engineer

→ Burmese: အင်ဂျင်နီယာ (anggyangniya)

→ Hawaiian: ʻenekinia

→ Hindi: इंजीनियर (iñjīniyar)

→ Japanese: エンジニア (enjinia)

desc

အိန်ဂျေန်နဳယျာ

→ Mon: အိန်ဂျေန်နဳယျာ

→ Mon: အိန်ဂျေန်နဳယျာ

→ Persian:

Dari: اِنْجِنِیر (injinīr)

/ˌɛn(d)ʒɪˈnɪə/

/ˌɛnd͡ʒɪˈnɪ(ə)ɹ/

/ɪnˈd͡ʒɪnɪjə(ɾ)/

The noun is derived from:
* Middle English enginour (“one who designs, constructs, or operates military works for attack or defence, etc.; machine designer”) [and other forms], from Anglo-Norman enginour, engigneour [and other forms], and Middle French and Old French engigneor, engigneour, engignier (“one who designs, constructs, or operates military works for attack or defence; architect; carpenter; craftsman; designer; planner; one who deceives or schemes”) (modern French ingénieur), from engin (“contraption, device; machine; invention; creativity, ingenuity; intelligence; deception, ruse, trickery”) + -eor, -or (suffix forming agent nouns); engin is derived from Latin ingenium (“innate or natural quality, nature; intelligence, natural capacity; ability, skill, talent; (Medieval Latin) engine; machine”), from in- (prefix meaning ‘in, inside, within’) + gignere (the present active infinitive of gignō (“to bear, beget, give birth to; to cause, produce, yield”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *ǵenh₁- (“to beget, give birth to; to produce”)) + -ium (suffix forming abstract nouns); and
* from engine + -er (occupational suffix); and
* from engine + -eer (suffix forming nouns denoting people associated with, concerned with, or engaged in specified activities), possibly modelled after Middle French ingénieur (a variant of Middle French, Old French engigneour; see above), and Italian ingegniere (“engineer”) (obsolete; modern Italian ingegnere).
The verb is derived from the noun.
Cognates
* Medieval Latin, Late Latin ingeniārius (“engineer”)
* Medieval Latin ingeniator (“one constructing or using an engine”)
* Old Occitan engenhador, enginhador
* Portuguese engenhador (obsolete), engenheiro (“engineer”)
* Spanish engeñero (obsolete), ingeniero (“engineer”)

nb...

(Late Middle English) engyner, (Middle English) engineour, enginer, engyneour, engyneor, engynour, yngynore

engineor, enginere, engineur, enginor, enginur

cog

(US, firefighting) A person who drives or operates a fire engine (firefighting apparatus).

maşinist

Coordinate term: fireman

(chiefly US, rail transport) A person who drives or operates a locomotive; a train driver.


biscuit

en-noun

biscuit (countable and uncountable, plural biscuits)

Tok Pisin: bisket

→ Bengali: বিস্কুট (biskuṭ)

→ Burmese: ဘီစကွတ် (bhica.kwat)

→ Cebuano: biskuwít, biskwit

→ Fiji Hindi: biskut

→ Gujarati: બિસ્કિટ (biskiṭ)

→ Hausa: bìskît

desc

ביסקוויט//בִּיסְקְוִיט

→ Hebrew: ביסקוויט /בִּיסְקְוִיט (bískvit)

→ Hiligaynon: biskwit

desctree

→ Hindi: बिस्कुट (biskuṭ)
→ Jarawa: biskuʈ (“biscuit”)

→ Indonesian: beskit, biskit

→ Japanese: ビスケット (bisuketto)

→ Korean: 비스켓 (biseuket)

→ Malay: biskut

→ Marshallese: petkōj

→ Punjabi: ਬਿਸਕੁਟ (biskuṭ)

→⇒ Scottish Gaelic: briosgaid

→ Spanish: bísquet, bísquete

→ Swahili: biskuti

→ Sylheti: ꠛꠤꠍꠇꠥꠐ (bisókuṭ)

→ Tagalog: biskuwit

→ Thai: บิสกิต (bís-gìt)

→ Urdu: بسکٹ (biskiṭ)
→ Ushojo: بسکٹ (biskiṭ)

→ Yoruba: bisikíìtì

→ Zulu: bhisikidi

PIE word
 *dwóh₁
From earlier bisket, from Middle English bisquyte, from Old French bescuit (French biscuit); doublet of biscotto.

Weighed myself at the gym and have hit 10st 8lb, a sure sign of things getting out of control—so I can’t even console myself with a chocolate biscuit.

(UK, Australia, Ireland, New Zealand, sometimes Canada, rare in the US and the Philippines) A small, flat, baked good which is either hard and crisp or else soft but firm; a cookie.

koekie

small, flat baked good — see also cookie, cracker

(chiefly Canada, US, rare in Scotland and Guernsey) A small, usually soft and flaky bread, generally made with baking soda, which is similar in texture to a scone but which is usually not sweet.

(US, slang) A plastic card bearing the codes for authorizing a nuclear attack.

I shoot my biscuit in the air until the sky is gone

2007, Army of the Pharaohs (lyrics and music), “Bloody Tears”, in Ritual of Battle:

(US, slang, hiphop) A handgun, especially a revolver.


mailman

"What I'm thinking," she said, "is that I'll become a mailman. They're hiring women mailmen now, you know. [...]"

1974, Ella Leffland, Love Out of Season, page 364:

(Canada, US) someone who delivers mail to, and/or collects mail from, residential or commercial addresses, or from public mailboxes


great room

great rooms (plural)
greatroom (alternative)

From great + room. Compare Middle English grete chaumbre (“greatroom”).

cog

Coordinate term: great hall

Its homes are tract mansions and starter castles of 4,000 square feet and upward, featuring two-story entrance halls, great rooms, three- or four-car garages, huge kitchens, spa-sized bathrooms, […]

2008, Paul L. Knox, Metroburbia, USA, page 163:

As he crossed the greatroom floor he could smell smoke. It was coming from his bedchamber!

(chiefly Canada, US) In many modern homes, a room that combines the roles of several more traditional rooms such as the family room, living room, and study.


dogfish

dogfish (plural)
dogfishes (plural)
dog-fish (alternative)

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

From dog + fish. Compare Greek σκυλόψαρο (skylópsaro, “dogfish”), Latin canicula (“dogfish”, literally “little dog”), Italian pescecane (“dogfish”), French chien de mer (literally “dog of the sea”), German Meerhund (literally “seadog”) and Hundfisch (“dogfish”), and English seadog. For non-Indo-European cognates, see Maltese kelb il-baħar (literally “dog of the sea”) and Turkish köpek balığı (“shark”), likely calques from Indo-European languages.

Dornhaiartige

small sharks of the Scyliorhinidae, Dalatiidae and Squalidae families

dogfish orientalis

a grunt native to coral reefs of the western Pacific Ocean

Plunket's dogfish (Centroscymnus plunketi

rasptooth dogfish (Etmopterus sheikoi

alternately known as Miroscyllium sheikoi

Bowfins, sometimes called Dog-fish, live in sluggish waters throughout eastern N.A.

1967, George K. Reid, edited by Herbert S. Zim and George S. Fichter, Pond Life, New York: Golden Press, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 128:


phonograph

/ˈfəʊnəˌɡɹɑːf/

/ˈfoʊnəˌɡɹæf/

[…]I've knew people that if they got a rag rug on the floor and a kewpie doll lamp on the phonograph they think they're runnin' a parlor house.'

1937, John Steinbeck, Of Mice and Men, Covici Friede:

(Canada, US, historical) A record player.


pickup truck

pickup trucks (plural)
pickup (alternative)
pick-up (alternative)
pick up (alternative)
pick up truck (alternative)

zh-l

皮卡車／皮卡车 (píkǎchē)

Chinese: 皮卡 (píkǎ), 皮卡車／皮卡车 (píkǎchē)

Japanese: ピックアップトラック (pikkuapputorakku)

Russian: пика́п (pikáp)

Uncertain, but likely related to its intended use to pick up various supplies.

(chiefly Canada, US, Singapore) A light truck with an open cargo bed.


pickle

en-noun

pickle (countable and uncountable, plural pickles)

→ Dutch: pickles

→ French: pickles

→ Irish: picil

→ Korean: 피클 (pikeul)

→ Portuguese: picles

→ Spanish: pickles, picle

→ Welsh: picil

From Middle English pikel (“spicy sauce served with meat or fish”), borrowed from Middle Dutch, Middle Low German pekel (“brine”). Cognate with Scots pikkill (“salt liquor, brine”), Saterland Frisian Piekele (“pickle, brine”), Dutch pekel (“pickle, brine”), Low German pekel, peckel, pickel, bickel (“pickle, brine”), German Pökel (“pickle, brine”).

cog

A pickle goes well with a hamburger.

(chiefly US, Canada, Australia) A cucumber preserved in a solution, usually a brine or a vinegar syrup.


Theodore

From Latin Theodorus, from Ancient Greek Θεόδωρος (Theódōros), from Θεός (Theós, “God”) and θεός (theós, “god”) + δῶρον (dôron, “gift”). The name was popularized in reference to the prominent St Theodore of Amasea. Unrelated to Theodoric.


lamp

en-verb

lamp (third-person singular simple present lamps, present participle lamping, simple past and past participle lamped)

lamps (present singular third-person)
lamping (participle present)
lamped (participle past)
lamped (past)

From Middle English laumpe, lampe, from Old French lampe (“lamp, light”), from Latin lampas (“torch, lamp, light”), from Ancient Greek λαμπάς (lampás, “torch, lamp, beacon, light, meteor”), from Proto-Indo-European *leh₂p- (“to shine”). Cognate with Lithuanian lópė (“light”), Welsh llachar (“bright”). Displaced native Old English lēohtfæt (literally “light container”).

cog

I'm in my Flavmobile cold lamping. I took a G upstate cold camping. To the Poconos, we call a hideaways. A bag of franks and a bag of Frito-Lays.

1988 June 28, “Cold Lampin' With Flavor” (track 4), in It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back, performed by Public Enemy:

(slang, US) To hang out or chill; to do nothing in particular.


symphony

en-noun

symphony (countable and uncountable, plural symphonies)

→ Burmese: ဆင်ဖိုနီ (hcanghpuini)

→ Japanese: シンフォニー (shinfonī)

→ Khmer: ស៊ីមហ្វូនី (siimfounii)

→ Malay: simfoni

→ Punjabi: ਸਿੰਫਨੀ (simphani)

→ Thai: ซิมโฟนี (sim-foo-nîi)

→ Welsh: symffoni

From Middle English symphonye, from Old French simphonie, from Latin symphonia, from Ancient Greek συμφωνία (sumphōnía). By surface analysis, sym- + -phony. Doublet of sinfonia, symphonia, tsampouna, and zampogna.


klutz

From Yiddish קלאָץ (klots, literally “wooden beam”); cognate to German Klotz (“block, lump”). Doublet of clot and clod.

bor

Well, that's all right, then, Brian. Sit down. Have a scone. Make yourself at home. You klutz!

1979, Monty Python's Life of Brian, spoken by Reg (John Cleese):

"Out of [one abortion doctor's] first six months of work, there are nine malpractice suits ... After it was apparent the guy was a klutz, they kept using him, and trying to cover for him, because they couldn't find another provider."

1990 June 3, Dr. Robert Crist, abortion doctor, quotee, St. Petersburg Times:

"Mel, back home we'd call you a klutz." / Melissa: "Use a lot of Yiddish back in Texas, do you?"

2003, Greg Rucka, Ultimate Daredevil and Elektra:

(US, derogatory) A clumsy or stupid person.


lox

Borrowed from Yiddish לאַקס (laks, “salmon”). Doublet of lax.

bor+

(US) Salmon cured in brine and then smoked in low temperature so that the flesh remains uncooked.


gloss

From Middle English glosse, glose, from Late Latin glōssa (“obsolete or foreign word requiring explanation”), from Ancient Greek γλῶσσα (glôssa, “language”). Doublet of glossa.

der

This volume is thus not a narrowly defined treatment of the Code of Professional Responsibility but rather represents a "common law" gloss on it.

