lead

en-noun

lead (countable and uncountable, plural leads)

leads (plural)
lede (alternative)
leed (alternative)

From Middle English leden, from Old English lǣdan (“to lead”), from Proto-West Germanic *laidijan, from Proto-Germanic *laidijaną (“to cause one to go, lead”), causative of Proto-Germanic *līþaną (“to go”), from Proto-Indo-European *leyt- (“to leave, die”).
Cognate with West Frisian liede (“to lead”), Dutch leiden (“to lead”), German leiten (“to lead”), Danish and Norwegian Bokmål lede (“to lead”), Norwegian Nynorsk leia (“to lead”), Swedish leda (“to lead”). Related to Old English līþan (“to go, travel”).

der

(US, journalism) The introductory paragraph or paragraphs of a newspaper, or a news or other type of article. (Sometimes spelled as lede for this usage to avoid ambiguity.)


SAU

(US, New Hampshire, education) Initialism of school administrative unit.


bent

en-adj

bent (comparative benter or more bent, superlative bentest or most bent)

benter (comparative)
more bent (comparative)
bentest (superlative)
most bent (superlative)

From Middle English bent-, preterite stem (as in bente, benten, etc.), and Middle English bent, ibent, ybent, past participle forms of Middle English benden (“to bend”). Equivalent to bend + -t.

(colloquial, chiefly US) Suffering from the bends.


bet

From 16th-century criminal slang, perhaps from Middle English bet (“something better, advantage, luck”); or from abet, from Middle English abet, abette, from Old French abet (“incitement to evil”), from Old French abeter (“to entice”), from a- (“to”) + beter (“hound on, urge, to bait”); ultimately from Proto-West Germanic *baitijan (“to bait, entice”), related to Old English bǣtan (“to bait”). More at abet.

der

(Philippines, figuratively, informal) A candidate (for elections and pageants) or competitor (in multinational sports).


bet

en-verb

bet (third-person singular simple present bets, present participle betting, simple past and past participle bet or betted)

bets (present singular third-person)
betting (participle present)
bet (participle past)
bet (past)
betted (participle past)
betted (past)

(poker) To place money into the pot in order to require others do the same, usually only used for the first person to place money in the pot on each round.


bet

What you may not have stopped to consider is that Big Clit Energy (here referred to as B.C.E.) has been around since... BCE! Eve? She looked sin in the eye and said, “Bet.”

2018 September 4, The Rice Thresher, volume 103, number 3, Rice University, page 9:

“(Drummer Brenden Accettura) texted me that and was like, ‘Should we name our band The Hot Mess Express?’ and I said, ‘Bet.’ So now that’s our name,” Abbie said, getting words out between laughs.

2019 April 30, Key Magazine, Bowling Green State University: BG Falcon Media, page 26:

Exclamation indicating acceptance of a challenge or an absurd proposal.


blow

en-noun

blow (countable and uncountable, plural blows)

From Middle English blowen, from Old English blāwan (“to blow, breathe, inflate, sound”), from Proto-West Germanic *blāan, from Proto-Germanic *blēaną (“to blow”) (compare German blähen), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰleh₁- (“to swell, blow up”) (compare Latin flō (“to blow”) and Old Armenian բեղուն (bełun, “fertile”)).

der

Hi there, you're a pretty cute chick, want to snort some blow?

1982, Slava Tsukerman, Anne Carlisle, Nina V. Kerova, Liquid Sky:

Hey man, you wanna cop some blow? / Sure, what you got, dust, flakes or rocks?

1983, “White Lines (Don't Do It)”, performed by Grandmaster Melle Mel:

Jesus Christ, George, I don't see you for two years and you show up on my doorstep with 110 pounds of blow.

2001, David McKenna, Blow, spoken by Derek:

I ran out of blow a long time ago / I can't smoke a J or my guts fly away

2023, “Modern Day Ripoff”, in Every Loser, performed by Iggy Pop:

(uncountable, US Chicago dialectal, slang) Heroin.


broken

en-adj

broken (comparative more broken, superlative most broken)

more broken (comparative)
most broken (superlative)

From Middle English broken, from Old English brocen, ġebrocen, from Proto-Germanic *brukanaz, past participle of Proto-Germanic *brekaną (“to break”). Cognate with Dutch gebroken (“broken”), German Low German broken (“broken”), German gebrochen (“broken”). Morphologically broke + -n.

the pitcher goes so often to the well that it is broken at last

Oh man! That is just broken!

Non-functional; not functioning properly.

(colloquial, US, of a situation) Not having gone in the way intended; saddening.


burn

en-verb

burn (third-person singular simple present burns, present participle burning, simple past and past participle burned or (mostly Commonwealth) burnt or (obsolete) brent)

burns (present singular third-person)
burning (participle present)
burned (participle past)
burned (past)
burnt (Commonwealth participle past)
burnt (Commonwealth past)
brent (obsolete participle past)
brent (obsolete past)
burn (infinitive)

Sranan Tongo: bron

Aukan: boon

From Middle English bernen, birnen, from Old English birnan (“to burn”), metathesis from Proto-West Germanic *brinnan, from Proto-Germanic *brinnaną (“to burn”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰrenw-, present stem from *bʰrewh₁-. Doublet of brew.
See also Middle Irish brennim (“drink up”), bruinnim (“bubble up”); also Middle Irish bréo (“flame”), Albanian burth (“Cyclamen hederifolium, mouth burning”), Sanskrit भुरति (bhurati, “moves quickly, twitches, fidgets”). More at brew.

verbranden

chemistry: to cause to combine with oxygen or other active agent

(intransitive, slang, US) To desire or ache for (something); to focus on attaining (something).


bust

en-verb

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

busts (present singular third-person)
busting (participle present)
busted (participle past)
busted (past)
bust (participle past)
bust (past)

From Middle English busten, a variant of Middle English bursten, bresten (“to burst”). Compare German Low German basten and barsten (“to burst”). More at burst.

I busted my cooker while trying to fix it.

(transitive, colloquial, chiefly US) To break.

He busted him down to patrolman for insubordination.

If Steinkamp doesn't take off that hat and stop messing around, I'm gonna bust him into a PFC.

1962, The Manchurian Candidate, 01:56:35


dig

dig (third-person singular simple present digs, present participle digging, simple past and past participle dug or (archaic) digged)

digs (present singular third-person)
digging (participle present)
dug (participle past)
dug (past)
digged (archaic participle past)
digged (archaic past)

From Middle English diggen (“to dig”), alteration of Old English dīcian (“to dig a ditch, to mound up earth”) (compare Old English dīcere (“digger”)) from dīc, dīċ (“dike, ditch”) from Proto-Germanic *dīkaz, *dīkiją (“pool, puddle”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰeygʷ- (“to stab, dig”). Additionally, Middle English diggen may derive from an unrecorded suffixed variant, *dīcgian. Akin to Danish dige (“to dig, raise a dike”), Swedish dika (“to dig ditches”). Related to Middle French diguer (“to dig”), from Old French dikier, itself a borrowing of the same Germanic root (from Middle Dutch dijc). More at ditch, dike.

der

he who digs a pit for others falls in himself

Peter dug at his books all the harder.

1894, Paul Leicester Ford, The Honorable Peter Stirling:

(US, slang, dated) To work like a digger; to study ploddingly and laboriously.


dig

Between the two extremes of college men the unsocial dig and the flunking swell, lies the majority, who, acknowledging the duty and merit of hard work, see the value in social and recreative line, but are at somewhat of a loss, seemingly, how to proportionize the time given to the different sides of college life, or how far to allow themselves to go on the more attractive side.

(US, colloquial, dated) A plodding and laborious student.


feel

en-verb

feel (third-person singular simple present feels, present participle feeling, simple past and past participle felt)

feels (present singular third-person)
feeling (participle present)
felt (participle past)
felt (past)
feel (infinitive)

→ Kashubian: filowac (United States)

From Middle English felen, from Old English fēlan, from Proto-West Germanic *fōlijan.

I don't want you back here, ya feel me?

Shoot, errbody have the zipper jacket / And half of these thugs have the glove to match, ya feel me?

2002, “Work It”, in Under Construction, performed by Missy Elliott:


feel

→ Korean: 삘 (ppil)

I know that feel.

(chiefly US, slang) A feeling; an emotion.


fitted

For niggas plottin, I might blow it at your fitted
Get your bitch-ass slimed out, it ain't no kiddin
Ain't no kiddin, got that semi

2023 April 28, “Got Dat Muneh” (track 10, 1:05 from the start), in Summrs (lyrics), GHOST:

Late night, on a drill, aimin for his fitted

2022 October 31, “Doomsday” (track 7, 1:35 from the start), in Thunder Bklu & Dougie B (lyrics), F L O C K A:


tuition

en-noun

tuition (countable and uncountable, plural tuitions)

/t͡ʃʉːˈɪʃən/

From Old French [Term?], from Latin tuitiō (“guard, protection, defense”), from tuēri (“to watch, guard, see, observe”). Compare intuition, tutor.

обучение

training or instruction provided by a teacher or tutor

These rosemaling workshops are no place for anyone who wants to pester me or the students with the "white privilege" card, inter alia. Therefore, I reserve the right to refund the tuition of such men and women, kick them out the door, and bar them from at least two of my future events.

(Canada, US) A sum of money paid for instruction (such as in a high school, boarding school, university, or college); tuition fees.


graduate

student

antonym(s) of “person recognized for having finished studies”

/ˈɡɹæd͡ʒuət/

/ˈɡɹæd͡ʒuɪt/

From Latin graduātus (“graduated”), from gradus (“step”). Sense 10 of the verb, relating to Japanese entertainment, is a semantic loan from Japanese 卒業 (sotsugyō).

sl

(US, Canada) A person who is recognized by a high school as having completed the requirements of a course of study at the school.


gone

en-adj

gone (comparative further gone or goner, superlative furthest gone or gonest)

further gone (comparative)
goner (comparative)
furthest gone (superlative)
gonest (superlative)

From Middle English gon, igon, gan, ȝegan, from Old English gān, ġegān, from Proto-Germanic *gānaz (“gone”), past participle of *gāną (“to go”). Cognate with West Germanic Scots gane (“gone”), West Frisian gien (“gone”), Low German gahn (“gone”), and Dutch gegaan (“gone”).

It was a group of real gone cats.

“All right, all right, don’t drop your gold all over the place. I have found the gonest little girl in the world and I am going straight to the Lion’s Den with her tonight.”

1957, Jack Kerouac, chapter 11, in On the Road, Penguin, published 1976, →OCLC, part 1, page 61:

Dad, I want to be a jock. All a jock needs is some hep patter and a real gone image. Now, they just don't teach that jazz in college.

1975, Garry Marshall et al., “Richie's Flip Side”, in Happy Days, season 2, episode 21, spoken by Richie Cunningham (Ron Howard):

(informal, US, dated) Excellent, wonderful; crazy.

(US) Weak; faint; feeling a sense of goneness.


go

en-verb

go (third-person singular simple present goes, present participle going, simple past went or (obsolete) yode, past participle gone or (nonstandard) went or (substituted in certain contexts) been)

goes (present singular third-person)
going (participle present)
went (past)
yode (obsolete past)
gone (participle past)
went (nonstandard participle past)
been (participle past)
go (infinitive)

From Middle English gon, goon, from Old English gān (“to go”), from Proto-West Germanic *gān, from Proto-Germanic *gāną (“to go”), from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰeh₁- (“to leave”).
The inherited past tense form yode (compare Old English ēode) was replaced through suppletion in the 15th century by went, from Old English wendan (“to go, depart, wend”).
cognates and related terms
Cognate with Scots gae (“to go”), West Frisian gean (“to go”), Dutch gaan (“to go”), Low German gahn (“to go”), German gehen (“to go”), Swedish, Norwegian and Danish gå (“to go”). Compare also Albanian ngah (“to run, drive, go”), Ancient Greek κιχάνω (kikhánō, “to meet with, arrive at”), Avestan 𐬰𐬀𐬰𐬁𐬨𐬌 (zazāmi), Sanskrit जहाति (jáhāti).

cog

someone's driveway doesn't go all the way to the road

the fucking you get isn't worth the fucking you're going to get

the screwing you get isn't worth the screwing you're going to get

You've shown me his weak points, and I'll go him whether you stick by me or not.

