skidmark

skidmarks (plural)
skid mark (alternative)

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(colloquial, humorous, euphemistic) A visible feces stain left on underpants, trousers, or sometimes the toilet bowl.


see to

en-verb

see to (third-person singular simple present sees to, present participle seeing to, simple past saw to, past participle seen to)

sees to (present singular third-person)
seeing to (participle present)
saw to (past)
seen to (participle past)


ying-yang

ying-yangs (plural)
yingyang (alternative)
ying yang (alternative)

...wouldn't have to staunch anybody's leg wounds or haunt the hospital corridors waiting for a peek at one of my troopers with tubes up his ying-yang.

1982, Robert Merkin, The South Florida book of the dead:

Do you say it's Dad's tallywacker, his ying-yang, his wienie? Or do you say, "That's Daddy's penis"?

2004, Kevin Leman, Kathy Flores Bell, A chicken's guide to talking turkey with your kids about sex:

It was half over and so far nobody had noticed his ying-yang hanging out.

2006, Brandon James, Jeanne Carmen: My Wild, Wild Life As a New York Pin Up Queen:


wash one's hands

wash one's hands (third-person singular simple present washes one's hands, present participle washing one's hands, simple past and past participle washed one's hands)

washes one's hands (present singular third-person)
washing one's hands (participle present)
washed one's hands (participle past)
washed one's hands (past)

The figurative sense comes from the account in Matthew 27:24 of the Bible in which Pontius Pilate, unwilling to condemn Jesus who has committed no crime but whose crucifixion the crowd has called for, symbolically washes his hands in public and says (according to the King James Version; spelling modernized): “I am innocent of the blood of this just person: see ye to it.”
Another literal and figurative usage of the expression can be traced to Deuteronomy 21:6 where the elders of Israel are commanded to "wash their hands" as part of a ceremonial absolution ritual initiated upon the discovery of a corpse outside the jurisdiction of any city.


slip away

slip away (third-person singular simple present slips away, present participle slipping away, simple past and past participle slipped away)

slips away (present singular third-person)
slipping away (participle present)
slipped away (participle past)
slipped away (past)

He slipped away quietly in his sleep.


exotic dancer

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biblically

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

Most of them showed an intimate knowledge of the young blonde, leading Seth to the conclusion they had known her biblically.

2003, L. D. White, Forever House, page 3:

in the biblical sense
in the biblical sense

(euphemistic) Carnally; in the biblical sense.


short on looks

(idiomatic, euphemistic) Plain; unattractive.


party girl

party girls (plural)
partygirl (alternative)


in all one's glory

She quickly dressed for fear that someone would walk through the shower door and see her in all her glory.

The Olympic athlete wore no clothes, and those of us who have gone to the Eisenhower Theater remember that out in front on the mezzanine floor is the statue of the Greek god that was rescued from the depths of the ocean, and he's out there in all his glory in the nude.

1990, Department of the Interior and Related Agencies Appropriations for 1991, page 387:

She noticed R.D. passing by a few times, wearing less clothing each time until he was down to the sweats. She hadn't worried until his shirt came off. Then he slipped behind a pillar and came out in all his glory, ready to leap into the Bosporus, I assume.

2010, Dermot Meagher, Judge Sentences: Tales from the Bench, page 110:

Alena asked, wanting him to strip naked and see him standing in all his glory under the hot afternoon sun, but thinking of Raven and modesty's sake perhaps it was best if Ares should find some type of bathing trunks.

2011, Lisa Beth Darling, Child of War-A God Is Born, page 157:

'You said it,' she repeated, stepping out of her dress and standing before him in all her glory–naked except for a thin diamond chain around her waist, a rhinestone encrusted thong and Jimmy Choo stilettos.

2012, Jackie Collins, Hollywood Divorces:

In his bedchamber, he kept the portrait of the naked Nell hidden behind a secret panel on which was painted a staid Dutch landscape. By sliding back the panel, Charles could reveal Nell in all her glory.

2015, Don Jordan, Michael Walsh, The King's Bed: Sex, Power and the Court of Charles II:

(informal, idiomatic, euphemistic) Completely naked.


where it counts

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A girl's best weapon — and one that should be used sparingly — is a swift kick where it counts.


bebother

bebother (third-person singular simple present bebothers, present participle bebothering, simple past and past participle bebothered)

bebothers (present singular third-person)
bebothering (participle present)
bebothered (participle past)
bebothered (past)

‘Confusticate and bebother these dwarves!’ he said aloud.

1937, J. R. R. Tolkien, chapter 1, in The Hobbit:


Aunt Flo

Pun on flow and Flo (nickname for Florence, Flora, etc).

Aunt Flo came to visit last night: that's why I was so ratty.

(euphemistic slang) A personification of the menstrual period or menstruation.

大姨媽 /大姨妈

slang, personification of the menstrual period


dogpile

dogpiles (plural)
dog pile (alternative)
dog-pile (alternative)

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

From dog + pile. In reference to piles of people, originally as a noun after earlier pig pile. In reference to dog excrement, a clipping of pile of shit.

Mrs. Brown cleaned her lawn up bright and early each day;
Picked up all the dog piles so her children could play.

1950 March 6, The Tri-City Herald, page 6:

(US colloquial, euphemistic) A pile of dogshit.


way of all flesh

Taking a page from Court TV, some enterprising soul will start Death TV. If there are stations devoted to food, sex and weather, why not one to the way of all flesh?

1998 July 5, Maureen Dowd, “Liberties; Prime Time Dead”, in New York Times:

He abhors his decaying portrait, which pitilessly shows him the way of all flesh.

2004, Elana Gomel, “Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray, and the (Un)Death of the Author”, in Narrative, volume 12, number 1, page 84:

(euphemistic) The inevitable road to death; mortality.


go the way of all flesh

go<goes,,went,gone> the way of all flesh

go the way of all flesh (third-person singular simple present goes the way of all flesh, present participle going the way of all flesh, simple past went the way of all flesh, past participle gone the way of all flesh)

goes the way of all flesh (present singular third-person)
going the way of all flesh (participle present)
went the way of all flesh (past)
gone the way of all flesh (participle past)

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-go the way of all flesh.wav

Equivalent to Danish gå al kødets gang, German den Weg allen Fleisches gehen.

[T]hough the body be going the vvay of all fleſh, yet that ſoule is going the vvay of all Saints.

1624, John Donne, chapter XVII, in Deuotions upon Emergent Occasions, and Seuerall Steps in My Sicknes: […], London: […] A[ugustine] M[atthews] for Thomas Iones, →OCLC, page 434:

The first stranger handed his neighbor the family mug—a huge vessel of brown ware, having its upper edge worn away like a threshold by the rub of whole generations of thirsty lips that had gone the way of all flesh.

1879–1888, Thomas Hardy, “(please specify the page)”, in Wessex Tales: Strange, Lively, and Commonplace […], volume (please specify |volume=I or II), London; New York, N.Y.: Macmillan and Co., published 1888, →OCLC:

What could one do? Buy them and stick them in a lumber-room? No; they had to go the way of all flesh and furniture, and be worn out.

1921 September, John Galsworthy, chapter 11, in To Let, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Charles Scribner’s Sons, →OCLC, part III, page 310:

On the U.S. West Coast, the clubs and restaurants that feature topless female entertainers and waitresses also seemed to be going the way of all flesh. In Los Angeles, 20% of the joints have closed.

1967 August 18, “Tops & Bottoms”, in Time, New York, N.Y.: Time Inc., →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2008-12-15:

Laurence of Oxford went the way of all flesh on the gallows.

2006, Laura Wertheimer, “Clerical Dissent, Popular Piety, and Sanctity in 14th-Century Peterborough”, in Journal of British Studies, volume 45, number 1, page 3:

(euphemistic) To die; to follow a course leading to death or extinction.


well-covered

en-adj

well-covered (comparative more well-covered, superlative most well-covered)

more well-covered (comparative)
most well-covered (superlative)
well covered (alternative)

That simple dancing of well-covered matrons, laying aside for an hour the cares of house and dairy, remembering but not affecting youth, not jealous but proud of the young maidens by their side […] it would be a pleasant variety to see all that sometimes.

1859, George Eliot [pseudonym; Mary Ann Evans], chapter 26, in Adam Bede […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), Edinburgh; London: William Blackwood and Sons, →OCLC:

"She wasn't much of a skeleton as I remember her," murmured Euphemia, "extremely well-covered."

1921, John Galsworthy, The Forsyte Saga, part 2, ch. 11:

The sculptor Botero—influenced perhaps by Maillol’s love of well covered women—created in 1981 an overweight, stumpy couple.

2003 March 20, Thomas Stuttaford, “Eat less and walk more to keep diabetes at bay”, in Times Online, UK, retrieved 2008-06-24:

(chiefly British, of a person, euphemistic) Fat, corpulent, full-figured.


creative accounting

Italy’s public deficit is within the EU limit of 3 per cent of GDP, but only with the help of some creative accounting by the Government’s number-crunchers.

2002 December 23, R. Boyes, R. Owen, A. Sage, “Europe's economies face a winter of discontent”, in The Times, London:

(business, euphemistic, sometimes humorous) Financial accounting practices which are usually not explicitly illegal, but which are unorthodox, imaginative, usually misleading, and of questionable ethics.


not a pretty sight

The navvy was certainly not a pretty sight. His muscular arms and legs were all a-sprawl and his head hung back at a strange angle to his body.

1890, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, chapter 44, in The Firm of Girdlestone:

Bud was not a pretty sight. Four days and nights of trying to see how much whisky he could drink, and how long he could play poker without going to sleep or going broke, had left their mark on his face.

1918, B. M. Bower, chapter 11, in Cabin Fever:

(euphemistic, sometimes humorous) Something visually unappealing, ranging from mildly unattractive to utterly disgusting in appearance.


candy man

candy men (plural)
candy-man (alternative)
candyman (alternative)

“So your friend was into drugs, is that what you’re saying. He’s a Candy Man. That’s some friend to have, I don’t think.” She looked puzzled. “Candy Man,” she repeated. “I don’t understand.” A Candy Man is a slang term for a drug dealer,” I explained.

2015, John Holt, chapter 6, in The Candy Man, page 33:

(chiefly US, euphemistic, slang) A drug dealer.


cycler

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My son's a fast cycler which is much harder for people to understand.

(psychology, euphemistic) A person with bipolar disorder, often used when comparing the speed of mood swings.


heliolatry

en-noun

heliolatry (usually uncountable, plural heliolatries)


in a family way

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-in a family way.wav

She mentioned that she was in a family way and . . . stated that she needed all her money to pay the doctor's bills at the approaching deliverance.

1855 August 25, “Law Intelligence: Supreme Court—Special Term”, in New York Times, page 8:

Her way of paying for these gift subscriptions was to choose one of her sows which was in a family way and, when the sow littered, to sell its offspring.

1947 November 10, “Dear TIME-Reader”, in Time, retrieved 2008-08-11:

Three pregnancies occur in this novel: Nina, Fran and Danielle all find themselves in a family way.