1979, American Bar Foundation., Annotated code of professional responsibility, page ix:

Judicial Gloss on Test [section title]

2007, Bruce R. Hopkins., The law of tax-exempt organizations., page 76:

(countable, law, US) An interpretation by a court of a specific point within a statute or case law.


cootie

Probably from Malay kutu (“flea, louse”) (and/or Tagalog/Maori). First attested in English in 1917 as British army slang during World War I.

"Tell Rilla I'm glad her war-baby is turning out so well, and tell Susan that I'm fighting a good fight against both Huns and cooties."
"Mrs. Dr. dear," whispered Susan solemnly, "what are cooties?"
Mrs. Blythe whispered back and then said in reply to Susan's horrified ejaculations, "It's always like that in the trenches, Susan."
Susan shook her head and went away in grim silence to re-open a parcel she had sewed up for Jem and slip in a fine tooth comb.

1921, L. M. Montgomery, Rilla of Ingleside:

Pediculus humanus
Pediculus humanus#Translingual

(dated, British Army military slang or Canada, US, colloquial) A louse (Pediculus humanus).

I’m not drinking from his glass until I wash the cooties off it.

en:childishly imaginary contaminant or pathogen

(Canada, US, Australia, colloquial, childish, usually in the plural) Any germ or contaminant, real or imagined, especially from the opposite gender (for pre-pubescent children).


hooch

en-noun

hooch (countable and uncountable, plural hooches)

Abbreviation of hoochinoo, name of a specific liquor, from Tlingit Xutsnoowú Ḵwáan, the group that produced it, from Hutsnuwu (“grizzly bear fort”), the name of the village on Admiralty Island in which they lived.

he was so grief-stricken that he literally drowned his sorrow in “hootch-i-noo,” the native equivalent of whiskey. […] Had he not been so sad he would not have drunk the “hootch,” and if he had not drunk the hootch he would not have died: a perfectly reasonable and logical argument.

c. 1910, O.M. Salisbury, chapter 3, in Quoth the raven: A little journey into the primitive, Seattle: Superior Publishing Company, published 1962, page 17:

Bring on the free hooch!

1997, Kevin Smith, Chasing Amy, spoken by Banky Edwards (Jason Lee):

(Canada, US, informal) An alcoholic beverage, especially an inferior or illicit one and especially liquor such as whisky.


illegal

en-adj

illegal (comparative more illegal, superlative most illegal)

more illegal (comparative)
most illegal (superlative)

Borrowed from French illégal, from Medieval Latin illegalis, from Latin legalis, by surface analysis, il- + legal. In senses relating to immigration, via clipping from illegal alien or illegal immigrant.

(chiefly US, sometimes offensive) Being an illegal immigrant; residing in a country illegally.


cushy

cushy (comparative cushier or more cushy, superlative cushiest or most cushy)

cushier (comparative)
more cushy (comparative)
cushiest (superlative)
most cushy (superlative)

Borrowed from Hindustani خوشی (xośī) / ख़ुशी (xuśī), from Classical Persian خوشی (xuši, “happiness”).

der

(chiefly US) Comfortable, often in a way that will suit a person's body; ergonomic.

mukava

comfortable, often in a way that will suit a person’s body — see also ergonomic


rig

From Early Modern English rygge, probably of North Germanic origin. Compare Norwegian rigge (“to bind up; wrap around; rig; equip”), Swedish dialectal rigga (“to rig a horse”), Faroese rigga (“to rig; to equip and fit; to make s.th. function”). Possibly from Proto-Germanic *rik- (“to bind”), from Proto-Indo-European *rign-, *reyg- (“to bind”); or related to Old English *wrīhan, wrīohan, wrēohan, wrēon (“to bind; wrap up; cover”). See also wry (“to cover; clothe; dress; hide”).

cog

Every rig at the truckstop had custom-made mud-flaps.

"Big Joe's the name," an' I told him mine / He said: "The name of my rig is Phantom 309."

1967, Tommy Faile (lyrics and music), “Phantom 309”, performed by Red Sovine:

There's armored cars, and tanks, and Jeeps
And rigs of every size.
Yeah, them chicken coops was full o'bears
And choppers filled the skies.

1975, “Convoy”, in C.W. McCall, Chip Davis (lyrics), Black Bear Road, performed by C. W. McCall:

(US) A large truck such as a semi-trailer truck.


molasses

molass (singular)
mollasses (alternative)
malasses (alternative)
merlaasses (alternative)
molassey (alternative)
molassy (alternative)
melasus (alternative)
molassos (alternative)
malassoes (alternative)
malassos (alternative)
molossus (alternative)
melasses (alternative)
mallassus (alternative)
malosses (alternative)
mellasses (alternative)
milasses (alternative)
molassers (alternative)
molossoes (alternative)
molossos (alternative)
mullasses (alternative)
molosses (alternative)
melossus (alternative)
mollossus (alternative)
molossas (alternative)
molases (alternative)
mellosses (alternative)
moloses (alternative)
merlassers (alternative)
millasses (alternative)
molassisis (alternative)

From Portuguese melaços or Spanish melazos, from Late Latin mellacium (“must, honey-sweet thing”), from mel (“honey”) + -āceus (“-aceous”) + -ium, q.v. Some alternative forms derived or influenced by Spanish melaza and French mélasse, conjectured to derive from unattested Late Latin mellacea, from mel + -ācea.

der

Well, we had our breakfast of ship's bread and molasses, washed down with cannikins of something liquid - but not lovely.

1907 February 2, The Chronicle, Adelaide, page 50, column 2:

When you're well enough off so's you don't have to fret about anything but your heft or your diseases you begin to get queer, I suppose. And the queerer the cure for those ailings the bigger the attraction. A place like the Right Livers' Rest was bound to draw freaks, same as molasses draws flies.

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

A thick, sweet syrup drained from sugarcane, especially (Canada, US) the still thicker and sweeter syrup produced by boiling down raw molasses.

melasse

thick brownish syrup refined from sugarcane

Boiled some cornstalk juice into molasses.

1777 Sept. 13, Manessah Cutler, Journal, s.v.

(US) Any similarly thick and sweet syrup produced by boiling down fruit juices, tree saps, etc., especially concentrated maple syrup.


statute mile

(US) The US survey mile, distinguished from the international mile adopted by treaty in the 1950s.


tarn

From Middle English terne, tarne (“lake; pond, pool”), from Old Norse tjǫrn (“a small lake without tributaries”), from Proto-Germanic *ternō (“water hole”), perhaps related to *turnaz (“bitter, embittered”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *der- (“to separate, split; to crack, shatter”). The word is cognate with Danish tjern, Faroese tjørn (“pond”), Icelandic tjörn (“pond”), Norwegian Bokmål tjern (“small forest or mountain lake”) (Norwegian Nynorsk tjern, tjørn), Swedish tjärn (“small forest lake”).

cog

It [the caribou] makes a fine, bold study on the foreground of an evening scene among the mountain tarns of Northern Idaho, as it fulfils the ideal description of the stag given by [Walter] Scott and other writers.

1874 August 20, Mortimer Kerry, “Zoology of the Northwest: The Cervidæ”, in Charles Hallock, editor, Forest and Stream: A Weekly Journal of Field and Aquatic Sports, Practical Natural History, Fish Culture, Protection of Game, Preservation of Forests, and the Inculcation in Men and Women of a Healthy Interest in Out-door Recreation and Study, volume 3, number 2, New York, N.Y.: Published by Forest and Stream Publishing Company, 17 Chatham Street, published 1875, →OCLC, page 18, column 2:

Have you ever been swimming in glacial water – water turned milky blue or deep maroon by minerals and deposits seized by the glacier as it ponderously made its way across a continent? You would have been high atop a mountain, maybe in the Canadian Rockies or in Montana, where glaciers, now in retreat, still press down on the earth's crust. And it would have been in the summer – late August perhaps – the sun warm and still and bright, making you feel as if a dip in this remote glacial tarn is just what your tired body needs at this point in your day.

2002, Jennifer Sinor, “Time, Days, and Page”, in The Extraordinary Work of Ordinary Writing: Annie Ray’s Diary, Iowa City, Iowa: University of Iowa Press, →ISBN, page 86:

Off to either side of the road [Beartooth Highway], unforgettable mountain scenes arise beneath crisp mountain skies. Here is alpine country at its best, complete with lakes and tarns set amid truly rugged promontories.

2013, Gordon Sullivan, Cathie Sullivan, Photographing Montana: Where to Find Perfect Shots and How to Take Them, Woodstock, Vt.: The Countryman Press, →ISBN, page 39:

(US, chiefly Montana) One of many small mountain lakes or ponds.


berm

From Dutch berm (“strip of roadside grass, verge”), probably via French berme, from Middle Dutch barm, baerm, barem (“verge, bank”), from Old Dutch *barm, from Proto-West Germanic *barm, from Proto-Germanic *barmaz (“edge, border, seam”).

der

(mining, US, Canada) A small wall along the edge of a bench of an open-pit mine, intended to prevent items falling over the crest.


frolic

From Dutch vrolijk (“cheerful”), from Middle Dutch vrolijc, from Old Dutch frōlīk, from Proto-Germanic *frawalīkaz. Compare German fröhlich (“blitheful, gaily, happy, merry”).
The first element, ultimately from Proto-Germanic *frawaz, is cognate with Middle English frow (“hasty”); the latter element, ultimately from *-līkaz, is cognate with -ly, -like.

cog

He came clattering up to the school door with an invitation to Ichabod to attend a merry-making or “quilting frolic,” to be held that evening at Mynheer Van Tassel’s

1820, Washington Irving, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow:

(obsolete, chiefly US) A social gathering.


furlough

en-noun

furlough (countable and uncountable, plural furloughs)

From Dutch verlof (“furlough”), probably from Middle Low German verlōf (“furlough, permission”) (possibly via German Verlaub), from the verb verlōven (“to allow”), from Old Saxon far- + levian (“to give over, leave”).
From Middle Low German also German Verlaub, Danish forlov. Doublet of leave.

der

And I had a lot of things on my mind and I pretty well forgot my promise to Mama until I got shipped home on a special furlough for her funeral.

1957, James Baldwin, “Sonny’s Blues”, in Going to Meet the Man, Dial, published 1965:

(US) especially one granted to a member of the armed forces, or to a prisoner.


measles

en-noun

measles pl (normally plural, singular measle)

measle (singular)
measle (alternative)
the measles (alternative)

Either from Middle Dutch masels (“blood blisters, measels”) or Middle Low German maselen (“red blemishes, measels”), both from Old High German masala (“blood blister, phlegmon”). Doublet of measlings. Cognate with mazer & mase and Middle Low German masele & māsel. Influenced in pronunciation and some senses by mesel (“leprous, leper”).

der

[…] they would prefer having him "die of the measles," as wags at the CIA put it, than be punished by legal means. If there is no convenient way of administering the "measles," they may even favor simply letting him go.

1975, Miles Copeland, Beyond Cloak and Dagger: Inside the CIA, page 204:

Such final solutions, sometimes referred to as termination with extreme prejudice, are known in the CIA as dying of the measles — that is, the death appears to be of natural causes.

1977, Raymond Edward Palmer, The Making of a Spy, page 99:

(US, espionage jargon) A discreet assassination made to look like death from any natural cause.


spook

Borrowed from Dutch spook (“ghost”), from Middle Dutch spooc (“spook, ghost”). Cognate with Middle Low German spôk, spûk (“apparition, ghost”), Middle High German gespük (“a haunting”), German Spuk, Danish spøge (“to haunt”), Swedish spöke (“ghost”). Doublet of puck.

cog

Commonly, the surgeons view nonsurgeons with disdain. The most disdain is directed toward the “shrinks” or the “spooks,” as the psychiatrists are called.

