your mom

your mother (alternative)
your mum (alternative)
yo momma (alternative)
ur mom (alternative)

Conrad: I am not sure if this phrase is commonly used...
Dominic: Your mom is commonly used.

Student 1: Why are you being such a douche about it?
Student 2: Your mom. [intentionally nonsequitous type of use]

Deb: Well, isn't anyone else here trying to earn money for college?
Kip: Your mom goes to college.

2004, Jared Hess, Jared Hess, directed by Jared Hess, Napoleon Dynamite, Fox Searchlight Pictures:

(derogatory, slang, chiefly US) A general-purpose insult, often used to comedic effect due to becoming stale.


marabou

marabous (plural)
marabu (alternative)
marabout (alternative)

From French marabou, an older spelling of marabout.

Madimarian , a Marabou, killed me a bullock; I give him one bottle of powder.

1815, Mungo Park, The Journal of a Mission to the Interior of Africa:

(dated, US, Louisiana) A person having five-eighths black ancestry; the offspring of a mulatto and a griffe.


inimicable

en-adj

inimicable (comparative more inimicable, superlative most inimicable)

more inimicable (comparative)
most inimicable (superlative)

Apparently a confused Blend of inimical + amicable.


homestead

Ultimately from Old English hamstede through an unattested Middle English word. Cognate with German Heimstatt, Dutch heemstede and Swedish hemstad. By surface analysis, home + stead.

чифлик

He owned exactly six hundred and forty acres of what stretched outside his door; his own original homestead and timber claim, making three hundred and twenty acres, and the half-section adjoining, the homestead of a younger brother who had given up the fight, gone back to Chicago to work in a fancy bakery […]

1913, Willa Cather, chapter 2, in O Pioneers!, Part 1:

A house together with surrounding land and buildings, especially on a farm; the property comprising these.

(Canada, US) A parcel of land in the interior of North America, usually 160 acres, that was distributed to settlers from Europe or eastern North America under the Dominion Lands Act of 1870 in Canada or the Homestead Act of 1862 in the United States.


craptacular

craptacular (comparative more craptacular, superlative most craptacular)

more craptacular (comparative)
most craptacular (superlative)

The movie was so craptacular that it generated legions of ironic fans who watched it over and over solely to mock it mercilessly.

The craptacular Cirrus Logic chipset is nailed to the PCB. Luckily, adding a soundcard resolves this issue.

2000 November, Scott Tarr, “Thumpin' Thunderbirds”, in Maximum PC, volume 5, number 11, page 80:

Homer has been known to sit on his couch excitedly clutching a pennant reading MID-SEASON, as he waits to drink in such craptacular Fox-TV mid-season fare as America's Funniest Tornadoes, All in the Family 1999 and Admiral Baby.

2004, Chris Turner, Planet Simpson, →ISBN, page 82:

He'd signed a contract when he was accepted to the university giving ownership of all his ideas to the school forever, in exchange for the promise of someday adding “P.h.D.” to his name. It hadn't seemed like a good idea at the time, but the alternative was the awesomely craptacular job market, and so he'd signed it.

2010, Cory Doctorow, For the Win, →ISBN, page 127:

(US, slang, vulgar) Spectacularly awful; so poor in quality as to become a spectacle.


layette

(US, military) A bin for storing equipment parts prior to their use.


debarment

en-noun

debarment (countable and uncountable, plural debarments)

(US, law) In the United States Food and Drugs Act, a penalty imposed on persons or companies that commit crimes in connection with applications for approval of drugs, in which such persons are barred from submitting or assisting in the submission of such an application.


debar

en-verb

debar (third-person singular simple present debars, present participle debarring, simple past and past participle debarred)

debars (present singular third-person)
debarring (participle present)
debarred (participle past)
debarred (past)

(US, law, transitive) To prohibit (a person or company that has been convicted of criminal acts in connection with a government program) from future participation in that program.


fink

fink (third-person singular simple present finks, present participle finking, simple past and past participle finked)

finks (present singular third-person)
finking (participle present)
finked (participle past)
finked (past)

Chicago Record
George Ade
Homestead strike
Pinkerton (detective agency)

Unknown; first attested in 1894. A connection to Yiddish as some propose is unlikely.
Suggested origins include:
* German Fink (“finch; frivolous or dissolute person; informer”) as finches are notoriously chatty birds in groups. If so, then Doublet of finch. Compare canary (“informer”).
* Partly from the German theory, a fanciful association by students with the freedom of wild birds as opposed to caged ones.
* The slang name pink for Pinkerton agents and their use as strikebreakers in the 1892 Homestead strike. If the term is from the corporate name, then it is of Scots origin, Pinkerton being from a place near Dunbar, which is from an unrecognized first element (possibly ultimately pre-Celtic substrate) and Old English tun (“enclosure, homestead, etc.”).

der

“I move that we determine through a thorough investigation whether the new worker is a fink or no; and if he is a fink, let us discover who heʼs finking for!”

1952, Ralph Ellison, Invisible Man, Penguin Books (2014), page 222:

(chiefly US, slang) To betray a trust; to inform on.


blivit

Coined by American writer Kurt Vonnegut.

(US, slang) Something useless or impossible.


radarman

(US, naval) A person who operates all navigational and communications systems.


neoconservative

Coordinate term: paleoconservative

The neoliberals stand today in somewhat the position neoconservatives occupied a decade ago. Their ambition is to attain the influence in liberal politics that the neoconservatives have attained in conservative politics.

1984 May 15, Walter Goodman, “AS NEOLIBERALS SEARCH FOR CLOSEST FIT, HART IS OFTEN MENTIONED”, in The New York Times:


neoconservative

Coordinate term: paleoconservative

There have been suggestions by a number of American neoconservative hawks to denuke Iran with “swift, massive, devastating force that decapitates the regime.

2014, Jahangir Amuzegar, The Islamic Republic of Iran: Reflections on an Emerging Economy:


severance tax

en-noun

severance tax (countable and uncountable, plural severance taxes)

(US) A state tax on the extraction of nonrenewable natural resources (such as minerals, petroleum, or natural gas) that will be used in another state.


beefaroni

(US) a baked dish of macaroni, ground beef, cheese and tomato sauce


saltpeter

saltpeter (usually uncountable, plural saltpeters)


saltpeter

en-verb

saltpeter (third-person singular simple present saltpeters, present participle saltpetering, simple past and past participle saltpetered)

saltpeters (present singular third-person)
saltpetering (participle present)
saltpetered (participle past)
saltpetered (past)


elevator music

Used in the first elevators to reduce anxiousness.

(US, Canada) Bland, inoffensive music played as a background in elevators and businesses (such as offices and shopping malls).


Turkey Day

After the turkey, the traditional main course of Thanksgiving dinner, and an occasional motif in Thanksgiving decorations.

Thanksgiving.— This Day will be observed in all the New England States, except Massachusetts, as a day of public Thanksgiving. It will be Turkey-day in this State, this day week.

1835 November 26, Boston Morning Post (1835-11-26):

(US, informal) Thanksgiving; an American holiday celebrated on the fourth Thursday of November.


spotter

contrasted with the Übungsleiter m meaning “trainer”

(US) A person who gives directions for a crane or vehicle (that is challenging to navigate) from a different point of view to the moved load.

the same function in the air force is also called Kampfbeobachter

then there is the term Beobachtungsoffizier m in general


yellowhammer

yellowhammers (plural)
yellow-ammer (alternative)
yellow-hammer (alternative)

Alteration (influenced by hammer) of earlier yelambre, yelamber, from Middle English *yelwambre, from yelwe (“yellow”) + *ambre (“yellowhammer”), from Old English amore, related to Old High German amaro (“yellowhammer”) (see modern German Ammer).

Colaptes auratus
Colaptes auratus#Translingual

(US) The northern flicker, Colaptes auratus.


injun

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

1805–15; variant of Indian. Compare Cajun.

We'll kill ourselves an injun, and maybe two or three!

You want a problem, well I guess we got one now / I really don't know how / There's injuns over every goddamn hill

1999, “What Do You Want Me to Say?”, in Emergency & I, performed by the Dismemberment Plan:

Instead of grudgingly admitting the “Injuns” weren’t so bad after all, it actually explores the conflicted culpability of individual white Americans.

2024 February 2, Ellen E. Jones, “Beyond the pale: where are all the films about ‘whiteness’?”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:

(US, slang, offensive) A Native American.

en:Native American name controversy#Controversial terminology


redstart

Inherited from Middle English *redstert; equivalent to red + start (“tail”). Compare Dutch roodstaart, Danish rødstjert.

(Canada, US) A species of warbler native to the Americas, Setophaga ruticilla, only distantly related to Phoenicurus.


submarine sandwich

en-noun

submarine sandwich (plural submarine sandwiches)

US ante-1940. From its resemblance to a submarine.

"Well, honey, you can have spaghetti and meat balls," said the girl. "But why don't you order a submarine sandwich? My, that's good! Mmm."
"What is a submarine sandwich?"
"Well, a submarine sandwich comes two ways, the 15¢ one is seven inches long, and for a quarter you get one twelve inches long—"

1942, Ludwig Bemelmans, “Vacation”, in I Love You, I Love You, I Love You!, New York: Viking Press, pages 147–148:

(US, Canada) A sandwich made on a long, cylindrical roll split lengthwise.


poontang

poontang (countable and uncountable, plural poontangs)

poontangs (plural)
pootang (alternative)

Origin uncertain. Likely from French putain (“prostitute”). Compare Jamaican Creole punani (“female genitalia”); also Tagalog putang ina (“contemptible person”, literally “prostitute-mother”) from Spanish puta (“prostitute”).

cog

(US, colloquial, vulgar) Female genitalia; the vulva or vagina.

That must have been some poontang you got last night.

2014, Marlon James, A Brief History of Seven Killings, Oneworld Publications (2015), page 193:

(US, slang, vulgar, uncountable) Sexual intercourse with a woman.

(US, slang, vulgar, dated, derogatory, offensive) A woman, especially when discussed from a heavily sexualized, sexist, and misogynist perspective.


Black Friday

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

From black (“bad; ill-omened; marked by disaster”). Friday is an ill-omened day according to ancient superstition, so a Friday that was darkened by another ill-omen (such as being the 13th) or an actual disaster became known as "Black Friday". Philadelphia police applied the term to the day after Thanksgiving because the large number of people out shopping made traffic chaotic. Later, PR efforts purposely invented the incorrect, more positive "etymology" (which is a very popular urban legend and false etymology that was even in Wiktionary from 2008 to 2015) that the name was given because this day is supposedly the first day of the year on which retailers typically posted profits ('in the black') rather than losses ('in the red').

Coordinate term: Cyber Monday

en:day after US Thanksgiving, a busy shopping day

(US, Canada, UK, business, retailing) The day after US Thanksgiving Day, generally regarded as the first day of the Christmas season, and the busiest shopping day of the year. Observed in the US, Canada, and more recently to an extent, the UK.


gurney

Unknown. Possibly from Gurney cab, a type of horse-drawn cab on wheels named after Theodore Gurney, the US inventor credited with creating and patenting it in about 1883. For the surname, see Gurney.

Yet her vision has narrowed strangely (good, for she was in a medical facility, if she were having a hemorrhage or a stroke it could not be happening at a more convenient time) so that she was able to see little in the fluorescent-lit space except the man who lay motionless on a gurney beneath the strongest of the lights.

