stand

From Middle English stand, stande, stond, stonde, stoonde, probably from Middle Dutch stande, from Old Dutch *standan (“to stand”), from Frankish *standan.
Forms with -o- may show influence of stonden (“stand”, verb).

Item, for a ſtande of small ale - ii s.

1559, The Progresses and Public Processions of Queen Elizabeth. Among Which are Interspersed, Other Solemnities, Public Expenditures, and Remarkable Events, During the Reign of that Illustrious Princess. […], volume I, […] the Editor [John Nichols], […], published 1788, page 45:

[…]one gialfatte, 3 stannes 3s.,[…]

1582, Rural Economy in Yorkshire in 1641, Being the Farming and Account Books of Henry Best, of Elmswell, in the East Riding of the County of York (The Publications of the Surtees Society; volume XXXIII), Durham: […] for the Society by George Andrews, […]. London: Whittaker & Co., […]; T. & W. Boone, […]. Edinburgh: William Blackwood and Sons, published 1857, page 172:

Therefore at length sir Iefferie bethought him of a feat whereby he might both visit the alestond, and also keepe his othe.

1588, Martin Mar-prelate, An Epistle to the Terrible Priests of the Convocation House, London: John Petheram, published 1842, page 54:

Memp. Ile teach my wag-halter to know grapes from barley. Pris. And I mine to discerne a spigot from a faucet. Spe. And I mine, to iudge the difference between a blacke boule and a siluer goblet. Stel. And mine shall learne the oddes betweene a stand and a hogs-head; yet I cannot choose but laugh to see how my wag aunswered mee, when I stroke him for drinking sacke.

1594, John Lyly, “Mother Bombie”, in The Complete Works of John Lyly, published 1902, page 193:

As for the Tapſter, he fled into the Cellar, rapping out fiue or ſixe plaine Country oathes, that hée would drowne himſelfe in a moſt villanous Stand of Ale, if the ſicke Londoner ſtoode at the doore any longer.

1603, Thomas Dekker, “The VVonderfull Yeare”, in The Non-Dramatic Works of Thomas Dekker, volume I, published 1884, pages 123–124:

I have the rareſt Stand of Ale to drink out in the Afternoon, with three or four honeſt Country-fellows;

1672, Thomas Shadwell, “Epsom-Wells”, in The Works of Thomas Shadwell, volume the second, London: […] James Knapton, […]; and Jacob Tonson, […], published 1720, page 196:

[…]that he may have leave to meet ſome few Neighbours to duſt a ſtand of Ale[…]

1674, A Letter from a Gentleman of the Romish Religion to His Brother, a Person of Quality of the Same Religion; Perswading Him to Go to Church, and Take Those Oaths the Law Directs, Proving the Lawfulness Thereof by Arguments Not Disagreeable to Doctrines of the Roman Church, London: […] John Starkey, page 28:

All his war ſtore of proviſions conſiſted in three ſtands of barbicued veniſon, till he had an opportunity to revenge blood, and return home.

1775, James Adair, The History of The American Indians; Particularly Those Nations Adjoining to the Missisippi, East and West Florida, Georgia, South and North Carolina, and Virginia: […], London: […] Edward and Charles Dilly, page 395:

First dip me in a stand o milk, / And then a stand o water;

a. 1791, “Tam Lin”, in Francis James Child, editor, The English and Scottish Popular Ballads, part II, Boston, Mass.: Houghton, Mifflin and Company; New York: […]; The Riverside Press, Cambridge; London: Henry Stevens, […], published 1884, page 344:

(US, Scotland, dated) A container which stands upright, such as a barrel or cask.


bunk

Sense of sleeping berth possibly from Scottish English bunker (“seat, bench”), origin is uncertain but possibly Scandinavian.
Compare Old Swedish bunke (“boards used to protect the cargo of a ship”).
See also boarding, flooring and compare bunch.

(US) A wooden case or box, which serves for a seat in the daytime and for a bed at night.

(US, dialect) A piece of wood placed on a lumberman's sled to sustain the end of heavy timbers.


ground

en-verb

ground (third-person singular simple present grounds, present participle grounding, simple past and past participle grounded)

grounds (present singular third-person)
grounding (participle present)
grounded (participle past)
grounded (past)
GND (alternative)

Etymology tree
Proto-Indo-European *gʰrem-der.
Proto-Germanic *grunduz
Old English grund
Middle English ground
English ground
From Middle English ground, from Old English grund, from Proto-Germanic *grunduz. Cognate with West Frisian grûn, Dutch grond and German Grund.

etymon

These geomagnetically induced currents (GICs) can become a hazard when they flow through conducting infrastructure, usually entering and exiting networks where equipment is grounded to Earth.

2023 November 15, Prof. Jim Wild, “This train was delayed because of bad weather in space”, in RAIL, number 996, page 30:

(US) To connect (an electrical conductor or device) to a ground.


DNA

An initialism of the various terms listed below. The verb sense is derived from noun sense 7.

(US, military, historical) Defense Nuclear Agency, an agency of the United States Department of Defense which existed from 1971 to 1996 and has since been reorganized as the Defense Threat Reduction Agency.


DNA

(US, military) Do not arm (that is, do not provide with a firearm).


DNA

en-verb

DNA (third-person singular simple present DNAs, present participle DNAing, simple past and past participle DNAed)

DNAs (present singular third-person)
DNAing (participle present)
DNAed (participle past)
DNAed (past)

She had her weapons back. She wasn't DNA'd anymore. But she didn't use a weapon. That's not how she did it.

2018, Jeanne Marie Laskas, To Obama, with Love, Joy, Hate and Despair, New York, N.Y.: Random House, →ISBN, page 239:

(US, military) To place (someone) under a DNA (do not arm) order because of mental illness.

kieltää aseenkanto

to place (someone) under a DNA (do not arm) order because of mental illness


Indian

en-adj

Indian (comparative more Indian, superlative most Indian)

more Indian (comparative)
most Indian (superlative)

From Anglo-Norman indien, Middle French indien, corresponding to Ind + -ian. Applied to inhabitants of the Americas due to an early misconception that the Americas were the eastern end of Asia / the Indies (hence also the designation of Caribbean islands as the West Indies).

Indian bread

Indian meal

(Canada, US, of foods) Made with Indian corn or maize.

East Indian

of, or related to, the people of the Indian subcontinent

West Indian

of, or related to, the people of the Caribbean islands


drug

From Middle English drogge (“medicine”), from Old French drogue, drocque (“tincture, pharmaceutical product”), from Middle Dutch or Middle Low German droge, as in droge vate (“dry vats, dry barrels”), mistaking droge for the contents, which were usually dried herbs, plants or wares. Droge comes from Middle Dutch drōghe (“dry”), from Old Dutch drōgi (“dry”), from Proto-Germanic *draugiz (“dry, hard”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *dʰrewgʰ- (“to strengthen; become hard or solid”), from *dʰer- (“to hold, hold fast, support”). Cognate with English dry, Dutch droog (“dry”), German trocken (“dry”).

der

“I’ll go this far,” I answered him. “We’ll try going over to the drug. You, me, Ollie if he wants to go, one or two others. Then we’ll talk it over again.”

(Canada, US, informal) Short for drugstore.


plant

→ Punjabi: ਪਲਾਂਟ (palāṇṭ)

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

From Middle English plante, from Old English plante (“young tree or shrub, herb newly planted”), from Proto-West Germanic *plantu, from Latin planta (“sprout, shoot, cutting”). Broader sense of "any vegetable life, vegetation generally" is from Old French plante. Doublet of clan (borrowed through Celtic languages) and planta (directly from Latin).
The verb is from Middle English planten, from Old English plantian (“to plant”), from Latin plantāre, later influenced by Old French planter. Compare also Dutch planten (“to plant”), German pflanzen (“to plant”), Swedish plantera (“to plant”), Icelandic planta (“to plant”).

inh

(US, dialect) A young oyster suitable for transplanting.


absinthe

en-noun

absinthe (countable and uncountable, plural absinthes)

absinthes (plural)
absinth (alternative)

* (wormwood; figuratively bitterness, sorrow): From Middle English absinthe.
* (liquor): From Modern French absinthe.
Both from Middle French absinthe, from Latin absinthium, from Ancient Greek ἀψίνθιον (apsínthion, “wormwood”). Doublet of absinthium.


banana

en-noun

banana (countable and uncountable, plural bananas)

Borrowed from Portuguese banana or Spanish banana, derived from a Niger-Congo language spoken in the Guinea region. Specific derivation is unclear. Possible ancestor or cognate languages include Wolof banaana, Eastern Maninkakan banana, and Vai ꕒꘌꕯ (ɓaana) or ꕒꕌꕯ (ɓaana). However, Ay Baati Wolof (Munro & Gaye, 1997) posits that Wolof banaana is itself derived from Portuguese banana.
The racial slur derives from the notion that they are "Yellow (East-Asian) on the outside, White (Westernized) on the inside".

banánový (corresponding to English attributive use)

(corresponding to English attributive use) banánový

An elongated curved tropical fruit of a banana plant, which grows in bunches and has a creamy flesh and a smooth skin.

(Canada, US, UK, Ireland) In particular, the sweet, yellow fruit of the Cavendish banana cultivar, which may be eaten raw, as distinct from e.g. a plantain for cooking.


tiger

tigers (plural)
tigre (alternative)
tyger (alternative)

→ Volapük: tigrid

→ Welsh: teigr

Inland Northern American, New England, some speakers

From Middle English tygre, in part from Old English tigras (pl.), in part from Anglo-Norman tigre, both from Latin tigris, from Ancient Greek τίγρις (tígris), from Iranian (compare Avestan 𐬙𐬌𐬔𐬭𐬌 (tigri, “arrow”), 𐬙𐬌𐬖𐬭𐬀 (tiγra, “pointed”)). Ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *(s)teyg- (“to pierce, prick, be sharp”). Compare English stick.

der

Don't […] Tell your roommate that you heard the walls shaking all night, and it sounds like he's a real tiger in the sack.

2010, Jeff Wilser, The Maxims of Manhood:

(US, slang) A person who is very athletic during sexual intercourse.


eleven

elevens (plural)
Arabic numerals (alternative)
Roman numerals (alternative)

From Middle English elleven, enleven, eleven, from Old English endleofan; from Proto-Germanic *ainalif (“one left”) (i.e., one left over after having already counted to ten), a compound of *ainaz and *-lif, from Proto-Indo-European *leyp- (“leave, remain”). Compare West Frisian alve, Low German ölven, Dutch elf, German elf, Icelandic ellefu, Danish and Norwegian elleve.

(countable, US, slang) A number off the charts of a hypothetical scale of one to ten.

An exceptional specimen, (particularly) a physically attractive person.


bomb

From French bombe, from Italian bomba, from Latin bombus (“a booming sound”), from Ancient Greek βόμβος (bómbos, “booming, humming, buzzing”), imitative of the sound itself. Doublet of bombe. Compare boom.

onomatopoeic

imitative

Nowadays, an old bomb simply won’t pass the inspection.

2005 August 6, “Warm affection for a rust-bucket past”, in Sydney Morning Herald:

We′ve got the money and it just feels ridiculous to let you drive around in that old bomb.

2010, Rebecca James, Beautiful Malice, page 19:

After two weeks of driving it she knew the car was a bomb and she did not need anyone saying it to her. The only one allowed to pick on her car was her. Piece of crap car[…]

2011, Amarinda Jones, Seducing Celestine, page 49:

(US, Australia, informal) A car in poor condition.