1975, Robert O. Pasnau, Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry, page 124:


slipper

Malay: selipar

(US, Hawaii, Philippines, Malaysia, Singapore) A flip-flop (type of rubber sandal).


you-uns

From you + uns, a form of ones representing an older pronunciation of it.

you'uns (alternative)
you'ns (alternative)
youuns (alternative)
youns (alternative)
youins (alternative)
you'ins (alternative)
y'ins (alternative)
y'uns (alternative)
yunz (alternative)
yuns (alternative)
yinz (alternative)
you'nes (alternative)

Guthrie turned upon him a face aglow with gratification. ‘That's what makes me like you-uns, stranger,’ he said, cordially.

1891, Mary Noailles Murfree, In the "Stranger People's" Country (Nebraska 2005), page 122

(US, Midwestern US and Appalachia) You (plural, as subject or object).

the list of other second-person pronouns in you


badass

badasses (plural)
bad-ass (alternative)
bad ass (alternative)
bad-arse (alternative)
badarse (alternative)
bad arse (alternative)

From bad + ass (“buttocks; one's self or person”).

compound

Don’t mess with that guy, he’s a real badass.

A shake down officer, Sgt. Soaper, and Capt. Swarts, have been reading all my mail, including GCN (which is authorized to come in). Soaper has been sending the prison bad-asses to my cell to force me to have sex with them. Yesterday, Soaper opened my door and 2 prisoners came in and raped me. Capt. Swarts told me that he was going to make me pay for writing letters to GCN and that there was nothing anyone could do about it.

1984 August 4, Charlie Dill, “"Child Molester's Paper"”, in Gay Community News, page 4:

There are badasses, and there are badasses. Dothan is one of the latter, from a family full of badasses. I'm not saying he isn't a decent sort. He's fully rational, not like his brother Curtis. But Christ, when the sombitch gets mad …

1995, Robert Girardi, Madeleine’s Ghost, New York, N.Y.: Delacorte Press, →ISBN:

A survival tactic I learned on the psych ward was how to quickly size up potential enemies or garden-variety badasses.

2012, Ilsa J. Bick, Drowning Instinct, Minneapolis, Minn.: Carolrhoda Lab, →ISBN:

You're a badass but you ain't no criminal.

2013, Susan Nussbaum, “Teddy Dobbs”, in Good Kings Bad Kings: A Novel, Chapel Hill, N.C.: Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill, →ISBN; republished as Good Kings, Bad Kings, London: Oneworld Publications, 2014, →ISBN, page 222:

They flew the Jolly Roger to signal their reputation for mayhem but, in fact, the pirates didn't actually want a fight, because fighting is costly and dangerous and might result in economic loss. […] Of course, to maintain a reputation that you are a badass, you actually have to occasionally be a badass, so pirates intermittently engaged in violence, reports of which they happily provided to newspaper editors, who duly published them in gory and exaggerated detail.

2015, Michael Shermer, The Moral Arc: How Science and Reason Lead Humanity toward Truth, Justice, and Freedom, New York, N.Y.: Henry Holt and Company, →ISBN, page 59:

(US, sometimes considered, vulgar, slang, negative connotation) A belligerent or mean person; a person with an unpleasantly extreme appearance, attitudes, or behavior.

sometimes considered; negative connotation; sometimes considered; negative connotation

"I'm a badass." (Jack Nicholson to a New York friend, early 1973.)

1975, Norman Dickens, “Badass”, in Jack Nicholson: The Search for a Superstar, New York, N.Y.: New American Library, →OCLC, page 124:

The Oakland Raiders are one of the few teams that I have any feelings for besides the Steelers. Nowadays they're a bunch of wannabe badasses, but back in the day they were something to behold.

1998, Jason Flores-Williams, chapter 6, in The Last Stand of Mr America, San Francisco, Calif.: Caught Inside Press, →OCLC; republished Seattle, Wash.: Nobody Rocks Press, 2009, →ISBN, page 124:

Men and women from the CIA's Directorate of Operations (DO) would return from Afghanistan and tell stories about Task Force 11, an amalgamation of Special Forces bad-asses from the various branches of the U.S. military.

2004 May, Vince Flynn, chapter 6, in Memorial Day, New York, N.Y.: Atria Books, →ISBN, page 39:

The Rani of Jhansi
[…]The Rani, also known as Lakshmibai, eventually joined in, and won a few stunning battles. She perished, according to lore, while fighting the British on horseback in full armored splendor. She was only 22.

2011 July 21, Ishaan Tharoor, “Top 10 Bad-Ass Wives”, in Time:

Known throughout the Spec-Ops community as the best of the best, they were the go-to badasses in the air for the go-to badasses on the ground, and Sandra was the first female pilot to be made a member.

2013 June, Scott McEwen, Thomas Koloniar, chapter 2, in Sniper Elite: One-way Trip: A Novel (Touchstone Book), New York, N.Y.: Simon & Schuster, →ISBN, page 11:

I walked out of the mall like I was a real bad ass. Once I was in my truck, I slammed the door starting the engine peeling away from my parkin spot.

2014 September 24, Boo Marx, chapter 10, in The American Terrorists: The True Story of a Real Telepath who Defeated over Three Hundred Soldiers with His Mind, Bloomington, Ind.: AuthorHouse, →ISBN, page 100:

[Charlize] Theron is an absolute badass in the role: hard, intense, quietly vulnerable, in charge at almost every moment. She fights Mad Max to a standstill even though she’s only got one arm. She takes his rifle and shoots out the light of the Bullet Farmer’s car when Max can’t do it.

2017 December 1, Tom Breihan, “Mad Max: Fury Road Might Already be the Best Action Movie Ever Made”, in The A.V. Club, archived from the original on 2018-02-22:

(US, sometimes considered, vulgar, slang, positive connotation) A person considered impressive due to courage, skill, daring, audacity, and/or toughness.

sometimes considered; positive connotation; sometimes considered; positive connotation


badass

en-adj

badass (comparative more badass, superlative most badass)

more badass (comparative)
most badass (superlative)

Uncle Jr. was really quiet. Probably because he was a junior high school teacher and was around badass, hollerin' kids all day.

2005, Cupcake Brown, chapter 2, in A Piece of Cake: A Memoir, New York, N.Y.: Crown, →ISBN, page 21:

[There were] lots of really, really bad, badass people … I did not want to be a part of it.

2009 April, Gary C. King, chapter 2, in Butcher, New York, N.Y.: Pinnacle Books, Kensington Publishing Corp., →ISBN, page 26:

I worked at one bar on the Upper East Side that was owned by a famous Irish badass thug everyone was scared of.

2015, Colin Quinn, The Coloring Book: A Comedian Solves Race Relations in America, New York, N.Y.: Grand Central Publishing, →ISBN:

(US, sometimes considered vulgar, slang, negative connotation) Belligerent and troublesome.

sometimes considered vulgar; negative connotation; sometimes considered vulgar; negative connotation

That tough guy looks badass.

"FAIRY WING GLITTER!!!" / *sparkle* / "It's hard to look bad-ass when using fairy powers..." *sigh*

2004 February 18, Dan Shive, El Goonish Shive (webcomic), Comic for Wednesday, Feb 18, 2004:

"Nice coat, lady!" he said. / I sat down across from him. "Not a good moment to start with me about it," I said. / "Who's starting with you? It's badass." It took me only half a second to see that he was serious. "Completely badass."

2011, Laura Dave, chapter 14, in The First Husband: A Novel, New York, N.Y.: Viking, →ISBN; republished New York, N.Y.: Penguin Books, 2012, →ISBN, page 95:

I took another deep breath and plunged under the white caps again safe in the knowledge that these bad ass Thai boys weren't going to follow me anytime soon, out into the storm affected seas; […]

2012, Mark Jones, Fear and Loathing in Pattaya, [Phoenix, Ariz.]: Booksmango, →ISBN, page 161:

She's dressed in badass black and the barest amount of chrome that is acceptable. I love her, but she [a car] is not easy to drive.

2012, James R. Tuck, chapter 4, in Spider’s Lullaby, New York, N.Y.: Kensington Publishing Corp., →ISBN:

Yeah. So stop with the pity party. You really are pretty badass right about now.

2013, Katya Armock, chapter 15, in To Growl or to Groan (Hidden Lines; 2), [s.l.]: Etopia Press, →ISBN:

(US, sometimes considered vulgar, slang, positive connotation) Having an extreme appearance, attitude, or behavior that is considered admirable.

sometimes considered vulgar; positive connotation; sometimes considered vulgar; positive connotation

genial

having an extreme appearance, etc., considered admirable


smashing

smashing (comparative more smashing, superlative most smashing)

more smashing (comparative)
most smashing (superlative)

From smash + -ing. As a synonym for wonderful, the term first appeared in the United States in the early twentieth century, and possibly derives from the sense of smash used in smash hit and similar terms. Popular folk etymology connects the term to the broadly homophonous Irish is maith sin or Scottish Gaelic 's math sin ("that is good"), but this has been described as "improbable", and does not appear in the etymological dictionaries.

We had a smashing time at the zoo.

Um, the reason for this call is because I haven’t told you for seven hours that I love you, which is a scandal! And even if we weren’t getting married tomorrow, I’d ask you to marry me anyway. Yes I would, because you are smashing!

2010, Toby Whithouse, “The Vampires of Venice”, in Doctor Who, season 5, episode 6, spoken by Rory Williams (Arthur Darvill):

(originally US, now British and Ireland) Wonderful, very good or impressive.


township

Portuguese: township

From Middle English towneship, townschip, tounshipe, tunscipe, from Old English tūnsċipe (“the inhabitants of a town; township”), equivalent to town + -ship.


smudge

en-noun

smudge (countable and uncountable, plural smudges)

Derived from the verb (see below). Doublet of smutch.

Then "smudges" are in vogue,—heaps of damp combustibles placed on the windward side of the house and partially ignited, that their inky steams may smother the mosquitoes while we take our chance. I have had a "smudge" made in a chafing-dish at my bedside, after a serious deliberation between choking and being devoured at small mouthfuls; and I conscientiously recommend choking, or running the risk of it, at least.

1842, Caroline Mathilda Kirkland, Forest Life, volume 1, page 144:

We had taken about ten pounds of trout; and the first procedure, after reaching the camp, was to build a smudge or smoke-fire, to drive away these abominable gnats, who, fortunately, take flight with the first whiff of smoke.

1859, John Russell Bartlett, anonymous quotee, New York Courier and Enquirer, date unknown, quoted in Dictionary of Americanisms, 2nd edition, Boston: Little, Brown and Company, page 420:

The use of smoke (or "smudges") against the attack of the mosquito is well understood in America and elsewhere.

