buggeration

"Oh, buggeration." Her fidgety mother had skimmed three oranges off the top of the fruit bowl with her sleeve.

2004, Michael Lawrence, A Crack in the Line:

Buggeration! Where was Bert Lightfoot when you needed him?

Oh buggeration, the sodding light's come on...


treader

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From Middle English tredere, equivalent to tread + -er. Cognate with Middle Dutch treder (“treader”), Middle Low German trēdære, trēder (“treader, bellows kicker”), Middle High German tretære, treter (“treader”) (whence German Treter (“old shoe, footballer”)).

Why, he weren’t no more’n knocked offen his treader. An’ now he’ve rid off home on it!

1958, Dominic Reeve, Smoke in the Lanes, London: Constable & Co.; republished London: The Country Book Club, 1959, page 82:

The Royal Academy has just two orange hoops on to which four early-bird visitors can chain their treaders. It is left to the railings outside for the rest.

1996 June 6, Ben Summers, “Saddle-weary commuters left with a sore deal”, in The Independent, London, page 6:

He set off from Oxford on a standard old "treader" bike, often at night – navigating by the stars and napping under a hedge if got^([sic]) tired on his way to Holt.

2015 July 25, Richard Batson, “Family set for 156-mile charity ride in memory of Holt doctor”, in Eastern Daily Press, Norwich:


pondlife

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


wanky

en-adj

wanky (comparative wankier, superlative wankiest)

wankier (comparative)
wankiest (superlative)

I do feel like a bit of a jealous wanky idiot.

2007, Mathilde Madden, The Silver Collar:

(UK, Ireland, Commonwealth, slang, vulgar) Like a wanker; foolish or objectionable.

Must always have a worse time than me at parties. Must hate parties, students, arty wankers, wanky art students, parties with wanky art students.

1993, Henry Normal, Nude Modelling for the Afterlife:

1997 April, Jessica Hopper, L7: The Beauty Process: Triple Platinum, review, Spin, page 161,
Donita Sparks′s patented “I'm still dead” vocals and wanky guitar often beg to be fast forwarded (“Drama” comes off like Helmet sans pretentious time signatures), but that′s your problem. L7 are perfectly happy to rock, dress like roadies, and fall off bar stools with glee-filled abandon.

That Leo Sayer haircut and those dungarees, and the stupid laugh and the wanky right-on politics...

1995, Nick Hornby, High Fidelity, London: Victor Gollancz, →ISBN:

We talked a bit — it was that wanky bar in town, the Art Bar — and first it was good, but then he got going on about justice, how there wasn't any.

2008, Richard Flanagan, The Unknown Terrorist:

(UK, Ireland, Commonwealth, slang, vulgar) Pretentious.


pantless

He twinkles, and I twinkle back, / Pantless, under a slim formal skirt, / Ready for work.

1961, Peter Redgrove, “The Secretary”, in The Nature of Cold Weather:

having a smattering of basic German or getting one of the nice English-speaking reception staff to show you around to begin with might just save you from turning up pantless in a strictly panted area, or the other way around.

2008, Anna Pickard, The Guardian, 10 Jan 08:

Without pants.
(UK) Not wearing underpants.


wear the trousers

en-verb

wear the trousers (third-person singular simple present wears the trousers, present participle wearing the trousers, simple past wore the trousers, past participle worn the trousers)

wears the trousers (present singular third-person)
wearing the trousers (participle present)
wore the trousers (past)
worn the trousers (participle past)

As long as I remember who's wearing the trousers / I hope he never lets me down again

1987, Martin L. Gore, “Never Let Me Down Again”, in Music for the Masses, performed by Depeche Mode:

His mother wore the trousers, and father, a gentle man who worked in local government, was not ambitious enough for her.

1988, John Rowan, Windy Dryden, Innovative Therapy in Britain, page 246:

(British, idiomatic) (typically of a woman) To be the dominant partner in a relationship.


ern

ern (third-person singular simple present erns, present participle erning, simple past and past participle erned)

erns (present singular third-person)
erning (participle present)
erned (participle past)
erned (past)
earn (alternative)

From Middle English ernen, from Old English irnan, iernan (“to run, move quickly”), metathetic variant of rinnan (“to run”). More at run.

(UK dialectal, Scotland) To (cause to) coagulate; curdle (milk) by adding rennet and applying heat.


ern

erns (present singular third-person)
erning (participle present)
erned (participle past)
erned (past)

Of obscure origin. Perhaps an alteration of erme, from Middle English ermen, from Old English yrman, ierman. Compare also Old Scots urn, uren. More at erme.

(UK dialectal, Scotland) To pain; torture.

(UK dialectal, Scotland) (of the eyes) To cause to water; smart.


Sunday name

Sunday + name, since it is what one would be called at church on Sundays.

(British, slang) The full form of one's first name, such as Stephen instead of Steve.


patronisation

en-noun

patronisation (countable and uncountable, plural patronisations)

(British) Alternative spelling of patronization.


gutful

gutfuls (plural)
gutsful (plural)
gutsful (alternative)

I've had a gutful of politics lately.

By Monday afternoon we were finished - loadwise, physically, mentally, you name it, we'd had a gutful of it.

2000, Bob Foster, Birdum or Bust!, Henley Beach, SA: Seaview Press, page 114:

He starts mouthing off a bit, then Priz says, “Pipe down while we′re trying to eat,” and then Dogga looks up and puts in, “I′ve had a gutful of ye.”
‘So then Barrowclough, the uraguhne, says, “Well, I′ve had a gutful of ye,” and adds, “I′ll break yer bleedin′ kneck.”

2002, Cecilia Dart-Thornton, The Lady of the Sorrows, page 199:

I told the captain what had happened and that the only reason the second rower hadn′t been sent off was because he missed. Then I added that I′d had a gutful and I′d start getting rid of blokes if it kept up.
The captain said, ‘You′ve had a gutful! Well, we′ve had a gutful of you.’

2003, Bill Harrigan, Harrigan: The Referee in a League of His Own, unnumbered page:

I looked at him and thought, ‘[…]He is, he′s exposing himself!’ I abandoned my shopping trolley, marched over to him and screamed, 'I′ve had a gutful! Do you understand me? I′ve had an absolute gutful of men and their dicks.[…]’

2008, Denise Scott, All That Happened at Number 26, page 141:

(UK, Australia, New Zealand, slang) As much as one is willing to hear or experience; as much as or more than one can bear; too much; a surfeit.


dialogue box

(British, computing) Nonstandard spelling of dialog box.


clubbable

en-adj

clubbable (comparative more clubbable, superlative most clubbable)

more clubbable (comparative)
most clubbable (superlative)

Would not Jack Johnson be cut nowadays by even the rowdiest of Stock Exchange young men, and be voted a cad by every clubbable man above the class of ’ARRY? For in this quality of “clubbable,” and the value now put upon it, lies the whole secret of change in our fast men, mashers, and men about town.

Those who have never opened Hawkins’ Life know Johnson was a ‘clubbable’ man and that Hawkins was an ‘unclubbable’ man: such is the influence of Boswell's Life– and its editors.

2012, J. Clark, H. Erskine-Hill, The Interpretation of Samuel Johnson, Springer, →ISBN:

It's usually only men who are described as ‘clubbable’, and before I knew what that actually meant I agreed with it.

2017, Jenny Landreth, Swell: A Waterbiography, Bloomsbury Publishing, →ISBN, page 84:

In Burns's time, there were some well-known ‘clubbable men’: Smellie, Erskine and Parker were all boon companions.

2019, Clark McGinn, The Burns Supper: A Comprehensive History, Luath Press Ltd, →ISBN, page 1480:


postbag

postbags (plural)
post bag (alternative)

(British) A bag used for carrying post (mail).


unbovvered

unbovvered (comparative more unbovvered, superlative most unbovvered)

more unbovvered (comparative)
most unbovvered (superlative)

But he does seem quite chilled, unbovvered and happy on his own and having one horse rather than two is much easier.

2006, suer, “Mum's first riding lesson ... aged 67”, in uk.rec.equestrian (Usenet):


valourously

en-adv

valourously (comparative more valourously, superlative most valourously)

more valourously (comparative)
most valourously (superlative)

(British) Obsolete spelling of valorously.


teleshopping

téléshopping

shopping from home in response to offers on television advertising or shopping channels

(chiefly UK, India) Shopping from home in response to offers on television advertising or shopping channels.

(by extension, uncommon) Shopping in response to offers either on television or online.


varnisher

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U was an Uptucker, fly with the cord; / V was a Varnisher, dressed like a lord; […]

1846, George William MacArthur Reynolds, The Mysteries of London, page 60:

(UK, slang, obsolete) A coiner of counterfeit money.


primage

en-noun

primage (countable and uncountable, plural primages)

From Late Latin primagium. (The French word post-dates the English.)

(archaic, UK) An import duty levied by a guild of harbour pilots (especially at Kingston-upon-Hull and Newcastle-upon-Tyne).


sandworm

(British) A lugworm, of species Arenicola marina.


lagered up

en-adj

lagered up (comparative more lagered up, superlative most lagered up)

more lagered up (comparative)
most lagered up (superlative)

Catatonia could always count on a place in the gossip columns, too, thanks to the lagered-up antics of their boisterous lead-singer-about-town.

2003, Peter Buckley, The Rough Guide to Rock:

Hanby was impressed by the fact that his mate was — as he put it — "lagered up and wearing posh kit".

2003, Sean Nixon, Advertising cultures: gender, commerce, creativity:

Bottle-blondes, red-tops, the odd baldie, well lagered up and shimmying, a right bevy out to tease the lads...


targetted

(usually British) Nonstandard spelling of targeted.


backcast

en-verb

backcast (third-person singular simple present backcasts, present participle backcasting, simple past and past participle backcast or backcasted)

backcasts (present singular third-person)
backcasting (participle present)
backcast (participle past)
backcast (past)
backcasted (participle past)
backcasted (past)
back-cast (alternative)

(UK dialectal) To change retrospectively; reverse.


backcast

backcasts (plural)
back-cast (alternative)

(UK dialectal) Misfortune; reverse; reversal; a relapse in health or illness; moral backsliding.


backcast

en-adj

backcast (comparative more backcast, superlative most backcast)

more backcast (comparative)
most backcast (superlative)
back-cast (alternative)


backcast

(UK dialectal, of time) Long ago; in the past.


choon

And the music was so sweet, see because we just knew the choon. And we could have played a hundred choons that night...

2000, E Lynn Harris, Eric Jerome Dickey, Colin Channer, Marcus Major, Got to Be Real: Four Original Love Stories:

Behind her, beneath the thatch-roofed pavilions, the guests were skanking to old rock-steady choons and slamming dominoes on plastic tables...

A sleek cosmopolitan club with mainstream choons.

2005, David Else, Oliver Berry, England:

(British, nonstandard) A song or track, especially one that is catchy.


statto

Diminutive form of statistician or related term, + -o.

Soccer turns me into a statto […]

During the (rare) promotion season in 2003-2004 they managed a series of results that, if it were not for a local eagle-eyed statto type, might have gone unnoticed.

2004, Geoff Harvey, Vanessa Strowger, Rivals: The Offbeat Guide to the 92 League Clubs:

[…] see if sheepskin statto Motty can snatch the Best Commentator title from Manchester United's number one fan Clive Tyldesley […]

2005, Larry Ryan, Gareth Power, Paul Little, The Gaffta Awards:

Being a "statto" (my profession), I am also excited by the time barriers that us roadrunners face.

2007, P Robinson, The Healing Power of Exercise:

(British, slang) A person with a keen interest in statistics, particularly in sport.


paper shop

(Australia, British) A newsagency; a shop that sells newspapers and often other goods such as sweets and cigarettes.


twatting

When are they going to fix that twatting coffee machine?

