poster child

poster children (plural)
posterchild (alternative)

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

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

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

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.

2001, Jonathan Franzen, The Corrections:

(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 from 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)

ē′kwə-lī′zər

From equalize + -er (nominal suffix: agent noun).

af

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)

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

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 wood 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, dated) 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.


mog

(Canada, Newfoundland) Origin unknown; possibly from lassy (molasses) + a dialectal shortening or variant of mug or morsel.

Nan made a batch of fresh mogs for Christmas—rich with molasses and full of raisins.

(Canada, Newfoundland) A traditional soft cookie made with molasses, spices, dried fruits, and toasted pecans.


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)

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

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

en-noun

embarras (countable and uncountable, plural embarras)

(historical, Canada, US) 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

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, 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 of 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 archaic)

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 UK, Canada, Australia, 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)

The coronavirus has turned caregivers around the world into homeschoolers.

2020 March 16, Matt Villano, “How ‘regular school’ parents can homeschool their kids”, in CNN:

‘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:

Taking care of an elderly parent or seriously ill spouse or family member can be physically and emotionally draining — and expensive for the caregiver in more ways than one.

2024 October 6, Jeanne Sahadi, “How companies can ease the strain on employees taking care of elderly parents or ill family members”, in CNN:

(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, “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)

The seven hampers for four boys and three girls were personalised to each patient, including overnight hotel stays, colouring books and self care items.

2024 December 23, “Cancer survivor makes hampers for young patients”, in BBC:

In 2008, British health ministers agreed to phase out six artificial food colourings by 2009, while the European Union bans some colourings and requires warning labels on others.

2025 April 22, Madeline Halpert, “Kennedy announces ban on artificial dyes in food and drinks”, in BBC:

(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

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.


T-bone

en-verb

T-bone (third-person singular simple present T-bones, present participle T-boning, simple past and past participle T-boned)

T-bones (present singular third-person)
T-boning (participle present)
T-boned (participle past)
T-boned (past)
t-bone (alternative)

From the ⊤ shape produced by the vehicles involved in such a collision, with allusion to T-bone ¹.

Holmes, who was a lap ahead and in 6th spot, couldn’t avoid T-boning him and in the coming together they were both out.

1984, R and T, volume 35, CBS Publications, page 187:

Its hood had already been accordioned from T-boning somebody else[.]

1993, Car and Driver, volume 39, Hachette Magazines, Inc., page 25:

They get to an intersection when suddenly the limo gets T-boned and everything gets thrown around all over the car.

2007, Paul Myers, It Ain’t Easy: Long John Baldry and the Birth of the British Blues, Greystone Books, →ISBN, page 77, →ISBN:

(transitive, slang, Canada, US, of a motor vehicle) To collide perpendicularly with the side of another vehicle.


skid row

en-noun

skid row (countable and uncountable, plural skid rows)

skid rows (plural)
skidrow (alternative)
Skid Row (alternative)

/ˌskɪd ˈɹəʊ/

An alteration of skid road (“road along which logs are dragged or skidded; (Canada, US, informal) downtown streets where loggers go for recreation on their time off”). In 1852, skid road was first applied to a slum area at the loggers’ part of town in Seattle, Washington, USA, and before 1900 it had come into common usage in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Over time, the variant skid row came to refer to a district or slum frequented by alcoholics and hobos, even in areas without a lumber industry.

(derogatory) An especially dilapidated section of a city, characterized by abandoned or run-down buildings and vices such as drug dealing and prostitution, and frequented by homeless people.


hot flash

hot flashes (plural)
hotflash (alternative)
hot-flash (alternative)


hot flush

(UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand) A sudden, but brief, sensation of heat over the entire body; a common symptom of the menopause.

هِبَّة الْحَرَارَة

sudden sensation of heat, symptom of the menopause


freeman

From Old English frēomann, equivalent to free + -man and paralleled by similar constructions in other Germanic languages. Doublet of preman.

(US and Canada, historical) An independent fur trapper.

A free person
An independent fur trapper.


owie

If it's an "owie" that has the child upset, check him from head to toe for injuries.

1997, K. D. Kuch, The Babysitter's Handbook, Random House, page 58:

2008, May 16, Bil Keane, The Family Circus (daily comic) in the Kokomo Tribune
Daddy! Our car has an owie! [Billy, pointing to a small dent.]

(colloquial, Canada, US, childish) A painful but minor injury.


the sticks

Possibly derived from 1800s Chinook Jargon stick (“tree, forest”), from English stick.

She grew up in the sticks and later moved to the city.

Most of the farming at present is done in the "sticks," that is, in the large, dead, and often blackened trunks of trees standing in most of the cultivated fields around. There are but few new towns in the Delta where the "sticks" are not to be seen, and much damage is sometimes done when these old "deadenings," as they are called, are set on fire.

1904 The American Missionary, "A Town of Colored People in Mississippi" by Rev. B.F. Ousley, vol. 58, no. 9 (November, 1904), p. 295

Next day after school, I drove over to the town hall and found out where Hay was building their dinky little shoebox of a house. It was out in the sticks, out past the old gristmill. I drove out there around dusk. The place was framed; the chimney was up. Overhead was a pockmarked moon.

2008, Wally Lamb, The Hour I First Believed, Ch.1, at p.11

(Canada, US, informal, derogatory) A remote, rural area; a place that is removed from civilization such as the boondocks.


custodian

From a shortening of Latin custōdiānātus, from Latin custōdia (“a keeping, watch, guard, prison”), from custōs (“a keeper, watchman, guard”). By surface analysis, custody + -ian.


cater-corner

/ˈkeɪtəˌkɔːnə/

/ˈkætəˌkɔɹnɚ/

Presumably a clipped form of cater-cornered, from cater + cornered, q.v., although catty-cornered is attested earlier (1838).

catacorner (alternative)
catercorner (alternative)
catty-corner (alternative)
kitty-corner (alternative)

The Empire State Building and the old Altman's Department store are catercorner, at Fifth Avenue and East 34th Street, with the ESB at the southwest, and Altman's at the northeast.

From my living room, I trained my binoculars on the redbrick monstrosity catercorner from me.

2012, Stephen King, chapter 20, in 11/22/63, page 531:

(US, Canada) Of or pertaining to something at a diagonal to another; of four corners, those diagonal to another.


cater-corner

/ˈkeɪtəˌkɔːnə/

/ˈkætəˌkɔɹnɚ/

Altman's is sited catercorner to the ESB.


idiot box

From idiot + box, an allusion to the supposed mind-reducing nature of television programming or its lack of educational value.

During the long, dreary, wet winter I amused myself by watching college and Pro basketball on the idiot box.

2003 March 31, Bill Litchfield, “Basketball Fans”, in rec.gardens (Usenet):

(idiomatic, chiefly US and Canada) Television.

дебили́зор

contamination of "деби́л"(retard) and "телеви́зор" (TV set)


bougie

en-adj

bougie (comparative bougier, superlative bougiest)

bougier (comparative)
bougiest (superlative)
bourgie (alternative)
boojie (alternative)
boujee (alternative)

(British, Canada, slang) Fancy or good-looking, without the same connotations of snobbery or pretentiousness as in sense 1.


bullhead

(Canada, US) any of a variety of related species of generally dark-colored catfish in the family Ictaluridae.

(Canada, US) The black bullhead, Ameiurus melas.

Ameiurus nebulosus
Ameiurus nebulosus#Translingual

(Canada, US) The brown bullhead, Ameiurus nebulosus.