1901 May 24, H. Watkins-Pitchford, “Horse-sickness investigation”, in The Agricultural Journal and Mining Record, volume 4, number 6, page 161:

(US) A heap of damp combustibles partially ignited and burning slowly, placed on the windward side of a house, tent, etc. to keep off mosquitoes or other insects.


applesauce

applesauce (countable and uncountable, plural applesauces)

applesauces (plural)
apple sauce (alternative)

(slang, US, dated, 1920s) Nonsense, balderdash, bunk, piffle.


applesauce

applesauce! (canonical)
apple sauce (alternative)


wampum

wampum (countable and uncountable, plural wampums or wampum)

wampums (plural)
wampum (plural)
wompam (alternative)

Clipping of wampumpeag (“wampum”), probably borrowed from Massachusett wampompeage (“string of white beads used as money”), from wamp, wap, wompi (“white”) + umpe (“string”) + -ag (plural suffix).
Compare peag (“string of white beads used as money”), also a clipping of wampumpeag.
Sense 3 (“common kingsnake”) is from the similarity of the snake’s appearance to a string of wampum.
(Cognates):
Penobscot wάpαpəyak (singular wάpαpi)
Unami òpapiàk (singular òpapi)

ref

From the collection of the McCord Stewart Museum in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.

col

Cognates

suckauhock

beads made from black shells which have been strung together

(uncountable):

[A]mong the Red Men of America the giving of the white belt of wampum was the deepest pledge of honor; […]

1851 November 14, Herman Melville, “Whiteness of the Whale”, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC, page 208:

From his lodge went Hiawatha, / Dressed for travel, armed for hunting; / Dressed in deer-skin shirt and leggings, / Richly wrought with quills and wampum; / On his head his eagle-feathers, / Round his waist his belt of wampum, […]

1855 November 10, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, “Hiawatha and Mudjekeewis”, in The Song of Hiawatha, Boston, Mass.: Ticknor and Fields, →OCLC, page 51:

These title deeds are of wampum, the grant of an Indian chief to the first Dowell, who left Farnham in Surrey in company with William Penn.

1915, Ford Madox Hueffer [i.e., Ford Madox Ford], chapter I, in The Good Soldier […], Harmondsworth, Middlesex [London]: Penguin Books, published 1972 (1982 printing), →ISBN, part I, page 12:

(uncountable) Small cylindrical beads made from polished shells (especially white ones) which have been strung together, formerly used by Native American peoples of eastern North America for various purposes including as jewellery and money, and for record-keeping; (countable, archaic) one such bead.

wampum

small cylindrical beads made from polished shells (especially white ones) which have been strung together; one such bead


pone

(card games, chiefly US) The last player to bet or play in turn.


succotash

en-noun

succotash (usually uncountable, plural succotashes)

Borrowed from Narragansett msíckquatash (“boiled corn kernels”).

bor

Some of their modes of cookery have been adopted, and are retained. [...] [T]heir nokehike, which is corn parched and pounded, their ſuckataſh, which is a mixture of corn and beans boiled, are much uſed, and very palatable.

1792, Jeremy Belknap, “Monuments and Relics of the Indians”, in The History of New-Hampshire. […], volume III, Boston, Mass.: […] Belknap and Young, […], →OCLC, pages 92–93:

This lordly dish is made of oak, and will contain about six quarts, which was indeed a goodly quantity, whether of nokehike, appoon, nausamp, or sukketash, for the breakfast of his tawny majesty.

1814, Timothy Alden, “551. A Trophy from the Wigwam of King Philip, when He was Slain, in 1676, by —— Richard. […]”, in A Collection of American Epitaphs and Inscriptions with Occasional Notes, pentade I, volume III, New York, N.Y.: S. Marks, […], →OCLC, page 165:

(US) A stew made from kernels of corn, lima beans, tomatoes and sometimes peppers.


Saturday-night special

en-noun

Saturday-night special (plural Saturday-night specials)

Saturday-night specials (plural)
Saturday night special (alternative)

Attested from 1917, akin to Saturday-night pistol attested from 1915. Not entirely clear, but perhaps from phrases like “Saturday night pistol slaying” and “Saturday night pistol scrape” often found in early 20th century local crime reporting due to the fact that Saturday evening had been the peak time for homicides and similar crimes. Also likely to be enforced by the obsolete meaning of a cheap sale and usage of "Special" in the context of more powerful firearms like Colt Police Positive Special.

(US) An inexpensive, easily obtained handgun.

(US, historical) An overnight weekend train.

(US, obsolete) A seasonal (usually October to December) sale on Saturday evening.

(US, slang, obsolete) A girl who can be dated easily on Saturday evenings.


crackling

crackling (countable and uncountable, plural cracklings)

For the first time in his life […]he tasted crackling.

1823, Elia [pseudonym; Charles Lamb], Elia. Essays which have Appeared under that Signature in The London Magazine, London: […] [Thomas Davison] for Taylor and Hessey, […], →OCLC:

(cooking, often in the plural, US) Fat that, after roasting a joint, hardens and crispens


lines

(US) The reins with which a horse is guided by its driver.


minge

If troubled by black flies, mosquitoes, minges, or other insects, build a smudge in this way[…]

1883, Charles Alden John Farrar, Farrar's Illustrated Guide Book to the Androscoggin Lakes:

The minges and noseeums had found her now, so many of them buzzing around her head that her vision seemed to dance with black specks. She waved at them but didn't slap. Slap at mosquitoes, but it's better just to wave at the little ones, her Mom had told her ...

1999, Stephen King, The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon:

(US, archaic, dialectal) Synonym of midge (“small biting fly”).


pleb

A clipping of plebeian and plebe, sometimes also understood as a back-formation from plebs.

I found some of the novices, plebs they are called, home-sick, and weary with their discipline.

1838, Caroline H. Gilman, The Poetry of Travelling in the United States..., page 76:

At Annapolis, the natives are crabs, the freshmen plebs, the sophomores youngsters.

1922, Dialect Notes, number 5, American Dialect Society, page 189:

(US, slang, usually derogatory) A freshman cadet at a military academy.


ballpark figure

ballpark figure (plural ballpark figures)

Operating on the themes discussed at in the ballpark § Etymology.

No more stalling. Give me a ballpark figure of our projected losses.

(chiefly US, idiomatic) An educated guess or estimation within acceptable bounds.


chugalug

en-verb

chugalug (third-person singular simple present chugalugs, present participle chugalugging, simple past and past participle chugalugged)

chugalugs (present singular third-person)
chugalugging (participle present)
chugalugged (participle past)
chugalugged (past)

(transitive, intransitive, US) To swallow (a container of beer etc.) without pausing.


transit

en-noun

transit (countable and uncountable, plural transits)

From French, from Latin transire (“to go across, pass in, pass through”), from trans (“over”) + ire (“to go”).

der

I always take transit to work.

(Canada, US) Any form of transport that can be used by a member of public (who usually pays a fare), as opposed to private ownership of e.g. cars; short form of public transit or mass transit


homicide

en-noun

homicide (countable and uncountable, plural homicides)

homicides (plural)
hominicide (alternative)

From Old French homicide, from Latin homicīda (“man-slayer”) and homicīdium (“manslaughter”).

“She was a hippie kid. How hard would you work a case like that?”
“As hard as anyone else,” said Goddard. There was an irritated note in his voice. “She was a homicide. She got what every homicide investigation gets.”

We don't even know the woman was a homicide. Didn't they say it was possible they both jumped?

2003, Ellen Perry Berkeley, Keith's People, →ISBN, page 58:

The medical examiner was behind on autopsies and cranky, so we didn't even know if the old guy in the pool was a homicide.

2004, Jon Talton, Dry Heat, →ISBN, page 40:

(countable, US, police jargon) A victim of homicide; a person who has been unlawfully killed by someone else.

(uncountable, US) The department within a police force that investigates cases of homicide.


lame duck

lame ducks (plural)
lame-duck (alternative)

Exchange Alley
London Evening Post
London Stock Exchange
lame duck (politics)

Equivalent to lame + duck. First use appears c. 1761, in the London Evening Post. Derived from the situation in which a person who had defaulted in the London Stock Exchange was said to waddle out of Exchange Alley like a lame duck. Verbal form first appears c. 1910.

Congressman Jones was a lame duck and did not vote on many issues that were important to his constituents.

The “lame duck” Johnson Administration, in its final fortnight in office, grappled last week with a diplomatic hot potato in the form of the latest Soviet proposal for a “just and lasting” Middle East peace settlement.

1969 January 12, Benjamin Welles, “A Hot Potato for Nixon”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

So it is quite possible that there will be a Biden bounce in the last six months of his presidency, even if he is a lame duck. The question is, what will he do with it?

2024 July 22, Ed Pilkington, “Can lame duck Joe Biden give legs to Harris campaign in final six months?”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:

(US, politics) An elected official who has lost the recent election or is not eligible for reelection and is marking time until leaving office.


plebe

From Latin plēbs (“the plebeian class”), probably via Middle French plebe (“plebeians, commoners, the rabble”) and possibly later understood as a clipping of plebeian. Cognate with Italian plebe, Spanish plebe, Portuguese plebe.

der

My drill master, a young stripling, told me I was not so ‘gross’ as most other pleibs, the name of all new cadets.

1834 October, Military & Naval Magazine, page 85:

"But is a plebe forbidden to stroll here?"
"If a plebe did have the brass to try it," replied Anstey slowly, "I reckon he would have to fight the whole yearling class in turn."

1910, H. Irving Hancock, Dick Prescott's Second Year at West Point, page 84:

Plebes spend their first summer at Cadet Basic Training — Beast Barracks — where they get soldierized.

2014, David Lipsky, Absolutely American: Four Years at West Point, page 8:

“You went to The Citadel?” her mother chimed in. “I’ve heard so many great things about that institution. Did you go through a plebe year?” I told her I did and that we called it the knob year because freshman cadets had to shave their heads bald to resemble the butt end of a door knob and keep it that way for an entire ten months while going through the process of being broken down, only to be built back up.

2018 October 26, Joe Crochet, My Winning Seasons: Discovering the Champion Within, page 3:

(US, military, slang) A freshman cadet at a military academy.


crank

From Dutch or Low German krank, ultimately from Proto-West Germanic *krank, from Proto-Germanic *krangaz, *krankaz (“bent; weak”). Cognate with Scots crank, krank, German krank (“sick”).

John is a crank because he talks to himself.

Persons whom the Americans since Guiteau’s trial have begun to designate as ‘cranks’—that is to say, persons of disordered mind, in whom the itch of notoriety supplies the lack of any higher ambition.

The raw meat cranks are in dead earnest. They think that raw food is the manna of heaven.

1901 July 19, “Gleanings”, in The Agricultural Journal and Mining Record, volume 4, number 10, page 318:

But do you know what isn't in the school books? That old Rossum was mad. Seriously, Miss Glory, you must keep this to yourself. The old crank wanted to actually make people.

c. 1921 (date written), Karel Čapek, translated by Paul Selver, R.U.R. (Rossum’s Universal Robots): A Fantastic Melodrama […], Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, Page & Company, published 1923, →OCLC, Act 1:

(informal, British, dated in US) A person who is considered strange or odd by others, and may behave in unconventional ways.


crank

From Middle English crank, cronk, from a shortening of Old English crancstæf (“weaving tool, crank”, literally “bent or crooked staff”), the first element ultimately related to Etymology 1 above.

مِرْفَق

a bent piece of an axle or shaft, or an arm attached to the end of a shaft or wheel, used to impart a rotation

Danny got abscesses from shooting all that bathtub crank.


acetaminophen

Shortening of the chemical name para-acetylaminophenol. By surface analysis, acet- + amino- + -phen.

surf

You need to take acetaminophen / Or just a little aspirin / acetylsalicylic for the pain

1997, “The Druggist”, Joel Mabus (music):

(Canada, US) A white crystalline compound used in medicine as an anodyne to relieve pain and reduce fever.


piazza

From Italian piazza. Doublet of piatza, place, and plaza.

Pretty soon I struck into a sort of path[…]. It twisted and turned,[…]and opened out into a big clear space like a lawn. And, back of the lawn, was a big, old-fashioned house, with piazzas stretching in front of it, and all blazing with lights.

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

(US dialects, especially New England, dated) A veranda; a porch.


domestic policy council

en-noun

domestic policy council (plural domestic policy councils)

(US) A council that coordinates the domestic policy-making process in the White House and offers policy advice to the President


federal

federals (plural)
fœderal (alternative)
fœderall (alternative)

From French fédéral, from Latin stem foeder- of foedus (“covenant, league, treaty, alliance”).

(US) A law-enforcement official of the FBI

a federal agent
A law-enforcement official of the FBI

(US, historical) A unionist soldier in the American Civil War.


schooner

Attested ca. 1715, of uncertain origin. Said to be derived from dialectal scoon (“to skim over water”). Compare also shunt (“to cause to move (suddenly)”).

