tuckahoe

en-noun

tuckahoe (countable and uncountable, plural tuckahoes)

tuckahoes (plural)
tockwough (alternative)

From Powhatan tockawhoughe. The "person" sense implies that such a person was so poor as to be reduced to eating the root.

Coordinate term: Cohee

[…] at least until you either get poor Tuckahoe out of his present hobble, in furnishing so many strong suspicions against the sincerity of his former professions of patriotism, […]

1828 February 8, "Tusgarora" (pen name), in a letter to the editor of The American Farmer, page 372

The poor Tuckahoe, however, when he purchased land in Washington County, or the Shenandoah, or in Rowan, seems to have left behind him, not only his worn-out fields and his tumbledown house, but his wasteful methods.

1963, Thomas Jefferson Wertenbaker, The Old South: the founding of American civilization, page 213:

(uncommon, US, Virginia dialect, largely obsolete) A person, especially if poor and malnourished (or if implied to be), living east of Virginia's Blue Ridge Mountains.


pussy power

Coined by Eldridge Cleaver in 1968 (see quotations, below).

You have the power to bring a squeaking halt to a lot of things that are going on, and we call that pussy power. We say that political power, revolution power grows out of the lips of a pussy.

1968, Eldridge Cleaver, Post-prison Writings and Speeches, Random House, published 1969, page 143:

Before I get accused of channelling Camille Paglia, I will clarify this point. I do not think that pussy power is the only, or even the best, form of power for women.

2002, Kath Albury, Yes Means Yes, Allen & Unwin, published 2002, page 89:

(US) Power as held by women, especially seen as coming from inherently feminine qualities or from female sexual allure.


EAS

Emergency Alert System
w:Emergency Alert System

(US) Initialism of Emergency Alert System. a public warning system that receives alerts from NWS, NOAA and other government and civil defense agencies and transmitted it to the general public through television and radio stations.


any more

non-rhotic, without the horse–hoarse merger

/ˌæ.niˈmɔːɹ/

I eat fish any more.

‘Quite absurd,’ he said. ‘Suffering bores me, any more.’

1920, D[avid] H[erbert] Lawrence, Women in Love:

He's no longer the wholesome Chamber of Commerce bigshot we used to know in the olden days, Doc, he's bad shit any more

2009, Thomas Pynchon, Inherent Vice, Vintage, published 2010, page 268:

(colloquial, chiefly Northern Ireland, US, in positive constructions) Now, from now on.


prodeath

en-adj

prodeath (comparative more prodeath, superlative most prodeath)

more prodeath (comparative)
most prodeath (superlative)
pro-death (alternative)

A contrary view was expressed by Helen Cindrich, president of People Concerned for the Unborn Child.
"He (Huyett) has not crumpled under the pressure of the well-funded prodeath profiteers," she said in a press release.

1982 December 8, “Abortion Clinics Prepare For New Law”, in Pittsburgh Post-Gazette:


pro-abort

pro-abort (comparative more pro-abort, superlative most pro-abort)

more pro-abort (comparative)
most pro-abort (superlative)
proabort (alternative)

In its newsletter, Defense of Life described Thornburgh as "pro-abort" and said Woods had no recorded abortion position.

1987 April 29, “Thornburgh turns down Reagan offer”, in Gettysburg Times:

As she stood outside the clinic on Saturday, she lamented the lost opportunities as the counterdemonstrators clogged the sidewalks. "They're the real lunatic, pro-abort people," she said[…]

1989 July 17, “Abortion Battle: 2 Foes on Front Lines”, in The New York Times:


pro-abort

pro-aborts (plural)
proabort (alternative)

The leader of a Utah anti-abortion group told those attending a rally at the state Capitol on Wednesday they should target the elected offices being vacated in 1992.
"If we lose the governor's seat to a pro-abort, then he can say there isn't enough money to support the abortion law. You must register to vote in 1992 so you can vote those pro-aborts out of office and keep them out," said Rosa Goodnight[…]

1992 January 23, “Utah Abortion Foes Seek to Elect Pro-Lifers to Keep Political Edge”, in The Salt Lake Tribune:

(US, politics, derogatory) A person with pro-choice views.


proabort

(US, politics, derogatory) Alternative spelling of pro-abort


thumbsucker

From thumb + sucker, suggesting the ignorance of a thumb-sucking child who needs things explained.

(US, slang) A piece of serious journalism that explains the background of current events and interprets them in a manner comforting to the intended readers.


fourteener

Alternative form: 14er

(US, climbing) A mountain rising to more than 14,000 feet above mean sea level.


detur

(US, Harvard University) A prize consisting of a book given to a meritorious sophomore student. The official name is the Detur Prize or Detur Book Prize


pickerelweed

(US) Any of several freshwater plants, of the genus Pontederia, that have heart-shaped leaves


lightwood

(Canada, US) Any wood used to light a fire; kindlings; especially, very resinous pine wood.


JCL

Junior Classical League
w:Junior Classical League

(US) Initialism of Junior Classical League.


daytimer

And, as you know, most of the black broadcasters and Mexican-American broadcasters and minority broadcasters in the United States have wound up with the dog stations in various markets, mainly daytimers. Very few of us are in the large markets […]

1979, United States. Congress. House. Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce. Subcommittee on Communications, The Communications Act of 1979: Hearings, page 339:

(US) An AM radio station that is only allowed to broadcast during the daytime


HAC

(US) Initialism of hearing aid compatibility.


ocherous

ocherous (comparative more ocherous, superlative most ocherous)

more ocherous (comparative)
most ocherous (superlative)


Kaserne

Borrowed from German Kaserne (“barracks”), ultimately from Latin quaterna through French caserne.

bor+

(US military) A United States Military barracks or installation in Germany.


antigoglin

en-adj

antigoglin (comparative more antigoglin, superlative most antigoglin)

more antigoglin (comparative)
most antigoglin (superlative)
antigogglin (alternative)

/æntɪˈɡɒɡln̩/

/æntɪˈɡɒɡlɪn/

/æntəˈɡɒɡln̩/

(US, dialectal) Not straight; crooked, askew, out of line


sick call

(US, military) A daily lineup of military personnel requiring medical attention.


Crown Vic

He stood up, wasting precious seconds and knocking his chair over as he continued to stare upward through the window at the Crown Vic.

2003, Ed Howdershelt, An Encounter in Atlanta:

When the Crown Vic rammed the Lincoln's rear fender, they were spun around facing back the way they'd come.

As soon as I appeared, the Crown Vic fired up its engine, and the driver of the van started talking into a walkie-talkie.

2010, Moxie Mezcal, Concrete Underground:

(US, informal) A Ford Crown Victoria motor car.


voorleser

Borrowed from Dutch voorleser (modern spelling voorlezer), from voor- (“before”) + lezer (“reader”).

(US, historical) A prominent citizen in New Amsterdam, whose duties spanned across law, education and religion.

(US, historical) A legal or religious reader.


water oak

Some young people were out under the wateroaks playing croquet. Mr. Pontellier's two children were there—sturdy little fellows of four and five.

I recall a catbird high in the water oak above, swinging like a rag amid the branches, jabbering and screeching [...].

1967, William Styron, The Confessions of Nat Turner, Vintage, published 2004, page 200:

(chiefly Canada, US) Any of various hard oaks that grow near rivers or swamps, especially Quercus nigra, of the southern US.


highbinder

highbinders (plural)
high-binder (alternative)

From the name of a nativist gang that flourished in New York City in the early 19th century, possibly an alteration of hide + binder.

(US, obsolete) A ruffian, especially one of a gang.

(US, obsolete) A member of one of several Chinese criminal gangs associated with illegal immigration and prostitution.

Well, I sent for him not an hour ago; he's goin' to take copies of th' accounts that show what th' Chief an' them other highbinders at the top o' Tammany have been doin'.

1903, Alfred Henry Lewis, The boss, and how he came to rule New York, page 177:

Is it strange that every trust magnate, every corporation highbinder, every great Wall-street gambler and upholder of predatory and privileged wealth, and all their journals, are mutual in their praise of this Handy Andy of Mr. Ryan and his like among the Wall-street exploiters of the people?

1906, “The Election”, in The Arena, page 652:

"Find out what these highbinders from Albany are up to," city editors up and down the Row were presently instructing reporters.

the most elaborate conspiracy since the Derby scandal of 1844 when a group of 19th century highbinders arranged for the substitution of speedy Maccabeus for a slower 3-year- old named Running Rein.

1953 August 24, “Laughing HorsesT”, in LIFE, volume 35, number 8, page 36:

I had become one of the people I envied, and I now envied a higher level of sharpers and highbinders.

2003, Jim Morris, Fighting Men, page 189:

(US, dated) A swindler, especially a corrupt politician.


BBQer

Charlie and Arthur had learned the trade from the master BBQer Henry Perry — who worked out of an old trolley barn at 19th and Highland — around 1907.

2000, Larry Lester, Sammy J. Miller, Black Baseball in Kansas City:

Whether you are of the ardent jogger variety or the more relaxed (aka lazy) BBQer, the lake will play a vital role in your college experience […]

2005, Alice Fishburn, Anthony Nemecek, Uni in the USA: The UK Guide to US Universities:


SEAT

(US, aviation, firefighting) Acronym of single-engine air tanker.


zoot

I couldn't wait for eight o'clock to get home to eat out of those soul-food pots of Ella's, then get dressed in my zoot and head for some of my friends' places in town, to lindy-hop and get high, […]

1965, Malcolm X, Alex Haley, The Autobiography of Malcolm X, published 2015, →ISBN, page 70:


basehead

Motherfucker, is you crazy?" I grilled Pimp. "Can't no basehead niggah be depended on to watch nothing!"

2006, Noire [pseudonym], Thug-A-Licious: An Urban Erotic Tale, New York, N.Y.: One World, Ballantine Books, →ISBN, page 106:

Every basehead wake up and start do heroin instead?

2014, Marlon James, A Brief History of Seven Killings, Oneworld Publications (2015), page 518:

(US, slang) A habitual user of freebase; a crackhead.


gay-ass

gay-ass (comparative more gay-ass, superlative most gay-ass)

more gay-ass (comparative)
most gay-ass (superlative)

From gay + -ass; see derogatory sense of gay.

(US, informal, vulgar, derogatory) Lame; uncool; backwards.


shavetail

Yass. I never got above the rank of shavetail. We were the dogfaces who gave ’em hell at Chateau Thierry.

1962, Joseph Commings, “The X Street Murders”, in The Mammoth Book of Perfect Crimes & Impossible Mysteries, published 2006:

You stupid, goddamn shavetail son of a bitch! You keep your fucking weapon pointed downrange or I will shove that fuckin' piece up your sorry fucking ass!

2010, Laurence Andries, Bruce C. McKenna, The Pacific (miniseries), episode 5, spoken by Elmo M. Haney (Gary Sweet):

(US) An inexperienced person, especially a newly-commissioned military officer.


Babbitt

Babbitts (plural)
Babbit (alternative)
babbitt (alternative)

Ira Gershwin
Sinclair Lewis
Ziegfeld Follies

From the surname of George Babbitt, the title character of the novel Babbitt (1922) by the American author Sinclair Lewis (1885–1951). The word was also popularized by the George (1898–1937) and Ira Gershwin (1896–1983) song “The Babbitt and the Bromide”, first featured in the 1927 musical Funny Face and later in the film Ziegfeld Follies (1945).