2001, Joyce Carol Oates, Middle Age: A Romance, paperback edition, Fourth Estate, page 22:

I’m pretty sure I didn’t actively steer towards the tree, but… I don’t know. I just remember that wave of despair and then the EMTs pulling me out of the car and putting me on a gurney.

2005, Jeph Jacques, Questionable Content, Number 506: The Talk, Part 7


baseboard

(US, carpentry, interior decoration) A panel or molding between the floor and the interior wall of a structure.

(US) A similar panel at the base of a piece of furniture or equipment.

jalkalista

similar panel at the base of piece of furniture


grade school

In contrast to high schools, the subsequent secondary school type, classes of this kind of school do not have typical nicknames.
In a grade school all classes are simply enumerated 1st to 8th grade (called form or year in British English).
In a high school, on the other hand, school year groups are in everyday parlance referred to as freshman/sophomore/junior/senior year.

(US, Philippines, rarely Canada, education) Elementary school; primary school.


EITC

en-noun

EITC (usually uncountable, plural EITCs)

(US, taxation) Initialism of earned income tax credit.


micrometer

[ˈmaɪkɹoʊˌmiːɾɚ]


NAF

National Arbitration Forum
w:National Arbitration Forum

(US) Initialism of National Arbitration Forum.


bean-eater

bean-eaters (plural)
bean eater (alternative)
beaneater (alternative)

The sense referring to Mexicans is explained by beans being a staple of Mexican cuisine. The sense referring to Bostonians came from a time when navy beans were a staple in Boston, especially as Boston baked beans. It is sometimes said to have originated in reference to immigrants there, but in usage it more often has referred to Boston Brahmins just as much as other Bostonians, and the assertion may well be only an ill-founded assumption.

(US, derogatory, offensive, ethnic slur) A Mexican.

(US, derogatory, dated) A Bostonian (a person from Boston, Massachusetts).


swift boat

en-verb

swift boat (third-person singular simple present swift boats, present participle swift boating, simple past and past participle swift boated)

swift boats (present singular third-person)
swift boating (participle present)
swift boated (participle past)
swift boated (past)
swiftboat (alternative)
Swift Boat (alternative)

John Kerry
Swift Boat Veterans for Truth

From a 2004 campaign by political group Swift Boat Veterans for Truth to challenge the legitimacy of each combat medal awarded by the U.S. Navy to presidential candidate John Kerry, and the disposition of his discharge.

“There is simply the desire to paint an entire religion as the enemy,” he said. Referring to Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, the founder of the proposed Muslim center near ground zero, “What they did to Imam Feisal was highly strategic. The signal was, we can Swift Boat your most moderate leaders.”

2010 September 6, Laurie Goodstein, “American Muslims Ask, Will We Ever Belong?”, in New York Times:

Swift-boating is the new term used to describe a dirty campaign that tries to paint a war hero as unpatriotic.

2007, Lee Iacocca, Where have all the leaders gone?:

Swift-boating's essence is a particular kind of dishonesty, or rather a particular combination of shadowy dishonesties. It usually involves a complex web of facts, many of which may even be true.

2008, Michael Kinsley, “To Swift-Boat or Not”, in Time:

(US, neologism, derogatory, transitive) to put forth sensational negative stories about a political figure as part of a smear campaign against them, especially regarding their military record


blackcap

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

Other times the cat would run off to the hunting grounds, either the swamps or the Astroni, and when the hunters shot down an oriole or a great tit or a blackcap [translating capofuscolo], she collected them and presented them to the king with the same message.

2007, Giambattista Basile, translated by Nancy L. Canepa, Tale of Tales, Penguin, II.4:

black-capped chickadee
black-capped chickadee

(obsolete, UK, US, dialectal) Any of various species of titmouse (of the family Paridae), including the black-capped chickadee (Poecile atricapillus, syn. Parus atricapillus).

(Canada, US) Whitebark raspberry (Rubus leucodermis).


take it up the ass

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

takes it up the ass (present singular third-person)
taking it up the ass (participle present)
took it up the ass (past)
taken it up the ass (participle past)
take it up the arse (alternative)

She doesn't take it up the ass? Dealbreaker.

(US, vulgar, idiomatic) To be the recipient of anal sex.

I've really been having to keep my head down to avoid really having to take it up the ass too hard at work.

(US, vulgar, idiomatic) To be cheated or treated unfairly.


honky

honkies (plural)
honkey (alternative)
honkie (alternative)

Sense of “factory hand” attested from 1946. Compare hunky, bohunk.
Most likely from hunky (“Hungarian, Slav, eastern European; any white person”), an African-American vernacular shortening of Hungarian. Another possible etymon is Wolof xonq (“red, pink”), a term frequently used in African languages to describe white men.
As a term of racial abuse it was popularized by the Black Panther Party starting from 1967, who sought a rebuttal to nigger.

For quotations using this term, see Citations:honky.

(US, Canada, derogatory, ethnic slur) A white (Caucasian) person.

(US, obsolete) A factory hand or general unskilled worker.


bunco

en-noun

bunco (countable and uncountable, plural buncos or buncoes)

buncos (plural)
buncoes (plural)
bunko (alternative)

Reportedly from Spanish banca, a card game.

(US, slang) A swindle or confidence trick.


bunco

en-verb

bunco (third-person singular simple present buncos, present participle buncoing, simple past and past participle buncoed)

buncos (present singular third-person)
buncoing (participle present)
buncoed (participle past)
buncoed (past)
bunko (alternative)

They felt very sorry (so they said) for the poor old eleventh company having been buncoed into taking such an awful pack of useless recruits.

1910, Erwin Rosen, In the Legion, HTML edition, The Gutenberg Project, published 2012:

"They want a man who will bunko the ignorant patients and get the money."

1930, Jefferis & Nichols, Safe Counsel or Practical Eugenics, page 275:

(transitive, intransitive, US, slang) To swindle (someone).


old school

en-adj

old school (comparative more old school, superlative most old school)

more old school (comparative)
most old school (superlative)
oldschool (alternative)
old-school (alternative)
Old School (alternative)
oldskool (alternative)
old skool (alternative)

→ German: oldschool

The noun is derived from old + school (“followers of a particular doctrine; particular doctrine or way of thinking”), probably a shortening of old school of thinking, old school of thought, or some similar phrase.
The adjective is derived from the attributive form of the noun.

compound

Local politicians assume various appellations, such as New School and Old School Democrats, Snyderites, Clintonians, and many others, mostly derived from the name or principles of some popular demagogue.

1816, “an Old Scene Painter” [pseudonym], The Emigrant’s Guide; or, A Picture of America: […], London: […] W[illiam] Clowes, […] for W[illiam] Simpkin and R[ichard] Marshall, […], →OCLC, footnote *, page 17:

[W]e both agree that you are defrauding some honest man of his just due. I recommend that you form an acquaintance, with a view to prospective results for life, with some well-settled, Old-School Presbyterian clergyman, and send me some of the cake.

1862 (date written), Ida Husted Harper, quoting Theodore Tilton, “Mob Experience—Civil War. 1861–1862.”, in The Life and Work of Susan B. Anthony […], volume I, Indianapolis, Ind.; Kansas City, Mo.: The Bowen-Merrill Company, published 1899, →OCLC, page 218:

(US, Christianity, politics) Chiefly in the form Old School: having conservative or traditional views on Christianity or politics.


buckwheat

en-noun

buckwheat (usually uncountable, plural buckwheats)

Ultimately from Middle Low German bōkwête (“beech-wheat”) (so called because of its triangular seeds, which resemble the much larger seeds of the beech nut from the beech tree, and the fact that it is used like wheat), probably via Middle Dutch boecweit, boecweite. Compare German Buchweizen.
Despite the name, buckwheat is not related to wheat, as it is not a grass.

der

(derogatory, offensive, ethnic slur, US) Curly hair of a black person.


old sod

old sods (plural)
ould sod (alternative)

It was good to be back on the ould sod.

1999, Dermot Bolger, Ladies' Night at Finbar's Hotel:

(US, Ireland) The old country; one's place of origin.


rigor

en-noun

rigor (countable and uncountable, plural rigors)

From Old French, from Latin rigor (“stiffness, rigidity, rigor, cold, harshness”), from rigere (“to be rigid”).


lumbering

en-noun

lumbering (countable and uncountable, plural lumberings)

(US) The business of felling trees for lumber.


knit cap

(clothing) A soft, head-hugging cap usually without a specified front or back, barring those with designs or logos


sunny side up

sunny-side up (alternative)
sunnyside up (alternative)

(US) Of an egg: fried on one side, served with the unbroken relatively soft yolk on the top.


APCD

(US) Initialism of air pollution control district.


AQMD

(US) Initialism of air quality management district.


scad

Unknown, early 17th century, perhaps related to shad. In sense “large amount”, US 1869, of unknown origin, presumably from large shoals/schools of the fish.

scads of money

You take temporary employment for office employees and there are a whole scad of people doing that and nothing else.

1966, United States. Congress. Senate. Labor and Public Welfare, Manpower Services Act of 1966 and Employment Service Act of... (page 295)

Galleries everywhere are awash in these brand-name reductivist canvases, […], mimicking a set of preapproved influences. (It’s also a global presence: I saw scads of it in Berlin a few weeks back, and art fairs are inundated.)

2014 June 17, Jerry Saltz, “Zombies on the Walls: Why Does So Much New Abstraction Look the Same?”, in New York Magazine:

(chiefly in the plural, informal, Canada, US) A large number or quantity.


rumint

From rumor and intelligence; apparently a pun on HUMINT.

(US) Information of dubious veracity, particularly when grounded in rumor


parlay

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

The verb is derived from paroli (“cumulative bet in card games”), possibly modified under the influence of French parler (“to speak, talk”). Paroli is derived from French paroli (“double stake”), from Italian paroli, plural of parolo (first-person singular present indicative of parare (“to protect or shield (from); to prepare”), from Latin parāre, present active infinitive of parō (“to arrange, prepare; to furnish, provide”), from Proto-Indo-European *per- (“to go through; to carry forth, fare”)) + Italian -lo (suffix meaning ‘it; this or that thing’).
The noun is derived from the verb.

der

GARNETT. (Sharply.) Would someone mind telling a visitor the details of this Operation Snitch? / DENNIS. Kind of a three-horse-parlay, Cliff: Posenleben, Schweinhafen … (Eyes Prescott and Jenks.) And one other.

1947, William Wister Haines, Command Decision: Play in Three Acts, acting edition, New York, N.Y.: Dramatists Play Service, published 1974, →OCLC, act I, page 17:

They heard the placing of bets of $1, $2 and $3 and $5 "round robin parlays" on horses with names such as Ham Bone, Little Colleen, Miss Ellaneous, Fighting Thru, Papa Charlie, Dandy Foot, William Tell, Knot Hole, Betsy Marie, Poocha and Under the Rug.

1955 March 14, Michael Musmanno, Justice, Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, “Appendix: Dissenting Opinion of Musmanno, J., of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania”, in In the Supreme Court of the United States: No. 111: October Term, 1955. Isaac Chaitt, Petitioner, v. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Respondent. Petition for Writ of Certiorari and Appendix, Philadelphia, Pa.: Lemuel B. Schofield, attorney for petitioner, page 52:

The officer's affidavit was to the effect that he and another officer had made "extensive investigation of gambling operations" locally; he had information that a local printing company "printed parlay cards which were being used for betting on college and professional football games;" [...]

