunov, “Despite Flash of Rose’s Prime, Knicks Are Dazed by Westbrook and Thunder”, in The New York Times:

Grace and her twin brother Gilbert (Kodi Smit-McPhee) lost their mother during birth, and their alcoholic father during their hardscrabble childhood.

2024 October 23, Jacob Oller, “Clay weepy Memoir Of A Snail crawls through a gauntlet of misery”, in AV Club:

(Canada, US, by extension) Involving hard work and struggle.


bombardier

Borrowed from Middle French bombardier, from Old French bombarder (“a stone throwing engine”), equivalent to bombard + -er.

der

The bombardier then checked the gyroscopic stabilization of the bombsight and clutched in the electrical motor.

1990, Charles W McArthur, Operations Analysis in the U.S. Army Eighth Air Force in World War II, American Mathematical Society, →ISBN, page 142:

(Canada, US) A bomber crew member who sights and releases bombs.

Wikipedia: Bombardier (Bdr) and Lance Bombardier (LBdr or L/Bdr) are British Army ranks used in the Royal Artillery and Royal Horse Artillery instead of (respectively) Corporal and Lance Corporal. In the Canadian Forces, the Artillery Branch uses the ranks of Master Bombardier and Bombardier instead of Master Corporal and Corporal.

non-commissioned officer
non-commissioned officer

(Canada, British) A non-commissioned officer rank in artillery, equivalent to corporal. Abbreviated Bdr.


From 1, used to dial long-distance numbers and 800, which was, for a long time, the only North American toll-free area code.

866-555-1234... that's a 1-800 number, isn't it?

FEMA has got a 1-800 number.

1994, Bill Clinton, Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States, William J. Clinton:

We provided a 1-800 hot line and a new food stamp tool kit which I would also like to provide for the record.

Exhibit 9.2 represents a 1-800 customer ordering process.

2001, David Wade, Ron Recardo, Corporate Performance Management:

Once when her husband had got a 1-800 number she used to get calls from all sorts of lonely weirdos who had nothing better to do late at night than call up people they didn't know.

Many people have profited from providing easy services that others do not like to do, such as a simple service like barbeque cleaning, superscoopers for cleaning up after dogs, an errand service, or a 1-800 tele-tutor service for school-age children who need assistance with their homework.

2002, Elaine Dundon, The Seeds of Innovation, page 115:

“I got a 1-800 number. I could check your credit card right now, and get an approval code, or find out if it's stolen or not. Just dial a 1-800 number and deal with computers."

2003, Bambi Vincent, Bob Arno, Travel Advisory!: How to Avoid Thefts, Cons, and Street Scams While Traveling:

(Canada, US) A toll-free number or a long-distance telephone numbers; using any of North American toll-free area codes 800, 888, 877, 866, 855, 844 or 833.


deke

Canadian English, a contraction of decoy.


deke

en-verb

deke (third-person singular simple present dekes, present participle deking, simple past and past participle deked)

dekes (present singular third-person)
deking (participle present)
deked (participle past)
deked (past)

(Canada, slang) To avoid, go around, or dodge an object, person, or conversation topic; often by using trickery.


checked

a checked tie

At that moment a long, scraggy individual in a checked suit poked his head into the bar, looked around portentously, whistled mysteriously to my informant, and jerked his thumb and head in the direction of the door.

1946, George Johnston, Skyscrapers in the Mist, page 121:

Later that day, all X's friends put on their red and white checked overalls and went over to see X.

1978, Lois Gould, X: A Fabulous Child's Story, New York: Daughters Publishing Co., →ISBN:

(Canada, US) Having a pattern of checks; checkered.


mickey

* (potato): From the common Irish name; compare murphy (“a potato”).
* (computer mouse resolution): An allusion to the cartoon character Mickey Mouse.

While you're at the liquor store, get a mickey of rye?

(chiefly Canada, informal) A small bottle of liquor, holding 375 ml or 13 oz., typically shaped to fit in one's pocket.


yardman

A worker in any of several types of yard, as:

(chiefly Canada, US) A laborer hired to do outdoor work.


backyard

backyards (plural)
back-yard (alternative)
back yard (alternative)

(Australia, Canada, New Zealand, US) A yard to the rear of a house or similar residence.

The entire beach was my backyard, from the Hiltons' house in the south all the way to Steele Hunter's house in the north.

2005, Christopher Kennedy Lawford, Symptoms of withdrawal: a memoir of snapshots and redemption, →ISBN, page 18:

(Australia, Canada, New Zealand, US, colloquial) A person's neighborhood, or an area nearby to a person's usual residence or place of work and where the person is likely to go.

However, the region was in the United States backyard and Britain should look passively on with acquiescence in whatever policy the United States saw fit to pursue about Mexico.

1942, Wilfrid Hardy Callcott, The Caribbean policy of the United States, 1890-1920, page 343:

(Australia, Canada, New Zealand, US, colloquial) An area nearby to a country or other jurisdiction's legal boundaries, particularly an area in which the country feels it has an interest.


jurist

/ˈd͡ʒʊəɹ.ɪst/

/ˈd͡ʒəɹ.ɪst/


dumpster

Genericized brand name, from blend of dump + Dempster. The original brand (and some associated things) are no longer trademarked, because the three trademarks involved have either expired or been cancelled. By surface analysis, dump + -ster.

He realized with a brief shudder that Kurt probably used this flashlight while nipple-deep in dumpsters, had an image of Kurt transferring it from his gloved hands to his mouth and back again as he dug through bags of kitchen and toilet waste, looking for discarded technology.

2005, Cory Doctorow, Someone Comes to Town, Someone Leaves Town:

[…]with the uncanny ability to always look like he just woke up in a dumpster

2020 December 27, Dave Barry, “Dave Barry's Year in Review 2020”, in The Washington Post Magazine:

(Canada, US) A large, usually metal trash receptacle designed to be hoisted up by a garbage truck in order to be emptied.


coaster

From coast (“edge of the land where it meets an ocean, sea, gulf, bay, or large lake”) + -er (suffix forming agent nouns). Coast is derived from Middle English coste (“rib; side of the body, flank; side of a building; face of a solid figure; coast, shore; bay, gulf; sea; concavity, hollow; boundary, limit; land; country; district, province, region; locality, place; division of the heavens; compass direction; direction; location with reference to direction, side”) [and other forms], from Old French coste (“rib; side of an object; coast”) (modern French côte (“rib; coast; hill, slope”)), from Latin costa (“rib; side, wall”), from Proto-Indo-European *kost-.

navegador (de costas)

sailor who travels only in coastal waters

Salvelinus fontinalis
Salvelinus fontinalis#Translingual

(Canada, US) Short for coaster trout (“the brook trout (Salvelinus fontinalis) in Lake Superior and Maine”).


horse trailer

(US, Canada) a wheeled transport for horses


valedictorian

Formed 1759, from valedictory (“of a speech made when leaving”) + -an.

suffix

Coordinate term: salutatorian

Our oldest son was valedictorian of his high school class and went to a top university. But right about this time two years ago, our second son told us he wasn’t interested in college.

