Brown

en-adj

Brown (comparative more Brown, superlative most Brown)

more Brown (comparative)
most Brown (superlative)

From Middle English Broun, originally a nickname for someone with brown hair or a dark complexion. In the United States, sometimes an anglicization and translation of German Braun. Doublet of Bruno and Braun.

(chiefly US, often Canada and UK) Alternative letter-case form of brown (“of a dark complexion”)


Brownie

From brownie (“helpful elf”). Specifically, inspired by the story "The Brownies" by Juliana Horatia Ewing (published in 1870, The Brownies and Other Tales), in which two children, Tommy and Betty, learn that children can be helpful brownies or lazy boggarts.

1952 March 24, Girl Scouts: They Are Observing Their 40th Birthday, LIFE, page 109,
Any girl willing to follow the simple rules can join the Girl Scouts. As Brownies they will spend most of their time playing games and singing songs like the Brownie Smile Song: “I′ve something in my pocket; It belongs across my face, And I keep it very close at hand In a most convenient place.... I′m sure you couldn′t guess it If you guessed a long, long while, So I′ll take it out and put it on—It′s a great big Brownie smile!”

Most marchers were children, Girl and Boy Scouts, Cub Scouts and Brownies. One Cub Scout pulled his sister in a Radio Flyer decorated with small American flags. A Brownie pushed a baby carriage crammed with a zoo of stuffed animals.

1997, Samuel F. Pickering, “The Blue Caterpillar”, in The Blue Caterpillar and Other Essays, page 63:

After all, the meetings were held at my own house and my own mother was the queen. Doesn′t that make me some sort of Brownie princess? Apparently not.
As we graduated from Brownies to Girl Scouts, Mom was again my leader.

2011, Kim Perone, Vacuum Like No One Is Watching, page 15:


C

I keep on fairbanking the chump until he is between a poop and a sweat. The score is half a C and he's broke.

1935, Henry Louis Mencken, George Jean Nathan, The American Mercury, volume 35, page 227:

Green’s Dictionary of Slang
w:Green's Dictionary of Slang

(US, slang) One hundred dollars; a c-note.


Capitol

From Middle English Capitolie, in historical sense, from Latin Capitōlium. Other meanings from specific instances of capitol, q.v. As a French town hall, a calque of French Capitole.

Constantine the Great
Museum of Roman Civilization
Washington Mall

(US, with context or qualifier) The chief building in any state capital in which the state legislature meets.


Chinaman

From Chinese Pidgin English. Calque of Chinese 中國人 /中国人 (Zhōngguórén) ("China + -man"). Applied also to ships by analogy with East Indiaman.

cal

Chinaman half in and half out of the door. Codeine and goof balls, and complete discouragement.

1952 November 5, William S. Burroughs, “To Allen Ginsberg”, in Oliver Harris, editor, The Letters of William S. Burroughs, 1945–1959, New York: Penguin, published 1993, →ISBN, page 140:

(US, slang, obsolete, offensive) Addiction from a narcotic, especially heroin.


Chuck

The digital ads open over a shot of Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid and Chuck Schumer, the third-ranking Democrat in the Senate, while a narrator declares: “For years, it paralyzed Washington: Partisan political dysfunction.”

2015 May 12, Alexandra Jaffe, “First on CNN: New Rove-linked group spends $2M to boost GOP incumbents”, in CNN:

A form of the male given name Charles, of mostly American usage.


Coke

en-noun

Coke (countable and uncountable, plural Cokes)

Clipping of Coca-Cola. See coke (“cola”).

(US, especially Southern US, informal) Any soft drink, regardless of type.


Cola

For quotations using this term, see Citations:Cola.


Communism

...he shouldn't...just...[say]..."I -- I am responsible for prosperity,"...that's Communism, Sir, you see.

1953 (pub. 1997), Eugen Rosenstock-Huessy ed., Hinge of Generations-1953 Transcripts http://books.google.com/books?vid=ISBN091214825X&id=faq3Bng7IeYC&pg=RA1-PA24-IA44&lpg=RA1-PA24-IA44&dq=%22that%27s+communism%22&sig=euXrX5FOsAMFM3BcT3cmzgFmKb8

Although her elder daughter, Jane, complains, “that's Communism,” Mrs. Hilton rents her own bedroom to a retired colonel.

1992, Sylvia Whitman, V Is for Victory: The American Home Front During World War II:

...[he] condemned Thurmond's proposal for its “totalitarianism”: “That's Communism....That's China. That's not America.

1998, Joseph Martin Hernon, Profiles in Character: Hubris and Heroism in the U.S. Senate, 1789-1990:

(US, informal) A state of affairs perceived as oppressive, overly arbitrary, or totalitarian.


Congress

Congress (disambiguation)#Places
United States Congress

Two regular sessions of our federal legislative body are called a Congress, and Congresses have been numbered consecutively since the first one met in 1789. The first two sessions were called the first Congress; […]

1946, Emil F. Faith, Richard Gibbs Browne, Our Civic Life and Progress, Mentzer, Bush & Company, page 248:

(US) A two-year session of the Congress, commencing after a Federal election and ending before the next one.


D

From the position (4) of the letter D in the English alphabet.

(education, chiefly Canada, US) A grade awarded for a class, better than outright failure (which can be F or E depending on the institution) and worse than a C.


Democrat

(US politics, proscribed, derogatory, offensive) Of or belonging to the Democratic Party in the United States.

民主黨人 /民主党人

pertaining to the Democratic Party in the U.S.


Discover

Trade name, from discover; introduced by Sears in 1985.

(US) Discover Card, a brand of credit card.


Dock

* As an English surname, possibly from the noun duck.
* As a Norwegian surname, from Old Norse dǫkk (“pit, depression”), from Proto-Germanic *dankwaz (“dark”).
* As a German surname, spelling variant of Docke, related to the noun Tuch (“cloth, piece of fabric”).

(US, rare, dated) A male given name or nickname.


Dodge

en-proper noun

Dodge (countable and uncountable, plural Dodges)

From a Middle English diminutive form of Roger.

(countable, chiefly US) A surname transferred from the given name.


Earl

"Of course Gladys and Eleanor, having graced the last generation of heroines and being at present in their social prime, will be passed on to the next generation of shopgirls -"
"Displacing Ella and Stella," interrupted Dick.
"And Pearl and Jewel,", Gloria added cordially, " and Earl and Elmer and Minnie."

1922, F[rancis] Scott Fitzgerald, The Beautiful and Damned, New York, N.Y.: Charles Scribner’s Sons, →OCLC, (please specify |book=1, 2, or 3):

- - - in a world of mandatory diminutives, a corporation of jolly Bills and Jacks and Herbs and Teds in which an unabbreviable given name like Earl must have been a minor handicap, "Oat" was the best that could be done for a man with the given name of Otis.

1961, Richard Yates, Revolutionary Road, Vintage Contemporaries, published 2000, →ISBN, page 74:

(chiefly US) A male given name from English from the English noun earl.


F

Abbreviation.
# (Stenoscript) Abbreviation of full, fully.
# (Stenoscript) suffixes -full, -fully.

ng

<i class="Latn mention" lang="en">fully</i>.

the F-scale ; an F3 tornado

(US, meteorology) Initialism of Fujita (followed by a number when used in a rating on the Fujita scale and indicating the intensity of a tornado).


Fed

(US, economics) Clipping of Federal Reserve. (The Federal Reserve Board or System)


Fifth

(Fifth Amendment): From the name of the Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution, protecting various rights in US legal proceedings.

(chiefly US, informal, with the) The Fifth Amendment.

(chiefly US, informal, with the, by extension) The right not to give self-incriminating testimony.

[…] besides marrying Nate Archibald and living happily every after in the ivy-covered brick town house just off Fifth that she already had picked out

2003, Cecily Von Ziegesar, Because I'm worth it:


G

en-noun

G (countable and uncountable, plural Gs)

(US, of a movie) General (suitable for a general audience).

Super Nintendo, Sega Genesis / When I was dead broke, man, I couldn't picture this / 50-inch screen, money-green leather sofa / Got two rides, a limousine with a chauffeur / Phone bill about two G's flat / No need to worry, my accountant handles that / And my whole crew is loungin' / Celebratin' every day, no more public housin'

1994, The Notorious B.I.G. (lyrics and music), “Juicy”, in Ready to Die, performed by The Notorious B.I.G.:

Just really want to smoke my weed, fuck these hoes, and stack my Gs.

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:

2010 September 9, Gloria Campisi, “Psychologist sues city for 100G, alleging beating by cop earlier this year”, in Philadelphia Inquirer:

See the hoverboard-riding geezer? This close to payin' a G for a shot of my cousin Calvin's molars.

2023, Nathan Bryon, Tom Melia, directed by Raine Allen-Miller, Rye Lane, spoken by Nathan (Simon Manyonda):

(chiefly US) Abbreviation of grand (“thousand (dollars, pounds etc.)”).


Genesis

From Ancient Greek γένεσις (génesis, “creation, beginning, origin”).

der

(Canada, US, video games) A video game console, the Sega Genesis.


Gram

(US) A male given name Alternative form of Graham


Grange

en-proper noun

Grange (countable and uncountable, plural Granges)

(US, with "the") The National Grange of the Patrons of Husbandry, an association of farmers organized in 1867 which sponsors social activities, community service, and political lobbying.


Hill

* As an English surname, from the noun hill, shortened from Hilary, and from Old English hild (“battle”).
* As a German surname, shortened from Hildebrand, related to the last sense above.
* As a Finnish surname, calque of Finnish Mäki (“hill”).

(US, with "the") Capitol Hill; the US Congress


House

House (countable and uncountable, plural Houses)

* As an English surname, from the noun house.
* Also as an English surname, variant of Howes.
* Also as a topographic English surname, from a derivative of Old English hyse (“place overgrown with water plants”), from hos (“bramble, thorn, sprout”). This may have also made its way into Hose, Huss.
* As a German surname, calqued from the surname Haus.

der

House of Representatives
House of Representatives#English

(politics) A particular chamber of political representation

(US politics, as "the House") Ellipsis of House of Representatives.


Humvee

Derived from the attempt to pronounce the acronym HMMWV: The 'High Mobility Multi-purpose Wheeled Vehicle.'

We went out into the streets of Zafaraniya, travelling in the usual two-Humvee convoy, complete with gunners.

Stores, dealerships, galleries struggled to satisfy the skyrocketing demand for ever more recherché produce: limited-edition olive oils, three-hundred-dollar corkscrews, customized Humvees, the latest anti-virus software, escort services featuring contortionists and twins, video installations, outsider art, featherlight shawls made from the chin-fluff of extinct mountain goats.

2001, Salman Rushdie, Fury: A Novel, London: Jonathan Cape, →ISBN, page 3:

(US, military) A diesel-powered, four-wheel drive tactical military vehicle that can carry a wide variety of military hardware.


I

en-noun

I (countable and uncountable, plural Is)

I-95 begins at Houlton, Maine and terminates at Miami, Florida, connecting numerous major cities in the East Coast.


Inc

after nouns
Inc. (alternative)
inc (alternative)
inc. (alternative)

(chiefly Canada, US) Incorporated, corporation, an adjective describing a type of (business) company that carries certain legal obligations.


Jersey

From Middle English Gersey, from Anglo-Norman Gersui, further etymology disputed. Probably from Old Norse [Term?], compound of Geirs (“Geirr's”) + ey (“island”). Also occasionally and historically connected to Latin Caesarea, a common name given to locations conquered by the Romans in honor of Caesar (compare French Césarée). The latter theory still bestows the Latin translation of the island.

unk

disputed

(US, informal, especially following north or south) New Jersey.