(UK, Ireland, Commonwealth, slang, vulgar) damned; blasted; contemptible


twatty

twatty (comparative twattier, superlative twattiest)

twattier (comparative)
twattiest (superlative)

(vulgar, slang, UK, Ireland, Commonwealth) Like a twat; foolish, objectionable.


skat

en-noun

skat (countable and uncountable, plural skats)

(UK, dialect) Alternate spelling of scat: a brisk shower of rain, driven by the wind.


darbies

Who's afraid of him, except the old governor who daresn't catch him and put him in double-darbies, as he deserves, but lets him go about kidnapping people […]

1851, Herman Melville, chapter 73, in Moby Dick:

And he says, 'I'll go along quiet, Bobby,' he says, 'without the darbies,' he says.

1885, Lewis Carroll, “A Tangled Tale”, in The Complete Works of Lewis Carroll, New York: Vintage, published 1976, page 1058:

Second watch: (Produces handcuffs) Here are the darbies.

1922 February, James Joyce, Ulysses, Paris: Shakespeare and Company, […], →OCLC:

Sentry, are you there? / Just ease this darbies at the wrist, and roll me over fair, / I am sleepy, and the oozy weeds about me twist.

1924, Herman Melville, chapter 26, in Billy Budd, London: Constable & Co.:


munted

en-adj

munted (comparative more munted, superlative most munted)

more munted (comparative)
most munted (superlative)

Possible etymologies:
* From a Germanic language; compare Danish munter, German munter, Old High German muntar, all meaning "lively" or "merry".
* From Scottish Gaelic mùin (“to urinate, piss”), thus analogous to the sense "pissed".
* Blend of monged + cunted.

der

...he might even, if it was okay with Roly, bring a couple of cans of lager to drink: "Only two though, I don't wanna get munted and useless..."

2008, Robert Merrick, Guilt-Edged Seduction:

Paul began to walk home, looking for a taxi. Michael called. "Hey, it's my birthday, dude! Let's get munted!"

2008, Dave Franklin, English Toss on Planet Andong:


remonetisation

(British) Alternative spelling of remonetization.


strim

en-verb

strim (third-person singular simple present strims, present participle strimming, simple past and past participle strimmed)

strims (present singular third-person)
strimming (participle present)
strimmed (participle past)
strimmed (past)

Back-formation from strimmer, originally a trademark.

Videos showed a badger entering a sett less than two metres from where the contractors had been using petrol hedge-trimmers to strim brambles, the resident said.

2023 January 22, Jane Dalton, “Developers ‘clearing wildlife habitats without approval to win planning permission’”, in The Independent, London: Independent News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2023-01-22:

(British) To cut using a strimmer/string trimmer.


strimmer

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

Blend of string + trimmer, originally a trademark in the United Kingdom.

string trimmer

(British, horticulture) Synonym of string trimmer (“a powered, hand-held garden implement that uses a rotating monofilament line to cut grass, etc., without damaging other objects”).


red, white and blue

Forget not the boys of Kilmichael, those brave lads so gallant and true.
Who fought 'neath the green flag of Erin, and conquered the red, white and blue.

p. 1920, The Boys of Kilmichael (Irish Song, author unknown)


Queer Street

But soon they led a Queer-street life, / 'Twas what she'd not expected / Like cat and dog, with snarl and strife, / And love and lamps neglected. / About his work he would not wag

1818, Thomas Hudson, Comic Songs, page 23:

The only reason Ms Beverley-Stevenson and her two companies are in business is to make a profit, otherwise she and her partners would be on Queer Street.

2009 March 17, “The dangers of commerce in medical care”, in Yorkshire Post:

He is one of those men who have overshot their true generation. He should have been a buck in the days of the Regency—a boxer, an athlete, a plunger on the Turf, a lover of fair ladies, and, by all account, so far down Queer Street that he may never find his way back again.

1927 March 5, Arthur Conan Doyle, “The Adventure of Shoscombe Old Place”, in The Case Book of Sherlock Holmes, New York, N.Y.: A[lbert] L[evi] Burt Company, published June 1927, →OCLC, page 277:

A difficult circumstance, especially bankruptcy; hard times.

I found the wadding of the pistol with which the deceased Mr. Tulkinghorn was shot. It was a bit of the printed description of your house at Chesney Wold. Not much in that, you'll say, Sir Leicester Dedlock, Baronet. No. But when my foreign friend here is so thoroughly off her guard as to think it a safe time to tear up the rest of that leaf, and when Mrs. Bucket puts the pieces together and finds the wadding wanting, it begins to look like Queer Street.

1852 March – 1853 September, Charles Dickens, Bleak House, London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1853, →OCLC:


hillwalking

(British, Ireland) The pastime of walking in hilly countryside.


trick cyclist

It was a commonplace for the medical officer to refer problem cases to the "trick cyclist" so that people got used to the idea that he might be able to help.

1964, The British journal of criminology:

But what if it had the contrary effect? What if his wife turned wholly sane? What if she announced, not on any trick cyclist's couch...

1984, Michael Innes, Carson's conspiracy:

"I want to, and my trick-cyclist says it might help. Kill or cure."

1989, Peter Dickinson, Skeleton-in-waiting:


ballgown

ballgown (third-person singular simple present ballgowns, present participle ballgowning, simple past and past participle ballgowned)

ballgowns (present singular third-person)
ballgowning (participle present)
ballgowned (participle past)
ballgowned (past)
ball gown (alternative)

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

She'll take any excuse to ballgown!

(intransitive, UK, live action roleplaying games) To roleplay romance as part of a roleplaying game.


clearway

The traffic lanes of the sea can be clearways for thousands of miles.

1975, Institute of Marine Engineers, Marine Engineers Review, page 190:

The red cross means no stopping, not even to pick up or set down passengers. The sign is used to indicate a 24-hour clearway (usually on a rural road) or may be incorporated into other signs with the words “No stopping” (e.g. the “no stopping except local buses” sign at bus stops. On a 24-hour clearway, the prohibition of stopping applies only to the main carriageway. You may stop in a lay-by unless there are signs to say otherwise. A 24-hour clearway does not have any special road markings, but there should be smaller repeater signs at approximately one mile intervals.

2007, UK Department for Transport, Know Your Traffic Signs, page 55:

(UK, Australia, New Zealand) A road or other path that is kept free of obstructions, or on which stopping is strictly regulated, in order to maintain free flow of movement.


on the bounce

A tough openeing to our Kettering Area Division 4 season, with going out of the cup in the first round, and three straight losses on the bounce.

2001 October 8, "Popey", “Sunday League Footie”, in alt.sports.soccer.everton (Usenet):

After those eleven wins on the bounce, it’s desperately disappointing, but Ellison doesn’t seem too down when I find him back on Katana.

2003, Matthew Symonds, Larry Ellison, Softwar, →ISBN, page 462:

Two wins on the bounce. It obviously wasn't luck last week.

2007, Neil Boulton, Vamos! the Avon Plate Story, →ISBN, page 33:

(British, idiomatic, informal, chiefly sports) consecutively, in succession


COP

en-noun

COP (countable and uncountable, plural COPs)

(uncountable, UK) Initialism of close of play.


slanging match

slanging match (plural slanging matches)

(chiefly UK) A row; an argument in which names are called.


crash barrier

(chiefly British) A strengthened barrier installed on the sides of a (usually major) road to keep vehicles on the carriageway and reduce the risk and/or impact of crashes.


brath

en-adj

brath (comparative brather or more brath, superlative brathest or most brath)

brather (comparative)
more brath (comparative)
brathest (superlative)
most brath (superlative)
breth (alternative Scotland)
breith (alternative Scotland)
brethe (alternative Scotland)
braith (alternative Scotland)
berth (alternative Scotland)
berthe (alternative Scotland)

From Middle English brath, broth, braith, from Old Norse bráðr (“hasty, sudden”), from Proto-Germanic *brēþaz (“hot, in a hurry, rushed”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰrē-, *bʰerē- (“steam, vapour”), from *bʰer- (“to seethe, toss about, cook”). Cognate with Icelandic bráður (“quick, hasty, excited”), Swedish bråd (“hasty, sudden, urgent”), Danish bråd (“hasty, sudden”). Related to breath, brew.

cog

(UK dialectal) Hasty; violent; fierce; strong.


brath

From Middle English brath, from Old Norse bráð (“haste”), from bráðr (“hasty”). See above.

breth (alternative Scotland)
breith (alternative Scotland)
brethe (alternative Scotland)
braith (alternative Scotland)
berth (alternative Scotland)
berthe (alternative Scotland)

(UK dialectal) Violence; fierceness; anger; fury; fit of rage.


ARIA

w:Advanced Research and Invention Agency

(UK) Acronym of Advanced Research and Invention Agency.


stound

en-verb

stound (third-person singular simple present stounds, present participle stounding, simple past and past participle stounded)

stounds (present singular third-person)
stounding (participle present)
stounded (participle past)
stounded (past)

From Middle English stounden, stunden (“to linger, stay, remain for a while”), from Old English *stundian, from Proto-West Germanic *stundōn, from Proto-Germanic *stundōną. Cognate with German stunden (“to defer payment, give time to pay”), Icelandic stunda (“to frequent, pursue”). More at stand.

cog

(intransitive, UK dialectal) To stop to listen; pause.


at a pinch

/ˌæ.təˈpɪnʃ/

(Australia, New Zealand, British, informal, idiomatic) by a small margin or amount


Marks and Sparks

He’d thought of going into Marks and Sparks, but now he thought he’d go across and into Woolworth’s.

1961, J. I. M. Stewart, The Man Who Won The Pools, W. W. Norton & Company, page 13:

And Wendy's stealing clothes from Marks and Sparks

1972, “All the Young Dudes”, in David Bowie (lyrics), All the Young Dudes, performed by Mott The Hoople:

(British, colloquial) The retailer Marks & Spencer.


Marlburian

(British) Someone who attends the English school Marlborough College


Gordon Bennett

For James Gordon Bennett, Jr., a New York newspaper proprietor and playboy during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries who became widely known for his extravagant lifestyle and shocking behaviour. The first time the expression appears in print was in 1937, in James Curtis's novel, You’re in the Racket, Too. The Oxford English Dictionary places the phrase in the 1890s as an alteration of gorblimey and again in reference to James Gordon Bennett Jr.
The name was probably chosen because the first syllable of Gordon sounds like God in non-rhotic pronunciations, which would make this a minced oath.

(UK, Ireland, Commonwealth) expression of surprise, contempt, outrage, disgust, frustration.


boffinry

(British, informal) The characteristic behaviour of boffins; nerdy scientific thinking.


dwile flonking

Possibly from Dutch dweil (“floorcloth”) and English flong, an old past tense of fling. The first documented game took place in 1966.

dwile flunking (alternative)
dwyle flonking (alternative)
dwyle flunking (alternative)

(British) An obscure and intentionally preposterous sport in which teams take turns to dance while avoiding a "dwile" (beer-soaked cloth) thrown by their opponents.


GEB

guaranteed equity bond
guaranteed equity bond#English

(British, finance) Initialism of guaranteed equity bond.


bucky

Like for a gun, you could say a gat but that's quite an old term. Most young people now would say stralley, a tool or a bucky.

