slate

en-verb

slate (third-person singular simple present slates, present participle slating, simple past and past participle slated)

slates (present singular third-person)
slating (participle present)
slated (participle past)
slated (past)

From Middle English slatten, sclatten, from the noun (see above).

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Naomi Persephone Amethyst (NaomiAmethyst)-slate.wav

The play was slated by the critics.

(transitive, chiefly British) To criticise harshly.


hello

→ Amharic: ሀሎ (halo)

desc

→ Chinese: 哈嘍 /哈喽 (hālou), 哈囉 /哈啰 (hāluó), 哈囉 /哈啰 (hāluó), 哈佬 (hālǎo), 哈咯 (hālo), ciallo

→ Japanese: ハロー (harō)

→ Malay: helo

→ Scottish Gaelic: halò

Hello (first attested in 1826), from holla, hollo (attested 1588). This variant of hallo is often credited to Thomas Edison as a coinage for telephone use, but its appearance in print predates the invention of the telephone by several decades.
Ultimately from a variant of Old English ēalā, such as hēlā, which was used colloquially at the time similarly to how hey and (in some dialects) hi are used nowadays. Thus, equivalent to a compound of hey and lo. Used when drawing attention to yourself.
Possibly influenced by Old Saxon halo!, imperative of halōn (“to call, fetch”), used in hailing a ferryman, akin to Old High German hala, hola!, imperative forms of halōn, holōn (“to fetch”). More at hallo.
OED and Merriam-Webster also suggested that it is a variant of holla, a variant of holloo. Further beyond, the origin remains uncertain. OED and Merriam-Webster suggested that it has a connection between hallow (“to shout, to cry out loud”), which came from Old French holloer, which, according to Altfranzösisches Wörterbuch, is from Old Saxon halōn.

hallo (alternative)
hilloa (alternative obsolete)
hullo (alternative UK)

ܫܠܵܡܵܐ ܥܲܠܵܟ݂ܝ

šlāmā ˁallāḵ

ܫܠܵܡܵܐ ܥܲܠܵܘܟ݂ܘܿܢ

šlāmā ˁallāwḵōn

sveiki

informal to more than one person or people of indeterminate gender

nsellmulek

formal more than one person to one person

nsellmulkom

formal more than one person to more than one persons

dumelang

as in dumelang, borra, "hello gentlemen"

اَلسَّلامُ عَلَیکُم وَرَحْمَۃُاللہ وَبَرَکَاتُہ (as-salāmu 'alaikum va-rahmatu-llāh, literally “Peace be upon you & May Allah bless”)

Hello! What’s going on here?

(chiefly UK) An expression of puzzlement or discovery.

マジかよ

Are you sure?, You're kidding!, more informal


amber

en-noun

amber (countable and uncountable, plural ambers)

red

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

From Middle English ambre, aumbre, from Old French aumbre, ambre, from Arabic عَنْبَر (ʕanbar, “ambergris”), from Middle Persian 𐭠𐭭𐭡𐭫 (ʾnbl /ambar/, “ambergris”). Compare English lamber, ambergris. Displaced Middle English smulting (from Old English smelting (“amber”)), Old English eolhsand (“amber”), Old English glær (“amber”), and Old English sāp (“amber, resin, pomade”).
* The nucleotide sequence "UAG" is named "amber" for the first person to isolate the amber mutation, California Institute of Technology graduate student Harris Bernstein, whose last name ("Bernstein") is the German word for the resin "amber".

ambergris

obsolete: the waxy product of the sperm whale

While earlier controllers provided concurrent ambers, present practice is to indicate a minimum intergreen period of 4 s.

1974, Traffic Planning and Engineering, page 366:

Also flashing ambers are not operational at this type of crossing.

2000, Traffic Engineering & Control, volume 41, page 201:

>Problem: Red-red signals are too time consuming when traffic density is higher.
I don't find them time consuming at all. I find them identical to ambers.

2004 January 14, AZGuy, “Turn Signal Research shows amber no more effective then red”, in rec.autos.driving (Usenet):

(British, Australia) The intermediate light in a set of three traffic lights, which when illuminated indicates that drivers should stop when safe to do so. See also yellow light.


city

cities (plural)
citie (alternative obsolete)
cittie (alternative obsolete)
cyte (alternative obsolete)
cytee (alternative obsolete)

→ French: City

→ German: City

→ Italian: city

→ Swedish: city

→ Russian: си́ти (síti)

From Middle English cite, from Old French cite, from Late Latin cīvitātem (“city”), in Classical Latin "citizenry", derived from cīvis (“fellow-citizen”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *ḱey- (“lie down; settle”). Cognate with Old English hīwan pl (“members of one's household, servants”). See hewe. Doublet of civitas. Mostly displaced native Old English burg, whence Modern English borough.

cog

Manchester, incorporated in 1838, was made the centre of a bishopric in 1847 and became a city in 1853. Liverpool was transformed into a city by Royal Charter when the new diocese of Liverpool was created in 1880.

1976, Cornelius P. Darcy, The Encouragement of the Fine Arts in Lancashire, 1760-1860, Manchester University Press, →ISBN, page 20:

St Davids itself is the smallest city in Great Britain, with a population of less than 2,000.

2014, Graham Rutt, Cycling Britain's Cathedrals Volume 1, Lulu.com, →ISBN, page 307:

(UK) A settlement granted special status by royal charter or letters patent; traditionally, a settlement with a cathedral regardless of size.


diesel

en-noun

diesel (countable and uncountable, plural diesels)

From German Diesel, named after inventor Rudolf Diesel, who developed a heavy-duty engine in Germany (1892–1897) and perfected it throughout his life.

snakebite and black
snakebite and black#English

(UK, slang) Synonym of snakebite and black.


grape

en-verb

grape (third-person singular simple present grapes, present participle graping, simple past and past participle graped)

grapes (present singular third-person)
graping (participle present)
graped (participle past)
graped (past)

From Middle English grape, from Old French grape, grappe, crape (“cluster of fruit or flowers, bunch of grapes”), from graper, craper (“to pick grapes”, literally “to hook”), of Germanic origin, from Frankish *krappō (“hook”), from Proto-Indo-European *greb- (“hook”), *gremb- (“crooked, uneven”), from *ger- (“to turn, bend, twist”). Cognate with Middle Dutch krappe (“hook”), Old High German krapfo (“hook”) (whence German Krapfen (“Berliner doughnut”). Doublet of grappa. More at cramp.

der

Lang, lang I sought and graped for my pack, Till night and hunger forced me to come back.