2005 April 15, Carolyn See, "Squab and Squabbles" (book review of Mothers and Sons by Paul Hond), Washington Post, p. C03 (retrieved 11 Aug. 2008)

in the family way
in the family way#English

(euphemistic) Alternative form of in the family way.


in the family way

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-in the family way.wav


spitless

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


khazi

khazis (plural)
carsey (alternative)
carsy (alternative)
karsey (alternative)
karsy (alternative)
karzey (alternative)
karzy (alternative)
karzi (alternative)
kazi (alternative)

A Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English

Variant of carsey, from euphemistic Cockney corruption of Italian casa (“house”), possibly via Polari [Term?] and Sabir [Term?].

Well, that plan's down the khazi.

Have you seen the carsy? Just a bucket with a seat on top.

1967, J. Burke, chapter V, in Till Death Us Do Part, page 84:

(slang, chiefly UK) A toilet: a fixture used for urination and defecation (also figurative).


sing soprano

en-verb

sing soprano (third-person singular simple present sings soprano, present participle singing soprano, simple past sang soprano, past participle sung soprano)

sings soprano (present singular third-person)
singing soprano (participle present)
sang soprano (past)
sung soprano (participle past)

A couple of women lawyers . . . drew a sharp, gleaming knife and applied it mentally to a target just south of the groom's waistline. If he doesn't like it, let the bastard go sing soprano to the A.C.L.U. Such was the ladies' thought.

1997 December 8, Lance Morrow, “Goodbye, Miss Havisham”, in Time:

(intransitive, idiomatic, euphemistic, of a man) To suffer castration or an injury to the testicles.


singing soprano

Loren Stokes, the fluid scorer from Hofstra, limped out singing soprano after a flagrant cheap-shot punch to the groin by George Mason guard Tony Skinn.

2006 March 6, Pat Forde, “Will three teams dance after hard-nosed semis?”, in ESPN, retrieved 2008-08-26:

Judah threw brilliant counters that temporarily stunned the undefeated welterweight titlist, endured two flagrant but apparently unintentional low punches that would've left many permanently singing soprano.

2007 July 18, David Greisman, “Fighting Words—When Losers Win and Winners Lose”, in boxingscene.com, retrieved 2008-08-26:

(idiomatic, euphemistic, of a man) Castrated or injured in the testicles.


officer-involved shooting

en-noun

officer-involved shooting (plural officer-involved shootings)

(US, euphemistic) An incident in which a police officer shoots at another person.


Yahtzee

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

Milton Bradley Company
Yacht (dice game)
Yahtzee

Trademarked by the Milton Bradley Company in 1956, as an alteration of "Yatzie", derived from yacht (see Yacht (dice game)).


head cheese

(slang, euphemistic) Synonym of cock cheese.


calling card

calling cards (plural)
calling-card (alternative)

A guide dog left his calling card on the court at Tuesday night's Magic-Pistons game in Orlando.

2005 January 21, Dwight Perry, “Sideline Chatter: Just doo it”, in Seattle Times, archived from the original on 2013-01-04:

(euphemistic) Excrement, especially of a domestic animal.


nether region

nether regions (plural)
netherregion (alternative)

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

The rash of celebrities flashing their nether regions worries Peter Post, director of the Emily Post Institute of etiquette and manners.

2006 November 29, Sheila Marikar, “Britney Keeps Flashing, Cameras Keep Clicking”, in ABC News:

But her main concern is the hard seating that numbs the nether regions.

2020 April 22, “Letters: Open Access: Not easy for laptops”, in Rail, page 31:

(often pluralized, euphemistic, sometimes humorous) The private parts between the legs; the groin or buttocks.


oh my days

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-oh my days.wav

“[…] Oh, my days, don’t ’ee say another word about either of ’em. I wish I’d never been born.”

1907, Mary Patricia Willcocks, The Wingless Victory, John Lane Company, page 391:

"Oh my days," said my mother and she sank into a chair.

1963, Will P. Rose, The Vanishing Village, Citadel Press, page 192:

‘Oh my fucking days,’ cried Biscuit, shaking his head. ‘We’re fucking jinxed, man.’

2001, Alex Wheatle, East of Acre Lane, Fourth Estate, →ISBN, page 33:

Then the nurse mentioned Epidural, oh my days I know i nearly passed out at the sight of the needle going into the spinal column, all the while that wretch is screaming blue murder in the next room, get it out.

2004, "Kunjufu" (username), comment in "Fathers and Childbirth" (online forum topic), quoted in Barbara M. Newman and Philip R. Newman, Development Through Life: A Psychosocial Approach, Tenth Edition, Cengage Learning (2008), page 111

Jamal covered his face with his hands. ‘Oh my days . . .’

2006, Martyn Waites, The Mercy Seat, Pegasus Books, →ISBN, page 361:

Jessie was so amazed that she almost spilled her tea. “Oh my heavenly days!” she cried.

2008, Budge Wilson, Before Green Gables, G.P. Putnam's Sons, →ISBN, page 12:

(British, Ireland, Singapore, euphemistic) An exclamation of astonishment or gleeful disapproval.


spill one's seed

en-verb

spill one's seed (third-person singular simple present spills one's seed, present participle spilling one's seed, simple past and past participle spilled one's seed or spilt one's seed)

spills one's seed (present singular third-person)
spilling one's seed (participle present)
spilled one's seed (participle past)
spilled one's seed (past)
spilt one's seed (participle past)
spilt one's seed (past)

He knowing that the children should not be his, when he went in to his brother's wife, spilled his seed upon the ground, lest children should be born in his brother's name.

1609, Holy Bible, Douay Version, "Genesis" 38:9

She thinks of the shame of her husband, having to spill his seed into a plastic bottle.

2003, Jon McGregor, If Nobody Speaks of Remarkable Things, Houghton Mifflin, →ISBN, page 224:

(idiomatic, euphemistic, of a man) To ejaculate.


moonchild

moonchildren (plural)
moon-child (alternative)
moon child (alternative)

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

From moon + child, because the ruling planet of Cancer is the Moon. The term is used to avoid the negative connotations of the word cancer.

The punk icon and bottle-blond beauty is a moonchild who, like most Cancer women, has a "heart of glass."

2007, Holiday Mathis, Rock Your Stars: Your Astrological Guide to Getting It All:


Ugandan affairs

/juːˌɡændən əˈfɛəz/

Probably a variant of Ugandan discussions (“(UK, euphemistic, informal) sexual intercourse”), from discuss Uganda (“(UK, euphemistic, informal) to have sex”), said to have been coined by the English journalist and poet James Fenton (born 1949), based on a 1973 incident at a party at which the Irish journalist Mary Kenny (born 1944) explained why she was in the arms of a former Ugandan cabinet minister by saying they were “upstairs discussing Uganda”. The incident was reported by the British satirical and current affairs magazine Private Eye on 9 March 1973, which then popularized the expression by using it to refer to other sexual affairs.

Everyone known about them now; Rosemary has even been mentioned in Private Eye as "discussing Ugandan affairs with a gorgeous young American don."

1984, Alison Lurie, chapter 5, in Foreign Affairs, New York, N.Y.: Avon Books, published November 1985, →ISBN, page 171:

'You sure they're not … er … discussing Ugandan affairs?' Rhona asked, citing the old euphemism for illicit sex.

1998, Cathy Kelly, chapter 13, in She’s the One, London: Headline Publishing Group, published 2011, →ISBN:

The fact that his [George Jellicoe, 2nd Earl Jellicoe's] "heavy workload" included many discussions of Ugandan affairs just shows how prescient Private Eye was when it adopted the phrase as a euphemism for the sexual indiscretion of politicians at least 15 years later.

2004 January 1, Alan Travis, “Call girls, drugs and Ugandan affairs shook cabinet: Ministers in the Heath government had to quit”, in Alan Rusbridger, editor, The Guardian, London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2016-12-01:

She [Margaret Thatcher] had been baffled by what Private Eye referred to as "Ugandan affairs" in relation to [Cecil] Parkinson's affair with Sarah Keays,^([sic – meaning Sara Keays]) saying: "I know it's untrue. He's never been to Africa."

2016 January 25, “Lord Parkinson – obituary: Thatcherite star whose career faltered after revelations of an affair with his former secretary”, in Chris Evans, editor, The Daily Telegraph, London: Telegraph Media Group, →ISSN, →OCLC:

(British, euphemistic, humorous) Often in the form to discuss Ugandan affairs: sexual intercourse, usually an extramarital affair.

BBC News
James Fenton
Mary Kenny
Private Eye


honour killing

honour killings (plural)
honor killing (alternative US)

The prevailing patriarchal and misogynist practices prevailing in Muslim countries have created an association between Muslim countries and honour killing in the public mind. However, according to UNICEF, the practice of honour killing is an ancient one and involves men killing female relatives in the name of family honour for forced or suspected sexual activity outside marriage, even when the women have been victims of rape.

2008, Riaz Hassan, Inside Muslim Minds, Melbourne University Press, page 200:

Such honour killings are justified by quoting Sura 4:15. A man who kills his wife, mother, daughter or sister for sexual indiscretion or for eloping (both acts that are regarded as bringing dishonour to the family) is either lightly fined or immune from prosecution.

2009, John Azumah, My Neighbour's Faith: Islam Explained for African Christians, WordAlive Publishers, unnumbered page:

What is true of forced marriages is also true of the horrific practice of ‘honour’ killings, a term that acts as a fig leaf for the (often premeditated) murder of young women who have supposedly brought ‘shame’ to the honour of families.

2011, Ali Rattansi, Multiculturalism: A Very Short Introduction, Oxford University Press, page 55:

(euphemistic) A typically Middle Eastern and South Asian cultural practice whereby a family member, usually female, is murdered by other family members, the act being justified as retribution for a (usually sexual) slight upon the family's honour.

רֶצַח עַל חִלּוּל כָּבוֹד הַמִּשְׁפָּחָה


childlove

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

From child + love, a calque of Ancient Greek παιδοφιλίᾱ (paidophilíā).

clq

(euphemistic) Paedophilic, hebephilic, or ephebophilic attraction without a gender preference; adult attraction towards both boys and girls.


boylove

In another offering, Better Life Monthly was advertised as a "paper with articles, photos, poems, etc. relating to the subject of boylove."

(euphemistic) Paedophilic, hebephilic, or ephebophilic love towards boys.


girllove

Now, it is unlikely, had a large number of professional men in Boston been charged with sexual conduct with fourteen-year-old girls, that people would have rallied to their support waving the banner of "girllove".

1981, Burton M Leiser, Values in conflict: life, liberty, and the rule of law:

I believe that the vast majority of heterosexual men have an attraction to prepubescent and pubescent girls, they just cannot bring themselves to accept it. Girllove has always been common, just look at Japan and the girl modeling industry in eastern europe.

2009, "Ignored By The Liberal Mass Media", The Duke University Child Rape Case Proves Pedophilia Isn't an "Orientation" (on Usenet newsgroup alt.politics.homosexuality)

Just highlighting it is an issue of boylove, not girllove.