1900, Burt L. Standish, Frank Merriwell's Tricks: Or True Friends and False:

(transitive, obsolete, US, slang) To fight.


grown

en-adj

grown (comparative more grown, superlative most grown)

more grown (comparative)
most grown (superlative)

From Middle English growen.
Morphologically grow + -n.


sandbox

sandboxes (plural)
sand box (alternative)
sand-box (alternative)

→ Chinese: 沙盒 (shāhé) (calque)

(US, Canada) A children's play area consisting of a box filled with sand.

(US, military, slang, usually "The Sandbox") The Middle East.


hide

From Middle English hyde, from Old English hȳd, from Proto-West Germanic *hūdi, from Proto-Germanic *hūdiz, from Proto-Indo-European *kéw(H)tis (“skin, hide”) (compare Latin cutis (“skin, rind, hide”)), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)kew(H)- (“to cover”), ultimately the same root as the above etymology. More at sky.
Cognates
See also West Frisian hûd, Dutch huid, German Haut, Welsh cwd (“scrotum”), Latin cutis (“skin”), Lithuanian kutys (“purse, money-belt”), Ancient Greek κύτος (kútos, “hollow vessel”), σκῦτος (skûtos, “cover, hide”).

cog

to save his own hide

better watch his hide

Coordinate term: ass (see ass § Usage notes)

The rotter who simpers that he sees no difference between the power of money and the power of the whip, ought to learn the difference on his own hide—as I think he will.

1957, Ayn Rand, Francisco d'Anconia's speech in Atlas Shrugged

(metonymically, uncountable, informal, usually US) One's own life or personal safety, especially when in peril.


hit

en-verb

hit (third-person singular simple present hits, present participle hitting, simple past hit or (dialectal, obsolete) hat or (rare, dialectal) het, past participle hit or (archaic, rare, dialectal) hitten)

hits (present singular third-person)
hitting (participle present)
hit (past)
hat (dialectal obsolete past)
het (dialectal past rare)
hit (participle past)
hitten (archaic dialectal participle past rare)

miss

antonym(s) of “manage to touch in the right place”

From Middle English hitten (“to hit, strike, make contact with”), from Old English hittan (“to meet with, come upon, fall in with”), from Old Norse hitta (“to strike, meet”), from Proto-Germanic *hittijaną (“to come upon, find”), from Proto-Indo-European *kh₂eyd- (“to fall; fall upon; hit; cut; hew”).
Cognate with Icelandic hitta (“to meet”), Danish hitte (“to find”), Latin caedō (“to kill”), Albanian qit (“to hit, throw, pull out, release”).

cog

don't let the door hit you on the way out

let the door hit you where the good Lord split you

not be able to hit the broad side of a barn

I'd hit that!

(transitive, US, slang) To have sex with.

Tastes like fruit when you hit it; got to have bread to get it.

2005, “Stay Fly”, in Jordan Houston, Darnell Carlton, Paul Beauregard, Premro Smith, Marlon Goodwin, David Brown, Willie Hutchinson (lyrics), Most Known Unknown, performed by Three 6 Mafia (featuring Young Buck, 8 Ball, and MJG), Sony BMG:

(transitive, US, slang) To inhale an amount of smoke from a narcotic substance, particularly marijuana.


pigeon

en-noun

pigeon (countable and uncountable, plural pigeons)

Inherited from Middle English pygeoun, borrowed from Old French pyjon, inherited from Late Latin pīpiōnem (“chirping bird”), derived from Latin pīpiāre (“chirp”), of imitative origin.

domestic pigeon (Columba livia domestica or

Comoros green pigeon

Treron comorensis or Treron australis griveaudi

Madeiran wood pigeon †Columba palumbus maderensis

wood pigeon

Columba palumbus or Hemiphaga novaeseelandiae

(Canada, US, informal) A person who is a target or victim of a confidence game.


lean

Probably from the verb to lean (see etymology 1 above), supposedly because consumption of the intoxicating beverage causes one to "lean". Alternatively, possibly short for gasoline (“an alcoholic beverage made of vodka and energy drink”).

Eyes real tight 'cause I'm chokin' the creep; vision messed up 'cause I'm drinkin' the lean.

"What's in the cup, let me see that / Girl, where the rest of that promethazine at?" / She said, "Cool, gotta run out to my Cadillac though / And I'll be like Fat Joe, and bring the lean back"

2020, “Those Kinda Nights”, in Music to Be Murdered By, performed by Eminem ft. Ed Sheeran:

(slang, US) A recreational drug based on codeine-laced promethazine cough syrup, especially popular in the hip hop community in the southeastern United States.


lit

en-verb

lit (third-person singular simple present lits, present participle litting, simple past and past participle litted)

lits (present singular third-person)
litting (participle present)
litted (participle past)
litted (past)

Alteration of earlier light, from Middle English lighte, from Old English līhtte, first and third person singular preterite of līhtan (“to light”)) by analogy with bit. More at light; compare fit (“fought”).

With that the kid lits off down the street, and, what do you know!

1988 April 8, Grant Pick, “Johnny Washington's Life”, in Chicago Reader:

(US, dialectal) To run or light (alight).


baloney

Origin unclear. Perhaps from the Polari slang word balonie. Alternatively, perhaps simply from bologna (“sausage”), possibly used as a minced oath for bullshit.

balonie (alternative)
bologna (alternative)
boloney (alternative)

That's a bunch of baloney! I don't believe one word!

(uncountable, chiefly US, slang) Nonsense.

no matter how thin you slice it, it's still baloney


make

make (third-person singular simple present makes, present participle making, simple past and past participle made or (dialectal or obsolete) maked)

makes (present singular third-person)
making (participle present)
made (participle past)
made (past)
maked (dialectal obsolete participle past)
maked (dialectal obsolete past)
make (infinitive)
mak (alternative)
makee (alternative)
myek (alternative)

From Middle English maken, from Old English macian (“to make, build, work”), from Proto-West Germanic *makōn (“to make, build, work”), from Proto-Indo-European *meh₂ǵ- (“to knead, mix, make”).
Related to match.
Cognates
* Scots mak (“to make”)
* Saterland Frisian moakje (“to make”)
* West Frisian meitsje (“to make”)
* Dutch maken (“to make”)
* Dutch Low Saxon maken (“to make”)
* German Low German maken (“to make”)
* German machen (“to make, do”)
* Danish mage (“to make, arrange (in a certain way)”)
* Latin mācerō, macer
* Ancient Greek μάσσω (mássō)

elér

with definite conjugation and a subordinate clause

don't get your honey where you make your money

it takes a heap of living to make a house a home

it takes a heap o' livin' to make a house a home

it takes a lot of living to make a house a home

mackerel sky and mare's-tails make lofty ships carry low sails

mackerel sky and mare's-tails make tall ships carry low sails

you can't make an omelette without breaking eggs

you can't make a silk purse of a sow's ear

you've got to crack a few eggs to make an omelette

I caught sight of him two or three times and then made him turning north into Laurel Canyon Drive.

1939, Raymond Chandler, The Big Sleep, Penguin, published 2011, page 33:

Linus Caldwell: Well, she just made Danny and Yen, which means in the next 48 hours the three o' your pictures are gonna be in every police station in Europe.

2004, George Nolfi et al., Ocean's Twelve, Warner Bros. Pictures, 0:50:30

David Sinclair: (walking) Almost at Seventh; I should have a visual any second now. (rounds a corner, almost collides into Kaleed Asan) Damn, that was close.
Don Eppes: David, he make you?
David Sinclair: No, I don't think so.

2007 May 4, Andrew Dettmann et al., "Under Pressure", episode 3-22 of Numb3rs, 00:01:16

(transitive, US slang, crime, law enforcement) To recognise, identify, spot.


archaic

archaics (plural)
archaeic (alternative)
archæic (alternative)
archaïc (alternative)
archaick (alternative)

From archaism (“ancient or obsolete phrase or expression”) or from French archaïque, ultimately from Ancient Greek ἀρχαϊκός (arkhaïkós, “old-fashioned”), from ἀρχαῖος (arkhaîos, “from the beginning, antiquated, ancient, old”), from ἀρχή (arkhḗ, “beginning, origin”), from ἄρχω (árkhō, “I am first”), from ἄρχω (árkhō, “I begin”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂ergʰ- (“to begin, rule, command”).

der

… Archaic Stage … the stage of migratory hunting and gathering cultures continuing into environmental conditions approximately those of the present.

1958, Wiley, Gordon R., and Philip Phillips, Method and Theory in American Archaeology, University of Chicago Press, Chicago, page #107

(archaeology, US, usually capitalized) The prehistoric period intermediate between the earliest period (‘Paleo-Indian’, ‘Paleo-American’, ‘American‐paleolithic’, etc.) of human presence in the Western Hemisphere, and the most recent prehistoric period (‘Woodland’, etc.).


bull

en-noun

bull (countable and uncountable, plural bulls)

bear

investor who sells in anticipation of a fall in prices

From Middle English bole, bul, bule, from a conflation of Old English bula (“bull, steer”) and Old Norse boli, both from Proto-Germanic *bulô (“bull”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰl̥no-, from *bʰel- (“to blow, swell up”). Cognate with West Frisian bolle, Dutch bul, German Low German Bull, German Bulle, Swedish bulla; also Old Irish ball (“limb”), Latin follis (“bellows, leather bag”), Thracian βόλινθος (“wild bull”), Macedonian вол (vol, "ox"), Slovene vol ("ox"), Albanian buall (“buffalo”) or related bolle (“testicles”), Ancient Greek φαλλός (phallós, “penis”).

rozzer. See also Thesaurus:police officer

You never waited until the train stopped to get off. The railroad bulls were waiting at the stops searching for freeloaders.

2021, Rickie Lee Jones, Last Chance Texaco, Grive Press 2022, p. 93

The Bat—they called him the Bat.[…]. He'd never been in stir, the bulls had never mugged him, he didn't run with a mob, he played a lone hand, and fenced his stuff so that even the fence couldn't swear he knew his face.

1920, Mary Roberts Rinehart, Avery Hopwood, chapter I, in The Bat: A Novel from the Play (Dell Book; 241), New York, N.Y.: Dell Publishing Company, →OCLC, page 01:

(US, slang) A policeman; a detective; a railroad security guard.


bog

bogs (plural)
bogg (alternative)
bogge (alternative)
boghe (alternative)

Inherited from Middle English bog (originally chiefly in Ireland and Scotland), from Irish and Scottish Gaelic bogach (“soft, boggy ground”), from Old Irish bog (“soft”), from Proto-Celtic *buggos (“soft, tender”) + Old Irish -ach, from Proto-Celtic *-ākos.
The frequent use to form compounds regarding the animals and plants in such areas mimics Irish compositions such as bog-luachair (“bulrush, bogrush”).
Its use for toilets is now often derived from the resemblance of latrines and outhouse cesspools to bogholes, but the noun sense appears to be a clipped form of boghouse (“outhouse, privy”), which derived (possibly via boggard) from the verb to bog, still used in Australian English. The derivation and its connection to other senses of "bog" remains uncertain, however, owing to an extreme lack of early citations due to its perceived vulgarity.

der

(US, dialect) A little elevated spot or clump of earth, roots, and grass, in a marsh or swamp.

Damon does emphasize that great red rice should always be fluffy and never mushy like a rice bog.

2013, James Villas, Southern Fried: More Than 150 Recipes for Crab Cakes, Fried Chicken, Hush Puppies, and More, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, →ISBN, page 196:

I love Chicken Bog because it's one of those very regional recipes that has survived […] Don't skim or otherwise remove the fat from the stock though—it will help flavor the bog. Let the chicken cool and then pick the meat, setting it aside for the bog recipe that follows. The broth will[…]

2016 October 1, Elliott Moss, Buxton Hall Barbecue's Book of Smoke: Wood-Smoked Meat, Sides, and More, Voyageur Press, →ISBN, page 113:

Chicken and rice bog for their supper so she wouldn't have to cook.