1973 October 1, Frank Holt, Associate Justice, Arkansas Supreme Court, “Appendix A: … Claude Earl Flaherty and Gene Whipple, Appellants v. State of Arksansas, Appellee”, in In the Supreme Court of the United States: October Term, 1973: Claude Earl Flaherty and Gene Whipple, Petitioners, v. State of Arkansas, Respondent. Petition for a Writ of Certiorari to the Supreme Court of Arkansas, Fort Smith, Ark.: Franklin Wilder, counsel for petitioners, published 1973, page 21:

One of the most common and important types of probability problems is what gamblers call "parlays." When you bet a parlay, you are betting on the outcome of two or more events with the stipulation that all of your selection must be right in order for you to win. [...] Most gamblers think solely of sporting events when they think of parlays. Actually, any time you figure the probability that all of a number of events (each with its own separate probability) will occur you are figuring a parlay.

2005 March, David Sklansky, “Mathematics of Parlays”, in Getting the Best of It, Las Vegas, Nev.: Two Plus Two Publishing, →ISBN, part 1 (Probability: The Mathematics of Gambling), page 17:

(originally US, gambling) A bet or series of bets where the stake and winnings are cumulatively carried forward; an accumulator.


finding

From Middle English fyndyng, Old English findincge; equivalent to find + -ing.

Boot and Shoe Findings and Leather Establishments[…] Yocum & Wilson, 225 n 2d st, Shoe Findings, Leather, Last, and Shoe Peg Warehouse

1844, John O’Brien, O’Brien’s Philadelphia Wholesale Business Directory, page 72:

(Canada, US, generally plural) Tools or materials used in shoe making or repair. [from 19th century]


bootleg

en-verb

bootleg (third-person singular simple present bootlegs, present participle bootlegging, simple past and past participle bootlegged)

bootlegs (present singular third-person)
bootlegging (participle present)
bootlegged (participle past)
bootlegged (past)

From boot + leg. Originally a nickname given to smugglers in King George III's reign, derived from the smugglers' custom of hiding packages of valuables in their large sea-boots when dodging the king's coastguardsmen.

In the 1930s, Grandpa used to bootleg to make ends meet.

In the 1930s, Grandpa used to bootleg whiskey from a still hidden in the backwoods.

(ambitransitive) To engage in bootlegging.

(chiefly US, ambitransitive) To make, transport and/or sell illegal alcoholic liquor.

trokata

to make, transport and/or sell illegal alcoholic liquor

In the 1930s, Grandpa used to bootleg coal from a shaft hidden in the backwoods.

(chiefly US, ambitransitive) To operate a mine illicitly.

To engage in bootlegging.
To operate a mine illicitly.


booner

(US) A trophy size big game animal, as measured by the Boone and Crockett ranking criteria.


gorm

gorm (third-person singular simple present gorms, present participle gorming, simple past and past participle gormed)

gorms (present singular third-person)
gorming (participle present)
gormed (participle past)
gormed (past)
gawm (alternative)

A variant of gaum (from Middle English gome, from Old Norse gaumr, from Proto-Germanic *gaumō; compare Gothic 𐌲𐌰𐌿𐌼𐌾𐌰𐌽 (gaumjan, “observe”)), with the ‘r’ being a vowel-lengthening device common in non-rhotic dialects of English. See gaum for more.

Passing through St. George's Square, Lupus Street, Chichester Street, he scarcely saw a soul; then, quite suddenly, he struck a dense crowd, kept back by the police, standing gorming at a great jagged hole in a high blank wall, a glimpse, the merest glimpse of more broken walls, shattered chimneys.

1922, Elinor Mordaunt, Laura Creichton, page 110:

"Tell Sannah to bring some coffee," said the young woman to a diminutive Kaffir boy, who stood gorming at us with round black eyes.

They would stand in silence, mindlessly gorming at each other, […]

1990, Jean Ure, Play Nimrod for him, →ISBN, page 96:

In particular, we like to emphasize that, far from wasting our childhoods (not to mention adulthoods) mindlessly gorming at The Virginian and The Avengers, we spent those couch-potato years in rigorous preparation for our chosen career.

2005, Lynne Truss, The Lynne Truss Treasury: Columns and Three Comic Novels, →ISBN:

(UK and US, dialects) To gawk; to stare or gape.


peel out

peel out (third-person singular simple present peels out, present participle peeling out, simple past and past participle peeled out)

peels out (present singular third-person)
peeling out (participle present)
peeled out (participle past)
peeled out (past)

(idiomatic, US, automotive) To start abruptly from a standing stop, accelerating rapidly, especially so as to produce skid marks.


slinger

From Middle English slynger; equivalent to sling + -er.

(US) An American Midwest diner meal consisting of typically two eggs, hash browns, and a ground meat patty, all covered in chili con carne and topped with cheese and onions.


verbal assault

If a pupil enrolled in grade six or above committed a verbal assault at school against school personnel, described above, and the assault were reported to the school board by the victim, the school board or its designee would be required, after affording the required due process, to suspend the pupil from the school district for 10 days. […]

1998, Michigan Senate Fiscal Agency, S.B. 313 (S-1), First Analysis: Student Expulsion for Assault, page 2:

The only evidence of a verbal assault is the one Mr. Comstock and Mr. Solomon made on me. They made their threatening and intimidating statement to me after I complied with directions Judge Jeff B. Clark gave during the September 17,2007 hearing.

2008, Victoria Laney, testimony to the Florida House Committee on Condominiums & Homeowners Association Governance http://www.myfloridahouse.gov/sections/Documents/loaddoc.aspx?PublicationType=Committees&CommitteeId=2436&Session=2008&DocumentType=Action%20Packets&FileName=Condo_%20Action_02_16_08%20%28OCR%29%20%20%20.pdf

Any student in grades six or above who commits a verbal assault against any school employee, volunteer, or contractor will be suspended or expelled. […]

2009, Laingsburg Elementary School, Student Handbook 2009-2010, page 14:

(US, law) Oral or written speech that creates, or is intended to create, a fear of physical harm.

口頭攻擊 /口头攻击

oral or written speech that creates a fear of physical harm


murder one

Murder in the first degree
murder in the first degree#English

(US, colloquial) Murder in the first degree.


pig in a blanket

en-noun

pig in a blanket (plural pigs in a blanket or pigs in blankets)

pigs in a blanket (plural)
pigs in blankets (plural)

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-pig in a blanket.wav

(US) A small sausage, usually a short hot dog, wrapped in dough and baked.


roller docker

(US) A food preparation utensil resembling a small rolling pin with spikes, used to pierce dough to prevent overrising or blistering.


pregnant chad

(US) a chad that is bulging or pierced but is still attached to the voting ballot at all four corners


semper fi

(US military) Abbreviation of semper fidelis.


Jell-O

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Trademarked by Pearle Bixby Wait and named by his wife, May Wait. From gelatin and jelly, following a then relatively popular trend to add “O” to the end of products.

jello (alternative)
Jello (alternative)
Jell-o (alternative)
JELL-O (alternative)

For quotations using this term, see Citations:Jell-O.

(US, Canada) A brand of dessert made from gelatin.


CAB

Civil Aeronautics Board
w:Civil Aeronautics Board

(US) Initialism of Civil Aeronautics Board.

Combat Action Badge
w:Combat Action Badge

(military, US) Initialism of Combat Action Badge.


expungement

expungement (countable and uncountable, plural expungements)

In a memorandum in support of the expungement motion, Atty. John Ward argues that the retention of his clients' records "is and will be of great harm to them."

1979 April 7, David Brill, “BPL Arrests: A Year Later”, in Gay Community News, page 1:

(US, Canada) The process by which the record of a criminal conviction is erased, destroyed or sealed.


drop in

en-verb

drop in (third-person singular simple present drops in, present participle dropping in, simple past and past participle dropped in)

drops in (present singular third-person)
dropping in (participle present)
dropped in (participle past)
dropped in (past)

We dropped in all-new parts in the sports car.

(transitive, US) To install components, particularly car engines.


cantaloupe

cantaloupes (plural)
cantaloup (alternative)
canteloupe (alternative)
cantelope (alternative)

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

From French cantaloup, from Italian Cantalupo (a place name), from Italian canto + lupo, literally "howl of the wolf".
Named after a former Papal summer estate near Rome, where the melons were first grown after being introduced to Europe.

Trevor, like an Aussie outbacker, eats snacks and a pickup meal of bread, cantaloupe, olives, mangoes, and melon.

2010, Mary Ellen Snodgrass, Peter Carey: A Literary Companion, page 100:

Cucumis melo Cantalupensis Group, a cultivar group melon with sweet aromatic orange flesh, including two main types:

(Australia, Canada, US) Reticulatus Group (now merged into Cantalupensis Group), with strongly netted rind, also known as American cantaloupe, muskmelon or rockmelon.


sidebar

(US, law) A short conference, between a judge and the attorneys of a case, held outside the hearing of the jury and the spectators at the court.

(US, law) The place in the courtroom where such a conference happens.


all-around

He is said to be a greater hunter and an all around sport.

1909, Horace A. Taylor, Tales of Travel All Around the World, page 149:

If you want to polish your reputation as an all-around digital photographer, plan on developing at least a modicum of skill with a decent image editing program.

2004, David D. Busch, Digital Photography All-in-One Desk Reference For Dummies, page 15:

But it was as an all-around performer that Gill established his reputation.

2005, Frank Zarnowski, All-around Men: Heroes of a Forgotten Sport, page 98:


BCG

birth control glasses
birth control glasses#English

(US, military slang) Initialism of birth control glasses. US military or prison issued eyeglasses, often regarded as ugly.


connected

en-adj

connected (comparative more connected, superlative most connected)

more connected (comparative)
most connected (superlative)

It wasn't as though there were groups of kids from mob-connected families who socialized exclusively; in fact, a consequence of growing up in a huge city like New York was that you had several groups of friends, simply due to the number and density of people.

2010, Nick Apuzzo, Connected, →ISBN, page 23:

(Canada, US) Involved with organized crime, specifically someone not (yet) working for a crime organization, but referred to as a "friend" by made guys/wise guys inside the organization.


pork rind

en-noun

pork rind (countable and uncountable, plural pork rinds)

(US, Canada, food) A snack food made from cured pork skin; pork scratchings.


potluck

potluck (countable and uncountable, plural potlucks)

potlucks (plural)
pot luck (alternative)
pot-luck (alternative)

From pot + luck. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, sense 3 (“a shared meal consisting of whatever guests have brought”) is unlikely to have been influenced by potlatch even though it has the same meaning.

тюрлюгювеч

meal consisting of whatever food is available

Last evening, at the Free Trade Club, a dinner was given by Hon. Robert R. Roosevelt to a large number of his friends. Though invitations had been issued for a week previous, the feast was decidedly of an impromptu character as far the viands went. [...] Cards of invitation of an amusing character were issued, on which the menu was indicated, with the names of the improvised cooks who were to concoct gumbo, lobster cutlets, plumb pudding, various salads, and coffee. [...] Course followed course in the most tumultuous way. Culinary inspirations and cookery nocturnes of all flavors and tastes crowded one on another. Anything like system was discarded, and this was thought likely to destroy the artistic effects of this pot-luck picnic.

1879 March 26, “The pot-luck picnic. An impromptu and enjoyable dinner–a display of culinary skill.”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2019-07-16, page 5:

Then we had a potluck dinner. Each family brought a different dish. I always like Mrs. Rowlani's Persian rice best. I ate three helpings. Lisa likes it too, but she picks out the raisins and gives them to Fred [a dog].