2012, "Nigel Oldfield", Re: After Savile, every British man should worry about his past (on Usenet newsgroup uk.legal)

(euphemistic) Paedophilic, hebephilic, or ephebophilic love towards girls.


dad-blamed

these dad-blamed newfangled notions

1918, Robert Lemuel Wiggins, The Life of Joel Chandler Harris:

He said he didn't have a dad-blamed furriner nor a dad-blamed Injun in his outfit.

1938, William Riley Burnett, The Dark Command: A Kansas Iliad:

You know how that dad-blamed fathead is always talking like a doctor.

1967, Nevada C Colley, From Maine to Mecca:


comfort break

(euphemistic) A short break for people to go to the toilet


woods colt

woods colts (plural)
woodscolt (alternative)

Originates from the unplanned breeding of horses that allowed to roam in unsupervised areas.

(euphemistic, US, Virginia) A child born out of wedlock.


post-kinetic

These village kits were created to support the rifle companies in their post-kinetic activities, leader engagements, and mitigation of combat operations.

2007, Peter Pigott, Canada in Afghanistan: The War So Far:

...the speed necessary for post-kinetic stabilization in Baghdad and Anbar.

2007, United States Congress, Securing America's Interest in Iraq:

...we work with the Special Forces on post-kinetic security...

2008, United States Congress, Deconstructing Reconstruction:

(military, euphemistic) Following destructive warfare.


horizontal mambo

en-noun

horizontal mambo (plural horizontal mambos)

She says Peters continually harassed her, touching her breasts and buttocks, tried to push her onto a bed when he was naked, tried to kiss her breasts and offered her money for the horizontal mambo.

2007 December 29, “Producer hit with sex suits”, in St. Petersburg Times, retrieved 2008-12-19:

(idiomatic, euphemistic) Sexual intercourse.


friend of Dorothy

friend of Dorothy (plural friends of Dorothy)

friends of Dorothy (plural)
Dorothy's friend (alternative)

Commonly thought to refer to Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz (1939), portrayed by gay icon Judy Garland; alternatively (or additionally) it could be a reference to writer Dorothy Parker, who was friends with many gay men.

He's a disco-dancing, Oscar Wilde-reading, Streisand ticket-holding friend of Dorothy, know what I'm saying?

1995, Amy Heckerling, Clueless, spoken by Murray (Donald Faison):

(slang, dated, euphemistic) A homosexual man.

Dorothy Parker
Judy Garland
The Wizard of Oz (1939 film)


long pig

long pig (countable and uncountable, plural long pigs)

long pigs (plural)
longpig (alternative)
long-pig (alternative)

Allegedly a calque of Fijian vuaka balavu.

"As a long pig!" I exclaimed in surprise; "why what does he mean by that?" "He means somethin' very unpleasant," answered Bill with a frown.

1857, R[obert] M[ichael] Ballantyne, The Coral Island: A Tale of the Pacific Ocean:

If we were reckless enough to risk being served up as "long pig" by the savages of Malekula, that was our lookout, not his.

While Melanesian cannibals make "long pig," barbecuing enemies, legal and political cannibals in San Francisco put a beautiful wealthy woman, Penny Penny Hill, on trial for murder […]

(euphemistic) Human flesh used by cannibals as meat.


sweetshop

sweetshops (plural)
sweet shop (alternative)
sweet-shop (alternative)

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


deuced

en-adj

deuced (comparative more deuced, superlative most deuced)

more deuced (comparative)
most deuced (superlative)

The Prince don’t marry nowadays, as you say: unless the Princess has a doosid deal of money in the funds, or is a lady of his own rank.

1848 November – 1850 December, William Makepeace Thackeray, chapter 30, in The History of Pendennis. […], volume (please specify |volume=I or II), London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1849–1850, →OCLC:


little girls' room

en-noun

little girls' room (plural little girls' rooms)

little girls' rooms (plural)
little girl's room (alternative)
little girls room (alternative)

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-little girls' room.wav

Originally from the need to find public lavatories for children, possibly by analogy with the somewhat earlier-attested little boys' room, but already in broader euphemistic use by its first known appearance in John O'Hara's BUtterfield 8.

The women's toilet (as distinguished from the ladies' room in a speakeasy, the johnny at school, the little girls' room at a party in an apartment, and the wash-my-hands on a train) was clean enough.

1935, John O'Hara, BUtterfield 8, Ch. ix, page 279

(euphemistic, informal) Synonym of ladies' room: a public lavatory intended for use by women.


little boys' room

little boys' room (plural little boys' rooms)

little boys' rooms (plural)
little boy's room (alternative)
little boys room (alternative)

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-little boys' room.wav

Originally from the need to find public lavatories for children, but subsequently used more broadly.

Excuse me, where is the little boys' room? My son is about to burst a bladder.

He accidentally locked himself in the ca—in the little boys' room.

The first [sc. cartoon], representing a very young chap seeking directions to the little boys' room in the Metropolitan Museum, prompted the management to frame it and hang it in the aforesaid room.

1938 November 25, Princeton Alumni Weekly, page 209:

(euphemistic, informal) Synonym of men's room: a public lavatory intended for use by men.


unibody

unibody (countable and uncountable, plural unibodies)

We're looking at the most recent unibody white MacBook here; the first to contain batteries that aren't considered user-serviceable by Apple.

2012, Mac Maintenance Tips & Tricks, →ISBN:

Aesthetics (ID, industrial design) are another obvious reason to go that route, with designers opting for a fluid, unibody motif, since sealed phone body is a beautifully crafted device "... created from a single piece of polycarbonate with precision machined details." This ID design philosophy is in a direct conflict with customers' desire of extended use of their purchased phones; that is, when the sealed battery fails to function because of the limited charging cycles, and a replacement is needed.

2018, Lih-Tyng Hwang, Tzyy-Sheng Jason Horng, 3D IC and RF SiPs: Advanced Stacking and Planar Solutions for 5G Mobility:

Many persons miss this option to simply put in a new battery when the old one is defective as the unibody designs started to take over.

2016, Michael Galleso, Lg V20: An Easy Guide to the Best Features:

(euphemistic) A style of mobile phone, tablet, or laptop computer where the user cannot replace the battery because the device is manufactured as a single sealed unit.


expose oneself

en-verb

expose oneself (third-person singular simple present exposes oneself, present participle exposing oneself, simple past and past participle exposed oneself)

exposes oneself (present singular third-person)
exposing oneself (participle present)
exposed oneself (participle past)
exposed oneself (past)

The police arrested the man who had exposed himself in public.

On Thursday the police in Miami Beach arrested the man, Weston J. Hill, 44 years old, charging him with indecent exposure. . . . He had been charged with exposing himself to children.

1985 May 5, “Offender's One-way Ticket Stirs 2-city Feud”, in New York Times, retrieved 2014-04-27:

While the President was on the telephone, according to Ms. Lewinsky, "he unzipped his pants and exposed himself," and she performed oral sex.

1998 September 18, “Bill & Monica: The Intern Serves the Pizza”, in Time, retrieved 2014-04-27:

Elsewhere in Sweden recently, two underage girls pressed charges when a teenage boy exposed himself to them at a lake. The court decided, despite the victims' testimonies, that the offence was "not of a sexual nature" and dismissed it.

2013 September 20, Holly Baxter, “Is masturbating in public a laughing matter?”, in The Guardian, UK:

(idiomatic, euphemistic) To display one's genitalia in a public place or in other inappropriate circumstances.


double-u

en-noun

double-u (plural double-ues or double-u's)

double-ues (plural)
double-u's (plural)
double U (alternative)
double-U (alternative)
double you (alternative)
double-you (alternative)
doubleyou (alternative)

→ Malay: dabel yu

→ Portuguese: dáblio, dâblio (Portugal)

→ Russian: дабл-ю (dabl-ju)

→ Tagalog: dobolyu

Inherited from Middle English doble W, in reference to the letter's origins as a ligature of two Us or Vs (V originally being a typographical variant of U).
The failure of the sequence /bljuː/ to simplify in this word's bisyllabic pronunciation (as in blue) is doubtlessly due to the letter U's name. For colloquial pronunciations without /l/, compare Straya.

She would try the front door, and try the back door, and look in the windows; and once she even looked in the double-u.

1974, GB Edwards, The Book of Ebenezer Le Page, New York, published 2007, page 234:


m-word

(euphemistic) The word motherfucker, regarded as a vulgar word.


I'll be blowed

Probably a hyperbole expressing that the speaker is so surprised it is as if they have been blown over by a gust of wind: compare blow me down and blow me over, and also knock someone over with a feather, which have the same sense. Used as a euphemism for I'll be damned; compare also blasted.

Well, I’ll be blowed if it isn’t my old school friend, John!

‘[…] Luke at that there homnibus; why, darn me—’ and now, in his eloquence at this peculiar point, my friend became more loud and powerful than ever—‘why, darn me, if maister harns enough with that there buss to put hiron on them osses feet, I’ll—be—blowed!’

1858, Anthony Trollope, chapter XV, in Doctor Thorne. […], volume II, London: Chapman & Hall, […], →OCLC, page 5:

The sound of his voice quickened the other’s memory, his face expanded to its fullest capacity, and he also broke into a laugh. “Why, Newman—I’ll be blowed! Where in the world—I declare—who would have thought? You know you have changed.”

1876 June, Henry James, Jr., chapter II, in The American, Boston, Mass.: James R[ipley] Osgood and Company, […], published 5 May 1877, →OCLC, page 20:

“I’ll be blowed if it isn’t the kid,” ejaculated Wheeler.

1893, Horatio Alger Jr., chapter XXX, in Cast Upon the Breakers:

(British, euphemistic, informal, dated) Used to express amazement and surprise.


snow on the mountaintop

snow on the mountain (alternative)
snow on the mountain top (alternative)

(idiomatic, euphemistic, often humorous) Gray or white hair on one's head, especially as an indication of aging.

there may be snow on the mountaintop but there's fire in the valley


snow on the rooftop

snow on the roof (alternative)
snow on the roof top (alternative)

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there may be snow on the rooftop but there is fire in the furnace


French leave

From French (adjective) + leave (noun), apparently from a French custom, already recorded in the 18th century, of leaving from receptions or other events without formally announcing one’s departure to the host or hostess. Compare Spanish irse a la francesa and Portuguese sair à francesa (“go in the French manner”) but also the otherwise ubiquitous attribution of this behaviour to the English as with French filer à l’anglaise (“leave in the English manner”), Italian filarsela all'inglese, Polish wyjść po angielsku, etc.

cog

he may have felt a particular need to mitigate the responsibility of those who shirked their duty, for as he wrote that letter he had just returned from French leave himself.

2010, William Marvel, The Great Task Remaining: The Third Year of Lincoln’s War, page 10:

absence without leave
absence without leave

(specifically, chiefly military, euphemistic) Desertion or temporary absence from duty or service without permission; absence without leave, AWOL.


bovine scatology

I would describe that report as bovine scatology, okay? Better referred to by the troops as "BS". I don't know who that guy's source is, but he ought to get a new source because the source is a liar.