1780, Alexander Wilson, A Pedlar's Story:

Aw graped my way out i' the dark, An' down the stairs aw scrafflel'd

1836, William Stephenson Jr, Punch and Toby:

I dinna ken,” said Steenie ; “ the book had fa'en out 0' his pocket, I fancy, for I fand it amang my feet when I was graping about to set him on his legs again, and I just pat it in my pouch to keep it safe ;

1836, Walter Scott, The antiquary, page 56:

'Till in a declamation mist, His argument he tint it; He gapéd for't, he graped for't, He fand it was awa, man;

1881, Robert Burns, The Two Lawyers, page 280:


emerald

en-noun

emerald (countable and uncountable, plural emeralds)

→ Welsh: emrald, emrallt

From Middle English emeraude, borrowed from Old French esmeraude, from Vulgar Latin *smaralda, *smaraldus, *smaraudus, variant of Latin smaragdus, from Ancient Greek σμάραγδος (smáragdos), μάραγδος (máragdos), from a Semitic language. Compare Hebrew בָּרֶקֶת (bāréqeṯ, “emerald, flashing gem”), Akkadian 𒁀𒊏𒄣 (baraqu, literally “scintillation”), Arabic بَرْق (barq, literally “flashing”), Egyptian bwyrqꜣ (literally “to sparkle”):D58-Z7-Z4:D21-N29-Z1-G1-D6 and loanwords with Semitic etymon such as Sanskrit मरकत (marakata) and Persian زمرد (zomorrod) (whence Turkish zümrüt and Russian изумру́д (izumrúd)).

cog

(dated, printing, UK) A size of type between nonpareil and minion, standardized as 6½-point.


squid

Unknown. Perhaps a sailors' alteration of squirt.

Can you lend me five squid? I feel like a bacon sarnie.

Press the fifty squid button – "Insufficient funds".
[…]
A thousandth of a million squid or two monkeys / Or a whole fifty scores

2004, The Streets, “It Was Supposed to Be So Easy”, in A Grand Don’t Come for Free:

(UK, slang, humorous, rare) A quid; one pound sterling.


ruby

en-noun

ruby (countable and uncountable, plural rubies)

From Middle English ruby, rube, from Old French rubi, from Medieval Latin rubīnus. Doublet of rubine.

(uncountable, printing, UK, dated) The size of type between pearl and nonpareil, standardized as 5½-point.


chestnut

chestnut (countable and uncountable, plural chestnuts)

→ Gujarati: ચેસ્ટનટ (cesṭanaṭ)

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Naomi Persephone Amethyst (NaomiAmethyst)-chestnut.wav

Formerly chesten nut, from Middle English chesten, Middle English chesteyne, chasteine, from Old English ċisten and reinforced by Old French chastaigne, both from Latin castānea, from Ancient Greek καστάνεια (kastáneia). Latin castānea also is the ultimate source of English castanet.

pull someone's chestnuts out of the fire


whitewash

whitewash (countable and uncountable, plural whitewashes)

Received Pronunciation, wine–whine merger

General American, wine–whine merger, Canadian raising

The bottles, however, were port bottles, but contained mushroom ketchup; and we can only say with regard to the 15s. sherry, that it would have made an admirable "whitewash," as Sheridan's glass is still sometimes called, […]

1883, Cassell's Dictionary of Cookery, page lxxxiii:

Sercial was also used as a sort of white-wash after the Port at dinner, those were the days when people had time to drink both Port and a White wash.

(UK, slang, obsolete) A glass of sherry as a finale, after drinking port and claret.


whitewash

en-verb

whitewash (third-person singular simple present whitewashes, present participle whitewashing, simple past and past participle whitewashed)

whitewashes (present singular third-person)
whitewashing (participle present)
whitewashed (participle past)
whitewashed (past)

(US, UK, slang) In various games, to defeat (an opponent) so that they fail to score, or to reach a certain point in the game; to skunk.


posh

en-noun

posh (countable and uncountable, plural poshes)

Unknown.
Most likely derived from Romani posh (“half”), either because posh-kooroona (“half a crown”) (originally a substantial sum of money) was used metaphorically for anything pricey or upper-class, or because posh-houri (“half-penny”) came to refer to money generally.
A period slang dictionary defines "posh" as a term used by thieves for "money : generic, but specifically, a halfpenny or other small coin". An example is given from James Payn's The Eavesdropper (1888): "They used such funny terms: 'brads,' and 'dibbs,' and 'mopusses,' and 'posh' ... at last it was borne in upon me that they were talking about money."
Evidence exists for a slang sense from the 1890s meaning dandy, which is quite possibly related.
A popular folk etymology holds that the term is an acronym for "port out, starboard home", describing the cooler, north-facing cabins taken by the most aristocratic or rich passengers travelling from Britain to India and back. However, there is no evidence for this claim.
It could also possibly be a clipping of polished.
See also the articles mentioned in the References section below for additional discussion.

(countable, UK, slang, obsolete) A halfpenny or other coin of little value.

(uncountable, UK, slang, obsolete) Money.


toilet

→ Japanese: トイレット, トイレ

Krio: tɔylɛt

Tok Pisin: toilet

From Middle French toilette, diminutive of toile (“cloth”), from their use to protect clothing while shaving or arranging hair. From its use as a private room, toilet came to refer euphemistically to lavatories and then to its fixtures, beginning in the United States in the late 19th century.

ашьашьма

room used for urination and defecation — see also bathroom, men's room, ladies' room, outhouse, portable toilet, latrine, shitter

toilet

fixture used for urination and defecation — see also flush toilet, squat toilet, chemical toilet, urinal, latrine

Appendix:Roget MICRA thesaurus/Class II § 191. Receptacle

Sorry, I was in the toilet.

He would hit her when she cried and, if this did not work, would lock her in the toilet for hours on end.

2002, Digby Tantam, Psychotherapy and Counselling in Practice: A Narrative Framework, page 122:

He wet his thumb with saliva pressing on the tongue, ran it up and down faster over the letter 'I' of 'TOILET', the 'LADIES TOILET' was transformed into 'LADIES TO LET' in no time.

2014, C.S. Walter, Abandoned Bridges, pp. 105 f.:

(UK, Australia, Hong Kong) A room, enclosed area or single-purpose building containing a fixture or fixtures used for urination and defecation; a bathroom or water closet.

(New Zealand) A small secondary lavatory having a fixture used for urination and defecation and sink but no bathtub or shower.


bucket

→ Farefare: bɔgtɛ

→ Japanese: バケツ (baketsu)

→ Maori: pākete

From Middle English buket, boket, partly from Old English bucc ("bucket, pitcher"; mod. dialectal buck), equivalent to bouk + -et; and partly from Anglo-Norman buket, buquet (“tub; pail”) (compare Norman boutchet, Norman bouquet), diminutive of Old French buc (“abdomen; object with a cavity”), from Vulgar Latin *būcus (compare Occitan and Catalan buc, Italian buco, buca (“hole, gap”)), from Frankish *būk (“belly, stomach”). Both the Old English and Frankish terms derive from Proto-Germanic *būkaz (“belly, stomach”). More at bouk.

gloss

"bucket, pitcher"; mod. dialectal <i class="Latn mention" lang="en">buck</i>

der

(UK, archaic) A unit of measure equal to four gallons.


bucket

en-verb

bucket (third-person singular simple present buckets, present participle bucketing, simple past and past participle bucketed)

buckets (present singular third-person)
bucketing (participle present)
bucketed (participle past)
bucketed (past)

(transitive, UK, US, rowing) To make, or cause to make (the recovery), with a certain hurried or unskillful forward swing of the body.


dub

From Celtic; compare Irish dobhar (“water”), Welsh dŵr (“water”).