(Canada, US) The yellow bullhead, Ameiurus natalis.


siding

en-noun

siding (countable and uncountable, plural sidings)

From side + -ing (“material, collection”).

Ugh. If there's one thing I can't stand it's cheesy vinyl siding.

(Canada, US) A building material which covers and protects the sides of a house or other building.

klædningur

material to cover the sides of a building


crawfish

crawfish (countable and uncountable, plural crawfishes or crawfish)

1620s, folk etymology from Middle English crevis, from Old French crevice (French écrevisse), influenced by fish. Compare crayfish.

(Quebec, Canada, slang, derogatory) An English-Canadian. Used in some corners of Quebec (including the Gaspé).


log drive

(US, Canada) the transport of timber down a river to a sawmill as a floating raft


pain in the ass

pain in the ass (countable and uncountable, plural pains in the ass)

pains in the ass (plural)
pain in one's ass (alternative)
pain in the arse (alternative UK)
pain in one's arse (alternative UK)
PITA (alternative abbreviation acronym acronym)

Dysphemistically modelled after pain in the neck. First attested in the early to mid-20th century.

etydate

Strangely enough, the days I spent at this pain-in-the-ass job were some of my most memorable and valuable.

2019 January 30, Tim Denning, Medium, retrieved 2025-02-07:

(slang, vulgar, Canada, US) Something or someone that causes discomfort or frustration.


townhouse

townhouses (plural)
town house (alternative)

From town + house. Compare Dutch tuinhuis (“summer house, cabana”), tuinhuisje (“bower”).

(chiefly US, Canada, Australia, Philippines) A row house or terraced house.


poutine

en-noun

poutine (countable and uncountable, plural poutines)

Borrowed from Canadian French poutine (“French fries with cheese curds and gravy; any of various kinds of pudding”); further etymology uncertain, possibly either:
* a variant of French pouding (“pudding”), borrowed from English pudding (possibly ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *bʰew- (“to swell”)); or
* from a dialectal French word influenced by French pouding or English pudding, though this word has not been identified.
The Canadian French word is generally thought to have been coined by the Canadian restaurateur Fernand Lachance (1918–2004) as a name for the dish which is said to have been first served at his restaurant Lutin Qui Rit in Warwick, Quebec, in 1957.

coinage

Jean made an eight-hour trip across the border into Quebec just to satisfy his craving for poutine.

A dish consisting of French fries topped with cheese curds and gravy, eaten primarily in Canada.

بوتين

dish consisting of French fries topped with cheese curds and gravy; any of a number of variations on the basic poutine dish


hockey stick

(Canada, US, ice hockey) A stick used to handle the puck in ice hockey, having a flat, angled blade at the end.


infanteer

infanteers (plural)
infantier (alternative)

From Spanish infante (“soldier”) + -eer.

suffix

Spanish <i class="Latn mention" lang="es">infante</i>

The appointment of an infanteer from The Highlanders as the Sovereign's Piper shows that the events following Culloden are no longer raw in the memory. official web site of the British Monarchy

(UK, Canada, military) A soldier employed in any infantry role; an infantryman.


club soda

en-noun

club soda (countable and uncountable, plural club sodas)

Near-synonyms: (broadly synonymous) carbonated water, seltzer water, seltzer, soda water, fizzy water

(Canada, US) A carbonated beverage consisting mainly of carbonated water, with or without a few other minor ingredients such as potassium citrate.


saltine

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

Originally a US brand name in the late 1800s, presumably salt + -ine.

(Canada, US) A thin, crisp, salted, customarily white-colored cracker; a soda cracker; a soda biscuit.

(Canada, US, ethnic slur) A euphemism for cracker ("white person").


slowpoke

Hey, you slowpokes in the back! Get a move on!

"Yas'm," said Prissy and, turning, sauntered down the walk at snail's gait. "Hurry, you slow poke!"

1936 June 30, Margaret Mitchell, Gone with the Wind, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company, →OCLC; republished New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company, 1944, →OCLC:

Some cooks are diddlers and slowpokes. Some are efficient speed demons.

1990, Helen Nearing, Simple Food for the Good Life: Random Acts of Cooking and Pithy Quotations, Chelsea Green Publishing, →ISBN:

(US, Canada, informal, mildly derogatory) A person who moves slowly or takes a long time to do something.


Britisher

"Why now, I expect," said the American, "you would not shoot me in cold blood, although you are a Britisher, I guess."

1833, Frederick Chamier, The Life of a Sailor, J. & J. Harper, page 215:

[…] and as he spoke, there was just a soupçon of foreign accent in the pronunciation of the French vowels, a certain drawl of o's and a's, that would have betrayed the Britisher to an observant ear.

1906, Baroness Orczy, chapter VI, in I Will Repay, London: Greening & Co, page 88:

French newspapers carried today a notice that all Britishers between the ages of 15 and 65 have been interned in special camps. Women and sick men have not been interned.

1940 August 16, “France Interns Britishers”, in The New York Times, →ISSN, page 2:

Even in the heart of London, Britishers boast you're never far from the countryside—only a few stories up!

1959 August 6, “Nixon's Triumphal Return” (2:40 from the start), in Universal Newsreels (32), episode 63, spoken by narrator (Ed Herlihy):

From what we've heard, some of the gayest, hottest and most unusual bedroom scenes have resulted from a stewardess accepting the stiff and proper advance of a Britisher.

1967, Trudy Baker, Rachel Jones, Donald Bain (uncredited), Coffee, Tea, or Me?: The Uninhibited Memoirs of Two Airline Stewardesses, New York: Bantam Books, page 248:

A lot of people have made the very valid point that it is a bit rich for a Britisher to criticise Indian food as being bland!

2020 October 9, Sudha G Tilak, quoting Edward Anderson, “Row over 'insult' to Indian dish Kamala Harris likes”, in BBC News:

(now chiefly Canada, US, India) A Briton.


catty-corner

Corruption of cater-corner under influence from catty.

cattycorner (alternative)
catty-cornered (alternative)
cattycornered (alternative)
kitty-corner (alternative)

He takes the Brewer turnoff off the Pike and the road takes him through the town where he first bought gas. As he takes the road marked BREWER 16 he can see cattycornered across the main street the dirtdigger's pumps and his dark window full of glinting shovels and fishing rods.

1960, John Updike, 'Rabbit, Run', page 35:

(US, Canada) Synonym of cater-corner: diagonally across from.


catty-corner

(US, Canada) Synonym of cater-corner: diagonally across from one another.


cattycorner

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


streetcar

desc

→ Pannonian Rusyn: штрицкара (štrickara)

From street + car; this compound noun was formed in an era when motorcars didn't yet exist, and it emphasized a type of car on rails that were in the street (along with foot traffic, wagons, and carriages) rather than on a separate, dedicated railroad, as a (so-named) railcar is.

Here, outside, in the light and the shade and the heat, there was a great tinkling of the bells of innumerable streetcars, and a constant strolling and shuffling and rustling of many pedestrians, a large proportion of whom were young women in Pompadour-looking dresses.

1878, Henry James, An International Episode:

Tired as he felt at night, and dark and bitter cold as it was in the morning, Jurgis generally chose to walk; at the hours other workmen were traveling, the streetcar monopoly saw fit to put on so few cars that there would be men hanging to every foot of the backs of them and often crouching upon the snow-covered roof.

1905 April–October, Upton Sinclair, chapter XX, in The Jungle, New York, N.Y.: Doubleday, Page & Company, published 1906 February 26, →OCLC:

[…]but after all there's nothing less displeasing to me than a beefsteak smothered in mushrooms on a balcony in sound of the Broadway streetcars, with a hand-organ playing down below, and the boys hollering extras about the latest suicide.