(US) A large goblet or drinking glass, used for lager or ale (Wikipedia).


first class

(US) One of two classes of city government in the U.S. state of Kentucky, in which cities elect a mayor and aldermen.


get down

en-verb

get down (third-person singular simple present gets down, present participle getting down, simple past got down, past participle (UK) got down or (US) gotten down)

gets down (present singular third-person)
getting down (participle present)
got down (past)
got down (UK participle past)
gotten down (US participle past)

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

I can't wait to get home and get down.

(intransitive, slang, US) To use a drug, especially heroin.

I've got this process down.

(transitive, intransitive, slang, US) To do or perform well; to make happen; to make a serious effort at doing something.

He's gotta get down on this sure thing.

(transitive, intransitive, slang, US) To bet on (something); to place bets; to gamble.


Eurotrash

From Euro- + trash. Compare white trash.

Yes, those hard-partying jet-setters known to American wags as Eurotrash, who flocked to New York City by the Concordeload in the 1980's sporting black mock turtlenecks, leather pants and sometimes dubious aristocratic titles, are back on the town.

2002 December 8, Julia Chaplin, “A New Eurofestation”, in New York Times:

For reasons becoming clear to me / New York City you are dead to me / Well you can turn back time but I'm never coming back / To when you called me Eurotrash

2018, “Eurotrash”, in Pillycock, performed by Momus:

(chiefly US, derogatory) European expatriates or visitors to the United States lacking a work ethic and focused on entertainment or leisure.


hazing

en-noun

hazing (countable and uncountable, plural hazings)

(US, Philippines) An initiation or behavior that involves humiliation, harassment or abuse, particularly in universities and in the military.


SAT

SAT (countable and uncountable, plural SATs)

take the SAT

take an SAT

The SATs have gotten harder.

AIs are no longer just producing passable five-paragraph essays. Now they’re excelling at the SAT, “earning” a score of 1410.

2023 March 21, Ian Bogost, “Is This the Singularity for Standardized Tests?”, in The Atlantic:

(US) Ellipsis of SAT Reasoning Test (formerly acronyms Scholastic Aptitude Test and Scholastic Assessment Test): a national exam taken annually by high school juniors and seniors.


democratic

en-adj

democratic (comparative more democratic, superlative most democratic)

more democratic (comparative)
most democratic (superlative)
Democratic (alternative)
democratick (alternative)

/ˌdɛməˈkɹætɪk/

/ˌdɛməˈkɹætɪk/

From Middle French democratique (“pertaining to democracy, democratic”) (modern French démocratique), and its etymon Late Latin democraticus (“pertaining to democracy, democratic; democrat”), from Ancient Greek δημοκρᾰτῐκός (dēmokrătĭkós, “of or for democracy; favouring or suited for democracy”), from δημοκρᾰτῐ́ᾱ (dēmokrătĭ́ā, “democracy”) + -ῐκός (-ĭkós, suffix with the sense ‘of or pertaining’ to forming adjectives). Δημοκρᾰτῐ́ᾱ (Dēmokrătĭ́ā) is derived from δῆμος (dêmos, “the common people; free citizens, sovereign people; popular assembly; popular government, democracy”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *deh₂- (“to divide; to share”)) + -κρᾰτῐ́ᾱ (-krătĭ́ā, suffix meaning ‘government; rule’) (from κρᾰ́τος (krắtos, “might, strength; dominion, power”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *kret- (“insight, intelligence; strength”)) + -ῐ́ᾱ (-ĭ́ā, suffix forming feminine abstract nouns)). By surface analysis, demo- + -cratic or democrat + -ic.

der

δημοκρᾰτῐκός

Mount Vernon is run by a strong democratic party organization.

(US, politics) Alternative letter-case form of Democratic (“of, pertaining to, or supporting the Democratic Party”)


drive-in

Coordinate term: drive-through (adj)

drive-in church; drive-in funeral parlor

(US, of an establishment) Providing service to patrons who remain in their automobiles and partake while parked.

drive-in-

providing service to patrons in their automobiles


drive-in

→ Japanese: ドライブイン (doraibuin)

→ Portuguese: drive-in

Owners and sponsors of the drive-ins feel that in three-quarters of their patrons they have tapped a practically prehistoric strain of human—the hitherto non-movie-goer.

1975, David Manning White, Popular Culture, page 154:

This fact may seem surprising since the major movie studios, reluctant to risk cheapening their images by releasing first-run films to drive-ins, made only older movies affordable to drive-in operators.

2000, Mary Alampi, Dun & Bradstreet/Gale Group Industry Handbook, page 26:

At the end of June 1997, there were 325 cinema sites and 28 drive-in sites in Australia.

2000, Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2000 Year Book Australia, page 346:

(US, Canada, Australia) An outdoor cinema where movies are projected onto a large screen and patrons watch from inside their vehicles, listening either by a speaker or a designated radio frequency.

The teenagers went down to the drive-in to order some hamburgers and fries.

1965 May 7, Don Moser, The nightmare of life with Billy, LIFE, page 101,

(US, Canada) A restaurant where patrons remain in their vehicles to consume their meals; the meal may be ordered and delivered to one's vehicle by a carhop waiter; or may require patrons to use a service counter. The cars in the parking lot serve as the patrons' dining room, there being a lack of dining rooms and tables.

Even before franchising genius Ray A. Kroc approached Mac and Dick McDonald to become the licensing agent for their small San Bernardino (Calif.) restaurant, scores of drive-in operators had begun copying McDonald′s speedy burger-fries-and-shake menus. Love contends that Kroc′s success came largely from his commitment to automating the preparation of drive-in meals.

1986, Business Week, numbers 2967-2978, page 136:

For during the fabled Indiana blizzard of ′78, Tom found himself trapped inside the kitchen of the drive-in for three days before his family, and—more to the point—his customers, could reach him.

2006, Reid Duffy, Reid Duffy's Guide to Indiana's Favorite Restaurants: With a Recipe Sampler, page 135:

(US, Canada) A drive-through restaurant where patrons remain in their vehicles and order food and beverages via a speaker phone; the meal is delivered by a service window accessible by car.


en-noun

911 (countable and uncountable, plural 911s)

9/11 attacks
Federal Communications Commission
National Emergency Number Association
United States

Chosen by the United States in the 1960s in place of the older British 999 number as a better way to avoid accidental calls from push-button telephones. It is officially pronounced "nine-one-one," not "nine-eleven," since "nine-eleven" refers to the 2001 attacks in New York and Washington. 9/11 is universally distinguished from 911 to refer the September 11, 2001 attacks. Officially written as 9-1-1 in regulations and materials from the United States National Emergency Number Association and Federal Communications Commission, which is also advocated by some media style guides.

911 is sending an ambulance.

(Canada, US, Belize, Liberia, Philippines, metonymically) Emergency services; emergency service personnel.

(Canada, US, Belize, Liberia, Philippines, colloquial, metonymically) An emergency phone call.

(Canada, US, Belize, Liberia, Philippines, colloquial, metonymically) An emergency.


en-verb

911 (third-person singular simple present 911s, present participle 911ing, simple past and past participle 911ed)

London hairstylist Rick Haylor for the John Frieda Salon—the man Nicole Kidman 911s when she wants her curly mop to lie down and look glamorous—tells you how to go straight.

1997 August 25, “50 New Fall Hair Looks”, in Cosmopolitan, volume 223, number 2, page 208:

(Canada, US, Belize, Liberia, Philippines, colloquial) To call emergency services.


twitterpated

en-adj

twitterpated (comparative more twitterpated, superlative most twitterpated)

more twitterpated (comparative)
most twitterpated (superlative)

From twitter + pated, i.e., having one's pate (“head”) in a twitter (confused). First used in the Disney movie Bambi (1942).

(Canada, US, informal) Smitten or love-struck; romantically infatuated.


mondo

mondo (comparative more mondo, superlative most mondo)

more mondo (comparative)
most mondo (superlative)

From the title of the 1962 Italian cult documentary film Mondo cane, Italian for "A Dog's World", from mondo (“world”) and cane (“dog”). The film featured bizarre scenes, leading to English use of mondo as an adverb meaning "very, extremely" in mock-Italian phrases like mondo bizarro. Doublet of monde.

[…] I mean, me bein' here has caused us some mondo problems, so I shoulda figured out that not bein' here anymore would cause some more problems — "

1997, K. C. Constantine, Family Values, G. K. Hall & Co., published 1997, →ISBN, page 80:

Younger gorgeous woman marries older, rich man, lives her life solely for him while reaping the bennies of mondo moolah only to end up dumped by older rich man for newer, younger model.

2010, Dakota Cassidy, You Dropped a Blonde on Me, Berkley Sensation, published 2010, →ISBN:

“You're kidding—you can eat again after that mondo burger you had for lunch?”

2012, Lucienne Diver, Crazy in the Blood, Samhain Publishing, Ltd., published 2012, →ISBN, page 79:

(US, slang) Big, large; major, significant.


mondo

"This rain is mondo depressing," Sam sighed as she stared out the sliding glass doors that led to the Hewitts' deck.

1992, Cherie Bennett, Sunset Paradise, Berkley, published 1992, →ISBN, page 1:

This recipe, from someone who really knows her tiramisu, is mondo rich, utterly divine, and simple.

2001, Margie Lapanja, Food Men Love: All-Time Favorite Recipes from Caesar Salad and Grilled Rib-Eye to Cinnamon Buns and Apple Pie, Conari Press, published 2001, →ISBN, page 196:

“Hey, this place is mondo cool. Bowie hangs out there. It's so packed you can hardly get in. And they play industrial out of one set of speakers and the Sex Pistols out of the other. I mean in the same room! Like, at a thousand decibels."

2002, Jeffrey Deaver, Mistress of Justice, Bantam Books, published 2002, →ISBN, page 93:


carnival

carnivals (plural)
carnaval (alternative)

→ Japanese: カーニバル (kānibaru)

From Middle French carnaval, from Italian carnevale, possibly from the Latin phrase carnem levāmen (“meat dismissal”). Other scholars suggest Latin carnuālia (“meat-based country feast”) or carrus nāvālis (“boat wagon; float”) instead. Doublet of carnaval.

We all got to ride the merry-go-round when they brought their carnival to town.

When the carnival came to town, every one wanted some cotton candy.

(US) A traveling amusement park, called a funfair in British English.


minstrel

The noun is derived from Middle English minstral, menestrel (“actor; juggler; mime; musician; singer; storyteller; (military) soldier playing a horn or trumpet as a signal”) [and other forms], from Anglo-Norman menestrel [and other forms] and Old French menestrel (“artisan; servant; itinerant musician or poet; worker”) [and other forms] (modern French ménestrel (“minstrel”)), from Late Latin ministerialis (“official or retainer owing household and military service to a feudal lord, a ministerial or ministerialis”), from Latin ministerium (“employment, ministration; office of a minister, ministry; action or attendance by an inferior person such as a slave, service”) + -ālis (suffix forming adjectives). Ministerium is derived from minister (“accomplice; agent; aide; attendant; servant; waiter”) (probably ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *mey- (“little, small”) + *-teros (contrastive or oppositional suffix forming adjectives)) + -ium (suffix forming abstract nouns). Doublet of ministerial and ministerialis.
The verb is derived from the noun.

nb...

menestral, menstrel, menstrelle, menstral, menstrale, menstrall, menstralle, menstrel, menstrell, menstrelle, minestral, minestrale, ministral, ministrele, minsterel, minstrale, minstrall, minstralle, minstrel, minstrelle, munstral, munstrel, munstrell, mynestral, mynistralle, mynsterel, mynstraell, mynstral, mynstrale, mynstrall, mynstralle, mynstrel, mynstrell, mynstrelle, mynystral, mynystrel, mynystrell

doublet

After tea it was the entertainment. Songs and conjuring and a play called "Box and Cox," very amusing, and a lot of throwing things about in it—bacon and chops and things—and nigger minstrels. We clapped till our hands were sore.