1981, Wendy Heller, My Name is Nabil, Los Angeles, Calif.: Kalimát Press, →ISBN:

One of the most neglected areas in the study of American celebrations remains the small group festive gathering. As discussed by Linda T. Humphrey, the Small Group Festive Gathering is "somewhere between festival and ritual … and the solitary sandwich, (when) small groups of people get together to share food and drink and to have a good time" [...]. Among the examples she provides are potlucks, cocktail parties, and reunions.

1984, Sue Samuelsen, Ray Kepner, “Bocce Ball Meets Hacky-sack: A Western Pennsylvania Independence Day Gathering”, in Bonita Freeman-Witthoft, Thomas E. Graves, editors, Keystone Folklore, volume 3, number 2 (New Series), West Chester, Pa.: Department of Anthropology and Sociology, West Chester University, for the Pennsylvania Folklore Society, →OCLC, page 26:

Throw a class partay and tell stoodents to bring a potluck. Tell stoodents them can bring crakers & cheez wiz, salad bowl for vegtablians, [...]

2014, Jeremiah Toed, “Teacher, Please Intradouche Me 2 Hot Girl in the 1ˢᵗ Row??”, in Beth Schaefer, Grade A Papers: A Funny Coffee Table Book for Teachers and the Universe: 30 Wacky, Whimsical Student Papers Plus 4 Hilarious Parodies of Composition Theorists, Evanston, Ill.: Books on a Whim, →ISBN, page 52:

Potlucks are the time for fun, unfussy dishes. [...] Thankfully, people now enjoy lots of different flavors. Nevertheless, a potluck with people you don't know well might not be the time to bring that tripe recipe you've always wanted to try.

2016, Kristin Donnelly, “Rules of the Potluck”, in Modern Potluck: Beautiful Food to Share, New York, N.Y.: Clarkson Potter/Publishers, Crown Publishing Group, →ISBN, page 16:

(originally Canada, US) A shared meal consisting of whatever guests have brought (sometimes without prior arrangement); a potlatch; also, a dish of food brought to such a meal.


pendejo

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(US, Mexico, slang, derogatory) A stupid person.


sorority

PIE word
 *swésōr
From Renaissance Latin sorōritās, from Latin soror (“sister”), from Proto-Indo-European *swésōr. Akin to Spanish sororidad, Portuguese sororidade, French sororité.

Every day is a party at this sorority!

(US, Philippines) A social organization of female students at a college or university; usually identified by Greek letters.


soaked

en-adj

soaked (comparative more soaked, superlative most soaked)

more soaked (comparative)
most soaked (superlative)

(slang, US) Punched; beaten up; physically assaulted.


droid

Clipping of android (“robot designed to look and act like a human being”), coined by the American science fiction author Mari Wolf (born 1927) in the story “Robots of the World! Arise!” (1952), and popularized by the film Star Wars (later retitled Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope, 1977): see the quotations.

coin

"Okay, Allie, I didn't want to have to do this, but if you insist on behaving like an astromech droid, you leave me no choice." Rory's an accountant and a Star Wars nerd.

2006, Shane Bolks, Reality TV Bites: […], New York, N.Y.: HarperCollins, →ISBN, page 16:

(chiefly US, derogatory) A person having the qualities of an android; one with few or no emotions or little personality, or who acts in an unthinking manner; a robot.


broiler

→ Finnish: broileri

→ Italian: broiler

→ Latgalian: broilers

→ Spanish: broiler

→ Swedish: broiler

From broil + -er (agent noun suffix) or, for the chickens, + -er (patient suffix).

(cooking, Canada, US) A device used to broil food; part of an oven or a small stove; known as a grill in British English.


playoff

playoffs (plural)
play-off (alternative)

Deverbal of play off; by surface analysis, play + -off.

(US) A short series of games to select a league champion.


collaborative creation

(US) A form of theater where the script is not written in advance, but develops from collaborative, usually improvisatory, work, often by the performers themselves.


hammy

He put his palms flat on the ground, then grabbed the back of his knees, stretching his hammies for the millionth time that morning.

1999, Melissa Lucashenko, Hard Yards, University of Queensland Press, page 129:

“A move like this would have been inpossible for me before yoga,” he said. “Flexibilty-wise, I was struggling. My hammies were tight, my groin was tight. My hips have really benefited.”

2003, John Capouya, Real Men Do Yoga: 21 Star Athletes Reveal Their Secrets for Strength, Flexibility and Peak Performance, page 150:

I've noticed that although cycling keeps me reasonably "cardio fit", I am losing general flexibility, e.g. when touching my toes. This is despite me stretching my quads, calves, and hammies during and after my training rides.

2003 June 10, Andrew Swan, “Good complementary exercise to cycling?”, in aus.bicycle (Usenet):

2004, J. L. Roberts, Braggin' Rights: Fantasy Football Rewind 2004 (2003 Season Recap), AuthorHouse USA, page 83,
A slow start and hammy injury were major contributors.

(US, Australia, New Zealand, chiefly sports, slang) The hamstring.

A: I′m only just getting fully fit now after that hammy [hamstring tear].

2000, Mark B. Andersen, Doing Sport Psychology, page 96:

Why he went back on after 3/4 time is beyond me. If he was trying to prove a point he has all season to do that not do your hammy in the first game.

2009 March 26, Phil, “So Cousins does a hammy”, in aus.sport.aussie-rules (Usenet):

(US, Australia, New Zealand, chiefly sports, slang) A hamstring injury.


pop quiz

pop quizzes (plural)
popquiz (alternative)

(US) A quiz or test given without warning or prior announcement.


MeV

en-noun

MeV (countable and uncountable, plural MeVs)

(physics, US) Initialism of million electron volts, 10⁶ eV


TeV

TeV (countable and uncountable, plural TeVs)

(US, physics, countable) Initialism of trillion electronvolts, 10¹² eV


blaccent

blaccents (plural)
blackcent (alternative)

He's black, but doesn't have a trace of a blaccent.

2003 January 5, Eric Stewart, “the people's kitchen”, in misc.activism.progressive (Usenet):

Timberlake has long sought to overcome his whiteness to perfect a "blaccent", as the kids call it these days, and the McDonald's ad campaign explicitly relies on a hiphop idiom.

2004 February 19, Ben Zimmer, “Is the slogan grammatical?”, in sci.lang (Usenet):

2005 November 15, “Eli” of Michigan, “Lord of The Dance”, The Life of a Swordfish, at swordfish22.spaces.live.com http://swordfish22.spaces.live.com/Blog/cns!3E0970E9C37CD8E0!497.entry
She spoke with a very thick blaccent...as she screamed "C'mon B!, C'mon B! C'mon B!" (she was quite persistent with this phrase, and used the actual word) "I betta neva see yo A out eating sub sammiches eva again!".

2006 February 8, “Drew” of Philadelphia, “The moral's I'm immortal ”, Trapper Juan, at trapperjuan.blogspot.com https://web.archive.org/web/20061027173921/http://trapperjuan.blogspot.com/2006/02/morals-im-immortal_08.html
Rothlisberger...speaks with a blaccent, which in reality is not that uncommon. The problem is his inconsistency. Sometimes, he lays it on thicker than J. Will haggling at a swap meet

The sad thing is that for many people, the blaccent connotes lack of intelligence.

2009, John McWhorter quoted on, The World:

(Mr. McClelland notes the existence of various Midwestern “blaccents,” though he doesn’t explore them.)

2016 December 4, Jennifer Schuessler, quoting Edward McClelland, “‘How to Speak Midwestern,’ a Heartland Dialect Guide”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

Black earnings decrease to the extent that one has a perceptible “blaccent.”

2020 July 21, John McWhorter, “The Biases We Hold Against the Way People Speak”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

The term is making headlines this week after comedian, actress and rapper Awkwafina addressed criticism that she’s used a “blaccent,” or Black accent, and other elements of African American language and mannerisms during her career.

2022 February 8, “What a ‘blaccent’ is, and why it's wrong”, in CNN:

(US) An accent characteristic of African-Americans (black Americans).


nibbles

(originally US) Small forms of finger food or snacks such as nuts or potato chips (crisps), often eaten as an accompaniment to drinks.


preterit

(uncommon, US) Alternative form of preterite


fixer-upper

From a reduplicating suffixation of fix up, equivalent to fix + -er + up + -er.

2003, Jay P. DeCima, Investing in Fixer-Uppers: A Complete Guide to Buying Low, Fixing Smart, Adding Value, and Selling (or Renting) High, McGraw-Hill Professional, →ISBN.

(US, informal) A house, property, car, or other object that needs to be fixed up or repaired, often purchased as an investment.


fire-eater

fire-eaters (plural)
fire eater (alternative)
fireeater (alternative)

Frustrated in their attempts to change the law, fire-eaters turned their efforts to breaking it.

1988, James McPherson, Battle Cry for Freedom, Oxford, published 2003, page 103:

(US, historical) An extreme partisan for the South before the US Civil War.


mindboggling

en-adj

mindboggling (comparative more mindboggling, superlative most mindboggling)

more mindboggling (comparative)
most mindboggling (superlative)

Davie opened his eyes but had no idea where he was or if in fact he was still alive. After the realization of lying in his truck bunk had taken hold, he quickly turned to see if he'd dreamt up the whole mindboggling affair and by the grace of God was still parked in Wales.

2017, J. M. MacDonald, “Mindboggling Revelations”, in The Coins of Cyrus: A Novel, [Morrisville, N.C.]: Lulu.com, →ISBN, page 659:

(chiefly US) Alternative form of mind-boggling


sandfly

sandflies (plural)
sand fly (alternative)

(US) A biting midge (family Ceratopogonidae).


Lou Gehrig's disease

Named after New York Yankees baseball player Lou Gehrig (1903–1941), a prominent sufferer of the disease. The disease was known before Gehrig suffered it, but his fame led to his name being associated with it.

named-after

Lou Gehrig's (alternative)
Lou Gehrig's Disease (alternative)

amyotrophic lateral sclerosis
amyotrophic lateral sclerosis#English

(pathology, US) Synonym of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis


pigs in a blanket

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-pigs in a blanket.wav

(chiefly US) a dish of ground pork and/or beef cooked in cabbages


eggs Benedict

en-noun

eggs Benedict (countable and uncountable, plural eggs Benedict)

eggs Benedict (plural)
eggs benedict (alternative)

Disputed. Likely from the given name or family name Benedict, with several individuals suggested as a possible eponym. A less common surmise suggests borrowing from French oefs bénédictine (“Benedictine (nuns’) eggs”). Attested since 1898.

der

But the problem is that at the beginning, eggs Benedict had a much higher value than cornflakes, and now she has arrived at a point where eggs Benedict is no longer a special meal—in fact, it is approximately equal to cornflakes.

2008, Stuart Vyse, Going Broke, page 73:

Eggs Benedict are fairly easy to make at home, and if you’ve read Anthony Bourdain’s Kitchen Confidential, home is the only place you’ll want to eat them.

2012, Jennifer Reese, Make the Bread, Buy the Butter, page 55:

(originally US) A dish consisting of slices of English muffins with poached eggs, ham or bacon and hollandaise sauce.


CTC

(US) Initialism of Children's Theater Company (Minneapolis)


dogs

My dogs are tired. Let's get a taxi.

(slang, US) Feet, from rhyming slang dog's meat.