2018, Ann W Phillips, Lady Of Esterbrooke:


machine

→ Ainu: マシン

→ Bengali: মেশিন (meśin)

→ Cowlitz: məšín

→ Hindustani: मशीन (maśīn) / مشین (maśīn)

→ Irish: meaisín

→ Japanese: マシン (mashin)

→ Korean: 머신 (meosin)

→ Maori: mīhini

→ Punjabi

Gurmukhi script: ਮਸ਼ੀਨ (maśīn)

Shahmukhi script: مشین (maśīn)

→ Swahili: mashine

→ Tok Pisin: masin

Borrowed from Middle French machine, from Latin māchina (“a machine, engine, contrivance, device, stratagem, trick”), from Doric Greek μᾱχᾰνᾱ́ (mākhănā́), cognate with Attic Greek μηχᾰνή (mēkhănḗ, “a machine, engine, contrivance, device”), from which comes mechanical. Displaced native Old English searu.

cog

perpetual motion machine of the first kind

perpetual motion machine of the second kind

Outline of machines on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

A machine politician cannot see why the straight ticket (as he and his clique of party bosses prepare it) should not be voted by every citizen belonging to that party.

In essence, therefore, the right-fork strategy of the Democrats meant an alliance of the South with the political machines built on the non-Protestant immigrants in key Northeastern states.

2006, Jerry F. Hough, Changing Party Coalitions: The Mystery of the Red State-blue State Alignment, Algora Publishing, →ISBN, page 37:

He was thrust into a political maelstrom for which he was ill-prepared, and yet he was, most notably, the Chicago machine's political savior.

2013, Paul M. Green, Melvin G. Holli, The Mayors: The Chicago Political Tradition, fourth edition, SIU Press, →ISBN, page 126:

special interest group
special interest group

(politics, chiefly US) The system of special interest groups that supports a political party, especially in urban areas.


rod

From Middle English rodde, from Old English *rodd or *rodde (attested in dative plural roddum (“rod, pole”)), of uncertain origin, but probably from Proto-Germanic *rudd- (“stick, club”), from Proto-Indo-European *rewdʰ- (“to clear land”). Compare Old Norse rudda (“club”). For the root, compare English rid. Presumably unrelated to Proto-Germanic *rōdō (“rod, pole”).

der

An implement held vertically and viewed through an optical surveying instrument such as a transit, used to measure distance in land surveying and construction layout; an engineer's rod, surveyor's rod, surveying rod, leveling rod, ranging rod. The modern (US) engineer's or surveyor's rod commonly is eight or ten feet long and often designed to extend higher. In former times a surveyor's rod often was a single wooden pole or composed of multiple sectioned and socketed pieces, and besides serving as a sighting target was used to measure distance on the ground horizontally, hence for convenience was of one rod or pole in length, that is, 5+¹⁄₂ yards.


with

From Middle English with, from Old English wiþ (“against, opposite, toward, with”), from Proto-West Germanic *wiþi, a shortened form of Proto-Germanic *wiþrą (“against”). In Middle English, the word shifted to denote association rather than opposition, displacing Middle English mid (“with”), from Old English mid (“with”), from Proto-Germanic *midi; an earlier model of this meaning shift exists in cognate Old Norse við; elsewhere, the converse meaning shift is exemplified by Old South Arabian 𐩨𐩺𐩬 (byn, “between, amid”) spawning Old South Arabian 𐩨𐩬 (bn, “against”) and even likewise frequent reverse meaning 𐩨𐩬 (bn, “from”). The adverb sense is probably a semantic loan from various other Germanic languages, such as Norwegian med, Swedish med, and German mit.

inh

wyth (alternative)
whith (alternative)
wᵗʰ (alternative)
wᵗ (alternative)
w/ (alternative)
w (alternative)
wi' (alternative)
wit (alternative)
wit' (alternative)
wid (alternative)
wif (alternative)
wiv (alternative)

Do you want to come with?

(regional US, chiefly Midwest and West, informal) Along, together with others, in a group, etc.


tractor

→ Bengali: ট্র্যাক্টর (ṭrjakṭor)

→ Japanese: トラクター (torakutā)

desc

→ Hindi: ट्रेक्टर (ṭrekṭar), ट्रैक्टर (ṭraikṭar)

→ Khmer: ត្រាក់ទ័រ (traktɔə)

→ Korean: 트랙터 (teuraekteo)

desctree

→ Russian: тра́ктор (tráktor), тра́кторъ (tráktor) — Pre-reform orthography (1918)
→ Armenian: տրակտոր (traktor)
→ Azerbaijani: traktor
⇒ Chinese:
Cantonese: 拖拉機 /拖拉机 (to¹ laai¹ gei¹)
Dungan: туәлаҗи (tuəlaži)
Mandarin: 拖拉機 /拖拉机 (tuōlājī)
Min Nan: 拖拉機 /拖拉机 (thoa-la-ki / tho-la-ki)
→ Bouyei: toylayjiy
→ Burmese: ထော် လာဂျီ (htau lagyi)
→ Lü: ᦷᦒᧈᦟᦱᧈᦋᦲᧈ (tho¹laa¹tsii¹)
→ Tibetan: ཐོ་ལ་ཅི (tho la ci)
→ Zhuang: dohlahgih
→ Dungan: трактор (traktor)
→ Georgian: ტრაქტორი (ṭrakṭori)
→ Ingrian: traktora
→ Kazakh: трактор (traktor)
→ Korean: 뜨락또르 (tteurakttoreu) (North Korea)
→ Kyrgyz: трактор (traktor)
→ Mongolian:
Cyrillic script: трактор (traktor)
Mongolian script: ᠲᠷᠠᠻᠲᠣᠷ (traktor)
→ Tajik: трактор (traktor)
→ Turkmen: traktor
→ Uyghur: تراكتور (traktor)
→ Uzbek: traktor

desc

→ Thai: แทรกเตอร์ (trɛ́k-dtə̂ə)

→ Thai: แทรกเตอร์ (trɛ́k-dtə̂ə)

→ Urdu: ٹْرَیکْٹَر (ṭraikṭar), ٹَرَیکْٹَر (ṭaraikṭar)

Formed from Latin tractus, perfect passive participle of trahere (“to pull”), + agent noun suffix -or.

(US) A truck (or lorry) for pulling a semi-trailer or trailer.


legal

en-adj

legal (comparative more legal, superlative most legal)

more legal (comparative)
most legal (superlative)

Borrowed from Latin lēgālis (“legal”), from lēx (“law”). Doublet of loyal and leal.

(US, Canada) (of paper or document layouts) Measuring 8½ in × 14 in (215.9 mm × 355.6 mm) (also legal-size).


legal

en-noun

legal (countable and uncountable, plural legals)

(uncountable, US, Canada) Paper in sheets 8½ in × 14 in (215.9 mm × 355.6 mm).

(countable, informal, US) Somebody who immigrated lawfully.


central

Borrowed from Latin centrālis, from centrum (“centre”), from Ancient Greek κέντρον (kéntron); by surface analysis, centre + -al.


spell

→ Welsh: sbel

From Middle English spelen, from Old English spelian (“to represent, take or stand in the place of another, act as a representative of another”), akin to Middle English spale (“a rest or break”), Old English spala (“representative, substitute”).

cog

(colloquial, US) A period of illness, or sudden interval of bad spirits, disease etc.

purkaus

period of illness, outburst of bad spirits


spelling

en-noun

spelling (countable and uncountable, plural spellings)

orthography

precisely hypernymous but loosely synonymous

The boys were anxious for a spelling in the evening but I said no.

1860, Oscar Lawrence Jackson, The Colonel's Diary: Journals Kept Before and During the Civil War [1922], Sharon, Penn., p 23

How her face ust to look, in the twilight, / As I tuck her to spellin’; and she / Kep’ a-hummin’ that song ’tel I ast her, / Pine-blank, ef she ever missed me!

1889, James Whitcomb Riley, “A’ Old Played-Out Song”, in Pipes O' Pan at Zekesbury, Indianapolis, Ind.: Bowen-Merrill, page 45:

So we'd sit with these girls during school hours, and we told them, if they'd slip off, that we'd get away, and we'd go to [the school] to a spelling.

2004, Carl Lindahl, editor, American Folktales: From the Collections of the Library of Congress, volume 1, Armonk, N.Y.: M.E. Sharpe, page 416:

(US, rare, dated, countable or uncountable) A spelling test or spelling bee.


straight

en-adj

straight (comparative straighter, superlative straightest)

straighter (comparative)
straightest (superlative)
streight (alternative)

→ Japanese: ストレート

From Middle English streight, streght, streiȝt, the past participle of strecchen (“to stretch”), from Old English streċċan (past participle ġestreaht, ġestreht), from Proto-West Germanic *strakkjan (“to stretch”). Doublet of straught. Equivalent to stretch + -ed

der

a straight Republican

a straight Democrat

(US, politics) Making no exceptions or deviations in one's support of the organization and candidates of a political party.

a straight ballot

(US, politics) Containing the names of all the regularly nominated candidates of a single party and no others.


secretary

secretaries (plural)
secretarie (alternative)

→ Punjabi: ਸਕੱਤਰ (sakattar)

From Medieval Latin secrētārius (“one entrusted with secrets”), from Latin secrētus (“private, secret”), past participle of secernere (“to separate, set apart”), from se- (“apart”) + cernere (“to separate”).

(US) A type of desk, secretary desk; a secretaire.


bug

First attested in this form around 1620 (referring to a bedbug), from earlier bugge (“beetle”), a conflation of two words:
# Middle English bugge (“scarecrow, hobgoblin”), perhaps from obsolete Welsh bwg ("ghost, hobgoblin"; compare Welsh bwgwl ("threat", older "fear")) or from Proto-Germanic *bugja- (“swollen up, thick”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰew-, *bu- (“to swell”) (compare Norwegian bugge (“big man”), dialectal Low German Bögge (“goblin”, “snot”)). Or, from a word related to buck and originally referring to a goat-shaped spectre.
# Middle English budde (“beetle”), from Old English budda (see sċearnbudda (“dung beetle”)), from Proto-Germanic *buddô, *buzdô, from the same ultimate source as above (compare Low German Budde (“louse, grub”), Norwegian budda (“newborn domestic animal”)). More at bud.
The term is used to refer to technical errors and problems at least as early as the 19th century, predating the commonly known story of a moth being caught in a computer.

cog

given enough eyeballs, all bugs are shallow

(US) Any insect, arachnid, myriapod or entognath.

The "bugs" are the asterisks next to the apprentice's name. One bug is a five-pound allowance, two bugs equal seven pounds, and three bugs equal ten pounds.

1999, Anita Scialli, Inside Track 1999, page 62:

(slang, US, horse-racing) An asterisk denoting an apprentice jockey's weight allowance.

(slang, US, horse-racing, by extension) A young apprentice jockey.


Graham bread

en-noun

Graham bread (countable and uncountable, plural Graham breads)

Eponymously from Sylvester Graham, a lecturer on dietetics.


graham cracker

graham crackers (plural)
Graham cracker (alternative)

גראם קרקר

sweet cracker made with graham flour and honey

(US, dated) A specific cracker made of graham flour, developed in the nineteenth century.

(US, by extension) A sweet rectangular cracker, usually made of graham flour and sweetened with honey (and often spiced with cinnamon) and perforated down the middle.


Graham biscuit

Graham biscuits (plural)
Graham cracker (alternative)
Graham bread (alternative)

(nonstandard, US) Bread made of unbolted wheat flour.


Grahamite

(US, historical) One who follows the dietetic system of Sylvester Graham


ducat

From Middle French ducat, late Old French ducat, from Old Italian ducato, from Medieval Latin ducatus, from oblique stem of dux (“duke; leader”). Doublet of duchy.

Ned Beaumont said, "Well, I've got a ducat that reads to there, anyway.

1972 [1931], Dashiell Hammett, “IV. The Dog House”, in The Glass Key, Vintage Books, page 73:

Customers are usually enticed in with a "ducat", or pass for one free dance.

1946, George Johnston, Skyscrapers in the Mist, page 88:

[…] the lines at the box office since ducats went on sale publicly Wednesday […]

(US, theater, transport, slang) A ticket.


tenderfoot

tenderfoot (plural tenderfeet or tenderfoots)

tenderfeet (plural)
tenderfoots (plural)

From tender + foot. Refers to the delicate feet of newcomers to ranching or mining areas. First attested 1866.