2020 July 2, Arthur C. Brooks, “A College Degree Is No Guarantee of a Good Life”, in The Atlantic:

At first, it seemed a joyous occasion. There was an audible gasp in the room, then boisterous cheering and applause when the announcement was made: Ikeria Washington and Layla Temple had been named 2021 valedictorian and salutatorian for West Point High School.

2021 June 11, Stephanie Saul, “Two Black Students Won School Honors. Then Came the Calls for a Recount.”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

(US, Canada, properly) The individual in a graduating class who delivers the farewell or valedictory address, often the person who graduates with the highest grades.

(US, Canada, colloquial) The individual in a graduating class who graduates with the highest grades.


excelsior

From Latin excelsior, comparative of excelsus (“high”). The name of the stuffing material was originally a trademark.

These little mangers, with baby dolls representing Jesus, porcelean Josephs and Marys, wide-eyed cows of papier-mâché, and excelsior for straw, were purchased by pious parents for well-behaved children at Christmas-tide.

1942, Elliot Paul, The Last Time I Saw Paris, Sickle Moon, published 2001, page 91:

Working both [of them] at Kroll's then, she selling candy and cashews in a white smock with "Jan" stitched on her pocket and he lugging easy chairs and maple end tables around on the floor above, hammering apart packing crates from nine to five, the itch of the packing excelsior getting into his nose and eyes and making them burn.

1960, John Updike, 'Rabbit, Run', page 13:

Each Pet Rock came in a cardboard carrying case, complete with air holes, tenderly nestled on a bed of excelsior.

2015 March 31, Margalit Fox, “Gary Dahl, Inventor of the Pet Rock, Dies at 78”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

(Canada, US) Stuffing material (as for furniture and mattresses) made of slender, curled woodshavings, as a substitute for hair.

lastuvilla

stuffing made of slender, curled wood shavings


garbage truck

(US, Canada) A vehicle for the collection and removal of domestic waste


low-key

en-adv

low-key (comparative more low-key, superlative most low-key)

more low-key (comparative)
most low-key (superlative)
lowkey (alternative)
low key (alternative)
lowk (alternative)
LWK (alternative)
lwk (alternative)

I'm low key salty about the way that nigga did you but it seems like he still cares about you.

2015, Lady Onyxx, Started From The Top Now I'm Here 3, page 81:

Before I open the messages, I disable the activity notification so no one will know I'm low-key obsessed with a party I didn't get to attend.

2018, Rachel Vincent, Strange New World:

(chiefly Canada, US, colloquial) Kind of.


caretaker

(chiefly Canada, US) Someone who takes care of a person; a parent, carer or other guardian.


bismarck

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

Named for the German statesman Otto von Bismarck.

(Manitoba) A doughnut filled with cream, often with chocolate icing.

(Alberta, Saskatchewan, Northern US, Midwestern US) A jelly doughnut: a doughnut filled with jam and coated with sugar.

Alberta; Saskatchewan; Alberta; Saskatchewan

(Midland US) A fried cruller, or a sort of pancake.

A dessert pastry:
A fried cruller, or a sort of pancake.


waitstaff

en-noun

waitstaff (usually uncountable, plural waitstaffs)

waitstaffs (plural)
wait staff (alternative)
waiting staff (alternative)

(US, Canada) Collectively, staff employed to wait at tables in a restaurant.


coverall

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

(chiefly US, Canada, Australia) A loose-fitting jumpsuit-style protective garment worn over other clothing.


realtor

From real (in real estate) and -or. Coined by Charles N. Chadbourn in 1916, on the model of Latin agent nouns ending in -tor (such as actor, creator), to refer to real-estate professionals who are members of the National Association of Realtors, a trade association in the United States. Equivalent to realt(y) + -or.

It was composed of an engineer, if I remember correctly, a town planner, a realtor, and occasionally an architect […]

1919, Mr. Shannon, U.S. Housing Corporation. Hearings Before a Subcommittee, United States Senate:

First place, we ought to insist that folks call us ‘realtors’ and not ‘real-estate men.’ Sounds more like a reg’lar profession.

1922, Sinclair Lewis, Babbitt, New York, N.Y.: Harcourt, Brace and Company, →OCLC:

Intrigued by the prospect of an additional commission, the realtor hurriedly assured me he foresaw no problem in obtaining the lease.

1975, Jerzy Kosiński, Cockpit, Grove Press, published 1998, page 189:

The terms agent, broker, and realtor are often used interchangeably.

1997, Douglas A. Gray, Canadian home buying made easy, second edition, page 72:

The realtor was like a carnivore, ready to spring. He was originally from New York and he seemed like the kind of guy who could smell a deal.

2003, Gary Andrew Dresden, Confessions of a Gynecologist, iUniverse, page 111:

(Canada, US) A person or business that sells or leases out real estate, acting as an agent for the property owner.

National Association of Realtors
realtor


foosball

From German Fußball, itself a calque of English football.

[…] Caleb on Tuesday, for the first time in months, had invited him to play foosball […]

2001, Jonathan Franzen, The Corrections:

(chiefly US, Canada) table soccer (US), table football (UK)


fries

fries pl (normally plural, singular fry)

(cooking, chiefly Canada, US, Philippines) Ellipsis of french fries.


locker room

locker rooms (plural)
lockerroom (alternative)
locker-room (alternative)

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

We changed into our swimsuits in the locker room next to the pool.

(US, Canada) A room attached to an athletic, recreational, or workplace facility, filled with lockers for storage of clothing and equipment; clothes are generally changed there.


concussion

concussion (countable and uncountable, plural concussions)

(uncountable in Commonwealth, countable in Canada, US) An injury to part of the body, most especially the brain, caused by a violent blow, followed by loss of function.


garbo

garbo (countable and uncountable, plural garbos)

Clipping of garbage + -o (colloquialising suffix).