2011 October 21, Tony Thorne, Dictionary of Contemporary Slang, Bloomsbury Publishing:


fried bread

en-noun

fried bread (usually uncountable, plural fried breads)

fried breads (plural)
frybread (alternative)
fry bread (alternative)

full English breakfast
full English breakfast

(UK) Bread sliced and fried in oil, part of a full English breakfast.


guaranteed equity bond

guaranteed equity bond (plural guaranteed equity bonds)

Thus what is sometimes called a ladder structure can be created which can be added to the zero coupon bond to create an attractive guaranteed equity bond

1997, Les Clewlow with Chris Strickland, Exotic Options: The State of the Art, page 26:

This landscape suits very well the traditional guaranteed equity bond structure, which is the mainstay of the equity structured retail product market

(British, finance) A type of investment that returns a fixed portion of the principal plus the result of equity trading with the balance.


posho

Marcus: We're very sorry.
Stylax: No, we're not. For all this guy knows, we could be mega-minted poshos in disguise.
Shopkeeper: It will be a superb disguise.
Stylax: Cheers.

2016 May 2, Sam Leifer et al., “Jugball”, in Plebs:


shell-like

shell-likes (plural)
shelllike (alternative)

Can I have a quick word in your shell-like, when you've got a moment?

(slang, British, Australia, especially in set phrases) The ear.


organisation chart

organisation chart (plural organisation charts)

organization chart
organization chart#English

(British, management) Alternative spelling of organization chart.


last post

Twenty minutes is allowed for the duration of the roll-call, the commencement and finish of which are sounded on the bugle, and are called the first and last ‘posts.’

1876 September 30, “Drummers and Fifers”, in Chambers's Journal of Popular Literature, Science, and Art, volume 4, number 666, page 629:

(British and Canada) The sounding of a bugle, signalling the evening hour to bed down, also used at military funerals and remembrance services.


lest we forget

From Rudyard Kipling's 1897 poem Recessional.

(British and Canada) Used in Remembrance Day ceremonies as a caution against forgetting those who died in war.


amoxycillin

amoxycillin (countable and uncountable, plural amoxycillins)

(pharmacology) UK spelling of amoxicillin.


sulphadiazine

sulphadiazine (countable and uncountable, plural sulphadiazines)

(pharmacology) UK spelling of sulfadiazine.


floorer

From floor + -er (agent noun suffix) or + -er (measurement suffix) (sense 6).

(UK) In skittles, the act of knocking down all of the skittles in one throw.


resty

en-adj

resty (comparative more resty, superlative most resty)

more resty (comparative)
most resty (superlative)

In vaine the Pagan bannes, and sweares, and rayles, / And backe with both his hands unto him hayles / The resty raynes […]

1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book V, Canto VIII”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:

[N]either knovv I vvhether it is more hard to manage of the tvvo, a dejected eſtate, or a proſperous, vvhether vve may be more incommodated vvith a reſty horſe, or vvith a tyred one: […]

1645, Jos[eph] Hall, “Sect[ion] II. The Contrariety of Estates wherein Contentation is to be Exercised.”, in The Remedy of Discontentment: Or, A Treatise of Contentation in whatsoever Condition: […], London: […] J. G. for Nath[aniel] Brooks, […], published 1652, →OCLC, pages 6–7:

I could not come a moment sooner; I hardly expected to get here at all, for my horse has been so confounded resty I could not tell how to get him along.

1782, [Frances Burney], chapter VI, in Cecilia, or Memoirs of an Heiress. […], volume I, London: […] T[homas] Payne and Son […], and T[homas] Cadell […], →OCLC, book I, page 83:

“Catch hold of the pack-beasts!” I shouted, as they shied back upon us, and two were caught and held fast—I know not by whom. The third, the resty one, springing backwards past me, almost on his haunches, jerked his halter wide of my clutch, and in a moment was galloping full flight down the slope.

1910, Arthur Quiller-Couch (as “Q”), “The Copernican Convoy” in Corporal Sam and Other Stories, London: Smith, Elder, p. 57

[…] Come; our stomachs / Will make what’s homely savoury: weariness / Can snore upon the flint, when resty sloth / Finds the down pillow hard.

1611 April (first recorded performance), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Cymbeline”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene vi]:

[A]ll [beef] is rejected and unfit for such as lead a resty life, anyways inclined to melancholy, or dry of complexion […]

1621, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], The Anatomy of Melancholy, […], Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] John Lichfield and Iames Short, for Henry Cripps, →OCLC:

[W]hat are Chaplains? In State perhaps they may be listed among the upper Servingmen of som great houshold, and be admitted to som such place, as may stile them the Sewers, or the Yeomen-Ushers of Devotion, where the Maister is too restie, or too rich to say his own prayers, or to bless his own Table.

1649, J[ohn] Milton, chapter 24, in ΕΙΚΟΝΟΚΛΆΣΤΗΣ [Eikonoklástēs] […], London: […] Matthew Simmons, […], →OCLC, page 182:


left-luggage office

en-noun

left-luggage office (plural left-luggage offices)

(British) A place at a railway station or airport where luggage may be left for a small charge.


mansionette

From mansion + -ette. Doublet of maisonette.

gone to London to work and had left her mansionette flat empty. The mansionettes stood on high ground overlooking the docks.

(UK) A flat that spans two or more floors, and often has its own entrance (i.e. not off a communal hallway).


withset

en-verb

withset (third-person singular simple present withsets, present participle withsetting, simple past and past participle withset)

withsets (present singular third-person)
withsetting (participle present)
withset (participle past)
withset (past)

From Middle English withsetten (“to resist, set against”), from Old English wiþsettan (“to resist; condemn”), equivalent to with- (“against”) + set.

inh

(transitive, UK dialectal, Scotland) To set (a place) with an ambush.


durr-brain

(British) Alternative spelling of der-brain.


gimboid

Coined in the television series Red Dwarf, possibly from gimp + -oid.

You can blame that primarily on George Dubbya "I wanna rule tha world" Bush and all the gimboids who voted for him.

2003, bewtifulfreak, “Did I post this yet?”, in alt.tv.red-dwarf (Usenet):

A great deal of rap (both commercial and non) is made by talentless gimboids.

2003, Tim Hill, “Bizarre audio CD protection”, in comp.sys.acorn.misc (Usenet):

Actually it doesn't, they just think you're a sad gimboid.

2005, Andy P Field, Discovering Statistics Using SPSS:

(slang, derogatory, UK) An incompetent person.


power pill

From a power-up in the Pac-Man video game (1980) that grants the player temporary invulnerability.

(British, slang) A tablet of the drug ecstasy.


petrol-electric

(British) Describing a hybrid engine or vehicle that uses a combination of petrol and electricity.


humouristic

en-adj

humouristic (comparative more humouristic, superlative most humouristic)

more humouristic (comparative)
most humouristic (superlative)


diarrhoeal

diarrhoeal (comparative more diarrhoeal, superlative most diarrhoeal)

more diarrhoeal (comparative)
most diarrhoeal (superlative)


clone town

Coined in 2004 by the New Economics Foundation.

(British) A town whose major shopping areas are dominated by chain stores at the expense of local diversity.


sweet cream

en-noun

sweet cream (usually uncountable, plural sweet creams)

From sweet + cream, by analogy with the contrasting sour cream.

(dated or British) Cream: the oily part of milk that rises to the top.


sarkily

en-adv

sarkily (comparative more sarkily, superlative most sarkily)

more sarkily (comparative)
most sarkily (superlative)

(British, informal) In a sarky manner; sarcastically.


Eyetie

Eyeties (plural)
eye-tie (alternative)
Itie (alternative)

The only danger of gas from the Eyeties was when they breathed garlic on you.

We got out to sea again, but it was not long before the Eyeties were on our track again.

1944, Richard Baxter, Stand by to surface:

The Frenchies eat 'em [small birds] and so do the Eyeties.

D'you think they're Eyeties? Supposed to be great lovers...

1986, Aidan Chambers, Dance on My Grave:

'Someone give this girl the bumps! She's getting married. Ah, the good die young. What's his name again? Francesco. An eye-tie? I move for a mistrial.

(US, British, slang, derogatory, ethnic slur) An Italian.


pozzy

Unclear, perhaps from a southern African language; from late 19thC, revived during World War I.

‘Could you pinch a tin of pozzy out of stores?’

1929, Frederic Manning, The Middle Parts of Fortune, Vintage, published 2014, page 136:

The Turco used to say: 'Tommy, give Johnny pozzy,' and a tin of plum and apple jam used to be given him.

1929 November, Robert Graves, chapter XVII, in Good-bye to All That: An Autobiography, London: Jonathan Cape […], →OCLC, page 237:

(British, military slang) Jam (“fruit conserve made from fruit boiled with sugar”).


red-throat

(British, birdwatching) The red-throated diver.


black-throat

black-throated diver
black-throated diver

Gavia arctica
Gavia arctica#Translingual

(British, birdwatching) The black-throated diver (Gavia arctica).


supermum

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

(British) Alternative spelling of supermom.


bluely

The Sussex fishermen call the porpoise 'Bluely'.

(UK dialectal, Sussex, obsolete) Porpoise.


clever clogs

clever clogs (plural)
cleverclogs (alternative)
clever-clogs (alternative)

'Not in itself,' said the Doctor, holding the gun at arm's length. 'But you tell me, what happens if some clever clogs gets this in his lab? Finds out how it works? The human race gets the secret of Dalek weapons. You'll all be dead by Wednesday week.'

2006, Gareth Roberts, I Am a Dalek, BBC Books, page 39:

'All right then, clever-clogs,' said Yasmin. 'Any idea which one?'

2011, Tom Bradman, Tony Bradman, Space School: Blast Off!, Bloomsbury (A & C Black), page 49:

'Yes, perfect. Mr Clever Clogs has done it again!'

2013, Lynda Bellingham, Tell Me Tomorrow, Simon & Schuster, page 409:

(slang, UK and Ireland) Somebody who is rather too clever; a smart aleck; sometimes used as an epithet.


spacker

tlb

(UK, Ireland, slang, derogatory, offensive)


matily

en-adv

matily (comparative more matily, superlative most matily)

more matily (comparative)
most matily (superlative)

“Reading?” I said. He lowered his book – one of Ma Cream's, I noticed – and flashed an upper lip at me. “Your powers of observation have not led you astray, Wooster. I am reading.” “Interesting book?” “Very. I am counting the minutes until I can resume its perusal undisturbed.” I'm pretty quick, and I at once spotted that the atmosphere was not of the utmost cordiality. He hadn't spoken matily, and he wasn't eyeing me matily. His whole manner seemed to suggest that he felt that I was taking up space in the room which could have been better employed for other purposes.

1960, P[elham] G[renville] Wodehouse, chapter XVI, in Jeeves in the Offing, London: Herbert Jenkins, →OCLC:

McCormack rounded a bush and Chisholm reared up out of nowhere, a grinning scarecrow, his arm wrapped matily round the boy's shoulders, a pistol jammed against the boy's temple.

2022, Liam McIlvanney, The Heretic, page 449:


lage

Probably from Irish lag (“weak”), from Old Irish lac, from Proto-Celtic *laggos, from Proto-Indo-European *(s)leh₁g-.

I bowse no lage, but a whole gage / Of this I'll bowse to you.

1641–42, Richard Brome, A Jovial Crew, or the Merry Beggars, act 2:

(obsolete, UK, thieves' cant) Water; any weak alcoholic beverage.


lage

en-verb

lage (third-person singular simple present lages, present participle laging, simple past and past participle laged)

lages (present singular third-person)
laging (participle present)
laged (participle past)
laged (past)

I saye by the Salomon I will lage it of with a gage of Benebouse; then cut to my nose watch.

1566, Thomas Harman, A Caveat or Warning for Common Cursitors:


EAZ

Excellence in Cities offers a further development of this approach, whereby secondary schools operate with small clusters of primaries as mini-EAZs.