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

A Babbitt met a Bromide on the avenue one day. They held a conversation in their own peculiar way.

1927 Ira Gershwin, "The Babbit and the Bromide," from the stage musical "Funny Face" (1927). Lyrics collected in: Louis Kronenberger (2008) An Anthology of Light Verse, p.234

One speaks of a babbitt habit, a babbitt era. Nothing is more true. America recognized itself in Babbitt, it demurred, but it also admired.

1930, The Literary digest, volume 105, Funk and Wagnalls, page 21:

The top and bottom are spiritually and intellectually nearer together in America than in most countries, but there are plenty of Babbitts everywhere.

1931, James Truslow Adams, The Epic Of America, Boston: Little, Brown, And Company, page 411:

If there's one thing I can't stand, it's a Babbitt. Say, there's nothing more wonderful than defying middle-class conventions.

1951, The Georgia review, volume 5, University of Georgia, page 150:

I myself think that Doc overdid the Yankee Doodle stuff. Being a Babbitt inspired him almost the way Swinburne did me. He was dying to say goodbye to Jewry, or to feudalism.

1976 September, Saul Bellow, Humboldt’s Gift, New York, N.Y.: Avon Books, →ISBN, page 288:

… a "babbitt" is a person full of self-confident bluster who is nevertheless a narrowminded philistine and a hypocrite.]

[2002 Tamkang review, Volume 33, Tamkang College of Arts and Sciences, p.158

Ira relished telling the story that Fred Astaire took him aside and said he knew what a babbitt was, but what was a bromide?

2003, William Hyland, George Gershwin: a new biography, Greenwood Publishing Group, page 116:

In this sense Harding was a Babbitt. Intellectuals and journalists rejected Harding as being as empty as the Sinclair Lewis character.

2009, Phillip G. Payne, Dead last: the public memory of Warren G. Harding's scandalous legacy,, Ohio University Press, page 12:

(US, dated) A person who subscribes complacently to materialistic middle-class ideals.


shitskin

[…] a job that dealt with an endless parade of shitskin losers—hunting them down, befriending them in order to get their confessions, then tossing them into County […]

You shitskins are thinking you can victimize yourself to the point where the wiggers and liberals will just turn all the wealth over to you.

2001, white aryan resistance, “reparations for shitskins”, in alt.politics.nationalism.black (Usenet):

(slang, vulgar, ethnic slur, derogatory, offensive, chiefly US) A person with dark-colored skin.


tomato concentrate

en-noun

tomato concentrate (usually uncountable, plural tomato concentrates)

The standard of identity is from 21CFR155.191.

standards of identity
standard of identity

(US standards of identity) Any food obtained from the liquid of ripe tomatoes, strained, with any of: ingredients to regulate pH, water, salt, lemon juice, acid, sodium bicarbonate, spices, and flavoring.


plain flour

plain flour (usually uncountable, plural plain flours)

plain (“regular”) + flour.
The U.S. standard of identity comes from 21CFR137.105.

(US standards of identity) exact synonym of flour


wheat flour

wheat flour (countable and uncountable, plural wheat flours)

wheat flours (plural)
wheatflour (alternative)

From Middle English weth-floure, equivalent to wheat + flour.


white flour

white flour (usually uncountable, plural white flours)

The U.S. standard of identity comes from 21CFR137.105.


tony

en-adj

tony (comparative tonier, superlative toniest)

tonier (comparative)
toniest (superlative)
toney (alternative)

He bought it for a song in 1984 compared with what his fellow financiers were spending on tonier Park and Fifth Avenues.

2013 August 16, Robin Finn, “A Former Madoff Penthouse Goes Back on the Market”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

Meanwhile, on another plane entirely, “Another Period” (Comedy Central, recently renewed for Season 2) is a send-up of crunchy-gravel dramas, set in tony Rhode Island in 1902.

2015 October 1, Hank Stuever, “In the hunt for a new favorite show, 'when' might be as crucial as 'what'”, in Washington Post:

My host gained national notoriety after her high-profile arrest in 1993 on charges connected with running L.A.'s toniest prostitution ring.

2017, David Friend, The Naughty Nineties:

The meaty and more familiar parts of Anna’s story — passing as a German heiress, ripping off tony hotels, brazenly exploiting narcissistic machers and star-struck working women — are told in flashback as Vivian reports her article.

2022 February 10, Mike Hale, “‘Inventing Anna’ Review: The SoHo Scammer, Explained at Length”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

(informal, Canada, US) Stylish, high-toned, upscale.


poker machine

He didn′t always play the same poker machine, but he never went to the tables where he would have to interact with a live dealer. In fact, he usually stuck to the row of poker machines closer to the back door.

2007, Max Allan Collins, Double Dealer: CSI: Crime Scene Investigation: Mortal Wounds, page 119:

Even better, there are some video poker machines — admittedly, they′re very hard to find — that actually offer favorable odds if you play perfectly.

2007, Mary Herczog, Las Vegas for Dummies, page 177:

Even there, you see poker machines placed in the bar counter to greet you.

2010, Marina Milicevic, Vegas Dealer, page 19:

An electronic machine used to play games of chance for money, especially

(US) An electronic machine used to play poker.


anchor baby

In the US each year, hundreds of thousands of anchor babies are born to illegal-alien mothers.

2009, Daniel Sheehy, Fighting Immigration Anarchy, page 63:

I suppose you're going to tell me all about the stupidity of the gringos. By the way, you're one of them, anchor baby. Once your folks swam the river and had you over here, you started getting all the freebies, right?

2010, Mike McPheters, Cartels and Combinations:

[…] scenes of an ambulance let through the Tijuana-San Diego border and a pregnant senorita emerging to give birth to her anchor baby.

2011, David Carraturo, Cameron Nation: Going All-In to Save His Country, page 201:

[…] anchor babies remains a divisive issue surrounding illegal immigration in the United States.

2014, Marilyn J. Coleman, Lawrence H. Ganong, editors, The Social History of the American Family: An Encyclopedia, SAGE Publications, →ISBN:

When Donald Trump launched his campaign for the 2016 presidential election, his signature policy agenda around immigration often leaned into the “anchor baby” fallacy. Part of his platform included ending birthright citizenship for the children of undocumented immigrants, and Trump called for deporting such families.

2020 March 16, Alexandra Villarreal, “'Anchor babies': the 'ludicrous' immigration myth that treats people as pawns”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:

(US, derogatory, offensive) A child born to noncitizen parents in the United States or another country that grants birthright citizenship (cf. jus soli), and who, as a citizen, can provide immigration benefits to relatives.


like ass

en-adv

like ass (comparative more like ass, superlative most like ass)

more like ass (comparative)
most like ass (superlative)

That dog smells like ass.

Your band plays well, but the singer sounds like ass.

(Canada, US, vulgar, slang) Offensively bad.


handlebar mustache

en-noun

handlebar mustache (plural handlebar mustaches)

handlebar moustache
handlebar moustache#English

(US) Alternative spelling of handlebar moustache


take the stump

en-verb

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

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

Still calling himself a Whig, Lincoln took the stump in behalf of anti-Nebraska candidates for the legislature, hoping that victory would forge a legislative majority to elect him to the U. S. Senate.

1988, James McPherson, Battle Cry for Freedom, Oxford, published 2003, page 127:

(chiefly US) To make a series of political speeches, especially to promote a particular cause.


Copperheadism

The project went nowhere, but it did plant seeds of copperheadism that germinated a couple of years later.

1988, James McPherson, Battle Cry of Freedom, Oxford, published 2003, page 247:

(US, historical) The state of being a Copperhead; sympathy in the North for Southern secessionists during the American Civil War.


range hood

range hoods (plural)
rangehood (alternative)

(US, Australia, New Zealand) An electrical kitchen device fitted over a cooker and connected to a flue designed to suck off any vapours from cooking.


ondatra

From Huron / Wyandot ondatra or ondathra, attested in Gabriel Sagard's 1632 French Dictionnaire de la langue huronne and found in the Huron dialects of the Hochelaga region of Canada.

The first was the musk-beaver, not much different from the ondatra, excepting in the formation of his snout.

1852, The Swiss Family Robinson, a translation of Johann David Wyss' German Der Schweizerische Robinson, chapter 39


jug band

Not only do they sing but they broadcast tunes from their "jug band," consisting of a gallon jug, as washboard and a skillet, a fiddle and a guitar.

1933 March 18, “The Southern Singers”, in The Afro-American, page 9:

A jug band, for those who haven't had the pleasure, is a band composed of unusual instruments which plays old timey jazz, country blues and folk music. The instruments in the Kweskin band, which are typical, include guitar, mandolin, banjo, fiddle, jug, washtub bass, washboard, kazoo, and penny whistle.

1968, "Jug Band: Washboard Virtuosos," Evening Independent (Florida, USA), 14 March, p. 5D (retrieved 23 Aug. 2010)

"We present to you, the jug band!" We pulled out straw hats, banjos, jugs, horrible buck-toothed dentures, and commenced to pickin' and grinnin'.

2004, Adam Copeland, Adam Copeland on Edge, →ISBN:

(music, especially US) A group of rustic musicians, specializing in bluegrass or folk music, whose instruments include empty jugs, bottles, and similar containers of various sizes which produce musical sounds when the player blows across the openings at the tops of their necks.


prebusiness

(US) Any course of study taken by an undergraduate in preparation for study at a business school.


trackman

Drones and helicopters have been in common use by Network Rail for some time, and are a far cry from the days when all inspections were carried out by trackmen reaching remote sites on foot.

2021 November 17, “Network News: Drone success could slash NR track inspection costs”, in RAIL, number 944, page 24:

(US, rail transport) A railway employee who inspects and maintains the permanent way of a railway installation.


motorplex

The motorplex, which also has tracks for motocross and all-terrain vehicles, has an overwhelmingly local feel.

2007 May 13, Austin Considine, “In the Desert Near Dubai, an Oasis for Drag Racing”, in New York Times:


prenursing

(US) Any course of study taken in preparation for the study of nursing.


Dick's hatband

Unknown; theories include reference to some local figure named Dick or Nick; to Satan (cf. Old Nick and dickens); and to Richard Cromwell.

A young Lady, the first or second Day of her Marriage, looks as queer as Dick's Hat-Band.

1742, James Ayres, Sancho at Court, act III, line 44:

I am as queer as Dick's hatband; that is, out of spirits, or don't know what ails me.

1796, Francis Grose, A Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue, s.v. "Dick"

She's sharp as a tack when she wants to be and still tight as Dick's Hatband about her money.

2014, C.B. McKenzie, Bad Country, page 108:

(colloquial, now principally US, dated) Used in similes as an intensifier, indicating someone or something is extremely strange, tight, etc.


tighter than Dick's hatband

as tight as Dick's hatband
as tight as Dick's hatband#English

(colloquial, now principally US, dated) Alternative form of as tight as Dick's hatband.


tight as Dick's hatband

as tight as Dick's hatband (canonical)
tighter than Dick's hatband (alternative)

(colloquial, now principally US, dated) Very tight, whether:

Very tight, whether:
Very tight-fitting.