John

Johns (plural)
Jon (alternative)
Joh. (alternative)

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

From Middle English John, Johan, Johannes, from Anglo-Norman Jehan, Johan, and also Old English Iohannes, both from Late Latin Iōhannēs, variant of Latin Iōannēs, from Koine Greek Ἰωάννης (Iōánnēs), from Biblical Hebrew יוֹחָנָן (Yôḥānān), perhaps contracted from a former יְהוֹחָנָן (Yəhōḥānān, “God is gracious”).
Doublet of Jack, Jon, Johan, Johann, Johannes, Jean, Sean, Shane, Shaun, Ian, Ivan, Evan, Juan, Giovanni, and Yahya.

doublet

(US, slang, archaic) Alternative letter-case form of john (“a toilet, lavatory, outhouse, chamber pot”).


K

Abbreviations.
# (Stenoscript) Abbreviation of counter, prefix counter-, sequence contr.

ng

prefix <i class="Latn mention" lang="en">counter-</i>, sequence contr.

"K-8" is Kindergarten through eighth grade.

(education, US) Abbreviation of kindergarten.


L

en-noun

L (countable and uncountable, plural Ls)

(US, politics) Abbreviation of Libertarian.


Latino

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

American English, first attested in the 1960s for a person of Spanish-speaking or Latin American ancestry (notably Mexican, Puerto Rican and Cuban), originally an (informal) shortened form of Spanish latinoamericano (“Latin American”, adj). Its appearance probably coincided with the colloquial use of Anglo (for a person of British or White US descent) and Afro (for a person of Black or African US descent).

bor

She called Ottinger a "tool" of the business community and Lopez a "box checker,” apparently meaning that he was only nominally Latino and that he had acted in a way that was detrimental to the interests of Latinos.

2013, Richard Lee Colvin, Tilting at Windmills:

(chiefly US) Of Latin American descent, Hispanic.


Latino

Latinos have quickly become the largest ethnic minority in the United States.

Certainly, the activists in this study believe that Latinos face antibrown racism and consider racial justice for Latinos to be an increasingly important part of America's racial justice agenda.

2010, Mark R. Warren, Fire in the Heart: How White Activists Embrace Racial Justice, Oxford University Press, →ISBN, page 11:

(chiefly US) A person, especially and usually (interpreted as) a male, from Latin America, a Hispanic person. (Compare Latina.)


Legion

(US, military) Ellipsis of American Legion.


Lincoln

Inherited from Middle English Lincolne, from Old English Lindcolen, Lindcylene, from Latin Lindum Colōnia (“the Roman settlement Lindum Colonia”), from Proto-Brythonic *llɨnn (“pool”), from Proto-Celtic *lindos (“lake, liquid”), in reference to the Brayford. In the United States, many of the places established since 1865 are named after Abraham Lincoln.

der

As I was walking down the street last night
A pretty little girl came into sight
I bowed and smiled and asked her name
She said, "Hold it bud, I don't play that game"
I reached in my pocket, and to her big surprise
There was Lincoln staring her dead in the eyes.

A Jackson, a Lincoln, three singles. He was seven bucks short, […]

1989, Albert William Gray, Size, page 117:

[…] not only winning the hand, but also collecting a five dollar per player bonus. […] Jonah yelled to Fred, who crumpled up a Lincoln and tossed it toward him.

2006, EminemsRevenge, Jew Girl, page 181:


M

en-noun

M (countable and uncountable, plural Ms)

(US, film) A film with the content rating M.


Mac

Have you got a light, Mac?

TIME was, the stereotypical New York cabdriver was a gabby if slightly gruff man with a Brooklyn accent who knew every pothole in every street in every borough and greeted people with the world-weary query, "Where to, Mac?"

1998 May 24, Bearak, Barry, “The Nation: Parallel Universe; Listen Up, Out There. Here's What Cabbies Think of You.”, in The New York Times, section 4, page 1:

(US, informal) Used to address a man whose name is unknown.


Mac

(US, Canada) A diminutive for a person with a surname that starts with "Mac" or "Mc".


Met

(US) The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.


Molly

Molly (countable and uncountable, plural Mollies)

From Moll, diminutive lambdacism of Mary + -y.

(Canada, US, slang, uncountable) Alternative letter-case form of molly: the crystalline or powdered form of MDMA.


Mommy

I wish Mommy and Daddy didn't argue so much.

(Canada, US, chiefly used by young children) One's mother


Mr.

Messrs. (plural)
Mr (alternative)
MR (alternative)

Mr. John Doe

Mr. Doe

But only if one forgets that Mr. Tester is 50 years old, he’s seasoned in state politics, he ran a canny, gloves-off campaign, and he’s the kind of charismatic, hard-to-peg, Western neopopulist (like his friend, Gov. Brian Schweitzer of Montana) who might be, even now, redefining in certain far-reaching ways what it means to be a Democrat.

2007 January 7, Deirdre Mcnamer, “They Came From Montana”, in The New York Times:

(Canada, US, Philippines) Abbreviation of mister. A title used before the surname in theory, though not generally in practice, above some undefined social level, too old to be addressed as “Master”, not a knight or of some higher rank, and, in Britain though not in the United States, not entitled to be addressed as “Dr.”.


Mr.

(US, Canada) Abbreviation of March (month).


Mrs.

Mrs. (plural Mmes. or Mesdames or (rare) Mrses.)

Mmes. (plural)
Mesdames (plural)
Mrses. (plural rare)

That left me an orphan and folks were at their wits’ end, so Mrs. Thomas said, what to do with me. […] Finally Mrs. Thomas said she’d take me, though she was poor and had a drunken husband. She brought me up by hand. Do you know if there is anything in being brought up by hand that ought to make people who are brought up that way better than other people? Because whenever I was naughty Mrs. Thomas would ask me how I could be such a bad girl when she had brought me up by hand--reproachful-like.

1908, L. M. Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables:


Ms.

To protest the sandwich chain’s use of azodicarbonamide in its bread, Ms. Hari posted a video of herself chewing another item in which the chemical is found: a yoga mat.

2015 March 13, Courtney Rubin, “Taking On the Food Industry, One Blog Post at a Time”, in The New York Times:


North

English surname, from the adjective north. This is also translated from other surnames of the same meaning, such as Irish Mac an Ultaigh (“son of the Ulsterman”), Ulster being the northern part of Ireland.

The northern part of a region (alternative letter-case form of north), especially:

(US) The northern states of the United States.

The North lost most battles early in the war.

(US) The Union during the American Civil War.


Northeast

the Northeast (canonical)
North East (alternative)

contiguous United States
contiguous United States

(US) The northeastern region of the contiguous United States including New England and the Mid-Atlantic states, sometimes inclusive of Maryland, Delaware, Washington, DC, Virginia and West Virginia.


Oval

We went to the Oval and Trump came in almost immediately […]

2020 June 23, John Bolton, The Room Where It Happened: A White House Memoir, New York, N.Y.: Simon & Schuster, →ISBN, page 28:


P

P (countable and uncountable, plural Ps)

P directly targets the dopamine pathways in your brain and as a result goes straight to your pleasure/reward module, which makes it an incredibly hard drug to break free from.

2009, Dr Kerry Spackman, The Winner's Bible:

(slang, chiefly US) Abbreviation of pure (A "pure" form of an illegal drug, especially heroin).

pure

(US, military, aviation) Initialism of patrol. A patrol aircraft, a patroller.


P

(chiefly US) Alternative spelling of P.M. (“post meridiem”) or PM


PK

PK (countable and uncountable, plural PKs)

1906, Association of Professors and Researchers in Religious Education, Religious Education
The traditional community image of the pk (preacher's kid) and the social control function of gossip in relation to the minister's wife underline the interlocking nature […]

I was a typical PK (preacher's kid), full of mischief, full of life and insatiable curiosity.

1998, Dr. H. Beecher Hicks, Jr., My Soul's Been Anchored: A Preacher's Heritage in the Faith:

And after all, I was a PK (preacher's kid) and no one wanted to play with a PK in any case! It might be catching, like the measles!

2005, Warren L. Braun, Was It a Miracle?:

(US) Initialism of preacher's kid, pastor's kid or priest's kid: the child of a clergyman and/or clergywoman, especially Protestant.

preacher's kid

(US, soccer) Initialism of penalty kick.


papaw

Carica papaya
Carica papaya#Translingual

A tree, Carica papaya, of tropical America, belonging to the order Brassicales, and producing dull orange-colored, melon-shaped fruit.


Patriot

(US, military) A surface-to-air missile system.


Patriot

(US, historical) A person who was in favor of American Independence from Britain during the American Revolution.


Peach

* As an English surname, from French péché (“sin”). Compare Peachey, Petch.
* As a German surname, Americanized from Pietsch.

(US, informal) A native or resident of Georgia in the United States.


Peep

* PEEPS® is a trademark of Just Born, Inc., since 1999, although the trademark was first used in 1954.

(US) A soft marshmallow candy, shaped into a baby animal for Easter celebration.


Pez

Derived from the letters at the start, the middle and the end of German Pfefferminz (“candy with peppermint flavor”), the first Pez flavor.

(Canada, US) A kind of candy in the form of small blocks that is sold in small plastic dispensers.


Pike

(US, slang) A member of the Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity.


Pop

“All the other stars would leave the theatre wearing fur coats, fancy hats, and imported French shoes,” said Pop Stern, a longtime stage-doorman.

1982, Jhan Robbins, Front Page Marriage, page 186:

[…] George Melford (Pop, stage doorman) […]

1999, Amy Dunkleberger, Patricia King Hanson, AFI Catalog of Motion Pictures Produced in the United States, page 216:

[…] Ralph Sanford (doorman); A.S. “Pop” Byron (stage doorman); Allen Fox (photographer); […]

2020, Edwin M. Bradley, Hollywood Musicals You Missed, page 65:

(colloquial, US, theater) Traditional nickname for a stage doorman.


Prohibition

(history) Any of several periods during which the manufacture, transportation, import, export, and sale of alcoholic beverages were restricted or illegal.

(US) The period from 17 January 1920 through 5 December 1933 in the United States, between the effective dates of the Eighteenth and Twenty-First Amendments to the United States Constitution.


Pullman

Ellipsis of Pullman car, after the Pullman Palace Car Company, named after American engineer and industrialist George Pullman (1831–1897).

named-after

It is realised that the old Pullman standard sleeper, with its convertible "sections", each containing upper and lower berths, and with no greater privacy at night than the curtains drawn along both sides of a middle aisle, has had its day.

1944 November and December, “"Duplex Roomette" Sleeping Cars”, in Railway Magazine, page 324:

(rail transport, US) A railroad passenger car; especially one of the luxurious ones named after the eponymous Pullman Palace Car Company.


Rebel

(US) A Confederate soldier; of the American Civil War.


Roe

From a Middle English nickname meaning a roe.

Ultimately, Ms. Bottone said she just wanted to know whether she could keep driving in the H.O.V. lane for the remainder of her pregnancy, as she said she had in her previous pregnancies, long before the overturning of Roe.

2022 July 12, Luke Vander Ploeg, “Can You Drive Alone in the H.O.V. Lane if You’re Pregnant? A Post-Roe Quandary.”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

(US, law, US politics, informal) Ellipsis of Roe v. Wade, the 1973 US Supreme Court case which legalized abortion and reaffirmed the existence of a right to privacy under due process following the 14th Amendment.