2001, David Woods, Martyn Cribb, Effective LEAs and school improvement:

(UK, education) Initialism of Education Action Zone, any of various areas of England considered for special assistance in increasing the quality or availability of educational opportunities, instituted by New Labour.


old bag

(British, derogatory) A nasty, troublesome old woman.


slagginess

(UK, Australia, New Zealand, derogatory, of a person) The condition of being slaggy, or sluttish.


paxis

(British) Used by schoolchildren to express immunity from "being caught" in games such as bulldog or it.


crow scarer

(British) A type of firecracker used by farmers to scare crows and other birds.


billycan

The filling of the billycan, cutting the supports to hang it over the fire, was a public show, but many times he would do this anyway to entertain himself. He unpacked the billycan from his old rucksack and I got out the tea and sugar. He filled the billy, then used his penknife to cut sticks to hang it over the fire.

1997, Ian Player, Zulu Wilderness: Shadow and Soul, page 69:

Galloping a hundred yards, then jumping off and remounting an excited horse while holding a full billycan of water and beating everyone back over the starting line without spilling it sounded easy – until you tried. Billycans were lost, dropped, trampled underfoot.

2010, Kerry McGinnis, Wildhorse Creek, unnumbered page:

2010, Nontsomi Langa, A Xhosa Story: Mbengu-Sonyanganzu, in Harold Scheub, The Uncoiling Python: South African Storytellers and Resistance, page 162,
When they reached the river, Nqunuse's daughter's billycan began to leak.

A good billycan was one that had seen many fires, and was pitch black.

2011, Colin Graham Smith, Shadows of War, page 43:

(UK, Australia, South Africa) A lightweight pot for cooking or boiling water, used in camping.


village green

On May Day, the villagers used to dance around a maypole on the village green.

Georgian and Regency houses cluster picturesquely around the sloping village green, which in springtime is carpeted with daffodils.

1980, AA Book of British Villages, Drive Publications Ltd, page 194, about Gainford, Co. Durham:

(British) A patch of land at the centre of a village that is open to the public at all times.


common land

en-noun

common land (countable and uncountable, plural common lands)

The common land up at Chailey's always good for a walk.

(British, Ireland) an area of land in the United Kingdom or Ireland that is open to the public at all times and until the 18th century would have been land that was free for anybody to graze their animals on (often shortened to common).

fælled

land free for anybody to graze their animals on

I've always grazed my animals on the common land and I'm not going to stop now.

(UK, Ireland) collectively, all the common land in one of those two countries.


Glyndebourne

(British) the opera that takes place there.


robin redbreast

robin redbreast (plural robin redbreasts)

From the name Robin + redbreast. See robin.

(UK, slang, historical) A Bow Street Runner (from the colour of his waistcoat).


shagtastic

en-adj

shagtastic (comparative more shagtastic, superlative most shagtastic)

more shagtastic (comparative)
most shagtastic (superlative)

/ʃæɡˈtæstɪk/

From shag + -tastic. Popularized by the Austin Powers movies.

Equally, George Best's "shagtastic marathon" involving bedding seven women in 24 hours because it coincided with his shirt number is the stuff of legend now

1998 September 27, Jason Gee, “Book review: Tired tales of the expected”, in The Independent:

Hinting at sexual extravagance might have caused outrage and disgust in the mid 1800s, but in the shagtastic twenty-first century, it's a certificate of honour.

2008, Mike Parker, Neighbours from Hell, page 28:

(British, slang) brilliant, with implications of sexual intercourse.


FE

further education
further education#English

(UK, education) Initialism of further education.


(British) A grade of pencil with lead that makes darker marks than a pencil grade 3B but lighter marks than a pencil of grade 5B; a pencil with very soft lead.


(British) A grade of pencil with lead that makes lighter marks than a pencil grade H but darker marks than a pencil of grade 3H; a pencil with hard lead.


rock salmon

(British) The flesh of any of several species of small sharks.


huss

Unknown; originally (15th-16th century) also spelled husk.


mauvais quart d'heure

en-noun

mauvais quart d'heure (plural mauvais quarts d'heure)

/məʊˌveɪ kɑː(ɹ)ˈdɜː(ɹ)/

Unadapted borrowing from French mauvais quart d'heure (“bad quarter of an hour”).

ubor

Life, Lady Stutfield, is simply a mauvais quart d’heure made up of exquisite moments.

1893, Oscar Wilde, A Woman of No Importance, published 1906, act II, page 74:

It was a mauvais quart d’heure, the Christmas holidays of ’96, and poor Willy Phillips never lived to see the fight recovered.

1898 April 13, Henry Adams, “[Letter]”, in Ernest Samuels, editor, Henry Adams: Selected Letters, published 1992, →ISBN, page 343:

Many Guardian readers will have suffered a mauvais quart d'heure when they found out that their views on the Gulf war were closer to Peter's than Christopher's.

2003 November 1, Nicholas Lezard, “More than the usual authorial suspects”, in The Guardian:

Kate Fall, Cameron’s deputy chief of staff, has an initial mauvais quart d’heure when all she is offered is the chance to run Comic Relief […]

2020 December 17, Rosemary Hill, “Gosh, what am I like?”, in London Review of Books, volume 42, number 24:

(chiefly British) A brief unpleasant period; a bad yet quick experience.


Limehouse

en-verb

Limehouse (third-person singular simple present Limehouses, present participle Limehousing, simple past and past participle Limehoused)

Limehouses (present singular third-person)
Limehousing (participle present)
Limehoused (participle past)
Limehoused (past)

The place name is a reference to local lime oasts. The earliest reference is to Les Lymhostes, in 1356. The verb is a reference to a speech made there by the Chancellor of the Exchequer David Lloyd George in 1909.

(dated, British) To make a fiery political speech.


'ere

“’Ere y'are, the best rig-out you ever ’ad. […]”

1933 January 9, George Orwell [pseudonym; Eric Arthur Blair], chapter XXIX, in Down and Out in Paris and London, London: Victor Gollancz […], →OCLC, page 214:

Good winds blow through this ol' port. Right filthy as it is, dreams still come true ’ere

2004, Intelligent Systems, translated by Nintendo of America, Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, Nintendo, GameCube, level/area: Rogueport:

Pronunciation spelling
pronunciation spelling

(British, slang and dialectal) Pronunciation spelling of here.


'ere

‘He’s a queer customer, the vun-eyed vun, sir,’ observed Mr. Weller, as he led the way. ‘He’s a-gammonin’ that ‘ere landlord, he is, sir, till he don’t rightly know wether he’s a-standing on the soles of his boots or the crown of his hat.’

1836 March – 1837 October, Charles Dickens, “(please specify the chapter name)”, in The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club, London: Chapman and Hall, […], published 1837, →OCLC:

(British, slang and dialectal) Pronunciation spelling of there.


'ere

’Ere, why don't we get some cigarettes?

(British, slang) Contraction of look here, used for emphasis at the beginning of a sentence when expressing an opinion or want.


big school

en-noun

big school (countable and uncountable, plural big schools)

So called because the bigger (older) children attend.

"Big School is more fun than Primary School," said Flossie to her mother as they both sat at the kitchen table, eating their lunch together. "Isn't it, Mum?"

1982, Hunter Davies, Flossie Teacake's Fur Coat:

She had only just started at big school, and she wasn’t used to getting into trouble. She had never done anything wrong at her little school, and even the thought of doing something wrong frightened her.

2012, David Walliams [pseudonym; David Edward Williams], Ratburger, London: HarperCollins Children’s Books, →ISBN:


Personal Social Health Education

Personal Social Health Education (uncountable)

The Health Education Program mission is to provide basic information about the Believing that many of the health problems found in American Indian and Why is Personal Social Health Education not compulsory in schools?

1981, J Cowley, K David, T Williams, Health education in schools:

Most primary schools are now doing a great deal to promote social, emotional and behavioural skills (SEBS) either through the whole school environment or specifically through the framework of the National Healthy School Standard or the Personal Social Health Education (PHSE) Citizenship curriculum.

2006, Tina Rae, Ruth MacConville, Teaching Peer Support for Caring and Co-operation, →ISBN:

In most schools, teachers are less and less able to live on small academic islands, and will be likely to be involved in the delivery of programmes such as Personal, Social, Health and Economic Education (PSHE), Citizenship and/or Social & Emotional Aspects of Learning (SEAL) as part of their duties as a form tutor.

2012, Peter Fleming, Becoming a Secondary School Teacher, →ISBN:

Current laws regarding SRE which is taught as part of Personal,Social, Health and Economic Education (PSHE) are somewhat confusing, outdated and open to wide interpretation.

2013, S. Elley, Understanding Sex and Relationship Education, Youth and Class:, →ISBN:

Yet unsurprisingly, the levels of knowledge about the Holocaust held by non-history specialists was significantly lower than those who were history specialists. Only 7 per cent of those teaching Personal Social Health Education (PSHE) thought that the systematic mass murder of the Jewish people began in 1941 with the invasion of the Soviet Union — a fact which was known by 49 per cent of history teachers.

2014, M. Gray, Contemporary Debates in Holocaust Education, →ISBN:

(British) A school subject in which students are taught important facts of life not covered in other subjects, such as sexual relationships, drug abuse and so on.


PSHE

Personal Social Health Education#English

(British) Initialism of Personal Social Health Education.


meader

From Middle English *medere, from Old English mǣþere (“a mower”), equivalent to math + -er.


winge

en-verb

winge (third-person singular simple present winges, present participle wingeing or winging, simple past and past participle winged)

winges (present singular third-person)
wingeing (participle present)
winging (participle present)
winged (participle past)
winged (past)

Mostly, they were wingeing about the lousy cook and the same thing served too often

1992, Sky Phillips, Secret mission to Melbourne, November, 1941, page 45:

His wife will winge her bloody head off, but Nev will come good.

1993, Michael Fisher, The Nightmare Man, page 169:

"I'm miserable," Sam proclaimed, plodding behind with his shoelace flapping. "Nobody ever gives me butter-pies when I need them." / "Shut up," said Jonathan. "Stop wingeing."

2002, Diana Wynne Jones, A Tale of Time City, page 41:

(Australia, New Zealand, UK, slang) Alternative form of whinge.


lanthanium

en-noun

lanthanium (countable and uncountable, plural lanthaniums)

From Ancient Greek λανθάνω (lanthánō, “to escape notice”), because it had gone long undetected in mineral ores; + -ium (“a chemical element”).


scruffle

(UK, dialect, Northern England) A scuffle; a physical fight or struggle.


scruffle

en-verb

scruffle (third-person singular simple present scruffles, present participle scruffling, simple past and past participle scruffled)

scruffles (present singular third-person)
scruffling (participle present)
scruffled (participle past)
scruffled (past)

(transitive, UK, dialect, Northern England) To scuffle; to wrestle.


stoor

stoor (third-person singular simple present stoors, present participle stooring, simple past and past participle stoored)

stoors (present singular third-person)
stooring (participle present)
stoored (participle past)
stoored (past)
stour (alternative)

From Middle English storen, *sturien, from Old English *storian, variant of styrian (“to stir, move”), from Proto-Germanic *sturōną (“to turn, disturb”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)twer-, *(s)tur- (“to rotate, twirl, swirl, move”). Cognate with Dutch storen (“to disturb”), Middle Low German stören (“to stir”), German stören (“to disturb”), dialectal German sturen (“to poke, root”). See stir.

inh

(intransitive, UK dialectal) To move; stir.

(intransitive, UK dialectal) To move actively; keep stirring.

(intransitive, UK dialectal) To rise up in clouds, as smoke, dust, etc.

(transitive, UK dialectal) To stir up, as liquor.

(transitive, UK dialectal) To pour; pour leisurely out of any vessel held high.


stoor

(UK dialectal) Stir; bustle; agitation; contention.

(UK dialectal) A sufficient quantity of yeast for brewing.


portaloo

From a trademark of Portakabin Ltd, based on portable and loo.