Very tight, whether:
Very tight with money, very stingy.


as fine as Dick's hatband

(colloquial, now principally US, dated) Very fine: very good or well-made.


incentivization

It’s about time that the sleeping giant (the health care industry) wakes up, smells the coffee and learns from other giants (like the manufacturing industry): process improvement, incentivization and healthy competition are drivers of change to control costs in the current health care system.

2007 May 20, “Quality Control in Health Care (3 Letters)”, in New York Times:

(US, business, economics) The act or process of incentivizing.


tricounty

(US) Of or pertaining to three counties.


whang

whang (third-person singular simple present whangs, present participle whanging, simple past and past participle whanged)

whangs (present singular third-person)
whanging (participle present)
whanged (participle past)
whanged (past)

onomatopoeic

Imitative

I ought to have whanged him one in the eye.

(US, Scotland, British, dialect, slang) To whack or beat.


whang

Imitative

(US, dialect, dated) A house-cleaning party.


whang

Debuccalized (/θw/ > /hw/) from Scots thwang, cognate to thong.

(UK, US, dialect, informal, dated) A leather thong.


carmelize

en-verb

carmelize (third-person singular simple present carmelizes, present participle carmelizing, simple past and past participle carmelized)

carmelizes (present singular third-person)
carmelizing (participle present)
carmelized (participle past)
carmelized (past)

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

The flour will carmelize in this way just as the sugar carmelizes: that is, a change will take place.

1899, Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the New York State Agricultural Society, page 655:

Carmelize onions; in a large nonstick saute pan, heat oil and add onions.

2002, Joy Bauer, The Complete Idiot's Guide to Total Nutrition, page 156:

Your choice of bulgogi steak, tangy chicken or carmelized tofu with one of two slaws in a corn tortilla and topped with siracha sauce, lime crema, cilantro and sesame seeds.

2010 August 9, Justine Rude, The Washington Post:


freedom ride

freedom rides (plural)
Freedom Ride (alternative)

It is a slight miracle, I think, that in the almost two years since February of 1960 there has not been a fatality. But we have come amazingly close to it several times. Let me mention the case of William Barbee who was on the Freedom Ride when it arrived at Montgomery and met with mob violence.[…]

1961, Diane Nash, “Inside the Sit-ins and Freedom Rides: Testimony of a Southern Student”, in Mathew H. Ahmann, editor, The New Negro, New York, N.Y.: Biblo and Tannen, published 1969, →OCLC, page 58:

Segregation must be stopped. It must be broken down. Those of us on the Freedom Ride will continue. No matter what happens we are dedicated to this. We will take the beatings. We are willing to accept death. We are going to keep coming until we can ride anywhere in the South.

1961 (year of quotation), Rachel Tisdale, quoting James Zwerg, “The Nation Takes Notice”, in The Freedom Riders (We Shall Overcome), New York, N.Y.: Rosen Publishing Group, published 2014, →ISBN, page 20:

A Negro leader said today the "freedom riders" whose arrival here touched off race riots last Saturday will continue their test of Southern bus station segregation barriers. [...] [T]he Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. [...] told a news conference the group met for four hours last night and decided that "the freedom ride must continue, we will not specify the exact time, but it will continue."

1961 May 23, “‘Freedom ride’ must continue—Rev. King”, in Sarasota Journal, volume 10, number 27, Sarasota, Fla.: Lindsay Newspapers, →OCLC, page 2, column 7:

The Freedom Rides had reached their peak in June but were not over, and the ferment stirred up by them had by no means subsided. [...] It was the Nashville Student Movement that had continued the Freedom Rides when CORE [Congress of Racial Equality], the original sponsor, had declared them too dangerous and had withdrawn. These students had a right to feel proud and sure of themselves.

1972, James Forman, “Lucretia Collins: ‘The Spirit of Nashville’”, in The Making of Black Revolutionaries, illustrated edition, Seattle, Wash., London: University of Washington Press, published 2000, →ISBN, book 1 (A Constant Struggle), page 146:

Challenging legal obstacles to equality, the civil rights movement inspired mass protests—sit-ins, freedom rides, marches to Birmingham, Montgomery, and Selma—that eliminated obvious forms of racial discrimination as it won support from sympathetic whites.

1982, Peter N. Carroll, “‘This Terrible Division between Us’: The Politics of Race”, in It Seemed Like Nothing Happened: America in the 1970s, New Brunswick, N.J., London: Rutgers University Press, published 2000, →ISBN, part 1 (The Loss of Connection), pages 38–39:

Abbie [Hoffman] took his freedom ride at the tail end of the freedom movement. He had missed the chance to be among the Freedom Riders of 1961 or the Freedom School teachers of 1964, and he was determined not to let the South slip through his fingers again. The summer of 1965 would be the last time that significant numbers of Northern whites would go to Mississippi for civil rights, and Abbie would be among them.

1996, Jonah Raskin, “White Mischief, Black Power”, in For the Hell of It: The Life and Times of Abbie Hoffman, Berkeley, Los Angeles, Calif., London: University of California Press, published 1998, →ISBN, page 55:

CORE [Congress of Racial Equality] organized some of the earliest sit-ins for civil rights in Chicago in 1943, and in 1947 sponsored the first interracial freedom ride, called the "Journey of Reconciliation."

2014, Ron Young, “Meeting the Vietnamese ‘Enemy:’ Resisting the Draft; Mass Marches in D.C.”, in Crossing Boundaries in the Americas, Vietnam, and the Middle East: A Memoir, Eugene, Or.: Resource Publications, Wipf and Stock Publishers, →ISBN, page 66:

(US, politics, historical) In the United States in the 1960s (chiefly 1961), any one of a number of trips taken by bus or other forms of transport through parts of the southern U.S., made by groups of civil rights activists demonstrating their opposition to racial prejudice and segregation.


freedom rider

/ˈfɹiːdəm ˌɹaɪdə/

(US, politics, historical) In the United States during 1961, a civil rights activist who participated in one or more trips by bus or other forms of transport, known as freedom rides, through parts of the southern U.S. to demonstrate opposition to racial prejudice and segregation.


iron eagle

The term refers to the rank a colonel wears, which resembles an eagle.

(idiomatic, US, military) An American military officer who has attained the rank of colonel but will not be promoted to the rank of general.


placitum

(law, US, Australia) a legal decision made by a judge or court.


Achilles' tendon

en-noun

Achilles' tendon (plural Achilles' tendons)

(chiefly US) Alternative form of Achilles tendon


Coney Island hot dog

Coney Island hot dog (plural Coney Island hot dogs)

After Coney Island, birthplace of the original hot dog (but not associated with this specific style of preparation).

(US) A hot dog made from beef with casing, topped with chili, diced onion, and mustard.


awesome sauce

awesome sauce (usually uncountable, plural awesome sauces)

awesome sauces (plural)
awesome-sauce (alternative)
awesomesauce (alternative)

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

From awesome + sauce. Apparently originated in the 2003 episode “Strong Bad Email #75” of Homestar Runner, in which the character Strong Bad says, “Well, aren’t you gonna go get your 409 or Awesome Sauce or whatever you’re gonna clean this up with?”, referring to an imaginary brand name of a cleaning product for ketchup. Usage of the term might be after earlier weaksauce.

So I am quite proud of us, I think it was a great show, every band was pure concentrated awesome sauce!

2009 March 11, Odd Austin, “Odd News for Odd People- An Odd Austin Update 3/11/09”, in (Usenet):

He was, as my BFF Kayla would say, "a hottie covered with awesome sauce.

2010, P.C. Cast, Kristin Cast, Burned, page 39:

(Canada, US, Internet slang, dated) The essence of awesomeness; excellence.

The idea is solid awesome sauce, I just don't see it as a feasible undertaking for this project at this point in time.

2009 May 7, pcm1...@gmail.com, “Threading, background loading”, in openmw (Usenet):

Jeff this is serious awesome sauce. You get my vote if you can make this happen.

2008 July 7, Justin Bozonier, “Building Together”, in altnetseattle (Usenet):

(Canada, US, Internet slang, dated) Something which is awesome, cool or spectacular.


LHX

light helicopter
light helicopter#English

(US, military, aviation) Initialism of light helicopter - experimental.


JSF

(aviation, military, US) Initialism of Joint Strike Fighter.


opry

opry (countable and uncountable, plural opries)

(US, countable) An establishment providing country or folk music.


terminate with extreme prejudice

en-verb

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

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

1960s, US military intelligence and CIA, used publicly in 1969, in news coverage of Green Beret Case, further popularized in 1979 movie Apocalypse Now. Play on the term “terminate with prejudice” when an employee’s employment is terminated, meaning “will not rehire employee to same position in future” (i.e., prejudiced against rehiring), hence “terminate definitively, i.e., kill”.

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

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

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

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

(euphemistic, US) To murder; to assassinate.

Apocalypse Now
termination of employment


F/A

(US, military, aviation) fighter and attack aircraft (prefix)


NCIS

Naval Criminal Investigative Service
w:Naval Criminal Investigative Service

(military, US) Initialism of Naval Criminal Investigative Service.


machine politician

en-noun

machine politician (plural machine politicians)

It wasn't that these ward bosses were universally bad men, but the qualities that made for a successful machine politician or boss were the opposite of those that made for an honest public servant.

2021, Mark Lawrence Schrad, Smashing the Liquor Machine: A Global History of Prohibition, Oxford University Press, →ISBN, page 413:

(US) A politician who belongs to a small clique that controls a political party for private rather than public ends.


bollix up

en-verb

bollix up (third-person singular simple present bollixes up, present participle bollixing up, simple past and past participle bollixed up)

bollixes up (present singular third-person)
bollixing up (participle present)
bollixed up (participle past)
bollixed up (past)

(US, slang, transitive) To confuse or fluster.


mufflehead

(US, dialect) A chironomid (non-biting midge).


bolix

bolix (third-person singular simple present bolixes, present participle bolixing, simple past and past participle bolixed)

bolixes (present singular third-person)
bolixing (participle present)
bolixed (participle past)
bolixed (past)


no-strings-attached

/nəʊ ˌstɹɪŋz‿əˈtæt͡ʃt/

/noʊ ˌstɹɪŋz‿əˈtæt͡ʃt/

Since then, Beijing has often offered its support to Islamabad in the way of economic assistance, but also with no-strings-attached military aid.

2009 February 19, Vivian Salama, “Pakistan and China: A Fraying Friendship?”, in Time, New York, N.Y.: Time Inc., →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2010-09-19:

(idiomatic, originally US, informal) Characterized by an absence of conditions or obligations.


po-po

po-pos (plural)
po-po (plural)
popo (alternative)

→ Dutch: popo

Green's Dictionary of Slang
Police officer

From various words by shortening and reduplication.
The "posterior" sense may be reduplication of the initial syllable of that word, with modification of the vowel according to its spelling. Compare German Popo (“bottom”) from Latin pōdex (“anus”).
The "police" sense may come from either the initial syllable of police or the initial letters of the words police officer. Compare PO.

Feet up, pat him on the po-po
Let’s hear him laugh
Ain’t seen a babe like this before
He’s so good-lookin’, gonna have some more
Feet up, pat him on the po-po

1952, Bob Merrill (lyrics and music), “Feet Up (Pat Him on the Po-Po)”:

[He] gets jelly on his head, jelly on his po-po, jelly on his.... well, you know what rhymes with jelly. If your Junior starts singing this in public he’ll show you up.