(chiefly Canada, US) An inexperienced person; a novice.


boot

Solombala English: бучь (bučʹ)

→ Maltese: buz

→ Russian: бутса (butsa)

→ Serbo-Croatian:

Cyrillic script: бу́це

Latin script: búce

→ Swahili: buti

From Middle English boote, bote (“shoe”), from Old French bote (“a high, thick shoe”). Of obscure origin, but probably related to Old French bot (“club-foot”), bot (“fat, short, blunt”), from Old Frankish *butt, from Proto-Germanic *buttaz, *butaz (“cut off, short, numb, blunt”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰewt-, *bʰewd- (“to strike, push, shock”); if so, a doublet of butt. Compare Old Norse butt (“stump”), Low German butt (“blunt, plump”), Old English bytt (“small piece of land”), buttuc (“end”). More at buttock and debut.

cog

a lie can run around the world before the truth can get its boots on

couldn't pour water out of a boot with the instructions on the heel

(US, transport) A parking enforcement device used to immobilize a car until it can be towed or a fine is paid; a wheel clamp.

Did you even go to OCS, you complete and utter boot!?

2020 November 2, JoshScorcher, “Top Ten Hated Characters We're Supposed to Like”, in YouTube:

(US, military, law enforcement, slang) A recently arrived recruit; a rookie.

(US) A crust end-piece of a loaf of bread.


boot

en-verb

boot (third-person singular simple present boots, present participle booting, simple past and past participle booted)

boots (present singular third-person)
booting (participle present)
booted (participle past)
booted (past)

eruitgooien

computing: to eject from an online service

The storm is coming fast! Boot it!

We had to boot it all the way there to get to our flight on time.

(colloquial, Canada, US, usually with it) To step on the accelerator of a vehicle for faster acceleration than usual or to drive faster than usual.


cough

cough (third-person singular simple present coughs, present participle coughing, simple past and past participle coughed)

coughs (present singular third-person)
coughing (participle present)
coughed (participle past)
coughed (past)
cough (infinitive)

From Middle English coughen, coghen (“to cough; to vomit”) [and other forms], from Old English *cohhian (compare Old English cohhetan (“to bluster; to riot; to cough (?)”)), from Proto-West Germanic *kuh- (“to cough”), ultimately of onomatopoeic origin.
Cognates
* Middle Dutch cuchen (“to cough”) (modern Dutch kuchen (“to cough”); German Low German kuchen (“to cough”))
* Middle High German kûchen (“to breathe (on); to exhale”), kîchen (“to breathe with difficulty”) (modern German keichen, keuchen (“to breathe with difficulty; to gasp, pant”))
* Spanish cof (“coughing sound”)
* West Frisian kiche (“to cough”), kochelje (“to cough persistently”)

nb...

coghe, couhen, couwhen, couwe, couwen, couȝen, couȝhen, couȝtthe, couȝwen, coȝen, cowen, cowff, cowghen, cowhen, cowȝen, koghe, kouȝen, kowen

cog

By the time you get back the men will all be striking out for the fire, and we'll break for the house and collar the dollars. Everybody cough up what matches he's got.

1909 April, O. Henry [pseudonym; William Sydney Porter], “Whistling Dick’s Christmas Stocking”, in Roads of Destiny, Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, Page & Company, →OCLC, page 324:

Thanks to Jeeves I was not going to be called on to cough up several thousand quid.

1923 May 17, P[elham] G[renville] Wodehouse, “Pearls Mean Tears”, in The Inimitable Jeeves, Harmondsworth, Middlesex [London]: Penguin Books, published 1979, →ISBN, page 40:

"Parsloe, will you or will you not cough up that pig?" / "I have not got your pig."

1929 March–August, P[elham] G[renville] Wodehouse, “A Job for Percy Pilbeam”, in Summer Lightning, 1st UK edition, London: Herbert Jenkins […], published 19 July 1929, →OCLC, section II, page 148:

(originally US, slang) Chiefly followed by up: to give up or hand over (something); especially, to pay up (money).

(originally US, slang) To surrender information; to confess, to spill the beans.


card

en-verb

card (third-person singular simple present cards, present participle carding, simple past and past participle carded)

cards (present singular third-person)
carding (participle present)
carded (participle past)
carded (past)

From Middle English carde (“playing card”), from Old French carte, from Latin charta, from Ancient Greek χάρτης (khártēs, “paper, papyrus”). Doublet of chart.

der

They have to card anybody who looks 21 or younger.

I heard you don't get carded at the other liquor store.

Ted (Keanu Reeves): Whoa. He didn't even card us, dude. / Bill (Alex Winter): Yeah, we have to remember this place.

1989, Chris Matheson, Ed Solomon, Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure (motion picture):

(transitive, US) To check IDs, especially against a minimum age requirement.


chin

From Middle English chyn, from Old English ċinn (“chin”), from Proto-Germanic *kinnuz (“chin”), from Proto-Indo-European *ǵénus (“chin, jaw”). Compare West Frisian/Dutch kin, Low German/German Kinn, Danish kind, Icelandic kinn, Welsh gen, Latin gena, Tocharian A śanweṃ, Ancient Greek γένυς (génus, “jaw”), Armenian ծնոտ (cnot), Persian چانه (čâne), Sanskrit हनु (hánu). Doublet of gena.


bag

→ Japanese: バッグ

→ Korean: 백 (baek)

→ Norwegian: bag

From Middle English bagge, from Old Norse baggi (“bag, pack, satchel, bundle”) (whence also Old French bague (“bundle, package, sack”)); related to Old Norse bǫggr (“harm, shame; load, burden”), of uncertain origin. Perhaps from Proto-Indo-European *bʰak- (compare Welsh baich (“load, bundle”), Ancient Greek βάσταγμα (bástagma, “load”)).

cog

(US, gay slang, derogatory) A fellow gay man.


button

→ German: Button

→ Hindi: बटन (baṭan)

→ Gujarati: બટન (baṭan)

→ Korean: 버튼 (beoteun)

→ Maori: pātene

→ Marathi: बटण (baṭaṇ)

→ Urdu: بَٹَن (baṭan)

From Middle English boton, botoun, from Old French boton (Modern French bouton), from Old French bouter, boter (“to push; thrust”), ultimately from a Germanic language. Doublet of Biden and beat. More at butt.

The politician wore a bright yellow button with the slogan "Vote Smart" emblazoned on it.

(US) A badge worn on clothes, fixed with a pin through the fabric.


bread

en-noun

bread (countable and uncountable, plural breads)

Bislama: bred

→ Big Nambas: p'ret

desctree

Sranan Tongo: brede
Aukan: beele
Saramaccan: bëë́ë
→ Kari'na: perere

Tok Pisin: bret

→ Fiji Hindi: bareed

→ Hausa: burodi

desc

→ Malayalam: ബ്രെഡ് (breḍŭ), ബ്രെഡ്ഡ് (breḍḍŭ)

→ Marshallese: būreej

→ Nupe: bureedi (possibly via Hausa)

→ Yoruba: búrẹ́dì

From Middle English bred, breed, from Old English brēad (“fragment, bit, morsel, crumb", also "bread”), from Proto-West Germanic *braud, from Proto-Germanic *braudą (“cooked food, leavened bread”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰerw-, *bʰrew- (“to boil, seethe”) (see brew). Alternatively, from Proto-Germanic *braudaz, *brauþaz (“broken piece, fragment”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰera- (“to split, beat, hew, struggle”) (see brittle). Perhaps a conflation of the two. Possibly a doublet of broa. Cognate with Scots breid (“bread”), Saterland Frisian Brad (“bread”), West Frisian brea (“bread”), Dutch brood (“bread”), German Brot (“bread”), Danish and Norwegian brød (“bread”), Swedish bröd (“bread”), Icelandic brauð (“bread”), Albanian brydh (“I make crumbly, friable, soft”), Latin frustum (“crumb”). Eclipsed non-native Middle English payn (“bread”), borrowed from Old French pain (“bread”).

cog

don't get your meat where you get your bread

know which side one's bread is buttered on

Maybe somebody would see him and recognize him, maybe one of the guys would lay enough bread on him for a meal or at least subway fare.

1962, James Baldwin, Another Country, New York, N. Y.: The Dial Press, published 1963 January, pages 3–4:

[…] save up all your bread, and fly Trans-Love Airways to San Francisco, USA.

1967, “San Franciscan Nights”, in Winds of Change, performed by Eric Burdon and The Animals:

And they sit at the bar and put bread in my jar / And say, "Man, what are you doing here?"

1973, Billy Joel (lyrics and music), “Piano Man”, Billy Joel (music), performed by Billy Joel:

Tastes like fruit when you hit it; got to have bread to get it.

2005, “Stay Fly”, in Jordan Houston, Darnell Carlton, Paul Beauregard, Premro Smith, Marlon Goodwin, David Brown, Willie Hutchinson (lyrics), Most Known Unknown, performed by Three 6 Mafia (featuring Young Buck, 8 Ball, and MJG), Sony BMG:


chalk

en-noun

chalk (countable and uncountable, plural chalks)

→ Hindi: चाक (cāk)

→ Japanese: チャコ (chako), チョーク (chōku)

→ Nepali: चक (cak)

→ Swahili: chaki

→ Swazi: íshóki

→ Thai: ชอล์ก (chɔ́k)

→ Tsonga: choko

→ Tulu: ಚಾಕ್ (cākŭ)

→ Yoruba: ṣọ́ọ̀kì

From Middle English chalk, chalke, from Old English ċealc, from Proto-West Germanic *kalk, borrowed from Latin calx (“limestone”), again borrowed from Ancient Greek χάλιξ (khálix, “pebble”). Doublet of calx and cauk.

(US, military, countable) A platoon-sized group of airborne soldiers.

(US, sports, chiefly basketball, horse racing) The favorite in a sporting event.

OK, let's get rid of the chalk players right away. The chalk likes North Carolina. Dean Smith has taken Carolina to the Final Four six times.

1982 March 22, Phil Musick, “And the pick here is - Georgetown over Houston”, in Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, page 13:

Excuse us for sticking with the chalk, but the predicted winners are Afternoon Deelites in the Derby, Oliver McCall over Larry Holmes, Nick Faldo in the Masters, and Al Unser Jr. in the Grand Prix.

1995 April 6, “Notes on a Scorecard”, in Los Angeles Times, archived from the original on 2012-03-06, page C3:

Instead, he played the chalk and selected the No. 1 overall seed in the tournament.

2008 March 24, Jason Bauman, “Non-news of the week: Obama picks North Carolina”, in Beacon-News, Aurora, Illinois, archived from the original on 2012-03-03:

(US, sports, chiefly basketball) The prediction that there will be no upsets, and the favored competitor will win.


condition

en-verb

condition (third-person singular simple present conditions, present participle conditioning, simple past and past participle conditioned)

conditions (present singular third-person)
conditioning (participle present)
conditioned (participle past)
conditioned (past)

From Middle English condicioun, from Old French condicion (French condition), from Latin condicio. Unetymological change in spelling due to confusion with conditio.

to condition a student who has failed in some branch of study

(US, colleges, transitive) To put under conditions; to require to pass a new examination or to make up a specified study, as a condition of remaining in one's class or in college.


cell

Ellipsis of cell phone, itself a clipping of cellular phone, from cellular + phone.

(US, New Zealand, Australia, Philippines, informal) A cellular phone.

selfoon

informal: a cellular telephone — see also mobile phone


dead president

The presidents whose faces decorate US currency are deceased.

So I dig into my pocket, all my money is spent
So I dig deeper but still comin' up with lint
So I start my mission, leave my residence
Thinkin' how could I get some dead presidents

1987, Eric B. & Rakim (lyrics and music), “Paid In Full”, in Paid In Full:

I'm out for presidents to represent me (Say what?)
 I'm out for presidents to represent me (Say what?)
 I'm out for dead presidents to represent me

1994, Nas (lyrics and music), “The World Is Yours”, in Illmatic:

Finding a new job just meant driving to another office-park campus with dopey street names (Disc Drive, Resistor Road, Infinite Loop) to endure more geeksploitation in exchange for dead presidents, stock options, a flexible schedule, no dress code, and all the junk food I could eat.