"Any quartz in the Mountain?" / "Just garbo quartz, not enough to produce any electrical fields." / "No disruption in the magnetic field?" / "No, sir."

2012, Mickael Taddeo, Gabriel's Mountain, FriesenPress, →ISBN, page 229:

Then they beat me and burned me and locked me up, before handing me back like a piece of garbo, when I acted up or they got tired of me.

2016, Clare Revell, Violets in February, Pelican Book Group, →ISBN:

Another Twitter user wrote, "I could lie to you and say that I'm totally not interested in that game [but] I am interested. It sucks so much that JKR is a transphobic piece of garbo. ... I think if I do play it, I'll make it clear in all promotions my feelings about JKR and also promote a trans charity for folks to donate their funds towards. Maybe it's not enough, and I might not have a lot of funds, but I do wanna use my voice to do what I can to support my trans friends."

2022 March 19, Dan Clarendon, “'Hogwarts Legacy' Will Reportedly Welcome Transgender Characters — You Hear That, J.K.?”, in Distractify, archived from the original on 2022-04-22:

Then Noelle told me she's a Paralympian and I was like, "Well, my lie was just garbo. That was terrible. Noelle, you're a beast!"

2022 December 7, Mike Bloom, quoting Sami Layadi, “'Survivor 43's' Sami Layadi Explains Why He Never Went After Cody and Jesse”, in Parade, archived from the original on 2022-12-08:

(Australia, Canada, US, uncountable, colloquial, derogatory) Garbage; something considered worthless.


happy holidays

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

In the United States people say Happy Holidays to include all people on the earth: the Jewish people Celebrating Hanukah, Africans celebrating Kwanza, Middle Eastern people celebrating Eid, Christians celebrating Christmas, […]

2009, Ruben Santos Claveria, Holiday Songs and Kisses: Christmas Songs And other Poems:

Madeleine Mayfair, What Should I Write? 101 Holiday Wishes for Greeting Cards
Season's greetings and happy holidays!

(Canada, US, Philippines) A greeting used during the Christmas and winter holiday season to recognize the celebration of many holidays, sometimes starting with Thanksgiving and including Hanukkah, the winter solstice, Christmas, Kwanzaa, and New Year's Day.


butthole

My butthole is on fire from that dang hot sauce of yours.

Opinions are like buttholes, Everyone has one but sometimes they stink and you don't want to hear them

(Canada, US, mildly vulgar, slang) The anus.

Don't be such a butthole.

(Canada, US, derogatory, euphemistic) An objectionable person; a bastard; a jerk.


cable guy

(Canada, US, informal) A man who works for the cable television service and installs cable television.


quarter note

(Canada, US, music) A musical note one beat long in 4/4 time.


jap

en-verb

jap (third-person singular simple present japs, present participle japping, simple past and past participle japped)

japs (present singular third-person)
japping (participle present)
japped (participle past)
japped (past)
Jap (alternative)

Shortening of Japanese, in reference to the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor.

(Canada, US, ethnic slur, slang, transitive) To carry out a sneak attack upon (something or somebody).


Likely influenced by the time (4:20 pm) a particular group would meet in search of marijuana, circa 1971; subsequently spread as a cipher through the San Francisco Bay area and adopted among Grateful Dead fans.

four-twenty (alternative)
four twenty (alternative)


lardass

lardasses (plural)
lard-arse (alternative)

It was soon realized that there werenąt^([sic]) enough creaky knees, arthritic hips and aching backs outside of the sunbelt to support carts so they went after the lardass trade. And when they realized that there were not sufficient numbers of creaky knees, arthritic hips, aching backs and lardasses, they targeted the morally crippled. And when they saw that creaky knees, arthritic hips, aching backs, lardasses and the morally crippled didnąt^([sic]) do it for them, they finally made carts mandatory for everyone.

1997 February 20, Albert Charles, “CART GOLF as I see it”, in rec.sport.golf (Usenet):

(Canada, US, slang, derogatory, vulgar) An overweight or obese person.


solarium

solariums (plural)
solaria (plural)
Solarium (alternative)

From Latin sōlārium (“sundial, place for enjoying sunlight”), from sōl (“sun”) + -ārium (“-arium: indicating related places or devices”).

bor

My brother kept a health-lift a few years ago... and then he had a blue-glass solarium.

1891, Edward Eggleston, The Faith Doctor, page 289:

The solariums on the roofs of the houses of the ancient Greeks and Romans testify to the benefits obtained by them from sun baths.

The Greeks had their helioses and the Romans their solaria; yet heliotherapy has as yet scarcely emerged from the most empiric of performances into the dignity of a scientifically justified or rationalized procedure.

1925, Hobart Amory Hare, Progressive Medicine, page 219:

(chiefly US and Canada) A room, rooftop, balcony, or terrace, used for its abundant sunlight (especially) when used as a medical treatment.


band-aid

band-aids (plural)
bandaid (alternative)

Genericized trademark from Band-Aid, registered and coined by Johnson & Johnson in 1924 as a clipping of bandage + aid.

(Australia, Canada, US, Philippines) An adhesive bandage, a small piece of fabric or plastic that may be stuck to the skin in order to temporarily cover a small wound.

It was another of those political band-aids patted over a minor sore.

1968, United Church Observer, n 15 (March), p 36

(Australia, Canada, US, Philippines, informal) A temporary or makeshift solution to a problem, created ad hoc and often with a lack of foresight.


gas pump

(Canada, US) A device at a gas station that dispenses gasoline.


about to

I'm not about to let the lockdown stop me from going to the beach every day.

I'm not about to wander around at night to find it.

(as negative 'not about to', informal, originally US, Canada) Indicates that one has no intention of doing the stated thing at any time in the future.


poster child

poster children (plural)
posterchild (alternative)

From the usage of appealing young people and children in charitable advertisements.

Coordinate term: pin-up

He's a poster child for militant vegetarianism.

I think he smile could have opened the door by itself. It seemed to have a life of it’s^([sic]) own with snow-white teeth below sparkling blue eyes. Its owner could be the poster child for the expression “grinning from ear to ear.”

2005, Susan Cunningham, “Poster Child”, in Unwrapping the Sandwich Generation. Life Vignettes about Seniors & Their Adult Boomer Children, Morgan James Publishing, →ISBN, page 175:

“He’s not exactly a poster child for the average well-adjusted American kid. He’s only been in-country for a few days.”