1953, Gramophone Record Review, page 564:

He once asked me how a particular customer was doing, sometime after I had executed a sale. […] Then he added, so as not to appear to be admonishing me, “Go and give them a pat on the po-po and see what is going on.”

2014, Michael Hotchkiss, Preparation Breeds Success, page 61:

(informal, US) One's posterior, bottom, buttocks.

Runnin’ from the po-po
Runnin’
Just got my cash on
Now I gotta get my dash on

1997, Rik ‘G’ (lyrics and music), “Runnin’ From the Po Po” (0:23 from the start), in Rik ‘G’, Oakland, CA: Del Paso Heights:

Yo, po-po, man. Shut it down.

2006 September 10, David Simon & al., “Boys of Summer” (00:23:44 from the start), in The Wire, season 4, episode 1:

The cops had busted us for selling hot designer bags up on Utica Avenue for some cat who figured we was too young to get knocked if we got caught, but two fat white po-pos said fuck how young we was, and threw us in a cell for damn near three days until they could contact Noojie to come get us out.

2006, Noire [pseudonym], Thug-A-Licious: An Urban Erotic Tale, New York, N.Y.: One World, Ballantine Books, →ISBN, page 134:

“Shit,” Brian breathed. “Who called the po-po?”

2012, Liz Talley, Under the Autumn Sky, page 151:

(colloquial, mildly derogatory, US) The police; a police officer.


Kentucky windage

en-noun

Kentucky windage (usually uncountable, plural Kentucky windages)

Derived from marksmen using the Kentucky rifle.

(US, slang) An adjustment made by a shooter to correct for wind (or motion of the target) by aiming at a point horizontal to the target's position in the sight rather than by adjusting the sight to compensate.


Arkansas elevation

Arkansas elevation (plural Arkansas elevations)

(US, slang) A shooter's adjustment by aiming higher than the target's position in the sight to allow for the bullet's drop during travel rather than adjusting the sight.


Kentucky rifle

(US, historical) A distinctive type of flintlock (later percussion cap) rifle used on the American frontier from 1700 to the 1850s.


eaves trough

(chiefly US) Alternative form of eavestrough


assy

en-adj

assy (comparative assier or more assy, superlative assiest or most assy)

assier (comparative)
more assy (comparative)
assiest (superlative)
most assy (superlative)

Maybe "the assiest asshat in assville" wasn't as minty fresh as all that.

(Canada, US, vulgar) Characteristic of or like an ass or asshole.


badassness

She led her lady mateys to great riches, eventually becoming captain of yet another crew, this time of male pirates who were entranced by her beauty and devoted to her badassness.

2013, Linda Rodriguez McRobbie, Princesses Behaving Badly: Real Stories from History Without the Fairy-Tale Endings, page 18:

You get a cold smackdown if you don't at least feign badassness and say you've smoked weed.

2014, Bill Landauer, We Are All Crew, page 38:

Produced by Sonic Youth's Lee Ranaldo […] its tracks were more structured and cleaner than Magik Markers' earlier releases without watering down the band's innate badassness.

2022, JR Moores, Electric Wizards: A Tapestry of Heavy Music, 1968 to the Present, unnumbered page

(US, sometimes considered vulgar, slang) The quality or state of being badass.


shopping precinct

en-noun

shopping precinct (plural shopping precincts)

Above the concourse, and connected with it by stairs and escalators, will be shopping precincts and an entertainment centre.

1964 April, “News and Comment: New Street to be completely rebuilt”, in Modern Railways, page 222:


motate

en-verb

motate (third-person singular simple present motates, present participle motating, simple past and past participle motated)

motates (present singular third-person)
motating (participle present)
motated (participle past)
motated (past)

(slang, US) To run at very high speed, sprint.


table wine

en-noun

table wine (countable and uncountable, plural table wines)

The standard of identity is from the Code of Federal Regulations, title 27, section 4.21(a)(2).

(US) Wine that is not fortified or sparkling.

tafelwijn

ordinary wine, which is neither fortified nor sparkling

(US standards of identity) A grape wine containing at most fourteen percent alcohol by volume.


tank up

en-verb

tank up (third-person singular simple present tanks up, present participle tanking up, simple past and past participle tanked up)

tanks up (present singular third-person)
tanking up (participle present)
tanked up (participle past)
tanked up (past)

A painter was desirous of drawing the elephant, which was kept in the menagerie at Versailles, […] [H]e [the elephant] turned his resentment on the master, and tanking up a quantity of water in his trunk, threw it on the paper upon which the painter was drawing, and spoiled it.

1852, Ludwig Gantter, “Vierter Abschntt. Bilder aus der Natur. [Fourth Section. Pictures from Nature.]”, in Study and Recreation. Englishe Chrestomathie für Real- und Gelehrte-schulen und den Privatgebrauch … Erster Cursus für mittlere Classen [English Chrestomathy for Secondary and High Schools and Private Use … First Course for Intermediate Classes], 2nd edition, Stuttgart: Verlag Von Ebner & Seubert, →OCLC, subsection 1 (The Elephant), chapter IV (Stories about Elephants), page 130:

One way of insuring that your baby eats enough is to increase his intake during the day, before 11 P.M. By "tanking up," as I call this strategy, you get more food into his tummy, which, in turn, enables him to sleep through longer stretches at night. Tanking up is also great for growth spurts, those two- or three-day periods when your baby eats more than usual[…].

2005, Tracy Hogg, Melinda Blau, “Your Baby’s Liquid Diet: Feeding Issues in the First Six Months”, in The Baby Whisperer Solves All Your Problems (By Teaching You How to Ask the Right Questions): Sleeping, Feeding, and Behavior—beyond the Basics from Infancy to Toddlerhood, New York, N.Y.: Atria Books, →ISBN, page 93:

We Americans have grumbled loudly about rising gasoline prices while tanking up as if almost nothing has happened. Over the Fourth of July holiday, a record 40.7 million Americans took trips of more than 50 miles, up 1.2 percent from a year earlier.

2006 July 23, Robert J[acob] Samuelson, “Is Oil at the Tipping Point?”, in Newsweek, volume 148, New York, N.Y.: Newsweek, Inc., →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2018-02-17, page 32:

The team was in ready mode; Gabe could feel it. They were scarfing up food, tanking up, knowing they would be freezing their asses off all day on that rocky ridge.

2014, Lindsay McKenna, chapter 10, in Breaking Point, Don Mills, Ont.: Harlequin HQN, →ISBN, page 140:

(ambitransitive, Canada, US) To fill up (for example, a tank in a vehicle with gas, petrol, etc.).


MOCC

(US, military) Initialism of maintenance operations control center.


roundsman

(US, historical) A policeman who acts as inspector.


forever stamp

(US) A postage stamp with no indicated monetary value and indefinitely valid for a given service, e.g. a domestic first-class letter under 20 grams.

ikimerkki

postage stamp indefinitely valid for a given rate class


Massa

The surname is from Italian Massa. Also found in southern France (see Massey).

Pronunciation spelling
pronunciation spelling

(US, historical, colloquial) Pronunciation spelling of master, representing African-American Vernacular English.


beller

With a beller of wrath, I jerked my arm away from him and hung a clout on his proboscis that knocked him headfirst through the ropes.

1934 August, Robert E. Howard, “Sluggers of the Beach”, in Jack Dempsey’s Fight Magazine:

(US, dialectal) Alternative form of bellow


beller

beller (third-person singular simple present bellers, present participle bellering, simple past and past participle bellered)

bellers (present singular third-person)
bellering (participle present)
bellered (participle past)
bellered (past)

"Don't you start bellering now..."

1929, William Faulkner, The Sound and the Fury:

‘Girl, stop that bellering. What you talking about?’

1953, James Baldwin, Go Tell It on the Mountain, New York, N.Y.: Knopf, →OCLC, part 2 (The Prayers of the Saints):


ding-dong ditch

From ding-dong (“sound made by a door bell”) + ditch (“to abandon”).

ding dong ditch (alternative)
ding-dong-ditch (alternative)
ding-dong-ditch-it (alternative)
Ding Dong Ditch (alternative)

(US, Canada) A children's prank in which a doorbell of a home is rung, and then the pranksters run or cycle away before the occupants of the home open the door.


all ages

There are some all ages contests at the fair.

(chiefly US) open to people of all ages, particularly to children under the age of 18 (of an entertainment event, particularly music or dance)


ESTA

w:Entertainment Services and Technology Association

(US) Acronym of Entertainment Services and Technology Association.

w:Electronic System for Travel Authorization

(US) Acronym of Electronic System for Travel Authorization.


butt dial

(Canada, US, colloquial) A situation when one's cellphone makes a call from one's back pocket where its buttons are being inadvertently pressed


butt dial

butt dial (third-person singular simple present butt dials, present participle (US) butt dialing or (Commonwealth) butt dialling, simple past and past participle (US) butt dialed or (Commonwealth) butt dialled)

butt dials (present singular third-person)
butt dialing (US participle present)
butt dialling (Commonwealth participle present)
butt dialed (US participle past)
butt dialed (US past)
butt dialled (Commonwealth participle past)
butt dialled (Commonwealth past)

(Canada, US, colloquial) To accidentally make a call this way.


forty-leven

(US, informal) Very many; too many to count; quite a lot.


from can see to can't see

(idiomatic, US) From the time when it is barely light enough to see until there is no light remaining whatsoever: from sunup to sundown; from dawn to dusk.


correctional facility

en-noun

correctional facility (plural correctional facilities)

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

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

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

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

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


refarming

(US, Australia, telecommunications) The abolition of existing band allocations in the radio spectrum and the more efficient reallocation of the spectrum into smaller bands.


yayo

Rush-rush to the yayo; buzz-buzz give me yayo.

1983, “Rush, Rush”, in Deborah Harry, Giorgio Moroder (lyrics), Scarface, performed by Debbie Harry, Universal Music Publishing Group:

We yayo experts, we been whippin' the yola / Since the crackas decided to take the coke from Coca-Cola.

2004, Lil' Jon and the East Side Boyz (Jonathan Mortimer Smith), "Grand Finale" (rap song)

They just spend their time sniffing up the yayo.

2009, Christine A. Nandi, The ABC's of Raising a Successful Student, page 7:

Need you like a baby when I hold you Like a druggie, like I told you Yayo, yeah, you Yayo


mancation

(US, informal) A vacation taken by a group of men and catering specifically to male interests.


Asian Indian

(US) A citizen of Asian descent with ancestors in India.


bobbasheely

From Choctaw itibapishili (“(he or she is a) sibling, friend; (we) nursed together”), from itibapishi (“sibling, friend, one who was nursed together with (someone)”), from iti (“each other”) (compare Creek eta (“the same; oneself; in compounds: joined, two, each other”)) + iba (“with”) + pishi (“suckle”) (compare Creek pese, epese (“(her) breast”)). The English term was first used in print in 1962 in Faulkner's The Reivers.

cog

He kissed her cheek. She could feel for herself how cold and sweaty her skin was. 'Lucy you darling bobbasheely,' he coaxed her, 'there's nothing for you to be afraid of. Nothing! It's the naturalest thing in the world. And I love you, there's no question about that.'