1991, General H. Norman Schwartzkopf, Jr, quoted in "Stormin' Norman",ABC_Primetime, February 7

Sure, there are a few potential flies in the ointment — not the least of which is the mountain of bovine scatology certain to envelop city hall

2007, Sam Venable, Someday I May Find Honest Work: A Newspaper Humorist's Life, page 29:

To answer this Bovine Scatology, I can cite real study^([sic]) that was done by the United States Department of Justice.

2023 March 6, Steven C. Churchill, “Permitless carry can save lots of lives”, in The Daily Sun, Englewood, page 4B:


toilet training

en-noun

toilet training (usually uncountable, plural toilet trainings)

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Toilet Training […] involves teaching them how to drink pee or poop (depending on which they're into), straight from a woman's body. I talk in detail about how I will make them drink my pee, or I talk about pissing over their face. […] Somewhat similar to toilet training are toilet boys. These guys like to worship your ass and be used as your toilet paper.

2011, Stacey Weiss, Secrets of a Phone Sex Operator, page 40:

“I know you're in a lot of pain right now, my pet, but I desperately need to pee and I think I'd like to start your toilet training now.”
“Yes Mistress,” Millie said, offering no resistance to the inevitable.
“Fucking hell that's hot!” Mistress Carla exclaimed. “I mean, I've literally seen thousands of men and women drinking piss, but to see the owner do it? And for a ponygirl? You must be something truly special,” she said to Kayla.

2021, Faye Valentine, Trained for Charity:

(BDSM, euphemistic) The practice of enforced coprophagy or urophagia.


frak

en-verb

frak (third-person singular simple present fraks, present participle frakking, simple past and past participle frakked)

fraks (present singular third-person)
frakking (participle present)
frakked (participle past)
frakked (past)
frack (alternative)

Coined by an author of Battlestar Galactica (TV series). It was English frack in the original series. Changed to frak in the later series to be a four-letter word. (Compare English fraked (“evil, wicked”) and English frakel (“vile, foul, wretched, worthless”))

cog

“What the frak, Dan?”

2007, Tara McCarthy, Wouldn't Miss It for the World, page 258:

And I say, “Where the frak did everyone get a fake ID anyway?”

2010, John Green, David Levithan, Will Grayson, Will Grayson:

Her frizzy blond hair was pulled up into a twist on top of her head, and she had on billowing hakama pants that nearly overwhelmed her skinny frame and a gray T-shirt that said FRAK OFF

2011, Diana Rowland, Secrets of the Demon:


unalive

en-verb

unalive (third-person singular simple present unalives, present participle unaliving, simple past and past participle unalived)

unalives (present singular third-person)
unaliving (participle present)
unalived (participle past)
unalived (past)

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

From un- + alive. Internet usage originates from circumventing systems that were believed to censor or sanction the words related to death, especially "die", "kill", and "suicide".

Jeffrey Epstein is thought to have unalived himself, but Tucker Carlson calls this position into question.

He “unalives” bad guys, sometimes for free, and this gives him a sense of purpose, even in an absurd world.

2017, Nicolas Michaud, Jacob Thomas May, Deadpool and Philosophy: My Common Sense Is Tingling:

Or does anyone know how to stop Broly without unaliving him?

2017, Margaret Newmeli, Another Dimension: The Ultimate Amalgam, page 160:

"We are going to 'unalive' them once again,” said Yukt laughing and the men looked at him like he was crazy.

2019, Aman K Singh, The Deserters: The Curse Bearer, page 237:

Sharing just how awkward she felt, Rara, who also has her own YouTube channel, joked she wanted to "unalive" herself.

2021 May 18, Katie Storey, “Woman mortified after her old school teacher follows her on OnlyFans… and says she was always ‘something special’”, in The Sun:

Bro, I was sticking up for you. You better top your coolant up or you're gonna unalive your engine.

2024 December 9, Colin O'Donnell, “Episode 6497” (0:09:32 from the start), in Hollyoaks, spoken by Freddie Roscoe (Charlie Clapham), Channel 4:

I'm really sorry, but I have to unalive you and stuff.

2025 March 30, Chris Bowman, Hubbel Palmer, Neil Widener, Gavin James, and Chris Galletta, A Minecraft Movie, spoken by General Chungus (Jarad Hess):

(transitive, nonstandard or euphemistic) To make unalive; to kill, especially oneself; to commit suicide.

Carl sighs, and ironically wishes to unalive out loud.

2020, F. H. Fischer, The Second Daughter's Darkness, page 90:

(intransitive, nonstandard or euphemistic) To die.


lubrication payment

en-noun

lubrication payment (plural lubrication payments)

By a metaphor in which facilitating human socioeconomic interaction is portrayed as lubricating machinery (e.g., oiling the gears, greasing the wheels); in this regard, compare also social lubricant.

A lubrication payment is a small payment to low-level business people or government officials to "grease the wheels" of business.

1995, Mark E. Mendenhall et al., Global Management, →ISBN, page 145:

Lubrication payments are made with requests for a person to perform a task faster or more efficiently, whereas subornation is an act of asking officials to neglect their duties or do something illegal.

2001, Y. H. Wong, Thomas K. Leung, Guanxi: Relationship marketing in a Chinese context, →ISBN, page 105:

(idiomatic, business, ethics, euphemistic) A bribe or extorted money, usually relatively small in amount, provided to a low-level government official or business person, in order to expedite a business decision, shipment, or other transaction, especially in a country where such payments are not unusual.


marriage bed

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(euphemistic) Sexual activity between a married couple.


blessed event

Alexander Loudon, Netherlands Minister to the U.S., when asked if the blessed event was in prospect, hedged: "A royal child born on the soil of freedom-loving America would be both a blessing and a good omen."

Soon we come to the mother-to-be-any-minute-now in the delivery room, and there is some question about whether the father can/will/wants to get to the hospital in time for the blessed event.

2007 November 5, Laura Capitano, “I hate . . . TV birth plotlines”, in Florida Times-Union, retrieved 2009-05-12:

(idiomatic, euphemistic) The birth of a baby.


peas and rice

He said, “Lord, Jesus Christ, peas and rice. That is what Bill is always wantin’—money! money! money!” He give me the money and put me back on the black hoss and sent me home.

c. 1937, Ebenezer Brown, quoting Tom McDowell (ante 1865), as reported in an interview transcript, quoted in Andrew Waters (editor), Prayin’ to Be Set Free, John F. Blair (publisher, 2002), page 99

Aunt Polly nodded. “[…] Jesus Christ, peas and rice! They don't tell their heads from their foots. The big hat, he run like Old Scratch after him.”

2005, Sandra Dallas, New Mercies, Macmillan, →ISBN, page 225:

I hear him say, “We have to fight for our life, boys, more desperately than at Shiloh and Vicksburg. What is called for here is loyalty, courage, and grim determination.” ¶ “Well, peas and rice,” Little Bit says. “It’s just getting good. What is it now?”

2007, Margaret McMullan, When I Crossed No-Bob, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, published 2009, →ISBN, page 70:


chamber-work

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Jacchinus […] instanceth in a patient of his, that married a young wife in a hot summer, “and so dried himself with chamber-work, that he became in short space, from melancholy, mad”: he cured him by moistening remedies.

(euphemistic, obsolete) Sex; fornication.


horizontalize

en-verb

horizontalize (third-person singular simple present horizontalizes, present participle horizontalizing, simple past and past participle horizontalized)

horizontalizes (present singular third-person)
horizontalizing (participle present)
horizontalized (participle past)
horizontalized (past)

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(euphemistic) kill, assassinate, execute


front line

front lines (plural)
front-line (alternative)
frontline (alternative)

Each of us, from top brass down to the front line worker, wishes to feel the satisfaction of doing something worth while and doing it well.

1949 September 27, “Field's Holds its Workers in High Respect”, in Chicago Tribune:


correctional institution

en-noun

correctional institution (plural correctional institutions)

correctional facility
correctional facility#English

(US, formal, euphemistic) Synonym of correctional facility.


in trouble

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

She didn't even know she was in trouble.

(euphemistic) Pregnant, unmarried, and not likely to be married before giving birth.


F off

en-verb

F off (third-person singular simple present Fs off, present participle Fing off, simple past and past participle Fed off)

Fs off (present singular third-person)
Fing off (participle present)
Fed off (participle past)
Fed off (past)
eff off (alternative)
f-off (alternative)


F off

eff off (alternative)
f-off (alternative)


May 35th

Calque of Chinese 5月35日; a euphemistic form of June 4th, as though May (which has 31 days) had been lengthened to include it.

This is known within China, to the people who know about it, as the June Fourth Incident. More recently it has been referred to covertly as May 35th.

2009 June 4, Shih-Chieh Ilya Li, “Today in China, May 35th”, in Pah (Usenet):

(euphemistic) The anniversary of the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests and massacre on the fourth of June, known in China as the June Fourth Incident.


stay up

stay up (third-person singular simple present stays up, present participle staying up, simple past and past participle stayed up)

stays up (present singular third-person)
staying up (participle present)
stayed up (participle past)
stayed up (past)

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

He told his lover he has a problem staying up.

(intransitive, euphemistic) To maintain an erection.


zarking

Coined by Douglas Adams as a derivative of zark in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (1978). See -ing.

Nonsense. Why should those of us outside the U.S. give a zarking photon what the U.S. State Department thinks?

1997, Scott McClare, “ARSCC - An open letter”, in alt.religion.scientology (Usenet):

The only time I was "approached" by a so called mugger was on the Gravigny Balizy stop THEN I had to spend 4 zarking hours in a zarking police station. I am glad they have cleaned it up since I was there in the late 80's and you had a good time there.

2002, major kong, “apartments in wicker park etc..”, in chi.general (Usenet):

2008, Andria Markut, The Chronicles of the Knights of the Code: Volume 1 the Search
"You zarking, smeging , harebrained fools!" Keindorm cursed the pair, picking his hat up off the ground […]

(slang, euphemistic) Fucking (as an intensifier).


the rabbit died

Robin finally was able to announce: "Good news! The rabbit died!" She said she was thrilled and that everybody was happy for her except her mother.

1993, Maurice Apprey, Intersubjectivity, Projective Identification, and Otherness, page 153:

(idiomatic, euphemistic) Indicates one's own pregnancy, or that someone has found out they are pregnant.


fracking

He's a fracking hawk the likes of which Hopkins never imagined — he's a blue darter.

1991, James Whitehead, Joiner, →ISBN, page 79:

As we said before, will someone please agree on a fracking dual videocard standard?

2006 January 10, “Best Pentium Chipset”, in Maximum PC, page 27:

It was a fracking nightmare.

2007, Jose Armando Perez, Betrayed? An Unscheduled Rendezvous, page 68:

(slang, euphemistic, bowdlerization) Fucking.


bodily function

en-noun

bodily function (plural bodily functions)

(euphemistic) An excretory function of an organism, usually the discharging of feces and urine.


dehire

en-verb

dehire (third-person singular simple present dehires, present participle dehiring, simple past and past participle dehired)

dehires (present singular third-person)
dehiring (participle present)
dehired (participle past)
dehired (past)

(transitive, euphemistic) To terminate the employment of.


