squat

From Middle English squatten, from Old French esquatir, escatir (“compress, press down, lay flat, crush”), from es- (“ex-”) + quatir (“press down, flatten”), from Vulgar Latin *coactire (“press together, force”), from Latin coāctus, perfect passive participle of cōgō (“force together, compress”).
The sense “nothing” may be the source or a derivation of diddly-squat.

uder

I know squat about nuclear physics.

We didn't ask for rent, but we assumed they'd help around the house. But they don't do squat.

2003 May 6, “Dear Dotti: America's Most Outspoken Advice Columnist”, in Weekly World News, volume 24, number 34, New York, N.Y.: American Media, →ISSN, page 23:

"Joke's on you. They're used to me mostly talking about superficial stuff. Nobody's going to notice squat."

2022 October 19, Dan Shive, El Goonish Shive (webcomic), Comic for Wednesday, Oct 19, 2022:

(slang, Canada, US) Clipping of diddly-squat; something of no value.


charity stripe

(US, basketball, informal) The free-throw line.


ride shotgun

en-verb

ride shotgun (third-person singular simple present rides shotgun, present participle riding shotgun, simple past rode shotgun, past participle ridden shotgun)

rides shotgun (present singular third-person)
riding shotgun (participle present)
rode shotgun (past)
ridden shotgun (participle past)

/ˌɹaɪd ˈʃɒtɡʌn/

/ˌɹaɪd ˈʃɑtɡʌn/

Charles J. Guiteau
James A. Garfield
National Publishing Company
The Straight Dope

Possibly from early-20th-century depictions in books and films of the 19th-century practice of a person armed with a rifle or shotgun riding next to a stagecoach driver to provide protection from bandits, etc.

nb...

Containing a Full Account of the Shooting of President Garfield, and All the Events from that Date until the Dastardly Wretch was Brought to Trial, and including a Full Account of All the Testimony of the Experts and Other Celebrated Witnesses; All the Speeches and Remarks Made by the Cunning Assassin during His Trial for Life; His Great Efforts to Escape the Gallows by Feigning Insanity, etc.; with All the Scenes and Incidents Attending this Very Interesting and Remarkable Trial.

refn

From H. H. Alexander (1882) “Introduction”, in The Life of Guiteau and the Official History of the Most Exciting Case on Record: Being the Trial of Guiteau for Assassinating Pres. Garfield. […], Philadelphia, Pa., Chicago, Ill., St. Louis, Mo.: National Publishing Company, →OCLC, plate between pages 56 and 57.

He attended the meeting to ride shotgun for the sales team, in case anyone had a technical question.

Wyatt and Morgan Earp were in the service of the Express Company. They went often as guards—"riding shotgun," it was called—when the stage bore unusual treasure.

1905 April, Alfred Henry Lewis, “The Worries of Mr. Holiday”, in The Sunset Trail, New York, N.Y.: A[lfred] S[mith] Barnes & Co., →OCLC; republished New York, N.Y.: A[lbert] L[evi] Burt Company, publishers, July 1906, →OCLC, page 349:

Him drivin' stage that a-way, he ain't expected none to fight. [...] That's why, when the stage is stopped, the driver's never downed. Which if thar's money aboard, an' the express outfit wants it defended, they slams on some sport to ride shotgun that trip. It's for this shotgun speshulist to give the route agents an argyooment.

1913, Alfred Henry Lewis, “Old Monte, Official Drunkard”, in Faro Nell and Her Friends: Wolfville Stories, New York, N.Y.: G. W. Dillingham Company, →OCLC, page 105:

TV's Wells Fargo Agent Dale Robertson rides shotgun on the armored car which delivers to local Wells Fargo manager the plans for the new building the company will erect in Charlotte.

1958, Stuart Elliott, Journal of Property Management, Chicago, Ill.: Institute of Real Estate Management, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 33, column 2:

But the situation [of lost mail] has now improved because the Post Office now rides shotgun on the mails at a cost to the Post Office of $2½ million annually.

1971 October 14, Richard J. Vander Plaat (witness), “Testimony of Richard J. Vander Plaat, New Jersey Commissioner, on Behalf of Waterfront Commission of New York Harbor”, in New Jersey–New York Airport Commission Compact: Hearings before Subcommittee No. 3 of the Committee on the Judiciary, House of Representatives, Ninety-second Congress on H.J. Res. 375, H.J. Res. 404, and H.J. Res. 433 Granting the Consent of Congress to the States of New Jersey and New York for Certain Amendments to the Waterfront Commission Compact, and for Entering into the Airport Commission Compact, and for Other Purposes: […] Serial No. 21 […], Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, published 1972, →OCLC, page 161:

Want me and some people on Rescue One, riding shotgun?

1993 August 11, Tom Clancy, Without Remorse (Jack Ryan; book 1), New York, N.Y.: Putnam, →ISBN; republished as Without Remorse, New York, N.Y.: Berkley Books, August 1994, →ISBN:

For a moment, I enjoyed thinking of the type of men who had ridden shotgun in the 1800s. I pictured them as bodyguards, armed with a shotgun and responsible to support, aid, and protect the driver when confronted by robbers.

2017, Margo Dewkett, “Fort Robinson State Park”, in Sage Meadows, Indianapolis, Ind.: Dog Ear Publishing, →ISBN, page 36:

(US, idiomatic) To accompany the driver of a vehicle on a journey as an armed escort (originally with a shotgun); (by extension) to accompany someone in order to assist and protect.

When both kids want to ride shotgun with Mom, they’ll just have to take turns.

This is the classic children's theatre touring vehicle, with just enough seating space for four actors (who traditionally fight like five-year-olds about who gets to ride shotgun) and the stage manager, who gets to drive.

1999, H. Mel Malton, chapter 8, in Cue the Dead Guy (A Polly Deacon Murder Mystery), Toronto, Ont.: Napoleon Publishing/RendezVous Press, →ISBN, page 59:

The memories of his ordeal had ridden shotgun with him the whole trip, but it was easier here, easier to worry about his father and Kate and this stupid marriage pact than to face what he'd left in Texas.

2009, B. J. Daniels [pseudonym; Barbara Heinlein], chapter 4, in Shotgun Bride (Harlequin Intrigue; 1125; Whitehorse, Montana: The Corbetts; 1), Don Mills, Ont.: Harlequin Enterprises, →ISBN, page 45:

Sissy rode shotgun with Clayton Red Bird driving his old Chevy Impala, the backseat crammed with guitars, a bass, microphones, leads, and all the other paraphernalia that they needed to play the gig in the Longhorn after the rodeo.

2014, Frances Washburn, “The Scenic Fourth of July Rodeo and Dance”, in The Red Bird All-Indian Traveling Band (Sun Tracks: An American Indian Literary Series; 77), Tucson, Ariz.: University of Arizona Press, →ISBN, page 5:

Before sending me out alone, the company assigned me two "ride-alongs" with its top driver, the legendary Marco, who went out with 280 packages the second day I rode shotgun with him, took his full lunch break, did not roll through a single stop sign, and was finished by sundown.

2018 December 25, Austin Murphy, “I Used to Write for Sports Illustrated. Now I Deliver Packages for Amazon.”, in Jeffrey Goldberg, editor, The Atlantic, Washington, D.C.: The Atlantic Monthly Group, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2019-10-22:

(US, idiomatic, by extension, slang) To ride in the front passenger seat of a vehicle, next to the driver.

voziti se na suvozačkom mjestu

to ride in the front passenger seat of a vehicle, next to the driver

He has ridden shotgun over Hunt's financial affairs since Hunt was a baby in business, ascending to the head chair on the board that governs the Chiefs and the Hunt Midwest Enterprises empire of mining and real estate development.

1997, Michael McKenzie, chapter 1, in Arrowhead: Home of the Chiefs, Lenexa, Kan.: Addax Pub. Group, →ISBN, page 16:

Thank you also to Stacey Ammerman, who rode shotgun on the technical editing end of this book to make sure everything you read is easy to understand and actually works the way it is supposed to.

2005 December, Gail Perry, “Acknowledgements”, in Show Me!: Quickbooks 2006 (Show Me!), Indianapolis, Ind.: Que Publications, →ISBN, page iii:

Not only are they investors, they run a company, HomeFixers, that helps hundreds of other investors each year. What they bring to the table is hard-won brass-tacks knowledge from over fifteen years of personal investing as well as riding shotgun on over 1,000 flips with their clients.

2007, Gary Keller, “Foreword”, in Rick Villani, Clay Davis, Flip: How to Find, Fix, and Sell Houses for Profit, New York, N.Y., Chicago, Ill.: McGraw-Hill, →DOI, →ISBN, page viii:

(US, idiomatic, by extension, slang) To supervise a process and watch for any risks.

een oogje in het zeil houden

to supervise a process and watch for any risks


piccolo

(US, chiefly Southern US and New York) A coin-operated gramophone; a jukebox.


garbage collection

en-noun

garbage collection (usually uncountable, plural garbage collections)

(Canada, US) A service, generally run by local government, for transporting household garbage to the appropriate facility.

vuilnisophaling

service for transporting household garbage


garbage collector

garbage collector (plural garbage collectors)

garbage collectors (plural)
garbage-collector (alternative)

(US, Canada) A worker who removes refuse.


kindly

en-adv

kindly (comparative kindlier or more kindly, superlative kindliest or most kindly)

kindlier (comparative)
more kindly (comparative)
kindliest (superlative)
most kindly (superlative)

From Middle English kyndly, kyndely, kyndeliche, kundeliche, from Old English ġecyndelīċe, equivalent to kind + -ly.

I don't take kindly to threats.

Aunt Daisy didn't take it kindly when we forgot her anniversary.

(US) With kind acceptance; used with take.


sweet sixteen

sweet sixteens (plural)
sweet 16 (alternative)

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

But one tradition associated with the age hangs on: the Sweet Sixteen celebration. Symptomatic of at least a partial swing away from counterculture sentiments, the Sweet Sixteen party—relatively dormant during the anti‐Establishment turmoil of the late 60's and early 70's—is becoming popular again as a way of marking the 16th birthday.

1978 January 4, Lynn Ames, “Sweet Sixteen: A Rite That Persists”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

(US, informal) A girl's sixteenth birthday, or sixteenth-birthday party and a related coming of age party.


old lady

His wife was asking where their savings account balance had gone, but the way he put it was that his old lady was ragging him about his pay rate.

“[…] Now if that thing is balling—and your old lady or your old man is off somewhere flashing and doesn't want to be touched—well, you get put down on acid, you can be on a bummer for months.”

1968, Joan Didion, “Slouching Towards Bethlehem”, in Slouching Towards Bethlehem:

But you know it could be a hassle / Trying to explain myself to a police officer / About how it was your old lady got herself stiffed

1978, Lou Reed (lyrics and music), “Street Hassle”, in Street Hassle:

(slang, US) One's girlfriend, wife or significant other.

老婆

one's girlfriend, wife or significant other


tardy

From an earlier tardive, from French tardif, from Late Latin tardīvus, from Latin tardus (“slow”, “sluggish”), of obscure origin.

The teacher gave her a tardy because she did not come into the classroom until after the bell.

(US) A piece of paper given to students who are late to class.

(US) An instance of a student's being marked as tardy by a teacher on the teacher's attendance sheet.


barrack

From French baraque; from Catalan barraca.

(US) A (structure with a) movable roof sliding on four posts, to cover hay, straw, etc.


baccalaureate

baccalaureates (plural)
bacc (alternative)
bac (alternative)

/bækəˈlɔːɹɪət/

From French baccalauréat, from Medieval Latin baccalaureatus, from Latin baccalaureus, an alteration of baccalārius (“young man aspiring to knighthood”), to resemble bacca lauri (“laurel berry”) (the ancient symbol of victory). Compare bachelor.