Sally

A diminutive lambdacism of Sarah. Compare Hal from Harry and Moll from Mary.

(slang, drugs, Canada, US) Alternative letter-case form of sally: the crystalline or powdered form of MDA.


Senate

(US) The upper legislative body of many of the states of the United States.


Sierra

I am going to the Sierra next weekend.

Most flocks in the Sierra and the Rocky Mountains live above the timber-line and at an altitude of twelve thousand feet.

1915 April 25, Enos A. Mills, “Wild Mountain Sheep”, in The Rocky Mountain Wonderland, Houghton Mifflin, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 37:

(US) Ellipsis of Sierra Nevada, a mountain range in the Western United States.


South

en-proper noun

South (countable and uncountable, plural Souths)

English surname, from the adjective south. Compare Southern.

(US) Ellipsis of Old South.: Those states which formed the Confederacy during the American Civil War.

Old South

Many sincere white people in the South privately oppose segregation and discrimination, but they are apprehensive lest they be publicly condemned.

1963, Martin Luther King, Jr., “Transformed Nonconformist”, in Strength to Love, New York: Pocket Books, published 1964, →OCLC, page 13:

Just when the blacks had had their hopes for equality and justice raised, after centuries of misery and despair, they awoke one morning to discover that their future was in the hands of a President born in the South.

1971, Lyndon B. Johnson, “"I feel like I have already been here a year"”, in The Vantage Point, Holt, Reinhart & Winston, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 18:

Of course, living in the South was never an option—the main problem being they have too much respect for authority; they're soldier-sniffers and cop lovers. I don't respect that, and I could never live with it. There's also way too much religion in the South to be consistent with good mental health.

1997, George Carlin, “WELL, YA GOTTA LIVE SOMEPLACE”, in Brain Droppings, New York: Hyperion Books, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, →OL, page 16:

In the discussions we had sitting around church basements, I learned that, despite the obvious differences in our environments, these kids were more like me than I ever could have imagined. They also knew more about what was happening in the civil rights movement in the South. I had only vaguely heard of Rosa Parks and Dr. Martin Luther King, but these discussions sparked my interest.

2003, Hillary Rodham Clinton, “University of Life”, in Living History, →ISBN, →OCLC, pages 22–23:

Tohti described a situation then current in Yeyiq Yezisi (Yeyike) township which is reminiscent of share-cropping in the post-bellum American south.

[2007, James A. Millward, Eurasian Crossroads: A History of Xinjiang, London: Hurst & Company, published 2021, →ISBN, →OCLC, page 365:

I should add a story, you know in the South at that time, Governor Barnett was sort of known as a bit of a dim bulb. And two years before, during the presidential campaign, one of the flashpoints in the debates that fall involved two Nationalist Chinese islands just off the coast of China: Quemoy and Matsu. And right after this argument erupted in the campaign, Ross Barnett was out politicking one day and the reporters asked him, "Governor, what about Quemoy and Matsu?" And he looked around sort of lost and said to one of his aides, "Them those two fellers I put on the Fishing and Game Commission last year?"

2012, 42:09 from the start, in Listening In: JFK's Secret Tapes, Thomas Oliphant (actor), John F. Kennedy Library Foundation:

(US) The south-eastern states of the United States, including many of the same states as formed the Confederacy.


Southern

en-adj

Southern (comparative more Southern, superlative most Southern)

more Southern (comparative)
most Southern (superlative)

English surname, from the adjective southern. Often used as a northern English nickname for someone from the south of the country, or as a Scottish nickname for an Englishman.

But although Southern cooking makes use of a cornucopia of vegetables, it also typically includes generous portions of meat and fried chicken. Even vegetable dishes and breads are often cooked with animal fat: Greens are fried in bacon grease …

1993, Lillian Kayte, Southern Surprise, published in the June 1993 issue of the Vegetarian Times, page 36

Southern cooking makes its presence felt throughout the northern half of the state. Vegetables such as okra, collard greens, black-eyed peas, fried green tomatoes, and fried eggplant are added to staples such as fried chicken, roast beef, and hogjaw — meat from the mouth of a pig.

2004, Mark Ellwood, Todd Obolsky, Ross Velton, The Rough Guide to Florida, page 34:

(chiefly US) From or pertaining to the South, the south-eastern states of the United States, southern portions of some other states (e.g., Southern California), or to the inhabitants or culture of that region.


St.

(US) Abbreviation of state (pertaining to US states)


Stella

(US, numismatics) A gold coin with a face value of $4.00 proposed for use in the United States in the 19th century.


Sweet Sixteen

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

(basketball, US, informal) The sixteen teams participating in the regional semifinals of the NCAA Division I tournament, one of whom will become the national champion.

(basketball, US, informal) The round of the NCAA Division I basketball tournament where all but 16 teams have been eliminated.

The new coach has just led the Nimrods to their first Sweet Sixteen.

(basketball, US, informal) An appearance in the Sweet Sixteen.


Thing

(informal, slang, US) Nickname for the Volkswagen 181.


Union

(locomotive): Derived from the name of the only U.S. company to use that configuration.

threats to secede from the Union

United States of America
United States of America

(US, with determiner, dated, especially 19th century) The United States of America.

Union troops at Gettysburg

en:United States of America against secessionist CSA

(US, with determiner, historical) Those of the United States that did not secede at the time of the Civil War (of the United States of America).


West

en-proper noun

West (countable and uncountable, plural Wests)

* In most senses and as an English surname, from west, the direction.
* As a Finnish surname, Americanized from Vesterinen.

I was about to say that I had known the Celebrity from the time he wore kilts. But I see I will have to amend that, because he was not a celebrity then, nor, indeed, did he achieve fame until some time after I left New York for the West.

1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter I, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC:

(US) The Western United States (sometimes excluding the West Coast), particularly (historical) in reference to the 19th century Wild West.


Westie

Another killing was sparked when Tommy Hess, the bartender at Club 596, on Tenth Avenue, slapped the girl friend of a young Westie.[…]Hess went on a list of some 60 homicides police say were committed by the Westies.

1982 April 12, Michael Daly, John Hamill, “The Ghosts Of Hell′s Kitchen”, in New York Magazine, page 40:

The Intrepid skim allegedly went from the union to a West Side gang of Irish toughs known as the Westies. (In an unrelated incident, several Westies are currently on trial for kidnapping, loan-sharking, extortion and murder.[…])

1987 December, Peter Wilkinson, “Doing Business Broke”, in Spy, page 76:

(US) A member of a criminal gang based in Hell's Kitchen on the west side of Manhattan.


White

White (disambiguation)#Places in the United States

(chiefly US, sometimes Canada and UK) Alternative letter-case form of white (“of or relating to white complexion or Europeans”)


Y

He had sat next to Cindy returning from the Y and smelled the chlorine on her. A sodden Band-Aid had clung by a few lingering bits of stickum to her knee.

2001, Jonathan Franzen, The Corrections:

(Canada, US) Clipping of the YMCA or YWCA.


Y

Of course, the audience up here at the Bronx “Y” will probably be a little parochial, but if I make good in the lecture, I might one day end up speaking down at the Lex. Ave. “Y” where great thinkers like Norman Mailer and Seymour Krim are always airing their views.

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

When a 50ish woman at my Y learned that I was about to turn 80, she exclaimed, “80 is the new 60, and you set a great example for the rest of us!”

2021 May 17, Jane E. Brody, “A Birthday Milestone: Turning 80!”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

(Canada, US, informal) A particular facility run by the YMCA/YWCA.


Yank

Halt! come down there, you Yanks, come down!

1865, unnamed Confederate officer, according to Lieutenant Joseph E. Moody, U.S.V., “Life in Confederate Prisons”, in Civil War Papers, Volume II, Massachusetts Commandery (1900), page 368

“I do wish I might of found you in my sights when you was with them damn Yanks,” Abner added.

1944, Howard Fast, Freedom Road, M.E. Sharpe, published 1995, →ISBN, page 33:

Corporal Bob explained, “The Yanks has tha best weapons. But us Rebs know how to shoot tha damn things. […]”

2004, O. K. Williams, The Way the Cards Fall, Trafford Publishing, →ISBN, page 16:

(US) A Yankee, a Northerner: someone from the Northern United States, especially from New England.


Jessie

Variant of Jesse, from Ancient Greek Ἰεσσαί (Iessaí), from Hebrew יִשַׁי (Yishai).

(US, eye dialect) A male given name from Hebrew, variant of Jesse.


poon

en-noun

poon (countable and uncountable, plural poons)

I'm gonna get me some poon at this party.

(US, vulgar, slang) The vagina and vulva; or intercourse with a woman.


marshall

A gay activist has been elected to the prestigious position of marshall of his class at Harvard College.

1980 December 27, “The Penultimate Stodgy Position”, in Gay Community News, volume 8, number 23, page 2:


insure

en-verb

insure (third-person singular simple present insures, present participle insuring, simple past and past participle insured)

insures (present singular third-person)
insuring (participle present)
insured (participle past)
insured (past)

Recorded since about 1440, as a variant of Middle English ensuren (from Anglo-Norman enseurer, itself from en- (“make”) + seür (“sure”), probably influenced by Old French asseürer (“to assure”)); took on its particular sense of "make safe against loss by payment of premiums" in 1635, replacing assure.

We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

1787, Preamble to the United States Constitution:

"I have a friend at court," whispered she to her companion: "last night I singled out one of Sir Robert's secretaries, and a few smiles made him my devoted chevalier, and he promised to insure an interview."

1837, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], “Sir Robert Walpole and House”, in Ethel Churchill: Or, The Two Brides. […], volume II, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, page 237:

[…] the sentry placed over the prisoner had strict orders to let no one have communication with him but the Chaplain. And certain unobtrusive measures were taken absolutely to insure this point.

1924, Herman Melville, chapter 19, in Billy Budd, London: Constable & Co.:

The latest in automation equipment, combined with highly skilled craftsmen, insure the high quality of the Packard Clipper.

1954, Packard Motor Car Company, Packard Clipper Owner's Manual:

(chiefly US, transitive, dated) Alternative spelling of ensure; to make sure or certain of; guarantee.


china

en-noun

china (countable and uncountable, plural chinas)

chinas (plural)
China (alternative)
chiney (alternative)
cheny (alternative)
cheney (alternative)
chenea (alternative)
chainy (alternative)
chaney (alternative)
chany (alternative)
chaynee (alternative)
chayney (alternative)
cheenie (alternative)
cheeny (alternative)
chainé (alternative)

From clippings of attributive use of China, q.v., the country in East Asia. In reference to porcelain and porcelain objects, via clipping of chinaware and via this sense of Persian چین (čini) in Persia and India, which influenced the pronunciation (see below). In reference to medicine, via clipping of China root. In reference to flowers, via clipping of China rose. In reference to tea, via clipping of China tea. In Cockney slang, a clipping of china plate as a rhyme of mate (“friend”). In reference to drum cymbals, a clipping of China cymbal and as a genericization of a kind of Zildjian-brand cymbal.

It's a china doll.

(uncountable) Synonym of porcelain, a hard white translucent ceramic made from kaolin, now (chiefly US) sometimes distinguished in reference to tableware as fine or good china.

porcelain

What is porcelain? A fine earthenware differing from china in being harder, whiter, harder to fuse and more translucent than ordinary pottery.