1908, O. Henry [pseudonym; William Sydney Porter], “Hostages to Momus”, in The Gentle Grafter, New York, N.Y.: The McClure Company, →OCLC:

(Canada, US) A tram or light rail vehicle, usually a single car, but also attached together, operating on city streets. A trolley car.


quilling

en-noun

quilling (countable and uncountable, plural quillings)

Childbirth seldom was difficult, but when it was the simple process of "quilling" (which consisted in blowing at just the right time tobacco powder through the quill into the nostril) always brought on a huge sneeze, which immediately delivered the child.

1915, Irving P. Fox, editor, The Spatula, volume 22, page 466:

[...] the midwife kept suggesting quilling.

2002, Wendy Mitchinson, Giving Birth in Canada, 1900-1950, →ISBN, page 86:

2003, Anita Price Davis, North Carolina During the Great Depression: A Documentary Portrait of a Decade, page 194,
To muster the strength for the final push in childbirth, midwives like Granny Lewis of Burlington, North Carolina, quilled the mother-to-be. With quilling the midwife placed the snuff on one end of the straw and blew it into the nostril of the woman at the right time; the great sneeze that resulted from the woman was accompanied by the birth of the child. Granny Lewis and others used quilling well into the 1930s (Kirby, p192).

(US and Canada, especially Appalachia and the Prairies) The practice of blowing pepper or snuff through a quill into the nose of a woman who is giving birth, to induce sneezing and diaphragmatic contractions which will induce or hasten labor.


rehabilitate

en-verb

rehabilitate (third-person singular simple present rehabilitates, present participle rehabilitating, simple past and past participle rehabilitated)

rehabilitates (present singular third-person)
rehabilitating (participle present)
rehabilitated (participle past)
rehabilitated (past)

Learned borrowing from Medieval Latin rehabilitātus, perfect passive participle of Latin rehabilitō.

lbor

Cumaratunga was so furious that he intensified his campaign for revitalizing the traditional practices of asweddumization, so that neglected arable land could be rehabilitated, and a degenerating economy restructured and rejuvenated.

1992, Alavattāgoḍa Pēmadāsa, Cumaratunga, the Unknown: Hidden Facets of His Scientific Profile, page 115:

Engineers are considering using the blowable insulation to rehabilitate residential buildings in Chicago under an Argonne partnership with Bethel New Life, a Chicago community economic initiative.

1996 November, “Doggone it, it's a new ceramic binder”, in DOE this Month, page 14:

(transitive, Canada, US, construction) To restore or repair (a vehicle, building); to make habitable or usable again.


Scotch tape

→ Romanian: scoci

→ Russian: скотч (skotč)

→ Spanish: cinta Scotch (calque)

Genericized trademark from Scotch Tape. Reportedly a reference to the stereotypical tendency of the Scottish towards thrift, due to cutting of corners with the product initially produced. Compare Dutch oven for similar sense of origin.

(US, Philippines, Singapore, Canada) Transparent or translucent pressure-sensitive adhesive tape, used for sealing items together, especially paper.


downshift

The noun is derived from down (preposition) + shift (“slight change or movement”). The verb is derived from the noun.

compound

A change in career or lifestyle to one which is not as well paid but less stressful and more personally rewarding.


downshift

en-verb

downshift (third-person singular simple present downshifts, present participle downshifting, simple past and past participle downshifted)

downshifts (present singular third-person)
downshifting (participle present)
downshifted (participle past)
downshifted (past)

zwalniać

to change one’s career or lifestyle to one which is not as well paid but less stressful and more personally rewarding

落波

to shift the transmission of a car or bicycle into a lower gear

But in this variation on Superbad's wild night of transgression, downshifting the age of the protagonists from teen to tween actually only enhances the stealth, wide-eyed innocence that secretly drives this genre of pre-college hedonism.

2019 August 14, A. A. Dowd, “Good Boys Puts a Tween Spin on the R-rated Teen Comedy, to Mostly Funny Effect”, in The A.V. Club, archived from the original on 2021-03-04:

To reduce (something) in quality or quantity (as effect, scope, speed, etc.)

To change (one's career or lifestyle) to one which is not as well paid but less stressful and more personally rewarding.

To change one's career or lifestyle to one which is not as well paid but less stressful and more personally rewarding.


downtime

en-noun

downtime (countable and uncountable, plural downtimes)

downtimes (plural)
down time (alternative)
down-time (alternative)

From down (“out of order; out of service; inoperable”) + time.

compound

I’ve been working all weekend. I need some downtime.

But scientists point to an unanticipated side effect: when people keep their brains busy with digital input, they are forfeiting downtime that could allow them to better learn and remember information, or come up with new ideas.

2010 August 24, Matt Richtel, “Digital devices deprive brain of needed downtime”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2023-05-29:

‘We need to use the downtime, when things are calm, to prepare for when things get serious in the decades to come,’ he [Demis Hassabis] has said. ‘The time we have now is valuable, and we need to make use of it.’

2021 March 19, James Fallows, “Can humans be replaced by machines?”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2023-05-29:

(chiefly Canada, US) A period of time set aside for relaxation and rest; leisure time, free time.


soured cream

en-noun

soured cream (usually uncountable, plural soured creams)

soured creams (plural)
sour cream (alternative)

(British, Australia, Canada) A cream that has been soured and thickened by using Lactobacillus bacteria; used in soups, salads and meat dishes such as beef Stroganoff.


Hellenization

(Canada, US) Alternative spelling of Hellenisation.


heaping

a heaping teaspoon of sugar

a heaping big bowl of ice cream; a heaping bowl of rice

(especially US, Canada) Containing a heap (of something). (Compare heaped.)


in case

In case you need me, I'll be home all day.

Whenever tempted to resume my sex, I was invariably met with the thought — what then? […] The chances were but few in case I resumed my other character, that I would be able to command the amount necessary for their [her children's] support.

1861, E. J. Guerin, Mountain Charley, page 17:


prostitot

prostitots (plural)
prosti-tot (alternative)

(derogatory, Canada, US, slang) A prepubescent girl who emulates the overtly sexual fashions and attitudes of twentysomething women such as pop stars.


humourously

en-adv

humourously (comparative more humourously, superlative most humourously)

more humourously (comparative)
most humourously (superlative)

(UK, Canada, uncommon, nonstandard) Alternative spelling of humorously.


powwow

powwows (plural)
pow wow (alternative)
pow-wow (alternative)
pau wau (alternative)

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From an Eastern Algonquian language, probably Massachusett pauwau (“he uses divination; he practices magic or sorcery”) or Narragansett powwáw (“sorcerer, shaman”), ultimately from Proto-Algonquian *pawe·wa (“one who dreams”).

der

On the way out, Octavio handed me a flyer for the powwow that listed the prize money in each dance category.

2018, Tommy Orange, There There, Harvill Secker, page 24:

(Canada, US) A large gathering during which Indigenous songs and dances are showcased for an audience, essentially a recital or concert. Often also doubles as a fundraiser, or can be held in conjunction with a non-indigenous fair or exhibition in order to attract a large crowd, as at the Calgary Stampede and K-Days.


holidays

Where will you be spending the holidays?

(Canada, US) The season around Christmas, Hanukkah, and New Year's Day.