(US) A farewell address in the form of a sermon delivered to a graduating class.


social conservative

en-noun

social conservative (plural social conservatives)

(US, Canada) One who favors a specific set of social policies, generally including opposition to birth control, abortion rights, euthanasia, same-sex marriage, and sexual permissiveness, often based on a particular reading of Christian values.


cookie

cookies (plural)
cookey (alternative)
cooky (alternative)

→ Arabic: كُوكِي (kuki)

→ Cantonese: 曲奇 (kuk¹ kei⁴)

→ Mandarin: 曲奇 (qūqí)

→ Catalan: cookie

→ Cebuano: kokis

→ French: cookie

→ Georgian: ქუქი (kuki)

→ German: Cookie

→ Gujarati: કૂકી (kūkī)

→ Hindi: कुकी (kukī)

→ Italian: cookie

→ Japanese: クッキー (kukkī)

→ Kannada: ಕುಕಿ (kuki)

→ Korean: 쿠키 (kuki)

→ Malay: kuki

→ Polish: cookie

→ Portuguese: cookie

→ Russian: куки (kuki)

→ Spanish: cookie

→ Swedish: cookie

→ Tagalog: kuki

→ Telugu: కుకీ (kukī)

→ Thai: คุกกี้ (kúk-gîi)

Borrowed from Dutch koekie, dialectal diminutive of koek (“cake”), from Proto-Germanic *kōkô (compare German Low German Kookje (“biscuit, cookie, cracker”), Low German Kook (“cake”), German Kuchen (“cake”)). More at cake. Not related to English cook.
The computing senses derive from magic cookie.

koekie

small, flat baked good — see also biscuit

(Canada, US, Philippines) A small, flat, baked good which is either crisp or soft but firm.


nitty-gritty

Of uncertain origin; said to have been first used by black jazz musicians from the United States, the word is perhaps a reduplication of gritty (“resembling grit”) (ultimately from Proto-Germanic *greutą (“grit”), from Proto-Indo-European *gʰrewd-) with alteration of the first syllable.
An urban legend links the origin of the word to the debris remaining in the holds of slave ships after the slaves had been disembarked, but there is no evidence for this. The word is not attested early enough to have been associated with slavery.

reduplication

He gave a short summary without getting into the nitty-gritty of the problem.

(originally US, colloquial, also attributively) The core or essence of something; the gist.

ydin

core or essence of something — see also gist


dadgum

en-adj

dadgum (comparative more dadgum, superlative most dadgum or dadgummest)

more dadgum (comparative)
most dadgum (superlative)
dadgummest (superlative)
dad-gum (alternative)
dadgummit (alternative)
dadgumit (alternative)
daggum (alternative)

I was the best dadgum calendar salesman there ever was.

2009, Roy Williams, Hard Work: A Life On and Off the Court, →ISBN, page 82:

We wore the dadgummest colors you ever seen in your life.

2004, Loretta Lynn, You're Cookin' It Country: My Favorite Recipes and Memories, →ISBN, page 12:


dadgum

en-adv

dadgum (comparative more dadgum, superlative most dadgum)

more dadgum (comparative)
most dadgum (superlative)
dad-gum (alternative)
dadgummit (alternative)
dadgumit (alternative)
daggum (alternative)

It's just too dadgum hot to run in the park.


dadgum

dad-gum (alternative)
dadgummit (alternative)
dadgumit (alternative)
daggum (alternative)


silver tongue

silver tongues (plural)
silver-tongue (alternative)

/ˌsɪlvəˈtʌŋ/

/ˌsɪlvəɹˈtʌŋ/

From silver (adjective, noun) + tongue (noun). Sense 1 (“trait of being articulate and clever at speaking”) is probably from silver-tongued, which is attested earlier than the noun.

compound

Melospiza melodia
Melospiza melodia#Translingual

(US) The song sparrow (Melospiza melodia).


crunk

en-adj

crunk (comparative crunker, superlative crunkest)

crunker (comparative)
crunkest (superlative)
krunk (alternative)

Get Crunk, Who U Wit: Da Album
Lil Jon & the East Side Boyz
crunk
fusion genre

Attested in the Southern US since the late 1980s, originally in the sense of “rowdy, high energy out-of-control behavior by a crowd at Southern night clubs”. Popularized by its use in the fusion genre of crunk music in the 1990s and especially early 2000s. In this context, first used in music lyrics and notably popularized by Lil Jon & the East Side Boyz, on their 1997 debut album Get Crunk, Who U Wit: Da Album. Various possible origins have been proposed:
* Blend of crazy + drunk “crazy drunk”.
* Blend of chronic (“marijuana”) + drunk “high on marijuana and drunk (on alcohol) at the same time”.
* From a dialectal past tense of crank.
See Crunk: etymology at Wikipedia for further information.
There is no evidence of any connection with Yiddish or German krank (“sick, ill”), nor that it entered the Southern Black vernacular through the presence of European Jewish immigrant shopkeepers in black neighborhoods in cities such as Atlanta. The phonetic similarity of the words is considered a coincidence.

Get crunk, who u wit’?

1997, Lil Jon & the East Side Boyz, Who U Wit, on Get Crunk, Who U Wit: Da Album

Let me tell you how I like it / If we’re all in a crowd / I like to be the one they single out / Let me tell you how to please me / Can you get it crunk and make my body jump?

2002, Ashanti, Foolish/Unfoolish page 34

I'm talking about everybody getting crunk, crunk
Boys tryin' to touch my junk, junk
Gonna smack him if he getting too drunk, drunk


goshdarnit

Contraction of gosh + darn + it, euphemistic forms of God and damn. Compare goshdangit, goddammit.


donut

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

Alteration of doughnut, from dough + nut. Attested 1900.

[…]Pa said he guessed he hadn't got much appetite, and he would just drink a cup of coffee and eat a donut.

1900, George Wilbur Peck, Peck's bad boy and his pa, Stanton and Van Vliet, page 107:

The Long Lances, however, were thick in the water, and soon Portland was hit in the stern, sending her turning donuts across the ocean trying to work out which way to point her guns, popping off occasional shots at Hiei, which, by now, was heavily ablaze and a very obvious target in the night.

2021 March 10, Drachinifel, 20:44 from the start, in Guadalcanal Campaign - The Big Night Battle: Night 1 (IJN 3(?) : 2 USN), archived from the original on 2022-10-17:

The court heard that at the junction of the Ballyveely Road, Leslie - who was driving a BMW - performed the 'donuts' as others looked on.

2016 December 1, “'Boy racer' fined over donut tribute to pal”, in Belfast Telegraph:

(chiefly Canada, US, Australia) Alternative spelling of doughnut


in Dutch

Thirteen youthful nurses at the Worcester City Hospital enriched a local barber to the extent of $13 a few days ago when they had their hair bobbed and now the entire 13 are very much in dutch with the authorities at the hospital.

1923 July 27, “Hospital Puts Ban upon Bobbed Hair”, in The Day, USA, retrieved 2011-08-29, page 9:

“And for that amount of money you're willing to get yourself in Dutch with half the law enforcement of this county?”

1939, Raymond Chandler, chapter 18, in The Big Sleep:

He got in dutch with City Manager George Schrader when he made some ill-chosen remarks.

1988 April 14, Rena Pederson, “Police Turmoil Isn't News”, in Dallas Morning News, retrieved 2011-08-29:

Don Juan: Well, think how you would feel if you were made to take off this mask that you are wearing.
Jack Mickler: Oh, well, our masks really get us in dutch, don't they? How long you been wearing yours?

(idiomatic, dated, Canada, US) In trouble or in disfavor.


tip

en-verb

tip (third-person singular simple present tips, present participle tipping, simple past and past participle tipped)

tips (present singular third-person)
tipping (participle present)
tipped (participle past)
tipped (past)

From Late Middle English tippen, possibly from North Germanic/Scandinavian (compare Swedish tippa (“to topple over”)), or a special use of Etymology 1.

накланям

to cause something to be in a tilted position

I tip my 40 to your memory.

1993, DRS, Gangsta Lean (This Is For My Homies):

(US, transitive) To pour a libation or a liquid from a container, particularly from a forty of malt liquor.


seeing-eye dog

A genericization of a trademark. From the name of the charity The Seeing Eye, which trains guide dogs.

(US, informal) A guide dog for people who suffer from impaired vision.


Oreo

National Biscuit Company
Oreo
Oreo#Etymology
Wikipedia

Brand name of unknown origin, trademarked by National Biscuit Company on 14 March 1912. See the Etymology section of Wikipedia's Oreo article for various theories. In reference to well-assimilated black people, derived from the slur that they are "black on the outside, white on the inside".

She's a pure Oreo. You know, like the cookie, black outside and white inside.

1971, Iceberg Slim, The Naked Soul of Iceberg Slim, Holloway House:

(US, derogatory, ethnic slur) A black person who has overly assimilated into white culture, a black race traitor.

Uncle Tom

black person assimilated into white culture


banger

→ Estonian: bänger

→ Finnish: bängeri

From bang + -er. The sausages were so called because of their excess water content and impervious skin, leading to the risk of explosion if not punctured before cooking.

He drives a little four-banger to work.

A thing or person which bangs, in any sense.

(US, automotive, slang) A car or an engine; referring to the cylinders of an engine in a car. From the explosive bangs on every cylinder firing.

Just as the gang peace movement desired to mainstream hardcore bangers into civic society, The Chronic wanted to drive hardcore rap into the popstream.

2011, Jeff Change, Can't Stop Won't Stop: A History of the Hip-Hop Generation, page 420:

(US, crime, slang) Clipping of gangbanger; a member of a gang.


shin

shin (third-person singular simple present shins, present participle shinning, simple past and past participle shinned)

shins (present singular third-person)
shinning (participle present)
shinned (participle past)
shinned (past)

From Middle English schyne, from Old English scinu, from Proto-West Germanic *skinu, from Proto-Germanic *skinō. Cognate with West Frisian skine, Dutch scheen, German Schiene. Not related to skin.

The Senator was shinning around, to get gold for the rascally bank-rags which he was obliged to take.

1845 December 13, New York Commercial Advertiser:

(US, slang) To run about borrowing money hastily and temporarily, as when trying to make a payment.


hang a left

hang a left (third-person singular simple present hangs a left, present participle hanging a left, simple past and past participle hung a left)

hangs a left (present singular third-person)
hanging a left (participle present)
hung a left (participle past)
hung a left (past)

Hang a left at the next intersection.

(intransitive, Canada, US slang) To turn left, to take a left turn.


hang a right

hang a right (third-person singular simple present hangs a right, present participle hanging a right, simple past and past participle hung a right)

hangs a right (present singular third-person)
hanging a right (participle present)
hung a right (participle past)
hung a right (past)

Hang a right at the next intersection.

(intransitive, US slang) To turn right, to take a right turn.


mid-fall

en-noun

mid-fall (usually uncountable, plural mid-falls)

mid-falls (plural)
midfall (alternative)


pivot

From Middle English pevet, *pivot, from Old French pivot (“hinge pin, pivot”) (12th c.), possibly from Latin pūgiō.

(US, politics) A shift during a general election in a political candidate's messaging to reflect plans and values more moderate than those advocated during the primary.


pivot

en-verb

pivot (third-person singular simple present pivots, present participle pivoting, simple past and past participle pivoted)

pivots (present singular third-person)
pivoting (participle present)
pivoted (participle past)
pivoted (past)

To make a sudden or swift change in strategy, policy, etc.

(US, politics) To shift a political candidate's messaging during a general election to reflect plans and values more moderate than those advocated during the primary.


decal

(US, Central Canada, General Australian) -æl

Decorating each alienation, each species of withdrawal, as cufflink, decal, aimless doodling, there was somehow always the post horn.

1966 March, Thomas Pynchon, chapter 5, in The Crying of Lot 49, New York, N.Y.: Bantam Books, published November 1976, →ISBN, page 91:

But your flag decal won't get you Into Heaven any more. / They're already overcrowded From your dirty little war.

1971, John Prine (lyrics and music), “Your Flag Decal Won't Get You Into Heaven Anymore”, in John Prine:


Durex

Condom brand name: 1929, from durability, reliability, excellence.


call on the carpet

call on the carpet (third-person singular simple present calls on the carpet, present participle calling on the carpet, simple past and past participle called on the carpet)

calls on the carpet (present singular third-person)
calling on the carpet (participle present)
called on the carpet (participle past)
called on the carpet (past)

Randal calls onto the carpet Heath and Human Services Secretary Margaret Heckler for her department's negligence in responding to the AIDS crisis.