“Has he nae friends?” said she, in a tearful voice.
“That has he so!” cried Alan, “if we could but win to them!—friends and rich friends, beds to lie in, food to eat, doctors to see to him—and here he must tramp in the dubs and sleep in the heather like a beggarman.”

1886 May 1 – July 31, Robert Louis Stevenson, Kidnapped, being Memoirs of the Adventures of David Balfour in the Year 1751: […], London; Paris: Cassell & Company, published 1886, →OCLC:


dub

dub (third-person singular simple present dubs, present participle dubbing, simple past and past participle dubbed)

dubs (present singular third-person)
dubbing (participle present)
dubbed (participle past)
dubbed (past)

From dup (“to open”), from do + up, from Middle English don up (“to open”).

"Crash the cull—down with him—down with him before he dubs the jigger. Tip him the degan, Fib, fake him through and through; if he pikes we shall all be scragged."

1828, Edward Bulwer-Lytton, chapter LXXXIII, in Pelham: or The Adventures of a Gentleman, page 402:

(obsolete, UK, thieves' cant) To open or close.


dub

[…]going upon the dobbin, is a woman dressed like a servant maid, no hat nor cloak on, a bunch of young dubs by her side, which are a bunch of small keys[…]

1789, George Parker, Life's Painter of Variegated Characters in Public and Private Life, page 162:

(obsolete, UK, thieves' cant) A key, especially a master key; a lock pick.


AC

ACs (plural)
a.c. (alternative)
A/C (alternative)
a/c (alternative)
A.C. (alternative)
a.c. (alternative)
ac (alternative)
A.C. (alternative)
A.C. (alternative)
A. C. (alternative)
a.c. (alternative)

assistant commissioner
assistant commissioner#English

(UK, law enforcement) Initialism of assistant commissioner, a police rank used in London's Metropolitan Police.


DC

en-noun

DC (countable and uncountable, plural DCs)

defined contributions
defined contributions#English

(UK, pensions) Initialism of defined contributions.


bad

en-verb

bad (third-person singular simple present bads, present participle badding, simple past and past participle badded)

bads (present singular third-person)
badding (participle present)
badded (participle past)
badded (past)

æ-tensing, New York City, New Orleans, Philadelphia, Baltimore

A curious specimen of Gloucestershire dialect came out in an assault case heard by the Gloucester court magistrates on Saturday. One of the witnesses, speaking of what a girl was doing at the time the assault took place, said she was ‘badding’ walnuts in a pigstye. The word is peculiarly provincial: to ‘bad’ walnuts is to strip away the husk. The walnut, too, is often called a ‘bannut,’ and hence the old Gloucestershire phrase, ‘Come an’ bad the bannuts.’

1876, The Gloucester Journal, Oct. 7, 1876, reported in A. Gregory, “Gloucestershire Dialect,” Notes and Queries, 5th ser., 6, 148 (1876‑10‑28): 346

(British, dialect, transitive) To shell (a walnut).


upbraid

upbraid (third-person singular simple present upbraids, present participle upbraiding, simple past and past participle upbraided)

upbraids (present singular third-person)
upbraiding (participle present)
upbraided (participle past)
upbraided (past)

From Middle English upbreyden, from Old English upbreġdan, equivalent to up- + braid. Compare English umbraid (“to upbraid”), Icelandic bregða (“to draw, brandish, braid, deviate from, change, break off, upbraid”). See up, and braid (transitive).

cog

(UK dialectal, Northern England, archaic) To vomit; retch.


soak

From Middle English soken, from Old English socian (“to soak, steep”, literally “to cause to suck (up)”), from Proto-Germanic *sukōną (“to soak”), causative of Proto-Germanic *sūkaną (“to suck”). Cognate with Middle Dutch soken (“to cause to suck”). More at suck.


MT

en-noun

MT (countable and uncountable, plural MTs)

(military, British) Initialism of mechanical transport.


RN

John Richards, RN, was a guest at the inn last night.

A chart of Singapore, by Mr. John Richards, R.N., has recently been published by the Admiralty on the scale of 12 inches to a mile; it shows at a glance the docks, coal-wharfs, and other accommodation at that flourishing entrepôt of the trade of the East.

1862, “Address to the Royal Geographical Society of London; Delivered at the Anniversary Meeting on the 26th May, 1862, by the Lord Ashburton, President”, in Journal of the Royal Geographical Society of London, volume 32, page civ-clxxii:

(UK, military, nautical) Initialism of Royal Navy.


bap

Originally Scottish English, of unknown origin.

(British, Ireland, slang, chiefly in the plural) A woman's breast.


bat

From Middle English bat, batte, from Old English batt (“bat, club, cudgel”), probably of Celtic origin, compare Old Breton bath (“club, cudgel”) and modern Breton bazh (“swagger stick”), ultimately from a derivative of Proto-Indo-European *bʰedʰh₂- (“to strike, beat, pierce”), similar to the Gaulish source of Latin battuo (“I beat, pound”).

der

(UK, Scotland, dialect) A stroke of work.

(UK, Scotland, dialect) Manner; rate; condition; state of health.


bat

en-verb

bat (third-person singular simple present bats, present participle batting, simple past and past participle batted)

bats (present singular third-person)
batting (participle present)
batted (participle past)
batted (past)

From Middle English batten, baten (“to beat”), from Old French batre (“to beat”), from Late Latin battere, from Latin battuere, of uncertain origin; perhaps of Germanic or Celtic origin. In modern English reinterpreted as a verbal derivative of Etymology 2. Compare batter, battery.

unc

uncertain

(UK, dialect, obsolete) To bate or flutter, as a hawk.


bat

The retailer who sells a little girl a pretty pair of shoes today instead of a pair of bats, is bound to sell that girl, when she grows up, a pair of stylish $3 or $4 shoes instead of her buying a pair of $1.98 bargain bats elsewhere.

1909, Boot and Shoe Recorder, volume 55, page 25:

(UK, dialect, obsolete) A child's shoe without a welt.

(UK, slang, obsolete) A boot that is badly made or in poor condition.


beat

en-verb

beat (third-person singular simple present beats, present participle beating, simple past beat or (nonstandard) beated, past participle beaten or (colloquial) beat or (nonstandard) beated)

beats (present singular third-person)
beating (participle present)
beat (past)
beated (nonstandard past)
beaten (participle past)
beat (colloquial participle past)
beated (nonstandard participle past)
beat (infinitive)
beat (first-person present singular)
beat (first-person past singular)
beat (present second-person singular)
beatest (archaic present second-person singular)
beat (past second-person singular)
beatest (archaic past second-person singular)
beats (present singular third-person)
beateth (archaic present singular third-person)
beat (past singular third-person)
beat (plural present)
beat (past plural)
beat (present subjunctive)
beat (past subjunctive)
beat (imperative present)
beating (participle present)
beaten (participle past)

From Middle English beten, from Old English bēatan (“to beat, pound, strike, lash, dash, thrust, hurt, injure”), from Proto-West Germanic *bautan, from Proto-Germanic *bautaną (“to push, strike”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰewd- (“to hit, strike”).
Compare Old Irish fo·botha (“he threatened”), Latin confutō (“to strike down”), fūstis (“stick, club”), Albanian bahe (“sling”), Lithuanian baudžiù, Old Armenian բութ (butʻ)).

der

it is easy to find a stick to beat a dog

He wanted $50 for it, but I managed to beat him down to $35.