Time to let the dogs out to play. (While taking off shoes.)


security mom

(US, informal) A mother for whom issues of safety and national security are of great importance.


floterial

(US, politics) Of an electoral district composed of two or more towns or precincts due to an inability of either town to produce a sufficient constituency for its own representation.


floterial

(US, politics) An electoral district of this kind.


thrift

en-noun

thrift (countable and uncountable, plural thrifts)

From Middle English thrift, thryfte, þrift, from Old Norse þrift (“thriving condition, prosperity”). Equivalent to thrive + -t.

der

Usually, home mortgages are obtained from thrifts.


raising

en-noun

raising (countable and uncountable, plural raisings)

Inherited from Middle English reysynge; equivalent to raise + -ing.

to help at a raising

(US) The operation or work of setting up the frame of a building.


LODD

(US, firefighters, police officers) Initialism of line of duty death.

firefighters; police officers; firefighters; police officers


duodecillion

From duo- + decillion; or from Latin duodecim (“twelve”) + -illion.

Previous: undecillion. Next: tredecillion.

(rare, US, British, Australia, short scale) 10³⁹.


tredecillion

From Latin trēdecim (“thirteen”) + -illion.

The names of the periods above trillion are as follows [...] 15th, tredecillion [...]

1896, Frank H. Hall, The Werner Arithmetic, Oral and Written, Book Two, Parts I and II:

3 quindecillion, 657 quattuordecillion, 262 tredecillion; which is to say the figures 3,657,262 followed by 42 ciphers. Operators of the key punch machines transfer a code symbol from the Census [...].

1946, United States Department of Commerce, The United States Department of Commerce: How it serves you on land and sea and in the air:

The answer is read as: 13 sexdecillion, 253 quindecillion, 796 quattuordecillion, 742 tredecillion, ….

1994, National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, The Arithmetic Teacher, National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (1994)

(rare, US, modern British & Australian, short scale) 10⁴².

modern British & Australian; short scale; modern British & Australian; short scale


quattuordecillion

Previous: tredecillion. Next: quindecillion.

(US, British, Australia, rare, short scale) 10⁴⁵.


quindecillion

From Latin quīndec- (“fifteen”) + -illion or quin- + decillion.

Previous: quattuordecillion. Next: sexdecillion.

3 quindecillion, 657 quattuordecillion, 262 tredecillion; which is to say the figures 3,657,262 followed by 42 ciphers. Operators of the key punch machines transfer a code symbol from the Census ….

1946: United States Department of Commerce, The United States Department of Commerce: How it serves you on land and sea and in the air, U. S. Government Printing Office (1946)

One supernova, in 1054, was thought by many to herald the biblical Day of Judgment. We have reached an energy level of 10 quindecillion ergs, or 10⁴⁹ ergs.

1978, D. Wallechinsky, I. Wallace, A. Wallace, The People's Almanac Presents The Book of Lists, Bantam:

(rare, US, modern British and Australia short scale) 10⁴⁸.


sexdecillion

From Latin sex (“six”) prefixed with decillion.

The names of the periods above trillion are as follows...18th, sexdecillion...

1994, The Arithmetic Teacher, National Council of Teachers of Mathematics
The answer is read as: 13 sexdecillion, 253 quindecillion, 796 quattuordecillion, 742 tredecillion....

How many Stars Shine on Tiny Jennifer’s Hair? ... Two million, three hundred and forty nine thousand, eight hundred seventy five vigintillion, seven hundred fifty four novemdecillion, five hundred forty three octodecillion, four hundred fifty seven septendecillion, eight hundred ninety nine sexdecillion, eight hundred seventy three quindecillion, nine hundred forty five quattuordecillion, nine hundred eighty seven tredecillion, nine hundred eighty seven duodecillion, six hundred undecillion, nine hundred eighty three decillion...

2004, Alan Sondheim, The Wayward, →ISBN, page 138:

After the episode, which had several other startling “coincidences,” I computed the number of chances of it happening again as one in Six Septendecillion, Seven Hundred and Fifty Sexdecillion, with all circumstances the same.

2006, James T. Mangan, The Secret of Perfect Living, Infinity Publishing,, →ISBN, page 200:

(rare, US, modern British & Australian, short scale) 10⁵¹.

Previous: quindecillion. Next: septendecillion.


septendecillion

From Latin septendecim (“seventeen”) + -illion; compare tredecillion, quattuordecillion, etc.

STV by the Numbers: [...] 3000^16 (roughly 43 septendecillion) : number of possible voting permutations if 3,000 students vote (Single Transferable Voting is pretty complicated!).

2003, Bits and Bytes - New voting system demystified:

One Septendecillion Years From Now [...] The total mass of the universe [will be] somewhere between 200 and 500 septendecillion grams.

2003, Magic Dragon Multimedia, Timeline Cosmic Future:

The names of the periods above trillion are as follows [...] 19th, septendecillion [...]

(rare, US, modern British & Australian, short scale) 10⁵⁴.

Previous: sexdecillion. Next: octodecillion.


octodecillion

From Latin octodecim (“eighteen”) + -illion; compare tredecillion, quattuordecillion, etc.

1962, David Bergamini, The Universe, Time-Life Books, Google Books considers page number to be top-secret
The reason is that the rays created in the core are softened on their outward journey by being handled by the octodecillion-odd atoms of gas outside the core that are part of the sun but play no part in the central fusions.

How many Stars Shine on Tiny Jennifer’s Hair? ... Two million, three hundred and forty nine thousand, eight hundred seventy five vigintillion, seven hundred fifty four novemdecillion, five hundred forty three octodecillion, four hundred fifty seven septendecillion...

2004, Jay Carty, Darrell Waltrip (co-author), Darrell Waltrip One-On-One, The Faith That Took Him to the Finish Line, Gospel Light Publishing, →ISBN, “Day 23”, unpaged
the odds on the development of a polypeptide, which is a protein building block, is 6 times 10 to the 57th power, or 600 octodecillion, to 1.

(US, modern British and Australian, short scale, rare) 10⁵⁷.

Previous: septendecillion. Next: novemdecillion.


restricted

en-adj

restricted (comparative more restricted, superlative most restricted)

more restricted (comparative)
most restricted (superlative)

salainen

one of the classifications of the secrecy of an official document

This hotel is restricted: no Blacks.

(US, historical) Only available to customers who do not belong to racial, ethnic or religious minorities.


folks

Wilson: He's right. They endorse Royce, fine, 'the hell else they gonna do? But what they say and don't say from the pulpit the Sunday before the primary we still got a dog in that fight.
Carcetti: I do this right, they respect it.
Wilson: An' if they don't, at least they get to see a beggin'-ass white man on his knees. Always a feel-good moment for the folks.

2006 Oct. 1, Dennis Lehane, "Refugees", The Wire, 00:32:06

Lots of folks like to travel during the holidays.

(US) People in general; everybody or anybody.

(US, slang, rare, southern Louisiana) The police.


kiddo

Okay, kiddo, I gotta run.

(US, Australia, New Zealand, Philippines) A close friend; especially used as a form of address.

The books say it's normal. Toddlers often stop napping around this age, and the average amount of sleep needed by a two-year-old is between nine and thirteen hours. My kiddo cuts logs for twelve hours at a stretch, so she's plenty rested.

2008, Robin Dutton-Cookston, The Foggiest Idea: Tales of a Displaced Texan in San Francisco Mamaland, page 51:

(US, Australia, New Zealand, Philippines) A child.


Greek letter

Each Friday we held open house at the Young Women's Christian association for all Greek letter women who could come (if but for an hour) to sew for the French orphans.

1918, Kappa Alpha Theta, volume 33, page 358:

The following national Greek letter fraternities and sororities, served officially by this Company, were listed in our 1927 Blue Book...

Other Greek letter house fires of importance here include the burning of the Pi Kappa Alpha house in the Christmas holidays of 1924 and the burning of the roof and second floor of the Delta Zeta house in the Spring of 1926.

1934, Kappa Sigma Fraternity, Caduceus, page 500:

(US) Alternative spelling of Greek-letter


low bono

(US, law) Of legal work: offered at a discounted rate, especially to underrepresented communities.


Michigan basement

en-noun

Michigan basement (plural Michigan basements)

(US) A simple, often damp, basement that has an earth floor.


busboy

(US) An assistant waiter; one who clears plates from and cleans tables.


mopery

From mope + -ery, from mope (“to wander aimlessly”).

(law, US) An imaginary or trivial legal offense.


third class

third class (countable and uncountable, plural third classes)

(US) A reduced-rate mail service for printed matter.


integrated

en-adj

integrated (comparative more integrated, superlative most integrated)

more integrated (comparative)
most integrated (superlative)

(US) characterized by racial integration


marker

en-noun

marker (countable and uncountable, plural markers)

marker interface → marker interface pattern

Someone or something used to mark a position or amount, particularly

(US, slang) Synonym of IOU, an informal record of a debt.


whooped

Her hair was whooped!


blind pig

Then the harpooner carried away a pink flask to be filled in some blind pig, for there were no licensed saloons in that locality. We drank the cheap rotgut out of tumblers.

1913 August, Jack London, chapter VI, in John Barleycorn, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC, page 48:

This was […] the woman whose every look and movement stirred him in a way he couldn't describe (but had tried to, time and again, to his classmates, to the rare Barnard girl he asked to the theater or a concert, and to the tarts and working girls he discovered in the blind pigs and outside the vaudeville houses).

1993, TC Boyle, The Road to Wellville, Penguin, published 1994, page 29:

According to a Rutgers University Web site dedicated to the riots, “The Detroit Riot of 1967 began when police vice squad officers executed a raid on an after hours drinking club or 'blind pig' in a predominantly black neighborhoods located at Twelfth Street and Clairmount Avenue […]

2012, Jeremy Williams, Detroit: The Black Bottom Community:


pigskin

Compound of pig + skin.
The American football is a direct descendant of the ball used in the game of rugby. The rugby ball originally was made of a pig’s bladder with a leather cover; the earliest versions of the leather exterior sometimes were made of pigskin.

“We gotta find those pigskins!” Squat insisted. “Pigskins?” Diddly asked. With obvious disdain, Squat replied, “Yeah, you know, that is what they call footballs, dummy.”

2011, J. H. Holland, Dsi: Diddly Squat Investigation, page 35:


knock on wood

en-verb

knock on wood (third-person singular simple present knocks on wood, present participle knocking on wood, simple past and past participle knocked on wood)

knocks on wood (present singular third-person)
knocking on wood (participle present)
knocked on wood (participle past)
knocked on wood (past)

(idiomatic, US, Philippines) To take a customary action to ward off some misfortune that is believed to be attracted by a presumptuous statement.

to take a customary action to ward off misfortune

чукам на дърво (čukam na dǎrvo, literally “to knock on wood”)

χτύπα ξύλο (chtýpa xýlo, literally “hit wood”)

زدن به تخته (zanad be taxta, literally “to knock on the table”)

постуча́ть по де́реву pf (postučátʹ po dérevu, literally “to knock on wood”)

сплю́нуть че́рез ле́вое плечо́ pf (spljúnutʹ čérez lévoje plečó, literally “to spit over the left shoulder”)


knock on wood

I do a lot of walking, and I have never had any knee problems yet, knock on wood.