1984 August 4, Sue Hyde, “Too Little, Too Late”, in Gay Community News, page 2:

(chiefly US) To reprimand; to censure severely or angrily.


moonshine

en-noun

moonshine (countable and uncountable, plural moonshines)

moonshines (plural)
moon-shine (alternative)

From Middle English mone schyne, mone-schyne, moone shone; equivalent to moon + shine. Illegally distilled liquor is so named because its manufacture may be conducted without artificial light at night. The verb sense is a back-formation from moonshiner.

(US, cooking) A spiced dish of eggs and fried onions.


saddlebag

saddlebags (plural)
saddle bag (alternative)
saddle-bag (alternative)

/ˈsædəlˌbæɡ/

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

The area treated was always the side of the thighs, where she had visible saddlebags.

2002, Maria Makarovic, Doctor Help Me Slim Down!: Firm Up and Get Rid of Cellulite!, iUniverse, →ISBN, page 141:

(in the plural, US, informal) Loose fatty flesh on a person's upper thighs or buttocks, that hangs like saddlebags.


girasole

Borrowed from Italian girasole.
From Italian girasole articiocco (“Jerusalem artichoke”).

der

The girasole can not become a competitor of the potato in such regions as the mountains of Colorado, but it thrives along the foothills and on the plains.

1918, T. D. A. Cokcerell, “The girasole or Jerusalem artichoke, a neglected source of food”, in The Scientific Monthly, volume 6, page 265:

Jerusalem artichoke
Jerusalem artichoke#English


whomp on

en-verb

whomp on (third-person singular simple present whomps on, present participle whomping on, simple past and past participle whomped on)

whomps on (present singular third-person)
whomping on (participle present)
whomped on (participle past)
whomped on (past)

The Jayhawks completely whomped on the hapless Nimrods in today's opening-round game.

(idiomatic, US, slang) To defeat thoroughly; to trounce.


shift

en-noun

shift (countable and uncountable, plural shifts)

From Middle English schiften, from Old English sċiftan (“to divide, separate into shares; appoint, ordain; arrange, organise”), from Proto-Germanic *skiftijaną, *skiptijaną, from earlier *skipatjaną (“to organise, put in order”), from Proto-Indo-European *skeyb- (“to separate, divide, part”), from Proto-Indo-European *skey- (“to cut, divide, separate, part”). Cognate with Scots schift, skift (“to shift”), West Frisian skifte, skiftsje (“to sort”), Dutch schiften (“to sort, screen, winnow, part”), German schichten (“to stack, layer”), Swedish skifta (“to shift, change, exchange, vary”), Norwegian skifte (“to shift”), Icelandic skipta (“to switch”). See ship.

cog

Does it come with a stick-shift?

(US) The gear mechanism in a motor vehicle.


police

en-noun

police pl (normally plural, singular police)

Southern US, African-American Vernacular, Indic

From Middle French police, from Latin polītīa (“state, government”), from Ancient Greek πολιτεία (politeía). Doublet of policy and polity.

The Cook County Sheriff's Department has jurisdiction across most of Chicago but focuses on the unincorporated area and tasks like prisoner transport, leaving the rest to the Chicago Police Department.

(law enforcement) A public agency charged with enforcing laws and maintaining public order, usually being granted special privileges to do so, particularly

(Canada, US and historical) A department of local (usually municipal) government responsible for general law enforcement.

Pearlman: Very clever, Lester. You got it all figured, huh?
Freamon: Me? I'm just a police.

2006 Sept. 17, David Mills, "Soft Eyes", The Wire, 00:06:50

This time it is the worst kind of call a murder police can get.

2006, David Simon, Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets, →ISBN, page 440:

(usually plural only) The staff of such a department or agency, particularly its officers; (regional, chiefly US, Caribbean, Jamaica, Scotland, countable) an individual police officer.


flack

Edward Bernay, who was a consultant to the US Delegation to the Versailles Peace Conference which terminated the first World War (and who finally wound up as a flack for the United Fruit Company in Latin America), believed that propaganda and its covert marketing could effectively alter the will of the American public.

1998, Winston Smith, Art Crime: The Montage Art of Winston Smith, page 25:

Thought you were flack," she said.
"I'm not flack."
"All right, P.R., a reporter, a novelist."

1999, Patricia Cornwell, The Southern Cross, page 233:

In July, Nick Clegg, a former Deputy Prime Minister of the U.K. who is now a top flack at Facebook, published a piece on AdAge.com and on the company’s official blog titled “Facebook Does Not Benefit from Hate,” in which he wrote, “There is no incentive for us to do anything but remove it.”

2020 October 12, Andrew Marantz, “Why Facebook Can’t Fix Itself”, in The New Yorker:

(Canada, US) A publicist, a publicity agent.


flack

en-verb

flack (third-person singular simple present flacks, present participle flacking, simple past and past participle flacked)

flacks (present singular third-person)
flacking (participle present)
flacked (participle past)
flacked (past)

[..] he told funny stories about his early days in the theater district, flacking shows up and down the street, but Klara wasn’t listening.


lollygag

lollygag (third-person singular simple present lollygags, present participle lollygagging, simple past and past participle lollygagged)

lollygags (present singular third-person)
lollygagging (participle present)
lollygagged (participle past)
lollygagged (past)
lallygag (alternative)

Unknown. Cited as American slang from 1934 and attested since at least 1889.

Stop lollygagging! […] He ate ALL the ship's food! 'Zat your friend? Show him outta here!

(US) To dawdle; to be lazy or idle; to avoid necessary work or effort.

Lovemaking and lollygagging are hereby strictly forbidden. […] The holding of hands, osculation and constant embracing of WAVES, corpsmen or civilians and sailors or any combination of male and female personnel is a violation of naval discipline. […]

1946, Captain C. F. Behrens, MC, USN, quoted in Time Magazine, volume 47, part 1, page 74, 1946

(US, dated, 19th-20th centuries) To fool around, especially sexually.


lollygag

He likes to do his car up with blacked-out windows, and all that lollygag.


APT

(US) Abbreviation of apartment. (APT is preferred by the United States Postal Service; compare Apt. and apt.)


IRA

These were the liquefiable assets at hand: a drawerful of family jewelry, a 401(k), an IRA, and a one-bedroom condo purchased with inheritance money after her parents' passing.

2022, Ling Ma, “Tomorrow”, in Bliss Montage, New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, →ISBN:

individual retirement account
individual retirement account#English

(US, finance) Initialism of individual retirement account.


dobber

In attaching this dobber or float, tie it on as short a tippet as you can manage and attach it to the leader from four to six feet above the nymph.

2007, William G. Tapply, Trout Eyes: True Tales of Adventure, Travel, and Fly-Fishing, page 191:

(US, regional) A float (as used by an angler).

I went to the ballgame [in San Francisco] in April, and I was booed. I never was before that. It affected my dobber, my psyche.

1978, Robert Pack, Jerry Brown, the Philosopher-prince, Scarborough House:

Well, I got my dobber down, and I thought I was on my way back to Montreal. And I recall sitting down at the end of the dugout by myself and feeling damn dejected, I'll tell ya.

2010 January 1, Peter Golenbock, Paul Dickson, Bums: An Oral History of the Brooklyn Dodgers, Courier Corporation, →ISBN:

"Be patient, honey," Jim kept telling her. "Life will get better. You know it will. Keep your dobber up, as my grandmother always said.”

2013 September 17, Mike Roos, One Small Town, One Crazy Coach: The Ireland Spuds and the 1963 Indiana High School Basketball Season, Indiana University Press, →ISBN, page 18:

en:metaphorical float representing pluck

(US, regional, by extension, figurative) Spirit, pluck, self-esteem.


Shawn

A variant of Sean, from Irish Seán, from Old French Jehan, from Latin Jōhannēs, variant of Iōannēs, from Koine Greek Ἰωάννης (Iōánnēs), from Hebrew יוֹחָנָן (yōḥānān, yokhanán, literally “God is gracious”). Doublet of Evan, Giovanni, Ian, Ivan, Jack, Jean, Johan, Johann, Johannes, John, Juan, Sean, Shane, and Shaun as a male name. Doublet of Ivana, Jana, Jane, Janice, Janis, Jean, Jeanne, Jen, Joan, Joanna, Joanne, Johanna, Juana, Shavonne, Sian, Siobhan, Shane, Shaun, Shauna, and Sheena as a female name.

doublet

Two weeks later Dot and her girl, who was finally named Shawn, like most girls born that year, came back to work at the scales.

1984, Louise Erdrich, Love Medicine, Bantam Books, published 1987, →ISBN, page 169:

Or take Sean, S-E-A-N. Been spelled like that for about five hundred years. But not them, they've gotta spell it S-H-A-W-N. Like they have a right to that name in the first place.

1996, Tobias Wolff, The Night in Question: Stories, Alfred A. Knopf, →ISBN, page 141:

(chiefly US) Alternative form of Shaun, a unisex given name.


ketchup

en-noun

ketchup (countable and uncountable, plural ketchups)

ketchups (plural)
catsup (alternative)
catchup (alternative)
katjap (alternative)
katsup (alternative)
kechap (alternative)
ketsup (alternative)

→ Arabic: كَتْشَب (katšab)

→ Belarusian: кетчуп (kjetčup)

→ Bulgarian: кетчуп (ketčup)

→ Cantonese: 茄汁 (ke⁴⁻² zap¹)

→ Catalan: quètxup

→ Czech: kečup

→ Danish: ketchup

→ Dutch: ketchup

→ Finnish: ketsuppi

→ French: ketchup

desctree

→ German: Ketchup, Catchup (obsolete), Ketschup (superseded)
→ Lower Sorbian: ketšup

→ Greek: κέτσαπ (kétsap)

→ Hebrew: קֶטְשׁוֹפּ (ketshop)

→ Hokkien: 茄汁 (kiô-chap) (Singapore)

→ Hungarian: ketchup

→ Irish: citseap

→ Japanese: ケチャップ (kechappu)

→ Korean: 케첩 (kecheop)

→ Marshallese: kōjjeb

→ Persian: کچاپ (kečâp)

→ Polish: keczup, ketchup

→ Portuguese: ketchup

→ Romanian: ketchup

→ Russian: кетчуп (ketčup)
→ Armenian: կետչուպ (ketčʻup)

→ Serbo-Croatian:

Cyrillic script: кечап

Latin script: kečap

→ Spanish: ketchup, kétchup

→ Swedish: ketchup

→ Tagalog: ketsap

→ Thai: เค็ตชัป (két-chàp)

→ Turkish: ketçap

→ Ukrainian: кетчуп (ketčup)

→ Uzbek: ketchup

→ Welsh: cetsyp

→ Yiddish: קעטשאָפּ (ketshop)

Uncertain, but probably ultimately from Hokkien 膎汁 (kê-chiap, “fish sauce”) via Malay kicap, though the precise path is unclear – there are related words in various Chinese languages, and it may have entered English directly from Hokkien Chinese. Cognate to Indonesian kecap, ketjap (“soy sauce”). Various other theories exist – see Ketchup: Etymology for extended discussion.
First appeared in English in the late 17th century in reference to a Southeast Asian sauce encountered by British traders and sailors. The Oxford English Dictionary notes that it was commonly used in the 18th century to refer to a variety of similar sauces with varying ingredients—"anchovies, mushrooms, walnuts, and oysters being particularly popular"—but by the late 19th century the current tomato ketchup became the most popular form.
Catsup (earlier catchup) is an alternative Anglicization, still in use in the U.S.

tomato ketchup

This diner serves ketchup in red bottles, and mustard in yellow ones.