(transitive, UK, in haggling for a price of a buyer) To persuade the seller to reduce a price.


QC

en-noun

QC (countable and uncountable, plural QCs)

QCs (plural)
Q.C. (alternative)
Q. C. (alternative)

(UK, Canada, New Zealand, occasionally Australia) Initialism of Queen's Counsel and postnominal.


CS

chief superintendent
w:chief superintendent

(UK, law enforcement) Initialism of chief superintendent.


GR

(British) Initialism of George Rex (on coins, letterboxes, etc.) The royal cypher for George V and his son George VI, kings of Great Britain


SI

SI (countable and uncountable, plural SIs)

The scope of SIs varies greatly, from the technical (e.g. to set or vary the dates on which different provisions of an Act will come into force, to change the levels of fines or penalties for offences or to make consequential and transitional provisions) to the much wider-ranging, such as filling out the broad provisions in Acts.

2016 December 15, Richard Kelly, Statutory Instruments, House of Commons Library Briefing Paper 6509, archived from the original on 2022-01-07, page 1:

statutory instrument
statutory instrument#English

(UK, Canada, Australia, law) Initialism of statutory instrument.


so

en-adj

so (comparative more so, superlative most so)

more so (comparative)
most so (superlative)

From Middle English so, swo, zuo, swa, swe, from Old English swā, swǣ, swē (“so, as, the same, such, that”), from Proto-West Germanic *swā, from Proto-Germanic *swa, *swē (“so”), from Proto-Indo-European *swē, *swō (reflexive pronomial stem). Cognate with Scots sae (“so”), Saterland Frisian so (“so”), West Frisian sa (“so”), Dutch zo (“so”), German Low German so (“so”), German so (“so”), Danish så (“so”), Norwegian Nynorsk so (“so”), Swedish så (“so, such that”), Faroese so (“so”), Icelandic svo (“so”), Old Latin suad (“so”), Albanian sa (“how much, so, as”), Ancient Greek ὡς (hōs, “as”), Urdu سو (sō, “hence”).

Is he so?


VC

en-noun

VC (countable and uncountable, plural VCs)

→ Bengali: ভিসি (bhiśi)

voluntary controlled
voluntary controlled school#English

(UK, education) Initialism of voluntary controlled.


touch

touch (countable and uncountable, plural touches)

From Middle English touchen, tochen, from Old French tochier (“to touch”) (whence Modern French toucher; compare French doublet toquer (“to offend, bother, harass”)), from Vulgar Latin *tuccō (“to knock, strike, offend”), from Frankish *tukkōn (“to knock, strike, touch”), from Proto-Germanic *tukkōną (“to tug, grab, grasp”), from Proto-Indo-European *dewk- (“to draw, pull, lead”). Largely isplaced native Middle English rinen, from Old English hrīnan (whence Modern English rine). Doublet of tuck.
Cognates
Cognate with Old High German zochhōn, zuhhōn (“to grasp, take, seize, snatch”) (whence German zucken (“to jerk, flinch”)), German Low German tucken, tocken (“to fidget, twitch, pull up, entice, throb, knock, repeatedly tap”), Middle Dutch tocken, tucken (“to touch, entice”) (whence Dutch tokkelen (“to strum, pluck”)), Old English tucian, tūcian (“to disturb, mistreat”) (whence Modern English tuck). Compare also Old High German tokkōn, tockōn (“to abut, collide”). Outside Germanic, cognate to Albanian cek (“to touch”), Old Church Slavonic тъкнѫти (tŭknǫti). More at tuck, take.


think

en-noun

think (usually uncountable, plural thinks)

thinks (plural)
thinck (alternative obsolete)
thinke (alternative obsolete)

From Middle English thinken, thynken, thenken, thenchen, from Old English þenċan, from Proto-West Germanic *þankijan, from Proto-Germanic *þankijaną (“to think”), from Proto-Indo-European *teng- (“to think, feel, know”).
Cognate with Scots think, thynk (“to think”), North Frisian teenk, taanke, tanke, tånke (“to think”), Saterland Frisian toanke (“to think”), West Frisian tinke (“to think”), Dutch denken, dinken (“to think”), Afrikaans dink (“to think”), Low German denken, dinken (“to think”), German denken (“to think”), Danish tænke (“to think”), Swedish tänka (“to think”), Norwegian Bokmål tenke (“to think”), Norwegian Nynorsk tenkja (“to think”), Icelandic þekkja (“to know, recognise, identify, perceive”), Latin tongeō (“know”).

cog

I'll have a think about that and let you know.

(chiefly UK) An act of thinking; consideration (of something).


CA

en-noun

CA (countable and uncountable, plural CAs)


KS

(UK, education) Initialism of key stage.


ben

en-adj

ben (comparative benar, superlative benat)

c. 16th century. Probably from Latin bene or Italian bene.

A gage of ben Rom-bouse, / In a bousing-ken of Rom-vile, / Is benar than a Caster, / Pecke, pennam, lay, or popler, / Which we mill in deuse a vile.

1611, Thomas Middleton, The Roaring Girle:

(obsolete, UK, thieves' cant) Alternative spelling of bene; good.


ben

In the Chronicles of the Stage, some curious particulars are given relating to Sir Henry Herbert and the well-known Sir William Davidson, by which we learn, amongst other things, that a “ben” or benefit at Drury Lane, two centuries ago, was worth a hundred pounds.

year?, The Catholic Literary Circular (page 75)

(UK, theater, slang, obsolete) A benefit (performance to raise funds).


sound

sound (comparative sounder, superlative soundest)

sounder (comparative)
soundest (superlative)
soune (alternative obsolete)
sownd (alternative obsolete)
sowne (alternative obsolete)

→ Volapük: saun

From Middle English sound, sund, isund, ȝesund, from Old English sund, ġesund (“sound, safe, whole, uninjured, healthy, prosperous”), from Proto-West Germanic *sund, from Proto-Germanic *gasundaz, *sundaz (“healthy”), from Proto-Indo-European *sunt-, *swent- (“vigorous, active, healthy”).
Cognate with Scots sound, soun (“healthy, sound”), Saterland Frisian suund, gesuund (“healthy”), West Frisian sûn (“healthy”), Dutch gezond (“healthy, sound”), Low German sund, gesund (“healthy”), German gesund (“healthy, sound”), Danish sund (“healthy”), Swedish sund (“sound, healthy”). Related also to Dutch gezwind (“fast, quick”), German geschwind (“fast, quick”), Old English swīþ (“strong, mighty, powerful, active, severe, violent”). See swith.

cog

How are you? —I'm sound.

That's a sound track you're playing.

See that man over there? He's sound. You should get to know him.

(British, Ireland, slang) Good; acceptable; decent.


sound

soune (alternative obsolete)
sownd (alternative obsolete)
sowne (alternative obsolete)

I found my jacket. — Sound.

(British, Ireland, slang) Yes; used to show agreement or understanding.