2000, Richard Grayson, The Silicon Valley Diet and Other Stories, Red Hen Press, →ISBN, page 149:

(US, slang) A piece of US paper currency.


rid

rid (third-person singular simple present rids, present participle ridding, simple past rid or ridded, past participle rid or ridded or (rare, nonstandard) ridden)

rids (present singular third-person)
ridding (participle present)
rid (past)
ridded (past)
rid (participle past)
ridded (participle past)
ridden (nonstandard participle past rare)
rid (infinitive)

The verb is derived from Middle English ridden (“to remove debris, obstructions, etc., from (a place), to clear; to complete (something unfinished); to free (someone or something); to relieve (someone); etc.”), probably from Old English *ryddan (“to remove debris, obstructions, etc., from (a place), to clear”) (the past participle form ġeryd is attested), from Proto-Germanic *riudijaną (“to clear”), from Proto-Indo-European *rewdʰ- (“to clear land”), or possibly from *Hrew- (“to dig out, tear out; to open; to acquire”). The verb was probably also influenced by the following:
* Middle English redden (“to rescue (someone), deliver, save; to rid (someone) of a burden; to free (someone)”) (from which redd (obsolete except Northern England, Scotland) is partly derived), from Old English hreddan (“to deliver, rescue, save; to free; to recover; to take away”), from Proto-West Germanic *hraddjan (“to rescue, save”), from Proto-Germanic *hradjaną (“to rescue, save; to free; to loosen”), possibly ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *kret- (“to move quickly; to rattle; to shake”); and
* Middle English reden (“to arrange; to get ready, prepare; to put in order, tidy; to remove debris, obstructions, etc., from (a place), to clear; to unblock; etc.”) (whence rede (chiefly Scotland, archaic)), from Old English rǣdan, Early Old English rēdan, from Proto-West Germanic *raidijan (“to arrange”), from Proto-Germanic *raidijaną (“to arrange”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₂rey- (“to arrange; to count, count out”).
The adjective is derived from rid, the past participle of the verb. The noun is derived from the verb.
As regards noun sense 1 (“progress which has been made; speed”), compare verb sense 1.4.5 (“to complete or get through (a task, or work)”).
cognates
* Dutch redden (“to save, deliver”)
* German retten (“to save, deliver”), reuten (“to clear”), roden (“to clear”)
* Old Frisian hredda (“to save”)
* Old Norse hrōðja (“to clear, strip”), Old Norse ryðja (“to clear, empty”)

red

to remove fat from (an animal’s entrails)

VVhen you rid up the Parlour Hearth in a Morning, throvv the laſt Night's Aſhes into a Sieve; and vvhat falls through, as you carry it dovvn, vvill ſerve inſtead of Sand for the Room and the Stairs.

1731 (date written; published 1745), [Jonathan] Swift, “Directions to the House-maid”, in Directions to Servants […], London: […] R[obert] Dodsley, […], and M. Cooper, […], →OCLC, page 88:

The four breakfasted by the thin light, and the ‘house-ridding’ was taken in hand.

1891, Thomas Hardy, chapter LII, in Tess of the d’Urbervilles: A Pure Woman Faithfully Presented […], volume III, London: James R[ipley] Osgood, McIlvaine and Co., […], →OCLC, phase the sixth (The Convert), page 197:

(chiefly US, regional, rare) Often followed by up: to put (a place, such as a room or a table) in order; to clear, to tidy.


rerun

I'm not a fan of the new Simpsons episodes, but the old reruns have me in stitches, although I've seen them countless times.

(US) A television program shown after its initial presentation, particularly many weeks after its initial presentation; a repeat.


shake

en-noun

shake (countable and uncountable, plural shakes)

From Middle English schaken, from Old English sċeacan, sċacan (“to shake”), from Proto-West Germanic *skakan, from Proto-Germanic *skakaną (“to shake, swing, escape”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)keg-, *(s)kek- (“to jump, move”).
Cognate with Scots schake, schack (“to shake”), West Frisian schaekje (“to shake”), Dutch schaken (“to elope, make clean, shake”), Low German schaken (“to move, shift, push, shake”) and schacken (“to shake, shock”), Old Norse skaka (“to shake”), Norwegian Nynorsk skaka (“to shake”), Swedish skaka (“to shake”), Danish skage (“to shake”), Dutch schokken (“to shake, shock”), Russian скака́ть (skakátʹ, “to jump”). More at shock.

cog

[…] most suppliers will allow up to 120 grams of shake to a kilo, or 12 percent; kilo-level buyers are usually unhappy if they find more.

1989, Terry Williams, chapter 2, in The Cocaine Kids, Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley, page 35:

(US, slang, uncountable) An adulterant added to cocaine powder.


freight

en-noun

freight (usually uncountable, plural freights)

From Late Middle English freight, freght, freyght [and other forms], a variant of fraught, fraght (“transport of goods or people, usually by water; transportation fee; transportation facilities; cargo or passengers of a ship; (figuratively) burden; ballast of a ship; goods; a charge”), from Middle Dutch vracht, vrecht, and Middle Low German vrecht (“cargo, freight; transportation fee”), from Old Saxon frāht, frēht, from Proto-West Germanic *fra- (from Proto-Germanic *fra- (prefix meaning ‘completely, fully’)) + *aihti (from Proto-Germanic *aihtiz (“possessions, property”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₂eyḱ- (“to come into possession of, obtain; to own, possess”)).
The English word can be analysed as for- + aught, and is a doublet of fraught.
Cognates
* French fret (“cargo, freight; transportation fees; rental of a ship”)
* Old English ǣht (“livestock; possession, property; power”)
* Old High German frēht (“earnings”)
* Portuguese frete (“cargo, freight; transportation fees”)
* Spanish flete (“cargo, freight; charter (hire of a vehicle for transporting cargo)”)
* Swedish frakt c (“cargo, freight; transportation fees”)

cog

[A]fter ſome Conſideration, that the City of Hamburgh might happen to be as good a Market for our Goods as London, we all took Freight with him, and having put my Goods on board, it was moſt natural for me to put my Steward on board to take care of them, […]

1719, [Daniel Defoe], The Farther Adventures of Robinson Crusoe; […], London: […] W[illiam] Taylor […], →OCLC, page 372:

(uncountable) The transportation of goods (originally by water; now also (chiefly US) by land); also, the hiring of a vehicle or vessel for such transportation.

They shipped it ordinary freight to spare the expense.

The track, raggedly defined in trampled loam and muddy furrow, bent in a direction which indicated that its terminus might be the switch where the empty cars had stood last night, waiting for the one-o'clock freight.

1899, Booth Tarkington, “The Court-house Bell”, in The Gentleman from Indiana, New York, N.Y.: Doubleday & McClure Co., published 1900, →OCLC, page 174:

Two westbound freights were in the vicinity and the operator was kept busy passing them radio messages with the latest information on the late running of the streamliners, to allow the enginemen to keep moving until the last possible minute before they had to sidetrack their trains to let the fast trains overtake.

1961 July, J. Geoffrey Todd, “Impressions of Railroading in the United States: Part Two”, in Trains Illustrated, London: Ian Allan Publishing, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 423:

(countable, originally US, rail transport) Short for freight train.


freight

en-verb

freight (third-person singular simple present freights, present participle freighting, simple past and past participle freighted)

freights (present singular third-person)
freighting (participle present)
freighted (participle past)
freighted (past)
freight (infinitive)

The verb is derived from Late Middle English freighten, freghten, a variant of fraughten, fraghten (“to load (a ship with cargo or passengers); to hire (a ship) for transporting goods; to provide fully (with goods, money, etc.); to stow away”), and then either:
* from fraught, fraght (noun) (see etymology 1) + -en (suffix forming the infinitive form of verbs); or
* from Middle Dutch vrachten, vrechten (“to load (a ship with cargo or passengers); to hire (a ship) for transporting goods, to fraught”), from vracht, vrecht (noun) (see etymology 1) + -en (suffix forming the infinitive form of verbs).
The adjective is:
* derived from Middle English freght, freight, freyght, the past participle of fraughten (verb) (see above); and/or
* a contraction of freighted, the past participle of the verb.

How often, when those hopes are greatest,
 The bark that bears them must not be
 Trusted with more than what thou freightest
 For sun-lit hour and summer sea:
 Who, when the waves are high and dark,
 Could steer, if freighted deep, such bark?

1840 March, F[rederick] W[illiam] Thomas, “A Poet to His Sister”, in The Knickerbocker, or New-York Monthly Magazine, volume XV, number 3, New York, N.Y.: […] William Osborn, […], →OCLC, stanza 4, page 233:

Experience freightest for a better life.
 The folk that comes not with us have offended
 In that for which one Cæsar, triumphing,
 Heard himself called in contumely, 'Queen.'

1867, Dante Alighieri, “Canto XXVI”, in Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, transl., The Divine Comedy, volume II (Purgatorio), Boston, Mass.: Ticknor and Fields, →OCLC, page 167, lines 75–78:

On their journeys those Britons were used to long fasts, and knew how to bear them; and also how to freight up against probable fasts before starting, after the style of the Indian and the anaconda.

1889, Mark Twain [pseudonym; Samuel Langhorne Clemens], “Freemen!”, in A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court, New York, N.Y.: Charles L. Webster & Company, →OCLC, page 153:

(intransitive, US, also figuratively) Chiefly followed by up: to carry as part of a cargo.


tout

tout (third-person singular simple present touts, present participle touting, simple past and past participle touted)

touts (present singular third-person)
touting (participle present)
touted (participle past)
touted (past)

From Middle English touten (“to jut out, protrude, gaze upon, observe, peer”), from Old English *tūtian (“to be sticking out, protrude”), related to Old English tȳtan (“to stand out, be conspicuous, shine”), ultimately from Proto-Germanic *tut(t)- (“to stick out, project”). Compare Icelandic túta (“a teat-like prominence”), tútna (“to be blown up”). Possibly influenced by dialectal toot (“to stick out; project; peer out; peep”), from Middle English toten, totien, from Old English tōtian (“to peep out; look; pry; spectate”). Compare also Old English tot, ġetot (“pomp, splendour, vainglory”).

cog

(US, slang, horse-racing, transitive) To give a tip on (a racehorse) to a person, with the expectation of sharing in any winnings.

(US, slang, horse-racing, intransitive) To act as a tout; to give a tip on a racehorse.


shot

en-noun

shot (countable and uncountable, plural shots)

→ Dutch: shot

→ French: shot

→ Macedonian: шот (šot)

→ Malay: syot

→ Polish: shot

→ Portuguese: shot

→ Russian: шот (šot)

→ Spanish: shot

→ Swedish: shot

→ Ukrainian: шот (šot)

From Old English sceot, from Proto-Germanic *skutą; compare the doublet scot.

you miss 100% of the shots you don't take

(slang, sports, US) A punch or other physical blow.

I went to the doctor to get a shot for malaria.

(US, Canada, Australia, medicine) A vaccination or injection.


sit

en-verb

sit (third-person singular simple present sits, present participle sitting, simple past sat or (dated, poetic) sate, past participle sat or (archaic, dialectal) sitten)

sits (present singular third-person)
sitting (participle present)
sat (past)
sate (dated past poetic)
sat (participle past)
sitten (archaic dialectal participle past)
sit (infinitive)

Etymology tree
Proto-Indo-European *sed-
Proto-Indo-European *-yeti
Proto-Indo-European *sédyeti
Proto-Germanic *sitjaną
Proto-West Germanic *sittjan
Old English sittan
Middle English sitten
English sit
From Middle English sitten, from Old English sittan, from Proto-West Germanic *sittjan, from Proto-Germanic *sitjaną, from Proto-Indo-European *sed- (“sit”).
Cognates
Cognate with West Frisian sitte, Low German sitten, Dutch zitten, German sitzen, Swedish sitta, Norwegian Bokmål sitte, Norwegian Nynorsk sitja; and with Irish suigh, Latin sedeo, Russian сиде́ть (sidétʹ).

etymon

do not sit in Rome and strive with the Pope

where you stand depends on where you sit

I'm going to sit for them on Thursday.

I need to find someone to sit my kids on Friday evening for four hours.

I saw […] Mrs. Turman, who sometimes sat Billy when Steff and I went out […]

Sitting was a “quintessentially American experience,” Yasemin Besen-Cassino, a Montclair State University sociologist and the author of The Cost of Being a Girl: Working Teens and the Origins of the Gender Wage Gap, told me.

2024 March 19, Faith Hill, “Don’t Tell America the Babysitter’s Dead”, in The Atlantic:


spat

en-verb

spat (third-person singular simple present spats, present participle spatting, simple past and past participle spatted)

spats (present singular third-person)
spatting (participle present)
spatted (participle past)
spatted (past)

1804. American English, probably imitative.

onomatopoeic

imitative

(originally US, intransitive) To quarrel or argue briefly.


spat

Little Isabel leaped up and down, spatting her hands.