2006, Ted Dekker, Bill Bright, Blessed Child, Thomas Nelson, →ISBN, page 77:

A visit to Adventure Island–an after-school program developed by Robert Slavin and Nancy Madden, professors at Johns Hospkins University and creators of Success for All, a comprehensive school reform program practiced in hundreds of schools across the country–could be the poster child for what some might call the academic approach.

2008, Susan B. Neuman, “Changing the Odds though After-School Programs”, in Changing the Odds for Children at Risk: Seven Essential Principles of Educations Programs that Break the Cycle of Poverty, ABC-CLIO, →ISBN, page 169:

But it isn’t difficult to see why Lawrence, who has since become the poster child for healthy body image, elicits such strong reactions — particularly in GIF form, where differences between the original and Photoshopped images are clear.

2013 December 16, Caitlin Dewey, “Two-year-old Photoshopped Jennifer Lawrence magazine cover draws criticism”, in The Washington Post:

(chiefly Canada, US, idiomatic) One who is a prototypical or quintessential example of something.


windrow

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karhe

line of gravel left behind by the edge of a grader

(Canada) A line of snow left behind by the edge of a snowplow’s blade.

(by extension) A long snowbank along the side of a road.


stickum

en-noun

stickum (countable and uncountable, plural stickums)

A strip of muslin swaddles his privates, fixed by means of pine stickum to his belly and buttocks.

1982, TC Boyle, Water Music, Penguin, published 2006, page 16:

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.

(Canada, US, informal) Any adhesive, adhesive residue; any sticky or gummy substance.


excuse me

请阁讲一摆

pháiⁿ-sè, chhiáⁿ koh kóng chi̍t-pái / phái-sè, chhiáⁿ koh kóng chi̍t-pái

什物？

sím-mi̍h? / sím-mi? / sím-mih? / sīm-mi̍h? / sám-mi̍h?

(Canada, US) Said as a request to repeat information.

It was so hot I took off my clothes and sat by the window to cool off.
Excuse me?

(Canada, US) Said, as though as a request to repeat information, in order to indicate disbelief or indignation.


layaway

layaway (countable and uncountable, plural layaways)

Deverbal of lay away. The truly solidified verb (as contrasted with the merely misspelled one) is back-formed from the noun but is nonstandard.

A chain of local gun shops advertised, as a “Father's Day Sale,” the semiautomatic Intratec TEC-9, with extra ammo clip, case, and flash suppressor, reduced from $347.80 to $249.95 and available on layaway.

1987, Joan Didion, Miami, Granta, published 2005, page 24:

(Canada, US) The system of accepting a deposit and holding for a customer to complete purchase.

(Canada, US) An item which has been held in this way.

капарирана стока

An item which has a deposit placed on it


pogo

Genericization of the trademark Pogo, which is a hot-dog frankfurter on a stick and covered in batter.


lefty

(Canada, US, informal) One who is left-handed.


lefty

en-adj

lefty (comparative more lefty, superlative most lefty)

more lefty (comparative)
most lefty (superlative)
leftie (alternative)

(Canada, US, not comparable) Left-handed.

The lefty scissors are the ones with the red plastic handles.

(Canada, US, not comparable) Intended for left-handed use.


equalizer

equalizers (plural)
equaliser (alternative)

Familiar epithets for the revolver were equalizer, shootin' iron . . . smoke wagon.

1950, C. Merton Babcock, “The Vocabulary of Social Life on the American Frontier”, in Western Folklore, volume 9, number 2, page 138:

(Canada, US, slang) A weapon, usually a blackjack or gun.


blueline

en-verb

blueline (third-person singular simple present bluelines, present participle bluelining, simple past and past participle bluelined)

bluelines (present singular third-person)
bluelining (participle present)
bluelined (participle past)
bluelined (past)

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Not unlike the negative results of the bluelining and steering practices of many banks and real estate firms, such efforts leave bitterness in their wake and serve to bolster the worst fears and prejudices of both races.

1979, Wade Clark Roof, Race and residence in American cities, page 130:

(US, Canada) To designate a certain area as representing one in which investment is risky.


favourably

en-adv

favourably (comparative more favourably, superlative most favourably)

more favourably (comparative)
most favourably (superlative)
favorably (alternative)

She looked favourably on people who gave freely their assistance.

(British, Canada) In a favourable manner.


shaughraun

(Ireland, Canada) A wanderer; a vagabond.

We’ll paralyse Europe as Ignatius Gallaher used to say when he was on the shaughraun, doing billiardmaking in the Clarence.

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

(Ireland, Canada) A state of travelling or wandering.


layover

/ˈleɪˌəʊvə(ɹ)/

We had a layover while waiting to change planes, so we stretched our legs.

We could restore a second platform at Battersby to eliminate the long layover in the branch stub that is currently required for trains to pass one another.

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

(Canada, US, Australia) A break between stages of a journey.


travois

travoises (plural)
travois (plural)
travail (alternative)
travoise (alternative)
travoy (alternative)

PIE word
 *tréyes
The noun is derived from Michif travawy (IPA⁽ᵏᵉʸ⁾: /tɹæˈvɔɪ/), from Canadian French travail (“travois”), from French travail, from Middle French travail, from Old French travail (“frame for restraining horses and cattle for medical treatment or shoeing”), from Late Latin tripālium (“torture device consisting of three stakes”), from Latin tripālis (“having, or propped up by, three pales or stakes”) (from tri- (prefix meaning ‘three’) + pālus (“pale, stake”)) + -ium (suffix forming nouns).
The spelling travois and pronunciations /ˈtɹævwɑ(ː)/, /tɹævˈwɑ/ are probably influenced by French -ois (suffix forming adjectives relating to particular countries, regions, or cities, their associated inhabitant names, and the local languages or dialects).
The verb is derived from the noun.