England

en-proper noun

England (usually uncountable, plural Englands)

England
Wales and Berwick Act 1746
Welsh Language Act 1967

desc

→ Bengali: ইংল্যান্ড (iṅlênḍ)

→ Bengali: ইংল্যান্ড (iṅlênḍ)

→ Burmese: အင်္ဂလန် (angga.lan)

→ Chichewa: Mángalande

→ Chinese: 英格蘭 /英格兰 (Yīnggélán)

→ Hawaiian: ʻEnelani

→ Hindustani:

Hindi: इंग्लैंड (iṅglaiṇḍ)

اِن٘گْلَینْڈ

Urdu: اِن٘گْلَینْڈ (iṅglainḍ)

Urdu: اِن٘گْلَینْڈ (iṅglainḍ)

→ Japanese: イングランド (Ingurando)

→ Korean: 잉글랜드 (inggeullaendeu)

→ Lao: ອັງກິດ (ʼang kit)

→ Maori: Ingarangi

→ Malay:

Arabic script: ايڠلند

Latin script: England

→ Marshallese: In̄len

desctree

→ Spanish: Inglaterra (calque)
→ Classical Nahuatl: Inglatera
→ Tagalog: Inglatera

→? Swedish: England
→ Finnish: Englanti

→ Tamil: இங்கிலாந்து (iṅkilāntu)

Etymology tree
Proto-Germanic *angliz
Old English Engle
Proto-Indo-European *lendʰ-
Proto-Indo-European *-om
Proto-Germanic *landą
Proto-West Germanic *land
Old English land
Old English Engla land
Middle English Engelond
English England
From Middle English Engelond, England, from Old English Engla land (literally “land of the Angles”), from genitive of Engle (“the Angles”) + land (“land”).

inh

Commonwealth of England, Scotland and Ireland

(US) A city in Lonoke County, Arkansas, United States.


mental

en-adj

mental (comparative more mental, superlative most mental)

more mental (comparative)
most mental (superlative)

Borrowing from Middle French mental, from Late Latin mentālis, from mēns (“mind, disposition; heart, soul”) + -ālis (“-al”, adjectival suffix).

af

Audio (US)

He is the most mental freshman I've seen yet.

He went mental on us.

Of, relating to, or affected by a psychiatric disorder.

(colloquial, UK, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, dated in the US, Canada, comparable) Mentally disordered; insane, mad, crazy.


academician

/əˌkæ.dəˈmɪʃ.n̩/

From academic + -ian (“one skilled in”), partly after French académicien.

One can learn more about the nature of our society by sharing in a small way the life of its victims than by interacting intellectually with its privileged academicians.

1981 December 27, Dave Dellinger, quotee, Gay Community News, volume 9, number 23, page 19:

(now chiefly US) A member (especially a senior one) of the faculty at a college or university; an academic.


beige

en-adj

beige (comparative beiger or more beige, superlative beigest or most beige)

beiger (comparative)
more beige (comparative)
beigest (superlative)
most beige (superlative)

Unadapted borrowing from French (dialectal) beige, from Old French bege (“color of undyed wool or cotton”), from an Alpine language (compare Franco-Provençal bézho, Romansch besch (“dull grey”)), from Vulgar Latin *bysseus (“cottony grey”) (compare French bis, Catalan bis, Italian bigio), from Late Latin byssus (“cotton”), from Ancient Greek βύσσος (bússos, “cotton homespun”), from Semitic (compare Hebrew/Aramaic בוץ (būṣ)). Doublet of bice.

der

Think about it: he grew up in Iowa, the beigest of states, was doted on, loved generously by his parents, the top of his class, probably voted Most Handsome of 2000.

2007, Prairie L. Markussen, Cover, page 48:

In the beigest parts of suburbia where I grew up, bridge was a game played by groups of parents in recreation rooms furnished with upright pianos and souvenir sombreros.

2010, Gerald J. McCarthy, A Man of Substances:

For a meal of relentlessly beige food, may I suggest the beigest of wines? That would be chardonnay, which will go beautifully with Melissa Clark’s chicken potpie.

2013 March 25, Eric Asimov, “A Beige Wine for a Beige Meal”, in NYT Diner’s Journal Blog:

He has no criminal record. He has no traffic tickets. His social media posts are just like... he's beige.

2016, Penelope Garcia, “The Witness”, in Criminal Minds, season 11, episode 2:

(informal, originally US) Comfortably dull and unadventurous, in a way that suggests middle-class suburbia.


black

en-adj

black (comparative blacker or more black, superlative blackest or most black)

blacker (comparative)
more black (comparative)
blackest (superlative)
most black (superlative)
blacke (alternative)
Black (alternative)
blk (alternative)
blak (alternative)

Bislama: blak

Sranan Tongo: blaka

Aukan: baaka

→ Caribbean Hindustani: blaaka

Tok Pisin: blak

Torres Strait Creole: blaik

→ Dutch: black

→ French: black

→ Greek: μπλάκης (blákis)

From Middle English blak, black, blake, from Old English blæc (“black, dark", also "ink”), from Proto-West Germanic *blak, from Proto-Germanic *blakaz (“burnt”) (compare Dutch blaken (“to burn”), Low German blak, black (“blackness, black paint, (black) ink”), Old High German blah (“black”)), possibly from Proto-Indo-European *bʰleg- (“to burn, shine”) (compare Latin flagrāre (“to burn”), Ancient Greek φλόξ (phlóx, “flame”), Sanskrit भर्ग (bharga, “radiance”)).
Sense 20 is a semantic loan from Cantonese 黑面 (hak1 min6, “to pull a long face, to scowl”).

sort

of coffee or tea, without milk or other whitener

(sometimes capitalized) Belonging to or descended from any of various (African, Aboriginal, etc.) ethnic groups which typically have dark pigmentation of the skin. (See usage notes below.)

(US, UK, South Africa) Belonging to or descended from any of various sub-Saharan African ethnic groups which typically have dark pigmentation of the skin.


black

en-noun

black (countable and uncountable, plural blacks)

blacks (plural)
blacke (alternative)
Black (alternative)
blk (alternative)
blak (alternative)

→ Japanese: ブラック (burakku)

→ Volapük: bläg

He pulled on the black, the tip of the filter hot and malleable between his lips, and felt a cool tingling coat the simmer in his chest and begin to eat away at it in small bites.

2008, Jesmyn Ward, Where the Line Bleeds, Bloomsbury (2018), page 48:


green

green (countable and uncountable, plural greens)

→⇒ Chinese: 果嶺 /果岭 (guǒlǐng)

→ Czech: green

→ Danish: green

→ Dutch: green

→ Finnish: griini

→ German: Green

→ Marshallese: kūriin

Etymology tree
Proto-Germanic *grōniz
Proto-Indo-European *-h₂
Proto-Indo-European *-ih₂
Proto-Germanic *-į̄
Proto-West Germanic *-ī
Proto-West Germanic *grōnī
Old English grēne
Middle English grene
English green
From Middle English grene, from Old English grēne, from Proto-West Germanic *grōnī, from Proto-Germanic *grōniz, from Proto-Indo-European *gʰreh₁- (“to grow”). More at grow.
See also North Frisian green, West Frisian grien, Dutch groen, Low German grön, green, greun, German grün, Danish and Norwegian Nynorsk grøn, Swedish grön, Norwegian Bokmål grønn, Icelandic grænn.
The sense "obscene, pornographic, sexual" in the Philippines is from a calque of Spanish verde.


purple

From Middle English purple, purpel, from Old English purpul (“purple”, adjective), taken from Old English purpure (“purple colour”, noun), from Latin purpura (“purple dye, shellfish”), from Ancient Greek πορφύρα (porphúra, “purple-fish”), perhaps of Semitic origin. Doublet of purpura and purpure.
The sense of "imperial power" is from the wearing of the color purple by emperors and kings.

der

Fishtailing out the parking lot leaving Magic / Sipping on the purple and the yellow, drinking magic

2012, “Magic”, in Pluto, performed by Future ft. T.I.:


red

en-noun

red (countable and uncountable, plural reds)

From Middle English red, from Old English rēad, from Proto-West Germanic *raud, from Proto-Germanic *raudaz from Proto-Indo-European *h₁rowdʰós, from the root *h₁rewdʰ-.
Cognates
See also West Frisian read, Low German root, rood, rot, rod, Dutch rood, German rot, Danish and Norwegian Bokmål rød, Norwegian Nynorsk raud; also Welsh rhudd, Latin ruber, rufus, Tocharian A rtär, Tocharian B ratre, Ancient Greek ἐρυθρός (eruthrós), Albanian pruth (“redhead”), Russian ру́дый (rúdyj) ("red", "redhaired"). Czech rudý, Lithuanian raúdas, Finnish rauta, Estonian raud, Serbo-Croatian riđ ("reddish", "red"), Avestan 𐬭𐬀𐬊𐬌𐬛𐬌𐬙𐬀 (raoidita), Sanskrit रुधिर (rudhirá, “red, bloody”).

sekobarbitaali

slang: secobarbital — see also secobarbital

Houston visited a home in an early pioneer settlement where he was offered a bowl of red. Houston eagerly took his first large spoonful. His eyes watering, he spat out his bite […]

1982, The Rotarian, volume 140, number 1, page 39:

(US, colloquial, uncountable) Chili con carne (usually in the phrase "bowl of red").

chili

colloquial: chili con carne — see also chili con carne


white

white (countable and uncountable, plural whites)

whites (plural)
whight (alternative)
whyte (alternative)
whyght (alternative)
White (alternative)

Inherited from Middle English whit, hwit, from Old English hwīt, from Proto-West Germanic *hwīt, from Proto-Germanic *hwītaz, from Proto-Indo-European *ḱweydós, a byform of *ḱweytós (“bright; shine”).
Cognates
* West Frisian wyt
*Dutch wit
* German weiß
* German weiss
* Norwegian Bokmål hvit
* Norwegian Nynorsk kvit
* Lithuanian šviẽsti (“to gleam”), šviesa (“light”)
* Old Church Slavonic свѣтъ (světŭ, “light”), свѣтьлъ (světĭlŭ, “clear, bright”)
* Persian سفید (sefid, “white”), Persian سپید (sepid, “white”)
* Avestan 𐬯𐬞𐬀𐬉𐬙𐬀 (spaēta, “white”)
* Sanskrit श्वेत (śvetá, “white, bright”).

bělásek

common name for butterflies in the subfamily Pierinae

I've got to hit the streets; I've got to move this white.

2004, “On The Run”, Kanye West (music), performed by Bump J ft. Rick James, Atlantic:

Ten grand a week we were clearing: base, white, meth, weed, anything. I can get you anything to get you high.

2019 January 20, Ann Cleeves, Paul Matthew Thompson, “Cuckoo” (1:26:51 from the start), in Lawrence Gough, director, Vera, season 9, episode 2 (TV series), spoken by Tyler Lennon (Louis Healy):

We was flyin' up O with white, we was buildin' lines, now it's clothing lines

2024, “Entrapreneur”, performed by Central Cee:

(countable) Any object or substance that is of the color white.


yellow

en-adj

yellow (comparative yellower or more yellow, superlative yellowest or most yellow)

yellower (comparative)
more yellow (comparative)
yellowest (superlative)
most yellow (superlative)
yeallow (alternative)
yeller (alternative)

From Middle English yelwe, yelou, from Old English ġeolwe, oblique form of Old English ġeolu, from Proto-West Germanic *gelu, from Proto-Germanic *gelwaz, from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰelh₃wos, from *ǵʰelh₃- (“gleam, yellow”).
Compare Welsh gwelw (“pale”), Latin helvus (“dull yellow”), Irish geal (“white, bright”), Italian giallo (“yellow”) Lithuanian žalias (“green”), Ancient Greek χλωρός (khlōrós, “light green”), Persian زرد (zard, “yellow”), Sanskrit हरि (hari, “greenish-yellow”), Russian жёлтый (žóltyj, “yellow”), Russian зелёный (zeljónyj, “green”). Cognate with German gelb (“yellow”), Dutch geel (“yellow”).
The verb is from Old English ġeolwian, from the adjective.

cog

Charley threw her over for a yellow gal named Nancy: he never forgave Vashti for the vanishing from his life of a menace that had come to mean more to him than Vashti herself.

1933 September 9, James Thurber, “My Life and Hard Times—VI. A Sequence of Servants”, in The New Yorker:


yellow

yellows (plural)
yeallow (alternative)
yeller (alternative)

red

antonym(s) of “intermediate light in a set of three traffic lights”

(US) The mid light in a set of three traffic lights, the lighting of which indicates that drivers should stop short of the intersection if it is safe to do so.


fourth

non-rhotic, without the horse–hoarse merger

Inherited from Middle English fourthe, an alteration (due to four) of ferthe, from Old English fēorþa, fēowerþa, from Proto-West Germanic *feurþō, from Proto-Germanic *fedurþô, equivalent to four + -th.
Cognates
Compare West Frisian fjirde, Saterland Frisian fjädde, fjoode, Dutch vierde, German Low German feerde, feerd, German vierte, Danish fjerde, Icelandic fjórði.