1921 May 11, “Edison Questions Stir Up a Storm”, in New York Times:

(uncountable, chiefly US, dated) Cheaper and lower-quality ceramic and ceramic tableware, distinguished from porcelain.

The marbles, in those days, had their primitive names. The unglazed china ones were called plasters because they looked like plaster; the glazed china marbles were called chinas. I remember how charming were the partly colored lines which encircled them.

1932 March, Dan Beard, “New-Fashioned Kites and Old-Fashioned Marbles”, in Boys' Life, page 27:

(countable, games, chiefly US, obsolete) A glazed china marble.


chile

Chile (one General American pronunciation)

From Spanish chile. A variant of chili, chilli; see that entry for more information.

(US, regional) Alternative form of chili (a chili pepper).


guinea

→ Arabic: جُنَيْه (junayh)

→ Egyptian Arabic: جنيه (ginēh)

→ Irish: gine

→ Scottish Gaelic: gini

→ Spanish: guinea

→ Welsh: gini

From Guinea, the early modern name for West Africa, the coins originally being made of gold from the region, mostly from the 'Gold Coast' (modern Ghana) and used for African trade, and the guinea fowl being found there.
Its use as an ethnic slur against Italians may be due to their darker complexion compared to others of European descent.

If I’m to tell the whole truth—and why not? I sure have the time!—I’ll have to start by saying I was born Richard Pinzetti, in New York’s Little Italy. My father was an Old World guinea.

(US, slang, derogatory, ethnic slur) A person of Italian descent.


brim

Sometimes her daddy would take her fishing for catfish or brim (bream) out on the lake in his john boat.

2015, Susan D. Brandenburg, “Mercy”, in Surviving Strong (A Saxon Saga), Jacksonville, Fla.: Susan the Scribe, Inc., →ISBN, page 26:

(Australia, US) Synonym of bream (“a freshwater fish from one of a number of genera”); specifically (US), the redbreast sunfish (Lepomis auritus).


english

Uncertain. It is speculated to relate either to people from England introducing the technique for billiards or bowling in the United States, or perhaps from a particular person with the surname English.

English (alternative)
English (alternative)

You can't hit it directly, but maybe if you give it some english.

There was a magical way of putting English on the dice to result in a six.

2005, S. Moran, Bronx Boy: Book One of The Zombie Island Trilogy, page 179:

(uncountable, Canada, US) Spinning or rotary motion given to a ball around the vertical axis, as in pool, billiards or bowling; spin, sidespin.

ингалс

spinning or rotary motion around the vertical axis


capitate

en-verb

capitate (third-person singular simple present capitates, present participle capitating, simple past and past participle capitated)

capitates (present singular third-person)
capitating (participle present)
capitated (participle past)
capitated (past)

From Latin capitatus (“having a head”), from caput (“head”).

(US, health care) To pay health-care providers using a capitation system.


popsicle

From the trade name Popsicle, a blend of (soda) pop or lollipop + Epsicle (original trade name), itself a blend of Epperson (surname of the inventor) + icicle.

blend

(chiefly US, Canada) Frozen fruit juice, flavored sugar water, or the like, on a stick, of a size to be one serving.


cabin

→ French: cabine (see there for further descendants)

→ Japanese: キャビン (kyabin)

→ Korean: 캐빈 (kaebin)

From Middle English caban, cabane, from Old French cabane, from Medieval Latin capanna (“a cabin”); see further etymology there. Doublet of cabana and cabane.

Abraham Lincoln was born in a log cabin.

And that was how long we stayed in the cabin, pressed together, pulling the future out of each other, sweating and groaning and making sure each of us remembered.

1994, Michael Grumley, “Life Drawing”, in Violet Quill:

(US) A small dwelling characteristic of the frontier, especially when built from logs with simple tools and not constructed by professional builders, but by those who meant to live in it.

kabinë

small dwelling, especially one made of logs


peter

en-verb

peter (third-person singular simple present peters, present participle petering, simple past and past participle petered)

peters (present singular third-person)
petering (participle present)
petered (participle past)
petered (past)

Unknown; the following etymologies have been suggested:
* From peter (“to stop (doing or saying something)”) (slang, obsolete, rare).
* Since the word was first used in mining contexts, either:
** from French péter (“to explode; to break wind, fart”) (slang), from pet (“emission of digestive gases from the anus, flatus, fart”) (slang), from Latin pēditum (“flatus, fart”), from pēdō (“to break wind, fart”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *pesd- (“to break wind softly”), probably imitative; or
** from (salt)peter, a variant of saltpetre (“potassium nitrate”) (the key ingredient in gunpowder), from Middle English salpeter, salpetre [and other forms] with the first element influenced by salt, from Old French salpetre (modern French salpêtre), from Medieval Latin salpetra, from Latin sāl petrae (literally “salt of stone”) (as potassium nitrate occurs encrusted on some stones), from sāl (“salt”) + petrae (the nominative or vocative plural of petra (“rock; stone”), from Ancient Greek πέτρᾱ (pétrā, “rock formation; stone”)).

der

I found a veinlet about 15 in. wide and very rich in gold. Trenching along its outcrop showed that it extended about 100 ft. and then pinched out altogether. A winze sunk on the veinlet showed that it "petered out" entirely at 25 or 30 ft.

1910 T. Lane Carter: Mining in Nicaragua. Transactions of the American Institute of Mining Engineers. Vol. XLI. 1910. Canal Zone Meeting, October, 1910

Mersey Street is particularly attractive. Running up from the bay, it passes between terraced cottages before petering into a footpath that leads over the headland to a golf course and the dune-backed sands of Black Rock.

1980, AA Book of British Villages, Drive Publications Ltd, page 73:

Whitney is absorbed especially by Dublin's unglamorous interstitial zones: the new housing estates and labyrinths of roads, watercourses and railways where the city peters into its commuter belt.

2014 August 23, Neil Hegarty, “Hidden City: Adventures and Explorations in Dublin by Karl Whitney, review: ‘a necessary corrective’ [print version: Re-Joycing in Dublin, page R25]”, in The Daily Telegraph (Review), London: Telegraph Media Group, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2022-05-20:

My words petered away.

2021, Helen Fisher, Faye, Faraway, page 241:

(intransitive, originally US) Chiefly followed by out: originally (mining), of a vein of ore: to be depleted of ore; now (generally), to diminish to nothing; to dwindle, to trail off.


metis

Borrowed from French métis, from Late Latin mixticius, from Latin mixtus (“mixed”). Akin to mestizo, which came from Spanish.

(chiefly Canada, US) Alternative letter-case form of Metis (“a member of one of three Canadian Aboriginal peoples; any person of mixed European and Indigenous descent”)

Metis

(US) A person of one-eighth black ancestry; an octoroon.


daniel

He'd pull the chair out from under some dignified dowager and catch her just before she went to fall on her daniel […]

1946, Milton “Mezz” Mezzrow, Bernard Wolfe, “Tea Don’t Do You that Way”, in Really the Blues, New York, N.Y.: Random House, book 2 (1923–1928: Chicago, Chicago), page 85:


MAC

Military Airlift Command
w:Military Airlift Command

(US military) Acronym of Military Airlift Command, formerly, one of three former divisions of the US airforce, the others being SAC and TAC.


chop shop

chop shops (plural)
chop-shop (alternative)

Apparently his stolen car had been taken to a chop shop, as the police only recovered the frame.

Once the car is in a chop shop, a skilled cutter can reduce it to salable parts in half an hour to 45 minutes.

1979, “The Car-Theft Boom”, in Newsweek, page 100:

New York City sports a number of chop shops, as do Chicago, Detroit and most other large metropolitan areas.[…]If they can′t find the right engine, the junkyard may call a chop shop contact to get someone on the street looking for the right make and year.

1987 August 25, Ed Heney, “Outsmart the Car Thieves”, in Kiplinger's Personal Finance, page 32:

“A chop shop disassembles the entire car, so they need a location that is secluded, like a warehouse or a vacant factory — although today′s forfeiture laws tend to discourage chop shops.”

2009, Taylor Joseph, Allison Investigates, Four Star Publishing, page 94:

(US) A facility where stolen motor vehicles are disassembled in order to sell their mechanical parts.


gesundheit

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

From German Gesundheit (literally “health”), from gesund (“healthy”). The adjective is cognate with English sound, from Old English ġesund (“sound, safe, healthy”).

cog

Everybody Was at It, and There Was No One to Say Gesundheit

1897 July 24, “SNEEZES INTERRUPTED COURT”, in The Albany Law Journal, volume 56, number 4, page 67:

I used to play a game with David and Douggie, Dennis and Drew — stop their sneezes midsniff just by placing my pinkie finger against their nostrils and saying gesundheit before it was time.

2000, Abby Frucht, Polly's Ghost: A Novel (Fiction), Scribner, →ISBN, page 55:

(Canada, US) Said to someone who has just sneezed.


co-ed

Short for the original phrase coeducational referring to an educational institution that taught males and females together.

To many a student the most appealing subject in college is a coed. A coed is usually less interested in what she gets out of college than whom.

1968, Evan Esar, 20,000 Quips and Quotes:

I gazed wistfully at the pretty coeds.

1980, Dan Millman, Way of the Peaceful Warrior:

(US, dated, informal) A young woman who attends college.

1959: A coed is exotic with mascara on her eye lashes, demureness in a sweater, and 'the future homemaker' with a can opener.

(US, dated, informal) A (generally young) woman, especially on the campus of a college or other educational institute.


DB

(US, military) Initialism of depot brigade.


interdict

en-verb

interdict (third-person singular simple present interdicts, present participle interdicting, simple past and past participle interdicted)

interdicts (present singular third-person)
interdicting (participle present)
interdicted (participle past)
interdicted (past)

From Middle English entrediten, from Old French entredire (“forbid”), from Latin interdīcō (“prohibit, forbid”), from inter- (“between”) + dīcō (“say”), from Proto-Indo-European *deyḱ-.

Grant did not cease his efforts to interdict Lee's supply lines and break through the defenses.

1988, James McPherson, Battle Cry of Freedom, Oxford, published 2004, page 756:

(transitive, US, military) To impede (an enemy); to interrupt or destroy (enemy communications, supply lines etc).


Independence Day

Independence Day
Independence Day (India)
Independence Day (Philippines)

(US) A holiday celebrated in the United States commemorating the country's independence from Great Britain, celebrated each year on the 4th of July.


jones

Ed Boland, in The New York Times, March 2002, attributes the term to heroin addicts who frequented Great Jones Alley in New York City, off Great Jones Street between Broadway and Lafayette Street, although the slang term has obviously been around much longer.
Dan Waldorf states that the use of the term, in the sense of “addiction”, originated among heroin addicts.

You mean you got a little Jones, huh? Was it good?

1965, Amiri Baraka, The Alternative, as cited in Peter Bruck (ed.), The Black American Short Story in the 20th Century, John Benjamins, p. 196

Defendant responded by saying he had some "Jones", a term used to describe heroin.

1975, unknown author, Northwestern Reporter, page 512:

You seem like a smart kid, and dont get me wrong here, we dont want to see you all fucked up, cracked out butt naked on 4th street in the bad side of town, lookin to fuck the 1st millionaire willing to fork over some jones money.

2000, Priest Opiast Ogden, “Re: Questions about Percocet, Ativan & Xanax”, in alt.drugs.hard (Usenet):

Which erodes "quality of life" faster... debilitating chronic pain or a little jones?

2001, Terminus Est, “Re: Nothing to Fear but Pain Itself”, in alt.support.depression.manic (Usenet):

I’ve got a basketball jones!