(uncountable, chiefly US, Canada, UK) Ellipsis of tomato ketchup. A tomato-vinegar-based sauce, sometimes containing spices, onion or garlic, and (especially in the US) sweeteners.


sequester

en-verb

sequester (third-person singular simple present sequesters, present participle sequestering, simple past and past participle sequestered)

sequesters (present singular third-person)
sequestering (participle present)
sequestered (participle past)
sequestered (past)

From Middle English sequestren (verb) and sequestre (noun), from Old French sequestrer, from Late Latin sequestrō (“separate, give up for safekeeping”), from Latin sequester (“mediator, depositary”), probably originally meaning "follower", from Proto-Indo-European *sekʷ- (“follow”).

der

The Budget Control Act of 2011 sequestered 1.2 trillion dollars over 10 years on January 2, 2013.

(transitive, US, politics, law) To remove (certain funds) automatically from a budget.

elkülönít

US, politics, law: to remove (certain funds) automatically from a budget


challenge

→ French: challenge (orthographic)

→ Japanese: チャレンジ (charenji)

→ Russian: че́ллендж (čéllendž)

/ˈt͡ʃæl.ɪnd͡ʒ/

/ˈt͡ʃæl.ənd͡ʒ/

From Middle English chalenge, variant with palatalization of Middle English kalange (“an accusation, claim”), from Old French chalenge, chalonge, palatalized Central French variants of Old Northern French calenge, calonge (see Continental Norman calengier), from Latin calumnia (“a false accusation, calumny”), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱeh₁l-, *keh₁l- (“to beguile, deceive”). Cognate with Old English hōl (“calumny”). Doublet of calumny.

der

(US) An act of seeking to have a certain person be declared not legally qualified to vote, made when the person offers their ballot.


challenge

en-verb

challenge (third-person singular simple present challenges, present participle challenging, simple past and past participle challenged)

challenges (present singular third-person)
challenging (participle present)
challenged (participle past)
challenged (past)

/ˈt͡ʃæl.ɪnd͡ʒ/

/ˈt͡ʃæl.ənd͡ʒ/

(US, transitive) To object to the reception of the vote of, e.g. on the ground that the person is not qualified as a voter.

I mean if you go in and want to challenge an exam it cost you half of your course money. If you don't pass the exam, that money is credited toward taking the course. What have you got to lose to challenge an exam, or do a competency exam?

1996, Senate Legislative Record ... Legislature State of Maine:

The only time I went to class was to challenge an exam. My marks were good. But there was one class I never missed, “Nursing Process and the New Philosophy in Nursing.”

Although we strongly recommend that you keep practicing until your scores top the 75% mark, 80% would be a good goal, to give yourself some margin for error in a real exam situation[…]. After you hit that point, you should be ready to challenge the exam.

2006, Diana Huggins, Exam/cram 70-291: Implementing, Managing, and Maintaining a Windows Server 2003 Network Infrastructure, page 2:

(Canada, US, transitive) To take (a final exam) in order to get credit for a course without taking it.

défier

to write a final exam to get credit for a course


mud

en-noun

mud (countable and uncountable, plural muds)

From Middle English mud, mudde, mode, probably a borrowing from Middle Dutch mod, modde or Middle Low German mudde, ultimately from Proto-Germanic *mud-, *mudra- (“mud”), perhaps from Proto-Indo-European *mū-, *mew- (“moist”). Cognate with Saterland Frisian Mudde (“mud”), Middle High German mot (“mud”), Swedish modd (“slush”). Compare also suffixed variants West Frisian modder (“mud”), Dutch modder (“mud”), German Low German Mudder (“mud”), German Moder (“moldiness, mildew, decay”), English mother (“vinegar-forming sediment in alcohol”), Danish mudder (“mud”). Alternative etymology suggests the Proto-Germanic word is possibly borrowed from a Uralic language (compare e.g. Finnish muta (“mud”), Northern Sami mođđi (“mud”), from Proto-Uralic *muďa).

cog

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


rebel

From Middle English rebel, rebell, from Old French rebelle, from Latin rebellis (“waging war again; insurgent”), from rebellō (“I wage war again, fight back”), from re- (“again, back”) + bellō (“I wage war”).

der

Confederate States of America
Confederate States of America

(US, historical) Synonym of Confederate: a citizen of the Confederate States of America, especially a Confederate soldier.


preceptor

preceptors (plural)
præceptor (alternative)
præceptour (alternative)
preceptour (alternative)

From Middle English preceptor, preceptur, from Latin praeceptor (“commander; instructor”), from the verb praecipiō + -or (“-er: forming agent nouns”), from prae- (“pre-, fore-: before”) + capiō (“to take; to get, to take in, to understand”).

Coordinate term: orientee

(medicine, chiefly US) A doctor who gives practical training to medical students, nurses etc.


quadroon

From Spanish cuarterón (“¾ white, a child of a European and a mestizo”), from cuarto (“one-fourth”) + -on (“-oon: forming related nouns”), from Latin quartus (“one-fourth”). Doublet of cuarteron.

There were slow boys and bashful boys, feeble boys and riotous boys, boys that lisped and boys that stuttered, one or two lame ones, and a merry little quadroon, who could not be taken in elsewhere, but who was welcome to the ‘Bhaer-garten’, though some people predicted that his admission would ruin the school.

1869, Louisa M[ay] Alcott, chapter 47, in Little Women: […], part second, Boston, Mass.: Roberts Brothers, →OCLC:

1938, Xavier Herbert, Capricornia, Chapter V, p. 63; Chapter VIII, p. 120 https://archive.org/details/capricornianovel00herb
Diana was a black quadroon, her father being a blackfellow.
He was the father of four quadroons who were regarded as half-castes because the lighter part of their mother's blood was Asiatic, and he was only too well aware of what their future would be should he desert them.

(dated, chiefly historical) A person considered three-fourths white, having one non-white grandparent.


quadroon

Before them, with her face upraised,
In timid attitude,
Like one half curious, half amazed,
A Quadroon maiden stood.

1842, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, The Quadroon Girl:

"What need you getting drunk, then, and cutting up, Prue?" said a spruce quadroon chambermaid, dangling, as she spoke, a pair of coral ear-drops.

1851 June – 1852 April, Harriet Beecher Stowe, chapter XVII, in Uncle Tom’s Cabin; or, Life among the Lowly, volume (please specify |volume=I or II), Boston, Mass.: John P[unchard] Jewett & Company; Cleveland, Oh.: Jewett, Proctor & Worthington, published 20 March 1852, →OCLC:

The quadroon girl is sold at the auction-stand, the drunkard nods by the bar-room stove, […]

1892, Walt Whitman, “Song of Myself”, in Leaves of Grass […], Philadelphia, Pa.: David McKay, publisher, […], →OCLC, page 40:

(dated, chiefly historical) Of or related to quadroons.

квартерон

three fourths Caucasian and one fourth African in descent


heat wave

heat waves (plural)
heatwave (alternative)

(idiomatic) A period of exceptionally hot weather.

(US, weather broadcasting) Three consecutive days with daytime high temperature of 90 degrees Fahrenheit or higher.


African-American

African-Americans (plural)
African American (alternative)

Patterned on forms such as Irish-American, popularized by Jesse Jackson and in common use since the late 1980s.

(US, loosely, proscribed, sometimes offensive) Any black American person; by extension, any black person.


African-American

en-adj

African-American (comparative more African-American, superlative most African-American)

more African-American (comparative)
most African-American (superlative)
African American (alternative)

(US, loosely, proscribed, sometimes offensive, of a person) Black.


factoid

From fact + -oid (“similar, but not the same”); coined by American writer Norman Mailer in 1973 in Marilyn: A Biography, defined as "facts which have no existence before appearing in a magazine or newspaper, creations which are not so much lies as a product to manipulate emotion in the Silent Majority".

coin

Given a large enough storehouse of words and a fine filter, would it be possible to see cultural change at the micro level, to follow minute fluctuations in human thought processes and activities? Tiny factoids, multiplied endlessly, might assume imposing dimensions.

2013 December 24, William Grimes, “Big Data Becomes a Mirror”, in New York Times:

Don't parade in front of the audience spewing every factoid you know on your topic. Only share the right information for that exact moment with that specific audience.

2013, Nancy Duarte, Resonate: Present Visual Stories that Transform Audiences, John Wiley & Sons, →ISBN:

(originally Canada, US) An interesting item of trivia; a minor fact.


catalogue

catalogues (plural)
catalog (alternative)

→ Welsh: catalog

/ˈkæt.əˌlɒɡ/

/ˈkæt.əˌlɔɡ/

/ˈkæt.əˌlɑɡ/

From Middle English cathaloge, from Old French catalogue, from Late Latin catalogus, itself from Ancient Greek κατάλογος (katálogos, “enrollment, register”), from καταλέγω (katalégō, “to recount, make a list”), from κατα- (kata-, “downwards, towards”) + λέγω (légō, “to say, to speak, to tell”).

katalog

a systematic list of names, books, pictures etc.

(US) A book printed periodically by a college, university, or other institution that gives a definitive description of the institution, its history, courses and degrees offered, etc.


wild cat

wild cats (plural)
wild-cat (alternative)
wildcat (alternative)

From Middle English wyld cat, wylde cat (in the plural as wild cattes, wylde catis, wyle cattes), equivalent to wild + cat.

Felis silvestris
Felis silvestris#Translingual

(uncommon) Alternative form of wildcat, (UK) the Old World wildcats (Felis silvestris) or (US) the bobcat (Lynx rufus) and other New World lynxes.


trailer trash

(US, idiomatic, slang, derogatory) A poorly-educated, and usually white individual(s) of low social status who stereotypically reside(s) in a trailer park.


wiener

Clipping of wienerwurst, from German Wienerwurst (“Vienna sausage”), from Wiener (“of Vienna, Viennese”) + Wurst (“sausage”), because sausages were originally made in Vienna, Austria.
In Germany today this sausage is known as Wiener Würstchen (“small sausage from Vienna”), but in Vienna and the Netherlands it is called a Frankfurter or Frankfurter Würstchen (“small sausage from Frankfurt”).

compound

(Canada, US) A type of sausage made from beef, chicken or pork.

Two figures crossing the windy park. Miss Martin taking Smith's arm over the street. And inside where wieners were being turned on a hot skillet behind the steamed glass. Always wanted to have the constitution to eat these fearlessly, perhaps with a glass of orange.

1963, J P Donleavy, A Singular Man, published 1963 (USA), page 104:

(Canada, US, UK) A hot dog or frankfurter.

(US, colloquial) A person who is nervous or afraid to partake in certain activities.

(US, UK, colloquial) An irritating or disliked person.


ripper

(US, New Jersey, slang) A hot dog deep-fried in oil until the casing bursts.


lettuce

en-noun

lettuce (countable and uncountable, plural lettuces)

From Middle English letuse, of uncertain precise origin, probably from the plural form Old French laitues, derived from Latin lactūca (“lettuce”), from lac (“milk”), because of the milky fluid in its stalks. Replaced Old English lēahtric.
(money): Likely from the green color of US banknotes.

To steady himself he counts the money left in his wallet. Seventy-three; today was payday. Fingering so much lettuce strengthens his nerves.

1960, John Updike, 'Rabbit, Run', page 26:

Twenty dollars an hour? That's a lot of lettuce!

(uncountable, US, slang) United States paper currency; dollars.


rendition

rendition (countable and uncountable, plural renditions)

From obsolete French rendition, alteration (after rendre (“to render”)) of reddition (“reddition”). Many senses influenced by render.

(law, chiefly US) Formal deliverance of a verdict.

Since then, according to his lawyers and relatives, he has been repeatedly beaten, threatened with a firearm and with further rendition to Guantánamo by Ugandan officials, before being questioned by American officials.