IPA

IPA⁽ᵏᵉʸ⁾: /tɹæˈvɔɪ/

noncog

On the plains they will have horses dragging travoises, dogs with travoises, women and children loaded with impedimenta, […]

1892, Julian Ralph, “‘Talking Musquash’: Concluding the Sketch of the History and Work of the Hudson Bay Company”, in On Canada’s Frontier […], New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, […], →OCLC, pages 236–237:

Riding out for wood he watched his shadow and the shadow of the horse and travois cross those palings tree by tree. Boyd rode in the travois holding the axe as if he'd keep guard over the word they'd gathered […]

1994, Cormac McCarthy, chapter I, in The Crossing (The Border Trilogy; 2), New York, N.Y.: Alfred A[braham] Knopf, →ISBN, page 5:

(originally and chiefly Canada, US, historical) A frame, often consisting of two poles tied together at one end to form a V-shaped structure with the vertex attached to a dog, horse, etc., or held by a person and the other ends touching the ground, which was used by indigenous peoples (notably the Plains Aboriginals of North America) to drag loads over land.

manistsí

frame used by indigenous peoples (notably the Plains Aboriginals of North America) to drag loads over land

(Canada, US, forestry, archaic) A sled dragged by a horse or ox to transport logs, with one end of each log on the sled and the other end touching the ground.


conga line

It was a pity, Mel Bakersfeld reflected, that runway snow teams were not on more public view. . . . Airport men called the group a Conga Line.

1968, Arthur Hailey, Airport, Doubleday, page 56:

Plows, snowblowers and dump trucks have formed their winter conga lines, and most Montreal Island cities say they'll have streets and sidewalks cleared of snow by Thursday.

1999 January 5, Amanda Jelowicki, “Heavy going: Road crews will be out till Thursday to clean up first big snowfall”, in The Gazette, Montreal, Canada, page A3:

The trip took longer than usual–following the snow plow conga line, and dodging spinning Expeditions and Jimmys as they pirouetted off the road.

1999 January 16, “Welcome to Spin City: Heavy Snow Highlights Drivers' Bad Judgement”, in Toronto Star, Canada, page W1:

On highways such as I190 and I290 a conga line lets plows make a clean sweep from curbline to curbline on one pass he said.

2000 January 26, “Snow Cleanup Choreographed”, in Worcester Telegram Gazette:

The plows move in a "conga line," one tossing snow to the next.

2001 February 22, Matthew L. Wald, “Getting Snow Off Runways”, in New York Times, retrieved 2011-08-13:

(Canada, Northern US, figuratively) A moving formation of snowplows and/or similar equipment, arranged in a diagonal line across a multilane highway, airport runway, or other roadway, such that the snow from the first vehicle is passed to the second, and then from the second to third, and so on, thereby clearing much or all of the route's width in a single pass.


chippy

en-adj

chippy (comparative chippier, superlative chippiest)

chippier (comparative)
chippiest (superlative)
chippie (alternative)

To sit in solemn silence in a dull, dark dock, / In a pestilential prison, with a life-long lock, / Awaiting the sensation of a short, sharp shock, / From a cheap and chippy chopper on a big black block!

There was something so irksome about Barry Groom that he had a fascination: you longed for him to annoy you again. He was incredibly chippy, was that the thing?—all his longings came out as a kind of disdain for what he longed for.

2004, Alan Hollinghurst, chapter 5, in The Line of Beauty […], London: Picador, →ISBN:

(Canada, UK) Ill-tempered, disagreeable.

2007, Canadian Interuniversity Sport, cisport.ca,
The University of Lethbridge Pronghorns and University of Saskatchewan Huskies battled to a 1-1 draw in a chippy Canada West men’s soccer affair that saw the teams combine for 33 fouls and five yellow cards.

(Canada, US, sports) Involving violence or unfair play.


secondary school

en-noun

secondary school (countable and uncountable, plural secondary schools)

(education, Canada, US) The federally designated, graduation-separated classification of grades 9–12 (approximately ages 14–18), regardless of whether they are compiled together in one school or separate from the other grades.


archeological

en-adj

archeological (comparative more archeological, superlative most archeological)

more archeological (comparative)
most archeological (superlative)

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Rabbit is the most represented species at every archeological level, although some macromammal remains (ibex, red deer, wild boar, lynx, fox, and badger) have also been documented.

2015 March 12, “Looking at the Camp: Paleolithic Depiction of a Hunter-Gatherer Campsite”, in PLOS ONE, →DOI:

(Canada, US) Alternative spelling of archaeological


embarras

(now rare, historical, Canada, US) Specifically, a clump of driftwood obstructing a waterway.


liquor store

(US, Canada) A shop that sells alcoholic beverages to be consumed off the premises.

مُتَّجِر كُحُول

shop that sells alcoholic beverages to be drunk off the premises

酒店

さかみせ, sakamise, さかだな, sakadana, しゅてん, shuten

magazín vínnoj i likjóro-vódočnoj prodúkcii

магази́н ви́нной и ликёро-во́дочной проду́кции


clangour

en-noun

clangour (countable and uncountable, plural clangours)

clangours (plural)
clangor (alternative)

When every least commander’s will, best soldiers had obey’d, / And both the hosts were rang’d for fight, the Trojans would have fray’d / The Greeks with noises; crying out, in coming rudely on / At all parts, like the cranes that fill with harsh confusion / Of brutish clangour all the air; […]

[1611?], Homer, “Book III”, in Geo[rge] Chapman, transl., The Iliads of Homer Prince of Poets. […], London: […] Nathaniell Butter, →OCLC; republished as The Iliads of Homer, Prince of Poets, […], new edition, volume I, London: Charles Knight and Co., […], 1843, →OCLC, page 80:

1920, D. H. Lawrence, Women in Love, Chapter XXIV: Death and Love,
And always, as the dark, inchoate eyes turned to him, there passed through Gerald's bowels a burning stroke of revolt, that seemed to resound through his whole being, threatening to break his mind with its clangour, and making him mad.

(British, Canada) A loud, repeating clanging sound; a loud racket; a din.

geschal

a loud, repeating clanging sound; a loud racket; a din


clangour

en-verb

clangour (third-person singular simple present clangours, present participle clangouring, simple past and past participle clangoured)

clangours (present singular third-person)
clangouring (participle present)
clangoured (participle past)
clangoured (past)
clangor (alternative)

It clangoured through the house like a bell in a tomb.

1924, Jim Tully, Beggars of Life: A Hobo Autobiography, page 67:

(British, Canada) To make a clanging sound.


clangor

en-noun

clangor (countable and uncountable, plural clangors)

Canada, US standard spelling of clangour.


clangor

en-verb

clangor (third-person singular simple present clangors, present participle clangoring, simple past and past participle clangored)

clangors (present singular third-person)
clangoring (participle present)
clangored (participle past)
clangored (past)


muskeg

en-noun

muskeg (countable and uncountable, plural muskegs)

Here, in a decaying cluster of buildings, the Winnipeg train turns gratefully back to the south and hurries to leave behind it the anonymous tangle of forests and muskegs.