1904, Edith Nesbit, The New Treasure Seekers, Chapter 2:

(US, historical) One of a troupe of entertainers, often a white person who wore black makeup (blackface), to present a so-called minstrel show, being a variety show of banjo music, dance, and song (now sometimes regarded as racist).


growler

From growl + -er. Sense "jug" is 19th century American slang, of uncertain origin.

[…] their favoring breeze has the stink of nickel whiskey on its breath, and their sea is a growler of lager and ale […]

1940, Eugene O'Neill, The Iceman Cometh, act 1:

This container was a round lidded tin with a handle and was colloquially called a growler. […] to get daddy or mommy a growler of beer, which was, by the way, approximately a quart.

2002, Louis M. Soletsky, 100 Years of Medicine, iUniverse, →ISBN, page 104:

(informal, Canada, US, Australia) A kind of jug, often with a handle, used to carry beer and preserve carbonation.

(US, dialect) A fish of the perch family, abundant in North American rivers, so named from the sound it emits.


fall off a truck

en-verb

fall off a truck (third-person singular simple present falls off a truck, present participle falling off a truck, simple past fell off a truck, past participle fallen off a truck)

falls off a truck (present singular third-person)
falling off a truck (participle present)
fell off a truck (past)
fallen off a truck (participle past)
fall off the back of a lorry (alternative)
fall off the back of a truck (alternative)

He said he bought it at the markets but I think it fell off a truck.

(idiomatic, US, euphemistic) Of an item of merchandise, to come into a person's possession without having been paid for; to be acquired illegally; to have been stolen.


ville

The fighting holes and trenches scattered in and around each ville indicate battle after battle - some only planned, others fought. We move toward a tree-lined ville.

1989, Ernest Spencer, Welcome to Vietnam, Macho Man: Reflections of a Khe Sanh Vet, page 247:

On Halloween, this real hot spooky night, the dude paints up his body all different colors and puts on this weird mask and hikes over to a ville and goes trick-or-treating almost stark naked, just boots and balls and an M-16.

1990, Tim O'Brien, The Things They Carried:

(US, military, historical) A Vietnamese village.


watershed

From water + shed, a calque of German Wasserscheide, a compound of Wasser (“water”) + scheiden (“to divide”).

(hydrology, US, Canada) A region of land within which water flows down into a specified body, such as a river, lake, sea, or ocean; a drainage basin.


MLS

Coordinate term: MLB

Major League Soccer
w:Major League Soccer

(soccer, US) Initialism of Major League Soccer, the top league of men's soccer in the US.


MLS

en-noun

MLS (countable and uncountable, plural MLSs)

multiple listing service
w:multiple listing service

(US, real estate) Initialism of multiple listing service.


jewelry

jewelry (usually uncountable, plural jewelries)

From Middle English juelrye, from Old French juelerye, equivalent to jewel + -ry.

“The Global Africa Project” at the Museum of Arts & Design tries to survey this pervasiveness, in terms of contemporary visual endeavors of all kinds: jewelry, fashion, architecture, basketry, ceramics, painting, utilitarian design.

2010 February 12, Roberta Smith, “Visual Culture Out of Africa”, in The New York Times:


grange

From Middle English graunge, borrowed from Old French grange (“granary; barn; small farm”), from Vulgar Latin *grānica, from Latin grānum (“grain”).

der

(US) A lodge of the Patrons of Husbandry, a fraternal organization.


WS

Washington State
Washington State#English

State of Washington
State of Washington#English

(US) Initialism of Washington State (State of Washington)


elder

From Middle English eldre, from Old English eldra, yldra, ieldra, from Proto-Germanic *alþizô. The vowel change from a to e triggered by the following i is called umlaut or I-mutation.

長老 /长老

Mormonism: title for a male missionary or a general authority

2022, Ruth Taber, "Opinion: We’ll be healthier and happier if we adjust our thinking about aging", El Paso Matters https://elpasomatters.org/2022/03/04/opinion-well-be-healthier-and-happier-if-we-adjust-our-thinking-about-aging
Treating illness among society’s elders is challenging since board-certified geriatricians (physicians trained, knowledgeable and certified in treating older patients) are in short supply, here in El Paso and throughout the country.

After being a member of the Church for a while, Bill was ordained to the office of elder.

Jack had been an elder for only a few days when he received a new calling.

(US, Mormonism) One ordained to the lowest office in the Melchizedek priesthood.

Ältester

Mormonism: one ordained to the lowest office in the Melchizedek priesthood

The elders are coming over for dinner tonight.


GFE

en-noun

GFE (countable and uncountable, plural GFEs)

(Google): Introduced by sex columnist Dan Savage.

(US, military) Initialism of government-furnished equipment: equipment in the possession of or acquired directly by the government, and subsequently delivered to or otherwise made available to the contractor.


chuck wagon

chuck wagons (plural)
chuckwagon (alternative)
chuckwaggon (alternative)

From chuck + wagon; chuck was cowboy slang for food.

(US, historical) A wagon equipped with food and cooking utensils, and used to prepare meals, as on a ranch, in a lumber camp, or during a cattle drive in the latter part of the 19th century.


impeachment

impeachment (countable and uncountable, plural impeachments)

impeachments (plural)
empeachment (alternative)

→ Polish: impeachment

→ Portuguese: impeachment

desctree

→ Russian: импи́чмент (impíčment)
→ Kazakh: импичмент (impiçment)

→ Spanish: impeachment

Richard Nixon
United States Senate
Watergate scandal

From Middle English empechement (“hindrance, impediment, obstacle, obstruction; legal accusation or charge; act of calling into question or discrediting; challenge to a claim or right”), and thence either:
* from Middle English empechen, empeschen, empesche, enpechen, impechen (“to cause to get stuck; of a ship: to run aground; to block, obstruct; to hinder, impede; to prevent; to interfere with, harm; to criticize, disparage; to bring charges against; to formally accuse of treason or another high crime”) (from Anglo-Norman empecher, Old French empechier, empeechier) + -ment (suffix forming action nouns, concrete nouns, and nouns indicating a result or a condition or state); or
* from Old French empechement, empeechement, empeschement (“obstacle”) (modern French empêchement (“impediment, obstacle”)), from empeechier (“to fetter; to hinder”), empescher (“to inhibit, prevent”) + -ment (suffix forming nouns from verbs).
The English word is analysable as impeach + -ment.
Old French empechier, empeechier and empescher (compare modern French empêcher) are derived from Late Latin impedicāre (“to catch; to entangle”), present active infinitive of Latin impedicō (“to entangle; to fetter”), from im- (variant of in-) + pedica (“fetter, shackle; snare, trap”) (from pēs (“foot”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *ped- (“to step, walk; to fall, stumble”)) + -ō.
In senses 1.2 (“accusation that a person has committed a crime”) and 1.3 (“act of impeaching or charging a public official with misconduct”), the word has been used in place of Latin impetere, the present active infinitive of impetō (“to assail, attack, rush upon”).

Abqualifizierung

The Boſton Gazette of March 7 contains articles of impeachment of high crimes and miſdemeanors againſt Peter Oliver, Eſq; Chief Juſtice of the Superior Court of Judicature, &c., over the Province of Maſſachuſets Bay, by the Houſe of Repreſentatives in General Court aſſembled, [...] [T]he Aſſembly perſiſted in their impeachment, which was carried, upon a diviſion, yeas 92, nays 8: [...]

1774 May, “American Affairs”, in Sylvanus Urban [pseudonym; Edward Cave], editor, The Gentleman’s Magazine, and Historical Chronicle, volume XLIV, London: Printed […], for D[avid] Henry, and sold by F[rancis] Newbery, […], published January 1755, →OCLC, pages 236–237:

The awful diſcretion, which a court of impeachments muſt neceſſarily have, to doom to honour or to infamy the moſt confidential and the moſt diſtinguiſhed characters of the community, forbids the commitment of the truſt to a ſmall number of perſons.

1788, Publius [pseudonym; Alexander Hamilton], “Number LXV. A Further View of the Constitution of the Senate, in Relation to Its Capacity as a Court for the Trial of Impeachments.”, in The Federalist: A Collection of Essays, Written in Favour of the New Constitution, […] , volume II, New York, N.Y.: […] J. and A. M‘Lean, […], →OCLC, page 211:

The acts for which an officer may be impeached, are preciſely thoſe for which he may be indicted as an officer; miſdemeanors in office, offences or unlawful acts done with an evil intention in his official capacity. For ſuch only can he be convicted on an Impeachment. And no officer can be convicted on an Impeachment, unleſs, on the ſame charge, and on the ſame evidence, he ought to be convicted on an Indictment. The ground of both is an unlawful act with an evil intention. Impeachment is Indictment, in other form, adopted in England for great offenders, whoſe influence might defeat the justice of the ordinary tribunals, and retained in Pennſylvania, either from ſimilar motives, or from imitation.

1803, Alexander Addison, Thomas Lloyd, stenographer, The Trial of Alexander Addison, Esq. […], on an Impeachment by the House of Representatives, before the Senate of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. […], 2nd edition, Lancaster, Pa.: Printd by George Helmbold, junior, for Lloyd and Helmbold, jun., →OCLC, pages 103–104:

Another letter [...] is worthy of being remembered, not merely as expressing more clearly Edmund Verney's antipathy of a Scotish war, but also as indicating what were his expectations, and no doubt the general expectations, of the results of calling a parliament. The quashing of ship-money, the abolition of monopolies, and even the impeachments of [William] Laud and [Thomas Wentworth, 1st Earl of] Strafford, are here clearly foreseen.

1853, John Bruce, editor, Letters and Papers of the Verney Family down to the End of the Year 1639. Printed from the Original MSS. in the Possession of Sir Harry Verney, Bart. (Publications (Camden Society); 56), London: Printed for the Camden Society, by John Bowyer Nichols and Sons, […], →OCLC, page 271:

The impeachment process provides a mechanism for removal of the President, Vice President, and other federal civil officers found to have engaged in "treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors." The Constitution places the responsibility and authority to determine whether to impeach and to draft articles of impeachment in the hands of the House of Representatives. A number of means have been used to trigger the House's investigation, but the ultimate decision in all instances as to whether impeachment is appropriate rests with the House. Should the House vote to impeach and vote articles of impeachment specifying the grounds upon which impeachment is based, the matter is then presented to the Senate for trial.

2010 April 8, Elizabeth B. Bazan, Anna C. Henning, “Summary”, in Impeachment: An Overview of Constitutional Provisions, Procedure, and Practice (CRS Report for Congress; 98-186), [Washington, D.C.]: Congressional Research Service, Library of Congress, →OCLC:

In popular impeachments, the street protesters use disruption in order to apply the ultimate accountability sanction for a president: removal from power. [...] Popular impeachments have only happened under extraordinary circumstances. In the case of legal accountability: blatant corruption, abuses of power, or both, that seem to go unpunished. In the case of political accountability: economic meltdowns, major political crises, or both, with no signs of light at the end of the tunnel.

2013, Leon Zamosc, “Popular Impeachments: Ecuador in Comparative Perspective”, in Mario Sznajder, Luis Roniger, Carlos A. Forment, editors, Shifting Frontiers of Citizenship: The Latin American Experience (International Comparative Social Studies; 29), Leiden: Brill, →ISBN, →ISSN, page 265:

There is even a gender gap in support for impeachment, with more American women than men in favor of the House inquiry – and Trump’s removal from office.

2019 November 22, Lauren Gambino, “'Absolute fearlessness': women take impeachment spotlight and speak truth as Trump fumes”, in The Guardian:

calling into question
call into question

(countable) The act of calling into question or challenging the accuracy or propriety of something.