Mickey

(Canada) A 375-milliliter (13.2 imperial fluid ounce; 12.7 US fl oz) bottle of liquor, such as whiskey.


pensioner

pensioners (plural)
pencioner (alternative obsolete)

→ Welsh: pensiynwr

From Middle English pensioner, from Anglo-Norman pensionner and Old French pensionnier, from Medieval Latin pēnsiōnārius. By surface analysis, pension + -er.

(chiefly UK, Canada) Someone who lives on a pension, especially the retirement or old age pension.


bust one's butt

en-verb

bust one's butt (third-person singular simple present busts one's butt, present participle busting one's butt, simple past and past participle busted one's butt or bust one's butt)

busts one's butt (present singular third-person)
busting one's butt (participle present)
busted one's butt (participle past)
busted one's butt (past)
bust one's butt (participle past)
bust one's butt (past)

I've been busting my butt getting the tent fixed, while you're just sipping cocoa. Give me a hand.

I have several friends who are public defenders. They are competent, hard working attorneys who bust their butts every day to give these people the best defense available at any price.

1987 December 13, anonymous author, “Asinine Policy Of Supporting Prisoners”, in Gay Community News, volume 15, number 22, page 4:

Those flings, those strings you've got to cut / So get out on the streets, girls, and bust your butts

1995, Jewel, “Who Will Save Your Soul”, in Pieces of You:

(slang, idiomatic, somewhat vulgar, Canada, US) To work exceptionally hard.


800 number

In the original North American Numbering Plan, phone numbers beginning with an area code of "800" were reserved for so called toll-free numbers, where the party receiving the call pays the charges. As more toll-free numbers were needed, additional area codes were added to the scheme including 888, 877, 866, 855, 844, 833 and one more was reserved: 822. The term "800 number" is used colloquially to refer to all of these.

(Canada, US) A toll-free telephone number.


crickets

Sense 2 is derived from the cinematic metaphor of chirping crickets at night, signaling (otherwise) complete quiet.

to hear crickets

Since then, I've received no response. Not a word. Just… crickets.

We asked for an explanation, but all we got was crickets.

"We have one exclusive one block from Bee on Fifth and Seventy-third. Prewar. White-glove. Top-notch." His Queen's English posh London accent made it sound extra-fabulous. […] / "Do you maybe have any listings that are less? Like ... four million less?" I asked, semi-blushing. / "Four million or less? Sure!" / "No, no, no," I said. "Not four million or less. Four million less than five point three million, i.e., something in the one-to-one-and-a-half range." / "Oh." / Crickets.

2007, Jill Kargman, Momzillas, New York, N.Y.: Broadway Books, →ISBN:

Maria Chapelle-Nadal, a Democratic state senator, said she feared that the commission's findings would be announced with great fanfare, "but then we're just going to hear crickets, crickets, crickets."

2015 September 14, Monica Davey, “Panel studying racial divide in Missouri presents a blunt picture of inequity [print version: 'Report blunt on race inequity', International New York Times, 15 September 2015, page 7]”, in The New York Times:

Stopping a group of teenage boys at a museum [in Bangladesh] devoted to the 1971 war, I asked them which American leaders had played an important role in the conflict. Henry A. Kissinger? They looked at me with blank faces. Richard M. Nixon? Crickets.

2016 June 27, Ellen Barry, “To U.S. in ’70s, a dissenting diplomat. To Bangladesh, ‘a true friend.’ [print version: 'A dissenter remembered: Diplomat pushed U.S. to condemn Pakistan’s 1971 assault on Dhaka', International New York Times, 29 June 2016, page 2]”, in The New York Times:

(often singular, US, Canada, figurative, slang, humorous) Used alone or in metaphorically descriptive phrases: absolute silence where meaningful sound is expected; lack of response; no communication.


valedictory

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From Latin valedictum + English -ory (suffix forming nouns meaning ‘that which pertains to’, or adjectives meaning ‘of or pertaining to’). Valedictum is the accusative supine of valedīcō (“to bid farewell; to give a valediction”), from valē (“farewell, goodbye”) (the imperative of valeō (“to be healthy or well; to be strong; to have influence or power”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₂welh₁- (“powerful, strong; to rule”)) + dīcō (“to say, speak”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *deyḱ- (“to point out”)). By surface analysis, valedict + -ory.

der

The first was Larissa Martinez, who divulged her undocumented status during her valedictory speech and told the crowd at her McKinney, Texas, high school graduation she would be attending Yale University with a financial aid package in the fall.

2016 June 17, Octavio Blanco, “Undocumented students and the controversial path to affording college”, in CNN Business:

(Canada, US) Of or pertaining to a valedictorian (“the individual in a graduating class who delivers the farewell address, often the person who graduates with the highest grades”).


valedictory

(specifically, Canada, US) A speech given by a valedictorian at a commencement or graduation ceremony.


boughten

From bought + -en (past participle ending of some verbs).

suffix

Is that a boughten chair?

Poor people had to wear homespun on Sundays, and Royal and Almanzo wore fullcloth. But Father and Mother and the girls were very fine, in clothes that Mother had made of store-boughten cloth, woven by machines.

1933, Laura Ingalls Wilder, Farmer Boy, Harper, published 1971, →ISBN, page 86:

(After the children's mothers cut their hair): "It's all right for you guys to laugh. You're in the same room at school and you can stick together, but I'll be the only one in my room who doesn't have a boughten haircut."

1954, Beverly Cleary, Henry and Ribsy, 2001 1st Scholastic edition, page 113

"Did you build it all by yourself?"[…]
"I have a boughten one at home," said Mitchell, indignant at the way he was being treated. "I just wanted to see if I could make one that would work."

1967, Beverly Cleary, Mitch and Amy, HarperCollins, published 2009, →ISBN, page 17:

(rare, archaic or dialectal, West Country, Cornwall, Canada, US) Having been purchased or bought (rather than homemade), storebought.


pickup

en-noun

pickup (countable and uncountable, plural pickups)

pickups (plural)
pick-up (alternative)
pick up (alternative)

Chinese:

→ Mandarin: 皮卡 (píkǎ)

→ Finnish: pick-up

→ French: pick-up, pickup

→ German: Pickup

→ Indonesian: pikap

→ Japanese: ピックアップ (pikkuappu)

desc

→ Khmer: ភីកអាប់ (pʰiik’ap), ពីកឺប (piikəɨp)

→ Korean: 픽업 (pigeop)

→ Portuguese: pickup, pick-up, picape (Brazil)

→ Russian: пика́п (pikáp)

→ Spanish: pickup, picop

→ Thai: ปิคอัพ (bpìk-àp)

→ Turkish: pikap

→ Uyghur: پىكاپ (pikap)

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Franklin is beside himself, revving up the engine in the pickup.

2009, Chinle Miller, Desert Rats: Adventures in the American Outback, page 35:

The returns from the election show Apple Party candidate Jane Doe has made a pickup in the district of City West defeating Orange Party Incumbent Joe Smith

(US, Canada, politics) The act of a challenging party or candidate winning an electoral district held by an incumbent party or candidate.


stroller

(US, Canada, Australia) A seat or chair on wheels, pushed by somebody walking behind it, typically used for transporting babies and young children.


chesterfield

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eavestrough

en-noun

eavestrough (countable and uncountable, plural eavestroughs)

eavestroughs (plural)
eave trough (alternative)
eave-trough (alternative)
eaves trough (alternative)
eaves-trough (alternative)

1813 eaves-trough, 1817 eave trough, 1870 eavestrough, from eaves + trough.