2011 March 30, Ian Cobain, The Guardian:

(law, chiefly US) The handing-over of someone wanted for justice who has fled a given jurisdiction; extradition.


roommate

→ Japanese: ルームメイト (rūmumeito)

→ Japanese: ルームメート (rūmumēto)

→ Korean: 룸메이트 (rummeiteu)

I live with Marsha. We’re roommates.
Audio (US): (file)

2016, “Learning English (public domain)”, in (Please provide the book title or journal name), archived from the original on 2017-09-18

(US, Australia, New Zealand, Philippines, Canada) A person sharing the same home albeit not the same room (but generally not a family member or spouse).


faculty

From Middle English faculte (“power, property”), from Old French faculte, from Latin facultas (“capability, ability, skill, abundance, plenty, stock, goods, property; in Medieval Latin also a body of teachers”), another form of facilitas (“easiness, facility, etc.”), from facul, another form of facilis (“easy, facile”); see facile. Doublet of facility.

der

(chiefly Canada, US, Philippines) The academic staff at schools, colleges, universities or not-for-profit research institutes, as opposed to the students or support staff.

opetushenkilökunta

scholarly staff at colleges or universities

профе́ссорско-преподава́тельский соста́в


mullet

Wikispecies
From Middle English molet, mulett, from Old French mulet (now ‘grey mullet’), from Latin mullus (“red mullet”), from Ancient Greek μύλλος (múllos).

(especially US) A fish of the family Mugilidae (order Mugiliformes) (grey mullets).

بُورِيّ

fish of the family Mugilidae (grey mullets)

(US) Any of several species of freshwater fish in the sucker family (especially in the genus Moxostoma, redhorses)


Kris Kringle

Kris Kringles (plural)
Kris Kringel (alternative)
Kriss Kringel (alternative)
Kriss Kringle (alternative)

/ˌkɹɪs ˈkɹɪŋɡ(ə)l/

Borrowed in a modified form from Pennsylvania German Christ-kinkle, from German Christkindl (“(dialectal diminutive) Christ Child”), Christkind (“Christ Child”), from Christ (“Christ”) + Kindl (dialectal diminutive), Kind (“child”).

Now is not "Kriss Kingle" a nice, fat, good-humored looking man. See how eagerly those little boys embrace him, hoping that he will give them some nice little present or other. Mr. "Kriss Kingle" loves good little boys and girls, and if they behave and mind what their parents tell them, they may rest assured that he will pay them a visit, and leave them something nice, as a reward for their good behaviour.

1842, “Introduction”, in Saint Nicholas’s Book for All Good Boys and Girls, Philadelphia, Pa.: Thomas, Cowperthwait & Co., →OCLC; quoted in Alfred L[ewis] Shoemaker, “[Woodstove Christmases] Christ-Kindel to Kriss Kringle”, in Christmas in Pennsylvania, 50th anniversary edition, Lanham, Md.: Globe Pequot Press, 2009, →ISBN, page 60:

The practice of hanging up stockings in the chimney corner for Kriss Kringle to fill with toys, pretty books, bon-bons, &c., for good children, is being superseded by that of placing a Christmas Tree on the table to await the annual visit of the worthy Santa Klaus.

1847, “Advertisement”, in Kriss Kringle’s Christmas Tree. A Holiday Present for Boys and Girls, Philadelphia, Pa.: Published by Grigg & Elliot, →OCLC:

In the New-Year's days of "the winters long ago," many was the romp I had with little Fanny. Gay and ringing—clear as bells of silver—was her New-Year laugh, as she peered into her stocking, in the early morning, and found the hundred beloved knickknackeries that the fabled Kris Kringle used to put there—so fond of the dear little creature was this bearded old friend of infancy.

1853 February, P. L., “Home and Its Recollections”, in D[avis] W[asgatt] Clark, editor, The Ladies’ Repository: A Monthly Periodical, Devoted to Literature and Religion, volume XIII, Cincinnati, Oh.: L. Swormstedt and A. Poe; […], →OCLC, page 74, column 2:

What if that other room, also, had its Christmas tree? What if in every room these evidences of Kriss Kringle’s more enterprising handiwork had already been obtruded?

1878, Leonard Kip, “St. Nicholas and the Gnome”, in Hannibal’s Man and Other Tales. The Argus Christmas Stories, Albany, N.Y.: The Argus Company, printers, →OCLC, chapter III, page 331:

"The symbolic figure of Santa Claus, St. Nicholas, or Kris Kringle," he began, "represents a classic expression of the wishful dreaming of all children. He is the omnipotent Giver, the generous Father. Mature adults who seek to perpetrate this myth reveal themselves as incomplete and neurotic personalities. They are clinging to infantile fantasies and show themselves unable to face reality."

1947, Valentine Davies, chapter 10, in Miracle on 34th Street, New York, N.Y.: Harcourt, Brace and Company, →OCLC, page 63:

In Germany, Santa has long been known as "Kriss Kringel" (derived from Christ Child). In America, the name is still used by the Pennsylvania Dutch.

1976, Good Housekeeping, volume 183, New York, N.Y.: Hearst Magazines, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 76:

“I find it appalling that Kriss Kringel’s brother could be so cold-hearted about Christmas,” said Bartoli.

2000, E[ugene] F[orrest] Shelby, “The Antisanta”, in Gothic Alaskan and Other Stories: Bad Horror from the Dark Subcontinent, Lincoln, Neb.: Writers Club Press, iUniverse, →ISBN, page 198:

Standing in the reception was a tall older man with a big bushy white beard that looked exactly like Kris Kringel in Miracle on 42nd Street.^([sic – meaning Miracle on 34th Street])

2004, Ballooning, volume 37, San Luis Obispo, Calif.: Balloon Federation of America, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 26:

The mall is brimming over with Christmas spirit. There are forty Santas—short ones, tall ones, smiling ones, and grouchy ones. [...] It's full of crisp jingles and Kris Kringles—and it's only November. Christmas seems to come earlier and earlier every year.

2006, Mike Thaler, “Deck the Mall”, in The Christmas Party from the Black Lagoon (Black Lagoon Adventures; 9), New York, N.Y.: Scholastic, →ISBN, page 16:

[T]he two fat and jolly voice actors, both with beards and beer bellies, sitting on the edge of the fragile wooden stools, miked up and ready-to-go, looking over the script like a pair of disparaging Kris Kringles; [...]

2009 June 19, Tony Esposito, chapter 18, in Don’t Ever Leave This Country, Bloomington, Ind.: AuthorHouse, →ISBN, page 116:


Gibraltar

Gibraltars (plural)
gibraltar (alternative)

"Gibraltar" is the name of a line of tumblers made by glassware company Libbey. The drink was named in 2005, by Steve Ford at Blue Bottle Coffee in San Francisco, after the glass in which its version was served.

Two Gibraltars (decaf) at Kafka

2013 October 30, "The Mighty Vancouver Cafe Crawl" Little Ninja Chef [photo caption]

At a recent meeting at Mint Plaza’s Blue Bottle Coffee, Maggiotto ordered a Gibraltar, a small, milky espresso drink.

2015 February 26, Greta Kaul, “Startup that lets chefs review restaurants lands $4 million”, in SFGate:

I paid for my beans and sipped my perfectly-made Gibraltar as I walked down the street thinking about how I would now always order from his pizza company.

2016 June 29, Gretchen Fox, “How To Create A Loyal Customer In Under Five Minutes”, in Forbes:

(chiefly Canada, US); (originally) A cortado served in a small glass; (by extension) any cortado


gink

Unknown but possibly from similar senses of kink or geck. Cf. geek.

You know, I've always thought that the best man in the world is hardly good enough for any woman. But when it comes to the best girl in all the universe caring for an ordinary gink like me, well, you'll have to let me get used to it.

1913 November 4, Harry Truman, “Letter from Harry S. Truman to Bess Wallace, November 4, 1913”, in Harry S. Truman Presidential Library and Museum, archived from the original on 2020-09-20, page 1:

[…]so if any of you ginks are me frien's yeh better keep outen here so's yeh won't get hurted[…]

1914 October – 1916 July, Edgar Rice Burroughs, The Mucker, Chicago, Ill.: A[lexander] C[aldwell] McClurg & Co., published 31 October 1921, →OCLC:

Don't see a movie in it myself, but those Hollywood ginks will take anything.

1931, Grace Hegger Lewis, Half a Loaf, page 189:

[Asian sage:] You have a great, great fear of Officer Pupp. Ain't you, mouse? / [Ignatz:] Yes. / [Asian sage:] I can tell you how to overcome it. / [Ignatz:] Tell me. / [Asian sage:] Gimme dime, I tell. / [Ignatz:] Here it is. / [Asian sage, walking away from an aghast Ignatz:] Don't be afraid of the big gink. / [Officer Pupp, incoming:] Gink? What gink?

1934 May 2, George Herriman, Krazy Kat, Wednesday, comic strip, →ISBN, page 125:

No wonder the country's on its bloody knees! You ginks are a bloody disgrace to the human race!

1973, Richard Cowper, Clone, Doubleday, page 33:

Adrian felt that it was he who had brought Tom into notice and popularity, that Tom was his own special creation. The silent spotty gink of the first year had been transformed into someone admired and imitated and Adrian wasn't sure how much he liked it.

1991 September, Stephen Fry, chapter 1, in The Liar, London: Heinemann, →ISBN, section I, page 16:

(originally US slang) A guy, a fellow, especially (derogatory) a foolish, unworldly, or socially inept man; a goof.


NEC

National Electrical Code
w:National Electrical Code

(US) Initialism of National Electrical Code.

(US, rail transport) Initialism of Northeast Corridor.


grinder

From Middle English grinder, grindere, from Old English grindere (“one or that which grinds; grinder”), equivalent to grind + -er.

inh

We were told then and there that we wouldn't be allowed on the grinder again until we could do a lot better. The grinder is what that large area was called, and it was a fitting name. They literally ground us down on it.

Company formations are held on the grinder (basketball court outside the Quarterdeck).

2013, USMC Tactical Combat Casualty Care (TCCC / TC3) Guidelines:

(US, military, slang) An outdoor space for drills and parades.


torpedo

* Borrowed from Latin torpēdō (“a torpedo fish; numbness, torpidity, electric ray”), from torpeō (“I am stiff, numb, torpid; I am astounded; I am inactive”) + -ēdō (noun suffix), from Proto-Indo-European *ster- (“stiff”). In the military sense coined by Robert Fulton in 1805. Cognate with Old English steorfan (“to die”), Ancient Greek στερεός (stereós, “solid”), Lithuanian tirpstu (“to become rigid”), Old Church Slavonic трупети (trupeti).
* (type of car): From 1908, after "the Torpedo", a car designed by Captain Theo Masui.

cog

(rail transport, US) A small explosive device attached to the top of the rail to provide an audible warning when a train passes over it.

(slang, chiefly US, usually in the plural) A woman's shoe with a pointed toe.

(slang, chiefly US, usually in the plural) A large breast; a breast with a large nipple.


tho

Simplified reform spelling. Popular in American English in the earlier 20th century. Like thru, it failed to establish itself fully, but remains in informal contexts or were brevity is needed. Compare tho'.

I wonder now when I will find time to read it but it is a treasure anyway tho heavy in my knapsack, […]

2009, John Hough, Seen the Glory: A Novel of the Battle of Gettysburg, Simon and Schuster, →ISBN, page 121:

(chiefly US and Philippines, dated or informal, also Internet slang) Alternative spelling of though


dialog

en-noun

dialog (countable and uncountable, plural dialogs)

The purpose of the dialog is not historical accuracy; the argument is all, as it is with Plato's Socrates.

2008, Peter Kreeft, Between Heaven and Hell: A Dialog Somewhere Beyond Death, InterVarsity Press, →ISBN, page 10:

As we conclude our third annual report on explaining extreme events, the dialog around the value of attribution science is intensifying (Kerr 2013).

2014, Stephanie C. Herring, Martin P. Hoerling, Thomas C. Peterson, Peter A. Stott, “Explaining Extreme Events”, in American Meteorological Society, archived from the original on 2015-04-17:

Besides, a video post room's console is smaller than those used for film, and you couldn't squander a dozen or more channels on dialog.

2008, Jay Rose, chapter 8, in Audio Postproduction for Film and Video (Motion Pictures), Focal Press, →ISBN, page 18-:

Seynte Aldelme returnyde to Briteyne..makenge mony noble bookes ... of the rewles of feete metricalle, of metaplasmus, of dialog metricalle.


dialog

en-verb

dialog (third-person singular simple present dialogs, present participle dialoging, simple past and past participle dialoged)

dialogs (present singular third-person)
dialoging (participle present)
dialoged (participle past)
dialoged (past)


clothesline

clotheslines (plural)
clothes line (alternative)

(Canada, US, informal) The act of knocking a person over by striking his or her upper body or neck with one's arm, as if he or she had run into a low clothesline.


clothesline

clothesline (third-person singular simple present clotheslines, present participle clotheslining, simple past and past participle clotheslined)

clotheslines (present singular third-person)
clotheslining (participle present)
clotheslined (participle past)
clotheslined (past)
clothes line (alternative)

The referee called a personal foul, when he clotheslined the running back.