(chiefly US) A quarter, one of four equal parts of a whole.


fifth

fifths (plural)
fift (alternative)
fiveth (alternative)

PIE word
 *pénkʷe
From Middle English fifthe, fifte, fift, from Old English fīfta (“fifth”), from Proto-Germanic *fimftô (“fifth”) or *femftô, equivalent to five + -th. Cognate with Scots fift, fyft (“fifth”), North Frisian fyfde (“fifth”), West Frisian fyfde (“fifth”), Dutch vijfde (“fifth”), Low German fifte, föfte, füfte (“fifth”), German fünfte (“fifth”), Danish femte (“fifth”), Swedish femte (“fifth”), Icelandic fimmta (“fifth”).

(US) A quantity of liquor equal to one-fifth of an American gallon, or, more commonly, 750 milliliters (that is, three quarters of a liter).


trumpet

From Middle English trumpet, trumpette, trompette (“trumpet”), from Old French trompette (“trumpet”), diminutive of trompe (“horn, trump, trumpet”), from Frankish *trumpa, *trumba (“trumpet”), ultimately imitative.
Cognate with Old High German trumpa, trumba (“horn, trumpet”), Middle Dutch tromme (“drum”), Middle Low German trumme (“drum”), Old Norse trumba (“pipe; trumpet”). More at drum.
Displaced native English beme, from Middle English beme, from Old English bīeme.

onomatopoeic

imitative

(US, slang, often capitalized) A supporter of Donald Trump, especially a fervent one.


cane

en-noun

cane (countable and uncountable, plural canes)

From Middle English cane, canne, from Old French cane (“sugar cane”), from Latin canna (“reed”), from Ancient Greek κάννα (kánna), from Akkadian 𒄀 (qanû, “reed”), from Sumerian 𒄀𒈾 (gi.na). Doublet of canna and kaneh. Related to channel and canal.

A plant with simple stems, like bamboo or sugar cane, or the stem thereof

(US, Southern) Maize or, rarely, sorghum, when such plants are processed to make molasses (treacle) or sugar


soccer

Afrikaans: sokker

French: soccer

Irish: sacar

Japanese: サッカー (sakkā)

Kannada: ಸಾಕರ್ (sākar)

Manx: soccar

Originally British English; as an abbreviation for association football, via abbreviation assoc. + -er (suffix); earlier socker (1885), also socca (1889), with soccer attested 1888.
Compare contemporary rugger, from Rugby. Similarly constructed coinages from the same period include: brekker (“breakfast”), fresher (“freshman”) and footer (“football”). See Oxford -er.

socker (alternative)
socca (alternative)

The 'Varsity played Aston Villa and were beaten after a very exciting game; this was pre-eminently the most important "Socker" game played in Oxford this term.

1885 December 25, “Our Oxford Letter”, in The Oldhallian, page 171:

Golf is perhaps seven or eight years old in Oxford, ... football, seu Rugger, sive Soccer, not more than sixteen or seventeen.

1888 February 15, “Charley Symonds”, in The Oxford Magazine, page 224:

Those who play under the "Socker" (Association) rules in the North of England, the Midlands, and Scotland take no heed of the warmness of the weather

1889 September 16, “Football Prospects in the West of England”, in The Western Daily Press, volume 63, number 9757, Bristol, page 7:

Socker (public schools), football played according to the Association Rules

1890, Albert Barrère, Charles Leland, A Dictionary of Slang, Jargon & Cant, volume 2, Ballantyne, page 275:

1987, Charles Hughes, The Football Association Coaching Book of Soccer: Tactics and Skills, London: BBC, →ISBN:

Association football
association football

(originated, late 19th C, now often US, Australia, Ireland, Philippines, and other countries; see usage notes) Association football.

originated; late 19th C; and other countries; originated; late 19th C; and other countries


football

football (countable and uncountable, plural footballs)

footballs (plural)
foot-ball (alternative)
foot ball (alternative)

⇒ Azerbaijani: futbol

desc

→ Bengali: ফুটবল (phuṭbol) (transliteration)

→ Bulgarian: фу́тбол (fútbol)

→ Czech: fotbal

desctree

→ Dutch: voetbal (calque)
→ Caribbean Hindustani: futbál khele

→ French: football

desc

→ Georgian: ფეხბურთი (pexburti) (calque)

→ German: Football

desctree

→ German: Fußball, Fussball (Switzerland, Liechtenstein, sometimes Luxembourg, South Tyrol) (calque)
→ English: foosball
⇒? Luxembourgish: Foussball

desc

→ Greek: ποδόσφαιρο (podósfairo) (calque)

→ Hebrew: כדורגל (calque)

→ Hindustani:

Hindi: फ़ुटबॉल (fuṭbŏl)

→ Hungarian: futball

→ Japanese: フットボール (futtobōru)

→ Korean: 풋볼 (putbol)

→ Latvian: futbols

→ Latvian: kājbumba (calque)

→ Lithuanian: fùtbolas

→ Macedonian: фу́дбал (fúdbal)

→ Maltese: futbol

→ Norwegian Nynorsk: fotball (calque)

desctree

→ Ottoman Turkish: فوتبول
Turkish: futbol

→ Polish: futbol

→ Polish: piłka nożna (calque)

→ Portuguese: futebol

→ Romanian: fotbal

→ Russian: футбо́л (futból)
→ Armenian: ֆուտբոլ (futbol)
→ Kazakh: футбол (futbol)

⇒ Serbo-Croatian:

Cyrillic script: фу̏дба̄л

Latin script: fȕdbāl

→ Spanish: balompié (calque)

→ Spanish: fútbol, futbol (Mexico), fúbol
→ Guaraní: húvol
→? Tagalog: putbol

→ Swedish: fotboll (calque)
⇒ Finnish: futis

→ Thai: ฟุตบอล (fút-bɔn)

⇒ Tok Pisin: soka

⇒ Ukrainian: футбо́л (futból)

[ˈfʊʔt̚bɔːl]

[ˈfʊʔtʰbɔːl]

[ˈfʷʊʔt̚bɑɫ]

From Middle English fotbal, footbal, equivalent to foot + ball, which may refer to the act of kicking a ball with the feet or to the fact the game was played on foot (as opposed to on horseback or with players in fixed positions). The name for the briefcase is a play on “dropkick”, the code name of an early version of the nuclear war plan.

ավստրալական ֆուտբոլ

game in Northern Territory, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria, Western Australia

ball

in all varieties of English and in all games called "football"

Each team scored two touchdowns when they played football.

(US, uncountable) American football: a game played on a field 100 yards long and 53 1/3 yards wide in which two teams of 11 players attempt to get an ovoid ball to the end of each other's territory.

Coordinate term: Cheget

The aide rides, along with the president's physician, in the “control car,” third in line in the motorcade. He is responsible for the football (or “black box” or “black bag”), a briefcase containing the codes and targeting information the president would require to order or authorize a nuclear attack.

1994, Herbert L. Abrams, The President Has Been Shot: Confusion, Disability, and the 25th Amendment, Stanford University Press, →ISBN, page 126:

After the lunch broke, we walked to the Trump-Putin press conference, which started about 6 p.m. As Kelly observed to me at some point, there were now two military aides in the room, each carrying his country's nuclear football.

2020 June 23, John Bolton, The Room Where It Happened: A White House Memoir, New York, N.Y.: Simon & Schuster, →ISBN, page 155:

(US military slang, countable) The leather briefcase containing classified nuclear war plans which is always near the US President.


zipper

→ Cebuano: siper

→ Esperanto: zipo

→ French: zipper

→ Japanese: ジッパー (jippā)

→ Korean: 지퍼 (jipeo)

→ Portuguese: zíper

→ Spanish: zíper

→ Tagalog: siper

1925, zip + -er. The trade name was registered in 1925 by B.F. Goodrich for “boots made of rubber and fabric,” claiming use of the name since June 1923. No longer a registered trademark.

He got his T-shirt stuck in the zipper of his jacket.

[…] the usual gap between the time the last strike of the day departed and the first night hecklers arrived was closed with "zippers" — night fighters who, using day fighter tactics, proceeded to the target in daylight in time to relieve the last day blanket patrol.

They would handle all the night combat air patrols, the night hecklers who would go over the enemy airfields, and we formed a new little gimmick called "zippers" to help close that gap between the time the daylight strikes left the target and darkness.

1993, E. T. Wooldridge, Carrier Warfare in the Pacific: An Oral History Collection, page 268:

(US, military, slang, dated) An air patrol carried out at dawn or dusk.


you

head

you (second person, singular or plural, nominative or objective, possessive determiner your, possessive pronoun yours, singular reflexive yourself, plural reflexive yourselves)

en-pron

your (determiner possessive)
yours (possessive pronoun without-noun)
yourself (reflexive singular)
yourselves (plural reflexive)
ye (alternative)
ya (alternative)
yah (alternative)
yer (alternative)
yeh (alternative)
y' (alternative)
yo (alternative)
yu (alternative)
yuh (alternative)
yoo (alternative)
yew (alternative)
-cha (alternative)
-ja (alternative)
u (alternative)
yuo (alternative)
youe (alternative)
yow (alternative)
yowe (alternative)

Belizean Creole: yu

Bislama: yu

Cameroon Pidgin: you

Jamaican Creole: yuh

Nigerian Pidgin: yu

Sranan Tongo: yu

Tok Pisin: yu

Torres Strait Creole: yu

From Middle English you, yow, ȝow (object case of ye), from Old English ēow (“you”, dative case of ġē), from Proto-West Germanic *iwwi (“you”, dative case of *jiʀ), from Proto-Germanic *iwwiz (“you”, dative case of *jīz), the Western form of Proto-Germanic *izwiz (“you”, dative case of *jūz), from Proto-Indo-European *yūs (“you”, plural), *yū́.
Cognate with Scots you (“you”), Saterland Frisian jou (“you”), West Frisian jo (“you”), Low German jo, joe and oe (“you”), Dutch jou and u (“you”), German euch (“you”), Middle High German eu, iu (“you”, object pronoun), Latin vōs (“you”), Avestan 𐬬𐬋 (vō, “you”), Ashkun yë̃ (“you”), Kamkata-viri šo (“you”), Sanskrit यूयम् (yūyám, “you”).
See usage notes. Ye, you and your are cognate with Dutch jij/je, jou, jouw; Low German ji, jo/ju, jug and German ihr, euch and euer respectively. Ye is also cognate with Danish I and archaic Swedish I.

inh

dative case of <i class="Latn mention" lang="ang">ġē</i>

dative case of <i class="Latn mention" lang="gmw-pro">*jiʀ</i>

dative case of <i class="Latn mention" lang="gem-pro">*jīz</i>

dative case of <i class="Latn mention" lang="gem-pro">*jūz</i>

mo

object pronoun: the person being addressed

contigo (familiar, attached to the preposition "com")

(polite in Portugal, general in most of Brazil) você (polite in Portugal, general in most of Brazil, with or without prepositions)

a f (without prepositions) consigo (attached to the preposition "com"; only used with this meaning in Portugal)

y'all

subject pronoun: persons spoken/written to; plural

thee

object pronoun: person spoken/written to

you kiss your grandfather with that mouth

The following table shows a list of English personal pronoun

including archaic and dialectal forms. Dialectal and obsolete

:Category:English second person pronouns

If I may counsaile you, some day or two / Your Highnesse shall repose you at the Tower [...].

c. 1593 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedy of Richard the Third: […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, (please specify the act number in uppercase Roman numerals, and the scene number in lowercase Roman numerals):

And Lot went out, and spake unto his sons in law, which married his daughters, and said, Up, get you out of this place; for the Lord will destroy this city.

1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Genesis XIX::

'Draw near, and wash you in the living flames, and take their virtue into your poor frames in all its virgin strength[.]'

1886 October – 1887 January, H[enry] Rider Haggard, She: A History of Adventure, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., published 1887, →OCLC:

‘Pull you up a chair,’ she offered.

You'd better get you a gun and kill him before he kills you or somebody.