... I've got a jones," and she dropped her head.

1965, Claude Brown, Manchild in the Promised Land, MacMillan, page 262:

"On the Deuce," he said, "everybody got a jones. They got a crack jones or a smack jones, ..."

1992, Lawrence Block, A Dance at the Slaughterhouse, HarperCollins, page 93:

And I went through a kind of withdrawal jones thing and drank a bunch and then took a Valium, and it comes in waves.

1992, Anonymous as cited in Dan Waldorf, Cocaine Changes, Temple University Press, p. 126

If you have a jones for one of these old tape-tanglers but lack the cash, space, and/or patience necessary to acquire, house and maintain one, consider M-Tron.

2003, Ken Hughes, edited by Jim Aikin, Software Synthesizers: The Definitive Guide to Virtual Musical Instruments, Backbeat Books, page 64:

(US, slang) An addiction or intense craving.


jones

jones (third-person singular simple present joneses, present participle jonesing, simple past and past participle jonesed)

joneses (present singular third-person)
jonesing (participle present)
jonesed (participle past)
jonesed (past)

I’m jonesing for some basketball.

A lot of people they be jonesing just to hear me rock the mic / They'll be staring at the radio, staying up all night

1989, Beastie Boys, Shake Your Rump, 0:06:

... when it's their turn to talk, they speak in coonass blue-collar accents about jonesing for crack and getting UA-ed by probation officers.

1995, James Lee Burke, Burning Angel, Hyperion, page 126:

“I have to go now,” she’d say to the grocery clerk. “My mother-in-law is back at the house, jonesing for her lunch.”

1997, David Sedaris, “True Detective”, in Naked:

If you jones for wheat grass, this is your destination.

2001, Sheridan Becker, Jayne Young, Savvy in the City: New York City, page 3:

Caramel colors and aspartame
Phosphoric acid, potassium
Natural flavors, of course caffeine
And now I'm jonesin' for MSG

2006, J. G. Thirlwell (lyrics and music), “Sieve”, in Damp, performed by Foetus:

The rain tree at sunset was exquisite, but after a few minutes Pender found himself jonesing for a football game.

2007, Jonathan Nasaw, Twenty-Seven Bones, Simon & Schuster, page 258:

(US, slang) To binge on cocaine and/or alcohol.


jasper

And list'nin to some big out-a-town jasper / Hearin' him tell about horse-race gamblin' / Not a wholesome trottin' race, no!

1957, Meredith Willson, “Ya Got Trouble”, in The Music Man:

"I stood there through almost an hour of it before they called Rooster Cogburn to the stand. I had guessed wrong as to which one he was, picking out a younger and slighter man with a badge on his shirt. And I was surprised when an old one-eyed jasper that was built along the lines of Grover Cleveland went up and was sworn."

1968, Charles Portis, “True Grit”, in The Saturday Evening Post:

Standing on the corner like a just-got-in-town jasper

1975, “Nighthawk Postcards (From Easy Street)”, in Nighthawks at the Diner, performed by Tom Waits:

“That jasper,” sniggered Darby, “never pulled out his ‘dummy’ for nothing but pissing, I bet you!”

2006, Thomas Pynchon, “The Light over the Ranges”, in Against the Day, New York, N.Y.: Penguin Press, →ISBN, page 110:

(US, slang) A person, a guy, especially seen as naïve or simple.


jimmy

*
* (chocolate sprinkles): Unknown. There is much speculation that they were named after Jim Crow, but there is little, if any, evidence to support this theory.

(US) A jemmy; a crowbar used by burglars to open windows and doors.

And then she said, "Gimme gimme gimme" / Jumped on my jimmy and rode me like the Wild West

1989 October 10, Ice-T (lyrics and music), “The Girl Tried to Kill Me” (track 6), in The Iceberg/Freedom of Speech... Just Watch What You Say!, performed by Ice-T:

From my Jimmy to my jaw / Every bone and every part of me's aching

2023, “Keep It Simple”, performed by Mika:

We moved to the futon and started fooling around. He rolled on a jimmy and I sat on top of him.

1999, Amy Sohn, Run Catch Kiss, Simon & Schuster, published 2000, →ISBN, page 111:

"The next time you hook up with somebody," Lovie was saying, "you better wear a jimmy, boy. With spermicide on it. […]

2004, Murad Kalam, Night Journey, Simon & Schuster, published 2004, →ISBN, page 158:


sincerely

en-adv

sincerely (comparative more sincerely, superlative most sincerely)

more sincerely (comparative)
most sincerely (superlative)

From sincere + -ly, from Latin sincērus (“pure, clean, sound”).

Please consider the proposal carefully and let me know what you decide.
Sincerely,
Fred

(US) A conventional formula for ending a letter, used when the salutation addresses the person for whom the letter is intended by his or her name.


oleo

en-noun

oleo (usually uncountable, plural oleos)

(US) The various fats and oils that go into the making of margarine.


buckle

buckle (countable and uncountable, plural buckles)

Origin uncertain. Probably from Middle English bokelen (“to arch the body”), from Middle French boucler (“to bulge”, literally “to take the shape of a shield boss”), from the same ultimate origin as Etymology 1 above. In some senses, possibly from buck (“to bend, yield, buckle”) + -le (frequentative suffix).

suf

(countable, Canada, US, baking) Usually preceded by a descriptive word: a cake baked with fresh fruit (often blueberries) and a streusel topping.

murukuorrute-hedelmäkakku

cake baked with fresh fruit and a streusel topping


java

en-noun

java (countable and uncountable, plural javas)

From Java, an island on and near which a particular blend of coffee is made. The US use of the term to refer to any coffee originated in San Francisco, an early center of the US coffee trade.

45 have some joe Week's almost over—now bring it home. Austrian researchers found that a cup of java resulted in a 45-minute boost of brain activity in the regions responsible for attention, concentration, and short-term memory.

2008 January–February, “70 Ways to Improve Every Day of the Week”, in Men's Health, volume 23, number 1, →ISSN, page 135:


tamper

en-verb

tamper (third-person singular simple present tampers, present participle tampering, simple past and past participle tampered)

tampers (present singular third-person)
tampering (participle present)
tampered (participle past)
tampered (past)

From Middle French temprer (“to temper, mix, meddle”). Doublet of temper.

der

(US, Canada, in professional sports) To discuss future contracts with a player, against league rules.


heads-up

heads-up (plural)
heads-ups (plural)
heads up (alternative)

Send everyone a heads-up about the inspection tomorrow.

(chiefly US, idiomatic) A warning or call to pay attention; an advisory notice; a notice of what is to happen; a holler.

advarsel

warning or call to pay attention; (advisory) notice of what is to happen


mochaccino

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

(US) The coffee drink cappuccino made with chocolate.


fanny

en-noun

fanny (countable and uncountable, plural fannies)

19th century. Ultimately from Fanny, pet form of the name Frances. Compare dick, John Thomas, mickey.

Children, sit down on your fannies, and eat your lunch.

Get off your fanny and get back to work!

(Canada, US, informal) The buttocks; arguably the most nearly polite of several euphemisms.


napoleon

napoleon (countable and uncountable, plural napoleons)

napoleons (plural)
Napoleon (alternative)

/nəˈpəʊlɪən/

Borrowed from French Napoléon (“given name, usually in reference to Napoleon Bonaparte”). In reference to coins, via French napoléon (“(slang) a coin that originally had the appearance of Napoleon's face in the obverse”). In reference to guns and possibly cards, in reference to Napoleon III.

bor

Fascinated, Miss Manvers thrust aside a garnished plate, took a gulp of the decoction called coffee, and attacked her napoleon.

1914 November, Louis Joseph Vance, “An Outsider […]”, in Munsey’s Magazine, volume LIII, number II, New York, N.Y.: The Frank A[ndrew] Munsey Company, […], published 1915, →OCLC, chapter I (Anarchy), page 373, column 1:

(food, originally US slang) Clipping of Napoleon cake: another name for a millefeuille pastry.


molt

en-verb

molt (third-person singular simple present molts, present participle molting, simple past and past participle molted)

molts (present singular third-person)
molting (participle present)
molted (participle past)
molted (past)


CSA

Confederate States of America
Confederate States of America#English

(US) Initialism of Confederate States of America.

Similarly, alcohol and tobacco are not scheduled under the CSA. These two substances are descheduled. […] NORML believes that a similar descheduling option – where the federal government and state governments both possess varying degrees of regulatory authority over the production, marketing, and taxation of the product, is appropriate for cannabis.

2019 May 19, “How to End Marijuana Prohibition With Regard to the Controlled Substances Act”, in NORML:

Controlled Substances Act
w:Controlled Substances Act

(US) Initialism of Controlled Substances Act.


CSA

en-noun

CSA (countable and uncountable, plural CSAs)

combined statistical area
combined statistical area#English

(US) Initialism of combined statistical area.


FDA

This week, the FDA issued an emergency use authorization (EUA) for a a monoclonal antibody combination for the treatment of mild to moderate COVID-19 in adults and pediatric patients

2021 February 12, “Coronavirus (COVID-19) update”, in U.S. Food & Drug Administration:

In the United States, some apps are getting recognized by the F.D.A. and are in trials to be designated as clinical interventions. Whatever you might think of them, they are fast becoming a part of global mental health care.

2022 September 27, Barclay Bram, “My Therapist, the Robot”, in The New York Times:

Food and Drug Administration
w:Food and Drug Administration

(US) Initialism of Food and Drug Administration, a United States federal regulatory body.


solicitor

solicitors (plural)
solicitour (alternative)

From Middle French soliciteur. Equivalent to solicit + -or.

(Canada, US) A person soliciting sales, especially door to door.


capital stock

capital stock (usually uncountable, plural capital stocks)

(law, accounting, US) The total amount of common and preferred stock (shares) that a company can issue.


CG

guided missile cruiser
guided missile cruiser

(US, military, nautical) A guided missile cruiser.

(US, military, nautical) Initialism of coast guard.


DD

DD (countable and uncountable, plural DDs)

(US, military, nautical) Abbreviation of destroyer, a type of warship.


aging

aging (countable and uncountable, plural agings)

(gerontology) The accumulation of damage to macromolecules, cells, tissues and organs with the passage of time; the progressing loss of health, mobility, vibrancy and body functionality, resulting in biological death.


aging

en-adj

aging (comparative more aging, superlative most aging)

more aging (comparative)
most aging (superlative)
ageing (alternative)

The aging artist could no longer steadily hold the brush.


mop head

mop heads (plural)
mophead (alternative)

(US) A clamp for holding the thrums or rags of a mop.


joe

en-noun

joe (countable and uncountable, plural joes)

Some people say I make the best joe in town. But you know there's a kiosk over on Eighteenth Avenue, not that far from here.

2010, Melody Carlson, A Mile in My Flip-Flops, page 221:


residency

residency (countable and uncountable, plural residencies)

(US, healthcare) The position or term of a medical resident.


gang bang

gang bangs (plural)
gangbang (alternative)

(US, slang) Protecting gang turf, especially when dealing drugs or other black market objects.


whistle-blower

whistle-blowers (plural)
whistleblower (alternative)
whistle blower (alternative)

From whistle + blower, referring to a police officer blowing their whistle on observing a violation of the law.

We owe it to a small group of brave whistle-blowers that we know about the infractions at all.