Another contrivance worth mentioning, is, the manner of conducting the water down from an Eaves-trough or Lander, which is very common about Mansfield, on the edge of Nottinghamshire; it consists, in suspending a slight wooden rod from the end of the Lander, hanging down into the Water-Butt or Cistern, down which the water runs, without being scattered by the wind, or blown against the wall, as too constantly happens, unless expensive upright spouts or trunks are used, to convey the water down, and which are very subject to decay.

1813, John Farey, chapter 3, in General View of the Agriculture of Derbyshire, volume 2, London: Board of Agriculture and Internal Improvement, page 15:

At 1 P. M. going into a back room I noticed that the water was falling from the eave trough of a kitchen, in which there had been no fire for some days.

1817 March 15, Horatio Gates Spafford, “Record of Cold”, in Niles’ Weekly Register, volume 12, number 3, page 35:

e, the eave-trough, hollowed, as usual, out of solid timber, and having the outer edge an inch lower than the inner.

1836, John Henry Hopkins, Essay on Gothic Architecture, with Various Plans and Drawings for Churches, Burlington: Smith & Harrington, page 42:

They laugh at long-togs so, Flask; but seems to me, a Long tailed coat ought always to be worn in all storms afloat. The tails tapering down that way, serve to carry off the water, d'ye see. Same with cocked hats; the cocks form gable-end eave-troughs, Flask.

1851, Herman Melville, Moby-Dick, or the Whale, volume 3, page 211:

Where in an action for a nuisance, in allowing the water from the defendant's roof to be shed on the plaintiff's land, there was evidence to show that the water did not run upon the plaintiff's premises until after a new eavestrough was constructed and put up, and that since that time it did run over and upon the plaintiff's premises, and injured his land; it was held, that the judge on the tiral erred in nonsuiting the plaintiff.

1870, William Wait, A Digest of New York Reports, volume 2, Albany: William Gould & Son, page 1407:

Maxx managed to grab sufficient hold of the eavestrough before plummeting to the ground. He hung suspended from the roof's edge ...

2009, Eugene Kachmarsky, Let Slip the Dogs of Love, →ISBN, page 59:

(Canada, Upper Midwestern US, Western US) A trough under the eaves of a building for draining water from the roof; gutter.


honor system

honor systems (plural)
honour system (alternative British Canada)

Our local beekeeper leaves jars of honey for sale in his driveway. There's a coffee can for the money, and payment is on the honor system.

George Costanza: Alright, now, how are we gonna monitor this thing?
Jerry Seinfeld: Well, obviously, we all know each other very well, I'm sure that we'll all feel comfortable within the confines of the honor system.

1992 November 18, Larry David, directed by Tom Cherones, Seinfeld, season 4, episode 11, Jason Alexander and Jerry Seinfeld (actors):

(US, alternative in Canada) A system, policy or understanding based on trust in the honesty, honor, or integrity of others.


redline

en-verb

redline (third-person singular simple present redlines, present participle redlining, simple past and past participle redlined)

redlines (present singular third-person)
redlining (participle present)
redlined (participle past)
redlined (past)

From red + line, originating with the frequent use of red pen or pencil to mark corrections on drawings and documents (1), and the red markings on a tachometer (2).

Already ‘redlined’ by profit-hungry telcos, the inhabitants of poor inner city areas can be shut out of the new on-line services through lack of money.

1995 September, Richard Barbrook, Andy Cameron, “The Californian Ideology”, in Mute, volume 1, number 3, →ISSN:

(Canada, US, urban studies) To deny or complicate access to services (such as banking, insurance, or healthcare) to residents in specific, often racially determined, areas.


Mother's Day

Mother's Days (plural)
Mothers' Day (alternative)
Mothers Day (alternative)

From Anna Jarvis's campaign in the early 20th century, which insisted on using a singular spelling in order to associate the day with observants' particular mothers.

(US, Canada) A day in honor of one's mother on the second Sunday in May in the United States and Canada.

Moedersdag

a day in honor of one's mother or all mothers, on whichever day


hot damn

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(Canada, US) A minced oath from "god damn".


crewman

armoured crewman
armoured crewman#English

(Canada, military) Synonym of armoured crewman.


beat it

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

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

(idiomatic, US, Canada, vulgar, colloquial) To masturbate.


atajo

It could hardly be termed a cavalcade, as it consisted of an atajo of pack-mules, with some carretas drawn by oxen.

1866, The Boy's Friend, volume 2, page 197:

(Canada, US, historical) A train of mules or horses.


foetal

From foetus + -al, the former from Latin foetus, alternative form of fētus, and the latter from Latin -alis.

(chiefly British, alternative in Canada) Alternative spelling of fetal.


Your Honour

فَخَامَتُكَ

title used to address a judge or magistrate

Ваша f (Vaša) честь f (čestʹ) (Ваша честь) (declines as sing. but used with verb in 3rd person pl. majestatis)

(Canada) A title used to address a provincial lieutenant-governor.


pardon me

anteeksi

polite expression to get someone to repeat

Pardon me, I didn't hear you.

(idiomatic, Canada, US) Polite expression to ask someone to repeat an utterance.


whitener

en-noun

whitener (countable and uncountable, plural whiteners)

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(Canada, countable, uncountable) A powder added to tea or coffee in place of milk. A "non-dairy creamer".


humored

en-adj

humored (comparative more humored, superlative most humored)

more humored (comparative)
most humored (superlative)

(Canada, US) Alternative form of humoured.


half-staff

half-staffs (plural)
half staff (alternative)
halfstaff (alternative)

[T]he agents of the steamship lines drowned their sorrow in rum and ran the house flags to half-staff.

c. 1900, Richard Harding Davis, Billy and the Big Stick:

Marshal Joseph Pilsudski, Poland's man of power, died here tonight. . . . Flags were lowered to half staffs.

1935 May 13, “Ninth Anniversary of Coup”, in New York Times, page 6:

President Bush's decision to honor Pope John Paul II by ordering flags lowered to half-staff on all public buildings has reignited a debate about the separation of church and state.

2005 April 6, Felisa Cardona, "Flag order spurs controversy," Denver Post (USA), p. B-01, (retrieved 29 Aug. 2011)

[T]he flags at Ottawa fire stations were lowered to half-staff in tribute.

2008 August 5, “Two men electrocuted fixing flat on firetruck”, in Ottawa Citizen, Canada, retrieved 2011-08-29:


squealer

(informal, Canada, US, Australia) A kind of jug used to carry beer having 1 litre or 32 ounce capacity (half the size of a growler).


squeezer

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You were playing Buckhunter at the bar last night and your game was so tight a gal offered to give you a squeezer in the parking lot.

Twenty-five one-armed squeezers sounds like a lot of unnecessary strain on the heart.

(slang, US, Canada) A hand job, an instance of male masturbation, or manual sex performed on a man.


green crab

(Canada, US, South Africa) The shore crab.


one-on-one

Such one-on-one “swearing contests” are routinely decided in favor of law enforcement officers, but in this case the district court sided with the accused bank robber.

1999, United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on the Judiciary. Subcommittee on Criminal Justice Oversight, The Clinton Justice Department's Refusal to Enforce the Law on Voluntary Confessions: Hearing, page 56:

(chiefly Canada, US, Australia) Involving direct communication or competition between two people.


on-ramp

(Canada, US, Australia) A segment of roadway that directs vehicular traffic from local roads onto a freeway.


off-ramp

off-ramps (plural)
offramp (alternative)

(Canada, US, Australia) A segment of roadway that directs vehicular traffic from a freeway onto local roads.


my goodness

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oh my goodness (alternative)
oh, my goodness (alternative)

My goodness, what a loud noise!