The valleys and hillsides looked pretty chewed up by all the maneuvers, portaloos dotted the landscape, but the fauna seemed to appreciate the fact that the U.S. Army—unlike the Bavarian hunters outside the box—were shooting blanks.

2009, James Der Derian, Virtuous war: mapping the military-industrial-media-entertainment network:

On what would once have been the front lawn there is now a prefabricated hut and a portaloo.


hold hard

en-verb

hold hard (third-person singular simple present holds hard, present participle holding hard, simple past and past participle held hard)

holds hard (present singular third-person)
holding hard (participle present)
held hard (participle past)
held hard (past)

Originally an expression used in riding or driving, now general.

Hold hard: here come the sheep.

(UK, dated, Rhode Island, often imperative) To remain still; to stop suddenly.


bunk-up

Give us a bunk-up and I'll get your ball back.

(UK, informal) A manoeuvre in which one person is pushed upwards by another, or others, in order to climb over a fence or similar obstacle.


ghoulie

en-noun

ghoulie (countable and uncountable, plural ghoulies)

(countable, informal, UK, chiefly in the plural) A testicle; goolie.


Broonite

Introduced in a comic strip by the satirical magazine Private Eye, styled on The Broons and referring to Gordon Brown's Scottish accent.

(UK, humorous) Alternative form of Brownite.


Del Boy

Nickname of Derek Trotter, a character of this kind in the BBC sitcom Only Fools and Horses.

confidence trickster
confidence trickster


doggy woggy

doggy woggies (plural)
doggy-woggy (alternative)

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

(UK, childish or endearing) A dog, especially a small one.


Downs

(UK, slang, obsolete, historical) Tothill Fields Bridewell, a prison located in the Westminster area of central London between 1618 and 1884.


Harry Hun

Lieutenant George: Great Scott sir, you mean, you mean the moment’s finally arrived for us to give Harry Hun a darned good British style thrashing, six of the best, trousers down?

1989, Ben Elton and Richard Curtis, “Captain Cook”, episode 1 of season 4 of Blackadder

“[…] All the blokes were off shootin’ Harry Hun. […]”

2002, Brian Hughes, The Greyminster Chronicles, iUniverse, →ISBN, page 124:

So it didn't seem much of an option, leaning against a tree waiting for Harry Hun.

2003, Michael Dobbs, Never Surrender, Sourcebooks Landmark, published 2007, →ISBN, page 106:

(UK, slang, derogatory) A name used to represent the German people.


peckled

en-adj

peckled (comparative more peckled, superlative most peckled)

more peckled (comparative)
most peckled (superlative)

Either from peckle (though attested earlier), or an alteration of speckled.

Jacob the patriarch, by force of imagination, made peckled lambs, laying peckled rods before his sheep.

[…]the herons and the cranes and the coots and the didappers and the water hens and the teals and the curs and the drakes and the sheldrakes and the peckled fowls and the flocking sheep, all, all the sirenic and the not-so-sirenic sounds that they let out at the instant of their near-deaths.

1972, Edna O'Brien, Night, Mariner Books, published 2001, →ISBN, page 30:


St. Paul's

We could go up to St. Paul's after lunch.


London Town

From London + Town. Compare Old English Lundentūn (literally “London town”).

cog

There was a man from London Town, Who was so very wise, He jumped into a bramble bush And scratched out both his eyes.

1906, Sarah Stone Williams, The Man from London Town, page 5:

The last other black face she'd seen had been at a tournament in London Town where her lord's son had fought.

2012, Richard Monaco, Lost Years: The Quest for Avalon:

To be in London Town on a Sunday morning is to be awakened by the music of many church bells, which provides an extraordinary experience in itself.

2014, George M. Goritz, Shakespeare, Wall Street and My Arabian Nights Adventures, page 36:

So it went on for a long time—hunger and poverty for poor Dick, with nothing but his dreams of London Town to give him happiness.

2014, E. Nesbit, Fairy Tales for Young Readers:

(UK, chiefly London, traditional or poetic) London, predominantly the central fifteen or so boroughs.


twazzock

I am fully aware that I sound like the worst kind of pseudo-intellectual twazzock […]

2008, Stephen Fry, Don't Mind your Language:

(UK, derogatory) a stupid or annoying person.


wazzer

Can anyone tell me what happened to the Morning crew on GWR? I go away for a bit and when I come back there ^([sic]) gone and replaced by a pair of wazzers!

2003, Darracq Shawe, “Where's the morning crew?”, in uk.local.bristol (Usenet):

(UK, derogatory) A stupid or annoying person; a wazzock.


under lock and key

If it was him we can have him under lock and key in 24 hours.

(US, UK, idiomatic) Imprisoned with little or no chance of escape; locked up.

It is the policy of the organization to keep unused check supplies safeguarded under lock and key.

2008, Edward J. McMillan, Model Policies and Procedures for Not-for-Profit Organizations, page 239:

(US, UK, idiomatic) Safely guarded; locked away.


street pigeon

(UK) a rock pigeon living in an urban environment.


leaving do

(colloquial, Ireland, UK) A party or other celebration held in honour of someone leaving their job.


geog

(UK, informal) Geography, mainly as a school subject.


Swiss Re Tower

The building was commissioned by Swiss Re, a global reinsurance company.

(UK, historical) 30 St Mary Axe, a commercial skyscraper in the City of London.


softly softly

Reduplication of softly. Likely an allusion to softly, softly, catchee monkey or a similar phrase.

softly-softly (alternative)
softly, softly (alternative)

Second, this lack of divergence is also the outcome of the EU's softly-softly approach to human rights and democracy in Morocco.

2003, Annette Jünemann, Euro-Mediterranean relations after September 11, →ISBN:

(UK, often hyphenated) Discreet, low-key, careful.


softly softly

We couldn't get him back into training before Christmas time because he picked up an injury at the Cheltenham Festival last year and we had to go softly softly.

2006 April 28, “Royal heads Betfred field”, in RTE Sport, Ireland, retrieved 2009-06-22:

(UK) In a very tactful, careful, or nondisruptive manner.


Old London Town

(UK, chiefly London) London, predominantly the central fifteen or so boroughs.


Munroist

(UK) One who has climbed all of the Munros (Scottish mountains of more than 3,000 feet in height).


ice pop

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

(UK, Philippines) A frozen snack consisting of flavoured ice in a tube; a freeze pop.


clever arse

No, don't be a clever arse. Did you or did you not eat all the ice cream?

(British, Ireland, slang, derogatory) A person who annoyingly tries too hard to impress with their cleverness; a clever dick.


'phone

“I wonder if Miss Fulton has forgotten?” “I expect so,” said Harry. “Is she on the ’phone?”

1918 August, Katherine Mansfield [pseudonym; Kathleen Mansfield Murry], “Bliss”, in Bliss and Other Stories, London: Constable & Company, published 1920, →OCLC, page 127:


'phone

en-verb

'phone (third-person singular simple present 'phones, present participle 'phoning, simple past and past participle 'phoned)

'phones (present singular third-person)
'phoning (participle present)
'phoned (participle past)
'phoned (past)


off one's chump

See chump (“the head”), and compare off one's head.

“Ay, sure ’ave ur; and wot the devil I be to do agin that there Snooks, as ’ll lie through a brick wall, I beant able to say. I be pooty nigh off my chump wot wi’ one thing and another.”

1883, Richard Harris, The Humourous^([sic]) Story of Farmer Bumpkin′s Lawsuit, Gutenberg eBook #30551:

1888, Rolf Boldrewood (Thomas Alexander Browne), A Sydney-Side Saxon, Gutenberg Australia eBook #0607291,
‘ […] I′m not off my chump, no more than you are, and I haven't smelt spirits since last Christmas.’

1890, Catherine Martin, An Australian Girl, 2002, Margaret Ellen Allen (biographical information), Rosemary Campbell (introduction and notes; editor), University of Queensland Press, page 90,
It put him off his chump entirely. He went completely to the bad.

Such luck as he was going for was literally impossible, and he was regarded as “off his chump,” as someone put it expressively.

1891, The Australian journal: A Weekly Record of Literature, science, and Art, volume 26, page 477:

What with the shock of him going in this awful rash way, and thinking myself a made man by that chance, I was nearly off my chump for a week.

1899 September – 1900 July, Joseph Conrad, chapter VI, in Lord Jim: A Tale, Edinburgh, London: William Blackwood and Sons, published 1900, →OCLC:

I'm going away. He's off his chump, he is. I dont want no balmies teaching me.

1912 (date written), [George] Bernard Shaw, “Pygmalion”, in Androcles and the Lion, Overruled, Pygmalion, London: Constable and Company, published 1916, →OCLC, Act II, page 125:

So I′m back to square one, worrying again about whether I′m off my chump even considering doing an MA in Creative Writing, MAICW.

2010, Gwyneth Daniel, The Word Mountain, page 53:


Pru

So, against its original aims in buying the firm — but convinced by Mr Ball that this was the direction in which to go — the Pru followed.

Also during the 1990s, the Pru aggressively jumped into the group insurance business, the purchase by companies of insurance policies for groups of workers.

In B2B situations where The Pru and Equitable Life jointly provide products, the business has tended to shift towards The Pru.

2006, Frances Brassington, Stephen Pettitt, Principles of marketing:

(UK, informal) Prudential plc, a financial services company based in the United Kingdom.


LMS

London, Midland and Scottish Railway
w:London, Midland and Scottish Railway

(UK, rail transport) Initialism of London, Midland and Scottish Railway.


fittie

Everyone knows someone who's single, despite all evidence that they shouldn't be. So the next time your friend mentions a fittie who just shouldn't be on the market, demand to be introduced.

2009, Charlotte Ward, It's Not Me, It's You, Hachette UK, →ISBN:

(UK, slang) A sexually attractive person.


flid

Clipped form of thalidomide, a drug that caused birth defects, with the initial consonant modified by th-fronting.

Kung Fu Flid, title of a 2009 movie about a thalidomide victim turned action hero

A person with birth defects caused by thalidomide.


stag do

From stag + do (“party”), alteration of stag party.

The Duke’s own stag do is reported to have been held on a Devon estate, Hartland Abbey, where he and close friends indulged in drinking, clay pigeon shooting, surfing and games.

2018, The Telegraph: Duke of Cambridge arrives at the Royal Wedding with Prince Harry:


piss money up the wall

piss money up the wall (third-person singular simple present pisses money up the wall, present participle pissing money up the wall, simple past and past participle pissed money up the wall)

pisses money up the wall (present singular third-person)
pissing money up the wall (participle present)
pissed money up the wall (participle past)
pissed money up the wall (past)

(UK, idiomatic, vulgar) To waste money, normally through ineptness in business.


pip pip

Gee-Gee struck a Fifth Avenue attitude. "Home, James. My car and chauffeur awaits me lord in the alley. Pip-pip, big stuff."

1937 October, “Brant House” [pseudonym; G. T. Fleming-Roberts], “‘No End by Death’”, in Secret Agent “X” in The Assassins’ League, Springfield, Mass.: Periodical House, Inc., OCLC 20615773; reprinted [Doylestown, Pa.?]: Wildside Press, 2006, ISBN 978-0-8095-7175-8, page 24

"Right," Templeton said cheerfully, clapping his hands together. "Well, I'm going to leave you two kids to enjoy your champagne breakfast. Pip pip!"

2013, Kim Foster, chapter 14, in A Beautiful Heist, New York, N.Y.: Kensington Publishing Corp., →ISBN:

"Cheerio Michael," he said loudly. "We'll go fly-fishing again soon, my boy." / "Pip pip, Mr Stevens."

2013, Garry Bushell, Face Down (Face Trilogy), [Chatham, Kent?]: Caffeine Nights Publishing, →ISBN:

(British, colloquial) Goodbye; cheerio, toodeloo (toodle-oo), toodle pip (mostly used by the upper classes).