Usually the whistleblower is not fired outright. The organization's goal is to disconnect the act of whistleblowing from the act of retaliation, which is why so much legislation to protect whistleblowers is practically irrelevant. The usual practice is to demoralize and humiliate the whistleblower, putting him or her under so much psychological stress that it becomes difficult to do a good job.

2012, Frederick D. Lipman, Whistleblowers, Hoboken, N.J.: Wiley, →ISBN, page 60:

The huge breach of the National Security Agency’s domestic surveillance program in June 2013 was one of the proudest moments in modern journalism, and one of the purest: A brave and disgusted whistle-blower, Edward Snowden, revealed the government’s extensive surveillance of American and foreign citizens.

2020 September 14, Ben Smith, “The Intercept Promised to Reveal Everything”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

(slang, chiefly US) One who reports a problem or violation to the authorities; especially, an employee or former employee who reports a violation by an employer.

ազդարար

one who reports a problem or violation to the authorities


tattle

en-verb

tattle (third-person singular simple present tattles, present participle tattling, simple past and past participle tattled)

tattles (present singular third-person)
tattling (participle present)
tattled (participle past)
tattled (past)

From Middle Dutch tatelen, tateren (“to babble, chatter”) (modern Dutch tatelen, tateren (“to talk, chatter”)), originally imitative. The word is cognate with Saterland Frisian tätelje (“to talk nonsense, babble”), Middle Low German tāteren, tadderen (“to babble, chatter”) (whence modern German Low German tatern (“to chatter”)), Low German tateln, täteln (“to cackle, gabble”). Compare also Middle English dadel, dadull (“tattling, gossip”), and its alteration twaddle.

cog

There are some children who just like to talk about others. They are not reporting. They are tattling, telling one negative after another. Their goal is to get others in trouble. […] Children sometimes do not mean to tattle about someone else. They do it because they are having a problem with another child and just don't know any other way to handle the problem.

2009, Maryln Appelbaum, “How to Handle Children Who are Disruptive”, in How to Handle Hard-to-handle Preschoolers: A Guide for Early Childhood Educators, Thousand Oaks, Calif.: Corwin Press, SAGE Publishing; Appelbaum Training Institute, →ISBN, page 4:

I trapped the girls inside their tent / Someone tattled on me / Put a frog in the bathroom vent / Someone tattled on me / Gave my dinner to a bear / Put a snake in Auntie's chair / And a tick in Gramp's rootbeer / Someone tattled on me

2009, Renee Gregory, “I’m Gettin’ Broccoli for Dinner”, in Bugs, Bears and S’mores: Songs of the Great Outdoors, Pittsburgh, Pa.: RoseDog Books, →ISBN, page 100:

Vera is a kindergarten student who loves to be the center of adult attention. She has a quick temper and frequently talks out in class. She also frequently "tattles" on other students.

2015, Deanne A. Crone, Leanne S. Hawken, Robert H. Horner, “Conducting a Functional Behavioral Assessment”, in Building Positive Behavior Support Systems in Schools: Functional Behavioral Assessment, 2nd edition, New York, N.Y., London: The Guilford Press, →ISBN, part II (Embedding Functional Behavioral Assessment within School Systems: Case Examples), page 39:

en:to report others' wrongdoings or violations

(intransitive, Canada, US, derogatory) Often said of children: to report incriminating information about another person, or a person's wrongdoing, usually to a person in a position of authority over the accused person; to tell on somebody.

доноснича

to report incriminating information or wrongdoing


tattle

en-noun

tattle (countable and uncountable, plural tattles)

Have a special small bucket called the tattle bucket. Make name cards for each child. […] When children have a tattle, instead of disrupting the class, they get their name card and put it in the tattle bucket. Look in the bucket at varying times during the day. If you see a name card, go to the child and say, "I see you have your name card in the tattle bucket. What would you like to tell me?" Many times, children will have forgotten all about the tattle.

(countable, Canada, US, derogatory) Often said of children: a piece of incriminating information or an account of wrongdoing that is said about another person.


off the deep end

It used to be a funny comic, but lately it has gone off the deep end.

(idiomatic, US) Crazy, erratic, or irrational.


canner

From Middle English canner (“maker of cans”), originally from the noun canne and equivalent to can + -er (occupational suffix). The modern senses reflect other meanings of the suffix -er.

Yet many canners told me that they can easily earn a daily wage of 20 or 30 dollars; each then recycles upward of 600 containers every day.

2007 May 27, Jon Mooallem, “The Unintended Consequences of Hyperhydration”, in New York Times, page 7:

Among the crowds are ordinary working people shopping at the Pathmark, as well as down-and-out "canners" bringing their cans and bottles to the recycling station on East 124th Street.

2009, Camilo Jose Vergara, 125th and Lex: The most complicated, disturbing, and lively intersection in New York City. A photo essay., Slate.com, December 3, 2009

(US, slang) Someone who lives off container deposit refunds from recycling.


meg

He could pick out cloth that was thirty meg a yard and get a suit and overcoat for fifteen bucks.

1916, Ring W. Lardner, “Three Kings and a Pair”, in The Saturday Evening Post:


dress-down Friday

dress-down Friday (plural dress-down Fridays)

(US) A Friday on which office workers are allowed to dress more casually than usual.


casual Friday

dress-down Friday
dress-down Friday#English


brownie point

Unknown, but possibly from brownnose, and often associated with the points that Girl Guides or Girl Scouts at the Brownie level (ages six through eight) receive for doing specific tasks that when accumulated earn them badges (a sign of recognition) to wear on their Brownie Uniform. First use appears c. 1944 in the The Daily Item (Sunbury).

You're really going to get some brownie points from the teacher for that fantastic essay!

However, you get Brownie points for having spelled my names right—all of them, and the first time too!

1967 November, Harriette Bailey Conn, “Women legislators”, in Ebony, page 14:

(idiomatic, slang, originally US, chiefly in the plural) Credit or praise for good work or a good deed, often for the express purpose of currying favor.

Brownies (Scouting)
The Daily Item (Sunbury)


johnny

Alternative letter-case form of Johnny, diminutive of John.

toilet

place or device for urination and defecation

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

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

Kitty Hofman came in the johnny.

1935, John O'Hara, chapter IV, in Appointment in Samarra, page 98:

(US, slang, dated) Synonym of john: a toilet, lavatory, outhouse, or chamber pot.


emergicenter

emergency center. Compare surgicenter, urgicenter.

(US) a clinic, often in a shopping mall, offering immediate outpatient treatment for minor ailments and injuries


matron

From Middle English matrone, from Old French matrone, from Latin mātrōna (“married woman”), from māter (“mother”). Doublet of matrona.


cause celebre

Shortly after he left Government service as a translator at the Supreme Court, the cause celebre was the assassination of a radically-minded (Sun Yat-sen supporting) school teacher in his own classroom by gunmen hired by the police chief in Canton.

1987, Anthony Sweeting, “A MIDDLEMAN FOR ALL SEASONS: SNAPSHOTS OF THE SIGNIFICANCE OF MOK MAN CHEUNG AND HIS "ENGLISH MADE EASY"”, in Journal of the Hong Kong Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, volume 27, page 62:

Rubin "Hurricane" Carter, who died this week, was a boxer in the United States. He was convicted of a 1966 triple homicide in two trials and became a cause celebre, inspiring Bob Dylan's song Hurricane.

2014 April 24, Alex von Tunzelmann, “The Hurricane: the facts of Rubin Carter's life story are beaten to a pulp”, in The Guardian:

(chiefly US) Alternative spelling of cause célèbre.


caboose

cabooses (plural)
camboose (alternative)
cambouse (alternative)

From French cambuse, from Middle Dutch kabuys, kabuis (Modern Dutch kombuis (“galley; kitchen”)). Cognate with Swedish kabyss.

(US, rail transport) The last car on a freight train, having cooking and sleeping facilities for the crew; a guard’s van.


take the cake

en-verb

take the cake (third-person singular simple present takes the cake, present participle taking the cake, simple past took the cake, past participle taken the cake)

takes the cake (present singular third-person)
taking the cake (participle present)
took the cake (past)
taken the cake (participle past)

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-take the cake.wav

Attested since circa 1870. Originally used in reference to the winners of cake walk competitions in black communities of the southern USA in the 19th and early 20th centuries, who were said to have "taken the cake", which was oftentimes the prize.

Thanks! You guys take the cake.

Once the party was over, everyone agreed that Elizabeth and her Harriet Tubman getup had taken the cake.

I've seen bad grammar, but this takes the cake.

(idiomatic, colloquial, chiefly US) Used as an affirmation or accolade when one is deemed the top position in a comparison or contest; to win or be the best (at).


bell pepper

en-noun

bell pepper (countable and uncountable, plural bell peppers)

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

Capsicum annuum
Capsicum annuum#Translingual

(Canada, US, Philippines) Capsicum annuum, an edible, sweet, generally mild (not spicy) fruit, originating in the New World.


piccalilli

piccalillis (plural)
picalilli (alternative)

Hannah Glasse
The Art of Cookery
piccalilli

First attested in the from 1845. Unknown. Presumably variant of pickle, which itself is from Middle English pekille (“spicy sauce served with meat or fish”) or pikel, from Middle Dutch pekel (“brine”); perhaps influenced by dialectal variants.
Alternatively, may be related to paco lilla (“ginger-spiced pickle”), in 18th century British cookbook The Art of Cookery (1747–1843; e.g., 1805 edition) by Hannah Glasse (1708–1770), also referred to as “Indian pickles”, which suggests an Indo-Aryan source; compare mulligatawny, of Tamil origin, which also features turmeric prominently, and curry, of Tamil or Middle English origin (or blend). No relation to Piccadilly.

der

(US) A pickle, typically on a base of chopped green (unripe) tomatoes, but sometimes finely-chopped gherkins, and possibly including other vegetables.

relish

American green finely chopped gherkin-based pickle

particularly if used on Chicago-style hot dogs


off one's nut

Old Smith was awfully bucked because he'd taken four wickets. I should think he'd go off his nut if he took eight ever.

1909, P. G. Wodehouse, chapter 17, in Mike: A Public School Story:

"[I]f I was to spring this news in Mr. Wright's hearin', why, such a sensitive, high-tempered gentleman as he would go plumb off his nut."

1914, Zane Grey, chapter 13, in The Rustlers of Pecos County:

"Look at them rapids ahead of us! Why, the guy that laid out this river was off his nut!"

1918, Rex Ellingwood Beach, chapter 11, in The Winds of Chance:

(chiefly British, dated in US, idiomatic) Insane, crazy.


beer goggles

/ˈbɪə ˌɡɒɡl̩z/

/ˈbɪɚ ˌɡɑɡ(ə)l/

Originally 1980s US college slang, from the notion that consumption of beer and other alcoholic beverages causes people to see things differently, as if wearing a type of goggles.

“Their findings essentially suggest that while intoxication may not have resulted in beer goggles, it did seem to increase liquid courage, in that people were more likely to indicate a desire to interact with attractive others,” said Monk, whose previous research had found some evidence to support the beer goggles effect.

2023 August 30, Linda Geddes, “‘Beer goggles’ study finds alcohol does not make people seem better looking”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:

(idiomatic, originally US, humorous, informal) The illusion that people are more sexually attractive, brought on by alcohol consumption.

bierbril

wyższa atrakcyjność spodowowana przez alkohol


trots

A lot of people used to go out to the trots at Wayville. You′d see them all dressed up in their beads and bonnets and looking all flash, going off to the trots.