MD

MDs (plural)
M.D. (alternative)
M. D. (alternative)

(British, medicine) Medicinae Doctor: Symbol indicating a higher research doctorate in medicine; Doctor of Medicine


MO

en-noun

MO (countable and uncountable, plural MOs)

(military, UK) Initialism of medical officer.


VA

voluntary aided
voluntary aided school#English

(UK, education) Initialism of voluntary aided.


safe

en-adj

safe (comparative safer or more safe, superlative safest or most safe)

safer (comparative)
more safe (comparative)
safest (superlative)
most safe (superlative)

→ Japanese: セーフ

From Middle English sauf, safe, saf, saaf, from Old French sauf, saulf, salf (“safe”), from Latin salvus (“whole, safe”), from Proto-Italic *salwos, from Proto-Indo-European *solh₂- (“whole, every”).
Displaced native Old English sicor (secure, sure).

der

and you also forgot to mentioned^([sic]) the wheels man you know bmw playing / ragga jungle hip hop tunes / and on the mobile / yeah safe! / nice one / later

1996 August 12, "Mandrake", “Re: Multiple Messages - an apology”, in uk.people.gothic (Usenet):

Young Mal: Yu can’t. Irie means yer cool, yer safe, everything awright.

1996 or 1997, Roy Williams, Plays 1: The No Boys Cricket Club / Startstruck / Lift Off, Methuen, published 2002, →ISBN, page 165:

“If you need more, just ring, yeah?” Punch said.
 “Safe,” Brian answered.

2000, Teddy Hayes, Dead by Popular Demand, Justin, Charles & Co., published 2005, →ISBN, Chapter 14, page 134:

They end the call. Fami goes over to Paul. They touch hands.¶ Femi: Yeah, safe man.

2002, Danny Braverman, Playing a Part: Drama and Citizenship, Trentham Books, →ISBN, One Thursday — a short play, page 62:

“Yeah, safe mate, wassup?” says one hoodie, who should at least be credited with attempting a more detailed sentence construction.

2013, Steve Carter, Love, Sex and Tesco's Finest Cava, →ISBN, page 169:

Dom (David Jonsson): Hey, love the photos. They're just so—
Nathan (Simon Manyonda): Safe.

2023, Nathan Bryon, Tom Melia, directed by Raine Allen-Miller, Rye Lane:

(UK, slang) Great, cool, awesome, respectable; a term of approbation, often as interjection.

It is clear that this is not a safe conviction.

(UK, law, of a conviction) Supported by evidence and unlikely to be overturned. Usually used in the negative, as unsafe.


piece

pieces (plural)
peece (alternative obsolete)

Belizean Creole: pees

Sranan Tongo: pisi

→ Finnish: biisi

→ Irish: píosa

→ Japanese: ピース (pīsu)

→ Scottish Gaelic: pìos

From Middle English pece, peece, peice, from Old French piece, from Late Latin petia, pettia, possibly from Gaulish *pettyā, from Proto-Celtic *kʷezdis (“piece, portion, quota”); doublet of English fit, fytte, fytt (“musical piece, chapter”), Icelandic fit (“web”), German Fitze (“skein”), from Old High German *fitjâ. Compare Welsh peth, Breton pez (“thing”), Irish cuid. Compare French pièce, Portuguese peça, Spanish pieza, Italian pezza, Italian pezzo.

My grannie came and gived them all a piece and jam and cups of water then I was to bring them back out to the street and play a game.

2008, James Kelman, Kieron Smith, Boy, Penguin, published 2009, page 46:

(Scotland, Ireland, UK, US, dialectal) A slice or other quantity of bread, eaten on its own; a sandwich or light snack.


from

From Middle English from (“from”), from Old English from, fram (“forward, from”), from Proto-West Germanic *fram, from Proto-Germanic *fram (“forward, from, away”). Cognate with Old Saxon fram (“from”) and Old High German fram (“from”), Danish frem (“forth, forward”), Danish fra (“from”), Swedish fram (“forth, forward”), Swedish från (“from”), Norwegian Nynorsk fram (“forward”), Norwegian Nynorsk frå (“from”), Icelandic fram (“forward, on”), Icelandic frá (“from”), Albanian pre, prej. More at fro.

مِن

with the origin, starting point or initial reference of or at

appeal from Philip drunk to Philip sober

20 from 31 leaves 11.

(mathematics, chiefly British, not in formal use) Denoting a subtraction operation.

Indicating removal or separation.
Denoting a subtraction operation.


draw

en-verb

draw (third-person singular simple present draws, present participle drawing, simple past drew, past participle drawn or (colloquial and nonstandard) drew)

draws (present singular third-person)
drawing (participle present)
drew (past)
drawn (participle past)
drew (colloquial nonstandard participle past)
draw (infinitive)
draw (first-person present singular)
drew (first-person past singular)
draw (present second-person singular)
drawest (archaic present second-person singular)
drew (past second-person singular)
drewest (archaic past second-person singular)
draws (present singular third-person)
draweth (archaic present singular third-person)
drew (past singular third-person)
draw (plural present)
drew (past plural)
draw (present subjunctive)
drew (past subjunctive)
draw (imperative present)
drawing (participle present)
drawn (participle past)

The verb is derived from Middle English drauen, drawen, draȝen, dragen (“to drag, pull; to draw (out); to attract; to entice, lure; to lead; to make a drawing; to move, travel; etc.”), from Old English dragan (“to drag, draw”), from Proto-West Germanic *dragan (“to carry; to haul”), from Proto-Germanic *draganą (“to carry; to pull, draw”); further etymology uncertain, often said to be from Proto-Indo-European *dʰregʰ- (“to pull, draw”), but possibly from a non-Indo-European substrate root which is also the source of Latin trahō (“to pull, draw; etc.”). Doublet of drag and draught.
The noun is derived from Middle English drau, draue (“action of shooting with a bow”), from drauen, drawen (verb).
cognates
* Albanian dredh (“to turn, spin”)
* Danish drage
* Dutch dragen
* German tragen (“to carry”)
* Old Armenian դառնամ (daṙnam, “to turn”)
* Sanskrit ध्रजस् (dhrájas, “gliding course or motion”)
* West Frisian drage

vyluhovávat

of drinks: to leave temporarily so as to allow the flavour to increase

изтеглям

cardgames: to take the top card of a deck into hand

every miller draws water to his own mill

one hair of a woman can draw more than a hundred pair of oxen

Senses relating to exerting force or pulling.

(transitive, UK, regional) To carry (a load) in a vehicle; to cart, to haul.

Senses relating to extracting or selecting.

(UK, regional, agriculture, horticulture) Of a plant or its roots: to deplete (soil) of nutrients.


slang

There runneth forth into the sea a certaine shelfe or slang, like unto an out~thrust tongue.

1610, William Camden, translated by Philémon Holland, Britain, or A Chorographicall Description of the Most Flourishing Kingdomes, England, Scotland, and Ireland, […], London: […] [Eliot’s Court Press for] Georgii Bishop & Ioannis Norton, →OCLC:

(UK, dialect) Any long, narrow piece of land; a promontory.


slang

(UK, obsolete) A fetter worn on the leg by a convict.

(UK, obsolete, slang) A counterfeit weight or measure.

(UK, obsolete, slang) A travelling show, or one of its performances.