(countable, law, chiefly US) The act of impeaching or charging a public official with misconduct, especially if serious, often with the aim of having the official dismissed from office.


fleeting

From Middle English fleten (“to float”), from Old English flēotan (“to float”), from Proto-Germanic *fleutaną, from Proto-Indo-European *plewd-. By surface analysis, fleet + -ing.

(US, rail transport) An automatic operation mode of an absolute signal that reserves a route for several trains following one another, without the need for dispatcher to re-set the route for each train.


gross

en-adj

gross (comparative grosser or more gross, superlative grossest or most gross)

grosser (comparative)
more gross (comparative)
grossest (superlative)
most gross (superlative)

From Middle English gross (“whole, entire; flagrant, monstrous”), from Old French gros (“big, thick, large, stout”), from Late Latin grossus (“thick in diameter, coarse”), and Medieval Latin grossus (“great, big”), influenced by Old High German grōz (“big, thick, coarse”), from Proto-Germanic *grautaz (“large, great, thick, coarse grained, unrefined”), from Proto-Indo-European *gʰer- (“to rub, to stroke, to grind”).
Cognate with French grossier (“gross”). See also French dialectal grôt, groût (“large”) (Berry) and grô (“large”) (Burgundy), Catalan gros (“big”), Dutch groot (“big, large”), German groß (“large”), English great.

der

I threw up all over the bed. It was totally gross.

Mary Ann spent her lunch hour at Hastings, picking out just the right tie for Norman. The hint might not be terribly subtle, she decided, but somebody had to do something about that gross, gravy-stained clip-on number.

1978, Armistead Maupin, “Ties That Bind”, in Tales of the City, New York: Harper & Row, published 1989, page 293:

The next-door neighbor’s cat coughed up a hairball one day and the hair was not the cat’s. “That’s so gross!”

2002, Jeffrey Eugenides, Middlesex, New York: Picador, Book 3, p. 306:

(informal, Canada, US, Australia) Causing disgust.


Slurpee

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

From slurp + -ee. Originally a brand name.

(Canada, US) A slushie; a partially-frozen drink made of small ice crystals flavored with syrup.


bleacher

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

From Middle English blechere, equivalent to bleach + -er. Compare Dutch bleker, Swedish blekare.

There could be a rough crowd out in the bleachers.

It seemed silly for the crowd to applaud or groan over what you had already felt in your fingers or even in your arms as you braced to shoot or for that matter in your eyes: when he was hot he could see the separate threads wound into the strings looping the hoop. Yet at the start of the game when you came out for warm-up and could see all the town clunkers sitting in the back of the bleachers elbowing each other and the cheerleaders wisecracking with the racier male teachers, the crowd then seemed right inside you, your liver and lungs and stomach.

1960, John Updike, 'Rabbit, Run', page 34:

Warnings such as "watch your step" can be provided when there is a small step off a bleacher to the pavement or ground level.

1999, Jim Puhalla, Jeff Krans, Mike Goatley, Sports Fields: A Manual for Design, Construction and Maintenance - Page 371:

We prefer bleacher seats to Grandstand Sections 1-9. And in truth, quite a few bleacher seats offer a better view of the action than the Right Field Boxes do. Bleacher seats are made of comfortable plastic, […]

2004, Josh Pahigian, Kevin O'Connell, The Ultimate Baseball Road-Trip:

(US, usually in the plural) A stand of tiered planks used as seating for spectators, often outdoors.

In practice, audience members often have badly obstructed views of the sets—whether due to obstructive camera dollies and production personnel or viewers sitting in the bleachers off to the side of the set that is currently being used.

2010, Jeremy G. Butler, Television Style:

(US, television, usually in the plural, by extension) The tiered seating provided for the audience at a television filming.


nookie

Possibly from or related to German Nuckel (“pacifier; teat”), nuckeln (“to suck”), both attested from the 17th century, in which case the brand name NUK would be named after the generic word.


monkey bread

en-noun

monkey bread (countable and uncountable, plural monkey breads)

monkey breads (plural)
monkey's bread (alternative)

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

(US) A soft, sweet, sticky pastry sprinkled with cinnamon, often served at fairs and festivals.


chump change

He spent $300,000 for his new car, but that's chump change for a billionaire like him.

(chiefly US, idiomatic) A sum of money considered to be insignificant.

If you sell one of those cars, your commission will be chump change.

I don't work for chump change. I quit!

It was hard to get two dollars out of either of them, and whatever chump change they gave Mere'maw they expected her to squeeze it until it hollered.

2006, Noire [pseudonym], Thug-A-Licious: An Urban Erotic Tale, New York, N.Y.: One World, Ballantine Books, →ISBN, page 76:

"First of all, there's no we. You're talking me, solo, busting my hump slinging shards. I got profile now. Don't you get that? DEA's up my ass. No, I'm not exposing myself to that level of risk for chump change. No way."

2009, Breaking Bad (season 2), 'Breakage' (Episode 5 of Season 2) at 22 minutes. Jesse Pinkman to Walter White in the RV, making drugs, discussing Pinkman selling them direct rather than go through a dealer

(chiefly US, idiomatic) An amount of remuneration, reward, or other monetary recompense considered to be insultingly small.


fire truck

fire trucks (plural)
firetruck (alternative)

(firefighting, US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand) A ladder truck, a vehicle used by firefighters to gain access to the upper stories of a building. Typically, a fire truck has a hydraulic system which operates a large, heavy-duty ladder mounted on top of the truck body, space for portable ladders to be stored and compartments for holding other tools that may be needed. Unlike a fire engine, trucks do not have pumps or carry water.


roundabout

From round + about [from early 20th c.].

what you lose on the swings you gain on the roundabouts

(chiefly UK, New Zealand, Ireland, Canada, Australia and sometimes US) A road junction at which traffic streams circularly around a central island.


tanker

(automotive, US) A tank truck (tanker truck).


gill

From Middle English gille, from Old French gille (“a wine measure”), from Medieval Latin gillo (“earthenware jar”).

der

(dated, US) A unit of measure equal to 4 US fluid ounces (half a cup, a quarter of a US pint), approximately 118 milliliters.


fuzz

Unknown. Godfrey Irwin (1930) suggests a possible connection to fuss, "over-particular", excessive bother.

Let's get the hell out of here before the fuzz turns up

2009, The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, 0:26:17

(US, slang, with "the") The police, or any law enforcement agency.


baffle

en-noun

baffle (countable and uncountable, plural baffles)

→ French: baffle

→ Spanish: bafle

The origin of the verb is uncertain; it is possibly:
* from French bafouer, baffoüer (“to abuse, revile; to confuse, baffle; to deceive; to flout; to scorn”), imitative of someone making a disdainful sound by expelling air quickly through pouted lips (compare Occitan baf (interjection expressing disdain)); or
* from French befer, beffer, beffler (“(obsolete) to deceive; to mock, ridicule”) (compare Old French befe, beffe, buffe (“deception; mockery”); beferie (“deceit; quibbling”)), possibly from bafouer: see above.
The noun is derived from the verb.
Cognates
* Italian beffare (“(verb) to deride, mock”), beffa (“(noun) banter; mockery”)
* Occitan bafar (“(verb) to deride, mock”), bafa (“(noun) banter; mockery”)
* Old Spanish bafa (modern Spanish befa (“(noun) banter; mockery”))
* Spanish befar (“(verb) to deride, mock”)

cog

(US, dialectal, coal mining) A lever for operating the throttle valve of a winding engine.


persnickety

en-adj

persnickety (comparative more persnickety, superlative most persnickety)

more persnickety (comparative)
most persnickety (superlative)

From Scots persnickety, whence also pernickety. More at pernickety.

Marjorie glanced up and down the long street. “Well, I never in my life saw so many different kinds of houses!” she exclaimed. “Aren’t they funny! Why, they look almost like people. Look at that little persnickety one over there — the white, white one with the green, green blinds — doesn’t it look exactly like —”

1905, Katherine M. Yates, At the Door: A Tale to Read Both on the Lines and Between, K. M. Yates & Company, page 7:

I have just read the article in your issue for May 16 on dialectic English. The word tempest recalls the surprise I felt at the beginning of three years' residence on Cape Cod to hear the word used commonly as an exact synonym for thunderstorm.
Persnickety I have been accustomed to use in the sense attached to perjinkety, that is, over-fastidious. I do not know how the word was acquired or how common its use is.

1914 July 3, William H. Bowers, “The Use of ‘Tempest.’”, letter to the editor, in The Dial: A Semi-Monthly Journal of Literary Criticism, Discussion, and Information, The Henry O. Shepard Co., volume LVII, page 47

Her free and easy association with her fellow nurses is prone to break down her womanly reserve and natural modesty. Her assiduity in clinging to ideals of modest begins to abate as a result. She is inclined to think she has been too “persnickety;” that this is unnecessary when one understands “the naturalness of the physical body.” She wonders what is the use. And forthwith the foundation is laid for Moral Lenity.

1919, Gertrude Harding, The Higher Aspect of Nursing, W. B. Saunders Company, pages 180–181:


papoose

Borrowed from Narragansett papoos (“child”).

[…] a half-breed what they nicknamed "Splinters" 'cos of the way he fixed up her papoose which he stole on a raid […]

They say he has Indian blood in him. They say he has an Indian wife somewhere, and a lot of papooses. Cherokee.

In the empty Houston streets of four o’clock in the morning a motorcycle kid suddenly roared through, all bespangled and bedecked with glittering buttons, visor, slick black jacket, a Texas poet of the night, girl gripped on his back like a papoose, […]

1957, Jack Kerouac, chapter 8, in On the Road, Viking Press, →OCLC, part 2:

(US, dated, offensive) A Native American baby.


objection

/əbˈd͡ʒɛkʃən/

From Middle French objection, from Old French objeccion, from Latin obiectio.

Objection! That is irrelevant to this case, Your Honor!

(chiefly US, law) An assertion that a question or statement is in violation of the rules of the court.


pisser

From Middle English pissere; equivalent to piss + -er (agent noun). The sense referring to a urinal formed from piss + -er (patient suffix).

(US northeast dialect, slang, mildly vulgar) Someone or something either viewed as good, impressive or remarkable.

(chiefly US, mildly vulgar, slang) A toilet or urinal.


ESA

environmental site assessment
w:environmental site assessment

(US) Initialism of environmental site assessment.


ESA

Ecological Society of America
w:Ecological Society of America

(US, ecology) Initialism of Ecological Society of America.


bummer

From German Bummler (“a drifter, a stroller, a rambler, a loiterer, a laggard”), from bummeln (“loaf, loiter, stroll, ramble”).

bor

“If I get away I sha’n’t be here,” I says, “to prove these rapscallions ain’t your uncles, and I couldn’t do it if I was here. I could swear they was beats and bummers, that’s all, though that’s worth something.

1884 December 10, Mark Twain [pseudonym; Samuel Langhorne Clemens], chapter XXVIII, in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn: (Tom Sawyer’s Comrade) […], London: Chatto & Windus, […], →OCLC:

(US, slang, dated) An idle, worthless fellow, without any visible means of support; a dissipated sponger.


gin up

en-verb

gin up (third-person singular simple present gins up, present participle ginning up, simple past and past participle ginned up)

gins up (present singular third-person)
ginning up (participle present)
ginned up (participle past)
ginned up (past)

From gin (short for engine or generate) + up.

Near-synonym: spin up

So as the six-year conceptual design phase ends next month, and the design teams face extinction, the partners […] have begun frantic efforts to keep ITER alive, ginning up concepts for an "ITER light" that promise to cut costs in half while providing most of the features of the full-fat version.

1998, Science & Government Report, volume 28, page 10:

There will be pundits and politicians and politicians and special interest lobbyists publicly warning of a tyrannical all-out assault on liberty, not because that’s true but because they want to gin up fear or higher ratings or revenue for themselves.