Pip pip! What's going on here?

I can do a French accent or a German accent or a British accent. (Doing British accent) Pip, pip! Lovely day, isn't it?

1990, Gail Golden (book), Grant Golden (music and lyrics), A Little Bit of Magic, Denver, Colo.: Pioneer Drama Service, →OCLC, page 1:

(British, colloquial) A general greeting, mostly used by the upper classes.

Pip pip! Let's get out there and knock the stuffing out of 'em!

(British, colloquial) Used to create enthusiasm, mostly by the upper classes.


Rusky

(UK, mildly derogatory, ethnic slur) Alternative form of Russki.


go-slow

(UK, Ireland) A period of time spent in an unusually slow fashion.

Indiscipline results in chaos, confusion and diffusion or results. It give rise to strikes, ‘go-slows’, absenteeism, leading to loss of production, profits and wages. […] The features of code of discipline:
(i) It prohibits strikes and lock outs without proper notice and also prohibits intimidation, victimization, go-slow tactics, violence, coercion or instigation by both parties.

2018 October 8, Nwanne Titus Freeman Ifeanyi, “LABOUR UNREST AND INDUSTRIAL PEACE”, in 8th Annual Youth Peace Conference, Godfrey Okoye University, pages 5, 7:

(UK, Ireland, Nigeria) Deliberate slow working as a protest during an industrial dispute.


fart-arse

(British, slang, derogatory) Term of abuse.


fart-arse

fart-arse (third-person singular simple present fart-arses, present participle fart-arsing, simple past and past participle fart-arsed)

fart-arses (present singular third-person)
fart-arsing (participle present)
fart-arsed (participle past)
fart-arsed (past)

No good fartarsing about, […]

2008, Tom Holt, Falling Sideways, Orbit books, →ISBN, page 24:

For the last couple of years, the coaches at the Raiders have never given him much of a chance. They've been fart-arsing him around.

2009 May 29, David Campese, “Terry Campese's made it on own merits”, in Herald Sun:

(British, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, slang) To waste time or opportunities; to dawdle.


on a go-slow

We'll have to wait: the camera's on a go-slow.


blimey O'Reilly

If you're the O'Reilly, they speak of so highly, / Why blime me, O'Reilly, you're doing quite well.

[1915, Harry S. Miller, “Blime Me, O’Reilly (You’re Doing Quite Well) [cover title: Blime Me Mr. O’Reilly but You’re Looking Mighty Well]”, New York, N.Y.: The Cadillac Music; Springfield, Mass.; Chicago, Ill.: A. H. Goetting, →OCLC, page 5:

(UK, Ireland) Alternative form of blimey O'Riley.


blimey O'Riley

1915, Harry S. Miller, “Blime Me, O’Reilly (You’re Doing Quite Well) [cover title: Blime Me Mr. O’Reilly but You’re Looking Mighty Well]”, New York, N.Y.: The Cadillac Music; Springfield, Mass.; Chicago, Ill.: A. H. Goetting, →OCLC, page 5:

(UK, Ireland) An expression of surprise or frustration.


bloody Nora

(UK, Ireland, Commonwealth, slang, dated) Expression of surprise, irritation, etc.


heavens above

Heavens above, what was this? A red lamp swinging, on their line, to stop them! Brake, reverse, throw the steam against her. What's this we're into?

1950 January, David L. Smith, “A Runaway at Beattock”, in Railway Magazine, page 54:

goeie hemel ! lieve help ! goeie genade !


damn and blast

(British, mildly blasphemous) Used to express anger.


damn and blast

Cockney rhyming slang
Cockney rhyming slang

(British, Cockney rhyming slang, motor racing) Last.


sod it

(UK, Ireland) expression of surprise, contempt, outrage, disgust, boredom, frustration.


sod a dog

"Sod a dog." He shook his head. "She'll have a rant, then forgive me."

"Sod a dog, will you look at that? I've never seen so many CD's. Ya got a record store right here in yer room."

(UK, Ireland, mildly vulgar) Expression of surprise or annoyance.


curse it

(UK, mildly vulgar) expression of annoyance.


lanch

[…] difficult to cultivate, on account of the outcrop thereon of a large bed of flints
called locally a 'lanch' or 'lanchet.'


court card

Unlike the numbered cards, these represent people of the kind that might be found at a royal court.

(chiefly UK, historical, deltiology) A postcard measuring approximately 4·75″ × 3·5″, in use mainly in the United Kingdom circa 1894–1902.


East End

But O Cook, O Thomas Cook & Son,[…]with ease and celerity, could you send me to Darkest Africa or Innermost Thibet, but to the East End of London, barely a stone’s throw distant from Ludgate Circus, you know not the way!

1903 October, Jack London, chapter I, in The People of the Abyss, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC:

(colloquial, UK, chiefly London) The east end of London, generally regarded to be east of the medieval walled City of London and north of the River Thames.


Swinging Sixties

[Mary] Quant's happy perpetuation of the mythology is hardly surprising as she was part of the Chelsea Set, a group of creative entrepreneurs consisting mostly of upper-class artists, photographers and writers such as Alexander Plunckett-Green and Nell Dunn, who together with (American) mass media such as Time Magazine (scrutinized in Chapter 4), dreamt up what we now conceive of as the Swinging Sixties.

2016, Sebastian Groes, British Fictions of the Sixties: The Making of the Swinging Decade, Bloomsbury Publishing, →ISBN, page 3:

(UK, US) An often nostalgic name for the 1960s.

teens · twenties · thirties · forties · fifties · sixties · seventies · eighties · nineties

Gay Nineties · Naughty Nineties · Roaring Twenties · Dirty Thirties · Swinging Sixties


fuck-a-doodle-doo

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-fuck-a-doodle-doo.wav

(UK, vulgar) Expression of frustration, contempt or boredom.

- I can play 'Don't Look Back in Anger' on guitar.
- Well fuck-a-doodle-doo.

(UK, vulgar) Conveys sarcastic admiration or happiness; whoop-de-doo.


ogin

Unclear. Among various suggestions, it may be a corrupted form of hogwash (“swill”), of noggin (“a small measure of an alcoholic drink”), or of ocean.

Nobody has yet put up a suitable argument for *never* going into the ogin to help someone who can't raise their own head above the surface...

2004 April 6, DannyBoy, “Man Overboard Statistics....”, in uk.rec.sailing (Usenet):

(UK, chiefly nautical and navy) A large body of water including the sea or the ocean.


hill station

hill stations (plural)
hill-station (alternative)

The message flashed to the Hill stations. — “Cholera — Leave stopped — Officers recalled.”

1889, Rudyard Kipling, “Only A Subaltern”, in Under the Deodars, Boston: The Greenock Press, published 1899, page 144:

In 1854, General Barter, C.B., was a subaltern in the 75th Regiment, and was doing duty at the hill station of Murree in the Punjaub.

1897, Andrew Lang, chapter 4, in The Book of Dreams and Ghosts:

At 6.25 a.m. today Mr Nehru, who had gone to sleep last night "fresh and fit" after his short holiday at a hill station, had a stroke.

1964 May 28, Victor Anant, “Indians' anxious look at the era after Nehru”, in The Guardian, UK, retrieved 2009-06-10:

For builder Rakesh Prajapati, the ideal weekend is trekking up the wild path to reach hill station Matheran.

2006 October 15, Vijay Singh, “From Navi Mumbai, chilling is a drive away”, in Times of India, retrieved 2009-06-10:

(chiefly British, South Asia, Myanmar) In South and Southeast Asia, a small community located at a relatively high elevation which serves as a retreat or vacation location during the hot summers; historically, a village or military post so used by colonial officials.


goodness gracious me

goodness gracious
goodness gracious#English

(idiomatic, UK) Alternative form of goodness gracious.


sodding hell

(UK, Ireland, vulgar, mildly blasphemous) expression of contempt, frustration, etc.


blooming hell

(UK, slang, blasphemous) Synonym of bloody hell.


hell and Tommy

If you refuse, there will be hell and Tommy.

1900, Eyre Hussey, On Account of Sarah, page 219:

But Gurney gets beyond a joke, my boy, with his drinking and what not. We must have the blighter shifted out of this district for good, or it will be hell and Tommy for all of us.

1932, John Brandane, Straw-feet, page 233:

(UK, slang, dated) Utter ruin or destruction.


my sainted uncle

(UK) An expression of surprise or alarm.


lawks a-mercy

(UK) A minced oath for "Lord have mercy".


bleeding hell

(UK, slang, mildly blasphemous) Synonym of bloody hell.


bleeding heck

(UK, slang) minced oath for bleeding hell.


Georgie Porgie

(UK) alternative form of George not used as a given name but often nominally.


green man

(chiefly UK, Ireland) A small figure of a walking man illuminated in green on a traffic light at a pedestrian crossing, indicating that it is safe to cross the road.


get off of someone's cloud

get off of someone's cloud (third-person singular simple present gets off of someone's cloud, present participle getting off of someone's cloud, simple past and past participle got off of someone's cloud)

gets off of someone's cloud (present singular third-person)
getting off of someone's cloud (participle present)
got off of someone's cloud (participle past)
got off of someone's cloud (past)

Hey! You! Get off of my cloud!

(UK) to refrain from pestering a person.


God in heaven

(UK, mildly blasphemous) Expression of alarm or amazement.


forlet

forlet (third-person singular simple present forlets, present participle forletting, simple past and past participle forlet)

forlets (present singular third-person)
forletting (participle present)
forlet (participle past)
forlet (past)
forelet (alternative)
forleet (alternative)
forleit (alternative)
forlete (alternative)
foreleit (alternative)

From Middle English forleten (“forsake, reject, renounce, omit, lose, forgive”), from Old English forlǣtan (“to leave”), from Proto-Germanic *fralētaną (“to leave, dismiss”), equivalent to for- + let. Cognate with Scots forleet (“to forsake, abandon”), Saterland Frisian ferläite (“to forlet, abandon”), West Frisian forlitte (“to forlet”), Dutch verlaten (“to desert, abandon”), German verlassen (“to leave”), Swedish förlåta (“to excuse, forgive, remit”).

cog

to forlet your sins

I soothly quoth, then say, to you, for that each such, he that forlets wife his, be-out unclean lust doing forth-lying thing, doeth (works) he doeth the same to sin, …

1807, The Gothic Gospel of saint Matthew

But, by my soul, I dare well swear His wretched life he shall forlet [...]

1834, Samuel Astley Dunham, A History of Europe During the Middle Ages - Volume 4:

… whether his mind and his soul were deadly and perishing, or it were aye living and eternal; and again, about his good, what it was, and what good was best for him to do, and what evil to forlet.

1920, Alfred (King of England), Pope Gregory I, Paulus Orosius, King Alfred's books - Page 11

[...] and then, if upon mature deliberation, when our mind is staid and our senses settled, the thing appear to be naught, we are to hate and abhor it, and in no wise either to forlet and put off, or altogether to omit and forbear correction, like as they refuse meats who have no stomach nor appetite to eat.

2014, Philemon Holland, Plutarch, Plutarch's Moralia - Page 121:

(transitive, archaic or UK dialectal) To abandon; give up; leave; leave behind; forsake; desert; neglect.

(transitive, UK dialectal, Scotland) To forget.


millionaire shortbread

en-noun

millionaire shortbread (usually uncountable, plural millionaire shortbreads)

millionaire shortbreads (plural)
millionaire's shortbread (alternative)

From the association of millionaires with luxury.

(UK) a light snack consisting of an oblong piece of shortbread with a layer of caramel and then another of hard chocolate on top.


watch the world go by

en-verb

watch the world go by (third-person singular simple present watches the world go by, present participle watching the world go by, simple past and past participle watched the world go by)

watches the world go by (present singular third-person)
watching the world go by (participle present)
watched the world go by (participle past)
watched the world go by (past)

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-watch the world go by.wav

I think I'll just sit under this tree and watch the world go by.