(reflexive pronoun, now US colloquial) (To) yourselves, (to) yourself.


copacetic

en-adj

copacetic (comparative more copacetic, superlative most copacetic)

more copacetic (comparative)
most copacetic (superlative)
copasetic (alternative)
kopacetic (alternative)
kopasetic (alternative)

Stephen Goranson says "there is good reason to think that Irving Bacheller invented the word [with spelling copasetic] for a fictional character with a private vocabulary in his best-selling and later-serialized 1919 book about Abraham Lincoln in Illinois, A Man for the Ages", and its currency increased by use in the 1920 song "At the New Jump Steady Ball". Alternatively, it has been speculated that it may have originated among African Americans in the Southern US in the late 19th or early 20th century, perhaps specifically in the jargon of Bill "Bojangles" Robinson, who certainly helped popularize it in any case. Many hypotheses about its origin (etymon) exist, all lacking supporting evidence:
Possible origins
* That it derives from Cajun French coup esètique / coupersètique (“capable of being coped with successfully; able to cope with anything and everything”).
* That it derives from a word *copasetti used by Italian speakers in New York.
* That it derives from Chinook Jargon copasenee (“everything is satisfactory”) — if the Chinook Jargon term is not itself derived from English.
* The common suggestion that the term derives from Hebrew הכל בסדר (hakól b'séder, “everything is in order”) has been rejected, as has the fanciful suggestion that it derives from criminals' observation that they could go about their business because "the cop is on the settee".

cog

["][…]an' as to looks I'd call him, as ye might say, real copasetic." Mrs. Lukins expressed this opinion solemnly and with a slight cough. Its last word stood for nothing more than an indefinite depth of meaning.[…] There was one other word in her lexicon which was in the nature of a jewel to be used only on special occasions. It was the word "copasetic".

1919, Irving Bacheller, A Man for the Ages: A Story of the Builders of Democracy, New York, N.Y.: Grosset & Dunlap, →OCLC, pages 69 and 287:

Molly-squally, Miss Molly / Yeah, everything copacetic, now

1967, “Niki Hoeky”, in Enigma, performed by P. J. Proby:

Count the cash, clean the oven, dump the trash, oh your loving is a rare and a copacetic gift.

1976, “I Can’t Wait to Get Off Work (and See My Baby on Montgomery Avenue)”, performed by Tom Waits:

It’s a shame those boys couldn’t be more copacetic.

1987, “West L.A. Fadeaway”, performed by Grateful Dead:

Colombia and Brazil were supposed to be more copacetic.

2014 July 5, Sam Borden, “For bellicose Brazil, payback carries heavy price: Loss of Neymar [International New York Times version: Brazil and referee share some blame for Neymar's injury: Spaniard's failure to curb early pattern of fouls is seen as major factor (7 July 2014, p. 13)]”, in The New York Times:

I keep it real, niggas better keep it copacetic

2018, “Open Letter”, in Tha Carter V, performed by Lil Wayne:

We’re only a few months into the Congress, and there are plenty of opportunities for bigger gulfs to appear; partisans agree on most things most of the time because most votes aren’t on hot-button issues. Nor does it make sense to pretend that everything’s copacetic.

2019 July 12, David A. Graham, “The Overhyped Feud Between Nancy Pelosi and AOC”, in The Atlantic:

(US, slang) Fine, excellent, OK, in excellent order.

отли́чен

fine, excellent, going just right, swell


writer

[ˈɹ̠aɪtə(ɹ̠)]

[ˈɹ̠əjɾ̥(ə)ɹ̠]

rider (flapping but non-Canadian raising)

From Middle English writer, writere, from Old English wrītere (“draughtsman; painter; writer; scribe; copyist”) and ġewritere (“writer; composer”), equivalent to write + -er and writ + -er. Cognate with Icelandic ritari (“clerk, secretary”), Faroese ritari (“clerk, secretary”).

inh

(US) A petty officer in the United States navy who keeps the watch-muster and other books of the ship.


queen

queens (plural)
queene (alternative)
quene (alternative)
queyne (alternative)

Tok Pisin: kwin

desc

⇒ American Sign Language: G@Shoulder-PalmDown G@Abdomen-PalmDown

→ Burmese: ကွင်း (kwang:)

→ German: Queen

→ Japanese: クイーン (kuīn), クィーン (kwīn)

→ Korean: 퀸 (kwin)

→ Marshallese: kwiin

→ Sikaiana: kuini

→ Spanish: cuina

→ Thai: ควีน (kwiin)

From Middle English quene, queen, cwen, from Old English cwēn (“queen”), from Proto-West Germanic *kwāni, from Proto-Germanic *kwēniz (“woman”), from Proto-Indo-European *gʷénh₂s (“woman”).
Cognate with Scots queen, wheen (“queen”), Old Saxon quān ("wife"; > Middle Low German quene (“elderly woman”)), Dutch kween (“woman past child-bearing age”), Swedish kvinna (“woman”), Norwegian kvinne (“woman”), Danish kvinde (“woman”), Icelandic kvon (“wife”), Gothic 𐌵𐌴𐌽𐍃 (qēns, “wife”), Norwegian dialectal kvån (“wife”). Related to and possibly merged with and/or absorbed some senses of English quean, from Middle English quene, from Old English cwene (“woman; female serf, quean”), see quean. Generally eclipsed non-native Middle English regina (“queen”), borrowed from Latin rēgīna (“queen”) (see Modern English regina). Doublet of quean and gyne.

gloss

"wife"; > Middle Low German <i class="Latn mention" lang="gml">quene</i> (“elderly woman”)

cog

Know you the town is full of folks?
 Know you the shows are full of queens?
That every mail is full of jokes
 Born of the nation's brightest beans?

1914, Franklin P. Adams, By and Large, Garden City, New York: Doulbleday, Page & Company, retrieved 2022-01-15, page 142:

When I find my queen, we’re having a whole tribe like our grandparents used to swing it back in the day.

1999, Camika Spencer, When All Hell Breaks Loose, New York: Villard, →ISBN, retrieved 2022-01-15, page 38:

en:attractive woman or female romantic partner

A woman whose pre-eminence, power, or forcefulness is comparable to that of a queen.

(slang, originally US) An attractive woman; a female partner in a romantic relationship.

Ad Hoc Softwares has bright hand-blocked floral cotton bed linens from India, including flat full/queen sheets, were $85, now $51; standard pillowcases, were $18 each, now $10.80 […]

1994 March 21, Leonore Fleischer, “Sales & Bargains”, in New York, volume 27, number 12, →ISSN, page 73:

(attributive, originally Canada, US) Pertaining to a queen-size bed or queen-size bedding.


Saxon

→ Korean: 색슨 (saekseun)

→ Welsh: Sacson

Partially from Middle English Saxe, Sax; from Old English *Seaxa (attested in plural Seaxan), and Saxoun, from Old French *Saxoun, Saxon (“Saxon”), from Late Latin Saxōnem, accusative of Saxō (“a Saxon”), both from Proto-West Germanic *sahs, from Proto-Germanic *sahsą (“rock, knife”), from Proto-Indo-European *sek- (“to cut”). Doublet of Sais.
Cognates
Cognate with Middle Low German sasse (“someone speaking Saxon, i.e. (Middle) Low German”), Old English Seaxa (“a Saxon”), Old High German Sahso (“a Saxon”), Icelandic Saxi (“a Saxon”), Estonian saks (“lord; German”), Finnish Saksa (“Germany”). Also cognate to Old English seax (“a knife, hip-knife, an instrument for cutting, a short sword, dirk, dagger”); more at sax.

(uncountable, US printing, rare, dated) A size of type between German and Norse, 2-point type.


nickel

en-noun

nickel (countable and uncountable, plural nickels)

Borrowed from German Nickel, first used in a text by the Swedish mineralogist Axel F. Cronstedt as an abbreviation of Kupfernickel (“a mineral containing copper and nickel”), from Kupfer (“copper”) + Nickel (“insignificant person, goblin”), originally nickname of Nikolaus (“Nicholas”), due to the deceptive silver colour of the relatively valueless ore. Compare cobalt as related to kobolds.

that and a nickel will buy you a cup of coffee

that and a nickel will get you on the subway

you pays your nickel and you takes your chances

you pays your nickel and you takes your choice

That is just objectively terrifying regardless of contexts! He looks like if a nickel did cocaine!

2017 October 8, “Confederacy”, in Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, season 4, episode 26, John Oliver (actor), via HBO:

(US, Canada, countable) A coin worth 5 cents.

(US, slang, by extension) Five hundred dollars.

(US, slang, sometimes the nickel or the hot nickel) Interstate 5, a highway that runs along the west coast of the United States.

(US, slang) A five-year prison sentence.


nickel

Let me give you the nickel tour of the office.

(US, idiomatic, somewhat dated) Synonym of cheap: Low price and/or low value.


pip

Apparently representing a shortened form of pippin, from Middle English pipin, from Old French pepin (“a seed”) (French pépin).

She sure is a pip, that one. You need company?

2006, Thomas Pynchon, Against the Day, Vintage, published 2007, page 612:

(US, colloquial) Something or someone excellent, of high quality.


Danish

Danish (countable and uncountable, plural Danishes)

Alteration of Middle English Denish, Dench (under the influence of Dan — compare Dane), from Old English Denisċ (“Danish”), from Proto-Germanic *daniskaz.

(informal, chiefly US) Ellipsis of Danish pastry.


of

Etymology tree
Proto-West Germanic *ab
Old English æf
Old English of
Middle English of
English of
From Middle English of, from Old English of (“from, out of, off”), an unstressed form of æf, from Proto-West Germanic *ab, from Proto-Germanic *ab (“away; away from”). Doublet of off, which is the stressed descendant of the same Old English word. More at off.

etymon

ov (alternative)
o (alternative)
o' (alternative)
a (alternative)

de

connecting numeral or quantifier with quantified

de (not used with quantifiers like todo, nem todo, para todo)

subjective genitive: connecting action noun with subject

genitive construction is used - the verbal noun is followed by the subject in the genitive case

van

objective genitive: connecting action noun with object

genitive construction used - a verbal noun is modified by the object in the genitive

a verbal noun is modified by the object in the genitive case

i

(to tell the time) before, to, e.g. a quarter of three (2:45)

он минут ж.б.с.> қалды/бар

-ğa/ge <ширек, он минут ж.б.с.> qaldy/bar

туларга <(унбиш минут һ.б.ш.)>

It's not that big of a deal.

Such hegemonic projects often appropriate certain local traditions and re-inscribe them as "national," while dismissing other traditions which pose too great of a threat to the reproduction of the existing socio-political order.

1990, Mary Crain, “The Social Construction of National Identity in Highland Ecuador”, in Anthropological Quarterly, volume 61, number 1, page 43:

For some individuals, even 1000 calories/day may be too great of a deficit.

1998, Lyle McDonald, The Ketogenic Diet: A Complete Guide for the Dieter and Practitioner, page 98:

While it is quite obvious that the state continues to try and dilute the voting power of Native Americans, at least as big of a challenge is the need for mobilizing Native American voters.

2017, Jean Reith Schroedel, Artour Aslanian, “A Case Study of Descriptive Representation: The Experience of Native American Elected Officials in South Dakota”, in American Indian Quarterly, volume 41, number 3, page 278:

Expressing qualities or characteristics.

(US, informal, considered incorrect by some) Used to link singular indefinite nouns (preceded by the indefinite article) and attributive adjectives modified by certain common adverbs of degree.

I’ll be ready at ten of two
I’ll be ready at 1:50

What's the time? / Nearly a quarter of three.

I'll be ready by five of noon.

"Fellow Democrats," he began, "I left Washington at a quarter of two this morning […]"

1940 June 17, “Little Bull Booed”, in Time:

Quarter of seven. Fifteen minutes to go.

1982, TC Boyle, Water Music, Penguin, published 2006, page 194:

(chiefly US) Before (the hour); to (the hour).

I’ll be ready at ten of
I’ll be ready at 1:50, or 2:50, or whatever time ending in 50 makes most sense in context.

Wednesday was more of the same. Out at 08:30, got to the office by quarter of, clients all day.

2022 May 16, Ariel Levine, 09:20 from the start, in Giancarlo Esposito, director, Better Call Saul S6E6: Axe and Grind (TV series), spoken by Private Investigator (Lennie Loftin):

Expressing a point in time.
Before (the hour); to (the hour).
Often used without the hour


triangle

/ˈtɹaɪəŋɡəl/

/ˈtɹaɪˌæŋɡəl/

/ˈtɹaɪˌæŋɡəl/

PIE word
 *tréyes
From Middle English triangle, from Old French triangle, from Latin triangulum, noun use of adjective triangulus (“three-cornered, having three angles”), from trēs (“three”) + angulus (“corner, angle”), equivalent to tri- + angle.


square

→ Welsh: sgwâr

From Middle English square, sqware, squyre; from Old French esquarre, esquerre, (modern French équerre), from Vulgar Latin *exquadra, from Latin ex- + quadro, from quadrus (compare English quad and quadra). Doublet of squad and squadra.
Displaced Old English fēowerecge (fēower nominative + ecg accusative, as in "four-edged").