2013 January 16, Barack Obama, The Most Vulnerable Among Us:

Her hope was that turning it into an NFT would be a bit of performance art and that the process would gin up conversation about the article but also about new ways for creators to make money and control the ownership of their work.

2021 March 24, Charlie Warzel, “What Are You Paying for When You Buy a GIF for $25,000?”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

Then I'll send out some tweets to help gin up the heat.

2023 April 18, “CALLOUS MAN: A Parody of Piano Man by Don Caron and David Cohen”performed by Parody Project:

(transitive, Canada, US) To generate, devise, or create.


blanket loan

(US) A loan, or mortgage, for multiple subdivisions of a single tract of land.


certified safety professional

en-noun

certified safety professional (plural certified safety professionals)

(US) A person accredited by the American Board of Safety Professionals, the certification board for safety professionals in the United States, and designated by the letters CSP after his or her name.


reservation

reservation (countable and uncountable, plural reservations)

/ˌɹɛzəˈveɪʃən/

/ˌɹɛzɚˈveɪʃən/

From Middle French reservation, equivalent to reserve + -ation.

(US) A tract of land set apart by the US government for the use of a Native American people; Indian reservation (compare Canadian reserve).


roly-poly

roly-poly (countable and uncountable, plural roly-polys or roly-polies)

roly-polys (plural)
roly-polies (plural)
rolly polly (alternative)
rolly-poly (alternative)
rolly-pooly (alternative)

/ˌɹəʊlɪˈpəʊli/

The noun is apparently derived from roll (“to turn over and over”) + -y (suffix forming adjectives with the sense ‘having the quality of’), reduplicated with a change of the initial consonant. Compare rolly (“having the ability to roll, rolling”, adjective), which is attested since the 19th century.
Sense 1.7 (“mischievous or worthless person”) is possibly influenced by poll (“head; (archaic) scalp; (by extension) person”).
The adjective and adverb are attested later than the noun, and so are probably derived from it.

suffix

A roly-poly had found his way inside the house; I reasoned that the tiny varmint had crawled up the steps. […] The creatures are no more than an inch long, and when you touch them they roll themselves into a tight gray ball.

1960 July 11, Harper Lee, chapter 25, in To Kill a Mockingbird, Philadelphia, Pa., New York, N.Y.: J[oshua] B[allinger] Lippincott Company, →OCLC, part 2, page 251:

Terrestrial isopods, commonly known as pill bugs, sow bugs, or roly-polys, are generally familiar to most of us.

1995, Henry W. Robison, Robert T. Allen, “Subphylum Crustacea: Crustaceans”, in Only in Arkansas: A Study of the Endemic Plants and Animals of the State, Fayetteville, Ark.: University of Arkansas Press, →ISBN, page 45:

From the window, she sees them discover a colony of roly-polies (tiny gray bugs that roll into miniature balls in the presence of danger). She delights in the wonder and fun of the children as they play gently with the tiny bugs.

1997, Clark M. Williamson, Ronald J[ames] Allen, “Worship as the Power of God”, in Adventures of the Spirit: A Guide to Worship from the Perspective of Process Theology, Lanham, Md., Oxford, Oxfordshire: University Press of America, →ISBN, page 76:

[Romy Tinkle] What is that thing, Quincy?! / [Quincy Tinkle] Um … It's a giant Rolly Polly (Pill Bug). It's been living entirely on my body-building protein powder, apparently!!

2002 May 26, J[effrey] J. Rowland, Wigu Adventures (webcomic), archived from the original on 2009-12-13:

(Canada, US) In full roly-poly bug: a small terrestrial invertebrate which tends to roll into a ball when disturbed, such as a woodlouse (suborder Oniscidea, especially a pill bug (family Armadillidiidae) or a sowbug (family Porcellionidae)) or a pill millipede (superorder Oniscomorpha).


flannel

en-noun

flannel (countable and uncountable, plural flannels)

flannels (plural)
flannen (alternative)
flanan (alternative)
flanning (alternative)
flanen (alternative)

zh-l

法蘭絨／法兰绒 (fǎlánróng)

⇒ Chinese: 法蘭絨／法兰绒 (fǎlánróng)

→ Danish: flannel

desctree

→ French: flanelle
→ Catalan: franel·la
→ Dutch: flanel
Afrikaans: flanel

→ German: Flanell
→ Danish: flonel

→ Italian: flanella
→ Luxembourgish: Flanell
→ Portuguese: flanela
→ Spanish: franela
→ Tagalog: pranela
→ Egyptian Arabic: فنلّة

→ Swedish: flanell

→ Japanese: フランネル (furaneru)

From Middle English flaunneol, from Anglo-Norman flanelle (compare Norman flianné), diminutive of Old French flaine, floene (“coarse wool”), from Gaulish, from Proto-Celtic *wlānos, *wlanā (“wool”) (compare Welsh gwlân, Breton gloan), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂wĺ̥h₁neh₂. More at wool.


landmark

en-verb

landmark (third-person singular simple present landmarks, present participle landmarking, simple past and past participle landmarked)

landmarks (present singular third-person)
landmarking (participle present)
landmarked (participle past)
landmarked (past)
land-mark (alternative)
land mark (alternative)

From Middle English *landmark, from Old English landmearc (“boundary”), from Proto-West Germanic *landamarku (“boundary, landmark”). Equivalent to land + mark. Cognate with German Landmarke (“landmark”), Danish landemærke (“landmark”), Swedish landmärke (“landmark”), Norwegian landemerke (“landmark”) and Faroese landamark (“land frontier”). Compare also Middle English londes-mark (“boundary”).

inh

“Permitted demolition or stripping rarely occurs on landmarked buildings,” she said. Ms. de Bourbon also noted that the city already requires the Buildings Department to hold permits for 40 days for “calendared” properties — those currently under landmarks consideration — so the commission has a chance to designate them.

2007 March 25, Jeff Vandam, “Preservationists’ Rallying Cry”, in New York Times:

(US) To officially designate a site or building as a landmark.


god-awful

en-adj

god-awful (comparative more god-awful, superlative most god-awful)

more god-awful (comparative)
most god-awful (superlative)
God-awful (alternative)
god awful (alternative)
godawful (alternative)
goshawful (alternative)
gawdawful (alternative)

Your roast beef was the most god-awful piece of meat I ever ate.

LA is the loneliest and most brutal of American cities; New York gets god-awful cold in the winter but there’s a feeling of wacky comradeship somewhere in some streets. LA is a jungle.

1957, Jack Kerouac, chapter 13, in On the Road, Penguin, published 1976, →OCLC, part 1, page 86:

It's a god-awful small affair
To the girl with the mousy hair

1971, “Life on Mars?”, performed by David Bowie:

(US, slang) Extremely awful, unpleasant or dreadful.


coyote ugly

A girl was coyote ugly if, when a man got too drunk, picked her up, took her to bed, and woke up with her asleep on his arm in the morning, he'd chew his arm off to escape without waking her up.

2003, Georgina Gentry, To Tame A Texan, Zebra Books, →ISBN:

Poodles, Pomeranians, those uglier than coyote ugly Pugs, Chihuahuas—you name it, he'd been in a cage with the fuckers, fighting for his right to a stupid rubber hot dog coated in beef broth while he waited for Gustav to milk his renal glands.

2009, Dakota Cassidy, Kiss & Hell, Penguin, →ISBN:

Crocs are coyote ugly. Some people like the Crocs clog style; others simply hate it.

2011, Howard Lindzon, Philip Pearlman, Ivaylo Ivanhoff, The StockTwits Edge, Enhanced Edition, John Wiley & Sons, →ISBN, page 56:

(US, slang, derogatory, originally applied to women) Very ugly.


Outside

She's going Outside for Christmas.

'When did you leave the Outside?' asked a blue-eyed, blonde, shaggy man. (The Outside means anywhere but Alaska—a man who has been long in the country falls into the idea of considering himself in a kind of a prison, and refers to the rest of the world as lying beyond the door of this.)

1900, Josiah Edward Spurr, Through The Yukon Gold Diggings, page 156:

Fairbanks North Star Borough school board candidate Michael Humphrey attempted to import one of the most distasteful elements of the Outside culture wars into Fairbanks on Saturday through his deployment of hate speech targeting transgender children.

2023 July 19, Sine Anahita, “Political float has no place in parade”, in Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, Letters to the editor:

(slang, US, Alaska) The United States excluding Alaska, (especially) the contiguous 48 states south of Canada.


bogus

First attested as an underworld term for an apparatus for creating counterfeit coins, then the coins themselves. Later, the word was applied to anything of poor quality. The newest use to mean useless is probably from the slang of computer hackers.
The origin is unknown, but there are at least two theories that try to trace its origin:
* From Hausa boko (“to fake”). Since bogus first appeared in the United States, it may be possible that its ancestor was brought there on a slave ship.
* From criminal slang as a short form of tantrabogus, a 19th-century slang term for a menacing object, making some believe that bogus might be linked to bogy or bogey (see bogeyman). In this sense, Bogus might be related to Bogle – a traditional trickster from the Scottish Borders, noted for achieving acts of household trickery; confusing, but not usually damaging.

BOGUS. A liquor made of rum and molasses.

1848, John Russell Bartlett, Dictionary of Americanisms: A glossary of words and phrases, usually regarded as peculiar to the United States:

"Calibogus," or "bogus" was cold rum and beer unsweetened.

1919, Harvey Washington Wiley, Beverages and Their Adulteration: Origin, Composition, Manufacture, Natural, Artificial, Fermented, Distilled, Alkaloidal and Fruit Juices:

The American colonists drank rum straight, spiced, or mixed. They combined it with a list of ingredients: rum mixed with hard cider was called stonewall; rum and beer made bogus; rum and molasses made blackstrap.

2014, J. Anne Funderburg, Bootleggers and Beer Barons of the Prohibition Era, page 311:

(US, dialect) A liquor made of rum and molasses.

“Ahem—it is the opinion of the court that the prisoner has been making bogus; so we must put him in the jug until Superior Court.[…]”

1841 December 8, “Western Court Eloquence”, in Carlisle Weekly Herald, page 2:

There is not a merchant in this city but knows this fact, and also that there has been a large quantity of bogus in circulation.

1846, Joseph H. Jackson, The Adventures and Experience of Joseph H. Jackson: Disclosing the Depths of Mormon Villainy Practiced in Nauvoo, page 15:

This being agreed to, they hand the soldier the same number of dollars they received from him—but all counterfeit. This new way of passing bogus they have practised to a considerable extent […]

1848 January 26, C. C., “[Letter]”, in The Washington Union, published 1848 February 28, page 3:

Edward Bonney, a bounty hunter who passed bogus on occasion, claimed to have been working to break up yet another gang operating on the Mississippi with a base at Nauvoo.

1994, John L. Brooke, The Refiner’s Fire: The Making of Mormon Cosmology, 1644–1844, →ISBN, pages 269–70:

(US, dialect, archaic) Counterfeit money.


donk

en-verb

donk (third-person singular simple present donks, present participle donking, simple past and past participle donked)

donks (present singular third-person)
donking (participle present)
donked (participle past)
donked (past)

We can donk all day, boys!

(slang, transitive, Canada, US) To mess around, to play


outsource

outsource (third-person singular simple present outsources, present participle outsourcing, simple past and past participle outsourced)

outsources (present singular third-person)
outsourcing (participle present)
outsourced (participle past)
outsourced (past)

They decided to outsource the design and manufacture of the system to a vendor.

Read said maintenance would be outsourced, with "positive discussions" held with two companies.

2020 April 8, “Network News: Varamis plans electric freight to carry light goods”, in Rail, page 17:

(chiefly US, business, management, transitive) To transfer the management and/or day-to-day execution of a business function to a third-party service provider.


SLR

(US, finance) Initialism of supplementary leverage ratio.