(UK, obsolete, slang) A hawker's license.


twit

en-verb

twit (third-person singular simple present twits, present participle twitting, simple past and past participle twitted)

twits (present singular third-person)
twitting (participle present)
twitted (participle past)
twitted (past)
twit (infinitive)
twit (first-person present singular)
twitted (first-person past singular)
twit (present second-person singular)
twittest (archaic present second-person singular)
twitted (past second-person singular)
twittedst (archaic past second-person singular)
twits (present singular third-person)
twitteth (archaic present singular third-person)
twitted (past singular third-person)
twit (plural present)
twitted (past plural)
twit (present subjunctive)
twitted (past subjunctive)
twit (imperative present)
twitting (participle present)
twitted (participle past)

PIE word
 *h₂éd
The verb is an aphetic form of atwite (“(obsolete) to blame, reproach”), from Middle English atwiten (“to attribute (something) to someone; to blame (something) on someone; to accuse or charge (someone) with something; to speak ill of; to taunt”), from Old English ætwītan (“to blame, reproach; to censure, upbraid; to taunt”), from æt- (prefix meaning ‘at, near; toward’) + wītan (“to accuse; to blame, reproach”) (from Proto-Germanic *wītaną (“to punish; to torment; to know; to see”), from Proto-Indo-European *weyd- (“to see”)).
The noun is probably derived from the verb, although it is attested in print earlier.

натяквам

(transitive) to blame or reproach (someone), especially in a good-natured or teasing manner; (intransitive) to blame or reproach, especially in a good-natured or teasing manner — see also blame, reproach

(obsolete except British, dialectal) To be indiscreet; to gossip.


twit

Young Strephon he has Woo'd me long, / And Courted me with Pipe and Song; / But I a silly, silly peevish Twit, / For want of Sense, for want of Wit, / Have phoo'd, and cry'd, / Have pish'd, and fy'd, / And play'd the fool, and lost my Time, / And almost slipp'd, and almost slipp'd, / And almost slipp'd my Maiden Prime.

1720, Thomas d’Urfey, compiler, “A Song. Set by Mr. Henry Purcell.”, in Wit and Mirth: Or Pills to Purge Melancholy; […], volume VI, London: […] W. Pearson, for J[acob] Tonson, […], published 1720 (2nd printing; republished 19th century), →OCLC, page 241:

(British, Ireland, dialectal, archaic) A person who chatters or gossips inanely; a chatterer, a gossip or gossiper; also, a person who divulges private information about others or is indiscreet; a tattletale.


gaffer

Likely a contraction of godfather, but with the vowels influenced by grandfather. Compare French compère, German Gevatter.

And you're here to tell me what's what. Just like your bloody gaffer promised.

2022, Liam McIlvanney, The Heretic, page 117:

(UK, informal) The leader of a group or team, such as a boss, foreman, coach, or publican.


bruit

en-verb

bruit (third-person singular simple present bruits, present participle bruiting, simple past and past participle bruited)

bruits (present singular third-person)
bruiting (participle present)
bruited (participle past)
bruited (past)
bruit (infinitive)
bruit (first-person present singular)
bruited (first-person past singular)
bruit (present second-person singular)
bruitest (archaic present second-person singular)
bruited (past second-person singular)
bruitedst (archaic past second-person singular)
bruits (present singular third-person)
bruiteth (archaic present singular third-person)
bruited (past singular third-person)
bruit (plural present)
bruited (past plural)
bruit (present subjunctive)
bruited (past subjunctive)
bruit (imperative present)
bruiting (participle present)
bruited (participle past)

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

The noun is derived from Middle English bruit (“commotion, tumult; fame, renown; collective noun for a group of barons”) [and other forms], from Anglo-Norman brut (“commotion, tumult; noise, sounds; fame, renown; hearsay, rumour; collective noun for a group of barons”) and Old French bruit (“commotion, tumult; noise, sounds; fame, renown; hearsay, rumour”) (modern French bruit (“noise; report, rumour”)), a noun use of the past participle of bruire (“to make a noise; to rattle; to roar; to rustle”), from Late Latin brugere, an alteration of Latin rugīre (“to roar”) (the present active infinitive of rugiō (“to bray; to bellow, roar; to rumble”), possibly from Proto-Indo-European *h₁rewg- (“to belch; to roar”)), possibly influenced by Late Latin bragere (“to bray”). The English word is cognate with Catalan brogir (“to roar”); Old Occitan bruir, brugir (“to roar”).
The verb is derived from the noun.

nb...

brewt, brewte, brut, brute, bruyt, bruyte

der

And if it be to be beleued, as bruted is by fame. / A day did paſſe without the Sunne.

1567, Ovid, “The Seconde Booke”, in Arthur Golding, transl., The XV. Bookes of P. Ouidius Naso, Entytuled Metamorphosis, […], London: […] Willyam Seres […], →OCLC, folio 20, recto:

Generally, Whether there be [...] any that stubbornly refuse to conform themselves to unity and good religion: any that bruiteth abroad rumours of the alteration of the same, or otherwise that disturbeth good orders, and the quietnes of Christs Church and Christian congregation.

a. 1576, Matthew Parker, John Strype, “[An Appendix to Archbishop Parker’s Life.] Number XI. Articles for the Dioceses, to be Inquired of in the Archbishop’s Metropolitical Visitation.”, in The Life and Acts of Matthew Parker, the First Archbishop of Canterbury in the Reign of Queen Elizabeth. […], volume III, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Clarendon Press, published 1821, →OCLC, paragraph 22, page 32:

There haue bin diuers and variable reportes with some slaunderous and shamefull speeches bruited abroade by many that returned from thence.

1590, Thomas Hariot [i.e., Thomas Harriot], “To the Adventvrers, Favorers, and VVellvvillers of the Enterprise for the Inhabitting and Planting in Virginia”, in A Briefe and True Report of the New Found Land of Virginia, […], Frankfurt am Main: […] Ioannis Wecheli, […], →OCLC; reprinted as Narrative of the First English Plantation of Virginia […], London: Bernard Quaritch, […], 1893, →OCLC, page 9:

And the Kings rowſe the heauen shall brute againe, / Reſpeaking earthly thunder; [...]

c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, The Tragicall Historie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke: […] (Second Quarto), London: […] I[ames] R[oberts] for N[icholas] L[ing] […], published 1604, →OCLC, [Act I, scene ii], lines 127–128:

Even his amours he bruits forth to the public, to the delight of every pot-boy.

1822 September 1, “Character of an Ex-sheriff”, in The Rambler’s Magazine; or, Fashionable Emporium of Polite Literature, […], volume I, number IX, London: [William] Benbow, […], →OCLC, page 413:

As he took John Willet's view of the matter in regard to the propriety of not bruiting the tale abroad, unless the spirit should appear to him again, in which case it would be necessary to take immediate counsel with the clergyman, it was solemnly resolved that it should be hushed up and kept quiet.

1841 February–November, Charles Dickens, “Barnaby Rudge. Chapter 33.”, in Master Humphrey’s Clock, volume II, London: Chapman & Hall, […], →OCLC, page 128:

In course of time Ariston died; and Demaratus received the kingdom: but it was fated, as it seems, that these words, when bruited abroad, should strip him of his sovereignty.