1952, Farley Mowat, People of the Deer, Key Porter, published 2005, page 2:

(Canada) A terrain composed of peat bog with tussocky meadow and woody vegetation including spruce.


kleenex

kleenexes (plural)
Kleenex (alternative)

From the name of brand of tissues trademarked by Cellucotton Products Company (now Kimberly-Clark) in 1924–25. Alteration of clean + -ex.

Could you hand me a kleenex? My nose is running.


lost and found

lost and found (countable and uncountable, plural lost and founds)

lost and founds (plural)
lost-and-found (alternative)

Well, if you can't find your glasses, then go to lost and found and ask if anyone turned them in.

(US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand) A department, service or location where items that are found can be claimed by their owners.

遺失物取扱所

いしつぶつとりあつかいじょ


lookalike

lookalikes (plural)
look-alike (alternative)
look-a-like (alternative)

esh

person physically resembling another person

Among competing products, a generic substitute is one thing, whereas a deceptive lookalike is another.

Only a lookalike, not a real hearse, it had just enough room in the trunk for one coffin. The other one would have to sit on the back seat. Pierre got a green canvas tarp and laid it out on the seat. Rico stood by, watching anxiously.

2007 08, Alan Rolnick, Landmark Status, iUniverse, →ISBN, page 116:

[The car] used by Ferris and his friends in the 1986 movie was not a real Ferrari. The Italian automaker made fewer than 100 250GTs, which cost $350,000 each. The studio saved money by putting a lookalike fiberglass shell on an MG.

2019 May 7, Editors of Portable Press, Strange Hollywood: Amazing and Intriguing Stories From Tinseltown and Beyond, Simon and Schuster, →ISBN:

Someone who, or something which, physically resembles (looks like) another.

(Canada, US) Something that looks very similar to or the same as the genuine article.


doubloonie

Blend of double + loonie, punning on doubloon.

(Canada, slang, numismatics) A Canadian two-dollar coin; a toonie.


notary

From Middle English notarie, from Old French notarie (French notaire), from Latin notārius.

The giving of legal advice by notaries and others who are not admitted to practice law is, in its opinion, dangerous to the welfare of the community, because such persons have not demonstrated their capacity [...]

1904, The Bulletin of the Commercial Law League of America, volumes 9-18, page 29:

Although signed by a notary in New York, it lacked a physical description or documentation. It could have been issued to anyone, or resold to anyone willing to change his name.

2001, Christopher H. Pyle, Extradition, Politics, and Human Rights, →ISBN, page 33:

"In 1961, there was a case Torcaso v. Watkins, in which a public notary in Maryland refused to take the oath, “so help me God,” and the court said he wasn't required to acknowledge God [although] the Maryland law said you were."

2004, Richard J. Rolwing, My Daily Constitution, volume IV, →ISBN, page 182:

This was completely unofficial, of course, since a notary in Vermont can only swear in people who plan to be working in Vermont, and they might as well have stayed in bed, but for a public relations ploy you couldn't beat it, […]

2007, Barbara Holland, Hail to the Chiefs, →ISBN, page 175:

(law, Canada, US) A notary public, a public officer who serves as an impartial witness to the signing of important documents, but who is not authorised to practise law.


grizzly

Rossiter W[orthington] Raymond
w:Rossiter W. Raymond

(Canada, US, dialect) In mining, a grating used to sieve stones by size, so as to keep stones out of the sluices (in hydraulic mining) or to control stone size in the feed to the ore crusher.


ground beef

ground beef (usually uncountable, plural ground beefs)

(Canada, US) Beef that has been finely chopped; minced beef.

kjøttdeig

under 14 percent fat, not necessarily beef


common loon

great northern diver
great northern diver

(US, Canada) The great northern diver (Gavia immer)


Arctic loon

black-throated diver
black-throated diver

(Canada, US) The black-throated diver bird.


red-throated loon

red-throated loon (plural red-throated loons)


the Rock

* (Gibraltar): From the Rock of Gibraltar

Newfoundland and Labrador
Newfoundland and Labrador#English

(Canada) Nickname of the Island of Newfoundland. An island in Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada


birdy

en-adj

birdy (comparative more birdy, superlative most birdy)

more birdy (comparative)
most birdy (superlative)

HSP3U: Intro to anthropology, sociology, psychology. I took it in gr 10 elearning summer, so i had a final exam and final culminating. I ended w a 96%. Def possible to get above 90, just work hard. Perfect if you need an intro to soc science. A birdy course and vry interesting.

2021 July 20, eddieformula, “INCOMING GRADE 11 OR 12 ONTARIO STUDENTS? My advice on grade 11 and 12 course selection/tips”, in Reddit, r/OntarioGrade12s:

(Canada, colloquial) Alternative form of bird (“easy to pass”).


instalment

(Australia, British, Canada) Alternative spelling of installment


bundle buggy

For the harried, automobileless housewife there was a ‘Bundle Buggy’ for bringing home the groceries.

One 75-year-old neighbor tells of having to get other tenants to help her lift her bundle-buggy up five floors.

1987 August 31, Paul Bilodeau, “Tenants Protest 'Cockroach Haven' in Downtown Core”, in Toronto Star, page B7:

(now chiefly Canada) A bag on wheels with an extendable handle, usually used for grocery shopping.


fuddle-duddle

There is an example of the phrase's use in the early 1940s, in "Mother Finds a Body", by Gypsy Rose Lee: "...when [he] asks me where I was on the night of so-and-so, I'll tell him to go fuddle his duddle".
However the expression fuddle-duddle is attributed to Pierre Elliott Trudeau, former prime minister of Canada, who according to some sources said it in parliament on 16 February 1971 and repeated it when pressed by television reporters about using profanity in respect to members of Parliament (Canadian House of Commons).

What is the nature of your thoughts, gentlemen, when you say “fuddle duddle” or something like that?