1990, Graham Masterton, Empress, page 96

(chiefly US, Gulf states dialects, rare) A good friend.


bobbasheely

2012 January 21, "topazgalaxy" or "Lisi Peteras", “Lisi needs to bobbasheely”, in rec.music.beatles (Usenet):

(chiefly US, Gulf states' dialects, rare) To hang out with (friends).


FFV

‘Ah,’ Benbow said. ‘An FFV, or just an unfortunate sojourner there?’

1931, William Faulkner, Sanctuary, Vintage, published 1993, page 24:

(US) The ‘first families of Virginia’, or someone descended from such a family.


Cyber Monday

(US, marketing) The Monday after Thanksgiving, regarded as a day when many people shop online.

الِاثْنَيْن الْإِلِكْتْرُونِيّ

the Monday after Thanksgiving, regarded as a day when many people shop online


toolie

Rise that heater, tap that mash
They don't come outside their flats
Decamp, decamp, aim this toolie at your hat
They piss us off on Snap, so we rise up and load them straps

2020 July 2, “Stop Check”, Td of TPL (lyrics):

(slang, US, MTE, MLE, and possibly wider) A gun.


dickish

en-adj

dickish (comparative more dickish, superlative most dickish)

more dickish (comparative)
most dickish (superlative)

I get so annoyed with his dickish behavior.

AZG has fallen in my eyes into the same category as that of Clayton Cramer, Artemus Ward, and the various passing idiots. i will not answer his posts unless he insults me personally, as i think if we all ignore him he will go away. even if we DON'T all ignore him, i don't want to be responsible for keeping him around... (although it is sexist of me to think AZG is a him. some women are that dickish and stupid after all...)

1992 February 14, Ailsa Murphy, “Re: Sex & paganism (was Re: reply)”, in alt.pagan (Usenet), retrieved 2018-02-04, message-ID <MAINE.92045.093550IO81409>:

So basically, if any administrative person wanted to be dickish about it, they could take "diciplinary action" it they decided that the presence of a nude body was disruptive (which, unfortunatly, is normally the case).

1992 March 31, Michael Wellck, “Re: College Campus Nudity”, in rec.nude (Usenet), retrieved 2018-02-04, message-ID <darkstar.31711>:

(US, colloquial, vulgar, derogatory) Characteristic of a dick (a contemptible person); offensively unpleasant and vexatious.


slushie

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

(US, Canada) A flavored frozen drink made with ice crystals.


well liquor

en-noun

well liquor (countable and uncountable, plural well liquors)

(US) An inexpensive liquor served at a bar etc. when the customer does not specify a brand.


SNAP

w:Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program

(US) Acronym of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.


rednecky

en-adj

rednecky (comparative more rednecky, superlative most rednecky)

more rednecky (comparative)
most rednecky (superlative)

(informal, chiefly US) Like a redneck; rural, uneducated, unsophisticated, etc.


IDR

en-noun

IDR (countable and uncountable, plural IDRs)

income-driven repayment
w:income-driven repayment

(US, uncountable) Initialism of income-driven repayment.

(US, countable) Acronym of income-driven repayment plan.


hash slinger

hash slingers (plural)
hashslinger (alternative)
hash-slinger (alternative)

At first the spread was not very elaborate. . . . Originally it consisted of a chunk of well greased sole leather served hot, two boiled potatoes, a cup of muddy coffee, a bold of bread, a grunt or growl from the hash slinger, and, in warm weather, a few flies.

1904 April 8, “The Evolution and Passing of the Popular Fifteen Cent Lunch”, in Weekly News-Review, Indiana, USA, retrieved 2010-12-05, page 1:

The ‘hash-slinger’ type of waitress of former years has disappeared from the great majority of restaurants.

1929 June 21, “Says Customer Has Desire To Tip Waitresses”, in San Jose Evening News, retrieved 2010-12-05, page 6:

San Diego still has trouble making up its mind as to which it wants to be—a hash-slinger or a gourmet chef.

2008 June 17, Nick Canepa, “Tiger, Torrey triumph”, in San Diego Union-Tribune, retrieved 2010-12-05, page A1:

(chiefly US, idiomatic) A cook or food server in a cheap restaurant, especially one who is discourteous or inattentive to customers.


raise unshirted hell

en-verb

raise unshirted hell (third-person singular simple present raises unshirted hell, present participle raising unshirted hell, simple past and past participle raised unshirted hell)

raises unshirted hell (present singular third-person)
raising unshirted hell (participle present)
raised unshirted hell (participle past)
raised unshirted hell (past)


reverse 911 call

en-noun

reverse 911 call (plural reverse 911 calls)

(US) A call initiated by emergency services to telephone numbers, to, for example, announce a mandatory evacuation.


flyover state

Coordinate term: flyover country

(US, mildly derogatory) Any state of the United States that is often passed over by intercoastal or transcontinental flights, rather than being a popular destination.


garpike

(especially US) A freshwater fish in the family Lepisosteidae.


SIPRNET

Siprnet (alternative)
SIPRnet (alternative)
SIPRNet (alternative)

(US) The Secret Internet Protocol Router Network: the U.S. Department of Defense's largest network for the exchange of classified information and messages at the SECRET level.


agarita

From American Spanish agarita, algarita et al., variants of agrito (“barberry”), probably from agrio (“sour”).

A cow would find no joy in scampering up craggy hills to nibble nothing more than an agarita bush.

2007 June 17, Paula Disbrowe, “The Year of the Goat”, in New York Times:

An agarito was cutting into me.

2013, Philipp Meyer, The Son, Simon & Schuster, published 2014, page 28:

(US, dialectal) A rounded evergreen barberry, Mahonia trifoliolata, native to the United States and Mexico, or its berry.


dairyland

So, even in its agricultural aspects, it was more than a dairyland. And it was more than a food-and-beverage state. It was a leader in the science of nutrition.

2001, Richard Nelson Current, Wisconsin: a history, page 67:

WASHINGTON, June 19 — Ron Kind, a Democratic representative from Wisconsin dairyland, is making a name for himself as a crusader for big changes in farm policy.

2007 June 22, Andrew Martin, “Making Waves in Dairyland”, in New York Times:

(US) An agricultural region where dairy farming takes place.


AFE

(US, military) Acronym of Armed Forces Entertainment.


broilerhouse

(chiefly US) A building or similar structure where chickens are raised to be slaughtered and sold as meat.


artful pleading

artful pleading (countable and uncountable, plural artful pleadings)

Suing his employer for negligence rather than for violation of the Federal Employers Liability Act was an artful pleading, and the defendant properly removed the proceedings to federal district court.

(US law) The filing under state law of a claim naturally arising under federal law.


scrubeenie

While Jason Blake continued his goal-popping ways with a brace in the third, only 19 seconds apart, a clutch of other Leafs proved mettle: Vesa Toskala, so shaky to start, settled down and denied Pittsburgh anything after the 8:34 point of the game; scrubeenie defenceman Luke Schenn recovered from an unfortunate bounce off his skate that Matt Cooke converted into Pittsburgh's first goal; and Matt Stajan re-established favour with his bench boss, mounting a solid performance topped off by a goal and an assist.

2009 February 15, Rosie DiManno, “Antropov answers Burke's call”, in Toronto Star:


snowfighter

(US) Someone charged with removing snow from roads.


seatwork

(US) The schoolwork done by students sitting at their desks during schooltime.


TSRA

(US, meteorology) Abbreviation of thunderstorms with rain.


putter around

en-verb

putter around (third-person singular simple present putters around, present participle puttering around, simple past and past participle puttered around)

putters around (present singular third-person)
puttering around (participle present)
puttered around (participle past)
puttered around (past)
potter around (alternative)

I can't wait until I'm old enough to "putter around".

1994 January 21, Bill Watterson, Calvin & Hobbes (comic):


take on the chin

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

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

The situation seems to be designed so the taxpayers take it on the chin no matter what. District residents who vote down a budget believing they are voting against any tax raise still receive higher tax bills.

2005 May 20, Robert David Kostoff, My Line Story, iUniverse, →ISBN, page 136:

(idiomatic, transitive, US) To be deeply impacted by something.


PAT

en-noun

PAT (countable and uncountable, plural PATs)

priority air traffic
priority air traffic#English

(US, military, aviation) Initialism of priority air traffic.


BS&P

(US) Broadcast Standards and Practices, the department of a television network responsible for the moral, ethical, and legal implications of the network’s programming.


MIB

MIB (countable and uncountable, plural MIBs)

(US, ufology, conspiracy theorists) Initialism of man in black.

(US, in the plural) Initialism of men in black.

Initialism of man in black.
Initialism of men in black.


crash out

en-verb

crash out (third-person singular simple present crashes out, present participle crashing out, simple past and past participle crashed out)

crashes out (present singular third-person)
crashing out (participle present)
crashed out (participle past)
crashed out (past)

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

From crash + out. The slang sense was popularized on TikTok in 2024.


walkthru

(US) Alternative spelling of walkthrough


asstastic

en-adj

asstastic (comparative more asstastic, superlative most asstastic)

more asstastic (comparative)
most asstastic (superlative)

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

(Canada, US, informal, vulgar) Having exceptional-looking buttocks.

(Canada, US, informal, vulgar) Of exceptionally low quality.


butt-rape

en-noun

butt-rape (countable and uncountable, plural butt-rapes)

(Canada, US, slang, vulgar) The act of forcing anal sex upon another person, without their consent and/or against their will.


butt-rape

en-verb

butt-rape (third-person singular simple present butt-rapes, present participle butt-raping, simple past and past participle butt-raped)

butt-rapes (present singular third-person)
butt-raping (participle present)
butt-raped (participle past)
butt-raped (past)

(Canada, US, slang, vulgar) To force anal sex upon another person, without their consent and/or against their will.


rototill

rototill (third-person singular simple present rototills, present participle rototilling, simple past and past participle rototilled)

rototills (present singular third-person)
rototilling (participle present)
rototilled (participle past)
rototilled (past)

We had to rototill the garden before we planted the flowers.

(US) To break up and turn soil using a rototiller.


ADS

Active Denial System
w:Active Denial System

(US, military) Initialism of Active Denial System.


woolhat

From his "brass throat" poured such harangues of class hatred that his woolhat followers howled down opposing speakers and hurled clods at them.

1939, Shields McIlwaine, The southern poor-white from Lubberland to Tobacco Road:

We're woolhats, red necks, white trash, crackers, the scum of the earth, the filth under their feet.

1964, K. B. Gilden, Hurry sundown: Volume 1:

While it is easy for the sophisticates of today to assume the objection to racial integration came only from uneducated woolhats...

2002, Will D. Campbell, The Stem of Jesse: The Costs of Community at a 1960's Southern School:


autospeak

Honk, which was autospeak for `Get out of my way'.

2007, Nury Vittachi, The Shanghai Union of Industrial Mystics, page 199:

WHAT you call the Kia Rondo depends on how far you bend to the fickle winds of autospeak.

2007 June 24, Nick Kurczewski, “A Minivan That Is Actually Mini”, in New York Times:

(US, informal) The jargon associated with motor vehicles.


NIOSH

w:National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health

(US) Initialism of National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health.