FIGMO

Initialism. The forget it usage is likely a retronym, coined to avoid using the profanity fuck.

(military, slang, euphemistic) Acronym of forget it, got my orders.


zark

Coined by English science fiction writer and humorist Douglas Adams in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (1978).


motherloving

1956/7, West Side Story: Jet Song, Stephen Sondheim
Here come the Jets, Yeah!
And we're gonna beat Ev'ry last buggin' gang
On the whole buggin' street!
On the whole!
Ever!
Mother!
Lovin'!
Street!
Yeah!

The old American's back in the air, boys — we're zooming in low over Moscow, bringing down the whole motherloving house of cards.

That must have been something motherloving important.

2000, Vernor Vinge, A deepness in the sky:

Motherloving idiots: one of the greatest of Sikh journalists, Khushwant Singh, wrote that if Khalistan were ever created it would be a "duffer state."

Stick it right in his motherloving face, realty piss him off. Willie had it down to an art: He'd poke the TV camera directly at the subject's nose...


Trudeau salute

Trudeau salutes (plural)
Pierre Trudeau salute (alternative)
Pierre Trudeau Salute (alternative)
Trudeau Salute (alternative)

After former Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, who made memorable use of the gesture.

For quotations using this term, see Citations:Trudeau salute.

(Canada, euphemistic) The finger (obscene gesture).


I'm thirsty

أَنَا عَطْشَانَة

ʔanā ʕaṭšāna

ฉันหิวน้ำ (chăn hĭw náam) (generic, colloquial) (add particles: ครับ (kráp) - male or ค่ะ (kâ) female for politeness)

(euphemistic) I want an alcoholic beverage.


down the tubes

(idiomatic, euphemistic) Synonym of down the toilet: wasted; irretrievable.


big-boned

en-adj

big-boned (comparative more big-boned, superlative most big-boned)

more big-boned (comparative)
most big-boned (superlative)
big boned (alternative)

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1999, Nicole Hollander, My Cat's Not Fat, He's Just Big-Boned:

Coffins for the Big-Boned. As the media never tires of telling us, America has become a junk-food nation with the fattest population on the planet.

2009, Harold Schechter, The Whole Death Catalog: A Lively Guide to the Bitter End:


LMHO

(Internet slang, euphemistic) Initialism of laughing my heinie off.


feet first

"If that door opens and any one of you cusses lets on there's anything unusual, right here and then I sure start plugging. They ain't a soul'll get out the room except feet first."

1910, Jack London, chapter 4, in Burning Daylight:

"‘Anybody resigns from us resigns feet first, understand?’ he tells me. So I didn't resign."

1943 October 18, “How to Be a Racketeer”, in Time:

"They'll probably have to take me out of here feet first," says Ms. Steinem, punctuating the prediction with a growl of laughter (mortality has been in the back of her mind since breast cancer treatment a dozen years ago. . .).

2001 May 23, Robin Finn, “Public Lives”, in New York Times, retrieved 2009-09-09:

(idiomatic, euphemistic) In the manner of a deceased person (i.e., dead).


fun size

fun-size (alternative)
funsize (alternative)
fun-sized (alternative)

(singular only, marketing euphemistic) A small size.


beat the meat

en-verb

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

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

Then, he would sit on the toilet and with his soapy hand he would beat the meat ...

2014, Donald L. Kaufmann, Bramble, Infant Martian, Lulu Press, Inc, →ISBN:

“Hell, after a battle, all you could hear in the barracks were groans as males beat the meat.”

2014, Billi Jean, Midnight Star, Totally Entwined Group (USA+CAD), →ISBN:

... and Ronnie beat the meat, still horny from his unfinished encounter on the loading dock.

2010, Herb Schultz, RonnieandLennie, Major Terata Publications, →ISBN, page 211:

year unknown, Lisa Marie Rice, Midnight Run, Oliver-Heber books
Bud rarely had to beat the meat. There was always a willing woman somewhere within reach; all he had to do was look.

“Beat the meat, buddy,” he growled, “and remember what it was like to be inside that sweet pussy.”

2019, Jasmine Haynes, Jennifer Skully, Take Your Pleasure and Take Your Pick Duo, Redwood Valley Publishing LLC, →ISBN:

(euphemistic, slang) Alternative form of beat one's meat (“to masturbate”).


draw one's last breath

draw one's last breath (third-person singular simple present draws one's last breath, present participle drawing one's last breath, simple past drew one's last breath, past participle drawn one's last breath)

draws one's last breath (present singular third-person)
drawing one's last breath (participle present)
drew one's last breath (past)
drawn one's last breath (participle past)


confirmed bachelor

en-noun

confirmed bachelor (plural confirmed bachelors)

To Sebastian's pleasure, he had remained a confirmed bachelor, for many years with no one other than a few now deceased sexual partners, the now deceased detective, Arek Mannheim and the elusive Gustav Barnas knowing his true sexual preference.

2003, Alan M. Bickel, The Fall of Stara Ves, page 439:


horizontal polka

horizontal polka (countable and uncountable, plural horizontal polkas)


blarmed

Meanwhile the third man, who has been baling out the boat, and who has spilled the water down his sleeve, and has been cursing away to himself steadily for the last ten minutes, wants to know what the thundering blazes you're playing at, and why the blarmed tent isn't up yet.

1889, Jerome K. Jerome, chapter 2, in Three Men in a Boat […] :


in the raw

He stood gawking at Cyndee, who was standing in the raw on the shore of the pond his daddy had put in.

2001, Doug McGuinn, The Apple Indians, page 39:

As he waited for Pamela to return, Richard was standing in the raw before his full-length mirror.

2010, Mark J. Okrant, A Last Resort, page 90:

James brought his hand away and immediately jumped at the sight of Cole standing in the raw, calmly passing the bag back to the inspector. “I thought you said it was safe to look,” he accused.

2011, J. L. O'Faolain, The Thirteenth Child, page 88:


not the sharpest knife in the drawer

not the sharpest knife in the drawer (plural not the sharpest knives in the drawer)

not the sharpest knives in the drawer (plural)

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-not the sharpest knife in the drawer.wav

You can block or tackle, or you can do some exotic things with a football cradled under your arm, but you're not the sharpest knife in the drawer when it comes to book learning.

1994 September 5, Richard Hoffer, “Get Smart!”, in Sports Illustrated:

2000, Tami Hoag, Ashes to Ashes, →ISBN, page 378:

2003,Lucille Bluth, Arrested Development, S:1 E:3 “And I know he's not the sharpest knife in the drawer, but he's sensitive, Michael,”
“He fits in a lot of ways, but he's not the sharpest knife in the drawer, is he?”
“Maybe he just plays it stupid so people expect less of him.”

[A] man who has lost every dollar he ever won–somewhere north of $US300 million ($370 million)–and done three years for rape is possibly not the sharpest knife in the drawer, nor the most likeable.

2009 August 11, Paul Byrnes, “Tyson”, in Brisbane Times, Australia:

Intelligence = 1 / Title. The higher the level in the organization, the inversely less intelligent they are. Folk at the top have human skills and business savvy, but despite all the press, most are not the sharpest knives in the drawer—after all, that’s your job!

2022, Lawrence S. Maisel, Robert J. Zwerling, Jesper H. Sorensen, AI-Enabled Analytics for Business: A Roadmap for Becoming an Analytics Powerhouse, Hoboken, N.J.: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., →ISBN, page 192:

not the brightest bulb in the chandelier

(humorous, euphemistic) Lacking in intelligence; dimwitted.

ne pas avoir inventé le fil à couper le beurre


p'd off

en-adj

p'd off (comparative more p'd off, superlative most p'd off)

more p'd off (comparative)
most p'd off (superlative)

(idiomatic, colloquial, euphemistic) Alternative spelling of peed off.


and crap

(idiomatic, often vulgar, somewhat euphemistic) Synonym of and shit.


nature calls

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(euphemistic, idiomatic, personification) Used to indicate that someone (usually the speaker) feels a need to urinate or defecate.

要上廁所 /要上厕所

the speaker feels a need to urinate or defecate


let loose

en-verb

let loose (third-person singular simple present lets loose, present participle letting loose, simple past and past participle let loose)

lets loose (present singular third-person)
letting loose (participle present)
let loose (participle past)
let loose (past)

Sorry for letting loose.


drop the f-bomb

drop the f-bomb (third-person singular simple present drops the f-bomb, present participle dropping the f-bomb, simple past and past participle dropped the f-bomb)

drops the f-bomb (present singular third-person)
dropping the f-bomb (participle present)
dropped the f-bomb (participle past)
dropped the f-bomb (past)
drop the F-bomb (alternative)

I swear to God, I've never heard David (Robinson) or Avery (Johnson) swear. I sometimes sit down and think, "Gosh, I've never heard them drop the F-bomb."

1999 June 16, Lisa Olsen, “Good Guys Wear Black”, in New York Daily News, retrieved 2009-01-03:

It's fitting that Clay Aiken, a man who rarely, if ever, drops the f-bomb, topped the list of the Ten Best-Mannered People of 2003.

2003 December 19, “For The Record”, in MTV.com:

From hip-hop artists to bloggers to the vice president of the United States, everyone's dropping the F-bomb.

2006 June 25, Joel Achenbach, “Dropping the F-bomb”, in The Washington Post, page B01:

(idiomatic, euphemistic) To utter the word fuck, especially in an inappropriate manner or setting.

(idiomatic, euphemistic) To say the word faggot.


aurally challenged

en-adj

aurally challenged (comparative more aurally challenged, superlative most aurally challenged)

more aurally challenged (comparative)
most aurally challenged (superlative)

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I had to repeat the instructions for her five times; methinks the old lady was aurally challenged.

(of a person, euphemistic, sometimes humorous) Deaf or hard of hearing.


think with one's little head

en-verb

think with one's little head (third-person singular simple present thinks with one's little head, present participle thinking with one's little head, simple past and past participle thought with one's little head)

thinks with one's little head (present singular third-person)
thinking with one's little head (participle present)
thought with one's little head (participle past)
thought with one's little head (past)
think with one's other head (alternative)

Obsessed with Heidi's cleavage, the pervert within may start thinking with his little head instead of his big one.

2003 May 9, Dalton Ross, “Rumble in the Jungle”, in Entertainment Weekly, retrieved 2010-01-10:

[A]ll Theo could think about were all the places on her body he wanted to put his mouth. He was definitely, as Zeke was prone to say, thinking with his little head and not his big one.

2007, Linnea Sinclair, The Down Home Zombie Blues, →ISBN, page 234:

[I]t's fair to say that now-disgraced former foreign affairs minister Maxime Bernier was thinking with his little head—as well as his fat one.