One beast jams out its arm, as if to clothesline me, jagged claws poised to take my head off at the neck. I let my feet fall from under me, throwing my legs forward, praying for some momentum, ducking and sliding, a mad limbo to freedom.

2014, Jonathan Wood, No Hero, Titan Books, →ISBN:

"I turned around and the next thing I was taken out by this big guy. I'm not sure if he punched me or clothes-lined me," he said.

2014 February 21, “Ear-bite actor Clive Mantle was like 'big monster', court told”, in BBC News:

(Canada, US, informal, transitive) To knock (a person) over by striking his or her upper body or neck with one's arm, as if he or she had run into a low clothesline.


hump

Probably borrowed from Dutch homp (“hump, lump”) or Middle Low German hump (“heap, hill, stump”), from Old Saxon *hump (“hill, heap, thick piece”), from Proto-Germanic *humpaz (“hip, height”), from Proto-Indo-European *kumb- (“curved”). Compare Proto-Germanic *huppōną (“to hop”), from Proto-Indo-European *kewb-, *ḱewb- (unnasalised root), and English hub (a softened variant without nasal?).
Cognate with West Frisian hompe (“lump, chunk”), Icelandic huppur (“flank”), Welsh cwm (“a hollow”), Latin incumbō (“to lie down”), Albanian sumbull (“round button, bud”), Ancient Greek κύμβη (kúmbē, “bowl”), Avestan 𐬑𐬎𐬨𐬠𐬀 (xumba, “pot”), Sanskrit कुम्ब (kúmba, “thick end of bone”). Replaced, and perhaps influenced by, Old English crump (“crooked, bent”). More at cramp.

cog

(US, animals) A rounded fleshy mass, such as on a camel or zebu.


hump

en-verb

hump (third-person singular simple present humps, present participle humping, simple past and past participle humped)

humps (present singular third-person)
humping (participle present)
humped (participle past)
humped (past)

Lessons are keeping me humping now, and will probably do so all summer.

1917, Hart Crane, letter, in Complete Poems & Selected Letters, Library of America 2006

(US, slang, dated) To exert oneself; to make an effort.


Howard

en-proper noun

Howard (countable and uncountable, plural Howards)

Medieval personal name from Middle English Howard, Howarde, from Old Norse Hávarðr, from hár (“high”) + varðr (“guard”). In some cases a variant of Heward, from Old French Huard.


shave

en-verb

shave (third-person singular simple present shaves, present participle shaving, simple past shaved or (obsolete) shove, past participle shaved or shaven)

shaves (present singular third-person)
shaving (participle present)
shaved (past)
shove (obsolete past)
shaved (participle past)
shaven (participle past)

Inherited from Middle English shaven, schaven, from Old English sċafan (“to shave, scrape, shred, polish”), from Proto-West Germanic *skaban, from Proto-Germanic *skabaną (“to scratch”), from Proto-Indo-European *skabʰ- (“to cut, split, form, carve”).
Cognate with West Frisian skave, Dutch schaven (“to shave, plane”), Low German schaven (“to scrape, scratch, shave”), German schaben (“to scrape, shave”), Danish skave, Norwegian Nynorsk skava, Swedish skava (“to scrape, chafe”), Icelandic skafa, Gothic 𐍃𐌺𐌰𐌱𐌰𐌽 (skaban, “to shear, shave”).

cog

(US, slang, dated, transitive) To buy (a note) at a discount greater than the legal rate of interest, or to deduct in discounting it more than the legal rate allows.


shave

From Middle English shave, from Old English sceafa, from Proto-Germanic *skabô.

yea, tis knowable that the paper money of some of them would not pass, comparatively speaking, much, if any, beyond the smoke of the chimney from whence 'twas issued and circulated before you, or those who had it would have to take a broker's shave on it , at the rate of from a ¼, to 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 10, 15, 20, or more per cent, before it could be used as solvently available means of payment.

1838, Levin Lawrence, No. I. of a series of Letters addressed to N. Biddle, page 13:

Being unable to pay the note at maturity, Laws went with Starr to one Snyder, to whom the note was sold at a “shave,” as the parties called it, of 10 per cent.

1854, Horace E. Carter, Albert Gallatin Porter, Reports of Cases Argued and Determined in the Supreme Court of Judicature of the State of Indiana; Volume 4, page 192:

(US, slang, dated) An exorbitant discount on a note.

If this were a dishonest transaction, why did the companies settle? If it were not, why did the heirs submit to a shave of one-half their claims?

1874, The Insurance Journal: A Review of Fire and Life Insurance:

Where S made a note to raise money upon, and H, agreeing to discount it for a shave of six dollars, received the note and soon returned with the check of V for the amount of such note, less legal discount, payable to the order of S, and he drew the money thereon and having no knowldge of the agreement or of the payment,–Held, that V was not guilty of usury, but was entitled to recover on the note.

1877, William Wait, A Digest of New York Reports: From 1872 to 1876:

He expected to pay the expenses of examining the titles, yet claims that the whole sum paid was a shave.

(US, slang, dated) A premium paid for an extension of the time of delivery or payment, or for the right to vary a stock contract in any particular.


schedule

schedules (plural)
Schedule (alternative)

→ Bengali: শিডিউল (śiḍiul)

→ Cebuano: eskedyul

→ Indonesian: skedul

→ Japanese: スケジュール

→ Korean: 스케줄 (seukejul)

→ Tagalog: iskedyul

Inherited from Middle English cedule, from Middle French cedule (whence French cédule), from Old French cedule, from Late Latin schedula (“papyrus strip”), diminutive of Latin scheda, from Ancient Greek σχέδη (skhédē, “papyrus leaf”), from Proto-Hellenic *skʰíďďō, from Proto-Indo-European *skid-yé-ti, from *skeyd- (“to divide, split”). Doublet of cedula and cedule.
This word was historically pronounced /ˈsɛdjuːl/, /ˈsɛdʒuːl/; the pronunciations with /ʃ/ and /sk/ are due to the spelling (the latter may have been reinforced by learned influence); compare schism.

atodlen

a table of information forming appendix to a statute, other regulatory instrument or legal contract

menetrend

especially one with times of arrivals and departures

Heroin is a Schedule I drug with a high potential for abuse.

Currently, cannabis/marijuana is classified as a Schedule I drug, meaning it defined as having “no currently accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse.” This is the same designation given to LSD, heroin and ecstasy.

2022 October 13, Shawn Radcliffe, “What Happens if Marijuana is No Longer Classified as Schedule 1 Drug?”, in healthline:

controlled substance
controlled substance

(law) A written or printed table of information, often forming an annex or appendix to a statute or other regulatory instrument, or to a legal contract.

(US, law, often capitalized) One of the five divisions into which controlled substances are classified, or the restrictions denoted by such classification.


schedule

en-verb

schedule (third-person singular simple present schedules, present participle scheduling, simple past and past participle scheduled)

schedules (present singular third-person)
scheduling (participle present)
scheduled (participle past)
scheduled (past)
Schedule (alternative)

Many harm reduction groups and drug policy experts question the long-term efficacy of scheduling xylazine.

2023 April 20, Jan Hoffman, “The Fight Over a Drug That Is Great for Horses but Horrific for Humans”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

(US) To classify as a controlled substance.


venire

/vɪˈnʌɪ.ə.ɹiː/

Shortening of Latin venīre faciās, the opening words of a writ.

[T]he jury that in 1968 convicted the pediatrician Dr. Benjamin Spock and others protesting the Vietnam War of conspiring to violate the Military Service Act of 1967 by advocating the destruction of draft cards […] was devoid of women, largely because the venire from which this jury was formed contained only 9% women. A subsequent analysis of the distribution of the proportion of women in the venires of all the judges in the district showed that the venires for one judge – the Spock trial judge – had a distribution centered about an unusually low proportion of women.

1986, D[avid] H. Kaye with Mikel Aickin, Statistical Methods in Discrimination Litigation (Statistics, Textbooks and Monographs; 69), New York, N.Y.: Marcel Dekker, Inc., →ISBN, pages 24–25:

The Spock defense pointed to the venire for their trial, which contained only one woman. That woman was released by the prosecution, making an all-male jury. Defense argued that the judge in the trial had a history of venires in which women were systematically underrepresented, contrary to the law. They compared this district judge's recent venires with the venires of six other Boston area district judges.

2012, Fred L. Ramsey, Daniel W. Schafer, The Statistical Sleuth: A Course in Methods of Data Analysis, 3rd edition, Boston, Mass.: Brooks/Cole, →ISBN, page 117:

During jury selection, Abbott used its first peremptory strike against the only self-identified gay member of the venire. […] This appeal's central question is whether equal protection prohibits discrimination based on sexual orientation in jury selection.

2014 January 21, Stephen Reinhardt, Circuit Judge, SmithKline Beecham Corporation, doing business as GlaxoSmithKline v. Abbott Laboratories, United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, archived from the original on 2015-09-06, page 2:

(law, chiefly US) A group of persons summoned by a writ of venire facias to appear in court for jury selection.


homely

en-adj

homely (comparative homelier or more homely, superlative homeliest or most homely)

homelier (comparative)
more homely (comparative)
homeliest (superlative)
most homely (superlative)
hamely (alternative)

From Middle English homly, hoomly, hamely (“domestic, familiar, plain, unattractive”), from Old English *hāmlīċ (“of the home, domestic”), from Proto-West Germanic *haimalīk (“of or characteristic of home”), equivalent to home + -ly. Cognate with Scots hamely (“familiar, personal, private”), West Frisian heimelik, Dutch heimelijk (“secret, secretive, clandestine”), German heimlich (“secret, secretive, clandestine, undercover”), Danish hemmelig (“secret”), Swedish hemlig (“secret, concealed, privy, covert”), Faroese heimligur (“homelike, homey”), Icelandic heimlegur (“homely; worldly”).

cog

There is none so homely but loves a looking-glass.

1692–1717, Robert South, Twelve Sermons Preached upon Several Occasions, volume (please specify |volume=I to VI), London:

"I can't send a young, pretty girl, or for that matter even a homely one if you'd have her, on a job like this without telling her what to expect."

1932, Delos W. Lovelace, King Kong, published 1965, page 6:

You see, she sees herself as a starlet; I see her as a sturdy, healthy but decidedly homely kid.

1958, Vladimir Nabokov, chapter 15, in Lolita:

(Canada, US) Lacking in beauty or elegance, plain in appearance, physically unattractive.


nimby

Acronym of not in my back yard. More at NIMBY.

(chiefly US, UK) Not in my backyard (in objection to an undesirable structure built locally).


aborning

From a- (“in the act of”) + born + -ing.

What a shock this morning
A terror without warning
Turned out a blank
What heavens thank
 The "frie" died a borning.

1985 April 20, “Mousie Mousie Wildflower (personal advertisement)”, in Gay Community News, page 13:

No fewer than five planned “uprisings” died a-borning.

1988, James McPherson, Battle Cry of Freedom, Oxford, published 2004, page 765:

(chiefly Canada, US) That is in the process of being born; coming into existence; before coming to completion.


aborning

This festival is an excellent chance to see new talent aborning.