(US, Canada, minced oath) Used to express surprise, shock, or amazement.

mijn God

used to express surprise, shock, or amazement


aphaeresis

en-noun

aphaeresis (countable and uncountable, plural aphaereses)

(UK, Canada) Alternative spelling of apheresis.


porterhouse

porterhouses (plural)
porter house (alternative)

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(chiefly Canada, US) A cut of beef taken from the thick end of the short loin; it has a T-shaped bone and a large piece of tenderloin; a porterhouse steak.

He contrived the same afternoon to introduce himself to one of the footmen of Lady Horatia at the porter house he frequented […].

1791, Charlotte Smith, Celestina, Broadview, published 2004, page 372:

(chiefly Canada, US, now historical) A public house where porter was sold; often also served steaks, chops etc.


trailer park

(US, Canada) An area containing mobile homes for rent or places to station them if owned; normally providing utilities and services.


wienie

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“With all his education, mind you. Selling weenies out on the street in the broad daylight.”

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

(Canada, US, informal) A wiener sausage.


confederationist

(Canada, chiefly historical) A supporter of Canadian Confederation.

A supporter of confederation.
A supporter of Canadian Confederation.


confederationist

(Canada, chiefly historical) Of or relating to a political movement in favour of Canadian Confederation.


johnny cake

The little girls sat under the pines eating their thick mutton sandwiches and big slabs of johnny cake spread with butter.

1922, Katherine Mansfield, “The Doll's House”, in Selected Stories, Oxford, published 2002, page 353:

The women were good cooks. They used to cook bread, damper and johnny cake in bakers.

1987, Ida West, “Pride Against Prejudice”, in Heiss & Minter, editor, Macquarie PEN Anthology of Aboriginal Literature, Allen & Unwin, published 2008, page 108:

(Canada, US, Australia, New Zealand, colloquial) Alternative form of johnnycake (“type of basic cornbread”).


rainmaker

esőcsináló

someone or something that causes or attempts to cause rain to fall

The law firm relied heavily on Charlotte as its main rainmaker to bring in new clients.

The fact is, that since a good, sound, honest, efficient, automatic, nonmetallic currency and standard was tampered with in 1893, India has been a happy hunting-ground for any empiric who conjured with a new scheme of currency, no matter how fantastic. Instead of admitting after a fair test that no ‘managed’ currency for such a community could be worked for a twelvemonth even by an Achille Fould, every sort of ‘financial rainmaker’ has since 1893 been enlarged on our hapless wards.

1913 January, Moreton Frewen, “The Great Drain of Gold to India”, in The Nineteenth Century and After: A Monthly Review Founded by James Knowles, volume LXXIII, number CCCCXXXI, New York, N.Y.: Leonard Scott Publication Co.; London: Spottiswoode & Co. Ltd., printers, →OCLC, page 59:

The Rainmaker absolutely believes, without a dollop of doubt, the he or she always improves the customer's current state. The Rainmaker knows that if the customer does not buy, then the customer loses something, and the Rainmaker loses the sale.

2006, Jeffrey J. Fox, “Rainmaker Mottos”, in Secrets of Great Rainmakers, New York, N.Y.: Hyperion, →ISBN:

The rainmakers realize that the cost of obtaining a new client is much higher than that of keeping an old one. Many affirm that their relationships mean something to them beyond the possibility of future work. Whatever the reason, they never lose touch. These core elements are what make rainmakers different from other people.

2006, Ford Harding, “What is a Rainmaker?”, in Creating Rainmakers: The Manager’s Guide to Training Professionals to Attract New Clients, Hoboken, N.J.: John Wiley & Sons, →ISBN, part I (The Rainmaker Model):

Over the years, [Bill] Clinton has had three main business involvements with [Ronald] Burkle. The first is a broad advisory capacity, for which Clinton has been paid flat fees for work as a rainmaker and liaison between Burkle and various potential investors.

2008 June 4, Todd S[tanley] Purdum, “The Comeback Id”, in Vanity Fair, archived from the original on 2015-02-17:

Keith Davey, the man they called The Rainmaker for his ability to orchestrate Liberal election victories, died Monday from complications of Alzheimer's disease.

2011 January 17, Sandra Martin, “Liberal ‘rainmaker’ Keith Davey dies at 84”, in The Globe and Mail, Toronto, Ont., archived from the original on 2018-09-09:

Brokering the deal, while managing the egos of combative founders and investors, was Bao Fan, the rainmaker of China’s tech industry.

2023 February 22, Li Yuan, “China’s Tech Rainmaker Vanishes, and So Does Business Confidence”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

(originally Canada, US, figuratively, informal) A person having the ability to generate business, raise funds, or otherwise engineer success for a company, organization, etc.


love feast

From love + feast, partial calque of Latin agape and Koine Greek ἀγάπη (agápē).

(figurative, now chiefly Canada, US) Any banquet or gathering to promote goodwill among the participants.


Denver boot

(Canada, US) A device locked into place over the wheel of a road vehicle, immobilizing it.


cream pie

cream pie (countable and uncountable, plural cream pies)

cream pies (plural)
creampie (alternative)

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The young men and women slinging plate lunches and mammoth slices of cream pie on the tables recall the energetic waitresses from the good old days.

1993, Michael Wallis, Way Down Yonder in the Indian Nation: Writings from America’s Heartland, New York, N.Y.: St. Martin’s Press, →ISBN, page 44:

(originally Canada, US) A pie, usually filled with fruit, topped with whipped cream.


keener

From keen (“enthusiastic”) + -er (“one who is”).

suffix

(informal, chiefly Canada) Someone who is excessively keen or eager, possibly making others look bad; a brown-noser.


second in command
second in command#English

(British English, Canada, slang) Abbreviation of second in command.


God Save the Queen

First known to be used during the reign of Queen Mary I during certain royal proclamations, likely popularized after William Shakespeare's Richard III c. 1592–1593 due to quotes containing it with its current patriotic meaning that borrowed from some royal proclamations of Queen Elizabeth I.

(UK, Australia, Canada, New Zealand) An expression of one’s patriotism and hope for the long life of the monarch, especially in her presence.


awesome

en-adj

awesome (comparative more awesome or awesomer, superlative most awesome or awesomest)

more awesome (comparative)
awesomer (comparative)
most awesome (superlative)
awesomest (superlative)

From awe + -some; compare earlier awful and Middle English eiful (“inducing fright or terror, terrible”), from Old English eġeful (“fearful; inspiring awe”).
The oldest meaning of awesome is of “something which inspires awe”, but the word is now also a common colloquial expression. It was originally so used in the United States, where it had featured strikingly in the 1970 film Tora! Tora! Tora!, as used by Japan's Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto to describe the "awesome" industrial potential of the United States. Consequently, as the word popularly became an expression for anything superb, in its original meaning it has tended to be replaced by the related word, awe-inspiring.

cog

That was awesome!

Awesome, dude!

Awesome! Totally awesome! All right, Hamilton!

1982, Cameron Crowe, Fast Times at Ridgemont High, spoken by Jeff Spicoli (Sean Penn):

(colloquial, Canada, US, Australia) Excellent, exciting, remarkable.


centred

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


cop shop

From cop (“police officer”) + shop (“workplace”).

1977-1984, Cop Shop (title of an Australian television series).

Billy Suggs spotted Sam standing outside the cop shop when he still was two blocks away.

“Could you go up the cop shop and bring Paul home again” said Heather.

2007, Rachel Bramble, Stephanie Clover, page 47:

He then drove up to the township and dragged me inside the cop shop.