(idiomatic, US, Philippines) Hopefully; a self-directive to undertake the customary action to ward off bad luck.

hopefully; used when undertaking such a customary action

أَمْسِكْ الْخَشَبَ (ʔamsik al-ḵašaba, literally “seize wood”)

(Lebanon) دُقَّ عَالْخَشَبَ (duqqa ʕālḵašaba, literally “knock on wood”)

大吉利是 (daai⁶ gat¹ lai⁶ si⁶, literally “lucky lucky”)

syv-ni-tretten; while physically knocking under a table or on wood

χτύπα ξύλο (chtýpa xýlo, literally “knock on wood”)

בלי עין הרע (bli 'áyin hará', literally “without the evil eye”)

מלח מים (mélakh máyim, literally “salt, water”)

שום בצל (shum batzál, literally “garlic, onion”)

桑原桑原 (くわばらくわばら, kuwabara kuwabara, literally “mulberry field mulberry field”)

بزن به تخته (bezan be taxta, literally “knock on the table”)

چشم بد دور (češm-e bad dur, literally “far [be] the evil eye”)


pecker

From Middle English pekker, equivalent to peck (“to pick at something in the manner of a bird”) + -er (“forming agent nouns”).

af

Rice mills, called pecker, cog, and water mills... The first... so called, from the pestle's striking... in the manner of a wood pecker.

1802, J. Drayton, A view of South Carolina, as respects her natural and civil concerns, page 121:

After being thrashed by flail or whipped off, the rice was milled and dressed wholly by hand or by a crude machine called a ‘pecker’.

1949, S. C. Murray, This Our Land: the Story of the Agricultural Society of South Carolina, page 41:

Someone who or something that pecks, striking or piercing in the manner of a bird's beak or bill, particularly:

(uncommon) Any machine or machine part moving in a pecking fashion, particularly:

(US regional, historical) Clipping of pecker mill, a rice mill.

The pecker was esteemed a sacred and divine bird.

1883, Jacob Grimm, translated by J.S. Stallybrass, Teutonic Mythology, volume III, page 973:

I've been feeding several downy ’peckers from my short-perched tubes for years.

(zoology) A bird, particularly a member of the group including the woodpeckers, flowerpeckers, oxpeckers, and berrypeckers.

(zoology, usually colloquial or US regional) Clipping of woodpecker (Picidae).

The penis... pecker.

1902, J. S. Farmer, W. E. Henley, Slang and Its Analogues, London, V. 289/2:

Ought to stand on Times Square with my pecker in my hand and piss in the gutter.

1936, Henry Miller, “The Tailor Shop”, in Black Spring, Paris: The Obelisk Press […], →OCLC; republished New York, N.Y.: Grove Press, 1963, →ISBN, pages 125–126:

There is a house down in New Orleans,
They call it The Rising Sun,
When you want to get your pecker spoilt,
That's where you get it done.

1964, American Folk Music Occasional, i. 12:

He has the biggest pecker in the pool, politically speaking.

1990 Fall, Paris Review, volume 32, number 116, page 171:

(chiefly US, regional, slang) A penis; cock, dick.

(US) Clipping of peckerhead ("an electric motor's junction or terminal connection box, where power cords are connected to the winding leads").


tardy slip

The teacher accepted her tardy slip and allowed her to come into the classroom after the bell.

(Canada, US) A piece of paper given to a student who is late to school, to authorize the student to proceed to class.


nonpareil

en-noun

nonpareil (countable and uncountable, plural nonpareils)

nonpareils (plural)
non-pareil (alternative)
nonparella (alternative)
nonpareillo (alternative)

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

/ˌnɑnpəˈɹɛl/

From Late Middle English non-parail (“unparalleled, nonpareil”) [and other forms], from Middle French nonpareille, nonpareil (“unparalleled”) (obsolete), from non- (prefix meaning ‘not’) + pareil (“alike, like, same”). Pareil is derived from Old French pareil, from Late Latin pāriculus (“equal; like; of a number: even”), from Latin pār (“equal; like; of a number: even; suitable”) + -culus (a variant of -ulus (suffix forming diminutives)). Doublet of umpire.
Noun sense 4 (size of type standardized at 6-point) is usually taken to derive from the attractive type cut by the brothers Giovanni and Gregorio De Gregori (fl. 1482–1503 and 1496–1527 respectively) for their 1498 edition of the divine offices in Venice; it was for a long time the smallest-sized type in use.

nb...

nonparaille, nonpareyl, nounparalle, nowimparaile

der

(chiefly US) A painted bunting (Passerina ciris), a brightly-coloured finch native to North America.

(archaic) Any of various types of small sweets.

(by extension, dated) A small pellet of white or coloured sugar used as decoration on baked goods and candy.

(by extension) A small, flat chocolate drop covered with such pellets of sugar, similar to a comfit.

(by extension) A caper (“pickled edible flower bud”) of the smallest size.


goose egg

From the oval shape of both a goose's egg and the Arabic numeral zero (0).

I missed every question on the quiz and got a goose egg.

Grandmaster and grand duffer alike prefer the all-important point to the ignominious goose egg.

1949 March, I. A. Horowitz, “Readers' Games”, in Chess Review:


slated

From Middle English slattyd, equivalent to slate + -ed.


trolley

trolleys (plural)
trollies (plural)
trolly (alternative)

→ Catalan: tròlei

→ French: trolley

→ Romanian: troleu

→ German: Trolley

→ Welsh: troli

Early 19th century (1823) meaning "cart", of dialectal origin (Suffolk), probably from troll (“to trundle, roll”) + -ey (diminutive ending).

af

Gremlinesque behaviour might not be very obvious to an America, who would accept as perfectly natural the quaintly pixilated sayings and doings that are happening in subways, in trolleys, on buses, in bars at all times of the day and night.

1946, George Johnston, Skyscrapers in the Mist, page 107:

(US, colloquial) A light rail, tramway, trolleybus or streetcar system.


deceptive cadence

en-noun

deceptive cadence (plural deceptive cadences)

(music, US) a falling cadence in which the ear expects a dominant chord to resolve to the tonic, but it resolves to something else (usually a submediant chord) instead.

harhalopuke

falling cadence the dominant chord resolves to something other than the tonic (usually the submediant)


water rat

water rats (plural)
waterrat (alternative)
water-rat (alternative)

From water + rat. Compare Saterland Frisian Woaterrotte, West Frisian wetterrôt, Dutch waterrat, German Low German Waterrötte, Waterrött, German Wasserratte, Danish vandrotte, Swedish vattenråtta, Icelandic vatnsrotta.

Otters are even harder to spot; the coypu, a North American water rat, is more commonly seen.

2004, James McConnachie, Rough Guide to the Loire, page 43:

(US) Any of various aquatic or semi-aquatic rodents from Florida and southern Georgia, especially Neofiber alleni; the muskrat.

(US, slang) A petty thief or waterfront ruffian.


depot

→ Malay: depoh

From French dépôt, from Old French depost, from Medieval Latin dēpositum, from Latin, participle of dēpōnō, dēpōnere. Doublet of deposit.


grand larceny

grand larceny (countable and uncountable, plural grand larcenies)

(US, criminal law) The larceny of property whose value is greater than an amount set by law to distinguish it from petty larceny.

schwerer Diebstahl

larceny of value greater than set by law to distinguish it from petty larceny


teahouse

teahouses (plural)
tea house (alternative)
tea-house (alternative)

(euphemistic) a public lavatory, particularly (dated US gay slang) as a meeting place for gay men.

tetera

a public lavatory particularly as a meeting place for gay men


a la mode

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-a la mode.wav

Unadapted borrowing from French à la mode (“in fashion”). The US sense was coined by polyglot restaurant owner John Gieriet in Minnesota in the 1800s though later attributed to Berry Hall and Charles Watson Townsend.

ubor

à la mode (alternative)
alamode (alternative)
ala mode (alternative)

Our pie a la mode has a scoop of vanilla ice cream on top.

With a bowl of beef stew, apple pie a la mode, and two cups of coffee under his belt, Gus Wilson walked leisurely back to the Model Garage.

November 1959, "Martin Bunn", Popular Science, Gus Pulls a Switch


haberdasher

From Middle English, 13th century. Uncertain but may derive from Anglo-Norman habertas (“small goods”).


mustang

Mustang (horse)
Mustang (military officer)

From Mexican Spanish mestengo, from Old Spanish mesteño (“feral animal”) or mestengo (“feral animal”).

He is a product of the merchant marine and is one of the officers called "Mustangs" who entered the navy during the Civil War.

1903, James Hoyt (editor), Seen & Heard by Megargee, L.N. Megargee, page 1754

He was the son of a famous artist, and was what we termed a "mustang" officer, who had come into the navy from the merchant service during the Civil War.

1939, Fred J. Buenzle, Bluejacket, W. W. Norton & Company, page 179:

(US, military slang) A merchant marine who joined the U.S. Navy as a commissioned officer during the American Civil War.

[…] and the chief engineer is a "mustang" — that is, an officer who has risen from the ranks of enlisted men.

September-December 1918, Alfred Emanuel Smith, New Outlook, volume 120, Outlook Publishing Company, page 417:

Mustang— Officer who came up through the ranks. None better.

1943, Josef Israels, He's in the Marine Corps Now, R.M. McBride & Company, page 170:

(US, military slang, generalized) A commissioned officer who started military service as an enlisted person.


mustang

en-verb

mustang (third-person singular simple present mustangs, present participle mustanging, simple past and past participle mustanged)

mustangs (present singular third-person)
mustanging (participle present)
mustanged (participle past)
mustanged (past)

(US) To hunt mustangs (wild horses), either for military use or for slaughter as pet food.


red pepper

Crushed red pepper flakes add zest to pizza.

болга́рский пе́рец m (bolgárskij pérec) (sweet, lit.: "Bulgarian pepper")


greenback

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

(US) Any bill that is legal tender in the US (originally printed with green and black ink) issued by the Federal Reserve.


dago

Alteration of diego (“Spaniard”), from Spanish Diego (common Spanish name) by law of Hobson-Jobson.

"Matilda's making us omelettes, that all right, Miss Tomson."
"Are they going to reek."
"Dear me, I hope not. I instructed her to leave out particularly strong ingredients."
"Just so I don't leave here smelling like a dago."

1963, J P Donleavy, A Singular Man, published 1963 (USA), page 19:

(US, Australia, New Zealand, Philippines, slang, offensive, ethnic slur) A person of Italian descent.


greaseball

From grease + ball; possibly derived from the fact that Italians and Italian-Americans are stereotyped as having greasy or greased-up hair.

(Italian)

Do you think I wanted to walk across that stage and get my diploma and look down and see that fat greaseball sitting there? […] I got into a fraternity, too. It wasn’t one of the good ones, not with a name like Pinzetti, but a fraternity all the same.

(US, slang, derogatory, ethnic slur) A person of Italian descent especially, but also used pejoratively to refer to people of Spanish, Portuguese, Greek, other Mediterranean, or Latin American descent.


goombah

goombahs (plural)
goomba (alternative)
gumba (alternative)
gumbah (alternative)

From Neapolitan cumpà and Sicilian cumpari (“buddy, pal”, akin to Italian compare, Spanish compadre, from Latin compater, literally “godfather”), a word often used to refer to “family friends” or friends close enough to be considered an “aunt” or “uncle”, though not related by blood.
 To an English-speaking ear, the unaspirated stops of Southern Italian dialects (especially Neapolitan) are interpreted as voiced stops, yielding goombah. Compare South American Spanish cumpa. Doublet of compadre, compeer, and compere.

doublet

(US, slang, derogatory, ethnic slur) A person of Italian descent (often implies the person is connected to Italian organized crime)

(US, slang) A companion, pal, close friend, or associate, especially among Italian-American men. It sometimes has the connotation of an older friend who acts as a patron, protector or adviser.


wop

From Neapolitan guappo (“dude, stud”), a greeting borrowed from Spanish guapo (“bold, handsome”). Contrary to popular belief, the term is not an acronym of without passport or working off passage, which are backronyms derived from the term.