(chiefly Canada, US) While being born or produced.


butt-fucking

(Canada, US, slang, vulgar) Engaging in anal sex


hood

From Middle English hood, hod, from Old English hōd, from Proto-Germanic *hōdaz (cognate with Saterland Frisian Houd, West Frisian/Dutch hoed, German Low German Hood, German Hut). Cognate with Proto-Iranian *xawdaH (“hat”) (compare Avestan 𐬑𐬂𐬛𐬀 (xåda), Old Persian 𐎧𐎢𐎭 (x-u-d /xaudā/)), from Proto-Indo-European *kadʰ- (“to cover”). More at hat.

kapuç

covering for the head attached to a larger garment such as a jacket or cloak

(automotive, chiefly US, Canada) The hinged cover over the engine of a motor vehicle, known as a bonnet in other countries.


rambunctious

en-adj

rambunctious (comparative more rambunctious, superlative most rambunctious)

more rambunctious (comparative)
most rambunctious (superlative)
rambunxious (alternative)
rumbunctious (alternative)

A variant of rumbustious (“boisterous and unruly”).

The kids are being especially rambunctious today.

"Bad cess may attend you, where are you scampering to, you rambunctious"—but she could go no farther; the tears burst from her, and she gave way, without farther resistance, to an explosion of grief.

1852 November, O’Hara Family, “Clough Fionn; or, The Stone of Destiny”, in The Dublin University Magazine, a Literary and Political Journal, volume XL, number CCXXXIX, Dublin: James McGlashan, […]; London: W[illia]m S[omerville] Orr and Company, →OCLC, chapter XI, page 557, column 1:

"Not as you knows on, you rambunctious wool grower," said the indignant Yankee.

1856 October, “About These Books”, in J. Clement, editor, The Western Literary Messenger […], volume XXVII, number II, Buffalo, N.Y.: Thomas & Lathrops, […], →OCLC, page 64, column 1:

There was close by me a window, and, noiselessly as possible, I slid back a small piece, thereby rousing the light-sleeping mistress of the canary, who sharply requested it be closed again; [...] the other lady smiled despairingly, and signed me to obey, which I reluctantly did by closing the glass; but the shutter proved rumbunctious, and for no effort of mine would again move out of his groove; [...]

1862 January, “A Canal-boat Sketch”, in Duffy’s Hibernian Magazine. […], volume I (New Series), number 1, Dublin, London: James Duffy, […], →OCLC, page 92:

"I guess the governor'd be rambunxious, as usual, if I was to ask his permission," the dutiful son remarked; "but he's going away for a few days next week, and mother won't hinder me, I know."

1873 March, W[illia]m S. Walsh, “How We Watched the Grapes”, in J[ohn] T[ownsend] Trowbridge, Lucy Larcom, editors, Our Young Folks. An Illustrated Magazine for Boys and Girls, volume IX, number III, Boston, Mass.: James R[ipley] Osgood and Company, […], →OCLC, page 181:

It may sometimes appear that Canada is composed of nine complacent, cohesive English-speaking provinces and rambunctious Quebec. In fact, it is composed of ten provinces, each different and all occasionally rambunctious.

1979, “The Art of Government is the Art of Adjustment”, in Canada Today = Canada d’aujourd’hui, volume 10, number 4, Washington, D.C.: Canadian Embassy, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 2:

Eventually the two rambunctious wolves decided to race back towards the carcass, no doubt forgetting I was still there.

1990 March, L[ucyan] David Mech, “Who’s Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?”, in Audubon, New York, N.Y.: National Audubon Society, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 82, column 2; reprinted in “Appendix 15. Article—Wolf Attacks on Humans”, in The Reintroduction of Gray Wolves to Yellowstone National Park and Central Idaho: Final Environmental Impact Statement, Helena, Mont.: Fish and Wildlife Service, U.S. Department of the Interior, May 1994, →OCLC, pages 6-100:

Mrs. Tinkle, your son’s rambunctious behavior is quite common in children with unusually high intelligence levels.

2002 May 1, Jeffrey J. Rowland, Wigu Adventures, archived from the original on 2009-01-06:

She was placid, stately and Juno-esque, soft-toned in her trance utterances, but she could become powerful in her office, an imposing presence. Sometimes a rumbunctious, chaffing persona emerged and was a little over the top for genteel spinsters to tolerate.

2015, Molly Whittington-Egan, “Preface: Into the Cabinet”, in Mrs Guppy Takes a Flight: A Scandal of Victorian Spiritualism, [Castle Douglas, Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland]: Neil Wilson Publishing, →ISBN, page x:

She does the same thing as any parent worth their salt, and gets rambunctious youngsters engaged in daily drudgeries by refashioning the quotidian as adventure.

2018 December 12, Charles Bramesco, “A Spoonful of Nostalgia Helps the Calculated Mary Poppins Returns Go Down”, in The A.V. Club, archived from the original on 2019-05-24:

The Turkish-American film-maker Ceyda Torun documented the rambunctious street cats of Istanbul in her award-winning 2017 documentary Kedi (“cat” in Turkish).

2023 October 3, Sirin Kale, “Purring, parasites and pure love: what exactly makes someone a cat person?”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:

(chiefly US, informal) Boisterous, energetic, noisy, and difficult to control.

буен

boisterous, energetic, noisy, and difficult to control


tummy

Imitating a child's attempt to say stomach, via archaic colloquialism stummy. Compare twee and pasghetti for similar phonetic reductions.

(colloquial, often childish) Stomach or belly.

Stomach or belly.
Protruding belly, paunch.


tonic

en-noun

tonic (usually uncountable, plural tonics)

From Ancient Greek τονικός (tonikós), from τόνος (tónos). 17th century writers believed health to be derived from firmly stretched muscles, thus tonic; the extension of tonic medicine appeared in the late 18th century. By surface analysis, ton(e) + -ic.

(US, Eastern Massachusetts, dated) Any of various carbonated, non-alcoholic beverages; soda pop.


kangaroo court

/ˌkæŋɡəˌɹuː ˈkɔːt/

/ˌkæŋɡəˌɹu ˈkɔɹt/

From kangaroo + court. The etymology is uncertain; it has been suggested that the term draws a comparison between the leaping of a kangaroo and one of the following:
* The 19th-century practice of itinerant judges moving from place to place on the American frontier and trying cases speedily and perfunctorily in order to get paid.
* The use of irregular courts during the California Gold Rush (1848–1855) to decide claims of “jumping” (illegally occupying) mining claims.
* The notion that a kangaroo court jumps to conclusions.

The Concordia Intelligencer says "several loafers were lynched in Natchez last week upon various charges instituted by the Kangaroo court.[…]" What is a Kangaroo court, neighbor?

1841 August 24, “Don’t comprehend”, in C. M. Price, G. R. Fall, editors, The Daily Picayune, volume V, number 179, New Orleans, La.: Lumsden, Kendall & Co., →OCLC, page 2, column 5:

On the evening succeeding the election, a meeting was gotten up some what in imitation of a "Kangaroo Court," for the purpose of trying three individuals, […]

1848 December 1, W. P. Andrews, “[Letter to the editors]”, in The Mississippian, volume XVIII, number 3, Jackson, Miss.: [G. R. Fall and J. Marshall], published 12 January 1849, →OCLC, page 3, column 2:

One of the principal amusements of the bar during these sessions of the court, is to assemble in some sufficiently capacious room, and after indulging in all the boyish games that occur to them, to institute mock proceedings against some one of their number, for some ridiculous, imaginary offence. […] By an unanimous vote, Judge G.—the fattest and funniest of the assembly—was elected to the bench, and the "Mestang" [i.e., mustang] or "Kangaroo Court" regularly organized.

1853, Philip Paxton [pseudonym], “Term Time in the Backwoods, and a Mestang Court”, in A Stray Yankee in Texas, New York, N.Y.: Redfield, […], →OCLC, page 205:

Sol Tuttle interposed; "Don't you let nobody hev any witnesses i[n] this kangaroo court?"

1856, Charles Summerfield [pseudonym; Alfred W. Arrington], “The Trial—An Execution”, in The Rangers and Regulators of the Tanaha: Or, Life among the Lawless. A Tale of the Republic of Texas, New York: Robert M. De Witt, […], →OCLC, page 247:

He [Judge Murray] endeavors to place me in the position of having assailed him, by describing the courts held by him as Kangaroo courts, and imputes to me a settled purpose to alienate all social and friendly relations, between the bench, bar, officers of the court, and all others, who come in direct contact with the courts. Now, all this is simply untrue, as well as ridiculous.

1858 July 14, Theodoric F. Sorrells, “To the Voters of the Second Judicial Circuit [letter]”, in C. C. Danley, editor, Arkansas State Gazette and Democrat, volume XXXIX, number 24 (Gazette); volume XIII, number 3 (Democrat), Little Rock, Ark.: W. F. Holtzmann, →OCLC, page 3, column 3:

[A]bout twenty prisoners were confined in the city prison at the time and were all more or less drunk on white line (alcohol) furnished through the window by outside parties; […] two kangaroo courts were held the day on which Varnoff was convicted of violating the prison rules, was fined 50 cents each time and searched by officers of the court.

1893 March 10, “Scotch verdict”, in M[arshall] M. Murdock, editor, The Wichita Eagle, volume XXI, number 52, Wichita, Kan.: [M. M. Murdock], →ISSN, →OCLC, page 6, column 7:

They take him off to face their kangaroo court in the cellar of a deserted brewery.

1933 April 10, “The New Pictures: M by Fritz Lang”, in Time, New York, N.Y.: Time Inc., →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2016-04-15:

[W]here police take matters in their own hands, seize victims, beat and pound them until they confess, there cannot be the slightest doubt that the police have deprived the victim of a right under the Constitution. It is the right of the accused to be tried by a legally constituted court, not by a kangaroo court.

1951 April 23, William O[rville] Douglas, Associate Justice, Supreme Court of the United States, “Williams v. United States”, in Legal Information Institute, Cornell Law School (341 U.S. 97, 71 S. Ct. 576, 95 L. Ed. 774), archived from the original on 2022-08-29, paragraph 8:

A military commission trial falling short of the full UCMJ standard is all but certain to be pejoratively judged as a "kangaroo court" in the court of public opinion.

2003 December, David Glazier, “Kangaroo Court or Competent Tribunal?: Judging the 21st Century Military Commission”, in Virginia Law Review, volume 89, number 8, Charlottesville, Va.: Virginia Law Review Association, →DOI, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 2093:

(originally US, idiomatic) A judicial or quasi-judicial proceeding, or a group of people which conducts such proceedings, which is without proper authority, and often acts abusively or decides unjustly.

American frontier
California Gold Rush
Christian Science Publishing Society
Encyclopedia.com
The Christian Science Monitor

паро́дия на суд m (paródija na sud, literally “a parody of a court”)


RIP

RIPs (plural)
R.I.P. (alternative)
rip (alternative)

[…] recommended as punishment a 55-day RIP (reduction in pay) but was overruled by higher authorities […]

1972, New York Magazine, volume 5, number 5, page 32:

He admitted to his indiscretion and accepted a five-day RIP (reduction in pay). What the hell is going on? I wondered. We let a captain with possible O.C. connections off the hook, but we bust a patrolman for having a drink!

1991, Vincent Murano, William Hoffer, Cop Hunter, page 73:

(US, law enforcement) Initialism of reduction in pay.


hightail

en-verb

hightail (third-person singular simple present hightails, present participle hightailing, simple past and past participle hightailed)

hightails (present singular third-person)
hightailing (participle present)
hightailed (participle past)
hightailed (past)

From high + tail; refers to the behavior of fleeing animals, such as deer, that raise their tail when running away.

He hightailed it toward town.

I want you to hightail your butt out of there before they come back.

When I saw he had scored, I just hightailed out of there, because all those people started running down on the field and that's a lot more dangerous than playing.

2008, Dave Klein, The Game of Their Lives: The 1958 NFL Championship, page 217:

(informal, chiefly Canada, US, usually transitive) To move at full speed, especially in retreat.

abrauschen

to move at full speed, especially in retreat


Tyrone

en-prop

Tyrone (countable and uncountable, plural Tyrones)

From Irish Tír Eoghain (literally “land of Eoghan”).

der

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


constable

From Middle English constable, cunstable, constabil, connestable, cunestable, from Old French conestable, from Latin comes stabulī (“officer of the stables”). For the sense-development; compare marshal. Doublet of connétable.