2011, Robert Watkins, A Face in the Crowd, page 40:

(UK, New Zealand, Australia, Canada, slang) A police station.


flagpole

en-verb

flagpole (third-person singular simple present flagpoles, present participle flagpoling, simple past and past participle flagpoled)

flagpoles (present singular third-person)
flagpoling (participle present)
flagpoled (participle past)
flagpoled (past)
flag pole (alternative)

I understand immigrating to Canada is getting harder and harder. [The difficulty of navigating bureaucracy] might be a way to let people fall between the cracks. I really don't know. The hoops immigrants have to go through, such as flagpoling. And I don't have any political representatives. I didn't vote.

2016, Beyhan Farhadi, “Identity and the City: Thinking Through Diversity”, in Jay Pitter, John Lorinc, editors, Subdivided: City-Building in an Age of Hyper-Diversity:

(Canada, rare) To exit a country momentarily and reenter, usually in order to satisfy immigration requirements.


escarole

en-noun

escarole (usually uncountable, plural escaroles)

Borrowed from French escarole, from Italian scariola, scarola (“chicory; endive”), from Late Latin escariola, scariola, from Latin ēsca (“food; dish prepared for the table”) (from edō (“to eat”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₁ed- (“to eat”)) + -ola (from -olus, -ulus (suffix forming diminutive nouns)). Doublet of scariole.

der

Endive, or Chicory—This, for salad, takes the same place in winter that lettuce occupies in summer and when well grown is equally valuable. There are two very distinct varieties; [...] The other sort is the "Escarole" of the French, and is sweet in flavor, with a wider and flatter leaf, which comes earlier in the season but does not usually form so close a head, although it is preferable in flavor. [...] Sow twice, early in July and the first week in August. The broad leaf, (which is the Escarole,) for the first crop, and some White Curled for the second crop.

[1853 July, B. M., “The Kitchen Garden”, in The Cultivator, a Monthly Journal for the Farm and the Garden, […], volume I, number VII (Third Series), Albany, N.Y.: Published by Luther Tucker, at the office of The Country Gentleman […]; from the steam press of C. Van Benthuysen, →OCLC, page 218, column 1:

Paul's greatest pleasure was the cultivation of various salads. He owned four large beds in which he grew romaines, lettuces, escaroles, and almost all the known species of these edible leaves.

1903, Guy de Maupassant, “The Development of Paul”, in Une vie: Or The History of a Heart: A Novel (The Life Work of Henri René Guy de Maupassant; VI), Akron, Oh.: Saint Dunstan Society, →OCLC, page 205:

Escarole is a form of endive with the Latin name Cichorium endivia var. latifolia. There are several forms of a variety called var. crispum with wide heads and crisped leaves. One of these called "fringed" has a head so deep it is almost self-blanching. These escaroles are delicious as salads and also when chopped and cooked.

1943, Bulletin of the Garden Club of America, series 8, [Lake Forest, Ill.]: Garden Club of America, →OCLC, page 16:

Like chicory and Belgian endive, escarole’s bitterness is its attraction. Look for broad heads of escarole with dark green leaves.

2001, “Vegetables”, in Susan Westmoreland, editor, The Good Housekeeping Cookbook, New York, N.Y.: Hearst Books, →ISBN, page 432, column 2:

This recipe called scarola imbottita is unique in that the individual leaves of the vegetable are not used for stuffing, as you might expect, but the whole head of escarole is flattened and stuffed, then closed up, tied up, and cooked whole. [...] Remember that the kind of escarole used here is also called curly endive.

2003, Clifford A. Wright, “Stuffed Escarole with Ground Beef, Pine Nuts, Raisins, and Olives as Made in Sicily”, in Little Foods of the Mediterranean: 500 Fabulous Recipes for Antipasti, Tapas, Hors d’Oeuvre, Meze, and More, Boston, Mass.: The Harvard Common Press, →ISBN, page 229, column 2:

Escarole walnut salad [...] If you've never worked with escarole, give this versatile green a go. When I was growing up, I was used to eating it chopped up in a soup, quickly wilted with lemon juice, or tossed into a salad. Though you can find escarole in most grocery stores, many people don't take advantage of it, perhaps because of its slight bitterness (which dissipates when cooked).

2016 August, Lucinda Scala Quinn, “Killer Salads”, in Mad Hungry Family: 120 Essential Recipes to Feed the Whole Crew, New York, N.Y.: Artisan, Workman Publishing Company, →ISBN, page 193:

(Canada, US) A subspecies or variety of broad-leaved endive (Cichorium endivia subsp. endivia, syn. Cichorium endivia var. latifolium), which is eaten as a vegetable.

andijvie

subspecies or variety of endive (var. latifolia)


tuque

(Canada) a knit cap, often woollen but of varying shape, usually conical and topped by a pom-pom.


humidex

(Canada, meteorology) A measurement used by Canadian meteorologists to reflect the combined effect of heat and humidity, as the apparent temperature felt by a person.


loonie

From loon + -ie from the depiction of a loon on the reverse (tail-side) of the Canadian one-dollar coin.

The loonie continued to rise against the greenback today.

(Canada, informal, by extension) The dollar as the Canadian unit of currency.


scribbler

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(Canada) A ruled notebook or exercise book, especially in grade school.


scalper

iemand die toegangskaarten meestal duur doorverkoopt

We could see three different scalpers moving through the crowd outside the arena, each muttering the characteristic refrain: “Need any tickets?”

Although 4.1 million tickets were sold for the 2023 shows—including over 2 million on the first day, a new record—scalpers jacked up prices on the secondary market to more than $22,000.

2023 December 6, Sam Lansky, “Person of Year 2023 : Taylor Swift”, in Time:

(US, Canada) One who scalps tickets to popular entertainment events: buying them in advance and then selling them (e.g. online or just outside the venue of the event), often at inflated prices.

trokari

one who resells items at inflated prices


assclown

assclowns (plural)
arseclown (alternative Commonwealth Ireland UK)
arse-clown (alternative Commonwealth Ireland UK)

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Near-synonyms: assmonkey, assmuncher

This newsgroup--misc.immigration.usa--has a wide range of posters, some of which have legitimate concerns about legal immigration. Do you like being the AssClown. Let these people be, let them ask their immigration question free from your xenophobic harassments.

1996 August 25, Ben Holstrom, “Re: Birth Certificate for Citizenship”, in misc.immigration.usa (Usenet), retrieved 2018-10-04, message-ID <3220c9cc.5271157@nntp.ix.netcom.com>:

(Canada, US, slang, sometimes vulgar, often humorous) A jerk; a buffoon; a person who is inept or ill-behaved to the point of being found laughable by others.

I'm a little loaded, and this assclown behind me has bumped me four times in a row.

2006, Brad Bauer, Hitting in the Clutch, iUniverse, published 2006, →ISBN, page 141:

"Pretentious, ambitionless assclown," I corrected.

2006, Megan McCafferty, Charmed Thirds, Three Rivers Press, published 2006, →ISBN, page 261:

Card is a raging homophobic assclown who believes that America should rise up violently and overthrow the government for any hint of support of same-sex marriage.

2012 June 19, Jef With One F, “5 Horrible Lessons Ender's Game Teaches Kids”, in Houston Press:

(Canada, US, slang, sometimes vulgar, often humorous) A jerk; a buffoon; a person who uses their nature to bring humor to others, but ends up being the butt of a joke.


chimo

From Inuktitut ᓴᐃᒧ (saimo, “goodbye; peace be with you”).


ookpik

(Canada) A handicraft stuffed toy owl, often made from wolf fur, sealskin, or similar materials.


housecoat

housecoats (plural)
house-coat (alternative)

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(Canada, US) A bathrobe or dressing gown.


parkade

(Canada, South Africa) A multilevel parking garage.


smokejumper

smokejumpers (plural)
smoke jumper (alternative)

(US, Canada) A firefighter who parachutes into a remote area to combat wildfires and set up firebreaks.