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


pup

Coordinate term: bulldog edition

(chiefly US, newspapers, publishing) An early edition of a periodical publication, intended for distribution to distant locations.


earmark

(US, politics) The designation of specific projects in appropriations of funding for general programs.


pup tent

Compound of pup (“puppy, small dog”) + tent, from dog tent, military slang for a shelter tent. Attested from the late 19th century.

Colonel Elbridge Colby in Army Talk tells us that the shelter-half, or “pup tent” made its debut during the Civil War. It seems to have been first christened “pup tent” by the Sixth Iowa Infantry at Memphis in 1862 and appears to stem etymologically from the same soldierly self-ridicule that resulted in such terms as “dogface” and “dog tags.”

1947 July, J.F.L., “Tenting Tonight”, in Infantry Journal, page 37:

(US, military, historical) A shelter half, one of two halves comprising a shelter tent or dog tent.


doublet

doublets (plural)
doubtlet (alternative)

From Middle English doublet, a borrowing from Old French doublet, from double, duble, doble + -et.

zeke

(historical in English) a man’s waistcoat

(printing, US) A word or phrase set a second time by mistake.


butte

PIE word
 *bʰudʰmḗn
Borrowed from French butte (“mound”). Related to butt via a West Germanic cognate.

Those multitoned buttes and mesas [of the Grand Canyon], and that incandescent sequence of colorful bands that make one of the natural wonders of the world so grand, can also be found over 100 million miles away [on Mars].

2013 November 27, John Grotzinger, “The world of Mars”, in The New York Times:

(US) An isolated hill with steep sides and a flat top.


polliwog

polliwogs (plural)
polliwag (alternative)
pollywog (alternative)
polliwig (alternative)
polliwiggle (alternative)
pollywig (alternative)
polwig (alternative)
porriwiggle (alternative)
purwiggy (alternative)
porwigle (alternative)
porwiggle (alternative)

From earlier polwigge, from Middle English polwygle, equal to poll (“head”) + wiggle.

So Tommy sang the following verse: “The cold got worse, The frog got hoarse, Till croaking he scared a polliwog!”

1897, L. Frank Baum, “The Story of Tommy Tucker”, in Mother Goose in Prose:


snifter

The verb is derived from Middle English snifteren, snifter, snyfter (“to sniffle”), possibly from *snift (possibly derived from a Old Norse word—compare Old Danish snifte and Swedish snyfta (“to sniffle; to sob”); probably ultimately imitative) + -er- (frequentative suffix) + -en (suffix forming the infinitive of verbs).
The noun is derived from the verb.

[H]e springs to another wooden vat and turns a valve, filling a snifter with a warm amber liquid. […] Bang holds the liquid up to the light, swirls it around, takes a sniff of the pungent bouquet, puts the glass to his lips—and gives a satisfied smile.

2003 January 20, “Getting Saucy”, in Time, New York, N.Y.: Time Inc., →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2012-11-03:

(originally and chiefly US) A small, wide, pear-shaped glass used for drinking aromatic liquors such as bourbon and brandy.

"Sit down, bo," invited Soup Face. "I guess you're a regular all right. Here, have a snifter?" and he pulled a flask from his side pocket, holding it toward The Oskaloosa Kid.

1917 (date written), Edgar Rice Burroughs, “The Oakdale Affair”, in The Blue Book Magazine, Chicago, Ill.: Story-press Corp., published March 1918, →OCLC; republished Doylestown, Pa.: Wildside Press, 2003, →ISBN, page 21:

And now, old horse, you may lead me across the street to the Coal Hole for a short snifter.

1923 June, P[elham] G[renville] Wodehouse, “The Début of Battling Billson”, in Ukridge, London: Herbert Jenkins […], published 3 June 1924, →OCLC, page 56:

(originally US, informal) Synonym of nip (“a small amount of an alcoholic beverage, especially one equivalent to what a snifter (sense 2.2) might hold”)

nip

(US, slang) Synonym of cocaine addict; a sniffer.

(US, slang) A small amount of cocaine taken by inhaling through the nose.

annos

(US, slang) A handheld device used to detect signals from radio transmitters; a sniffer.


Columbus

en-verb

Columbus (third-person singular simple present Columbuses, present participle Columbusing, simple past and past participle Columbused)

Columbuses (present singular third-person)
Columbusing (participle present)
Columbused (participle past)
Columbused (past)

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

From Latin columbus (“a dove”). Doublet of Colombo. The verb is a reference to the Italian explorer.

When his black friend tells him that many people knew about the bar before he did, his white friend retorts by saying that he “Columbused it”; i.e., discovered it for white people before a gaggle of hip white people flooded in.

2014, Justin Simien, Dear White People, Simon and Schuster, →ISBN, page 97:

Of course, there is no bouncer, but we can be careful not to Columbus other culture's traditions.

2014 July 6, Brenda Salinas, “‘Columbusing’: The Art Of Discovering Something That Is Not New”, in NPR:

He then lists other things that have been Columbused, such as twerking by Miley Cyrus and hummus by “health conscious whities.”

2015, Frederic Charles Schaffer, Elucidating Social Science Concepts, Routledge, →ISBN, page 54:

(derogatory, slang, US) To appropriate; to lay claim to something, especially a discovery, which is perceived as belonging to someone else.


divinity

en-noun

divinity (countable and uncountable, plural divinities)

From Old French divinité, from Latin divinitas. Composed of divine + -ity. Displaced native Old English godcundnes.

Coordinate term: seafoam

A lot of it is food: Grits, fried green tomatoes, sweet potato pie, divinity, corn nuggets, hot tamales and crawfish are just some of the delicacies he has discussed.

2023 December 22, Rick Rojas, “Explaining the South on Instagram, One Custom at a Time”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

(US) A type of confectionery made with egg whites, corn syrup, and white sugar.


chops

From the plural of chop (“jaw, side of a harbour”). The jazz slang sense “musical ability” is a reference to the use of the lips to blow instruments.

Although the bass player had no experience playing in New Orleans, the crowd's enthusiastic response showed that he had the chops to make it in the very particular Crescent City jazz scene.

Recently, I have taken up the double bass again, but because time and neglect erode ability, calluses turn soft, and muscle memory fades, I need to woodshed (practice) to get back into shape and build up my chops.

1999 June, Al Stevens, “Jukebox: Covering the Basses”, in Dr. Dobb's Journal, volume 24, number 6, San Francisco, Calif.: Miller Freeman, Inc., →ISSN, page 115:

(originally US jazz slang) One's skill at musical interpretation and delivery; musical performance ability.


fucking A

The first attestation in print is from 1947, in Norman Mailer’s World War II novel The Naked and the Dead, wherein Mailer wrote "’You’re fuggin ay,’ Gallegher snorted.”, but the origin of the term certainly predates said usage; it is probable that Mailer was familiar with an extant phrase. The origin is thought to be a clipped form of fucking affirmative, a US Army phrase from the early twentieth century.

fuckin' A (alternative)
fuckin'-A (alternative)
fuck an A (alternative)

A: "We won!"

B: "Fucking A!"

Here is an anecdote from the writer Patricia Highsmith: "Not so long ago I said to a friend of mine: 'If I saw a kitten and a little human baby sitting on the curb starving, I would feed the kitten first if nobody was looking.' My friend said: 'I would feed the kitten first if somebody was looking.'" I would too, Patricia.
Some people seem shocked and say, "You care more about animals than you do about humans!" Fuckin'-A well told!

1997, George Carlin, Brain Droppings, New York: Hyperion Books, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, →OL, page 237:

(US, slang, vulgar) An expression of triumph or joy, usually in response to unexpected good news.


canvass

en-verb

canvass (third-person singular simple present canvasses, present participle canvassing, simple past and past participle canvassed)

canvasses (present singular third-person)
canvassing (participle present)
canvassed (participle past)
canvassed (past)
canvas (alternative)

The verb is derived from canvas (“type of coarse cloth woven from hemp”). The connection between “to toss (someone) in a (canvas) sheet; (by extension) to batter, beat, or thrash (someone or something); etc.” and “to seek the support of voters or a constituency in a forthcoming election or poll” is not entirely clear.
The noun is derived from the verb. It has been suggested that noun sense 4.2 (“rejection (at an election, of a suit, etc.)”) may refer to the canvas bag used by journeymen mechanics which they used to pack up their tools after they had completed their jobs, in which case it is not derived from the verb but directly from canvas (noun).

nb...

Now First Collected; with Notes by the Late William Gifford, Esq. and Additional Notes, and Some Account of Shirley and His Writings, by the Rev. Alexander Dyce. In Six Volumes.

The poll was cloſed when the Court thought they had the majority: But upon caſting it up it appeared they had loſt it: So they fell to canvaſs it: And they made ſuch exceptions to thoſe of the other ſide, that they diſcounted as many voices as gave them the majority.

a. 1716 (date written), [Gilbert] Burnet, “Book III. Of the Rest of King Charles II’s Reign, from the Year 1673 to the Year 1685, in which He Died.”, in [Gilbert Burnet Jr.], editor, Bishop Burnet’s History of His Own Time. […], volume I, London: […] Thomas Ward […], published 1724, →OCLC, page 530:

Teams of two people - called “canvassing teams” - review ballots and the envelopes with the ballots inside.

2024, State of Maryland, Maryland State Board of Elections, retrieved 2024-10-18:

(by extension, politics, obsolete except US, Philippines) To scrutinize (the ballot in an election or the votes cast) and reject irregular votes; also, to challenge or dispute (an election result).


canvass

en-noun

canvass (countable and uncountable, plural canvasses)

Elections officials [in California] have approximately one month (28 days for presidential electors and 30 days for all other contests) to complete their extensive tallying, auditing, and certification work (known as the ‘official canvass’). Most notably, voting by mail has increased significantly in recent years and many vote-by-mail ballots arrive on, or up to three days after, Election Day (vote-by-mail ballots postmarked on or before Election Day and received by the county elections official no later than three days after the election are included in the canvass).

2016 November 16, John Nichols, “Hillary Clinton’s Popular-vote Victory is Unprecedented—and Still Growing”, in The Nation, New York, N.Y.: The Nation Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2016-12-19:

(countable, US, politics) A scrutiny of the votes cast in an election to reject irregular votes; also, a tally, audit, and certification of votes.


belabor

en-verb

belabor (third-person singular simple present belabors, present participle belaboring, simple past and past participle belabored)

belabors (present singular third-person)
belaboring (participle present)
belabored (participle past)
belabored (past)

In terms of the overall story of the finale, it’s smart how much emphasis the episode puts on the juice in the portal gun, as that’s going to be a major factor in “Rickmurai Jack;” the portal gun is low key the most important invention in Rick’s arsenal, and the episode does a good job of underlining that without belaboring the point.

2021 September 6, Zack Handlen, “Rick And Morty ends its fifth season looking for an escape hatch”, in AV Club:


janitor

janitors (plural)
janitress (feminine)
janitrix (feminine rare)

→ Bikol Central: dyanitor

→ Cebuano: dyanitor

→ Hiligaynon: dyanitor

→ Ilocano: dyanitor

→ Tagalog: dyanitor

(chiefly US, Philippines) Someone who looks after the maintenance and cleaning of a public building.