Something characterized by a square, or nearly square, form.

(Canada, US) A dessert cut into rectangular pieces, or a piece of such a dessert.

ruutu

Even when times were tough, we got three squares a day.

(colloquial, US) Ellipsis of square meal.


trapezoid

/ˈtɹæpəzɔɪd/

From Ancient Greek τραπέζιον (trapézion, “irregular quadrilateral”, literally “a little table”) + -oid (“resembling”).

der

There was a trapezoid of light on his shoulder, some bright fragment torn from a greater plane.

2023, Brandon Taylor, The Late Americans, Jonathan Cape, page 178:

(geometry, US, Canada) A (convex) quadrilateral with two (non-adjacent) parallel sides.

trapezium

convex quadrilateral with two non-adjacent parallel sides


jack

→ Brazilian Portuguese: jegue

→ European Portuguese: jaque

Transferred use of the personal name Jack.
(cricket: eleventh batsman): An allusion to the jack in playing cards, which follows the 10.

náłbiil bijaadbee dahnádidlohí

device for raising and supporting a heavy object

jekker

military: coarse medieval coat of defense

Call you me daughter? now I promiſe you / You haue ſhewd a tender fatherly regard, / To wiſh me wed to one halfe Lunaticke, / A mad-cap ruffian, and a ſwearing Iacke, / That thinkes with oathes to face the matter out.

c. 1590–1592 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Taming of the Shrew”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene i], page 217, column 1:

(countable, now chiefly US) A man, a fellow; a typical man; men in general.

A man.
(Canada, US, colloquial) A lumberjack.

a heron when seeing a deer attracted by the jack

1930, Tappan Gregory, Deer at Night in the North Woods:

(US) A torch or other light used in hunting to attract or dazzle game at night.

First off Regan carried fifteen grand, packed it in his clothes all the time. Real money, they tell me. Not just a top card and a bunch of hay. That's a lot of jack (or jack-shit) […].

1939, Raymond Chandler, The Big Sleep, Penguin, published 2011, page 133:

Angels come from everywhere with lots of jack, and when you lose it, there's no attack. Where could you get money that you don't give back? Let's go on with the show

1946, Irving Berlin (lyrics and music), “There's No Business Like Show Business”:

A non-tool object or thing.
(slang, chiefly US) Money, cash.

A non-tool object or thing.
Money, cash.

[A] quart of raisin jack was divided between us with the result that tha day proper (after the night before) was spent very quietly, watered and Bromo-Seltzered, with amusing anecdotes occasionally sprouting from towelled head to towelled head.

(Canada, US) A strong alcoholic liquor, especially home-distilled or illicit.

(chiefly US) A male ass, especially when kept for breeding.

Cottontails were taken along the creeks, under the willows. Their flesh was preferable to that of the jacks[…]"

1932, Isabel T. Kelly, “Ethnography of the Surprise Valley Paiute”, in University of California Publications in California Archaeology an Ethnography, volume 31, number 3, page 88:


humor

en-noun

humor (usually uncountable, plural humors)

He was in a particularly vile humor that afternoon.

For some days a fistula lacrymalis had come into my left eye, which discharged an humour, when pressed, that portended danger.

1763, Antoine-Simon Le Page du Pratz, History of Louisiana, PG, page 40:

The humor of my proposition appealed more strongly to Miss Trevor than I had looked for, and from that time forward she became her old self again; for, even after she had conquered her love for the Celebrity, the mortification of having been jilted by him remained.

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

There are two ways to become an authority on humor. The first way is to be one of the perpetrators. You know them: comedians, satirists, cartoonists, and impersonators. The second way to gain such credentials is to be the victim of their merciless talents. As such a victim, I take a backseat to no one as far as humor is concerned.

1987, Gerald Ford, “What's So Funny About the Presidency?”, in Humor and the Presidency, New York: Arbor House, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 15:


humor

en-verb

humor (third-person singular simple present humors, present participle humoring, simple past and past participle humored)

humors (present singular third-person)
humoring (participle present)
humored (participle past)
humored (past)

I know you don't believe my story, but humor me for a minute and imagine it to be true.


deuce

From Middle English dewes (“two”), from Anglo-Norman, from Old French deus, from Latin duo. The word was used by Ford to describe a model of car they made in 1932 due to it being a two-seater.

(Canada, US, slang) A piece of excrement; number two.

The number two.
A piece of excrement; number two.


chess

Uncertain; perhaps linked to Etymology 1, above, from the sense of being arranged in rows or lines.

Hobbled, loudly gourmandizing the dry chess grass, they were guarded by a pair of dismounted soldiers in long, dusty coats [...].

2007, Michael Chabon, Gentlemen of the Road, Sceptre, published 2008, page 59:

(now chiefly US) Any of several species of grass in the genus Bromus, generally considered weeds.


ass

From Middle English asse, from Old English assa, back-formed from assen (“she-ass”), from Celtic (compare Old Irish asan, Old Cornish asen), from Latin asinus. Displaced Old English esol, from Proto-West Germanic *asil, also a loanword from the same Latin word. Sense “stupid person” from the animal's reputation for stubbornness, going back to antiquity (compare Latin asinus (“slow-witted person”)).

And Iesse tooke an asse laden with bread, and a bottle of wine, and a kid, and sent them by Dauid his sonne vnto Saul.

1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, 1 Samuel 16:20:

Thus the Aſſe having a peculiar mark of a croſſe made by a black liſt down his back, and another athwart, or at right angles down his ſhoulders; common opinion aſcribes this figure unto a peculiar ſignation; ſince that beaſt had the honour to bear our Saviour on his back.

1650, Thomas Browne, “Of the Same [i.e., the Blacknesse of Negroes]”, in Pseudodoxia Epidemica: […], 2nd edition, London: […] A[braham] Miller, for Edw[ard] Dod and Nath[aniel] Ekins, […], →OCLC, 6th book, page 282:

[…] suddenly a man, in foreign garments: wonderfully real and distinct to look at: stood outside the window, with an axe stuck in his belt, and leading an ass laden with wood by the bridle.

1843 December 19, Charles Dickens, “Stave Two. The First of the Three Spirits.”, in A Christmas Carol. In Prose. Being a Ghost Story of Christmas, London: Chapman & Hall, […], →OCLC, page 51:

In this section "animal" means any horse, cattle, ass, mule, sheep, pig, goat or dog.

1972, Parliament of the United Kingdom, “Part I, section 20(3)”, in Road Traffic Act 1972, page 14:

Any of several species of horse-like animals, especially Equus asinus, the domesticated of which are used as beasts of burden.


ass

en-noun

ass (countable and uncountable, plural asses)

Variant of arse; used chiefly in North America. Ultimately from Middle English ars, ers, from Old English ærs, ears, from Proto-West Germanic *ars, from Proto-Germanic *arsaz (compare Old High German ars (German Arsch), Old Norse ars, Old Frisian ers), from Proto-Indo-European *h₃érsos (compare Ancient Greek ὄρρος (órrhos)).
Etymological notes
Contrary to the widespread belief of this being a euphemism, it arose as a pronunciation spelling (of the older form arse still used in the UK, Australia, New Zealand, etc.) that shows the assimilation of /ɹ/ before coronal consonants (especially /s/), a phenomenon that has been present in nonstandard speech from the Middle English period onwards; this is distinct from the later phenomenon of non-rhoticity as /ɹ/ was lost before it could modify the preceding vowel. Other instances of this phenomenon (some of which retained both spellings with different meanings) include cuss from curse, gash from garsh, bass (“fish”) from barse, bust from burst, passel from parcel; see :Category:English terms with assimilation of historic /ɹ/ for a more extensive list.

find one's ass with both hands and a flashlight

know one's ass from a hole in the ground

know the difference between one's ass and a hole in the ground

know the difference between one's ass and one's elbow

think the sun shines out of someone's ass

I'm going to go down to the bar and try to get me some ass.

piece of ass

Acid, booze, and ass / Needles, guns, and grass

1971, Joni Mitchell (lyrics and music), “Blue”, in Blue:

(synecdochically, uncountable) Sex; a person to have sex with; with vulgar emphasis on their corporeality (their body) over their personhood.

I feel like ass today. ― I am feeling very bad today.

This room smells like ass. ― This room smells very bad.

What a bunch of ass. ― What a bunch of lies/nonsense/disappointment.

(uncountable) Used in similes to express something bad or unpleasant.


ass

On a recent episode of "The Justin Dunning Podcast," Starkel shared his thoughts on Martell, a former Ohio State quarterback, saying "he's ass my dude" in reference to Starkel.

2019 February 5, Alex Miller, “Former Texas A&M QB Nick Starkel breaks down old Twitter beef with Tate Martell”, in Dallas Morning News:

For some reason, the teenager thought it’d be a good idea to criticize Newton and say he's "ass" and that he’s "about to be poor" because he's a free agent.

2021 February 21, Thomas Carannante, “Patriots: Cam Newton getting disrespected by a teenager is everything that’s wrong with society”, in Fansided:

"You're so ass," Murray says to another player.

2021 October 28, Josh Weinfuss, “What we learned about Arizona Cardinals quarterback Kyler Murray by watching him on Twitch”, in ESPN:


ass

That was one big ass fish!

That's an expensive ass car!

Synonym of -ass (used to intensify an adjective)


shit

shit (usually uncountable, plural shits)

shits (plural)
s--t (alternative)
s**t (alternative)
s—t (alternative)
shite (alternative)
sheeyit (alternative)
sheeit (alternative)
sheit (alternative)
shiet (alternative)
shi (alternative)
shii (alternative)

→ Dutch: shit m

→ French: shit m

→ Ilocano: shet

→ Kankanaey: shet

→ Pitcairn-Norfolk: shet

→ Swedish: shit

→ Tagalog: shet

From Middle English schit, schyt, from Old English *sċite (“dung”) and sċitte (“diarrhoea”), from Proto-West Germanic *skiti and *skittjā, from Proto-Germanic *skitiz, from Proto-Indo-European *skeyd- (“to split, divide, separate”). Related to Saterland Frisian Skiete, West Frisian skyte, skyt, Dutch schijt, German Low German Schiet, German Scheiße, Danish skidt, Swedish and Norwegian Nynorsk skit, Norwegian Bokmål skitt, Icelandic skítur. Compare shite. Doublet of scheisse.

der

These grapes are the shit!

Those inhalers and injections was the shit.

Contact lenses is the shit.

When gangsters bump my shit, can they feel my hunger?

2003, “What Up Gangsta”, in Curtis Jackson, Rob Tewlow (lyrics), Reef Tewlow (music), Get Rich or Die Tryin', performed by 50 Cent, New York City: Shady Records:

(uncountable, colloquial, vulgar, definite, US) (the shit) The best of its kind.


coin

en-noun

coin (countable and uncountable, plural coins)

desc

→ Cantonese: coins (kon¹ si²) (from the plural noun form)

→ Japanese: コイン (koin)

From Middle English coyn, from Old French coigne (“wedge, cornerstone, die for stamping”), from Latin cuneus (“wedge”). Doublet of coign and cuneus. See also quoin (“cornerstone”). Displaced Middle English mynt, from Old English mynet (whence modern English mint), which was derived from Latin monēta.

der

She spent some serious coin on that car!

It was the biggest thing in the town, and everybody I met was full of it. They were going to run an over-sea empire, and make no end of coin by trade.

1899 February, Joseph Conrad, “The Heart of Darkness”, in Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine, volume CLXV, number M, New York, N.Y.: The Leonard Scott Publishing Company, […], →OCLC, part I, page 199:

Boy toy named Troy, used to live in Detroit, big dope dealer money he was getting some coin.

2014, Nicki Minaj, “Anaconda”, in The Pinkprint:

Of course, she [Charlie XCX] has a penchant for designer frames that cost upwards of $400. If you want to splurge on one of those exact pairs, go off. If you want to save some coin, I found similar options at more affordable brands and even some Amazon dupes. You’re welcome.

2024 September 14, Heath Owens, “What to Wear to Charli xcx & Troye Sivan's Tour If You Wanna 'SWEAT'”, in Cosmopolitan:

(uncountable, slang, UK, US, African-American Vernacular) Money in general, not limited to coins.


el

The main section of the Sixth Avenue El from Morris Street to Ninth Avenue and 53rd Street shut down on December 4, 1938.