Newfie

(Canada, informal, sometimes construed as pejorative) A native or inhabitant of the island of Newfoundland, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada.


dépanneur

dépanneurs (plural)
depanneur (alternative)

(Canada, Quebec, New Brunswick and Ontario) A convenience store, especially one that sells alcohol.


garburator

garburators (plural)
garbarator (alternative)
garberator (alternative)
Garberator (alternative)

Blend of garbage + incinerator. First use appears c. 1947 in the Winnipeg Tribune.

‘[…] She burped and tried to jam the bottle into the waste-hole of the waste-disposal thing, the thingummy.’
‘Garburator,’ said Pigs Trotter. ‘I think they’re called Garburators.’
‘Garburator, that’s it. She tried to jam the bottle down the Garburator.[…]’

1991 September, Stephen Fry, chapter 1, in The Liar, London: Heinemann, →ISBN, section III, page 28:

garbage disposal
garbage disposal#English

(Canada, UK) Synonym of garbage disposal.


homo milk

en-noun

homo milk (usually uncountable, plural homo milks)


alcool

Borrowed from French alcool (“alcohol”). Doublet of alcohol and kohl.


corner store

corner stores (plural)
cornerstore (alternative)

(Canada, Australia, New Zealand) A convenience store, whether or not it is on a corner.


track pants

Active apparel is no longer limited to track pants and basketball shorts.

2008, Janet Engle, How to Open & Operate a Financially Successful Fashion Design Business, Atlantic Publishing, page 57:

The defence alleged that Benji had a pistol down inside his track pants, the weapon that Gatto finally killed him with. If the gun had been in Benji′s track pants or briefs there would be oil, dust and gunshot residue on the inside of the fabric.

2010, Adam Shand, Big Shots: Inside Melbourne′s Gangland Wars, Revised edition, page 319:

A pair of grey, flannel track pants outlined the lad′s bottom very nicely indeed.

2011, Ken Smith, Run Naked, Run Free, page 66:

(Australia, Canada, New Zealand, US) Sweatpants.


FIBUA

(military, British, Canada) Acronym of fighting in built-up areas.


four-flusher

four-flushers (plural)
fourflusher (alternative)

From the practice of attempting to pass off four cards of the same suit, and a fifth of perhaps the same color, as a flush in poker.

That four-flusher shoot himself? Not a chance.

1929, Dashiell Hammett, Red Harvest, New York: Knopf, →OL:

(slang, Canada, US) A lowly, disreputable cheat or fraudster, especially at cards, especially a dull or unimaginative one.


hydrofield

Canadian English, from hydro + field. In Canadian English, the word "hydro" can refer to any electricity, regardless of how it was generated.

(Canada) A line of electricity transmission towers, usually in groups, cutting across a city.

(Canada) The undeveloped land under those towers.


fire hall

(Canada) A fire station, typically one which operates a reception hall.

(Canada) Such a fire station's reception hall.


maidenhair

maidenhair (countable and uncountable, plural maidenhairs)

maidenhairs (plural)
maiden-hair (alternative)

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(Canada, US, now regional) Either of two ericaceous plants, the creeping snowberry or the checkerberry.


joual

As inflammatory as what the joual ‘is’—a mixed, oral sociolect—is its function as a kind of self-image for Québécois. In Jean-Claude Germain's terms, joual ‘bears in its flesh the scars of life and history.’

2011, Erin Hurley, National Performance: Representing Quebec from Expo 67 to Céline Dion, University of Toronto Press, →ISBN:

(Canada) The dialect of working-class Quebecers.


federal government

federal government (countable and uncountable, plural federal governments)

(Canada, Pakistan) The national governments of Canada and Pakistan, in contrast to government at the provincial or territorial level.


carload

less-than-carload freight

By 1887 the company had grown so large that it was buying its flour and sugar by the carload.

(rail transport, US, Canada) The quantity of goods that can be carried in a freight car.


in light of

The United Nations then became the one great attempt to establish a formal institution to unify the world, especially in light of the darkness that preceded it.

2015, Roy Posner, A New Way of Living, page 103:

In light of such conceptualisations of the power of linguistic landscapes, we set out to examine the connection between the visual landscape and the spoken landscape in our institution[.]

2019, Li Huang, James Lambert, “Another Arrow for the Quiver: A New Methodology for Multilingual Researchers”, in Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, →DOI, page 2:

(idiomatic, Australia, Canada, US) Given, considering.


ass crack

ass cracks (plural)
arse crack (alternative UK)
arse-crack (alternative UK)
arsecrack (alternative UK)
ass-crack (alternative)
asscrack (alternative)

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(Canada, US, vulgar, slang) The gluteal cleft.


mommy track

(Canada, US, informal) A career path involving working arrangements provided for mothers and prospective mothers, generally more flexible and allowing shorter hours.


barroom

barrooms (plural)
bar room (alternative)

Sporting a woolly cardigan with four buttons on top of an Oxford smock without a collar, our man has a faintly folksy look about him, calling to mind a zingaro or a gypsy, a carny or a Mongol, but also (switching to a wholly distinct mythology and iconography) a hippy strumming his guitar in a barroom in Haight-Ashbury or at Big Sur or in Katmandu.

1969, Georges Perec, translated by Gilbert Adair, A Void:

(Canada, US) A room where alcoholic drinks are served over a counter.


bayberry

It twisted and turned, and, the first thing I knew, made a sudden bend around a bunch of bayberry scrub and opened out into a big clear space like a lawn.

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

(Canada, US) The fruit of the wax myrtle shrub; or the plant itself (Morella cerifera), with aromatic, leathery leaves and waxy berries.

The two North American genera are Myrica (bayberry) and Comptonia (sweet-fern).

2002, James Fralish, Scott Franklin, Taxonomy and Ecology of Woody Plants in North American Forests, Myricaceae (Bayberry or Wax-Myrtle Family), page 230:

Other species in the family Myricaceae, especially in genus Myrica; bay-rum tree, candleberry.


garfish

garfishes (plural)
garfish (plural)
gar-fish (alternative)

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From Middle English garfysche (“garfish”, literally “spear-fish”), from gor (“spear”) + fisch (“fish”). Cognate with Scots gairfish (“garfish”).

inh

(especially US, Canada) Any North or Central American fish of the family Lepisosteidae.


speedos

From Speedos (“trademark of the Speedo company”), which has become a generic name.

For example, board riders paid more attention to appearances (short hair v long hair, speedos v board shorts) and conspicuous behavior (surfing for training rather than for fun or to express oneself), than life savers.

1979, Kent Pearson, Surfing Subcultures of Australia and New Zealand, University of Queensland Press, page 118:

2000 July, Ian Jack (editor), Granta, Issue 70: Australia: The New New World, →ISBN, page 42,
I remember my mother standing exasperated in the rain with the brolly over her head at dusk while I frog-kicked around in my speedos.

Their club is Manly, and this word is emblazoned across the back of their speedos.

2006, Margaret Henderson, Marking Feminist Times: Remembering the Longest Revolution in Australia, page 212:

(Canada, US, Australia, New Zealand, usually in the plural) A men′s tight fitting brief swimsuit.


gear shift

(automotive, US, Canada) The lever or other interface a human uses to shift gears.