RTECS

w:Registry of Toxic Effects of Chemical Substances

(US) Initialism of Registry of Toxic Effects of Chemical Substances.


partially defatted pork fatty tissue

en-noun

partially defatted pork fatty tissue (uncountable)

The standard of identity is from the Code of Federal Regulations, title 9, section 319.29.

standards of identity
standard of identity

(US standards of identity) Fresh pork fatty tissue, excluding skin, that has been rendered at a temperature not more than 120 degrees Fahrenheit and is pinkish, fresh-looking, and fresh-smelling.


leaf lard

The standard of identity is from the Code of Federal Regulations, title 9, section 317.8(b)(18) and 319.702.

(US standards of identity) White lard made from fresh, clean, sound leaf (abdominal) fat of swine, reasonably free of blood, free of foreign odors and tastes, and having not more than set maxima of potassium hydroxide, peroxide, moisture, volatile matter, and insoluble impurities.


grape wine

grape wine (countable and uncountable, plural grape wines)

The standard of identity is from the Code of Federal Regulations, title 27, section 4.21(a)(1).

(US standards of identity) Fermented juice of sound, ripe grapes (optionally with condensed grape must added before or after fermentation, and grape brandy or alcohol added after fermentation, with additional restrictions on the adding of such spirits if the wine is domestic and has a lot of alcohol); optionally with sugar or water added during or after fermentation (but only up to a specified maximum amount added, and, if the amount added is more than a specified benchmark, so that the resulting wine does not exceed specified maxima on solid, alcohol, and acid content); and with a specified maximum acidity.


aperitif wine

aperitif wine (countable and uncountable, plural aperitif wines)

The standard of identity is from the Code of Federal Regulations, title 27, section 4.21(g).

(US standards of identity) Grape wine, mixed with brandy or alcohol, with natural flavors (including herbs), and optionally with caramel for color, that matches the general description of aperitif wine but not of vermouth.

vinho aperitivo

wine mixed with brandy or alcohol and natural flavours


Billary

(US, slang, sometimes derogatory) The political union of Bill Clinton and Hillary Clinton.


long drink of water

long drink of water (plural long drinks of water)

long drinks of water (plural)
tall drink of water (alternative)

/lɒŋ ˈdɹɪŋk əv ˈwɔːtə/

/lɔŋ ˈdɹɪŋk əv ˈwɔtɚ/

The term originated in the United States, and was presumably used in vaudeville performances. It was derived from earlier Scots lang drink.

Stair had grown up into a great lang drink, and would faukled, as Robin Cummell said, if he fell.

[1887, John Service, chapter XVI, in The Life and Recollections of Doctor Duguid of Kilwinning. Written by Himself, and Now First Printed from the Recovered Manuscript, Edinburgh: Young J. Pentland, →OCLC, page 103:

Other acts will include Klein, Abe and Nicholson, “the fat bellboy, the corpulent Scot and ‘the long drink of water,’” in a comedy of melody.

1915 August 1, “Photoplays, Vaudeville and outdoor amusements”, in The Washington Post, page 3, column 1:

Mr. [David] Kirkwood [Independent Labour Party member] addressed his reproof to Lord Winterton [Edward Turnour, 6th Earl Winterton], who, along with his colleagues, had protested against the defiance of the speaker's ruling. "Ye are not treating with Indians, ye big long drink of water," he shouted. Immediately the Speaker reproved the member for Dumbarton.

1924 May 10, “The Speaker defied”, in The Times, London, page 12:

American Dialect Society
Robert Wadlow
Stack Exchange


take the Browns to the Super Bowl

en-verb

take<,,took,taken> the Browns to the Super Bowl

take the Browns to the Super Bowl (third-person singular simple present takes the Browns to the Super Bowl, present participle taking the Browns to the Super Bowl, simple past took the Browns to the Super Bowl, past participle taken the Browns to the Super Bowl)

takes the Browns to the Super Bowl (present singular third-person)
taking the Browns to the Super Bowl (participle present)
took the Browns to the Super Bowl (past)
taken the Browns to the Super Bowl (participle past)
take the browns to the super bowl (alternative)

En-au-take the Browns to the Super Bowl.ogg

A punning reference to the Cleveland Browns and the NFL Super Bowl, as well as the color of most feces and a toilet bowl.


third island chain

(politics, US) The Aleutian Islands, Emperor Seamounts, Hawaiian Islands, Line Islands, New Zealand; from Alaska to New Zealand or Tasmania and Australia.


autogas

en-noun

autogas (countable and uncountable, plural autogases or autogasses)

Cylinder cracks are nothing new, however, and there is no reason to expect autogas-burning engines to have a higher incidence of head cracking than avgas-users.

1988, Kas Thomas, Fuel and oil systems: basic and advanced light plane maintenance:

In the area of autogas volatility, a Reid vapor pressure of 9.0 to 15 is very common, compared to the vapor pressure of avgas, which is 5.5 to 7.

1994, Michael J. Kroes with Thomas W. Wild, Aircraft powerplants:

Autogas can be obtained for a fraction of the cost of avgas, but its use is not without controversy.

2006, The AOPA pilot: voice of general aviation, volume 49, Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association:

(US, Canada, aviation) Automotive gasoline suitable for use in piston-engined gasoline-powered aircraft.


WISE

Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer
w:Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer

(space science, US) Acronym of Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer. (a NASA infrared-wavelength astronomical space telescope that performed an all-sky astronomical survey with images in 3-22 μm wavelength bands)


sex-plus

She brought a sex-plus case against her employer for hiring older men but refusing to hire older women.

Her theory was a “sex plus” discrimination claim, alleging that the company did not promote fat women.

2008, Anna Rutherford, Fat rights: dilemmas of difference and personhood, page 163:

[…] the latter can perhaps be protected either by including the employee's private life among the grounds of prohibited discrimination, or under the ground of sex, as a sex-plus situation.

2010, Roger Blanpain, Comparative Labour Law and Industrial Relations in Industrialized Market Economies:

(law, US, of a discrimination case) Having as factors a person's gender and some other factor related to that gender.


Arnold Palmer

Named after American golfer Arnold Palmer (1929–2016). According to urban legend he later claimed true, in circa early 1960s, he ordered a mix of half iced tea and lemonade from a waitress, which there became popular at the Cherry Hills Country Club, and Mr. Palmer later endorsed.

named-after

(chiefly US) A beverage made with iced tea and lemonade in more or less equal parts.


military intelligence
military intelligence

(military, intelligence, US, initialism) staff military intelligence officer position in smaller units, or section in larger formations


weaponeer

Von Neumann, who believed that mathematics grew best when nourished by ‘a certain contact with the strivings and problems of the world,’ became a great friend of the weaponeers.

2012, George Dyson, Turing's Cathedral, Penguin, published 2013, page 57:

(US) Someone who makes weapons, especially nuclear weapons.


whacked-out

en-adj

whacked-out (comparative more whacked-out, superlative most whacked-out)

more whacked-out (comparative)
most whacked-out (superlative)

/ˌʍækt ˈaʊ̯t/

It has been said by many a black leader, that blacks don't do things "like that" except the freaks who are really wacked out any way.

1974 April 13, S. F. Waters, “Black Gays”, in Gay Community News, page 2:


(military, aviation, US) Misspelling of P-3.


RADM

rear admiral (upper half)
rear admiral (upper half)#English

(US, military, nautical) Abbreviation of rear admiral (upper half).


RDML

rear admiral (lower half)
rear admiral (lower half)#English

(US, military, nautical) Abbreviation of rear admiral (lower half).


bushwah

Uncertain, first attested in the 1900s. Perhaps from dialectal bodewash (“dried buffalo dung”) or by Etymology 2, from bourgeois. Subsequently used as a minced oath variant of bullshit, though bullshit itself is only attested from the 1910s.

These plays, one and all, were either sentimental bushwah or tragic nonsense.

1925, George Jean Nathan, The Autobiography of an Attitude, page 230:

This death or glory stuff is all bushwah, except with nuts; and those, you don’t want. An outfit of smart guys, always trying to figure the opposition before the opposition figures them; they can take, any time, any day, an outfit of nuts wound up to crash their planes into something.

1948, James Gould Cozzens, Guard of Honor, page 258:

“[…] They’re not taken in by all that socialist bullsh—” He cleared his throat. “Bushwah.”

1983, Theodore V. Olsen, Red is the River, →ISBN, page 102:

Oftentimes proof is only in the speaking, but the people listening are pros with tremendous experience in flight, and they can pick out the bushwah instantly.

1991, Martin Caidin, Ghosts of the Air: True Stories of Aerial Hauntings, →ISBN, page 42:

(US) Nonsense; euphemistic form of bullshit.


Green Beret

From the color of the beret worn by them.

Coordinate term: blue beret

A former Green Beret wearing a tactical vest struck an officer in the face with a flagpole he was wielding like a spear during the Capitol riot, according to new court filings from the government and the F.B.I.

2021 March 19, Hailey Fuchs, “A former Green Beret used a flagpole to attack an officer in the Capitol riot, authorities say.”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

(US military) A member of the United States Army Special Forces.


spraddle

Uncertain; possibly from sprad, an obsolete dialectal past participle of spread; or a blend of sprawl + straddle or spread + straddle, or perhaps from Middle English *spraddelen; a frequentative form of Middle English spradden, spraden, sprēden (“to lay flat, spread; to distribute, scatter, sow”), from Old English sprǣdan (“to expand, spread; to outspread, stretch forth”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *(s)per- (“to sow, sprinkle, strew”), equivalent to spread + -le. Compare also dialectal Norwegian spradla (“to flail, squirm, thrash about”).

noncog

A manner of walking with the legs spread out.


ASVAB

We all know at least one Marine who scored 99 on the ASVAB, and we know this because he will typically proclaim it loudly, and often. Usually to try to set himself apart from the horde of ASVAB waivers and Crayon eaters in the Corps — the orange ones taste the best. All joking aside, there’s a lot of smart Marines out there, or at least, smartass Marines.

2017 November 10, James Clark, “7 Other Honors The Marines Should Dish Out During The Birthday Ball”, in Task & Purpose:

w:Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery

(US) Initialism of Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery.


AFQT

Armed Forces Qualification Test
w:Armed Forces Qualification Test

(US) Initialism of Armed Forces Qualification Test.


lifecare

(US) The care of elderly people within a dedicated community after their retirement and usually up until their death.


sweater vest

sweater vests (plural)
sweatervest (alternative)
sweater-vest (alternative)

(US) A sleeveless sweater, commonly knit in argyle.


skilts

The lad's skilts, through which were thrust his lean dry shanks, gave him a semblance to a peasant of Gascony on stilts.

1845, Sylvester Judd, Margaret: A Tale of the Real and Ideal, Blight and Bloom, page 22:

(US, dialect, dated or historical) A kind of wide, coarse, short trousers worn in the USA around the 18th century.


Hallmark moment

en-noun

Hallmark moment (plural Hallmark moments)

From a Hallmark Cards advertising campaign.

And then comes that inevitable moment when someone makes a snide remark or brings up a past grudge, and the bottom falls out and things go south fast. In a matter of seconds my Hallmark moment goes right out the window.