2008 May 28, Antonia Zerbisias, “Bernier left ex-girlfriend twisting in media wind”, in Toronto Star, retrieved 2010-01-10:

(idiomatic, euphemistic, usually humorous, of a male) To make decisions or act based on one's sexual impulses rather than based on clear reasoning.


little head

(idiomatic, euphemistic, usually humorous) The glans of the penis.


other head

We've had our fill of dumb jocks. But a dumb jock who's also a single-minded horn dog—that's funny. Thinking with his other head has gotten Jason into a lot of trouble.

2009 September 7, May Seah, “Top 10 television ignoramuses. Duh!”, in channelnewsasia.com, retrieved 2010-01-10:


for pity's sake

All this cry about "showing the male body" disgusts me, too. For pity's sake -- look at the ad -- there is nothing distinguishable below the chest.

1979 April 14, David M. Stryker, “A Contribution”, in Gay Community News, page 4:

(idiomatic, colloquial, euphemistic) for Pete's sake; An especially mild oath


for mercy's sake

(idiomatic, colloquial, euphemistic) An especially mild oath.


family values

But on “family values night,” as Marilyn Quayle described the session dominated by Republican women, the values took on an accusatory edge: […] the Vice President's wife made clear to cheering conservatives what she felt was at the center of family values: “Commitment, marriage and fidelity are not just arbitrary arrangements.”[…] [T]he difference is that the use of family values focuses more sharply on abortion, gay rights and the pre- and extramarital activities that go under the name of playing around or hanky-panky.

1992 September 6, William Safire, “On Language: Family Values”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

Although Hollywood executives are fond of pointing out this latest trend, the phrase “family values” hardly carries the same meaning here as that expressed by Vice President Dan Quayle, his wife, Marilyn, Patrick J. Buchanan and others before and during the Republican convention. There, it was generally viewed as a phrase that implicity^([sic]) criticized alternative life styles, and was even seen as rebuking working mothers.

[1992 November 12, Bernard Weinraub, “Hollywood Is Testing Family Values’ Value”, in The New York Times, →ISSN, page C15:

(right-wing usage, euphemistic) Right-wing values like patriarchy and opposition to gay marriage, family planning and legal abortion, and to feminism and women working outside the home.


goodness gracious

/ˈɡʊdnɪs ˌɡɹeɪʃəs/

Goodness gracious, great balls of fire!

1957, Otis Blackwell, Jack Hammer, Great Balls of Fire:

(idiomatic, euphemistic, dated) Expressing great surprise.


oh my goodness gracious

goodness gracious me (alternative)
oh, my goodness gracious (alternative)
oh my goodness gracious me (alternative)
oh, my goodness gracious me (alternative)

"Oh, my goodness gracious! who'd have thought it? Oh, my soul and body!" exclaimed Ben, dropping the cover, and jumping up with a perfectly absurd look of ...

1861, Henry Mills Alden, “The Debatable Baby”, in Harper's new monthly magazine, volume 22, number 132, page 776:

Oh, my goodness gracious me! where was I? Where was Robert? To happen to me, a sort of prudish old maid, who kept her house so strict!

1865, “Patty Resumes Her Vocation”, in Charles Dickens, editor, All the Year Round, A Weekly Journal, volumes 13-14, page 551:

(idiomatic, euphemistic, dated) Oh my God.


HE-double-L

As narrow and close as a coffin, and dark as H E double L.

1882, Walter Parke, Lays of the saintly: or, The new golden legend:


good gracious

"Good gracious no, I hope not!"

1865, Charles Dickens, Our mutual friend, Volume 1:

The Silver Shoes took but three steps, and then she stopped so suddenly that she rolled over upon the grass several times before she knew where she was.
At length, however, she sat up and looked about her.
"Good gracious!" she cried.

1900, L. Frank Baum, chapter 23, in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz:

(idiomatic, euphemistic, dated) Oh my God; expression of surprise.


night-soil

In the neighborhood of Paris there are places appropriated to the reception of the night-soil: it is thrown into reservoirs of no great depth, in comparison with their superficial extent, and of an aggregate capacity which is such that they will contain the whole of the products collected by the night-man in the course of six months.

1850, J. B. Boussingault, Rural Economy, in its Relations with Chemistry, Physics, and Meteorology, page 294:

(archaic, euphemistic) Alternative spelling of night soil.


dad burn

1918, Stars and Stripes (taken from the Pittsburgh Post),
By, by gum, we'll lick the kaiser when the sergeants teach us how, for, dad burn it, he's the reason that we're in the army now!


call of nature

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It appears from the evidence adduced that after the canvass had continued five or six consecutive hours, Mr. FORBES and Mr. DECKER, two inspectors went out (though not in company) as they say in "obedience to a call of nature," and were gone five or ten minutes, leaving the box containing the votes for member of Assembly sealed in the care of one inspector. . . .

1871 February 1, “The Twombley-Carey Reports”, in New York Times, retrieved 2010-09-03:

I came here yesternight for a call of nature and to do what none can do for me[.]

1885, Richard F. Burton, chapter XXII, in The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night, volume I, The Burton Club, page 228:

. . . the little tree in the big forest of the huge national park behind which Mrs. Marie Dressor retreated from a roadside picnic with her husband and children, to heed a call of nature.

1966 September 3, William F. Buckley Jr., “Violation Of Privacy Abetted by 'Bugging'”, in Beaver County Times, USA, retrieved 2010-09-03:

Cook's concentration may have been broken by a call of nature a few minutes earlier, when he held up play to visit the bathroom.

2007 December 9, Simon Wilde, “England thankful for cautious Cook”, in Times Online, UK, retrieved 2010-09-03:

(euphemistic) The bodily urge to urinate or defecate.

panggilan alam

need to defecate or urinate (euphemistic)


supratentorial

(medicine, slang, euphemistic, derogatory) All in the patient's head; psychogenic.


PO'd

en-adj

PO'd (comparative more PO'd, superlative most PO'd)

more PO'd (comparative)
most PO'd (superlative)
po'd (alternative)
po'ed (alternative)
p.o.ed (alternative)
p.o.'ed (alternative)
POed (alternative)
PO'ed (alternative)
P.O.ed (alternative)
P.O.'ed (alternative)

Euphemistic and abbreviated form of pissed off.

Wilbur was PO'd, of course. Didn't speak to her for six hours ...

1972, Patrick M. McGrady, The love doctors, page 356:

... told Nancy he was PO'd up to his keister with--pause! ...

2008, William Frank Buckley, The Reagan I Knew, page 198:

(colloquial, euphemistic) Annoyed; irritated; angry; fed up.


casting couch

casting couches (plural)
casting-couch (alternative)

...when a writing test at a radio station turned into the casting-couch routine. She was typing a piece of copy when she realized the station manager had locked the door and was caressing her shoulders.

1978 June, Caryl Rivers, “Sexual Harassment: The executive's alternative to rape”, in Mother Jones Magazine, volume 3, number 5, page 22:

What the term "casting couch" hints at is that roles or jobs are given in exchange for sexual favors.

1982, Martin A. David, The dancer's audition book, page 111:

casting couch: This refers to the alleged practice by some Hollywood producers and directors of furnishing an office with a couch, upon which would-be actresses perform special services in return for casting consideration...

2005, Dave Knox, Strike the baby and kill the blonde: an insider's guide to film slang, page 45:

It wasn’t sexual assault, Harvey Weinstein’s lawyers argue in his defense, just the casting couch, with benefits for everyone who took a seat.

2020 January 29, Patricia Hurtado, “Weinstein Prosecutors Build Case That Casting Couch Was Trap”, in Bloomberg News:

(euphemistic) The now illegal practice of soliciting sexual favors from a job applicant in exchange for employment, particularly in the entertainment industry.


cock sock

cock socks (plural)
cocksock (alternative)


go to Halifax

en-verb

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

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

Euphemistic alliteration with go to hell.


puella publica

en-noun

puella publica (plural puellae publicae)

Latin puella (“girl”) + pūblica, feminine of pūblicus (“public”)

(euphemistic, obsolete) A female prostitute.


have seen better days

en-verb

have seen better days (third-person singular simple present has seen better days, present participle having seen better days, simple past and past participle had seen better days)

has seen better days (present singular third-person)
having seen better days (participle present)
had seen better days (participle past)
had seen better days (past)

Your sofa has certainly seen better days, isn't it time you got a new one?

(euphemistic, of a person or thing) To be in poor condition, to be worn out.


self-abuser

(historical, euphemistic) One who self-abuses; masturbator.


self-pollute

self-pollute (third-person singular simple present self-pollutes, present participle self-polluting, simple past and past participle self-polluted)

self-pollutes (present singular third-person)
self-polluting (participle present)
self-polluted (participle past)
self-polluted (past)

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(historical, euphemistic) To masturbate.


flying toilet

(euphemistic) A plastic bag used for defecation and subsequently thrown away.


lie with

lie with (third-person singular simple present lies with, present participle lying with, simple past lay with, past participle lain with)

lies with (present singular third-person)
lying with (participle present)
lay with (past)
lain with (participle past)

Howbeit hee would not hearken vnto her voice, but being stronger then shee, forced her, and lay with her.

1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, 2 Samuel 13:14:

While this band was not especially powerful, Shiagur was a female warlord – and one of the few remaining fertile females, at that. She had, through viciousness and cunning, parlayed her unique value into a position of power. Krogan males competed for the right to join her band and lie with her.

2008, BioWare, Mass Effect (Science Fiction), Redwood City: Electronic Arts, →ISBN, →OCLC, PC, scene: Canrum:

(euphemistic, archaic) To have sex with someone.


go to bed with

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

goes to bed with (present singular third-person)
going to bed with (participle present)
went to bed with (past)
gone to bed with (participle past)

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After the party, she's hoping to go to bed with Sonya.


reduced circumstances

living in reduced circumstances


cross over

cross over (third-person singular simple present crosses over, present participle crossing over, simple past and past participle crossed over)

crosses over (present singular third-person)
crossing over (participle present)
crossed over (participle past)
crossed over (past)

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* (to die): From the belief that the soul of the dead crosses over a river (as the Jordan or Styx) when one dies.

Sarah's grandmother crossed over last night.


go home

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

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

Louis went home at around 2:30 yesterday.

Hellriegel's program tells him who is receiving a lot of votes (long periods of busy signals) and who is not (easy to ring through), and the website tells viewers who is most likely to go home – rather than who is most likely to stay.

2009, Sharon Marie Ross, Beyond the Box: Television and the Internet, page 82:

(euphemistic) To be eliminated in a competition.


little woman

(euphemistic) A female person with dwarfism, or short stature resulting from a medical condition.


with God

My mother, rest her soul, is with God now.

(euphemistic, Christianity) Dead; deceased.


interesting condition

en-noun

interesting condition (plural interesting conditions)

I cannot honestly report that I have ever seen a feline matron of this class washing her face when in an interesting condition.

1880, Charles Dickens, Great expectations, page 549:

His young wife ... was at church with her mother, and suddenly overcome by indisposition, arising from her interesting condition, she could not remain standing, she drove home in the first sledge, a smart-looking one, she came across.