1971, Pierre Elliott Trudeau, (Please provide the book title or journal name):

(euphemistic, originally Canada) Fuck! Fuck off!


whipper snipper

en-noun

whipper snipper (plural whipper snippers)

(Australia, Canada) A string trimmer; a strimmer.


goodwill

goodwill (usually uncountable, plural goodwills)

goodwills (plural)
good-will (alternative)

From Middle English *goodwille, good wille (“goodwill”), perhaps from Old English *gōdwille (“goodwill”); compare Old English gōdwillende (“well-pleased”); also Scots guidwilly, guidwillie (“displaying goodwill”), equivalent to good + will. Cognate with Scots guidwill (“goodwill”), Middle Low German gūtwille (“goodwill”), Old High German guotwilligi (“goodwill”), Old Danish godvilje (“goodwill”), Icelandic góðvilji, góðvili (“goodwill”), Icelandic góðvild (“goodness”). The sense "thrift shop" is a genericized trademark of a US chain of such shops.

cog

(countable, also capitalized, Canada, US) A thrift shop.


no worries

From no + plural of worry (“concern, cause for anxiety”), but used flexibly.

Sorry if my music's bothering you. — No worries. I really like classical.

(especially Australia, UK, Canada, New Zealand, Singapore, Malaysia, colloquial) A general injunction not to be concerned further with a subject.

It does not bother me; I am not concerned.

Thanks for the lovely bowl of fruit. — No worries, my sister runs a stall at the market.

It was no problem; not at all; you're welcome.

I need this done by closing time. — No worries, I'll have it sorted.


caregiver

caregivers (plural)
care-giver (alternative)

Coordinate term: practitioner

‘Caregivers in this role can suffer as much as the patients. It can be very stressful.’

2020, Avni Doshi, Burnt Sugar, Hamish Hamilton, page 76:

(Canada, US, Philippines) A carer; a person who looks after another person.


Mason jar

Mason jars (plural)
mason jar (alternative)

Named after American tinsmith John Landis Mason (1832–1902), who first invented and patented it in 1858.

named-after

Yesterday, I went outside / With my momma's mason jar / Caught a lovely butterfly

1996, Rivers Cuomo (lyrics and music), “Butterfly”, in Pinkerton, performed by Weezer:

(Canada, US) A glass jar with a screw top, often used for preserving food.


fussbudget

fussbudgets (plural)
fuss-budget (alternative)

/ˈfʌsˌbʌd͡ʒɪt/

Their three-year-old daughter can be quite a fussbudget, but she's cute.

The nation's 50 million smokers remain at liberty to vote en bloc for a fussbudget-free Congress. Are the polls ready to accommodate smokers?

2010, Naomi Oreskes, Erik M. Conway, quoting Russell Seitz, chapter 5, in Merchants of Doubt:

(colloquial, derogatory, Canada, US) One who complains or fusses a great deal, especially about unimportant matters; a fusspot.

мрънкало

One who complains a great deal, especially about unimportant matters


chinook

Borrowed from Lower Chehalis c̓inúk (“the name of a Chinook village on the Columbia River”).

bor+

(Canada, US, physics, meteorology) The descending, warm, dry wind on the eastern side of the Rocky Mountains that generally blows from the southwest and can rapidly increase the temperature due to the much warmer air it brings.

chinook-tuuli

the descending, warm, dry wind on the eastern side of the Rocky Mountains


colouring

en-noun

colouring (countable and uncountable, plural colourings)

(British, Canada) Alternative spelling of coloring


DOGSO

The referees failed to spot the shirt pull from Jackson during play but after VAR review he was correctly awarded the DOGSO red card.

(soccer, US, Canada) Acronym of denying an obvious goal-scoring opportunity.


gong show

After The Gong Show, a televised absurdist amateur talent contest first broadcast in the 1970s.

Last night, we all went drinking, and the whole thing turned into a total gong show.

That biology class was a gong show.

(Canada) An event that proves to be a disaster, often in a fun or memorable way.


crock

From Middle English crok, crokke (“earthenware jar, pot, or other container; cauldron; belly, stomach”) [and other forms], from Old English crocc, crocca (“crock, pot, vessel”) [and other forms], from Proto-Germanic *krukkō, *krukkô (“vessel”), from Proto-Indo-European *growg- (“vessel”).
The English word is cognate with Danish and Norwegian krukke (“jar”), Dutch kruik (“jar, jug”), regional German Kruke (“crock”), Icelandic krukka (“pot, jar”), Old English crōg, crōh (“crock, pitcher, vessel”). See also cruse.

That's a bunch of crock.

The story is a crock.

(slang, Canada, US, countable and uncountable) Silly talk, a foolish belief, a poor excuse, nonsense.


buns

Wow, that's a pain in the buns.

Here I am freezing my buns off at 9 in the morning, about to jump into ice water and drown.

1986 July 22, Bill Watterson, Calvin & Hobbes (comic):

(Canada, US, euphemistic, childish) The buttocks.


obligated

en-adj

obligated (comparative more obligated, superlative most obligated)

more obligated (comparative)
most obligated (superlative)

Under a provision of a larger piece of legislation, popularly known as the Customs Bill, that has been approved by the House and is expected to soon pass the Senate, American officials will be obligated to treat the settlements as part of Israel in future trade negotiations.

2016 January 26, “When ‘Made In Israel’ Is a Human Rights Abuse”, in The New York Times, retrieved 2016-01-26:

(Canada, US, Scotland) having an obligation; obliged


butt monkey

1993 May 18, Martin J Hannigan, "I LIKE YOUR NEW ORGANIZATION BUNG BOY", talk.bizarre, Usenet
I still prefer Butt Monkey User Group myself.

1993 July 8-9, "Insecure faggots.": "Butt monkeys", alt.sex, Usenet
"ad980": the autopsy has concluded that indeed, the monkey did have a banana shoved up his butt
Kevin Walsh: All this talk about butt monkeys makes me wonder if you see yourself as the organ grinder.
"ad980": Oddly enough, the butt monkey in question is you.

1994, Mike Judge, Beavis and Butt-Head
Beavis: Butt-munch / Monkey Spank / Dillweed / Turd wipe / Dumbass / Butt Monkey
Butt-Head: Chode / Waste of Bum Wipe / Dillhole / Fartknocker / Dumb Beavis / Butt-Head, no wait

You have my promise that everything in our power will be done to catch this psycho butt monkey, but...I just don’t think you could distance yourself from this level of personal involvement.

2000 October 13, Edward Hancock II, Splintered Souls, Xlibris Corporation, page 90:

Uh-oh, Butt Monkey alert

2001 March, “The Butt Monkey”, in Adopt-A-Pet of Victoria, Texas:

2002 May 9, "i [sic.] know theres no great plan here...", Meagan's Journal http://dreamstarblue.livejournal.com/30128.html
eric decided to be a butt monkey and start shit about cory.