2002, Veronica Brodie, Mary-Anne Gale, My Side of the Bridge: The Life Story of Veronica Brodie as Told to Mary-Anne Gale, South Australia: Wakefield Press, page 49:

‘Russ drank two bottles of Coruba rum at the races then demanded to be driven to the Auckland night trots. We hadn′t been that keen on going to the trots, but when we dropped him there we figured we might as well stay for a couple of races.[…]’

2006, Mike Dillon, From The Horses Mouth: The Keith Haub Story, HarperCollins New Zealand, published 2010, unnumbered page:

I like both kinds of racing, thoroughbred and standardbred. Despite their lower social status, I like betting the trots just as much as I do the flats.

2008, J. D. Carpenter, Twelve Trees, Canada: Dundurn Press, page 24:

“[…]It is a fact that thousands come, pay their fee, and go straight to the amphitheater to see the trots, without whose fees premiums could not be paid to other classes.”

2008, Drake Hokanson, Carol Kratz, Purebred & Homegrown: America′s County Fairs, US: Terrace Books, page 45:

2011, Mike Walsh, 8: From Hollywood to the Garden Suburb (and Back to Hollywood): Exhibition and Distribution in Australia, Richard Maltby, Daniel Biltereyst, Philippe Meers, Explorations in New Cinema History: Approaches and Case Studies, Wiley, page 164,
The introduction of harness racing on Saturday nights at nearby Wayville in 1934 caused serious consequences for the rest of the 1930s as ‘the trots’ regularly attracted crowds of 20 000. When the trots began to offer free admission to children accompanying their parents, the state Exhibitors′ Association, of which Thompson was then chair, tried to agitate against this on moral grounds.

(Australia, New Zealand, US, informal, with "the") A trotting race meet; harness racing.


cease and desist

From cease (“stop”), and desist (“to not do again”).

His remarks did not stop the courts from issuing the cease-and-desist order.

(US, law, chiefly attributive) An order by a government agency, sanctioned by a court, that one must stop and not resume a certain (usually illegal) behavior.


touch base

en-verb

touch base (third-person singular simple present touches base, present participle touching base, simple past and past participle touched base)

touches base (present singular third-person)
touching base (participle present)
touched base (participle past)
touched base (past)
touch bases (alternative)

Touch base with your boss before you start work to make sure you understand the project.

I had met with Dr. Todd right before dinner. He had wanted to touch base with me about my ongoing treatment.

2014, A. Meredith Walters, Light in the Shadows, Simon and Schuster, →ISBN, page 55:

(by extension, idiomatic, colloquial, Canada, US, usually with "with") To meet or make contact with someone, usually to consult, review, visit, or communicate.


consult

en-noun

consult (countable and uncountable, plural consults)

From Middle French consulte. In sense “council”, it represents Latin cōnsultum, Italian consulto; and it may have been often taken as a direct formation from the verb.

(now US, countable) A visit to consult somebody, such as a doctor; a consultation.


lay off

en-verb

lay off (third-person singular simple present lays off, present participle laying off, simple past and past participle laid off)

lays off (present singular third-person)
laying off (participle present)
laid off (participle past)
laid off (past)

(transitive, chiefly US, idiomatic) (of an employer) To dismiss (workers) from employment, e.g. at a time of low business volume or through no fault of the worker, often with a severance package.


frankfurt

From German Frankfurt. Compare frankfurter.

Sample of frankfurts procured from Stanley Kwiatkowski, Grand Rapids, Mich. Contains excessive amount of cereal.

1919, Michigan Office of Dairy and Food Commissioner, Annual report of the Dairy and Food Commissioner of the State of Michigan, volume 25, page 81:

Frankfurts of the highest quality are prepared generally from a mixture of approximately half beef and half pork.

1942, Robert Byron Hinman, Robert Bernard Harris, The Story of Meat, page 137:

As a kid in the 50s, (before we became infested with the current mish-mash of liquorice allsorts) pork fritz, devon, sliced ham, frankfurts, pork sausages...were all about as common a staple as you care to name. Even the Italians and Greeks of the time ate (and continue to eat) the stuff!!

2003 June 10, smithxpj, “Ham banned in Broadmeadows”, in aus.consumers (Usenet):

(US, Australia) A frankfurter; a hot dog sausage.


ER

(US sports) Abbreviation of Erie (“Erie, Pennsylvania, USA”).


alderman

From Middle English alderman, aldermon, from Old English ealdorman, ealdormann, from ealdor (“elder, parent, chief, prince, author”) + mann (“person”). See ealdorman.

He'd exercise, get the fat off, because if he let it go, he'd have too much on and maybe make his heart worse, and you looked like hell with an alderman. […] And she wouldn't want a guy who stuck out in front like a balloon.

1934, James T. Farrell, chapter 13, in The Young Manhood of Studs Lonigan:

(US, slang) A large, protruding, or swollen abdomen; a paunch, a potbelly.


masthead

(US) A list of a newspaper or other periodical's main staff, contributing writers, publisher, circulation, advertising rates etc.


humbug

en-noun

humbug (countable and uncountable, plural humbugs)

→ Finnish: humpuuki

→ German: Humbug

→ Hungarian: humbug (perhaps in part through German)

→ Polish: humbug (perhaps in part through German)

John Camden Hotten
Oxford English Dictionary
Piccadilly

Origin unknown; the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) states that “the facts as to its origin appear to have been lost, even before the word became common enough to excite attention”. It has been suggested that the word possibly derives from hummer (“(slang) An obvious lie”), or from hum (“(dialectal and slang) to cajole; delude; impose on”) + bug (“a goblin, a spectre”). In his Slang Dictionary (1864), English bibliophile and publisher John Camden Hotten (1832–1873) suggested a link to the name of the German city of Hamburg, “from which town so many false bulletins and reports came during the war in the last century”, or alternatively a derivation from ambage.
Hotten also said he had traced the earliest occurrence of the word to the title page of Ferdinando Killigrew’s book The Universal Jester (see quotations), which he dated to about 1735–1740. This dating has therefore been adopted by other dictionaries. However, the OED dates the word to about 1750, as the earliest edition of Killigrew’s work has been dated to 1754.

unk

unknown

(US, countable, slang) Anything complicated, offensive, troublesome, unpleasant or worrying; a misunderstanding, especially if trivial.

Yet, for all the ferocity, the fights were short-lived. Every group except the Vice Kings, who had been most threatened, were brought under control fairly quickly and stayed to see the basketball game—only the Vice Kings missed it. Moreover, despite talk of retaliation, the humbug was self-contained; […]

1969, Ruth Shonle Cavan, editor, Readings in Juvenile Delinquency, 2nd edition, Philadelphia, Pa., New York, N.Y.: J. B. Lippincott & Co., →OCLC, pages 225–226:

Vice Lords refer to all kinds of fighting as humbugging. A fight between a boy and his father, a fight between males and females, a fight between rival clubs, or any other kind of fight can be referred to as a humbug. However, Vice Lords further distinguish between kinds of fighting. Gangbanging refers only to fights between enemy clubs. When individuals wish to distinguish between fights involving two individuals and fights involving rival clubs, they refer to the former as humbugs and the latter as gangbangs.

1972, Thomas Kochman, editor, Rappin’ and Stylin’ Out: Communication in Urban Black America, Urbana, Ill.: University of Illinois Press, →ISBN, page 364:

[page 197] A "humbug" (gang fight) that took place at the Chicago Amphitheater involved both threats to the newly acquired adult status of a gang leader (he had just turned 21 years old) and to group identity among rival gangs. […] [page 198] The humbug provided grist for the mill of individual and group status within the status universe of fighting gangs. In the months that followed no more humbugging between any of these gangs took place, however.

1990, James F. Short, Delinquency and Society (Prentice-Hall Foundations of Modern Sociology Series), Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, →ISBN, pages 197 and 198:

Actually we were just looking for something to do because we didn't have any reason to keep out of trouble. All we could do was just drink scrap iron, smoke reefers, and look for a humbug. There was nothing to occupy our minds.

1992, David Dawley, “Whenever It Go Down”, in A Nation of Lords: The Autobiography of the Vice Lords, 2nd edition, Long Grove, Ill.: Waveland Press, →ISBN, page 39:

(US, countable, African-American Vernacular, slang) A fight.

(countable, US, African-American Vernacular, slang, dated) A gang.

"Let's talk first, Mr. Brown," Sergeant Murillo said. "Do you remember telling these officers you were going to sue them for false arrest?" / Bootsie Brown paused with the cookie halfway to his lips and said, "I mighta. It was a humbug arrest. That's why they let me and Axel outta jail in forty-eight hours. We was jist tryin' to have an Irish wake for good old Coleman."

2009, Joseph Wambaugh, Hollywood Moon: A Novel, New York, N.Y.: Little, Brown and Company, →ISBN:

I pulled the initial investigation report. I see who arrested him and I knew it was a humbug. A humbug is a bullshit arrest. No Police Officer likes to believe they exist; however sometimes it was a fact of life.

2013, Sparky McLaughlin, “‘Et Tu (Fill in Name Here) …’”, in Damned from Memory, Swedesboro, N.J.: Damned from Memory LLC, BookBaby, →ISBN:

(countable, US, crime, slang) A false arrest on trumped-up charges.


humbug

en-verb

humbug (third-person singular simple present humbugs, present participle humbugging, simple past and past participle humbugged)

humbugs (present singular third-person)
humbugging (participle present)
humbugged (participle past)
humbugged (past)

desc

→ Macanese: ambâc, ambâ, ambá, ambaque, hambâc

unk

unknown

(US, African-American Vernacular, slang) To fight; to act tough.


pierogi

en-noun

pierogi (plural pierogi or pierogies or pierogis)

pierogi (plural)
pierogies (plural)
pierogis (plural)
pierogie (alternative)
pierogy (alternative)
pirogi (alternative)
pirogy (alternative)
pirojki (alternative)
pyrogy (alternative)
pyrohy (alternative)
perog (alternative)
pierog (alternative)
pieróg (alternative)

Borrowed from Polish pierogi, the plural of pieróg (“dumpling”), which ultimately is derived from Proto-Slavic *pirъ (“party”). Unrelated to Turkish börek. Doublet of pirogi (from Russian), pirohy (from Czech and Slovak), and pyrohy/pedaheh (from Ukrainian).

(Canada, US) A square- or crescent-shaped dumpling of unleavened dough, stuffed with sauerkraut, cheese, mashed potatoes, cabbage, onion, meat, or any combination of these, or with a fruit filling.

波兰饺子 (Bōlán jiǎozi, literally “Polish dumpling(s)”)


TNN

The Nashville Network
w:The Nashville Network

(US, television, historical) Initialism of The Nashville Network.


SSN

social security number
social security number#English

(US, Navy) Acronym of sub-surface nuclear — a nuclear-powered attack submarine.


goodfella

goodfellas (plural)
goodfellow (alternative)

From good + fella. Popularised by the US crime film GoodFellas (1990).


cartesian distance

cartesian distance (plural cartesian distances)

Cartesian distance
Cartesian distance#English

(US) Alternative letter-case form of Cartesian distance


counterclockwise

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

(US, Canada) In the direction of rotation opposite from clockwise.


counterclockwise

(US, Canada) Moving or located in the direction of rotation opposite from clockwise.


frankfurter

From German Frankfurter, the demonym of Frankfurt. Specifically, a reference to Frankfurt-am-Main.

(UK, US, Canada) A moist sausage of soft, even texture and flavor, often made from mechanically recovered meat or meat slurry.