1917, Leo Tolstoy, translated by Constance Garnet, Anna Karenina, Part 2, Chapter 5:

... and replied that he was come there about a lady, now an inmate of Horne's house, that was in an interesting condition, poor body, from woman's woe (and here he fetched a deep sigh) and to know if her happiness had yet taken place.

They borrowed a female [cat] in an interesting condition and set their trap under the cypress tree at the top of the vacant lot.

1945, John Steinbeck, Cannery Row, page 168:

That knee-trembler put Angela in an interesting condition and, of course, there was talk.

1996, Frank McCourt, Angela's Ashes: a memoir, page 15:


blankety

Fro blank + -ety, from the printer's mark (as in d—! for damn!).

I'm the blankety-blankety-blank-blank worst man in all this blankety-blankety-blank-blank country […]

1912, Howard Benjamin Grose, Missions: an international Baptist magazine, Volume 3:

[…] a megaphone demanded to know who the, what the, how the, why the blankety-blank-blank wasn't I keeping my blankety watch on the blankety-blank-blank deck!!

1915, Stanley William Coxon, And that reminds me:

"These blanketytin faces are no good to us," they would complain.

2022, Lindsey Fitzharris, The Facemaker, page 131:


like that

(idiomatic, euphemistic) Gay; homosexual.


keep company

en-verb

keep company (third-person singular simple present keeps company, present participle keeping company, simple past and past participle kept company)

keeps company (present singular third-person)
keeping company (participle present)
kept company (participle past)
kept company (past)

It was rumoured that the lady and the gentleman were keeping company.

He was keeping company with her.

(transitive, intransitive, idiomatic, dated, euphemistic) To court.


absobloodylutely

Result of tmesis between absolutely + -bloody-.

Theatre is marvellous, he says, absobloodylutely marvellous.

2006, Bearnárd O'Riain, Running to Stand Still, page 212:

(British, slang, euphemistic) absolutely


lady of leisure

en-noun

lady of leisure (plural ladies of leisure)


pinch a loaf

en-verb

pinch a loaf (third-person singular simple present pinches a loaf, present participle pinching a loaf, simple past and past participle pinched a loaf)

pinches a loaf (present singular third-person)
pinching a loaf (participle present)
pinched a loaf (participle past)
pinched a loaf (past)

From a supposed resemblance of feces to a loaf of bread, pinched by the contracting anal sphincter.


light in the loafers

en-adj

light in the loafers (comparative more light in the loafers, superlative most light in the loafers)

more light in the loafers (comparative)
most light in the loafers (superlative)
light in the sneakers (alternative)

Men of my group are either married or, as S.P. would say, ‘light in the loafers.’ Homosexuals, you'd call them.

1980, Helen Van Slyke, No Love Lost, New York: Lippincott & Crowell, page 203:

You'll make a nice living; and maybe when you're sixty you'll marry a nice guy, a little light in the loafers maybe, but you'll still be pure by then; and you'll do the grand-lady bit, and he’ll be your escort.

1981, Heywood Gould, Glitterburn, New York: St. Martin's Press, →ISBN, page 98:

“What about Father Jim and Mr. Gary?” Mary Lane said, passing by me, “They are light in the loafers together.”

2007, Lesley Kagen, Whistling In the Dark, Penguin, →ISBN:

(idiomatic, slang, derogatory, euphemistic) Gay; homosexual.

(no exact equivalent exists) 死基佬 (sǐ jīlǎo, literally “damn gay guy”)


work nights

en-verb

work nights (third-person singular simple present works nights, present participle working nights, simple past and past participle worked nights)

works nights (present singular third-person)
working nights (participle present)
worked nights (participle past)
worked nights (past)


goll

'I dunno what you mean,' says Jim. 'Yes, ye do, goll darn ye!' says Dick, 'yes, ye do.

1900, Edward Noyes Westcott, The Christmas Story from David Harum:

By goll! that's all I'm good for to take on now.

1919, Various, The Best Short Stories of 1917:


funking

I earned my funking reward!

(euphemistic, slang) Bowdlerization of fucking.


funking

This is funking awful!

I funking love this show!

(euphemistic, slang) bowdlerization of fucking


walk away

walk away (third-person singular simple present walks away, present participle walking away, simple past and past participle walked away)

walks away (present singular third-person)
walking away (participle present)
walked away (participle past)
walked away (past)

(intransitive, colloquial, euphemistic) Of an object, to go missing or be stolen.


sunkissed

en-adj

sunkissed (comparative more sunkissed, superlative most sunkissed)

more sunkissed (comparative)
most sunkissed (superlative)
sun-kissed (alternative)

(euphemistic, derogatory, offensive, of a person) Of black descent.


preloved

Providing low rates for preloved cars available for hire near airports and cheaper downtown hotels

1998, Peter Weill, Marianne Broadbent, Leveraging the new infrastructure:

When you buy an older, or preloved home, make sure to put an inspection contingency in your contract.

2004, Alan Perlis, Beth Bradley, The Unofficial Guide to Buying a Home:

Located at the back of this most genteel Upper East Side charity shop, past the alligator bags, upholstered sofas and preloved tuxedos, the designer room is a shoe-box-size repository for the choicest women’s wear, culled from the thousands of items donated every week, and sold at prices slightly higher than the average thrift outlet but still lower than most vintage stores.

2007 April 19, Zarah Crawford, “After Lunching, the Ladies Go Shopping”, in New York Times:

With its half-dozen rough preloved tables, gentle jazz and ebullient Venetian owner, Xemei is a slice of Venice on the side of Montjuïc hill.

(euphemistic) Used; previously owned by somebody else.


rise to the occasion

en-verb

rise to the occasion (third-person singular simple present rises to the occasion, present participle rising to the occasion, simple past rose to the occasion, past participle risen to the occasion)

rises to the occasion (present singular third-person)
rising to the occasion (participle present)
rose to the occasion (past)
risen to the occasion (participle past)

To his comic fury and shame, the traveller's 'master part' fails to rise to the occasion, and the girl's innocence is preserved.

2001, John R. Williams, The Life of Goethe: A Critical Biography:

(idiomatic, euphemistic, humorous) To achieve an erection during sexual intercourse.


have one's way with

have one's way with (third-person singular simple present has one's way with, present participle having one's way with, simple past and past participle had one's way with)

has one's way with (present singular third-person)
having one's way with (participle present)
had one's way with (participle past)
had one's way with (past)

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-have one's way with.wav

Their daughter is being married in haste because she had the misfortune to go out with a terrible young man who took her to a wild beach party, got her drunk, and then had his way with her.

1964 June 18, “Ann Landers—Your Problems”, in Saskatoon Star-Phoenix, Canada, retrieved 2011-09-26, page 8:

"She passed out, and when she passed out he had his way with her," Assistant District Attorney Anthony J. Marotta told the jury in his closing argument.

2004 May 12, “FSC student acquitted of 2002 campus sex assault”, in Worcester Telegram & Gazette, USA, retrieved 2011-09-26, page 8:

(idiomatic, euphemistic) To engage (as the more active or dominant partner) in sexual intercourse with, especially without the consent of one's partner; rape.


overnourished

en-adj

overnourished (comparative more overnourished, superlative most overnourished)

more overnourished (comparative)
most overnourished (superlative)

/ˈəʊvənʌɹɪʃt/

/ˈoʊvɚnʌɹɪʃt/

Lawn vacuums will clean up grass cuttings either as behind-the-mower units or self-propelled or push-type outfits that look like an overnourished Hoover.

1972 June, E. F. Lindsley, “The New Yard Tools that Finish the Job: Can Gardening be Fun? Yes, if You Use the New Labor-saving Tools on Backbreaking Jobs”, in Popular Science, volume 200, number 6, New York, N.Y.: Popular Science Publishing Company, →ISSN, page 18:

Policemen who've grown uhhh, overnourished, by helping themselves to free meals at the expense of hapless carinderia owners.

2000 March 15, Philippine Daily Inquirer, page 9:

The girls had done well but I also had to admit that the two attractive and stylish young women to whom I had barely given a second look as we were growing up, had flowered and flourished even though they looked somewhat overnourished to my taste.

2013, Michael Baum, “London 1964–1967 part 1”, in The Third Tablet of the Holy Covenant, Kibworth Beauchamp, Leicestershire: Matador, →ISBN, pages 219–220:


cover one's feet

en-verb

cover one's feet (third-person singular simple present covers one's feet, present participle covering one's feet, simple past and past participle covered one's feet)

covers one's feet (present singular third-person)
covering one's feet (participle present)
covered one's feet (participle past)
covered one's feet (past)

When he was gone out, his servants came; and when they saw that, behold, the doors of the parlor were locked, they said, Surely he covers his feet in his summer chamber. (Judges 3:24)

And he came to the sheepcotes by the way, where was a cave; and Saul went in to cover his feet: and David and his men remained in the sides of the cave. (1 Samuel 24:3)

(euphemistic, biblical) To lower one’s garment, especially to urinate or defecate.


for the love of Mike

"For the love of Mike!" cried that young lady, "where have you been all this time, and what's happened to you? You look as though you'd lost your last friend."

1919 (date written), Edgar Rice Burroughs, “The Efficiency Expert: Part III. Chapter XV. Little Eva.”, in Argosy All-Story Weekly, volume CXXXVII, number 6, New York, N.Y.: Frank A. Munsey Company, published October 1921, →OCLC, page 809, column 1:

"[…] But the police have an idea that I committed—" / "What—for the love of Mike?" / "Murder!" / "Good heavens!" / "And that isn't all, Bob. They've a couple of bakers' dozens of witnesses, all cocked and primed to swear to it!"

1921 April 16, Achmed Abdullah, “Framed at the Benefactor’s Club”, in Detective Story Magazine; republished in Fear and Other Stories from the Pulps, [Holicong, Pa.?]: Wildside Press, 2005, →ISBN, chapter IV (In His Pocket), page 104:

"Ted, you listen to Mr. Thompson!" said Howard Littlefield. "Oh, for the love o' Mike, I am listening!" Ted shouted.

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

"For the love of Mike! What did you pay?" "Ten thousand francs apiece." "But, Irma, that's preposterous! He never got half that for a painting in all his life."


take one's own life

take one's own life (third-person singular simple present takes one's own life, present participle taking one's own life, simple past and past participle took one's own life)

takes one's own life (present singular third-person)
taking one's own life (participle present)
took one's own life (participle past)
took one's own life (past)
take one's life (alternative)

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Chia Kuei-hsiang was a young worker at the Horticultural Model Farm in Chia-mu-ssu. On July 27, 1956, having long suffered the abuse of subjectivists and bureaucrats, she took her own life. Comrade Wang Ko, a reporter for the Heilunkiang Daily News, published a report of the circumstances surrounding her death on October 11 of that year. Depressed after reading such a story, I wrote this poem in the hope that there will never be another Chia Kuei-hsiang.

1981, Shao Yen-hsiang, “Chia Kuei-hsiang”, in Hualing Nieh, editor, Literature of the Hundred Flowers, volume II, New York: Columbia University Press, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 156:

(euphemistic) To kill oneself; to commit suicide.


underendowed

en-adj

underendowed (comparative more underendowed, superlative most underendowed)

more underendowed (comparative)
most underendowed (superlative)

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(euphemistic, of a woman) Having small breasts or buttocks.