2012, Roger P. Roess, Gene Sansone, The Wheels That Drove New York, page 294:

(US) An elevated railway, especially for specific systems such as the metro in Chicago.


for

fa (alternative)
fo (alternative)
fo' (alternative)
fur (alternative)
fuh (alternative)
fer (alternative)

From Middle English for, from Old English for (“for, because of”), from Proto-Germanic *furi (“for”), from Proto-Indo-European *preh₂-.
Cognate with West Frisian foar (“for”), Dutch voor (“for”), German für (“for”), Danish for (“for”), Swedish för (“for”), Norwegian for (“for”), Icelandic fyrir (“for”), Latin per (“by, through, for, by means of”) and Romance language descendants (e.g. Spanish para (“for”)), Ancient Greek περί (perí, “for, about, toward”), Lithuanian per (“by, through, during”), Slovak pre (“for”), Sanskrit परि (pári, “over, around”).

cog

He is named for his grandfather.

(with names, chiefly US) In honor of; after.

In term of base hits, Jones was three for four on the day

(chiefly US) Out of; used to indicate a fraction, a ratio


fall

en-verb

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

falls (present singular third-person)
falling (participle present)
fell (past)
fallen (participle past)

get up

antonym(s) of “come to the ground deliberately”

Verb from Middle English fallen, from Old English feallan (“to fall, fail, decay, die, attack”), from Proto-West Germanic *fallan (“to fall”), from Proto-Germanic *fallaną (“to fall”).
Cognate with West Frisian falle (“to fall”), Low German fallen (“to fall”), Dutch vallen (“to fall”), German fallen (“to fall”), Danish falde (“to fall”), Norwegian Bokmål falle (“to fall”), Norwegian Nynorsk falla (“to fall”), Icelandic falla (“to fall”), Lithuanian pùlti (“to attack, rush”).
Noun from Middle English fal, fall, falle, from Old English feall, ġefeall (“a falling, fall”) and Old English fealle (“trap, snare”), from Proto-Germanic *fallą, *fallaz (“a fall, trap”). Cognate with Dutch val, German Fall (“fall”) and German Falle (“trap, snare”), Danish fald, Swedish fall, Icelandic fall.
Sense of "autumn" is attested by the 1660s in England as a shortening of fall of the leaf (1540s), from the falling of leaves during this season. Along with autumn, it mostly replaced the older name harvest as that name began to be associated strictly with the act of harvesting. Compare spring, which began as a shortening of “spring of the leaf”.

fell

to fell a tree; to fell an opponent; as in

he who digs a pit for others falls in himself

the apple does not fall far from the stem

the apple does not fall far from the tree

the apple doesn't fall far from the tree

the apple does not fall far from the trunk

the bigger they are, the harder they fall

the bigger they come, the harder they fall

the rain in Spain falls mainly in the plain

to fall a tree

(UK, US, dialect, archaic) To fell; to cut down.

To move downwards.
To fell; to cut down.


fall

en-noun

fall (countable and uncountable, plural falls)

ascent

antonym(s) of “act of moving to a lower position under the effect of gravity”

ascent

antonym(s) of “loss of greatness or status”

Fall Classic
Fall of Baghdad
Fall of Constantinople
Fall of Rome
Fall of Saigon
Falls-to-Falls Corridor
fall

A friend has pointed out to me the following remark on this word: "In North America the season in which this [the fall of the leaf] takes place, derives its name from that circumstance, and instead of autumn is universally called the fall." [brackets in original]

1816, John Pickering, A Vocabulary, or Collection of Words Which Have Been Supposed to Be Peculiar to the United States of America:

(chiefly Canada, US, archaic in Britain) The time of the year when the leaves typically fall from the trees; autumn; the season of the year between the autumnal equinox and the winter solstice.

He set up his rival to take the fall.

(informal, US) Blame or punishment for a failure or misdeed.


elk

→ German: Elk (obsolete)

→ Korean: 엘크 (elkeu)

→ Malayalam: എൽക്ക് (elkkŭ)

→ Welsh: elc

From Middle English elk, from Old English eolc, eolh (“elk”), from Proto-Germanic *elhaz, *algiz (“elk”) (compare Low German Elk, German Elch, Danish elg, Norwegian elg, Swedish älg), from Proto-Indo-European *h₁élḱis, *h₁ólḱis (compare Polish łoś, Russian лось (losʹ), Vedic Sanskrit ऋश्य (ṛ́śya, “antelope”), variant of *h₁elh₁én (compare German Elen, Tocharian A yäl, Tocharian B ylem (“gazelle”), Lithuanian élnis (“stag”), Armenian եղնիկ (eġnik, “doe, hind”)), from *h₁el- (“deer”). Doublet of Elhaz.

Cervus canadensis
Cervus canadensis#Translingual

Any of various large species of deer such as the red deer, moose or wapiti (see usage notes).

(Canada, US) Common wapiti (Cervus canadensis), the second largest member of the deer family, once thought to be a subspecies of red deer.


VB

(US) Initialism of Virginia Beach (independent coastal city in Virginia)


boy

boy (countable and uncountable, plural boys or (eye dialect) boyz)

boys (plural)
boyz (plural pronunciation-spelling)
boi (alternative)

Jamaican Creole: bwoy

Sranan Tongo: boi, boy

→ Cebuano: boy

→ Chinese: boy

desctree

→ Dutch: boy
→ French: boy
→ Lingala: bɔ́i
→ Indonesian: boi

→ German: Boy

→ Hungarian: boy

→ Iraqi Arabic: بوي

→ Italian: boy

→ Japanese: ボーイ (bōi)

→ Polish: boy

→ Russian: бой (boj)

→ Spanish: boy

→ Swahili: boi

→ Tagalog: boy

→ Vietnamese: bồi

→ Welsh: boi

Etymology tree
Proto-West Germanic *bōjō
Old English *bōia
Middle English boye
English boy
From Middle English boy /boye (“servant, commoner, knave, boy”), from Old English *bōia (“boy”), from Proto-West Germanic *bōjō, from Proto-Germanic *bōjô (“younger brother, young male relation”), from Proto-Germanic *bō- (“brother, close male relation”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰā-, *bʰāt- (“father, elder brother, brother”).
Cognate with Scots boy (“boy”), West Frisian boai (“boy”), Dutch boi (“boy”), Low German Boi (“boy”), and probably to the Old English proper name Bōia. Also related to West Flemish boe (“brother”), Norwegian dialectal boa (“brother”), Dutch boef (“rogue, knave”), Bavarian Bua (“young boy, lad”), German Bube ("boy; knave; jack"; > English bub), Icelandic bófi (“rogue, crook, bandit, knave”). See also bully.

gloss

"boy; knave; jack"; > English <i class="Latn mention" lang="en">bub</i>

boy

formerly, African male servant in colonies

mutil

male of any age, used as a friendly diminutive

all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy

since Adam was an oakum boy in Chatham Dockyard

when Adam was an oakum boy in Chatham Dockyard

[…] drove by a corner, saw what I thought—no, what I knew—were dealers and asked if they knew where I could get some boy.

2021, Tim Weber, Heroin: the Ripple Effect:


girl

en-noun

girl (countable and uncountable, plural girls)

girls (plural)
gal (alternative)
gel (alternative)
girle (alternative)
gyrle (alternative)
gorl (alternative)
grrrl (alternative)
grrl (alternative)
guhrl (alternative)
gurl (alternative)
gworl (alternative)
gyal (alternative)

desctree

Jamaican Creole: gyal, gal
→ English: gal; gyal
→ Icelandic: gella
→ Japanese: ギャル (gyaru)
→ English: gyaru

Tok Pisin: gel

→⇒ Finnish: kiltsi

→ French: girl; gow

→ German: Girl

→ Hungarian: görl

→ Japanese: ガール (gāru)

Etymological Dictionary of the German Language

de:Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache

From Middle English gerle, girle, gyrle (“young person (boy or girl)”), perhaps from Old English *gyrele, from Proto-West Germanic *gurilā, from a zero-grade diminutive of *gaurā (“young child”) + *-ilā. Ultimately of unknown origin. Doublet of gal/gyal and gyaru.

She had taught me to snort girl, and almost always when I came to her pad, there would be thin sparkling rows of crystal cocaine on the glass top of the cocktail table.

1969, Iceberg Slim, Pimp: The Story of My Life, Cash Money Content, published 2011, →ISBN, page 43:

Elijah nodded congenially to the early evening regulars in the Afro Lounge, headed straight for the telephone hung midway between the mens and womens, his nose smarting from a couple thick lines of recently snorted girl.

1977, Odie Hawkins, Chicago Hustle, Holloway House, published 1987, →ISBN, page 175:

After about an hour or two of half-ass sex and snorting girl, Honey was zoned out. […] She flexed her still numb fingers, trying to find a warmth that didn't seem to come. Cocaine always made her numb.

2005, K'wan, Hoodlum, St. Martin's Press, →ISBN, page 185:

Catch me playing with the plate, yeah I love the sauce
White girl in my nose, I need to clean it off

2016 July 22, “Bussin” (track 3), in Fenix Flexin (lyrics), Shoreline Mafia (music), Party Pack:

(US, slang, uncountable) Cocaine, especially in powder form.


concrete

en-noun

concrete (countable and uncountable, plural concretes)

Borrowed from Latin concrētus, past participle of concrescō (to curdle) from con- (with, together) + crescō (to grow, rise).

When Nudger and Claudia were finished eating they drove to the Ted Drewes frozen custard stand on Chippewa and stood in line for a couple of chocolate chip concretes. Drewes's concretes were delicious custard concoctions so thick that before the kids working behind the counter handed them to customers, they turned the cups upside down to demonstrate that the contents wouldn't pour out.

1990, John Lutz, Diamond Eyes, New York, N.Y.: Thomas Dunne Books, →ISBN, page 170:

Paradoxically richer and yet lighter than ice cream, frozen custard is softly served, and at Curly's you can have your I vanilla or chocolate flavor custard "concrete" style, with your choice of a rainbow of candy and fruit toppings whipped in.

2013, Jonanna Widner, Dallas & Fort Worth (Moon Handbooks), Berkeley, C.A.: Avalon Travel, →ISBN, page 86:

Once there, she opts for a concrete -- Nielsen's thick, spoonable, frozen vanilla custard mixed with add-ins like Oreos or strawberries or chocolate chips and piled into a 16-ounce cup for $4.35. She can't eat it all, of course, which is why a couple of friends need to come along as well.

2003 July 16, Candy Sagon, “Nielsen’s Frozen Custard in Vienna”, in The Washington Post, Washington, D.C.: The Washington Post Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2023-08-26:

A concrete has some distinct differences from a milkshake, specifically, the custard base mixture, the final texture, and the mix-ins. Technically, the common ice cream you buy at the store and use in a regular milkshake is made from a custard base. A custard is dairy thickened with the help of heated whole eggs or egg yolks, and a concrete uses a custard base that has a higher ratio of egg yolks in the recipe than the average ice cream.

2023 May 11, Allie Chanthorn Reinmann, “The Difference Between Milkshakes and Concretes (and How to Make Them)”, in Lifehacker, archived from the original on 2023-06-08:

(US) A dessert of frozen custard with various toppings.


case

From Middle English case, from Old Northern French casse, (compare Old French chasse (“box, chest, case”)), from Latin capsa (“box, bookcase”), from capiō (“to take, seize, hold”). Doublet of cash, chase, and chasse. Compare Spanish caja, Asturian caxa.

(US) A unit of liquid measure used to measure sales in the beverage industry, equivalent to 192 fluid ounces.


regular

en-adj

regular (comparative more regular, superlative most regular)

more regular (comparative)
most regular (superlative)

/ˈɹɛɡ.jʊ.lə/

/ˈɹɛɡ.jə.lɚ/

[ˈɹɛɡ.jɪ̈.lɚ]

From Middle English reguler, from Anglo-Norman reguler, Middle French reguler, regulier, and their source, Latin rēgulāris (“continuing rules for guidance”), from rēgula (“rule”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *reg- (“move in a straight line”).

مُنْتَظِمٌ

of a polygon: having all sides and corresponding angles equal

register

not etymologically related but has semantic associations

“I don’t see how you can write and act such splendid things, Jo. You’re a regular Shakespeare!” exclaimed Beth, who firmly believed that her sisters were gifted with wonderful genius in all things.

1868-69, Louisa May Alcott, chapter 21, in Little Women, part 1:

For a spell we done pretty well. Then there came a reg'lar terror of a sou'wester same as you don't get one summer in a thousand, and blowed the shanty flat and ripped about half of the weir poles out of the sand.