(Scotland, Hong Kong) A caretaker or custodian; someone who maintains a school building specifically and may serve other administrative roles.

curator

One who maintains a collection, especially in a museum


track and field

(chiefly US) A group of athletic sports, consisting mainly of various kinds of running, jumping and throwing, that take place on a track and an enclosed field.


soul food

en-noun

soul food (countable and uncountable, plural soul foods)

soul foods (plural)
soul-food (alternative)

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

(food): Originated in the mid-1960s, when soul was commonly used to describe African-American culture.

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

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

Sugar Plum Fairy came and hit the streets / Looking for soul food and a place to eat

1972, Lou Reed (lyrics and music), “Walk on the Wild Side”, in Transformer:

Generations of African Americans in the US were told soul food was simple and unhealthy, Oliver says.

2023 July 6, Maria C. Hunt, “Could an ancient, climate-friendly crop be the future of beer?”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:

(US) A style of food originating in the rural southern US, traditionally associated with African Americans.


short title

Foreign Interference (Countermeasures) Act 2021

The short title of this Act is the Companies Act 2006.

2006, Parliament of the United Kingdom, Companies Act 2006, section 1298:

(law, Commonwealth, US, Philippines) A title given to an act (or other piece of legislation) to facilitate citation; generally used as the common name for that legislation.


short sweetening

He was a little taller than a hogshead of sugar, but not quite so round, consequently when his head and hands were at the bottom of the hogshead, into which he had slipped while surreptitiously filling his haversack with short sweetening, his feet hanging over the top, gave unimpeachable evidence of his whereabouts.

1898, Ben LaBree, editor, Camp Fires of the Confederacy, page 405:

Made our molasses into long sweetening and tapped the sugartrees for short sweetening.

1959, Leonard W. Roberts, “Jim Couch, His Family Story”, in Up Cutshin & down Greasy: folkways of a Kentucky mountain family, page 8:

Sorghum and sugarcane provided molasses and sugar. The slaves called syrup "long sweetening" and sugar "short sweetening." Their sweetening was more often long than short.

1986, Elizabeth Silverthorne, Plantation life in Texas:

Even at the end of the century, a country hostess might inquire, on serving coffee, if the guest preferred "long or short sweetening."

1999, Rhoda C. Ellison, Bibb County, Alabama: The First Hundred Years, page 51:


long sweetening

Long Sweetening is its just and proper name, but by Molasses better known to fame.

1822, John Davis, The American Mariners: Or, The Atlantic Voyage. A Moral Poem ..., US: Brodie and Dowding, page 162, lines 332-3:

Mr. Hurst made the best of the situation and drank his molasses-sweetened coffee with seeming relish, as though he had been raised on long sweetening.

1974, John Quincy Wolf, Life in the Leatherwoods:

Reach me some of that long sweetening, honey, she'd say at the breakfast table.

1989, Lee Smith, Fair and Tender Ladies:

(Southern US, Midland US) A viscous, syrupy sweetener, generally molasses, but sometimes table syrup.


tits

2000, "The Tooth Fairy's Tats 2000" (season 4, episode 1), South Park
Eric Cartman: Alright! Kenny's in, you guys! Tits!

(US, vulgar, slang) Used to express excitement.


tits

en-adj

tits (comparative more tits, superlative most tits)

more tits (comparative)
most tits (superlative)

Ah, man, I dunno what you're talking about, to me, beef broccoli pizza is tits!

The Venture Bros., Dean Venture,
"This place is tits!"

2000, "The Tooth Fairy's Tats 2000" (season 4, episode 1), South Park
Eric Cartman: Yeah! This is so tits! Ms. Cartman: Don't say "tits", Eric. Cartman: Oh, I mean this is so cool!

(predicative, US, vulgar, slang) Very good; awesome; amazing.


cyclone cellar

(US) a domestic underground shelter used as protection from severe winds


pimping

pimping (comparative more pimping, superlative most pimping)

more pimping (comparative)
most pimping (superlative)


carpetbagger

carpetbaggers (plural)
carpet bagger (alternative)

/ˈkɑɹpɪtˌbæɡɚ/

/ˈkɑːpɪtˌbaɡə/

From carpetbag + -er, because many carried their belongings in cheap luggage made from carpet fabric.

“You are way behind the times,” he said. “There is no Klan in Atlanta now. Probably not in Georgia. You’ve been listening to the Klan outrage stories of your Scallawag and Carpetbagger friends.”

1936 June 30, Margaret Mitchell, Gone with the Wind, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company, →OCLC; republished New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company, 1944, →OCLC, part V, page 981:

The carpetbagger remains one of the most enduring symbols of the Reconstruction era. Technically, a carpetbagger was simply a northerner who went South in the wake of the Civil War and took part in Republican Party politics. For most of its lifespan, however, the term has been an epithet, denoting a lowly, immoral northern opportunist, a demagogue who preyed on the defeated South, perverted sectional peace, and rose to power by deceiving African American voters.

2012, William A. Blair, Journal of the Civil War Era: Winter 2012 Issue, UNC Press Books, →ISBN, page 539:

(politics, history, chiefly US, offensive) A migrant from the Northern to the Southern States after the American Civil War of 1861–5, especially one who went South to gain political influence.


haint

en-verb

haint (third-person singular simple present haints, present participle hainting, simple past and past participle hainted)

haints (present singular third-person)
hainting (participle present)
hainted (participle past)
hainted (past)

Looking from juror to juror and seeking out the smug faces of the witnesses who'd testified against him, he repeated his threat. "Those who say I kilt anybody are liars," he proclaimed. "And each of you will be hainted every day for the rest of your life. Then the devil will have ye."

1988, Randy Russell, Janet Barnett, “Dead Dan's Shadow on the Wall”, in Mountain Ghost Stories and Curious Tales of Western North Carolina, page 5:

After he killed him, Ed came back and he didn't have no head and he hainted [haunted] Ole Master until he died himself — getting in his way all the time — Ole Ed would be right there with him.

2003, Winson Hudson, Derrick Bell, Constance Curry, Mississippi Harmony: Memoirs of a Freedom Fighter, page 17:

“I just don't think it happened that way,” he argued. “Otherwise, the ghost wouldn't still be hainting the tree.”

2003, W. Bruce Wingo, There Grows a Crooked Tree, page 92:

(US, dialectal) Alternative form of haunt


haint

"Ain't you scared of haints?"

1960 July 11, Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird, Philadelphia, Pa., New York, N.Y.: J[oshua] B[allinger] Lippincott Company, →OCLC, part 2, page 254:

I got a tree on my back and a haint in my house, and nothing in between but the daughter I am holding in my arms.

It didn't take long for word to spread that there was a "haint" in the graveyard. A haint is what the old-timers called a ghost.

2005, Eulie Rowan, “The Four-Legged Haint”, in The Seven Wonders of Sassafras Springs, Simon and Schuster, page 106:

My dead grandpa's haint floated above my bed one night when I was a young'un and scared me so bad I busted the bedroom door down tryin' to get out that room so fast.

2009, Mary Monroe, God Still Don't Like Ugly, page 211:

(US, dialectal) A ghost; a supernatural being; Alternative form of haunt.


white bread

en-noun

white bread (usually uncountable, plural white breads)

white breads (plural)
white-bread (alternative)
whitebread (alternative)
whitebread (alternative)

Teyshawn wanted to yell whitebreads did it—fucking whitebreads.

2006, Michael Soltys, The Grass Is Green, section 296:

evelyn. Fuck you, white bread.
vincent. Oh, I'm white?
evelyn. You don't act black.
vincent. (smiling) And yet, people still treat me like I'm black.

2011, Kathryn Grant, The Good Counselor, act I, scene ii:

(US, ethnic slur, uncommon) A white person, a person of European descent, a person who 'acts white'.


white bread

en-adj

white bread (comparative more white bread, superlative most white bread)

more white bread (comparative)
most white bread (superlative)
white-bread (alternative)
whitebread (alternative)
whitebread (alternative)

She's been living in her white bread world / As long as anyone with hot blood can / And now she's looking for a downtown man

1983, Billy Joel (lyrics and music), “Uptown Girl”:

This is our chance to make a name for ourselves; to show that we're not just some piss-ant white-bread mountain town.

1997 August 20, Trey Parker, Matt Stone, “Weight Gain 4000”, in South Park, season 1, episode 2, spoken by Mayor McDaniels:

He’s always thought of himself as boring, “a white-bread suburban househusband.”

2022 May 11, Alexandra Alter, quoting Kim Stanley Robinson, “A Sci-Fi Writer Returns to Earth: ‘The Real Story Is the One Facing Us’”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

(chiefly US, colloquial, derogatory) Bland, boring; flavorless.

[Rudy] Giuliani is hedging a bit, but he's not the white-bread cop so many blacks expect him to be.

1993 November 15, Eric Pooley, “Can Giuliani Pull It Together?”, in New York, volume 26, number 45, page 53:

(US ethnic slur) Of or relating to white people.


skivvies

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

My skivvies disappeared in surgery, a sinister conjunction of circumstance.

1993, William S. Burroughs, edited by Oliver Harris, The Letters of William S. Burroughs, 1945–1959, New York: Penguin, →ISBN, page 149:

Then she pulled his pants down around his knees. He had a pair of old gray-and-white tight skivvies on. They were worn and threadbare and tight around his groin.

2001, Joe Meno, How the Hula Girl Sings, published 2005, page 165:

“I brought some jeans, a sweater, a heavy shirt, some thermal socks and some skivvies.” He replied.
“Skivvies?” A questioning look wrinkled her forehead.
“Undershirts and underpants.” He explained.

2002, Chuck Frazier, Decades, iUniverse, page 89:

Everyone in 2nd platoon had two pairs of boots, two pairs of utilities and several pair of skivvies, which served no purpose in Nam. No one wore skivvies because of the intense heat and it took only one case of heat rash, affectionately named “crotch rot,” to impress on us that skivvies were better suited as rags to clean weapons and tools.

2002, James R. Kelly, Casting Alpha: Amtracs in Vietnam, page 86:

And the ceiling is so low that the man dancing on the bar, in nothing but his skivvies, was hunched over like a gorilla.

2005 March 13, Denny Lee, “Looking for Mr. Right Now”, in New York Times:

(US, colloquial) Underwear, especially men's underwear and especially men's underpants.


Zeke

(historical, US, military codename) The A6M Zero Japanese fighter airplane of World War II.


tailgate

tailgates (plural)
tail-gate (alternative)
tail gate (alternative)

The website was created by Harry St. John, a former college athlete who wanted to take the agony out of managing tailgates.

2013 November 8, Nancy M. Better, “Tailgating Gets Online Playbooks”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:


tailgate

en-verb

tailgate (third-person singular simple present tailgates, present participle tailgating, simple past and past participle tailgated)

tailgates (present singular third-person)
tailgating (participle present)
tailgated (participle past)
tailgated (past)
tail-gate (alternative)
tail gate (alternative)

The point, Goldstein discovered through a lot of long days hanging out in parking lots, is that tailgating — the gustatory madness, the multigenerational camaraderie, the decked-out vans — is as essential a part of football as the game itself.

2013 September 29, Ken Belson, “The Tailgate Experience, British Style”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

(US, intransitive) To have a tailgate party.


squad

squad (third-person singular simple present squads, present participle squadding, simple past and past participle squadded)

squads (present singular third-person)
squadding (participle present)
squadded (participle past)
squadded (past)
escouade (alternative)

From French escouade, from Italian squadra (“square”) (whence also French escadre). Doublet of squadra and square.

(transitive, US, medical slang) To transport by ambulance.