2012, Sarah Francis Martin, Stress Point: Thriving Through Your Twenties in a Decade of Drama, Nashville, Tennessee: Thomas Nelson Inc, →ISBN, page 128:

(US) A memorable moment or event, one which would make a poignant greeting card.


NACCHO

(US) Acronym of National Association of City and County Health Officials.


move up

en-verb

move up (third-person singular simple present moves up, present participle moving up, simple past and past participle moved up)

moves up (present singular third-person)
moving up (participle present)
moved up (participle past)
moved up (past)

The meeting was moved up to Tuesday.

“She’s upset she has to walk me down the aisle,” Serena told Maggie.
“Oh if only your uncle Maynard would come and do it instead!” Anita cried. “Maybe we should move the wedding up a week and give him another chance […]”

1988, Anne Tyler, chapter 3, in Breathing Lessons, Penguin, page 108:

(transitive, US) To reschedule (something) to an earlier date or time.


railroad tramp

(US) A transient, homeless person who rides from place to place on freight trains; a hobo


Nican Tlaca

(US, politics) The indigenous peoples of the Americas, including full-bloods and mixed-bloods, regarded as one people or one nation.


Old Right

(US, historical) A conservative political faction in the United States that opposed both New Deal domestic programs and US entry into World War II.


what, me worry

(idiomatic, US) As an interrogatory, indicative of a nonchalant attitude towards potential criticism, not caring about what other people think, confident and self-possessed.


TMJ

She was an only child, a gym rat, had a blotchy red birthmark on her neck in the shape of Florida, a gum-chewing habit that gave her TMJ and breath that reeked of cinnamon and green apple candy.

2018, Ottessa Moshfegh, My Year of Rest and Relaxation, Vintage, published 2019, page 7:

(US, colloquial) Temporomandibular pain, temporomandibular joint disorder.


gomer

Likely from the oafish fictional character Gomer Pyle from the 1960s American sitcom The Andy Griffith Show.

These recruits were given such sobriquets as moron, idiot, or Gomer (after the television marine Gomer Pyle). There were constant comparisons between wayward recruits and animals or vegetables.

1993, James Ebert, A Life in a Year: The American Infantryman in Vietnam, 1965-1972, page 34:

(US, military slang, derogatory) An inept trainee or serviceperson.

We were almost invisible in our tiger stripes and ghillie suits. However, as the unit marched by, a lone gomer broke rank and ventured into the high, wet saw grass that concealed our position.

2010, Brian Easton, Autobiography of a Werewolf Hunter, page 22:

(US, military slang) An opponent in combat or in training.


liberty cabbage

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

Coined during the First World War as a substitute for the word sauerkraut, which had been borrowed from German around 1600.

The largest quantity of vegetables prepared was Liberty cabbage, 661 barrels. If these barrels were placed lengthwise in a row, they would reach a distance of almost one-half a mile.

1918, The Institution Quarterly (Illinois), volume 9, issue 1, 31 March 1918, page 286

"Liberty cabbage," made in Germany and there still known as sauerkraut, has been served at many American army messes during the week, five carloads of the edible having been left behind by the withdrawing German army.

1918 November 30, “Liberty Cabbage”, in The New York Times:

A glance at the following menus gives an idea of the quality and variety of food served the employe[e]s: [...] Supper—Cream of Barley Soup, Wieners and Liberty Cabbage, Pork Chops, Fried Potatoes, Stewed Corn, [...]

1919 January, The National Association of Corporation Schools Bulletin, volume 6, number 1, page 124:

We noticed the monstrous cabbage weighing eighteen pounds, but this was nothing new to us as in the past few days we have made thirty barrels of liberty cabbage.

1919 October, Joseph Hermann, Milton Dentzler, “Greenhouse”, in The Industrial Enterprise, volume 26, number 10, page 11:

Guinea Fowls with Liberty Cabbage [...] Clean and disjoint guinea fowls. Season pieces by rolling them in a little flour [...] Cover Liberty cabbage with hot water, add smoked bacon and sausages.

1919, Marion Harris Neil, The Thrift Cook Book, page 109:

September.—Made 8 hhds. of Liberty Cabbage; housed onions, tomatoes, canteloupe, watermelons; began the apple picking; supplied the house with vegetables and fruits. N. B.—The frost hit and killed our tender crops on September 11, 1917.

1919, New York Legislative Documents: One Hundred and Forty-Second Session, 1919, volume 39, issues 105–110, page 60

Utica State Hospital Regular Dietary for Patients week ending June 1, 1919 [...] Breakfast: Cereal, milk, syrup, bread, butter, coffee, (toast, fried Hamburg steak). Dinner: Corned beef, gravy, potatoes, coffee, liberty cabbage, bread, [...]

1919, State of New York Handbook of the State Hospital Commission, page 186:

Sauerkraut was rechristened “liberty cabbage,” and hamburgers became “liberty sandwiches.” Libraries removed works of German literature from their shelves, and Theodore Roosevelt and others urged school districts to prohibit the teaching of the German language. Patriotic school boards burned the German books in their districts.

2007, John M. Murrin, Paul E. Johnson, James M. McPherson, Liberty, Equality, Power: A History of the American People, Since 1863, page 858:

Sauerkraut became liberty cabbage; frankfurters became liberty sausage. (Could the creative members of Congress who coined the term freedom fries in a spasm of anti-French sentiment in 2002 have known of this earlier linguistic inventiveness?) German faculty members were fired from universities. German musicians were fired from orchestras.

2008, Daniel A. Farber, Security versus liberty, page 32:

(US, historical, nationalist) Sauerkraut.


shebop

shebop (third-person singular simple present shebops, present participle shebopping, simple past and past participle shebopped)

shebops (present singular third-person)
shebopping (participle present)
shebopped (participle past)
shebopped (past)

A reference to the Cyndi Lauper song She Bop, the song itself a reference to masturbation.


shark attack

(US military, informal) Shouting and yelling by drill instructors at enlistees on their first day of training.


Framers

(US) The Founding Fathers of the United States; those who framed the US Constitution.


asstard

(Canada, US, informal, derogatory or offensive, slur, mildly vulgar) An extremely stupid person, especially one who causes harm.


QRA

(military, US) Initialism of quick reaction alert. A military and NATO term to define a higher state of readiness in which aircraft will become airborne within minutes to intercept and identify unknown aircraft or intercept one that has lost contact with air traffic control.


vegetized

I haven't seen any vegetized wafers on the shelf for decades.

I always use vegetized salt or some other seasoned salt.

(US) To which ingredients found in vegetables have been added, especially minerals and vitamins.


gee and haw

gee and haw (third-person singular simple present gees and haws, present participle geeing and hawing, simple past and past participle geed and hawed)

gees and haws (present singular third-person)
geeing and hawing (participle present)
geed and hawed (participle past)
geed and hawed (past)

He and I don't really gee and haw.


very special episode

en-noun

very special episode (plural very special episodes)

(US) An episode of an entertainment TV series that focuses on serious subjects instead.


inverted exclamation point

inverted exclamation point (plural inverted exclamation points)

Coordinate term: inverted question mark

(Canada, US) The punctuation mark "¡", which is placed at the beginning of exclamations in Spanish.


abuilding

From a- (“in, on”) + building (“the act or process of building”).

prefix

Heere we made a double floore in the hall where the shippe was abuilding, so that the wild men, being ignorant of our way of building, could not take any notice of our cuningnesse, which proved to our desire.

c. 1658, Pierre-Esprit Radisson, Voyages of Peter Esprit Radisson:

It [the monastery of St. Lawrence in Escorial] cost eight millions; it was twenty-four years abuilding, and the founder himself saw it furnished and enjoyed it twelve years after, […]

1913, William Dean Howells, Familiar Spanish Travels:

The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles

Oxford University Press
w:Oxford University Press

(archaic, excluding US) Being built or under construction, as a structure or a vessel.

This may signify much; among other things that the courtesan is creeping into social favor—even that a new code of morals is now abuilding, in which she will be the grand exemplar.

a. 1898, William Cowper Brann, Woman's Wickedness:

(archaic, excluding US) Developing or arising, as a trend or an idea.


filibusterism

All this was simply weakness; but in turning from the conduct of the Finances by the administration, to consider its management of Filibusterism, we pass from the consideration of acts of mere debility to the consideration of acts which have a color of duplicity in them. On the Filibusters, as on the Finances, the First Annual Message of the President was outspoken and forcible. It characterized the past and proposed doings of William Walker and his crew, as the common sense and common conscience of the world had already characterised them, as nothing short of piracy and murder.

1858 April, “Mr. Buchanan's Administration”, in The Atlantic Monthly, volume 1, number 6:

Conservatism has come to mean, with us, filibusterism, the acquisition of our neighbor's land, the extension of negro slavery, the reopening of the slave trade, and placing under the ban of society every publicist who raises his voice against such conservatism.

1859, “Politics at Home and Abroad”, in Orestes Augustus Brownson, editor, Brownson's Quarterly Review, volume 4, page 214:

[…] Doc furtively kicked him in the side of the leg, to remind him that the main reason they were there was to hush up even the faintest suspicions that filibusterism was flaring up again in Central America.

1986, J. D. Hardin, Murder on the Rails, page 30:

(US) The practice of forcefully and unauthorisedly acquiring control of foreign land.


give a rat's ass

en-verb

give a rat's ass (third-person singular simple present gives a rat's ass, present participle giving a rat's ass, simple past gave a rat's ass, past participle given a rat's ass)

gives a rat's ass (present singular third-person)
giving a rat's ass (participle present)
gave a rat's ass (past)
given a rat's ass (participle past)

I suspect that cancer doesn't give a rat's ass whether you have a positive mental attitude. It just sits in there multiplying away, whether you are admirably stoic or weeping and wailing.

2002 February 18, Molly Ivins, “Who Needs Breasts, Anyway?”, in Time:

Anderson also said he doesn't think "the NBA gives a rat's ass about Seattle," and he's upset with Howard Schultz for selling the team to Bennett.

2008 March 24, Jim Moore, “Save Our Sonics group is angry, articulate”, in Seattle Post-Intelligencer, USA, retrieved 2011-05-11:

"[W]e could completely secure the DNS or at least the parts of DNS whose operators gave a rat's ass about security," Vixie concluded.

2008 August 12, Gregg Keizer, “New exploit poisons patched DNS servers, claims researcher”, in PC World, Australia, retrieved 2011-05-11:

give a rat's arse
give a rat's arse#English

US standard spelling of give a rat's arse.


multi-story

(US, Canada) Alternative spelling of multi-storey


beat cop

(US, slang) A police officer who patrols the streets on foot (walks the beat).


Cobb salad

Developed by Robert Cobb of the Brown Derby restaurant circa 1937.

She ignores: olives, blue cheese, boiled eggs, bacon and avocado – in other words, all of the parts of the Cobb salad that, technically speaking, make it a Cobb salad.

2010, Jennifer Egan, A Visit from the Goon Squad, Corsair (2011), page 180:

(US) A salad consisting of iceberg lettuce, watercress, endive and Romaine lettuce with tomato, bacon, chicken, hard-boiled egg, avocado, chives, Roquefort cheese and a red wine vinaigrette.


habilitator

If the mine itself and its machinery, stores, and other valuable things that form part of the undertaking, should be attached and sold in execution, the provisions of the foregoing articles shall be observed in favor of the habilitators, as to the preference of their several claims among themselves, and with regard to the other creditors.