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

(chiefly US) Having the expected characteristics or appearances; normal, ordinary, standard.


pavement pizza

en-noun

pavement pizza (countable and uncountable, plural pavement pizzas)

That's so the little critters can go there and eat their little hearts out instead of getting them smashed out on the road as a part of a pavement pizza.

1995, Margaret Lawrence, “Cousin Cassie′s Cookin′”, in Annette J. Bruce, J. Stephen Brooks, editors, Sandspun: Florida Tales by Florida Tellers, page 43:

Had I been in an SUV, the kid would have been pavement pizza.

2004 September 13, Editorial Opinion, Philadelphia Daily News (PA):

If that schnauzer winds up pavement pizza, they′d love reporting me, they′d be checking my tires for fur in no time.

2005, Paul Frederick Kluge, Final Exam, page 21:


g'day

Golf Golf Whiskey Golf, cleared the ILS approach runway one two, contact Sault Tower one one eight decimal eight, g'day.

(Canada, US, air traffic control, informal) Denotes the end of a radio transmission.


mill

Sranan Tongo: miri

→ Hindi: मिल (mil)

From Middle English mylne, mille, from Old English mylen, from Proto-West Germanic *mulīnu (“mill”), from Late Latin molīna, molīnum, molīnus (“mill”), from Latin molō (“grind, mill”, verb), closely allied to Proto-Germanic *muljaną (“to crush, grind”) (see English millstone). Perhaps cognate with Milne (a surname). Doublet of moline, moulin, and blin.

cog

l-vocalizing: UK, General Australian, New Zealand

every miller draws water to his own mill

the mill cannot grind with water that is past

(US military slang, World War I, World War II) A military prison, either guardhouse or post prison.


PX

The prices at the PX are incredibly reduced.

Some straight legs caught a trooper at the post exchange (PX) one day and made him unblouse his boots.

2002, Jack Allsup, Mountains of Hope, page 50:

(US, military) Initialism of post exchange. The U.S. Army's Post Exchange.


BX

Despite the reduced price of goods at the BX, everything is of high quality.

(US, military) Initialism of base exchange, the U.S. Air Force's Base Exchange.


bird

→ Esperanto: birdo

From Middle English bird, brid, from Old English bridd (“chick, fledgling, chicken”), of uncertain origin (see Old English bridd for more). Originally from a term used of birds that could not fly (chicks, fledglings, chickens) as opposed to the general Old English term for flying birds, fugol (modern fowl). Gradually replaced fowl as the most common term starting in the 14th century.
The "booing/jeering" and "vulgar hand gesture" senses derived from the expression “to give the big bird”, as in “to hiss someone like a goose”, dated in the mid‐18th century.

inh

a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush

it's an ill bird that fouls its own nest

Never dirt on my knees
I'm just serving these fiends
Sell birds to the bees
I sell birds to the trees

2015 January 12, Lil Wayne (lyrics and music), “Sh!t” (track 2), in Sorry 4 the Wait 2:


one eighty out

I read you loud and clear but it's still 180-out.


four oh four

From the Internet HTTP error code 404 (Not Found).

Yup, clueless in Seattle, a 404 if I ever saw one.


four one one

The number 411 dialed in North America reaches directory assistance.

Can you give me the four one one on their next concert?


fifty six

(US, slang) Among policemen, "time off from work."


boom

en-verb

boom (third-person singular simple present booms, present participle booming, simple past and past participle boomed)

booms (present singular third-person)
booming (participle present)
boomed (participle past)
boomed (past)

Onomatopoeic, perhaps borrowed; compare German bummen, Dutch bommen (“to hum, buzz”). The sense "a period of economic growth" is generally taken to derive from the sense "a rapid expansion", although other origins have also been suggested.

If you pull this off every paper in England and America will be booming you.

1922, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, The Problem of Thor Bridge:

(slang, US, obsolete) To publicly praise.


snake

snake (third-person singular simple present snakes, present participle snaking, simple past and past participle snaked)

snakes (present singular third-person)
snaking (participle present)
snaked (participle past)
snaked (past)
snek (alternative)

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

From Middle English snake, from Old English snaca (“snake, serpent, reptile”), from Proto-West Germanic *snakō (“snake”) (compare German Low German Snake, Snaak (“snake”), dialectal German Schnake (“adder”), Swedish snok (“grass snake”), Danish snog (“grass snake”), Icelandic snákur (“snake”)), derived via Proto-Germanic *snakô from Proto-Germanic *snakaną (“to crawl”) (compare Old High German snahhan), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)neg- (“to crawl; a creeping thing”). Cognate with Sanskrit नाग (nāgá, “snake”)). Doublet of nāga.

der

November 27 1835, N.B. St. John, letter to George Thompson
his wife and children shall not be forced to flee from the hearth of a friend, lest they should be snaked out by men in civic authority

(US, informal) To drag or draw, as a snake from a hole; often with out.


wax

en-noun

wax (countable and uncountable, plural waxes)

From Middle English wax, from Old English weax, from Proto-Germanic *wahsą, possibly from Proto-Indo-European *woḱ-so-.
Cognate with Saterland Frisian Woaks (“wax”), West Frisian waaks (“wax”), Dutch was (“wax”), German Wachs (“wax”), Norwegian voks (“wax”); and with Lithuanian vaškas (“wax”), Proto-Slavic *voskъ (“wax”).

(US, dialect) A thick syrup made by boiling down the sap of the sugar maple and then cooling it.

(US, slang) A type of drugs with as main ingredients weed oil and butane; hash oil.


beeswax

beeswax (usually uncountable, plural beeswaxes)

mind your own beeswax
mind your own beeswax#English

none of your beeswax
none of your beeswax#English

(informal, Canada, US, humorous) “Business”, as in such phrases as mind your own beeswax and none of your beeswax.


right

From Middle English right, righte, from Old English rihte, rehte (“right; rightly; due; directly; straight”), from Proto-Germanic *rehta, from *rehtaz (“right; straight”).

ryght (alternative)
reight (alternative)
rite (alternative)

it doesn't matter what they say about you as long as they spell your name right

I made a right stupid mistake there, didn't I?

I stubbed my toe a week ago and it still hurts right much.

a right godly treatise

1549, John Calvin, Of the life or conuersation of a Christen man, a right godly treatise:

That's long enough for any small town." Lyon leaned forward. "Do you like Lawrenceville, Mr. Hill?" The driver cocked his head. "Aeah. Why not? Born here. It's a right nice town

1966, Jacqueline Susann, Valley of the Dolls, page 214:

Well, that would be right neighborly of you, miss.

But it would be right neighborly and Christian of you to put your own wants aside for a spell.

The fog was right hard to see through so I was on Tom Pritchard before I saw him.

2011, Ann Hite, Ghost on Black Mountain:

Kids nowadays were a right thrillproof bunch. The Armoury Section had, unexpectedly, proved to be a real moodclunker.

2015, Jeff Torrington, Swing Hammer Swing!, page 255:

(British, US, dialect) Very, extremely, quite.


grandfather

en-verb

grandfather (third-person singular simple present grandfathers, present participle grandfathering, simple past and past participle grandfathered)

grandfathers (present singular third-person)
grandfathering (participle present)
grandfathered (participle past)
grandfathered (past)

From grandfather clause: see grandfather (etymology 1) and clause.

/ˈɡɹændˌfɑːðə/

/ˈɡɹæn(d)ˌfɑðɚ/

[ˈɡɹ̠(ʷ)ẽˑə̯̃n(d)ˌfɑˑðɚ]

Had the original work been permitted, it would be grandfathered into any code changes each time they occurred, Arvada officials said. The latest came in 2006.

2009 June 19, David Migoya, “Arvada homes haunted by past due code violations”, in The Denver Post, Denver, Colo.: Digital First Media, published 6 May 2016 (update), →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2017-12-03:

Old power plants are sometimes grandfathered from having to meet new clean air requirements.

2013 October 22, Alan Greenblatt, “The Racial History of the Grandfather Clause”, in NPR, archived from the original on 2019-03-30:

In 1915, the Supreme Court ruled unanimously in Guinn v. United States that grandfather clauses were unconstitutional. […] The decision had almost no effect, however. The Oklahoma Legislature met in special session to grandfather in the grandfather clause. The new law said those who had been registered in 1914 – whites under the old system – were automatically registered to vote, while African-Americans could only register between April 30 and May 11, 1916, or forever be disenfranchised. That law stayed on the books until a Supreme Court ruling in 1939.

With the signing of the Medical Devices Amendment to the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic in 1976, the FDA [Food and Drug Administration] gained regulatory authority over [breast] implants, but the existing Cronin-Gerow implants were grandfathered, making them exempt from the new legislation.

2014, Matthew J. Fullana, Gary E. Wnek, “History of Techniques and Materials Used in Volume Enhancement”, in Charles K. Herman, Berish Strauch, editors, Encyclopedia of Aesthetic Rejuvenation through Volume Enhancement, New York, N.Y.: Thieme Medical Publishers, →ISBN, section 2.5.1 (Silicone Breast Implants), page 12:

The U.S. Army says a Kentucky National Guard soldier with aspirations of joining a U.S. Army special operations unit is grandfathered in under new regulations concerning soldiers with tattoos and asked a federal judge to dismiss his lawsuit. […] The regulations went into effect in March and ban tattoos below the knee or elbow. Soldiers who already have the ink are grandfathered in. Under the new regulations, any soldier with tattoos is barred from seeking a promotion to warrant officer or commissioning as an officer.

2014 July 14, Associated Press, “Army: Soldier grandfathered in under tattoo policy”, in The Washington Times, Washington, D.C.: The Washington Times, LLC, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2014-07-15:

In practice, most of the regimes reviewed by the FHTP [Forum on Harmful Tax Practices] during its early years and which were abolished were either terminated without grandfathering or included grandfathering within this maximum five-year period.

2017 November, “Annex B: Guidance on Closing Off of Regimes and Grandfathering for non-IP Regimes”, in Harmful Tax Practices – 2017 Progress Report on Preferential Regimes: Inclusive Framework on BEPS: Action 5 (OECD/G20 Base Erosion and Profit Shifing Project), Paris: OECD Publishing, →DOI, →ISBN, →ISSN, page 27:

(transitive, chiefly US, law) To retain discontinued laws or rules for (an object, individual or organization previously affected by them).

anteriorar

to retain existing laws or rules for a thing, person or organization previously affected by them


uncle

Etymology tree
Proto-Indo-European *h₂éwh₂os
Latin avunculus
Old French unclebor.
Middle English uncle
English uncle
From Middle English uncle, borrowed from Anglo-Norman uncle and Old French oncle, from Vulgar Latin *aunclum, from Latin avunculus (“maternal uncle”, literally “little grandfather”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂euh₂-n-tlo- (“little grandfather”), a dialectal diminutive of *h₂éwh₂ō (“grandfather, adult male relative other than one’s father”) (whence also Latin avus (“grandfather”)). Displaced native Middle English em (“uncle”) from Old English ēam (“maternal uncle”), containing the same Proto-Indo-European root, and Old English fædera (“paternal uncle”). Compare Saterland Frisian Unkel (“uncle”), Dutch nonkel (“uncle”), German Low German Unkel (“uncle”), German Onkel (“uncle”), Danish onkel (“uncle”). More at eam and eame.

der

(US, colloquial) A cry used to indicate surrender.


cousin

en-verb

cousin (third-person singular simple present cousins, present participle cousining, simple past and past participle cousined)

cousins (present singular third-person)
cousining (participle present)
cousined (participle past)
cousined (past)

The noun is derived from Middle English cosin, cosine, cosyn (“blood relative, kinsman or kinswoman; any relative; nephew or niece; first cousin; grandson or granddaughter; descendant; godchild or godparent, or a relative of a godchild or godparent; (figurative) closely related or similar thing”) [and other forms], and then:
* from Anglo-Norman cosen, cosin [and other forms], Middle French cosin, and Old French cosin (“collateral male relative more distant than one’s brother; form of address used by a monarch to male monarchs or nobles”) [and other forms] (modern French cousin); and
* from Anglo-Norman cosine, Middle French cosine, and Old French cosine (“collateral female relative more distant than one’s sister; form of address used by a monarch to female monarchs or nobles”) [and other forms] (modern French cousine),
from Latin cōnsobrīnus (“maternal cousin; first cousin; relation”) (possibly through Vulgar Latin *cōsuīnus, from *cōsobīnus), from con- (prefix denoting a bringing together of several objects) + sobrīnus (“maternal cousin; sister’s son; any nephew”) (from a noun use of Proto-Italic *swezrīnos (“of or belonging to a sister”, adjective) (with the first syllable influenced by Latin soror (“sister”)), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *swésōr (“sister”), possibly from *swé (“self”) + *h₁ésh₂r̥ (“blood”) (that is, a woman of one’s own blood) or *-sōr (feminine suffix)).
The verb is derived from the noun.

nb...

coosin, cosen, coseyn, cosigne, cosing, cossen, cossin, cossigne, cossine, cossyn, cossyne, cosyne, cosynne, cousin, cousine, cousyn, cozyn, cusin, cusine, cussyn, cusyn, kosen, kosin, kosyn

der

In an appendix to The Mechanic Muse, he [Hugh Kenner] finds Victorian symbolist practice serving to release the signifier from centuries of post-Enlightenment confusion about the proper wedding (or at least cousining) of word and thing.