(US, dialect) To slap, as with the open hand; to clap together, as the hands.


split

→ Irish: spliota

Attested since about 1567, from Middle Dutch splitten (“to split”) and/or Middle Low German splitten (“to split”), both ultimately from Proto-West Germanic *splittjan, an intensive form of Proto-West Germanic *splītan (“to split”), from Proto-Germanic *splītaną (whence Danish splitte, Low German splieten, German spleißen), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)pley- (“to split, splice”).
Compare Middle English ysplett (“split”, past participle of splatten (“to split”)), Old English speld (“splinter”), Old High German spaltan (“to split”), Old Irish sliss (“splinter”), Lithuanian spaliai (“flax sheaves”), Czech půl (“half”), Old Church Slavonic рас-плитати (ras-plitati, “to cleave, split”).

cog

past participle of <i class="Latn mention" lang="enm">splatten</i> (“to split”)

let the door hit you where the good Lord split you

A unit of measure used for champagne or other spirits: 18.75 centiliters or one quarter of a standard 75-centiliter bottle. Commercially comparable to ¹⁄₂₀ (US) gallon, which is ¹⁄₂ of a fifth.


stolen

From Middle English stolen, istolen, from Old English stolen, ġestolen, from Proto-Germanic *stulanaz, past participle of Proto-Germanic *stelaną (“to steal”), equivalent to stole + -en. Cognate with Scots stellin, stollin (“stolen”), Saterland Frisian stäälen (“stolen”), West Frisian stellen (“stolen”), Dutch gestolen (“stolen”), German Low German stohlen (“stolen”), German gestohlen (“stolen”), Swedish stulen (“stolen”).

Oh, a few months back, a detective came by with pictures of identical diamonds. Wanted to know if anybody had come around maybe trying to sell them. I told him I read the pawn sheets regular and I haven't seen them listed. He tells me they don't want the stolens on any sheets.

2015 July 19, “Other Lives”, in True Detective, season 2, episode 5:

Spinner, shotty, semi
These shots ain't no Henny
If this Glock holds twenty
I make it scream like Dezzie
Dilemma like Kelly
Before I had a bar like Peggy
How many pagans? Many
Ask my probation...
She knows it's many, many
And if I take it there it's edgy
You see my stolens come with petty

2018 February 17, “Plugged In Freestyle”, Fumez the Engineer (music)performed by Mitch, 3:36:

A island I wanna live somewhere silent
I'm shining I'm bout to flood my neck with diamonds
Yeah I've been spitting facts these niggas lying
I'm driving stolens, foreigns, yeah I'm riding

2019 August 28, Yb Tak30ver (lyrics and music), “Island”, 1:21:

The young bulls get the green light, suttin's gettin' sabotaged
They’ll get it done in a hoopty on the ped or even on the handlebars
But the main focus is doe bro rest in peace M we're just tryna have it large
Screaming fuck feds get gwop let me see your battle scars
We trap in stolens 24's shag whips and rattle cars

2020 March 26, Tunde (lyrics and music), “Mob Ties”, 1:53:

Pray for my soldiers that's ridin’ in stolens

2020 July 17, StaySolidRocky (lyrics and music), “Viola” (track 2, 0:21 from the start), in Fallin':

Fill that clip with golden worms
Grap that dots and fold it first
(snap!) make sure that the stolen works

2021 August 24, Booter Bee (lyrics and music), “No Point”, 0:38:

(US, MTE, MLE) Something which has been stolen.


stick

en-noun

stick (countable and uncountable, plural sticks)

→ Catalan: estic

→ Italian: stick

→ Korean: 스틱 (seutik)

→ Portuguese: stique, estique

→ Sranan Tongo: tiki

From Middle English stikke (“stick, rod, twig”), from Old English sticca (“rod, twig”), from Proto-West Germanic *stikkō, from Proto-Germanic *stikkô, from Proto-Indo-European *(s)teyg- (“to pierce, prick, be sharp”). Cognate with Saterland Frisian Stikke (“stick”), West Flemish stik (“stick”). Related to stigma.

der

better than a poke in the eye with a burnt stick

better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick

better than a poke in the eye with a shitty stick

it is easy to find a stick to beat a dog

I found enough sticks in dumpsters at construction sites to build my shed.

An elongated piece of wood or similar material, typically put to some use, for example as a wand or baton.

(US) A timber board, especially a two by four (inches).

The recipe calls for half a stick of butter.

Any roughly cylindrical (or rectangular) unit of a substance.

(chiefly Canada, US) A small rectangular block, with a length several times its width, which contains by volume one half of a cup of shortening (butter, margarine or lard).

I grew up driving a stick, but many people my age didn't.

A tool, control, or instrument shaped somewhat like a stick.

(US, colloquial) A manual transmission, a vehicle equipped with a manual transmission, so called because of the stick-like, i.e. twig-like, control (the gear shift) with which the driver of such a vehicle controls its transmission.

I grew up driving stick, but many people my age didn't.

(US, colloquial, uncountable) Vehicles, collectively, equipped with manual transmissions.

(US military slang, World War I) An aircraft’s propeller.

His stroke with that two-piece stick is a good as anybody's in the club.

(US, slang, uncountable) The cue used in billiards, pool, snooker, etc.

He shoots a mean stick of pool.

Come in, have a good time, drink some beer, shoot some stick, listen to some music.

2003, Lew Bryson, New York Breweries, →ISBN, page 74:

The game of pool, or an individual pool game.


stick

en-verb

stick (third-person singular simple present sticks, present participle sticking, simple past and past participle stuck or (archaic) sticked)

sticks (present singular third-person)
sticking (participle present)
stuck (participle past)
stuck (past)
sticked (archaic participle past)
sticked (archaic past)

From Middle English stiken (“to stick, pierce, stab, remain embedded, be fastened”), from Old English stician (“to pierce, stab, remain embedded, be fastened”), from Proto-Germanic *stikōną (“to pierce, prick, be sharp”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)tig-, *(s)teyg- (“to pierce, prick, be sharp”).
See also the related Proto-Germanic *stikaną, whence West Frisian stekke, Low German steken, Dutch steken, German stechen; compare also Danish stikke, Swedish sticka.
Cognate with the first etymology (same PIE root, different paths through Germanic and Old English), to stitch, and to etiquette, via French étiquette – see there for further discussion.

inh

throw enough mud at the wall and some of it will stick

throw things at the wall and see what sticks

would lose one's head if it wasn't stuck on

You ain't lickin' this, you ain't stickin' this

1996, Lil' Kim (lyrics and music), “Not Tonight”:

You leave your girl around me; if she's bad she's gonna get stuck.

2005, “Stay Fly”, in Jordan Houston, Darnell Carlton, Paul Beauregard, Premro Smith, Marlon Goodwin, David Brown, Willie Hutchinson (lyrics), Most Known Unknown, performed by Three 6 Mafia (featuring Young Buck, 8 Ball, and MJG), Sony BMG:

(intransitive, US, slang) To have sexual intercourse with.


stiff

en-noun

stiff (countable and uncountable, plural stiffs)

From Middle English stiff, stiffe, stif, from Old English stīf, from Proto-West Germanic *stīf, from Proto-Germanic *stīfaz, from Proto-Indo-European *steypós.
See also West Frisian stiif, Dutch stijf, Norwegian Bokmål stiv, German steif; also Latin stīpes, stīpō, from which English stevedore.
The expected Modern English form would be /staɪf/; /stɪf/ is probably originally from compounds such as stiffly, where the vowel was shortened before a consonant cluster.

working stiff

The clerk shrugged: “That's the boss's little girl.” “Why, the lucky stiff!” said Keating. “He's been holding out on me.” “You misunderstood me,” the clerk said coldly. “It's his daughter. It's Dominique Francon.”

1943, Ayn Rand, chapter IX, in The Fountainhead:

(slang, chiefly Canada, US) An average person, usually male, of no particular distinction, skill, or education.

(US, slang) A person who leaves (especially a restaurant) without paying the bill.

Zechpreller

US: person who leaves without paying the bill

無銭飲食

eats without money, does not matter if he/she leaves

(US, slang, by extension) A customer who does not leave a tip.


swell

en-adj

swell (not generally comparable, comparative sweller, superlative swellest)

sweller (comparative)
swellest (superlative)

From the noun "swell" (a person dressed in an elegant manner).

...you are my devoted friend too. You do more and work harder and oh shit I'd get maudlin about how damned swell you are. My god I'd like to see you... You're a hell of a good guy.

1927 Mar. 31, Ernest Hemingway, letter to F. Scott Fitzgerald

Jeff swaggered over to Ned Beaumont, threw his left arm roughly around his shoulders, seized Ned Beaumont’s right hand with his right hand, and addressed the company jovially: “This is the swellest guy I ever skinned a knuckle on and I’ve skinned them on plenty.”

1931, Dashiell Hammett, The Glass Key, page 176:

He was telling us all about what a swell guy he was, what a hot-shot and all, […]

1951, J. D. Salinger, The Catcher in the Rye, Boston, Mass.: Little, Brown and Company, →OCLC, page 23:

[…] we’re league champions in basketball and our square-dance team is state runner-up and we have a swell sock hop every Wednesday.

1958, Robert A. Heinlein, Have Space Suit—Will Travel, page 8:

Orgasms are swell, but they are not the remedy to every injustice.

2012 September 10, Ariel Levy, “The Space In Between”, in The New Yorker:


swell

“That lousy ring wasn’t worth no grand. I did swell to get two centuries for it.”

1929, Dashiell Hammett, chapter 12, in Red Harvest:

“[…] Last August, when I left The Walls, I figured I had every chance to start new. I got a job in Olathe, lived with my family, and stayed home nights. I was doing swell—”

1966, Truman Capote, In Cold Blood, New York: Modern Library, published 2013, Part 3, p. 251:


wet

en-noun

wet (countable and uncountable, plural wets)

From Middle English wet (“wet, moistened”), wett, wette, past participle of Middle English weten (“to wet”), from Old English wǣtan (“to wet, moisten, water”), from Proto-West Germanic *wātijan, from Proto-Germanic *wētijaną (“to wet, make wet”), from Proto-Indo-European *wed- (“water, wet”) (also the source of water).
Cognate with Scots weit, wete (“to wet”), Saterland Frisian wäitje (“to wet; drench”), Icelandic væta (“to wet”). Compare also Middle English weet (“wet”), from Old English wǣt (“wet, moist, rainy”), from Proto-West Germanic *wāt, from Proto-Germanic *wētaz (“wet, moist”), related to Scots weit, weet, wat (“wet”), North Frisian wiat, weet, wäit (“wet”), Saterland Frisian wäit (“wet”), West Frisian wiet (“wet”), Middle Dutch wet (“wet, damp, watery”), Swedish and Norwegian våt (“wet”), Danish våd (“wet”), Faroese vátur (“wet”), Icelandic votur (“wet”).

cog

The drys were as unhappy with the second part of the speech as the wets were with the first half.

c. 1952-1996, Noah S. Sweat, quoted in 1996

(US, colloquial) One who supports the consumption of alcohol and thus opposes Prohibition.


wet

en-verb

wet (third-person singular simple present wets, present participle wetting, simple past and past participle wet or wetted)

wets (present singular third-person)
wetting (participle present)
wet (participle past)
wet (past)
wetted (participle past)
wetted (past)

I'm coming to get ya, I'm coming to get ya / Spitting out lyrics, homie, I'll wet ya

1992 May 5, House of Pain (lyrics and music), “Jump Around” (track 2), in House of Pain:

(US, MLE, MTE, slang) To kill or seriously injure.


incorporate

incorporate (third-person singular simple present incorporates, present participle incorporating, simple past and past participle incorporated)

incorporates (present singular third-person)
incorporating (participle present)
incorporated (participle past)
incorporated (past)

/ɪŋˈkɔː.pə.ɹeɪt/

/ɪŋˈkɔɹ.pɹeɪt/

/ɪŋˈkɔː.pə.ɹət/

/ɪŋˈkɔɹ.pɚ.ət/

/ɪŋˈkɔɹ.pɚ.ət/

From Middle English, from Late Latin incorporātus, perfect passive participle of incorporō (“to embody, to incorporate”), from in- (“in”) + corpus, corporis (“body”).

(US, law) To include (another clause or guarantee of the US constitution) as a part (of the Fourteenth Amendment, such that the clause binds not only the federal government but also state governments).


gussy up

gussy up (third-person singular simple present gussies up, present participle gussying up, simple past and past participle gussied up)

gussies up (present singular third-person)
gussying up (participle present)
gussied up (participle past)
gussied up (past)
gussie up (alternative)

You bet she'll gussy up for the party.