Watching the world go by is so much fun that I have to tear myself away to catch my next service - LNER's 'Highland Chieftain' worked by a bi-mode Class 800 Azuma, [...].

2022 November 30, Paul Bigland, “Destination Oban: a Sunday in Scotland”, in RAIL, number 971, page 75:

(UK, idiomatic) To pause and remain still whilst doing nothing but surveying the environment around oneself.


town walls

en-noun

town walls pl (normally plural, singular town wall)

(UK, plural only) A large historic line of walls encircling a town that normally dates back at least to the Middle Ages.


daily disposable

daily disposable (plural daily disposables)

(UK) A type of contact lens that can be used for one day only and is thrown away at the end of the day when it is no longer needed.


praise the Lord

A present subjunctive clause inherited intact from a time when English was freely productive of them. It is semantically equivalent to praise be to God. The zero morph difference from the imperative form allows parsing as a command synchronically.

“There was a time when the homosexual demanded marriage,” he added with an exasperated chuckle. “Praise the Lord, that time is past. PRAISE THE LORD!” he commanded.

2021, Truscott Jones, chapter 1, in For the Common Good: What Happens When the Powerful Get Desperate?, Saint Petersburg, Fla.: BookLocker, →ISBN, page 8:

(UK, mildly blasphemous) Stereotypical exclamation used in mockery of Christianity.


slapsies

(UK, hand games, children's games) A children's game in which the players position themselves in a circle and each place one hand in the centre (normally on top of a table or other item of furniture). An ordinal number or another word such as "last" or "penultimate" is then called out by someone and whoever draws their hand away from the circle at that position has their hand slapped by the other players.

hand games; children's games; hand games; children's games


clunch

clunch (countable and uncountable, plural clunches)

Perhaps related to clump. Compare hump, hunch; lump, lunch, etc.

clunch pit

The manor-house stands near the church, and is a large convenient old house built of clunch, stone, &c. with good gardens and walks adjoining to the river side.

1736, Charles Parkin, History of Norfolk, volume 6:

(UK) A traditional building material mostly made of chalk or clay.


transition town

transition town (plural transition towns)

environmentally friendly
environmentally friendly

(UK, Ireland) A town in the British and Ireland that is a member of the Transition Towns movement and is striving to develop a higher standard of living and an environmentally friendly future.


dehire

en-verb

dehire (third-person singular simple present dehires, present participle dehiring, simple past and past participle dehired)

dehires (present singular third-person)
dehiring (participle present)
dehired (participle past)
dehired (past)

(transitive, UK, India) To terminate use under a lease of.


smiler

From Middle English smyler, smylere; equivalent to smile + -er.

You're asking for a punch in the smiler!


meemaw

meemaw (third-person singular simple present meemaws, present participle meemawing, simple past and past participle meemawed)

meemaws (present singular third-person)
meemawing (participle present)
meemawed (participle past)
meemawed (past)

Possibly related to maw (“mouth; opening”).

On working days weavers who had jobs were already meemawing across the racket of looms as the van delivered and in hot weather, with weaving shed doors open, the sound bombarded the streets.

2011, Ernest Dewhurst, Pennine Childhood, →ISBN:

Bill, who had nudged the other customer out of the shop and locked the door, meemawed at him to wait.

2013, Nick Oldham, Critical Threat, →ISBN:

Basically, you meemawed anything you didn't want people to overhear, even when there was no one around to listen in.

2013, Lisa Riley, Never Judge a Book by its Cover: The Autobiography, →ISBN:

(intransitive, UK, dialect) To mouth words so that they can be heard over noise (or later so that they cannot be overheard), originally in the cotton industry of Lancashire.


people carrier

(UK, Ireland) A car or minivan designed for spaciousness.


you can't say fairer than that

/juː ˈkɑːnt seɪ ˈfɛəɹə ðn̩ ˌðæt/

/ju ˈkænt seɪ ˈfɛəɹəɹ ðən ˌðæt/

En-au-you can't say fairer than that.ogg

An informal way of expressing that one cannot say that anything is better or more fair than the matter being evaluated.

(British, idiomatic, informal) That is fair, good, or reasonable; one cannot hope for a better decision or outcome.

bolje ne može

that is fair, good or reasonable; one cannot hope for a better decision or outcome


house of correction

en-noun

house of correction (plural houses of correction)

(UK, historical) A kind of residential penitentiary facility, built after the passing of the Elizabethan Poor Law (1601), where those who were "unwilling to work", including vagrants and beggars, were set to work.


in aid of

- What's that coaster in aid of?

- This table gets stained by cups very easily.

(UK, informal) for the sake of, for (usually placed at the end of a question when quizzing a person about why they have done something)


breaktime

breaktime (countable and uncountable, plural breaktimes)

breaktimes (plural)
break time (alternative)

It tends to evaluate the liking for, and the acceptance of, the pupils in their class as peers, rather than asking children to specifically select their friends, breaktime and home companions.

1992, David Freer, Towards Open Schools: Possibilities and Realities for Non-Racial Education in South Africa, page 130:

The significance of breaktimes as a mechanism for children to develop social competence is highlighted in much of Peter Blatchford's work.

2006, Brigette Bishop, Promoting Friendships in the Playground: A Peer Befriending Programme for Primary Schools, page 4:

Designed by architects working for Norman Foster, it had no playground and no morning breaktime.

2010, Karen Littleton, Clare Wood, Judith Kleine Staarman, International Handbook of Psychology in Education, page 231:

(UK) A break for schoolchildren between lessons.


hunk of junk

(UK, US, informal) A worthless or malfunctioning piece of mechanical or electrical equipment.

бракма́

worthless or malfunctioning piece of equipment


brass neck

[to have] a neck like a jockey's bollocks

This year's commemorations of the start of World War One are a stark reminder of the sacrifices politicians make with other people's lives – except nowadays they'll do so wearing a Help for Heroes t-shirt (almost entirely covering their brass necks). When it comes to the hypocritical lauding of the armed forces while simultaneously shafting them, no one does it better than this government.

2014 March 18, John Hyde, “Help for Heroes? Not from this government”, in The Law Society Gazette, archived from the original on 2014-03-20:

That’s why it’s particularly outrageous for the government to sneak out its rubbish “blueprint” for cycling and walking on Easter Sunday, and having the brass neck to try to spin its laughably small investment in cycling and walking as a genuine attempt to make them people’s choice for shorter journeys and to reduce the rate of cyclists killed or seriously injured.

2016 March 27, Helen Pidd, “Government's laughable cycling blueprint does nothing to boost safety”, in The Guardian:

Theresa May’s former chief of staff has accused the UK’s chief Brexit negotiator, David Frost, of having a “brass neck” after he said the UK government had “blinked first” in negotiations.

2020 September 6, Jessica Elgot, “UK's chief Brexit negotiator has 'brass neck', says former May aide”, in The Guardian:

After the Conservatives’ economic failure left working people worse off, it takes some real brass neck for the Tory top team to tell the public that it’s really all their fault. It’s the same old Tories. They haven’t changed and they’ve learned nothing.

2025 January 31, Rowena Mason, quoting Labour spokesperson, “Tory Chris Philp accused of ‘brass neck’ after saying UK needs better work ethic”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:

(idiomatic, UK, Ireland) Gall, shamelessness, cheek.

And it will need a strong hand to wield that knife, and it will need a steady nerve besides, because they have necks of brass, these aristocrats, I tell you: brass necks, all of them!

2010 [2006], Robert Harris, Imperium (Cicero Trilogy), Random House, →ISBN, page 72:

Mostly, though, open data acts as a deterrent against committing fraud in the first place, since it would take the brassiest of brass necks to post a fake dataset on a public website.

2020, Stuart Ritchie, Science Fictions: Exposing Fraud, Bias, Negligence and Hype in Science, Random House, →ISBN:

(idiomatic, UK, Ireland) A person with gall.


brass-necked

en-adj

brass-necked (comparative more brass-necked, superlative most brass-necked)

more brass-necked (comparative)
most brass-necked (superlative)
brassnecked (alternative)

I was at Stansted airport with my wife, younger kids and a niece the other week to take a flight to Dublin; one provided by that brass-necked, self-proclaimed champion of the air-travelling masses Michael O'Leary and his low-cost trailblazer Ryanair.

2007 August 6, Dave Hill, “Plane sailing?”, in The Guardian:

“Humbug”. That word may sink him. “Unfit” was Corbyn’s sombrely measured term. Brazen, brass-necked, thrashing about wildly in proclaiming the 11 supreme court justices “wrong”, Boris Johnson’s performance last night defied all democratic dignity.

2019 September 26, Polly Toynbee, “Boris Johnson’s brutish parliamentary performance defied all democratic dignity”, in The Guardian:

(idiomatic, UK, Ireland) Nervy; cheeky; shameless.


brass-neck

en-verb

brass-neck (third-person singular simple present brass-necks, present participle brass-necking, simple past and past participle brass-necked)

brass-necks (present singular third-person)
brass-necking (participle present)
brass-necked (participle past)
brass-necked (past)

(idiomatic, UK, Ireland) To behave boldly or shamelessly.


Womble

Elisabeth Beresford
The Wombles
Wimbledon Common

Created by author Elisabeth Beresford; they originally appeared in a series of children's novels from 1968. The name was suggested to the author by her young daughter's mispronunciation of the place name "Wimbledon" as "Wombledon" https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/culture-obituaries/tv-radio-obituaries/8226039/Elisabeth-Beresford.htmlhttps://www.tidybag.uk/people/interview-with-elisabeth-beresford-daughter/. The books centre on the activities of a group of the creatures who live on Wimbledon Common.

Wombles are a bit like teddy bears to look at but they have real claws and live underneath Wimbledon Common and devote their lives to ‘tidying up’ all the things those untidy Human Beings leave behind.

1968, Elisabeth Beresford, (Please provide the book title or journal name):

(UK) A fictional pointy-nosed furry creature. They are supposed to live in burrows, where they help the environment by collecting and recycling rubbish in creative ways.

(UK, as 'the Wombles') A nickname of Wimbledon Football Club.


womble

(British, colloquial) A person from the Wimbledon area of London, England.


great crest

(UK, informal, rare, birdwatching) the great crested grebe.


goldie

Young "baldies" look just like "goldies" and are often shot by mistake.

[…] the golden eagle is the champion predator. And the most handsome, according to ornithologists, who affectionately call their subjects "goldies".

Golden eagles took up old eyries on Hebridean sea cliffs only after the white-tailed sea eagle became extinct. Goldies may hunt seabirds but never fish, and they always resort to flying inland for rabbits or hares as preferred prey.

2009, John A. Love, A natural history of St. Kilda:

Something which is golden in color.
(UK, birdwatching) The golden eagle.

Something which is golden in color.
The golden eagle.

“Each time the golden plover moved, its dunlin attendant followed, but when the goldie flew off to land on a wooden post, it triggered a bizarre cameo.

2005, Mark Cocker, Richard Mabey, Birds Britannica:

Both grey and golden had the folk name "whistling plover" in Britain, but you know from the habitat that Burns must have had the goldie in mind in his line, The deep-toned plover gray, wild whistling on the hill

2009, Jeremy Mynott, Birdscapes: Birds in Our Imagination and Experience:

Dunlins, 'the plover's page', lay their eggs in wetter flows, usually those having a complex of small pools; we often watched the dunlins following the goldies.

2010, Desmond Nethersole-Thompson, Waders: their Breeding, Haunts and Watchers, page 107:

Something which is golden in color.
(UK, birdwatching) The golden plover.