1892, Alejandro K. Coney, The Legal and Mercantile Handbook of Mexico, page 177:

(US, obsolete) One who supplies money to work a mine.


unlawful detainer

(US, law) The act of retaining possession of property without legal right.

(US, law) A legal action intended to remedy unlawful detainer by restoring possession of property to its owner.


judicare

Blend of judicial + care; compare Medicare, denticare.

(US, law) A form of legal aid in which private lawyers and law firms are paid to handle cases from eligible clients alongside the cases from their own fee-paying clients.


playoff beard

In the closing credits of the documentary, Boston players were asked to rate and rank the best playoff beards on the team.

2013 November 27, Dan Carson, “Boston's Koji Uehara Thinks Red Sox Burly Man Beards Are 'Gross'”, in Bleacher Report:

(US, Canada, sports) A beard grown by members of a sports team as a sign of unity or good luck during the postseason.


didie

Man is conceived in sin and born in corruption and he passeth from the stink of the didie to the stench of the shroud.

1946, Robert Penn Warren, All the King's Men:


IRR

Individual Ready Reserve
w:Individual Ready Reserve

(military, US) Initialism of Individual Ready Reserve.


KYD

(US, military) One thousand yards, a unit of measurement.


MOP

MOPs (plural)
MOP (plural)
MoP (alternative)

(US, military) GBU-57; Acronym of Massive Ordnance Penetrator.


horned frog

But among all the harmless reptiles of Texas, decidedly the most singular is the horned frog; it resembles the common frog […]

1855, John Wright, William Wright, Recollections of Western Texas, published 1995, page 41:

The horned frog is a native of Texas and Lower California, where he is found inhabiting the sandy soil of the prairies and the pockets of the small boy. / The horned frog is really no frog at all, but a lizard traveling incognito.

1912, J. W. Reading, “Locomotive Engineers Journal”, in (Please provide the book title or journal name), volume 47:

I have always had aspecial affinity for horned toads, probably because I went to Texas Christian University, whose mascot is the horned frog

2012, Lonn Taylor, Texas, My Texas: Musings of the Rambling Boy:

(US) Synonym of horned lizard; genus Phrynosoma, especially the Texas horned lizard.


garbage bin

(chiefly Canada, US) A bin for garbage; (in particular) a wheelie bin.


jour printer

1894, Henry Clay Vedder, American Writers Of To-Day, p. 126; passage refers to Mark Twain's youth in the 1830s United States
When the lad had acquired enough skill to call himself a journeyman printer he set out to see the world, and his native State thenceforth saw little of him. Those were the halcyon days of the "jour" printer; the world was all before him where to choose. He set out, with no kit of tools to carry, and with certainty of employment almost anywhere he might go, or of assistance from his fellows in the craft, thanks to a sort of free-masonry that prevailed everywhere among them. He might work his passage all around the continent and see life in all its phases, as no man of any other trade or profession could.

The jour printer with gray head and gaunt jaws works at his case, / He turns his quid of tobacco while his eyes blurr with the manuscript; […]

1855, Walt Whitman, Song of Myself, stanza 15:

(US, historical, 19th century) A journeyman printer — referring to both a man's profession and his status within his trade or company.


goldbricker

goldbrickers (plural)
gold-bricker (alternative)

Before hearing the response from the Department of Education, it is worth making one point. Ms. Rabenau, Mr. Schneider and Mr. Knox offer no sense of being complainers or goldbrickers.

2007 July 4, Samuel G. Freedman, “So Much Paperwork, So Little Time to Teach”, in New York Times:


overbreadth

(US, law) The excessive broadness of a statute that, in proscribing unprotected activity, also proscribes protected activity.


right to keep and bear arms

From the wording of the second amendment to the US Constitution: " […] the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed."

A well regulated Militia, being neceſsary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.

1789, Second Amendment to the United States Constitution:

President Bush had vetoed an earlier version of the Brady bill because of the intense opposition of the NRA, which said it infringed on the constitutional right to keep and bear arms.

2005, Bill Clinton, My Life, volume II, New York: Vintage Books, →ISBN, →OCLC, page 120:

Two California counties violated the Constitution’s right to keep and bear arms when they shut down gun and ammunition stores in 2020 as nonessential businesses during the coronavirus pandemic, a federal appeals court ruled Thursday.[…]
Because buyers can obtain guns only by personally going to gun stores in California, Ventura County’s 48-day closure of gun shops, ammunition shops and firing ranges “wholly prevented law-abiding citizens in the County from realizing their right to keep and bear arms,” he wrote.

2022 January 20, Don Thompson, “California’s COVID gun store shutdowns ruled illegal”, in AP News, archived from the original on 2022-01-20:

(chiefly US) The right of individuals to possess firearms and armor.

持有和攜帶武器的權利 /持有和携带武器的权利

the right of individuals to possess weapons and armor

cecxlsasroli iaraɣis šenaxvisa da ṭarebis upleba

ცეცხლსასროლი იარაღის შენახვისა და ტარების უფლება

fegyvertartáshoz és -viseléshez való jog


fair-haired boy

en-noun

fair-haired boy (plural fair-haired boys)

(idiomatic, US, Australia) Someone's favorite, especially a young one; a blue-eyed boy (British), (Australian)

chouchou

someone's favourite, especially a young one


NAIOP

(US) Initialism of National Association of Industrial and Office Properties.


middlings

(cooking, chiefly Southern US) The part of a pig between the shoulder and the ham.


fill one's hand

en-verb

fill one's hand (third-person singular simple present fills one's hand, present participle filling one's hand, simple past and past participle filled one's hand)

fills one's hand (present singular third-person)
filling one's hand (participle present)
filled one's hand (participle past)
filled one's hand (past)

"Now everybody fill his hand!" shouted Mr. Hickok, pulling his 8-inch six-shooters.

1905, Alfred Henry Lewis, The Sunset Trail, published 2005, →ISBN, page 377:

"He just looks at me and says: ‘Fill your hand stranger’ and hauls out an old rusty six shooter and I take off across Lincoln Park, bullets cutting all around me."

1962 [1959], William S. Burroughs, Naked Lunch, New York: Grove Press, page 3:

"Fill your hand, you sonuvabitch," the old lawman cries, clamping the reins of his horse between his teeth and filling his own hands with six-gun and repeater.

1979 June 25, Richard Schickel, “Show Business: Duke: Images from a Lifetime”, in Time:

(US, idiomatic) To draw one's handgun, especially for an armed confrontation.


butchershop

butchershops (plural)
butcher shop (alternative)
butcher-shop (alternative)

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


straight arrow

straight arrows (plural)
straight-arrow (alternative)

From archery, in which an arrow that has a straight shaft flies where you shoot it, while a crooked arrow will veer off.

He was put down at first as a "straight arrow" — a do-gooder — and the description was sometimes accompanied by the cry, "ugh." as in old Westerns when the settler is shot by the wily redskin.

1965 April 2, Paul O'Neil, “Bradley: good man and true”, in LIFE, volume 58, number 13, page 93:

But he might not be a straight arrow. I'm going to get the dirt on him from someone.

1988, Diana McRae, All the Muscle You Need, page 36:

My great-grandpa had a reputation as a straight arrow, because he was so honest in all his dealings.

2011, Ruth Jean Dale, Kids, Critters and Cupid:

If there is any man in our family who was and is a straight arrow, it is Kearn.

2012, Allen J. Roy, Lemme Tell You a Story: Memoirs of REV. Msgr. Allen J. Roy, page 32:

I folded my arms across my chest. "I'm about to open a weed café! How is that being a straight arrow?"

2023, Emily George, A Half-Baked Murder, page 231:

(US, informal) Someone who behaves according to conventional standards; one noted for honesty and integrity.


FLPP

Foreign Language Proficiency Pay
w:Foreign Language Proficiency Pay

(military, US) Initialism of Foreign Language Proficiency Pay.


semiformal

Suits have largely replaced guayabera shirts as business and semiformal wear for middle and upper-class Panamanian men, made practical by the widespread use of air-conditioning in the cities.

2005, Williams Friar, Panama, 1st edition, Emeryville, C.A.: Moon Handbooks, →ISBN, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 528:

(Canada, US, specifically) Of clothing: having a level of formality between that of informal and formal wear.

The skirt was way too short, at least shorter than she preferred. It left exposed a good eight inches between her knee and thigh. But what choice did she really have? Casual cropped pants were hardly appropriate attire for a semiformal event.

2006, Marcia King-Gamble, Designed for You, New York, N.Y.: Kimani Press, →ISBN, page 32:

(Canada, US, specifically) Of an event: having a semiformal dress code.


semiformal

semiformals (plural)
semi-formal (alternative)

Bright-colored flyers decorated battered lockers, telling everyone to join the debate team, try out for the school play, and not to miss the fall semiformal this Friday. I wondered what a "semiformal" consisted of at a public school, not that I'd bothered to ask anyone.

2010, Amanda Hocking, Switched (Trylle Trilogy; 3), New York, N.Y.: St. Martin's Griffin, published 2012, →ISBN, page 9:

(Canada, US) A social event in which one is expected to dress in semiformal wear.


developmentation

From development + -ation; the ostensible verb form *developmentate is not found.

(proscribed, chiefly US and humorous) Development.


printshop

printshops (plural)
print shop (alternative)
print-shop (alternative)

(chiefly Canada, US) A shop providing commercial copying and printing services.


microcap

From micro- + cap (short for capitalization).

But they are not looking for the extremely small stocks known as microcaps.

2007 July 8, J. Alex Tarquinio, “Loving What Nobody Wants”, in New York Times:

market capitalization
market capitalization

(US, finance) The stock of a public company with a market capitalization of roughly $300 million or less.


FDICIA

w:Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation Improvement Act of 1991

(US, finance) Initialism of Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation Improvement Act of 1991.


saloonkeeping

(US) The management of a saloon (drinking establishment).


SPL

senior patrol leader
senior patrol leader#English

(US, scouting) Initialism of senior patrol leader.


Super Saturday

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

(US) The last Saturday before Christmas, a major day of revenue for retailers.


SST

Spitzer Space Telescope
w:Spitzer Space Telescope

(space science, US, NASA) Initialism of Spitzer Space Telescope.


bangless

Whether they conjure painful visions of husband-stealers or happy memories of Betty and Veronica, bangs are an appealing option in the summer, when the weather forces the bangless to march around with hair greased back with sweat, like so many W.N.B.A. players or Romanian gymnasts.

2007 July 26, Anna Jane Grossman, “Bangs Return, and With Them, Naysayers and Chopaholics”, in New York Times:


unbanged

That is why, in spite of shabby dresses, unbanged hair, tremendous mouths, and large noses, some persons are purely delightful.

2007, Annie H. Ryder, Hold Up Your Heads, Girls!, page 13:

“To me, they scream: ‘I’m cooler than you, I have a lot of sex, and if you leave your husband with me I’ll devour him,’ ” said Meredith Hays, a literary agent in Manhattan with an unbanged brow.

(US, rare) Without bangs (the hairstyle).


destroyed jeans

(US) Blue jeans that have ragged edges, holes in them and worn-out sections, either due to long wear or as a result of design and manufacture.