1859, Herodotus, “The Sixth Book of the History of Herodotus, Entitled Erato”, in George Rawlinson, Henry Rawlinson, J[ohn] G[ardner] Wilkinson, transl., The History of Herodotus. […] In Four Volumes, volume III, London: John Murray, […], →OCLC, paragraph 64, page 458:

What need to bruit our pleasant quarrel abroad? You will like the weapons, sir, and you shall have your own choice from the pair … You are a fine fencer, I feel sure …

1908, Baroness Orczy [i.e., Emma Orczy], “Time—Place—Conditions”, in The Elusive Pimpernel, London: Hutchinson & Co. […], →OCLC, page 121:

Thou art not ware, but thou art tossed on the tongues of all the city, casting away all shame, thou bruitest abroad thy deeds.

1914, Ovid, “[The Amores.] Book the Third.”, in Grant Showerman, transl., edited by T[homas] E[thelbert] Page and W[illiam] H[enry] D[enham] Rouse, Heroides and Amores […] (Loeb Classical Library; 41), London: William Heinemann; New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company, →OCLC, section I, page 445:

TV news shows had been bruiting the Boulder case, too; as a result, the atmosphere in the press section that night was knife-keen.

1974, Marvin Kaye, chapter 20, in The Grand Ole Opry Murders (A Hilary Quayle Mystery; 2), London: Head of Zeus, published 2014, →ISBN:

Paranoid. Now he knew what it meant, this word that was bandied and bruited so easily, and he sensed the connections being made around him, [...]

1997, Don DeLillo, Underworld, 1st trade paperback edition, New York, N.Y.: Scribner, published 2003, →ISBN, page 421:

[I]t's bruited that the tunnel would cost "10 to 20 million yuan ($2.95 million) more than the current high speed railway for each kilometer." Pony up, taxpayers!

2010 August 4, Darren Murph, “China’s Maglev Trains to Hit 1,000km/h in Three Years, […]”, in Engadget, archived from the original on 2020-08-10:

Bruiting about this notion of a "monarchical project," the Englishman persuaded himself that [Simón] Bolívar himself aspired to such a model.

2013, Marie Arana, “Man of Difficulties”, in Bolívar: American Liberator, New York, N.Y.: Simon & Schuster, →ISBN, page 388:

(transitive, archaic in British, current in the US) To disseminate, promulgate, or spread news, a rumour, etc.

ébruiter

to disseminate, promulgate, or spread news, a rumour, etc.


capital

From Middle English capital, borrowed partly from Old French capital and partly from Latin capitālis (“of the head”) (in sense “head of cattle”), from caput (“head”) (English cap) + -ālis (suffix forming adjectives). Use in trade and finance originated in Medieval economies when a common but expensive transaction involved trading heads of cattle. The noun is from the adjective.
Compare chattel and kith and kine (“all one’s possessions”), which also use “cow” to mean “property”.
Doublet of cattle and chattel.

[ˈkʰæp.ɪ.ɾɫ̩]

That is a capital idea!

“He is a capital fellow,” the Englishman in London had said, “and he has got an awfully pretty wife. […]”

1878, Henry James, An International Episode:

Sometimes he laughed heartily as if he heard some capital joke; by degrees this lessened, and he spoke rapidly, but in very low tones.

1887, Harriet W. Daly, Digging, Squatting, and Pioneering Life in the Northern Territory of South Australia, page 166:


me

There don't seem much to say just now. / (Yer what? Then don't, yer ruddy cow! / And give us back me cigarette!)

a. 1918, Wilfred Owen, “The Letter”, in Douglas Kerr, editor, The Works of Wilfred Owen, page 54:

I want me money back!

1994, John Hodge, Shallow Grave, spoken by Alex Law (Ewan McGregor):

Get off me cheese! Get off! Get off!

"What have I ever done to prove me worth, or where I could at least say as I'd made a difference?"

2016, Alan Moore, Jerusalem, Liveright, page 99:

(UK regional, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, colloquial) Alternative form of my.


graft

en-noun

graft (countable and uncountable, plural grafts)

Uncertain. Some lexicographers suggest an extended use of Etymology 2, above, expanding from “digging” to work more generally, and from there to dishonest work. Others, however, suggest an extension from Etymology 1, shifting from “a shoot or scion” to the notion of corruption through the idea of excrescence.

We had to put in a lot of hard graft to get the job done.

Liz Truss, now the Tory leadership frontrunner, launched an astonishing broadside against British workers, saying they needed “more graft” and suggesting they lacked the “skill and application” of foreign rivals, the Guardian can reveal.

2022 August 16, Pippa Crerar, quoting Liz Truss, “Leaked audio reveals Liz Truss said British workers needed ‘more graft’”, in The Guardian:

(uncountable, British, colloquial) Work; labor requiring effort.

(countable, British, colloquial) A job or trade.


leg

→ Finnish: legi

→ Hungarian: leg

From Middle English leg, legge, from Old Norse leggr (“leg, calf, bone of the arm or leg, hollow tube, stalk”), from Proto-Germanic *lagjaz, *lagwijaz (“leg, thigh”) (see it for more).
Cognate with Scots leg (“leg”), Icelandic leggur (“leg, limb”), Norwegian Bokmål legg (“leg”), Norwegian Nynorsk legg (“leg”), Swedish lägg (“leg, shank, shaft”), Danish læg (“leg”), Lombardic lagi (“thigh, shank, leg”), Latin lacertus (“limb, arm”), Persian لنگ (leng). Upon borrowing, mostly displaced the native Old English term sċanca (Modern English shank).

der

don't pee on my leg and tell me it's raining

don't piss on my leg and tell me it's raining

piss on someone's leg and tell them it's raining

(UK, slang, archaic) A disreputable sporting character; a blackleg.


canary

en-noun

canary (countable and uncountable, plural canaries)

From French canarie, from Spanish canario, from the Latin Canariae insulae (“Canary Islands”) (Spanish Islas Canarias); from the largest island Insula Canaria (“Dog Island" or "Canine Island”), named for its dogs, from canārius (“canine”), from canis (“dog”).

der

(UK, slang, obsolete) A sovereign (coin).


mongrel

From Middle English mongrel, equivalent to mong (“mixture”) + -rel (pejorative diminutive); from Old English ġemang (“mingling”) (whence Modern English among), from Proto-Germanic *mang- (“mix”).

suffix

"Yanto bloody Evans!" Jack stuttered with rage. "Yanto bloody Evans! That... that... bloody mongrel! D'you know who he is? He's the one who knocked me back for a bit of extra timber before the roof fell in on me!"

2008, Jim Brigginshaw, Over My Dead Body, page 77:

But somebody's got to tell these mums and dads why their kids died, why this mongrel thinks he can wipe them out like a dirty rag.