Not trusting filmgoers to catch the drift, Ms. Coppola underscores the women’s attempts to gussy up with snippets of arch dialogue.

2017 June 30, Ruth La Ferla, “In ‘The Beguiled,’ Pretty Confections Whipped Up to Seduce”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

(informal, intransitive) To don fancy clothing; to dress up particularly in flattering or specially altered garments.


anchor

→ Chuukese: angko

From Middle English anker, from Old English ancor, ancra, from Latin ancora, from (or cognate with) Ancient Greek ἄγκυρα (ánkura). The modern form is a sixteenth-century modification after the Medieval Latin spelling anchora. Doublet of ancora and anker.


base

Probably a specific use of Etymology 1, above; perhaps also a development of the plural of bar.

to run the country base

1611 April (first recorded performance), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Cymbeline”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene iii]:

So ran they all, as they had bene at bace, / They being chased that did others chase.

1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book V, Canto VIII”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:

(now chiefly US, historical) The game of prisoners' bars.


buzzard

From Middle English bosart, from Anglo-Norman buisart, from Old French busart, busard, a derivative ( + -ard) of Old French buison, buson (French buse), possibly from Latin būteō (“hawk”).

American black vulture
American black vulture

Coragyps atratus
Coragyps atratus#Translingual

Cathartes aura
Cathartes aura#Translingual

(Canada, US) Any scavenging bird, such as the American black vulture (Coragyps atratus) or the turkey vulture (Cathartes aura).

(US, military slang, World War I) A fighter plane.

(US, military slang, 20th century) The insignia of a colonel, or a petty officer within the navy.

(US, military slang, 1860s–1920s) A military discharge (due to the military discharge certificate).


bacteria

Borrowed from New Latin bacteria, plural of bactērium, from Ancient Greek βακτήριον (baktḗrion, “little rod”).

der

Anaerobic bacteria function in the absence of oxygen, where as aerobic bacteria require sunlight and also oxygen. Both these bacterias are capable of breaking down the organic matter […]

2002, A.C. Panchdhari, Water Supply and Sanitary Installations, 2nd edition, →ISBN, page 177:

(US) A type, species, or strain of bacterium.

(US, proscribed) Alternative form of bacterium.


dry

drys (plural)
dries (plural)
drie (alternative)

[d̠͡ɹ̠˔ʷaɪ̯]

Adjective and noun from Middle English drye, dryge, drüȝe, from Old English drȳġe (“dry; parched, withered”), from Proto-West Germanic *drūgī, *draugī, from Proto-Germanic *drūgiz, *draugiz (“dry, hard”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰerǵʰ- (“to strengthen; become hard”), from *dʰer- (“to hold, support”). The verb derives from Middle English drien, from Old English drȳġan (“to dry”), from Proto-West Germanic *drūgijan, from Proto-Germanic *drūgiz (“hard, desiccated, dry”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰerǵʰ- (“strong, hard, solid”).
cognates and related terms
 Cognate with Scots dry, drey (“dry”), North Frisian drüg, driig, Saterland Frisian druuch (“dry”), West Frisian droech (“dry”), Dutch droog (“dry”), Low German dröög (“dry”), German dröge (“dull”), Icelandic draugur (“a dry log”). Related also to German trocken (“dry”), West Frisian drege (“long-lasting”), Danish drøj (“tough”), Swedish dryg (“lasting, hard”), Icelandic drjúgur (“ample, long”), Latin firmus (“strong, firm, stable, durable”). See also drought, drain, dree.

cog

(US) A prohibitionist (of alcoholic beverages).


deep

en-noun

deep (countable and uncountable, plural deeps)

From Middle English depe, deep, dep, deop, from Old English dēop (“deep, profound; awful, mysterious; heinous; serious, solemn, earnest; extreme, great”), from Proto-West Germanic *deup, from Proto-Germanic *deupaz (“deep”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰewbʰ-nós, from *dʰewbʰ- (“deep”).
Cognates
Cognate with Scots depe (“deep”), Saterland Frisian djoop (“deep”), West Frisian djip (“deep”), Low German deep (“deep”), Dutch diep (“deep”), German tief (“deep”), Danish dyb (“deep”), Norwegian Bokmål dyp (“deep”), Norwegian Nynorsk and Swedish djup (“deep”), Icelandic djúpur (“deep”), Lithuanian dubùs (“deep, hollow”), Albanian det (“sea”), Welsh dwfn (“deep”).

inh

(US, rare) The profound part of a problem.


flat

From Middle English flat, a borrowing from Old Norse flatr (compare Norwegian and Swedish flat, Danish flad), from Proto-Germanic *flataz, from Proto-Indo-European *pleth₂- (“flat”); akin to Saterland Frisian flot (“smooth”), German Flöz (“a geological layer”), Ancient Greek πλατύς (platús), Latvian plats, Sanskrit प्रथस् (prathas, “extension”). Doublet of plat and pleyt.
The noun is from Middle English flat (“level piece of ground, flat edge of a weapon”), from the adjective.
The algebraic sense was coined by Serre in a 1956 paper, originally as French plat.

For example, when trailers containing new automobiles were first piggybacked two areas of potential damage became evident: (1) diesel locomotive exhaust left a film of oil on the new autos; and (2) auto windshields could be scarred or cracked by the metal-tipped "tell-tales" which warn men atop trains of oncoming bridges or tunnels. Accordingly, automobiles aboard piggyback flats are usually coupled into the train 15 or more cars behind the locomotive; and telltales have been raised.

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

(rail transport, US) A railroad car without a roof, and whose body is a platform without sides; a platform car or flatcar.


chicken

en-noun

chicken (countable and uncountable, plural chickens)

→ German: Chicken

→ Irish: sicín

→ Japanese: チキン (chikin)

→ Korean: 치킨 (chikin)

From Middle English chiken (also as chike > English chick), from Old English ċicen, ċycen (“chicken”), of uncertain origin. Possibly from Proto-West Germanic *kiukīn (“chicken”), or alternatively from Proto-West Germanic *kukkīn, equivalent to cock + -en.
Compare North Frisian schückling (“chicken”), Saterland Frisian Sjuuken (“chicken”), Dutch kuiken (“chick, chicken”), German Low German Küken (“chick”), whence German Küken (“chick”), (elevated, obsolete) German Küchlein (“chick”) and Old Norse kjúklingr (“chicken”).

run around like a chicken with its head cut off

Up early in the morning trappin' (Trap-trap)
You can get 'em how you askin' (Ask)
How many chickens? You can get 'em whichever way
Nigga, trap turned Zaxby's (Zax)

2017 January 3, Migos (lyrics and music), “Call Casting”, in Culture, Track 3:

2019 May 20, “15 Chickens”performed by The Norf ft. Rucci, 2Eleven, Ackrite, Nfant, and Lil Deuce:


rooster

From roost + -er. In the regions where it is used, displaced cock through taboo avoidance.

Their other dish […] contain'd a number of roast fowls—half a dozen, we suppose, & all roosters at this season no doubt.

The produce of two hens and a cock, or rooster, as the Yankees term that bird.

1836, Catharine Parr Traill, The Backwoods of Canada, page 308:

Chalk a circle for a rooster.

1922 February, James Joyce, “[Episode 16]”, in Ulysses, Paris: Shakespeare and Company, […], →OCLC, part III [Nostos], page 616:

(Canada, US, Kent, Australia, New Zealand) A male domestic chicken (Gallus gallus domesticus) or other gallinaceous bird.

(figuratively, originally US slang, now chiefly New Zealand) A man.

In April they played Hens and Roosters, yoking their wild white and blue violets to see which would get its head pulled off.

1946, Conrad Richter, The Fields, page 231:

(regional US, historical) A wild violet, when used in a children's game based on cockfighting.

American demoralisation... has carried rooster into the halls of republican legislation, where it indicates a bill or proposed law which will remunerate the legislators.

(obsolete US slang) Legislation solely devised to benefit the legislators proposing it.


gull

en-verb

gull (third-person singular simple present gulls, present participle gulling, simple past and past participle gulled)

gulls (present singular third-person)
gulling (participle present)
gulled (participle past)
gulled (past)

Perhaps from an obsolete term gull (“to swallow, guzzle”), from Middle English golen (“to make swallowing motions, gape”).


apex

Borrowed from Latin apex (“point, tip, summit”).

The highest or the greatest part of something, especially forming a point.

(mining, US) The end or edge of a vein nearest the surface.


buffalo

en-noun

buffalo (plural buffaloes or buffalos or buffalo)

buffaloes (plural)
buffalos (plural)
buffalo (plural)

Borrowed from Portuguese or Spanish búfalo (“buffalo”), from Late Latin būfalus, from Latin būbalus, from Ancient Greek βούβαλος (boúbalos, “antelope, wild ox”). Doublet of bubale and buffle.

der

(slang, US, historical) A looter during the Civil War.


buffalo

en-verb

buffalo (third-person singular simple present buffaloes, present participle buffaloing, simple past and past participle buffaloed)

buffaloes (present singular third-person)
buffaloing (participle present)
buffaloed (participle past)
buffaloed (past)

I'm just gonna let you have it. Probably in the midst of a kiss. Right when you think everything’s been healed up. Right in the moment when you're sure you've got me buffaloed. That's when you'll die.

1983, Sam Shepard, Fool for Love, San Francisco: City Lights Books, page 20:

The nontechnical administrator should never be buffaloed by the esoteric vocabulary and the endless jargon of the computer expert.

1984, J. Victor Baldridge, The Campus and the Microcomputer Revolution, Macmillan, →ISBN, page xi:

He was speaking to an indifferent audience of pale polite faces, in an overheated space on the Northern edge of Europe, a subcontinent whose natives for a few passing centuries had bullied and buffaloed the rest of the world.

1998, John Updike, Bech At Bay, Random House, →ISBN, page 287:

If nonfiction is where you do your best writing, or your best teaching of writing, don't be buffaloed into the idea that it's an inferior species.

(US, slang, transitive) To outwit, confuse, deceive, or intimidate.


beaver

en-noun

beaver (countable and uncountable, plural beavers or (senses 1 and 4) beaver)

beavers (plural)
beaver (plural)
Beaver (alternative)

From Middle English bever, from Old English befer, from Proto-West Germanic *bebru, from Proto-Germanic *bebruz, from Proto-Indo-European *bʰébʰrus (“beaver”).
Cognate with West Frisian bever, Dutch bever, French bièvre, German Biber, dialectal Swedish bjur. Non-Germanic cognates include Welsh befer, Latin fiber, Lithuanian bẽbras, Russian бобр (bobr), Avestan 𐬠𐬀𐬎𐬎𐬭𐬀 (bauura), and Sanskrit बभ्रु (bábhru, “mongoose; ichneumon”).
Slang use to refer to a woman evolved from use to refer to pubic hair, which evolved from use to refer to beards, which evolved from use to refer to the furry animal or its fur.

cog

(Canada, US) Beaver pelts as an article of exchange or as a standard of value.

Finally it came on. It was a beauty, a beaver flick made in the late 1970s. It was called Big Black Leather Splits.

1969, Harlan Ellison, “A Boy and His Dog”, in The Beast that Shouted Love at the Heart of the World, New York: Open Road Media, published 2014, →ISBN:

Between you and me, uh, she might have been fifteen, but when you get that little red beaver right up there in front of you, I don’t think it's crazy at all and I don’t think you do either.

1975, Lawrence Hauben, Bo Goldman, directed by Miloš Forman, One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest (motion picture), spoken by Randle McMurphy (Jack Nicholson):

Let’s get some of that Saturday night beaver.

1997, Paul Thomas Anderson, Boogie Nights (motion picture), spoken by Reed Rothchild (John C. Reilly):

The store sold beaver books, fuck-suck books, homo books, novels, films, slides, playing cards, dildoes, cock rings, S&M gear, and French ticklers.

2004, James Ellroy, Destination: Morgue! L.A. Tales, New York: Vintage Books, →ISBN, pages 127–128:

[…] once she wore none at all, swears to this day that he saw her beaver that fateful Friday night.

2010, Dennis McFadden, Hart’s Grove: Stories:

(chiefly Canada, US, slang, countable) The pubic hair near a vulva or a vulva itself; (attributively) denoting films or literature featuring nude women.