GED

He’d had the thought of getting his GED in the back of his mind for a while.

2019, Colson Whitehead, The Nickel Boys, Fleet, page 138:

General Educational Development
w:General Educational Development

(US, education) Initialism of General Educational Development.

(US, education) Initialism of general education degree/diploma.


coconut

coconut (countable and uncountable, plural coconuts)

coconuts (plural)
cocoanut (alternative)
coco-nut (alternative)
cokernut (alternative)

→ Japanese: ココナッツ (kokonattsu)

From coco + nut. In reference to assimilated Hispanic or black people, derived from the fruit's exotic origins and the slur that they are "brown on the outside, white on the inside". In reference to Polynesians, from the ubiquity of coconut palms in the area.

that accounts for the milk in the coconut

After that I was regarded as comic. I became a ‘coconut’—someone brown on the outside, white on the inside. I was the bleached academic—more white than the anglo professors. In my classes several students glared at me, clearly seeing in me the person they feared ever becoming. Who was I, after all, but some comic Queequeg, holding close to my breast a reliquary containing the white powder of a dead European civilization?

1982, Richard Rodriguez, “Profession”, in Hunger of Memory: The Education of Richard Rodriguez, Boston: David R. Godine, Publisher, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 162:

(US, derogatory, ethnic slur) A Hispanic or other dark-skinned person considered to have overly assimilated to white culture, a race traitor.


AE

• APO/FPO AE ZIPs 094-098 — Space Available Mail, Nov. 26; Parcel Airlift Mail, Dec. 3; Priority Mail, Dec. 10; First Class Mail Letters and Cards, Dec.10 and Express Mail Military Service, Dec. 18.
• APO/FPO AA ZIP 340 — Space Available Mail, Nov. 26; Parcel Airlift Mail, Dec. 3; Priority Mail, Dec. 10; First Class Mail Letters and Cards, Dec. 10 and Express Mail Military Service, Dec. 18.
• APO/FPO AP ZIPs 962-966 — Space Available Mail, Nov. 26; Parcel Airlift Mail, Dec. 3; Priority Mail, Dec. 10; First Class Mail Letters and Cards, Dec. 10 and Express Mail Military Service, Dec. 18.

2010 October 29, Bill Shrum, “Shipping to soldiers for the holidays”, in Stuttgart (Arkansas) Daily Leader:

(US, military) USPS military code of Armed Forces – Europe.


taco

Borrowed from Mexican Spanish taco (“light lunch”, literally “stopper, plug, wad”).

bor

[…] while grinding her pink taco into my groin as if trying to gain even more of my sizable ...

2007, Various, Sex & Seduction: 20 Erotic Stories, Accent Press Ltd, page 130:

[…] zombies have to eat and the best place to on any female is the pink taco.

2009, Albert Mudrian, Precious Metal: Decibel Presents the Stories Behind 25 Extreme Metal Masterpieces, Da Capo Press, page 159:

"[…] was it really necessary to make your maid piss herself? Even if you think your husband is hiding his sausage in her taco, that was brazen. Jesus, Lana."

2015, Cynthia Dane, A Fragile Wife: A Billionaire Romance, Barachou Press:

(US, slang) A yellow stain on a shirt's armpit caused by sweat or deodorant.


contra

Folk histories record that contras were gradually displaced by the introduction of the quadrille and the new couple dances.

2001, Ellen Koskoff, editor, The Garland Encyclopedia of World Music: North America, Garland Publishing, page 232:

(obsolete, US, New England, dance) A country dance.


unfavorable

en-adj

unfavorable (comparative more unfavorable, superlative most unfavorable)

more unfavorable (comparative)
most unfavorable (superlative)

Microrefugia are sites that support populations of species when their ranges contract during unfavorable climate episodes.

2015 January 9, Kristoffer Hylander, Johan Ehrlén, Miska Luoto, Eric Meineri, “Microrefugia: Not for everyone”, in Ambio, volume 44 (supplement 1), →DOI, →PMID, pages 60–8:

Alternatively, unfavorable outcome with severe or even fatal consequences for the organism would be the development of fibrolipid plaque which would be prone to plaque rupture and thrombus formation [ 23 ].

2015 June 9, Alexander N. Orekhov et al., “Development of Antiatherosclerotic Drugs on the basis of Natural Products Using Cell Model Approach”, in Oxidative Medicine and Cellular Longevity, volume 2015, →DOI:


taqueria

taquerias (plural)
taquería (alternative)

/ˌtɑkəˈɹiːə/

But as soon as I walked past the nearest taqueria, as I felt the grease settle on my skin, and heard the scrape of spatulas on the grill, as soon as I ordered and felt the immensity of my relief—I think I knew.

2023, C Pam Zhang, Land of Milk and Honey, Hutchinson Heinemann, page 50:

(chiefly US) A restaurant specializing in tacos and other Mexican food.


busy work

busywork (alternative)
busy-work (alternative)

Until we have a system clearly established, entering more data is just busy work.

(idiomatic, chiefly US) Work or activity performed with the intention or result of occupying time, and not necessarily to accomplish something productive; routine work of low priority undertaken for the sake of avoiding idleness.


buddha

en-noun

buddha (countable and uncountable, plural buddhas)

I know how it feel to wake up fucked up
Pockets broke as hell, another rock to sell
People look at you like you's the user
Sellin' drugs to all the losers, mad buddha abuser

1994, The Notorious B.I.G. (lyrics and music), “Everyday Struggle”, in Ready to Die:

It ain't hard to tell, I excel, then prevail
The mic is contacted, I attract clientele
My mic check is life or death, breathin' a sniper's breath
I exhale the yellow smoke of buddha through righteous steps

1994, Nas (lyrics and music), “It Ain't Hard to Tell”, in Illmatic:


cronyism

cronyism (countable and uncountable, plural cronyisms)

cronyisms (plural)
croneyism (alternative)

From crony (“close friend”) + -ism (suffix forming names of a tendency of action, behaviour, condition, opinion, or state belonging to a class or group of persons).

suffix

[T]he present structure of the collective bargaining agreement, combined with nepotism and cronyism and other abuses in employment and referral practices, have perpetuated the effects of the past discrimination, […]

1974 September 19, Lawrence W[arren] Pierce, United States District Judge, “Memorandum Opinion and Order”, in John R. Patterson, et al., Plaintiffs, v Newspaper and Mail Deliverers’ Union of New York and Vicinity, et al., Defendants. […], page 23a:

[Robert L.] Hagist began what he called an "18 month reform program" that included revised warehouse procedures and measures to prevent the leakages, shortages, cronyisms, and politicking attributed to the managers and clerks of the various stores.

1988, Norman H. Clark, “Booze and Politics, 1933–83”, in The Dry Years: Prohibition and Social Change in Washington, revised edition, Seattle, Wash., London: University of Washington Press, →ISBN, page 258:

If we are going to reauthorize the National Endowment, we need to see to it that the Endowment, in its procedures, are open, one. […] That there is a cessation of a long-term practice of cronyisms on the panels so that artists across the Nation have equal access to this.

1990 April 4, Dick Armey, Hearing on the Reauthorization of the National Endowment for the Arts and the Humanities: Hearings before the Subcommittee on Postsecondary Education of the Committee on Education and Labor, House of Representatives, One Hundred First Congress, Second Session […] (Serial No. 101-78), volume 3, Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, →OCLC, page 35:

[C]ommunism is predicated upon a central structure of economic command that is singularly entrusted with allocating resources and making economic decisions. Because of this centralized command structure, communist societies fall prey to the forces of cronyism and influence-peddling as commune members without economic power curry favor with commune leaders that control access to resources.

2013 April, Randall G[regory] Holcombe, Andrea M. Castillo, “Communism”, in Liberalism and Cronyism: Two Rival Political and Economic Systems, Mercatus Center at George Mason University, →ISBN, page 31:

Patronage, nepotism, cronyism, abuse of power, and criminal activity flourish, sometimes for decades, in numerous town halls, police stations, and special-purpose government agencies in the suburbs.

2015, Thomas J. Gradel, Dick Simpson, “Suburban Scandals”, in Corrupt Illinois: Patronage, Cronyism, and Criminality, Urbana; Chicago, Ill.: University of Illinois Press, →ISBN, page 117:

Critics accuse her [von der Leyen] of serious missteps over the pandemic, the Gaza war, alleged cronyism, – and of having a high-handed manner.

2024 May 4, Simon Tisdall, “Giorgia Meloni and Ursula von der Leyen, the double act that is steering the EU ever rightwards”, in The Observer, →ISSN:

(originally US, derogatory) Favouritism to friends without regard for their qualifications; especially (politics), in their appointment to political positions.

وَاسِطَة

favouritism to friends without regard for their qualifications


mess hall

In the mess hall, lunch was served in plastic bowls and paper cups: rice with ragù, sausage soup with day-old bread.

December 7 2022, Simon Shuster, “2022 Person of the Year: Volodymyr Zelensky”, in Time:

(US) A military dining room or building on an army or marine base.


squib

Possibly imitative of a small explosion.

unk

Possibly

(US) Any small firecracker sold to the general public, usually in special clusters designed to explode in series after a single master fuse is lit.


kevlar

en-noun

kevlar (countable and uncountable, plural kevlars)

(countable, US, slang, military) A piece of personal protective equipment made from Kevlar, such as a helmet or a vest.


ICE

Mr. Schlossberg’s rant angered activists for immigrant rights, who said it reinforced stereotypes that Spanish speakers are not citizens. And they worried that it perpetuated fear within immigrant communities of ICE’s aggressive tactics to deport those who are undocumented.

2018 May 22, Liz Robbins, Maya Salam, “‘I Am Not Racist’: Lawyer Issues Apology One Week After Rant”, in The New York Times:

ICE agents were joined Sunday by officials from multiple Justice Department agencies as they targeted what they said are public safety and national security threats.

2025 January 26, Priscilla Alvarez and Rosa Flores, “Trump administration launches nationwide immigration enforcement blitz”, in CNN:

Immigration and Customs Enforcement
w:Immigration and Customs Enforcement

(government, US) Acronym of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (“law-enforcement agency responsible for immigration and customs matters of the United States Federal government”).


shitty

en-adj

shitty (comparative shittier, superlative shittiest)

shittier (comparative)
shittiest (superlative)

From shit + -y. Cognate with German Low German schittig (“dirty, shitty”), German scheißig (“shitty”).

cog

better than a poke in the eye with a shitty stick

(US, vulgar, slang, not comparable) Under the influence of illicit drugs or alcohol; drunk; high.


DPS

New, previously registered vehicles purchased in Texas or another state would be required to pay an initial inspection program replacement fee of $16.75 to cover two years, according to [Texas] DPS.

2024 October 2, Julianna Russ, “Texas vehicle safety inspections going away, but you’ll still have to pay”, in KXAN:

Department of Public Safety
w:Department of Public Safety

(US, government) Initialism of Department of Public Safety.

Division for Planetary Sciences
w:Division for Planetary Sciences

(US, planetology) Initialism of Division for Planetary Sciences.


FSA

flexible spending account
w:en:flexible spending account

(US) Initialism of flexible spending account.

(US) Initialism of firm-specific advantage.


FSA

Foreign Service Assignment
Foreign Service Assignment#English

(US) Initialism of Foreign Service Assignment.


NHS

w:National Highway System (United States)

(US) Initialism of National Highway System.

National Honors Society
w:National Honors Society

(US) Initialism of National Honors Society.


NHS

(US) Initialism of National Historic Site.