Butt Monkey, you didn't tell congress [sic.] you were going to spy on everyone.

2006 January 29, “Achtung! Where are your papers?”, in Picks Commentary:

2006 April 19, 'And let the Church say, "AMEN!"', Defiance http://laurielou2.blogspot.com/2006/04/and-let-church-say-amen.html
I was pontificating on the ecstasy of the prospect of not having to listen to the butt monkey fumble and stammer through another round of explanation for the unexplainable.

Some bloody butt-monkey rear-ends me.

2006 May 15, Fan-Bloody-Tastic, Insanity Reigns Supreme http://rider.net.nz/modules/wordpress/?author=1

(Canada, US, slang, often humorous) An annoying and irksome person.

2000 September 26, Marti Noxon, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Season 5, Episode 79: “Buffy vs. Dracula”
Xander: I'm sick of being the guy who eats insects and gets the funny syphilis. As of this moment, it's over. I'm finished being everybody's butt monkey!

they can while away their time being Bubba's butt monkey for the next 50 years.

2006 February 6, “I don't think they should execute terrorists”, in First and Last and Always:

I'm getting pretty tired of being the comic book industry's butt-monkey.

2006 March 25, “Issue #16 Review. Not.”, in Legion Abstract:

But being at butt monkey status means that I don't have a voice to express my displeasure.

2006 April 27, “Work worries and a quote”, in World's Easiest Quiz:

Con's about as far from the standard Alpha as he could get--he's the Unseelie [sic.] butt-monkey

2006 May 5, “In defence of the Beta Male”, in DAYS of the INSANE:

Don't do wrong to others and it should come back to you tenfold. OK, so there are several years that I was Karma's butt-monkey for not obeying that simple rule.

2006 May 14, “Karma gives me a handjob”, in Pissing and Moaning:

(Canada, US, slang, often humorous) An object of abuse and ridicule; sometimes, especially, a prison bitch.


switchback

The noun is derived from switch (“to turn (a train) from one railway track to another using a switch”, verb) + back (“so as to reverse direction and return”, adverb).
The verb is derived from the noun.

compound

Coordinate term: horseshoe curve

Already, we enter some airport bathrooms through a brief switchback of walls, so that we don’t ever grasp a door handle.

2019 April 25, Samanth Subramanian, “Hand dryers v paper towels: the surprisingly dirty fight for the right to dry your hands”, in Katharine Viner, editor, The Guardian, London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2022-12-21:

(chiefly Canada, US, road transport) A sharp bend in a path or road which causes a traveller to almost reverse their direction of travel, especially one of a series of such bends on an incline; a hairpin bend; also a path or road having such a series of bends.


supermajority

supermajorities (plural)
super-majority (alternative)
supramajority (alternative)

From super- (“above, greater than”) + majority.

af

It was in order to exclude not water, but the light of day, that the Roblin Government kept its super-majority on the Public Accounts Committee working under such heavy pressure, with two foremen on the job, Taylor and Coldwell, who kept them so hard at it that the Liberals were prevented from getting at the full facts of the Kelly work on the new Parliament buildings and the Roblin Government work on the Provincial Treasury in connection with Kelly.

1915 April 2, “‘Caisson Disease’ in a Severe Form”, in Manitoba Free Press, Winnipeg, Manitoba, page 9, column 2:

The Texas Senate operates on a supermajority, too. Under ordinary circumstances, it takes approval from two-thirds of the 31 senators to bring a bill to the floor for debate.

2013 November 30, Ross Ramsey, “Supermajority Poses Dilemma for Both Parties”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

The defining political fact of our time is not polarization. It’s the inability of even large bipartisan majorities to get what they want on issues like these. Call it the oppression of the supermajority.

2019 March 5, Tim Wu, “The Oppression of the Supermajority”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

The failure on Wednesday to overturn Mr. Cooper’s veto was among the most dramatic consequences of Democratic legislative victories in North Carolina last November, which broke Republican supermajorities in both chambers and made it easier for Mr. Cooper’s vetos to survive.

2019 May 6, Richard Fausset, “North Carolina Legislature Fails to Overturn Governor’s Veto of Anti-Abortion Bill”, in The New York Times:

Launching his new political party, Alba, he [Alex Salmond] claimed he could help secure a “supermajority” for independence in the next Scottish parliament, which would significantly weaken Westminster’s opposition to a second independence referendum.

2021 April 15, Libby Brooks, “Could Salmond’s ‘Supermajority’ Talk Harm the Scottish Independence Cause?”, in The Guardian, London:

(chiefly Canada, US) A majority of the items being counted that reaches some preset threshold significantly greater than 50 percent, such as two thirds.

غَالِبِيَّة عُظْمَى

majority that reaches a preset threshold level


Canadiana

2007, Derick Chetty, "Made ... in Canada, eh!," Toronto Star, 30 Jun. (retrieved 25 Spe. 2008),
Some of the pieces wink slyly at traditional elements of Canadiana. Like up-and-coming designer Stephen Lindsay's coat hanger: two hockey sticks fused together.

(chiefly Canada) Things, ideas, or activities distinctive of Canada or Canadians, especially works of literature and other cultural products.


no-one

(chiefly British, Commonwealth and often Canada, Ireland) Alternative form of no one


grain elevator

By analyzing the costs of operating a country grain elevator these advantages, if any exist, should appear.

1922, Joseph Bernard Kenkel, The Cooperative Elevator Movement: A Study in Grain Marketing at Country Points in the North Central States, Catholic University of America, pg. 97

Interest in the safety and health of workers in grain elevators has increased substantially since the series of recent grain elevator explosions and fires.

1980, United States Congress, House of Representatives, Committee on Education and Labor. Subcommittee on Health and Safety, A staff report on the oversight of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration with respect to grain elevator fires and explosions, U.S. Govt. Print. Off. pg 3

As the grain elevator and other industrial structures became more common on the plains, they redefind the traditional pastoral image of the American landscape.

1996, Lisa Mahar-Keplinger, Grain Elevators, Princeton Architectural Press, pg. 9

(agriculture, Canada, US) A large structure for the storage of grain. It is more specialized than a regular granary in that in uses an elevating mechanism to hold the grain in one of many different bins, and that it it designed to fill large trucks and train cars for shipping grain in bulk.

ardaitheoir gráin

a large structure for the storage of grain


FCA

Federal Court of Appeal
w:Federal Court of Appeal

(Canada) Initialism of Federal Court of Appeal.