“10-4, Beaver [CB talk for a female], we’re all going down to Plains tomorrow after Jimmy Carter wins.”

1977 January 13, Dan Aykroyd, John Belushi, “Jimmy Carter: New South Burn”, in Rolling Stone, [San Francisco or New York], retrieved 2022-12-01:

(US, offensive, slang) A woman, especially one who is sexually attractive.


hedgehog

/ˈhɛd͡ʒ.hɒɡ/

/ˈhɛd͡ʒ.hɔɡ/

From Middle English heyghoge; equivalent to hedge + hog. Eclipsed non-native Middle English yrchoun, irchoun (“hedgehog”), from Old French hirchoun, herichon (“hedgehog”); and Middle English il, from Old English īl, iġil (“hedgehog”).

(US) Any of several spiny mammals, such as the porcupine, that are similar to the hedgehog.


wildcat

wildcats (plural)
wild-cat (alternative)
wild cat (alternative)

From Middle English wyld cat, wylde cat (in the plural as wild cattes, wylde catis, wyle cattes), equivalent to wild + cat. Cognate with Middle Low German wiltkatte, German Wildkatze, Swedish vildkatt.
Its adjectival senses were originally American and derived from the "wildcat banks" of Michigan, following its elevation to statehood in 1837. Two laws—one easing the requirements for establishing a new bank and another occasioned by the Panic of 1837 that removed the need for payment in specie—led to the creation and collapse of around 50 banks within two years. The term is apocryphally derived from a wildcat supposedly featured on the currency printed by one of these banks, but more probably derived from the remote locations "where the wildcats roamed" chosen by these banks to avoid oversight and minimize redemption of notes.

John Audubon
bobcat
wildcat
wildcat (disambiguation)
wildcat cartridge

A cat that lives in the wilderness, specifically:

(US) A bobcat (Lynx rufus) or other similar New World species of lynx.


rabbit

en-verb

rabbit (third-person singular simple present rabbits, present participle rabbitting or rabbiting, simple past and past participle rabbitted or rabbited)

rabbits (present singular third-person)
rabbitting (participle present)
rabbiting (participle present)
rabbitted (participle past)
rabbitted (past)
rabbited (participle past)
rabbited (past)

From Middle English rabet, rabette, from Anglo-Latin rabettus, from dialectal Old French rabotte, probably a diminutive of Middle Dutch or West Flemish robbe (“rabbit, seal”), of uncertain origin; possibly some imitative verb, maybe robben, rubben (“to rub”) is used here to allude to a characteristic of the animal. See rub.
Related forms include Middle French rabouillet (“baby rabbit”) and in French rabot (“plane”)), coming via Walloon Old French (reflected nowadays as Walloon robète (“rabbit”)), from Middle Dutch robbe ("rabbit; seal"; whence Modern Dutch rob (“seal", also "rabbit”)); also Middle Low German robbe, rubbe (“rabbit”), and the later German Low German Rubbe, Robb (“seal”), West Frisian robbe (“seal”), Saterland Frisian Rubbe (“seal”), North Frisian rob (“seal”), borrowed into German Robbe (“seal”).
Meant "young rabbit" until the 19th c., when it came to replace the original general term coney, owing to the latter's resemblance to and use as a euphemism for cunny, "vulva" (compare ass and donkey).

onomatopoeic

imitative

gl

"rabbit; seal"; whence Modern Dutch <i class="Latn mention" lang="nl">rob</i> (“seal", also "rabbit”)

The informant seemed skittish, as if he was about to rabbit.

When the three friends heard someone behind them yell, "police, freeze!" they each rabbited in a different direction.

The attacked man stressed to the GCN the importance of confronting someone who is harassing a person in the Fenway. He said the attack on him could have been prevented if another man who was in front of him prior to the attack hadn't "rabbitted out of there."

1986 December 7, Kim Westheimer, “Gay Bashing Still a Popular Boston Sport”, in Gay Community News, volume 14, number 21, page 3:


pig

en-noun

pig (countable and uncountable, plural pigs)

Hawaiian Creole: pig

Torres Strait Creole: pig

Tok Pisin: pik

→ Abenaki: piks (from "pigs")

→ Malecite-Passamaquoddy: piks (from "pigs")

Pronunciation example of the word Pig in British English.ogg

From Middle English pigge (“pig, pigling”) (originally a term for a young pig, with adult pigs being swyn), apparently from Old English *picga (attested only in compounds, such as picgbrēad (“mast, pig-fodder”)), from Proto-West Germanic *piggō, *puggō (“piglet”). Compare Middle Dutch pogge, puggen, pigge, pegsken (“pigling”), Middle Low German pugge, pûke (“piglet”). Pokorny suggests this root might be somehow related to *bū-, *bew- (“to blow; swell”), which could account for the alternation between "pig" and "big".
A connection to early modern Dutch bigge (contemporary big (“piglet”)), West Frisian bigge (“pigling”), and similar terms in Middle Low German is sometimes proposed, "but the phonology is difficult". Some sources say the words are "almost certainly not" related, others consider a relation "probable, but not certain".
The slang sense of "police officer" is attested since at least 1785.

cuto (Northern Spain - specifically Aragon, La Rioja and Navarra)

even a blind pig can find an acorn once in a while

Unfortunately, the M60 is about twenty-four pounds and is very unbalanced. You try carrying the pig around the jungle and see how you feel.

(US, military, slang) The general-purpose M60 machine gun, considered to be heavy and bulky.

(US, slang) A Harley-Davidson motorcycle.


USA

USA (canonical)
the USA (canonical)
U.S.A. (alternative)
U. S. A. (alternative)

→ German: USA

→ Ido: Usa

َالْوِلَايَات الْمُتَّحِدَة الْأَمْرِيكِيَّة

The Defense Distinguished Service Medal was awarded to GEN Martin Dempsey, USA.

(US, military) Initialism of United States Army.


URL

/ˌjuːˌɑːɹˈɛl/

ΟΕΠ

ομοιόμορφος εντοπιστής πόρων (omoiómorfos entopistís póron)

(US, military, nautical) Initialism of unrestricted line officer.


sap

I risk my whole future, the hatred of the cops and Eddie Mars' gang. I dodge bullets and eat saps.

1944, William Faulkner, Leigh Brackett, Jules Furthman, The Big Sleep (screenplay)

(countable, US, slang) A short wooden club; a leather-covered hand weapon; a blackjack.


dead

en-verb

dead (third-person singular simple present deads, present participle deading, simple past and past participle deaded)

deads (present singular third-person)
deading (participle present)
deaded (participle past)
deaded (past)

From Middle English ded, deed, from Old English dēad, from Proto-West Germanic *daud, from Proto-Germanic *daudaz. Compare West Frisian dead, dea, Dutch dood, German tot, Danish, Norwegian død, Norwegian Nynorsk daud.

I shoulda deaded it from genesis instead of hittin' the Guinnesses

2004, “Guinnesses”, in Mm..Food, performed by MF Doom ft. Angelika & 4-IZE:

This dude at the club was trying to kill us so I deaded him, and then I had to collect from Spice.

2006, Leighanne Boyd, Once Upon A Time In The Bricks, page 178:

“What, you was just gonna dead him because if that's the case then why the fuck we getting the money?” Sha asked annoyed.

2008, Marvlous Harrison, The Coalition, page 106:

TOMMY:”Honestly, I’d love to help you with that but I’ve got a surplus of motherfuckers that I need to dead right now.”

2020 January 6, Courtney A. Kemp, Matt K. Turner, 33:48 from the start, in Power, season 6, episode 11, spoken by Tommy Egan (E Joseph Sikora):


tall

en-adj

tall (comparative taller, superlative tallest)

taller (comparative)
tallest (superlative)

→ Welsh: tal

From Middle English tall, talle, tal (“seemly, becoming, handsome, good-looking, excellent, good, valiant, lively in speech, bold, great, large, big”), from Old English *tæl, ġetæl (“swift, ready, having mastery of”), from Proto-Germanic *talaz (“submissive, pliable, obedient”), from Proto-Indo-European *dol-, *del- (“to aim, calculate, adjust, reckon”).
Cognate with Scots tal (“high, lofty, tall”), Old Frisian tel (“swift”), Old Saxon gital (“quick”), Old High German gizal (“active, agile”), Gothic 𐌿𐌽𐍄𐌰𐌻𐍃 (untals, “indocile, disobedient”).
The Oxford English Dictionary notes: "The sense development [of tall] is remarkable, but is paralleled more or less by that of other adjectives expressing estimation, such as buxom, canny, clean, clever, cunning, deft, elegant, handsome, pretty, proper; German klein, as compared with English clean, presents the antithesis to modern tall as compared to tall in early Middle English. It has been conjectured that in the sense 'high of stature' it is a different word, adopted from the Welsh tal in some sense; but the latter is, according to Professor Rhŷs, merely a 16th-century borrowing of the English word (in Owen Pughe's Dictionary erroneously mixed up with the genuine Welsh word tal (“end, brow, forehead”), with which it has no possible connection.)"

cog

mackerel sky and mare's-tails make tall ships carry low sails

(chiefly US, of a cup of coffee) Smaller than grande, usually 8 ounces (~ 230 ml).


short

→ Cantonese: short

→ Italian: short

→ Japanese: ショート (shōto)

→ Mandarin: 秀逗 (xiùdou)

→ Hakka: 秀逗 (sió-tò)

→ Maltese: xort

From Middle English schort, short, from Old English sċeort, sċort (“short”), from Proto-West Germanic *skurt, from Proto-Germanic *skurtaz (“short”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)ker-.
Cognates
Cognate with shirt, skirt, curt, Scots short, schort (“short”), French court, Dutch kort, German kurz, Old High German scurz (“short”) (whence Middle High German schurz), Old Norse skorta (“to lack”) (whence Danish skorte), Albanian shkurt (“short, brief”), Latin curtus (“shortened, incomplete”) and Proto-Slavic *kortъkъ. Doublet of curt. More at shirt.

For example, one addict would crack shorts (break and enter cars) and usually obtain just enough stolen goods to buy stuff and get off just before getting sick.

1975, Mary Sanches, Ben G. Blount, Sociocultural Dimensions of Language Use, page 47:

[…] list of all crimes reported by these 61 daily criminals during their years on the street is: theft (this includes shoplifting; "cracking shorts", burglary and other forms of stealing), dealing, forgery, gambling, confidence games (flim-flam, etc.) […]

1982, United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on the Judiciary. Subcommittee on Juvenile Justice, Career Criminal Life Sentence Act of 1981: Hearings, page 87:

(US, slang) An automobile; especially in crack shorts, to break into automobiles.


broad

Early 20th century, from American English. Perhaps from broad hips. Or from abroadwife (“woman who lives or travels without her husband, often a slave”). There may also have been influence from bride and/or its German cognate Braut (“bride”, also “girlfriend”, and more generally “broad, young woman”).

They always hook you in the end, them broads. This whole trouble is on account of a dame reads a book.

1950, Albert Mannheimer, Born Yesterday, spoken by Harry Brock:

Hey, man, Truck, you got to understand, she's a no class broad and you a gross son of a bitch. Naturally, she don't like you.

1974, Oscar Williams, Michael Allin, Truck Turner, spoken by Jerry:

The grunts resumed their bitching at the heat, the hills, and the lack of cold beer and hot broads.

1984, Charles Robert Anderson, The Grunts, Berkley Books, →ISBN, page 157:

I mean, what the fuck. If a guy wants to get on with a broad on a more or less stable basis, who's to say to him no? Huh? A lot of these broads, you know, you just don't know, you know. I mean, a young woman in today's society, by the time she's 22–23, you don't know where the fuck she's been.

1986, Tim Kazurinsky, Denise DeClue, About Last Night, spoken by Bernie (Jim Belushi):

(US, colloquial, slang, sometimes dated) A woman or girl.


solid

en-adj

solid (comparative more solid or solider, superlative most solid or solidest)

more solid (comparative)
solider (comparative)
most solid (superlative)
solidest (superlative)

From Middle English solide, borrowed from Old French solide, from Latin solidus (“solid”), from Proto-Indo-European *solh₂-i-dʰ-o-s (“entire”), suffixed form of root *solh₂- (“integrate, whole”). Doublet of sol, sold, soldo, solidus, sou, and xu.

doublet

The delegation is solid for a candidate.

(US, politics, slang) United; without division; unanimous.