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) A slur against English-Canadians 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


townhouse

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

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


poutine

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)

(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)

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.


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.

In a stick-shift vehicle, the driver must downshift when necessary; in an automatic, the transmission downshifts as needed.

(automotive, cycling) To shift a transmission into a lower gear.


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

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)

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

rada plemienna (Indian północnoamerykańskich)

(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-indigneous 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)

→ 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 (lyrics and music), “Who Will Save Your Soul”, in Pieces of You:

(slang, 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

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

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

(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)

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

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

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

Coordinate term: gain

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)

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.

(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.

عِيد اَلْأُمّ

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

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


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.


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) 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)

Coordinate term: on-ramp

(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)

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

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

(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 Old English eġeful (“fearful; inspiring awe”).

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)
arse-clown (alternative)

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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 considered, 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 considered, 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.


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)

‘[…] 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)
arse-crack (alternative)
arsecrack (alternative)
ass-crack (alternative)
asscrack (alternative)

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

(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)

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

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.


guardrail

guardrails (plural)
guard rail (alternative)

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

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


my word

My word! What is that!?

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

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


sugarbush

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

Alternative form: sugar bush

Meronyms: sugarhouse, sugar shack

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

en:wooded area whose trees are tapped for sugaring

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


candy cane

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


shit disturber

shit disturbers (plural)
shit-disturber (alternative)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


overpass

/ˈəʊvə(ɹ)pɑːs/

/əʊvə(ɹ)ˈpɑːs/

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

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

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

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


whack-a-mole

en-noun

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

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

/ˈʍæk.əˌməʊl/

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

compound

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

der Kampf gegen die Hydra

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

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

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

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


first responder

en-noun

first responder (plural first responders)

pelastustyöntekijä

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

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


Saturdays

(US, Canada) On Saturday; each Saturday.


bluestone

bluestone (countable and uncountable, plural bluestones)

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

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


herky-jerky

en-adj

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

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

/ˈhəːkiˌd͡ʒəːki/

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

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

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

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


Christmas cracker

en-noun

Christmas cracker (plural Christmas crackers)

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


bobsled

bobsled (countable and uncountable, plural bobsleds)

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

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


Queen Anne's lace

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

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

Daucus carota
Daucus carota#Translingual

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


high roller

high rollers (plural)
high-roller (alternative)

/ˈhaɪ ˈɹəʊlə/

/ˈhaɪ ˈɹoʊlɚ/

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

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

One who has a lot of money and lives luxuriously.

flambeur

one who has a lot of money and lives luxuriously


weigh station

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


slicker

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

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


strip mall

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

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

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

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


streaky

en-adj

streaky (comparative streakier, superlative streakiest)

streakier (comparative)
streakiest (superlative)

Jones has always been a streaky hitter

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


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


junior school

A school providing primary education to children.

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


seigneur

seigneurs (plural)
seignior (alternative)

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

doublet

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


doubloon

doubloons (plural)
dubloon (alternative)

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

(Canada, slang, numismatics) Clipping of doubloonie.


labor union

labor unions (plural)
labour union (alternative)

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


blue law

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

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

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

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

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

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


VOC

VSC

volatile sulphur compound/volatile sulfur compound

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

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


bachelorette

/ˌbæt͡ʃləˈɹɛt/

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

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


fruit machine

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

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


soother

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

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

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

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


carryall

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


elementary school

en-noun

elementary school (countable and uncountable, plural elementary schools)

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

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

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


Duluth pack

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

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


catty-cornered

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


catty-cornered

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


Gaspesian

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

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


riprap

riprap (countable and uncountable, plural ripraps)

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

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

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


pogey

pogey (usually uncountable, plural pogeys)

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

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

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

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

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


coziness

coziness (usually uncountable, plural cozinesses)

cozinesses (plural)
cosiness (alternative)

(chiefly Canada, US) The state or quality of being cozy.


assfuck

assfucks (plural)
arsefuck (alternative)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Eat my dust, assfuck!

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

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

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


assfuck

en-verb

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

We assfuck their minds.

1997, Meredith Sue Willis, Trespassers, page 218:


graduate student

en-noun

graduate student (plural graduate students)

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


potato chip

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

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

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


mouffle

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

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

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


rounder

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

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

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


stuffed animal

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


mountain hare

Lepus americanus
Lepus americanus#Translingual

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


ATA

Alberta Teachers' Association
w:Alberta Teachers' Association

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


stubby

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


colonizer

Don't scare me like that, colonizer!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


eighth note

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


carding

carding (countable and uncountable, plural cardings)

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


turtleneck

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

turtleneck sweater
turtleneck sweater#English

(Canada, US) Ellipsis of turtleneck sweater.


correctional

en-adj

correctional (comparative more correctional, superlative most correctional)

more correctional (comparative)
most correctional (superlative)

correctional officer, correctional policy, correctional services.

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


pantleg

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

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

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

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

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


CSIS

w:en:Canadian Security Intelligence Service

(Canada) Acronym of Canadian Security Intelligence Service.


uncheck

en-verb

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

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

Uncheck the “save my password” box.

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

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

graphical user interface
graphical user interface

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


jackoff

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


QEW

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


TTC

Toronto Transit Commission
w:Toronto Transit Commission

(Canada, transport) Initialism of Toronto Transit Commission.


mechanical pencil

en-noun

mechanical pencil (plural mechanical pencils)

Coordinate term: mechanical eraser

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


900 number

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

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


ratepayers group

ratepayers group (plural ratepayers groups)

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


motorhead

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

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

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

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

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


Quebecker

(Canada) Alternative spelling of Quebecer


Newfie joke

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

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

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


in service

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

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

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


KD

KD (countable and uncountable, plural KDs)

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

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

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


lookit

Nonstandard reanalysis of look at (that).

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


prideful

en-adj

prideful (comparative more prideful, superlative most prideful)

more prideful (comparative)
most prideful (superlative)

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

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

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


momism

en-noun

momism (countable and uncountable, plural momisms)

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

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


OAS

(Canada) Initialism of Old Age Security.


sugarhouse

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

Holonym: sugarbush

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


Sunday roast

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


CQ

(Canada) Knight of the National Order of Quebec


federalist

federalists (plural)
fœderalist (alternative)

/ˈfɛdəɹəlˌɪst/

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


chirper

I could barely understand a word that chatty chirper said.

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


signalize

en-verb

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

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

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

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


plex

Ultimately from -plex, from Latin plectere

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

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

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

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

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


pea-souper

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

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

suffix

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

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

The dust surrounded us like a London pea-souper.

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

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

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

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


QPP

en-noun

QPP (countable and uncountable, plural QPPs)

Sûreté du Québec
Sûreté du Québec#English

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

Quebec Provincial Police

Quebec Pension Plan
Quebec Pension Plan#English

(Canada) Initialism of Quebec Pension Plan.


hemorrhagic fever

hemorrhagic fever (countable and uncountable, plural hemorrhagic fevers)

haemorrhagic fever
haemorrhagic fever#English

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


postsecondary

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

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


postsecondary school

postsecondary school (plural postsecondary schools)

McGill University is a well-known Canadian postsecondary school.

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