(euphemistic, of a man) Having a small penis.


judenrein

Borrowed from German judenrein (“cleansed of Jews”, literally “Jew clean”).

bor

(Nazism, euphemistic) "Clean of Jews", i.e. having no Jewish inhabitants (e.g. because they have been deported or killed).


go down the drain

en-verb

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

goes down the drain (present singular third-person)
going down the drain (participle present)
went down the drain (past)
gone down the drain (participle past)

go down the toilet
go down the toilet#English

(euphemistic, idiomatic) Synonym of go down the toilet: to fail.


horizontal jogging

/ˌhɒ.ɹɪˈzɒn.təl ˈdʒɒɡ.ɪŋ/

/ˌhɔː.ɹəˈzɑːn.təl ˈdʒɑ.ɡɪŋ/

Sex in those days was regarded not so much as a playful sport, horizontal jogging it might be, as an unspeakable obsession needing pseudo-new assistance, the sin that dare not speak its name except in obscure, allusive, Latinate verbiage.

Yes, I understand that the current expression is horizontal jogging, Minister.

1984 December 17, Antony Jay, Jonathan Lynn, “Party Games”, in Yes, Minister, season 3, episode 8, spoken by Sir Humphrey Appleby (Nigel Hawthorne):

His sports were team games like football and basketball, not to mention horizontal jogging.

1994, Michael Scott Rohan, The Gates of Noon,, Avon Books, page 32:

(idiomatic, euphemistic) Sexual intercourse.


go to Putney on a pig

go to Putney on a pig (third-person singular simple present goes to Putney on a pig, present participle going to Putney on a pig, simple past went to Putney on a pig, past participle gone to Putney on a pig)

goes to Putney on a pig (present singular third-person)
going to Putney on a pig (participle present)
went to Putney on a pig (past)
gone to Putney on a pig (participle past)

(archaic, slang, euphemistic, minced oath) go to hell; be off with you


gravitationally challenged

en-adj

gravitationally challenged (comparative more gravitationally challenged, superlative most gravitationally challenged)

more gravitationally challenged (comparative)
most gravitationally challenged (superlative)
gravitationally-challenged (alternative)

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An ironic imitation of the perceived oversensitivity of language like mentally challenged.

[T]he chunky Mr. Ackerman took to the stage. First he told fat jokes. . . . "I'm not fat. I'm gravitationally challenged."

1996 March 3, Diane Ketcham, “Long Island Journal”, in New York Times, retrieved 2010-08-29:

In America fat is the new f-word—instead, it's nutritionally endowed, or person of mass, or gravitationally challenged.

2002 July 6, Tania Kindersley, “A job for nanny”, in spectator.co.uk, retrieved 2010-08-29:

(humorous, euphemistic, of a person) Fat.

Consider that the person asking is Mr. Bean, the diminutive, awkward, gravitationally challenged, accident-prone incarnation served up by Rowan Atkinson.

2003 July 18, Leonard Klady, “MCM Review: Johnny English”, in Movie City News, retrieved 2010-08-29:

(euphemistic, often humorous) Of a person, having a poor sense of balance; subject to intervals of dizziness.


let nature take its course

en-verb

let nature take its course (third-person singular simple present lets nature take its course, present participle letting nature take its course, simple past and past participle let nature take its course)

lets nature take its course (present singular third-person)
letting nature take its course (participle present)
let nature take its course (participle past)
let nature take its course (past)
let nature take her course (alternative)
let Nature take its course (alternative)

I have slashed veins in my ankles and am pleasantly bleeding to death in this hot water. There is no greater kindness you can do me than to let nature take its course.

1984, Piers Anthony, On A Pale Horse, →ISBN, page 145:

Her life is not worth living, people say; see, she is dependent on others even for food and water; let nature take its course.

2005 March 27, Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor, “If God died for all of us, it is not ours to decide who is fit to live”, in telegraph.co.uk, retrieved 2010-09-02:

(idiomatic, euphemistic) To allow a person or animal to die without medical or other attempts to forestall death.


terminate with extreme prejudice

terminate with extreme prejudice (third-person singular simple present terminates with extreme prejudice, present participle terminating with extreme prejudice, simple past and past participle terminated with extreme prejudice)

terminates with extreme prejudice (present singular third-person)
terminating with extreme prejudice (participle present)
terminated with extreme prejudice (participle past)
terminated with extreme prejudice (past)

First appears c. 1969. Derives from US military intelligence and CIA documents, in news coverage of the Green Beret Case, and further popularized in the movie Apocalypse Now (1979). A play on the term terminate with prejudice when an employee’s employment is terminated, meaning will not rehire employee to same position in future (i.e., prejudiced against rehiring), hence terminate definitively, i.e., kill.

The government ordered the spies to be terminated with extreme prejudice: they did not want them to expose what they knew in a public trial.

...suggested that he either be isolated or ‘terminated with extreme prejudice.’ This term is said to be an intelligence euphemism for execution.

1969 August 14, Terence Smith, “Details of Green Beret Case Are Reported in Saigon”, in The New York Times:

Colonel Lucas: ... When you find the Colonel, infiltrate his team by whatever means available and terminate the Colonel's command.
Willard: Terminate the Colonel?
...
Civilian: Terminate with extreme prejudice.

(euphemistic, US) To murder; to assassinate.

Apocalypse Now
termination of employment


lost in action

Kouchner's comments came after another French marine was killed bringing to 29 the number of French forces lost in action.

2009 August 7, John Metzler, “High stakes for democracy (and terrorism) as Afghans prepare to vote”, in World Tribune, US, retrieved 2010-09-15:

(euphemistic, of a military serviceperson) Killed during military combat.


gazelle in the garden

Possibly from an Arabic word that means both beard and garden.

The other ubiquitous anecdote, told by Harvard undergraduates who enjoyed poking gentle fun at the stately and aged Mrs. Fields, describes Annie saying "There's a gazelle in the garden" when she noticed food in her husband's beard at the dinner table.

1990, Judith Roman, Annie Adams Fields: the spirit of Charles Street, page 12:

If he got a crumb lodged in his beard, she would say, "Jamie, dear, there is a gazelle in the garden," which amused his friends and became a household expression in our family.

1922, Ernest Wadsworth Longfellow, Random memories, page 35:

At one of their literary dinners, should a crumb get caught in the luxuriant Fields beard — "There's a gazelle in the garden, Jamie," his wife would say.

(euphemistic, colloquial) Used during a meal to alert a family member or friend that they have a crumb on their face.


gazelle on the lawn

Jerry Hart leaned over to whisper in Carey's ear:
"Why don't someone tell Washburn there's a gazelle on the lawn?" he said.
Carey turned a puzzled look at him.
"That crumb he's got there on his lip! We call it a 'gazelle on the lawn' out home. Some one ought to put him wise; it may grow there."

1916, Charles Gilman Norris, The Amateur, page 63:

gazelle in the garden
gazelle in the garden#English

(euphemistic, colloquial) Synonym of gazelle in the garden.


ethically challenged

en-adj

ethically challenged (comparative more ethically challenged, superlative most ethically challenged)

more ethically challenged (comparative)
most ethically challenged (superlative)
ethically-challenged (alternative)

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(humorous, euphemistic) Unethical; dishonest.


living impaired

An ironic imitation of the perceived oversensitivity of language like mentally challenged. Compare hearing-impaired.


targeted killing

en-noun

targeted killing (countable and uncountable, plural targeted killings)

The moral legitimacy of targeted killing becomes even clearer when compared to the alternative means of fighting terror – that is, the massive invasion of the community that shelters and supports the terrorists in an attempt to catch or kill the terrorists and destory their infrastructure.

2005, Timothy Shanahan, Philosophy 9/11: Thinking About the War on Terrorism, Open Court Publishing Company, →ISBN, page 191:

Even if the targeted killing is deemed to fall within the laws of armed conflict, the rules relating thereto protect non-combatants. While civilians cannot be targeted, if they are killed or injured during an attack on a military target, then as long as the means employed were discriminate and proportionate, there is no violation of the laws of armed conflict.

2006, Geoff Gilbert, Responding to International Crime, BRILL, →ISBN, page 307:

In wartime, however, the prohibition against targeted killing is more elusive because the law stipulates that combatants, regardless of their rank or official role, are potential targets. Since war is a contest between states, not persons, the killing in war is not murder.

2008, Mark R. Amstutz, International Ethics: Concepts, Theories, and Cases in Global Politics, Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc, →ISBN, page 147:

The real issue – one emphasized in informal conversations – seems to be that unless the target is a duly designated "combatant," the targeted killing would become an "assassination."

2009, Benjamin Wittes, Legislating the War on Terror: An Agenda for Reform, Brookings Institution Press, →ISBN, page 366:

There is no announced U.S. policy directive regarding targeted killing. Assassination is addressed in Executive Order 12333, which does not prohibit killing absolutely, but only without presidential approval. Assassination and targeted killing are very different acts, however.

2010, Gary D. Solis, The Law of Armed Conflict: International Humanitarian Law in War, Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, page 542:

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

2013 June 7, Ed Pilkington, “‘Killer robots’ should be banned in advance, UN told”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 188, number 26, page 6:

(warfare, euphemistic) The intentional killing by a government or its agents of a civilian or "unlawful combatant" who is not in that government's custody, and who is taking part in an armed conflict or terrorism, whether by bearing arms or otherwise, and is thus regarded by the government as having lost the immunity from being targeted that he or she would otherwise have under the Geneva Conventions.


do the deed

en-verb

do the deed (third-person singular simple present does the deed, present participle doing the deed, simple past did the deed, past participle done the deed)

does the deed (present singular third-person)
doing the deed (participle present)
did the deed (past)
done the deed (participle past)

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Earliest attested usage is from Middle English: 1340, Ayenbite of Inwyt "Ȝete þai ben al clene; Haue þai no dede y-done" ("Yet they are all clean; They have not had intercourse"); and in 1443, Reginald Pecock, The Rule of Christian Religion: "By force hath he..don that dede, That he hath reft hire of hire maydenhede." (By force he has done that deed, That he has deprived her of her virginity.)


correctional facility

en-noun

correctional facility (plural correctional facilities)

For inmates in the state's correctional facilities, a typical breakfast menu consists of cereal, toast, jam, jelly, doughnuts, coffee and fruit.

1982 December 19, Donovan Wilson, “Prison Food: Not Fancy, But—”, in New York Times, archived from the original on 2020-12-21:

On Oct. 19, the Standish city council voted to allow federal prisoners, including detainees from Gitmo, to be housed at the local correctional facility.

2009 October 22, Steven Gray, “Michigan: Send Us Your Prison Inmates”, in Time, archived from the original on 2019-08-08:

(chiefly US, formal, euphemistic) A prison, reformatory, or similar institution in which people are confined for the purpose of punishment and/or social rehabilitation.


effer

(euphemistic, slang, usually derogatory) Fucker.