(US) An elected or appointed public officer, usually at municipal level, responsible for maintaining order or serving writs and court orders.


rock and roll

/ˈɹɒk ən(d)ˈɹəʊl/

From rock (move back and forth) + and + roll; originally a verb phrase common among African Americans, meaning "to have sexual intercourse"; it was a euphemism that appeared in song titles since at least 1914 (Trixie Smith's "My Man Rocks Me With One Steady Roll").
As a name for a specific style of popular music from the early 1950s, popularized by disc jockey Alan Freed in reference to the euphemistic use in song titles.

rock-and-roll (alternative)
rock'n'roll (alternative)
rock 'n' roll (alternative)
rock n roll (alternative)
rock 'n roll (alternative)
rock-n-roll (alternative)
rock-'n'-roll (alternative)
rock & roll (alternative)

(military, slang, US) The full automatic fire capability selection on a selective fire weapon.


meld

The verb is probably derived:
* from a blend of melt + weld; or
* from melled (“blended; mingled”), the past participle of mell.
The noun is derived from the verb.
Compare also melting pot.

(originally US) The result of multiple things being combined together; a blend.


cornhole

en-noun

cornhole (countable and uncountable, plural cornholes)

From corn + hole.
(anus): From the old-fashioned practice of using dried corncobs instead of toilet paper in outdoor privies.

Cornhole, the indigenous pastime of Cincinnati's west side, is basically a democratized version of horseshoes.

2002 October, “Cornhole Game”, in Cincinnati Magazine, page 114:

Cincinnatians, of course, know the true meaning of cornhole. The homegrown bag-toss game, which some suggest was even invented here, requires few tools: some beanbags, a box with a hole in it, and… well, that's it, really.

2009, F. Winternitz, S. Bellman, Insiders' Guide to Cincinnati, page 230:

(US, uncountable) A game similar to beanbag toss, popular in Ohio, in which a bag filled with corn feed is thrown into a hole.


cancel

From Middle English cancellen, from Anglo-Norman canceler (“to cross out with lines”) (modern French chanceler (“to stagger, sway”)), from Latin cancellō (“to make resemble a lattice”), from cancellus (“a railing or lattice”), diminutive of cancer (“a lattice”).

der

A control message posted to Usenet that serves to cancel a previously posted message.


scalp

en-verb

scalp (third-person singular simple present scalps, present participle scalping, simple past and past participle scalped)

scalps (present singular third-person)
scalping (participle present)
scalped (participle past)
scalped (past)

From Middle English scalp, skalp, scalpe (“crown of the head; skull”). Originally a northern word, and therefore probably from a North Germanic source, although the sense-development is unclear; compare Sylt North Frisian Skolp (“dandruff”), Old Norse skálpr (“sheath”), Old Swedish skalp, Dutch schelp (“shell”).

Tickets were being scalped for $300.

Tickets sold online through Craigslist, eBay, and other forums, where the purchaser cannot physically see them, run a greater risk of being counterfeit—but counterfeiters have been known to scalp tickets in person outside the venue as well, […]

2011, Linda E. Swayne, Encyclopedia of Sports Management and Marketing, SAGE, →ISBN, page 324:

Scalped tickets were going for $3,000 and up.

2023 August 5, Ben Sisario, “How Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour Conquered the World”, in New York Times:

(Canada, US, slang) To resell, especially tickets, usually for an inflated price, often illegally.


bunch

From Middle English bunche, bonche (“hump, swelling”), of uncertain origin.
Perhaps a variant of *bunge (compare dialectal bung (“heap, grape bunch”)), from Proto-Germanic *bunkō, *bunkô, *bungǭ (“heap, crowd”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰenǵʰ-, *bʰénǵʰus (“thick, dense, fat”). Cognates include Saterland Frisian Bunke (“bone”), West Frisian bonke (“bone, lump, bump”), Dutch bonk (“lump, bone”), Low German Bunk (“bone”), German Bunge (“tuber”), Danish bunke (“heap, pile”), Faroese bunki (“heap, pile”); Hittite [Term?] (/panku/, “total, entire”), Tocharian B pkante (“volume, fatness”), Lithuanian búožė (“knob”), Ancient Greek παχύς (pakhús, “thick”), Sanskrit बहु (bahú, “thick; much”)).
Alternatively, perhaps from a variant or diminutive of bump (compare hump/hunch, lump/lunch, etc.); or from dialectal Old French bonge (“bundle”) (compare French bongeau, bonjeau, bonjot), from West Flemish bondje, diminutive of West Flemish bond (“bundle”).

cog

a bunch of trouble

un cerro / chupo / culantro / culo / huevo / mundo


NTSB

The finding is one of the first pieces of information that have emerged as the NTSB works to investigate the disaster in which 67 people are thought to have been killed.

2025 February 1, Kaanita Iyer and Zoe Sottile, “Pilots tried to pull passenger jet’s nose up within seconds of deadly DC helicopter collision, preliminary NTSB data shows”, in CNN:

National Transportation Safety Board
w:National Transportation Safety Board

(US) Initialism of National Transportation Safety Board.


BBQ

en-verb

BBQ (third-person singular simple present BBQs, present participle BBQing, simple past and past participle BBQed)

BBQs (present singular third-person)
BBQing (participle present)
BBQed (participle past)
BBQed (past)
bbq (alternative)

Pseudo-acronym of barbecue, by phonetic similarity of the letter names.

(chiefly US, informal) Abbreviation of barbecue.


maven

mavens (plural)
mavin (alternative)
mayven (alternative)
mayvin (alternative)

From Yiddish מבֿין (meyvn, “connoisseur, expert, know-it-all”), from Hebrew מֵבִין (mevín, “one who understands, connoisseur, expert”), from הֵבִין (hevín, “to understand”). The word is said to have been popularized by its use in an advertising campaign for Vita Herring launched in the United States in 1964, which had a character called the “beloved [herring] maven” promoting the product.

der

Connectors know people—lots of people. Mavens know about things. They know, or find out first, what is going on. Connectors, says [Malcolm] Gladwell, need mavens to tell them what to buzz about.

2003, Joseph H. Boyett, Jimmie T. Boyett, “All You Need is Buzz”, in The Guru Guide to Marketing: A Concise Guide to the Best Ideas from Today’s Top Marketers, Hoboken, N.J.: John Wiley & Sons, →ISBN, page 207:

Besides an executive sponsor, you need to find a technology maven, someone within the company who understands the new technology. A maven, as defined in Malcolm Gladwell's The Tipping Point, is a person who has both information and the social skills to pass it along. The challenge in a situation such as this one is that the maven might be outside of IT.

2006 January 23, Virginia Robbins, “Opinion: Eight Steps to Leadership”, in Dan Tennant, editor, Computerworld: The Voice of IT Management, volume 40, number 4, Framingham, Mass.: Computerworld, Inc., →ISSN, →OCLC, page 19, column 2:

The goal for any media company is to be a maven—and therefore highly adept at using multiple channels of social media communication well.

2010, Rachel Davis Mersey, “Paying for It All”, in Can Journalism Be Saved?: Rediscovering America’s Appetite for News, Santa Barbara, Calif.: Praeger, ABC-CLIO, →ISBN, part 3 (A New Model of Journalism), page 118:

(chiefly US) An expert in a given field; also, a person who is interested in and knowledgeable about a particular activity or thing; an aficionado.

خَبِير

expert in a given field — see also expert


meddle

en-verb

meddle (third-person singular simple present meddles, present participle meddling, simple past and past participle meddled)

meddles (present singular third-person)
meddling (participle present)
meddled (participle past)
meddled (past)
medle (alternative)

From Middle English medlen, from Anglo-Norman medler, from Early Medieval Latin misculāre, derived from Latin misceō (“to mix”).

But after god came to Adam and bad hym knowe his wyf flesshly as nature requyred / Soo lay Adam with his wyf vnder the same tree / and anone the tree whiche was whyte and ful grene as ony grasse and alle that came oute of hit / and in the same tyme that they medled to gyders there was Abel begoten / thus was the tree longe of grene colour

1485, Sir Thomas Malory, chapter V, in Le Morte Darthur, book XVII:

Take a Rammes head that neuer medled with an Ewe, cut off at a blow, and the hornes onely taken away, boyle it well skinne and wooll together,[…].

1624, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], The Anatomy of Melancholy: […], 2nd edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] John Lichfield and James Short, for Henry Cripps, →OCLC, partition 2, section 5, member 1, subsection v, page 323:

(intransitive, now US regional) To have sex.


sip

sip (third-person singular simple present sips, present participle sipping, simple past and past participle sipped)

sips (present singular third-person)
sipping (participle present)
sipped (participle past)
sipped (past)

Inherited from Middle English sippen, of uncertain origin. Compare with Low German sippen (“to sip”). Possibly from a variant of Middle English suppen (“to drink, sip”) (see sup) or perhaps from Old English sipian, sypian (“to take in moisture, soak, macerate”), from Proto-Germanic *sipōną (“to drip, trickle”), from Proto-Indo-European *seyb- (“to pour out, trickle, leak out”). Compare also Old High German supfen (“to drink, sip”), from Proto-Germanic *sūpaną (“to sip, intake”).

noncog

(Scotland, US, dated) Alternative form of seep


mush

en-noun

mush (countable and uncountable, plural mushes)

From Old High German muos and Goidelic mus (“a pap”) or muss (“a porridge”), or any thick preparation of fruit.

However, they did make and sometimes even bake cornmeal mushes that could be either sweetened or fortified with fat.

2007, Andrew F. Smith, The Oxford Companion to American Food and Drink:

(rustic US) Cornmeal cooked in water and served as a porridge or as a thick sidedish like grits or mashed potatoes.


mush

From Angloromani mush (“man”), from Romani mursh, from Sanskrit मनुष्य (manuṣya, “human being, man”).

der

Oy mush, come over here and gimme a hand with the motor.

"Hey, Mush!" Tony Pellegrino called to Michael standing on the other side of the street.

2018, Brenda Spalding, Bottle Alley, Heritage Publishing, →ISBN, chapter 1:

(British, slang, chiefly Southern England) (US, slang, chiefly Nonantum) A form of address, normally to a man.


bridal shower

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

The bridal shower will be held at the home of the bridesmaid.

(US) A party held for a bride-to-be in anticipation of her wedding, involving guests (typically female friends and relatives) giving her gifts.


social

en-noun

social (countable and uncountable, plural socials)

From Middle French social, from Latin sociālis (“of or belonging to a companion or companionship or association, social”), from socius (“a companion, fellow, partner, associate, ally”), from sequor (“follow”). Cognate with English seg (“man, companion, fellow”). More at seg.

der

What's your social? [asked so that the asker can look up your account details]

social security number
social security number#English

(US, colloquial) Ellipsis of social security number.


what's up

Made popular by the cartoon character Bugs Bunny as part of his catch phrase “What’s up Doc?”, as early as 1940. Originally a common greeting from Bugs Bunny creator Tex Avery's neighborhood in Taylor, Texas.

wassup (alternative)
what up (alternative)
waz up (alternative)
wazzup (alternative)
whassup (alternative)
wuzzup (alternative)
wussup (alternative)
sup (alternative)
wa'up (alternative)
swa'up (alternative)
'sup (alternative)
wsp (alternative)

Hey, what's up? – Not much, just working.

(idiomatic, colloquial, chiefly US, with up in the sense of "happening") What's happening? What are you doing?


wassup

wassap (alternative)
whassup (alternative)
wazzup (alternative)
wazup (alternative)
whazzup (alternative)
wasup (alternative)
whasup (alternative)
whazup (alternative)
wuddup (alternative)
whuddup (alternative)

(chiefly US, slang) what's up? (as a greeting)


CV

en-noun

CV (countable and uncountable, plural CVs)

CVs (plural)
C.V. (alternative)
C. V. (alternative)

Abbreviation
* (anime, Japanimation): From Japanese CV (CV), from English character+voice
* (aircraft carrier): Initialism of cruiser (“croiseur”) + French voler (“to fly”).

initialism of

aircraft carrier
aircraft carrier#English

(US, navy) aircraft carrier (“Cruiser Voler”), a diesel-powered warship launching and landing heavier than air flying vehicles (a nuclear-powered one is a CVN)