Something which is golden in color.
The golden plover.


Lady Amherst's pheasant

en-noun

Lady Amherst's pheasant (plural Lady Amherst's pheasants)

Named after one Lady Amherst who introduced the species to Bedfordshire from China.

Chrysolophus amherstiae
Chrysolophus amherstiae#Translingual

(UK) A colourful pheasant, Chrysolophus amherstiae, indigenous to China but also found in Bedfordshire.


red-leg

red-legged partridge
red-legged partridge

(UK, birdwatching) The red-legged partridge.


red-legged partridge

red-legged partridge (plural red-legged partridges)

Alectoris rufa
Alectoris rufa#Translingual

(UK) Any partridge of species Alectoris rufa.


St James's

(UK) The area of Central London on the north side of the above park (OS grid ref TQ2980, postcode SW1).


barny

So he said she should have said, and we had a bit of a barny, like.

1983, Marilyn Porter, Home, Work, and Class Consciousness, page 78:

(UK, Australia, slang) Alternative form of barney (“argument or fight”).


tufty

From tuft(ed duck) + -y (diminutive suffix).

Buoyant. That's a tufty. Well, tufted duck, to be formal, but the name always sounds more like tufty duck, and there is something inspiringly matey about a tufty: we are on nickname terms with the bird at first glance.

2005, Simon Barnes, “Tufted Duck”, in A Bad Birdwatcher’s Companion … Or A Personal Introduction to Britain’s 50 Most Obvious Birds, London: Short Books, →ISBN, page 101:

Aythya fuligula
Aythya fuligula#Translingual

(British, informal) The tufted duck (Aythya fuligula).


sawbill

red-breasted merganser
red-breasted merganser


white-tailed sea eagle

white-tailed sea eagle (plural white-tailed sea eagles)


French partridge

French partridge (plural French partridges)

(UK) A red-legged partridge (Alectoris rufa).


English partridge

English partridge (plural English partridges)


Scottish Borders

(UK) The areas of Scotland and England adjacent to the border between the two countries.


spotshank

(UK, birdwatching, informal) The spotted redshank.


spot-red

(UK, birdwatching, slang) The spotted redshank.


sea swallow

There was a light breeze off the land; it was scarcely strong enough to lift the heavy fog which lay over the skerries and the naked cliffs, from which the scared sea-gulls flew and hovered around us with their hoarse cry; the sea-swallows uttered their ringing "Tree, tree," and the oyster-catchers their mocking "Click, click!" which has caused so many an unsuccessful sportsman to smile.

1886, Peter Christen Asbjørnsen, translated by H.L. Brækstad, Folk and Fairy Tales, page 181:

Sterna hirundo
Sterna hirundo#Translingual


roseate tern

Sterna dougallii
Sterna dougallii#Translingual

(UK) A species of tern, Sterna dougallii.


ringed dove

Columba palumbus
Columba palumbus#Translingual

Streptopelia decaocto
Streptopelia decaocto#Translingual

(UK) the collared dove, Streptopelia decaocto.


quist

From Middle English quiste, quyste, quyshte, variants of Middle English couschot, cowschote, cowscott, from Old English cūsċeote (“wood pigeon, ringdove”). Doublet of cushat.

inh

It got me thinking about other names we used to call things when we were younger that for some reason as I got older we stopped doing.¶ For example the common woody was a quist, and the sparrow that we so used to love hunting on the summer hedgerows, once the wheat had been cut, were "spugs or spuggies"

2012 June 26, tegater [username], “Quists, spugs and egg and bacon”, in The Hunting Life Forums:

(UK Midlands) The wood pigeon, Columba palumbus.


Billy Wix

(UK, dialect, East Anglia) The barn owl, Tyto alba.


kingy

From kingfisher + -y (“diminutive suffix”).

Alcedo atthis
Alcedo atthis#Translingual

(UK, slang, birdwatching) the kingfisher, Alcedo atthis.


in the light of

In the light of faith I gain wisdom in the wisdom of the Word your Son; in the light of faith I am strong, constant, persevering; in the light of faith I have hope: It does not let me faint along the way.

1980, Catherine of Siena, translated by Suzanne Noffke, The Dialogue, New Jersey: Paulist Press, page 365:

2005, Simon Blackburn, “hermeneutic circle," entry in The Oxford Dictionary of Philosophy, page 165,
Similarly, we may hold that the past can only be understood in the light of the present, and the present only understood in the light of the past.

In the light of cases such as this, one should perhaps be careful about suggesting general disapproval of ‘consumer’ objections to wind farm development.

2007, Jane Holder, Maria Lee, Environmental Protection, Law and Policy: Text and Materials, page 712:

(figuratively, chiefly UK and Canada) Based on conclusions derived from (a source of knowledge, evidence or inspiration).


lorryload

(UK) As much as a lorry can hold; a truckload.


wase

From Middle English wase (“torch”), related to Middle Low German and Middle Dutch wase (“bundle of straw, torch”), Danish vase (“wisp of straw, bundle”), Swedish vase (“a sheaf”).

cog

a waze of strawe in his hande.

1565, Thomas Harding, A Confutation of a Booke Intituled An Apologie of the Churche of England:

(UK, dialect) A bundle of straw, or other material, to relieve the pressure of burdens carried upon the head.


gardening leave

Goodchild had accepted an offer to move from UBS to Coutts, and because the two banks are in direct competition he was, as he expected to be, put straight on to "gardening leave".

2008 August 1, Melissa Viney, “The secret garden”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:

Until September Mr Orcel was head of the investment bank at Switzerland’s UBS. He had been due to succeed José Antonio Álvarez in April, after “gardening leave”.

2019 January 19, “Andrea Orcel’s move from UBS to Santander falls through”, in The Economist, →ISSN:


garden leave

In reference to the time a person can work on their garden during their paid leave.

We think he's going to start working for our competitor, so we've put on him on garden leave so he doesn't take all of our latest ideas.

The use of a garden leave clause means that the employee is allowed to stay at home (in the garden!) on full pay but is not allowed to work for anyone else during the life of the notice period.

2004, Janice Nairns, Employment Law for Business Students, second edition, Pearson Education, →ISBN, page 128:

(UK) A period of paid leave before termination of employment, often including non-compete contract clauses.


jenny wren

There would have been no one to superintend him, except a squirrel perhaps or a jenny wren, at which he might have winked.

1955, Robin Jenkins, The Cone-Gatherers, Canongate, published 2012, page 75:

Troglodytes troglodytes
Troglodytes troglodytes#Translingual

(UK) The wren, Troglodytes troglodytes, especially as considered (in nursery-rhymes, etc.) as the wife or sweetheart of robin redbreast.


niblike

en-adj

niblike (comparative more niblike, superlative most niblike)

more niblike (comparative)
most niblike (superlative)

All my togs were so niblike and splash

1878, William Harrison Ainsworth, Rookwood, page 201:


I believe you, thousands wouldn't

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-I believe you, thousands wouldn't.wav

You weren't working on germ warfare five years ago." "Non-lethal," she cries. "Oh, how you can not see." "Well, I believe you, thousands wouldn't[…]

2004, Sandra Newman, The Only Good Thing Anyone Has Ever Done: A Novel, →ISBN, page 185:

(British, Ireland, sarcastic) Used to indicate that the speaker does not put faith in something they have just heard.


Mount Caburn

(UK) A hill located just east of the town of Lewes in the county of Sussex in the United Kingdom.


cozzie

If it′s hot, take your cozzie (swimsuit) and towel to Bondi Beach or Manly.

2008, Marc Llewellyn, Lee Mylne, Australia For Dummies, page 145:

Got my new cozzie ready for tomorrow – summer has finally arrived!

2010, L. J. Adlington, The Diary of Pelly D, unnumbered page:

Cat's wandered down the garden on the pretext of using the pool so she takes her towel and cozzie.

2010, Barbara Trapido, Sex and Stravinsky, unnumbered page:

(chiefly New South Wales, Canberra, UK) A swimming costume (especially a female swimming costume).


my giddy aunt

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-my giddy aunt.wav

(British, Ireland) An exclamation of astonishment, confusion, despair, etc.: my sainted aunt, my sainted uncle.


gee-gees

He lost all his money on the gee-gees.

I put some money on the gee-gees last week, and I've got to see a bloke about it.

(UK, slang, plural only, usually with 'the') horse racing.


freephone

From free + phone, perhaps after the Freefone (0800 number) service introduced in 1985 in the UK.

If they are not marketed properly they can easily be viewed as a poor man's freephone. Therefore, if such a service is to succeed, it needs to be promoted...

1997, Peter Murley, Gower handbook of customer service:

One reason for the increase in public contact with companies has been the introduction of freephone, or toll-free, services.

2000, Owen Hargie, Dennis Tourish, Handbook of communication audits for organisations:

Adding a freephone telephone number does increase response...

2001, Dave Patten, Successful marketing for the small business:

(chiefly UK, Ireland) A service offering telephone calls free of charge to designated numbers.


fag break

(UK, Ireland, slang) A brief cessation of work, activity etc. in order to have a cigarette.


ready salted

From early crisps that, having previously been shipped with a separate twist of salt, were later salted in advance.

(UK, of crisps) Seasoned with salt but no other flavoring.


Eve's pudding

After the Biblical Eve, who transgressed by eating an apple.

(UK) A pudding made from apples and Victoria sponge cake mixture.


Highland wildcat

en-noun

Highland wildcat (plural Highland wildcats)


master-at-arms

Episode 12, The Cyclops
Then he was telling us the master at arms comes along with a long cane and he draws out and he flogs the bloody backside off of the poor lad till he yells meila murder.

(UK, Navy) A warrant officer or chief petty officer responsible for discipline aboard a naval ship.

רַב נַשָׁק

a warrant officer or chief petty officer responsible for discipline aboard a naval ship

commissioned officer
commissioned officer

(UK, Army) A commissioned officer responsible for overseeing all fitness training in subordinate units.


leading seaman

non-commissioned officer
non-commissioned officer

(Australia, UK, Navy) A non-commissioned officer in the Royal Australian Navy and Royal Navy, ranking above able seaman and below petty officer.


nauther

en-adv

nauther (comparative more nauther, superlative most nauther)

more nauther (comparative)
most nauther (superlative)

From Old English nauþer, nawþer, from na + hwæþer.


warrant officer class 2

en-noun

warrant officer class 2 (plural warrant officers class 2)

warrant officers class 2 (plural)
warrant officer 2 (alternative)

(UK) NATO rank OR-8 in all British armed services.

warrant officer class 1
warrant officer class 1

company sergeant major
company sergeant major

(UK, Army) A warrant officer in the British Army ranking above staff sergeant and below warrant officer class 1; company sergeant major

(UK, Marines) A warrant officer in the Royal Marines ranking above colour sergeant and below warrant officer class 1.

(UK, Navy) A warrant officer in the Royal Navy ranking above chief petty officer and below warrant officer class 1.


warrant officer class 1

warrant officer class 1 (plural warrant officers class 1)

warrant officer class 2
warrant officer class 2

regimental sergeant major
regimental sergeant major

(UK, Army, Navy, Marines) A warrant officer in the British Army, Royal Marines, and Royal Navy, ranking above warrant officer class 2. In the army the rank held by a regimental sergeant major.


yowe

yowes (plural)
yeo (alternative)
yoe (alternative)
yow (alternative)

From Middle English yowe, yeue, forms of ewe, from Old English eowu. Compare Scots cognate yowe.

The ram was marked wi' keel at the reet o' the tail an' the yowes upon their hips.

1902, James Thomson, Recollections of a Speyside parish:

(dialectal, UK, Scotland) A ewe; a female sheep.


haematuria

haematuria (countable and uncountable, plural haematurias)