1999, Garrett Stewart, “Modernism and the Flicker Effect”, in Between Film and Screen: Modernism’s Photo Synthesis, Chicago, Ill., London: University of Chicago Press, →ISBN, page 310:

[P]atients would escape into the town for a bit of a fling or "cousining" as it was called. "Cousining" was a Saranac Lake euphemism that applied to a couple, both of them patients and sometimes already married with a spouse living far away, who spent time together or dated each other.

2007, Caperton Tissot, quoting Elise Chapin, “Some Offered Healing, Some Found Healing”, in Willem Tissot, editor, History between the Lines: Women’s Lives and Saranac Lake Customs, Jay, N.Y.: Graphics North, →ISBN, pages 110–111:

The UK has fiscal arithmetic cousined with that of Greece, but is dealing with it.

2012, David Roche, Bob McKee, “The Moral Failure of Democracy”, in Democrisis: Democracy Caused the Debt Crisis. Will It Survive It?, [London]: Independent Strategy, →ISBN, pages 12–13:

(intransitive, chiefly US, informal or regional)

To associate with someone or something on a close basis.

veljeillä

to associate with someone on a close basis

You know when you get up in the morning that you have a certain quantity of cousining to go through before the day is over, and you make up your mind to it; read a page of Seneca, add a verse to your litany, and commit yourself to Providence, like a wise man and a Christian.

1836 July, “A Chapter on Cousins”, in Dublin University Magazine, volume VIII, number XLIII, Dublin: William Curry, Jun. and Company; London: Simpkin, Marshall, and Co., →OCLC, page 28, column 1:

Who then that has a cousin, has aught to say against cousining? We do indeed often her sneeringly the expression of "Dutch cousining" or "Yankee cousining," as if there was something mean in the act of visiting those who are "next of kin." To such as do it, I feel an unconquerable aversion or excessive pity; as they appear censorious or betray a stupidity that cannot feel a consanguine tie beyond their hearth.

1845 October 20, B. C. True, “Cousining in Autumn”, in Thomas L. Harris, John Tanner, editors, The Gavel: A Monthly Periodical Devoted to Odd Fellowship and General Literature, volume II, number 3, Albany, N.Y.: John Tanner, published November 1845, →OCLC, page 80:

It isn't the thing for a man to be like a stranger to his own flesh and blood. I'm going cousining, Sue, down East, and I'll hunt up my relations.

1887 June, Herminius Cobb, “[The Household.] Mr. Blossom Visits His Relations.”, in The American Magazine: Supplement, volume I (New Series; volume VI overall), number 2, New York, N.Y.: The American Magazine Company, […]; London: The Christian Million Company, →OCLC, page 245, column 1:

The pretty wren perches now in the Governor's house—a-cousining, a-cousining.

1895, Gilbert Parker, “As Vain as Absalom”, in The Seats of the Mighty […], Toronto, Ont.: The Copp, Clark Company, published 1896, →OCLC, page 87:

In 1878 they were married in the Mormon Temple in St. George, 300 miles away, and he drove her back home in a hay wagon in eight days. They "cousined" (stopped with relatives) all the way.

1959 January 5, “An 80th Wedding Anniversary”, in Henry R[obinson] Luce, editor, Life, volume 46, number 1, Chicago, Ill., New York, N.Y.: Time Inc., →ISSN, →OCLC, page 78:


bathroom

bathrooms (plural)
bath room (alternative)
bath-room (alternative)

→ Hindi: बाथरूम (bāthrūm)

→ Urdu: باتھ روم (bāth-rūm)

Etymology tree
Proto-Indo-European *bʰeh₁-
Proto-Germanic *baþą
Proto-West Germanic *baþ
Old English bæþ
Middle English bath
English bath
Proto-West Germanic *rūm
Old English rūm
Middle English roum
English room
English bathroom
From bath + room. Compare Dutch badkamer (“bathroom”), German Badezimmer (“bathroom”), Swedish badrum (“bathroom”), Faroese baðrúm (“bathroom”).

etymon

A public bathroom reserved for use by men

A public bathroom reserved for use by women

A secondary bathroom containing only a toilet and sink

A temporary structure used as a bathroom

Most Americans don't know 'WC' and many Brits mock 'bathroom' but almost everyone understands 'toilet' or 'lavatory'.

(chiefly US, South Africa, Canada, Philippines, Australia, euphemistic) A lavatory (area where one washes or bathes): a room containing a toilet and (typically but not necessarily) a bathtub.


car

→ French: car

→ Russian: кар (kar)

⇒ Sanskrit: कारयान (kārayāna)

→ Japanese: カー (kā)

→ Hindi: कार (kār)

→ Urdu: کار (kār)

Inherited from Middle English carre, borrowed from Anglo-Norman carre, from Old Northern French (compare Old French char), from Latin carrus (“two-wheeled baggage wagon”), from Gaulish *karros, from Proto-Celtic *karros (“wagon”), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱr̥sós (“vehicle”). Doublet of horse.

der

The conductor coupled the cars to the locomotive.

Any vehicle designed to run on rails, especially an unpowered one towed by being connected to others.

(rail transport, chiefly Canada, US) An unpowered unit in a railroad train, used to hold either passengers or cargo.

Buy now! You can get more car for your money.

(uncountable, US, informal) The aggregate of desirable characteristics of a car.

(US) A floating perforated box for living fish.


wing

wings (plural)
weng (alternative)
whing (alternative)
wyng (alternative)

From Middle English winge, wenge, from Old Norse vængr ("wing of a flying animal, wing of a building"; compare vængi (“ship's cabin”)), from Proto-Germanic *wēingijaz, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂weh₁- (“to blow”), thus related to wind. Cognate with Danish vinge (“wing”), Swedish vinge (“wing”), Icelandic vængur (“wing”).
Replaced native Middle English fither (from Old English fiþre, from Proto-Germanic *fiþriją), which merged with Middle English fether (from Old English feþer, from Proto-Germanic *feþrō). More at feather.

gl

"wing of a flying animal, wing of a building"; compare <i class="Latn mention" lang="non">vængi</i> (“ship's cabin”)

der

An organizational grouping in a military aviation service:

(US) A larger formation of two or more groups, which in turn control two or more squadrons.


hot

en-adj

hot (comparative hotter, superlative hottest)

hotter (comparative)
hottest (superlative)

From Middle English hot, hat, from Old English hāt, from Proto-Germanic *haitaz (“hot”), from Proto-Indo-European *keHy- (“hot; to heat”). Cognate with Scots hate, hait (“hot”), North Frisian hiet (“hot”), Saterland Frisian heet (“hot”), West Frisian hjit (“hot”).

der

a hot wire

Active, in use or ready for use (like a bullet or a firing range), turned on (like a microphone or camera).

(US, not comparable) Electrically charged.


rainbow

From Middle English reynbowe, raynbowe, from Old English reġnboga (“rainbow”), from Proto-West Germanic *regnabogō, from Proto-Germanic *regnabugô (“rainbow”), equivalent to rain + bow (“arch”). Cognate with West Frisian reinbôge (“rainbow”), Dutch regenboog (“rainbow”), German Regenbogen (“rainbow”), Danish regnbue (“rainbow”), Swedish regnbåge (“rainbow”), Icelandic regnbogi (“rainbow”).

That Asian-American actor Thomas Ikeda contributes a pleasingly frantic Panthino would not be considered rainbow enough.

1994, John Simon, Of Dogs, Their Masters, and Others, in New York magazine, September 5 1994, page 51

He went along with them because the Pack was a rainbow group — two Italian-Americans, a black man, a Jew (Bishop), and a sometime Englishman (Lawford) — and they were making a point.

2006, Anthony Summers, Robbyn Swan, Sinatra: The Life, page 246:

The 1999 June elections led to a surprise change in the governing coalition from the long-term ruling Christian Democrats to a rainbow group of Greens, Liberals, and Socialists.

2007, Melissa Haussman, Birgit Sauer, Gendering the state in the age of globalization, page 67:

[…] it seemed to me to be naive indeed for the Liberal Democrats to believe that they could simply enter into a rainbow alliance against the Labour Government.

2007, Hooson, in a Letter to the Western Mail, 19 June 2007, published in Crossing the Rubicon: coalition politics Welsh style by John Osmond, page 28

Mayawati has succeeded in building a social coalition that inverts the pyramid of caste/class hierarchy by building a rainbow alliance of social groups, now dominated by that greatest underclass of all, namely Dalits.

2008, Bidyut Chakrabarty, Indian politics and society since independence, page 76:

(attributive, chiefly US) Made up of several races or ethnicities, or (more broadly) of several cultural or ideological factions.


xerox

Genericized trademark from Xerox (“a photocopier”), from xerography, from Ancient Greek ξηρός (xērós, “dry”) and γραφή (graphḗ, “writing”).

Hand me that xerox, would you?

There were twenty pictures in the envelope, xeroxes but clear enough. They documented the scene pretty much as I imagined it.

2009, David Ebershoff, The 19th Wife, Random House, →ISBN, page 142:

(Philippines, India, dated in Canada, US, colloquial, informal) A photocopy.

The xerox broke down yesterday.

(dated, Canada, US, colloquial, informal) A photocopier.


xerox

en-verb

xerox (third-person singular simple present xeroxes, present participle xeroxing, simple past and past participle xeroxed)

xeroxes (present singular third-person)
xeroxing (participle present)
xeroxed (participle past)
xeroxed (past)
Xerox (alternative)

I xeroxed the report for all the people at the meeting.

(Philippines, India, dated in Canada, US, colloquial, informal) To make a paper copy or copies by means of a photocopier.


iceberg

→ Azerbaijani: aysberq

→ French: iceberg

→ Spanish: iceberg

desc

→ Portuguese: iceberg, icebergue, aicebergue (prescriptive)

→ Turkish: aysberg

→ Welsh: eisbyrg

→ Welsh: mynydd iâ (calque)

→ Welsh: rhewfryn (calque)

Partial calque of Dutch ijsberg (compound of ijs (“ice”) + berg (“mountain”)), from Middle Dutch ijsberch. First used to describe a glacier as seen at a distance from a ship then used as a term to describe the floating chunks of ice broken off from such glaciers. Cognate to German Eisberg, Danish isbjerg, Norwegian isberg and Swedish isberg. Figurative senses in reference to the fact that only one-tenth of an iceberg is usually visible above water.

(US, slang) An aloof person. [from 19th c.]


finger

Sranan Tongo: finga

PIE word
 *pénkʷe
From Middle English fynger, finger, from Old English finger (“finger”), from Proto-West Germanic *fingr, from Proto-Germanic *fingraz (“finger”), from Proto-Indo-European *penkʷrós, from *pénkʷe (“five”). Compare West Frisian finger, Low German/German Finger, Dutch vinger, Danish, Norwegian, and Swedish finger; also Old Armenian հինգեր-որդ (hinger-ord, “fifth”). More at five.

sormi

something similar in function to a finger

Something similar in function or agency to the human finger, (usually) with regard to touching, grasping, or pointing.

(US, obsolete slang) A policeman or prison guard.

(US, rare slang) An informer to the police, (especially) one who identifies a criminal during a lineup.

(US, rare slang) A criminal who scouts for prospective victims and targets or who performs reconnaissance before a crime.

Gimme three fingers of bourbon.

(units of measure) Various units of measure based or notionally based on the adult human finger, particularly

(originally US) An informal measure of alcohol based on its height in a given glass compared to the width of the pourer's fingers while holding it.