2019 October 27, Natalie Wolfe, “Australia's worst serial killer's affairs with sisters-in-laws”, in New Zealand Herald:

(slang, UK, Ireland, Commonwealth) A thuggish, obnoxious, or contemptible person; (often preceded by "poor") a pitiable person.


slim

en-adj

slim (comparative slimmer, superlative slimmest)

slimmer (comparative)
slimmest (superlative)

Borrowing from Low German or Dutch slim (“bad, sly, clever”), from Middle Dutch slim (“bad, crooked”), from Old Dutch *slimb, from Proto-West Germanic *slimb, from Proto-Germanic *slimbaz (“oblique, crooked”). The sense development would have been "slanting, cunning" (Dutch) > "insignificant, slight" and then "thin, graceful" in English, a shift that Liberman calls an "incredible amelioration" of word meaning.
The pejorative sense found in Low German and Dutch is also found preserved in the archaic English noun slim (“worthless or lazy person”), also comparable to the South African use of the adjective as "crafty, sly."
Compare Dutch slim (“smart, clever, crafty”), Middle High German slimp (“slanting, awry”), German schlimm (“bad”), West Frisian slim (“bad, dire”).

cog

(South Africa, obsolete in UK) Sly, crafty.


pants

en-noun

pants pl (plural only, attributive pant)

desctree

→ Japanese: パンツ (pantsu)
→ English: pantsu
→ Mandarin: 胖次 (pàngcì)
→ Korean: 빤스 (ppanseu)

Etymology tree
Ancient Greek πᾶς (pâs)
Ancient Greek ἔλεος (éleos)
Proto-Indo-European *-eti
Proto-Indo-European *-eyéti
Proto-Indo-European *-esyéti
Proto-Indo-European *-éh₁ti
Proto-Indo-European *-yeti
Proto-Indo-European *-éh₁yeti
Proto-Indo-European *-yeti
Proto-Indo-European *-éyeti
Ancient Greek -έω (-éō)
Ancient Greek ἐλεέω (eleéō)
Proto-Indo-European *-mṓ
Ancient Greek -μων (-mōn)
Ancient Greek ἐλεήμων (eleḗmōn)
Ancient Greek Παντελεήμων (Panteleḗmōn)bor.
Spanish Pantaleónder.
Italian Pantaloneder.
French pantalonbor.
English pantaloon
English pantaloons
English pants
Shortened from pantaloons (“trousers”): borrowed from French pantalon, itself derived from Italian Pantalone, one of the principal characters found in commedia dell'arte, who wore tight trousers. Doublet of pantsu. The verb is from the noun.

etymon

get glad in the same pants one got mad in

by the seat of one's pants

drive by the seat of one’s pants, fly by the seat of one’s pants

I decided to pass up her underclothes, not from feelings of delicacy, but because I couldn't see myself putting her pants on and snapping her brassière.

1939, Raymond Chandler, The Big Sleep, Penguin, published 2011, page 39:

Big girls get candy for dry pants.

1976, Nathan H. Azrin, Richard M. Foxx, Toilet Training in Less Than a Day, published 1988, page 127:

As she bent over the intercom the little skirt went peek-a-boo and you could see white pants cupping her buttocks like a bra.

1984, Martin Amis, Money, Vintage, published 2005, page 183:

(chiefly UK) An undergarment that covers the genitals and often the buttocks and the neighbouring parts of the body; underpants.

You're talking pants!

The film was a load [or pile] of pants.

(UK, slang) Rubbish; something worthless.


pants

en-adj

pants (comparative more pants, superlative most pants)

more pants (comparative)
most pants (superlative)

Your mobile is pants — why don’t you get one like mine?

'Is that what you're going to do when you graduate?' he asked. 'Be a photographer?'
'I wish, but I'm pants at the technical stuff. ...'

2015, T. R. Richmond, What She Left, Penguin Books, page 39:

"Lee? How'd you manage to find your way here? You're pants with directions. You always get lost."

2019, Game Freak, Pokémon Sword and Shield, spoken by Hop:

(British, slang) Of inferior quality, rubbish.


grafter

(British, colloquial) a hard worker who puts in long hours


roach

Back-formation from cockroach, as if it were a compound.
Marijuana-related meanings by similarity of appearance of the butt, attested since the 1930s.

Last toke is the yellowing fabric of the roach, containing the stuff that is less than tobacco.

2000, Zadie Smith, White Teeth, London: Penguin Books, published 2001, →ISBN, page 292:

(UK, slang, smoking) The filter of a rolled cigarette or joint, made from card or paper.


roach

Variant of roche (“rock”). Attested since the seventeenth century.

After long Working of this Coal, it was found upon the rising Grounds, that there lay another Roach of Coal, at the Depth of 14 Yards under it

1749, Rog. Mostyn, “Mineralogy”, in Philosophical Transactions and Collections to the End of the Year, volume II, London: Royal Society, →OCLC, page 379:

(UK, obsolete, mining) A bed or stratum of some mineral.

The roach, both of the top and bottom beds, is always imperceptibly incorporated with the freestone, which is invariable situated beneath it.

1841, C.H. Smith, “Lithology; or Observations on Stone for Building”, in The Surveyor, Engineer, and Architect, →OCLC, page 13:

(UK, regional) Gritty or coarse rock; especially Portland stone or similar limestone.


goose

en-verb

goose (third-person singular simple present gooses, present participle goosing, simple past and past participle goosed)

gooses (present singular third-person)
goosing (participle present)
goosed (participle past)
goosed (past)

PIE word
 *ǵʰh₂éns
From Middle English goos, gos, from Old English gōs, from Proto-West Germanic *gans, from Proto-Germanic *gans, from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰh₂éns.
Cognates
Compare West Frisian goes, North Frisian göis (also Fering-Öömrang dialect North Frisian gus; Sölring dialect North Frisian Guus; Heligoland dialect North Frisian gus), Low German Goos, Gans, Dutch gans, German Gans, Danish, Swedish and Norwegian gås, Icelandic gæs, Irish gé, Latin ānser, Latvian zùoss, Russian гусь (gusʹ), Albanian gatë, Ancient Greek χήν (khḗn), Avestan 𐬰𐬁 (zā), Sanskrit हंस (haṃsá).
* The tailor's iron is so called from the likeness of the handle to the neck of a goose.

(slang, UK) Of private-hire taxi drivers, to pick up a passenger who has not booked a cab, in violation of UK licensing conditions.


road

roads (plural)
rade (alternative obsolete)

From Middle English rode, rade (“ride, journey”), from Old English rād (“riding, hostile incursion”), from Proto-West Germanic *raidu, from Proto-Germanic *raidō (“a ride”), from Proto-Indo-European *reydʰ- (“to ride”). Doublet of raid, acquired from Scots. Cognates include West Frisian reed (paved trail/road, driveway).
The current primary meaning of "street, way for traveling" originated relatively late — Shakespeare seemed to expect his audiences to find it unfamiliar — and probably arose through reinterpretation of roadway (“a way for riding on”) as saying way twice, in other words as a tautological compound.

inh

his driveway doesn't go all the way to the road

someone's driveway doesn't go all the way to the road

the grass is always greener on the other side of the road

the road to hell is paved with good intentions

what happens on the road stays on the road

The new depot, on which work started in May, 1956, has three reception roads leading to 13 sidings capable of taking 25 trains, a 450 ft.-long car examination shed with nine roads, a lifting shop with two roads and three permanent way sidings.

1959 November, “L.T. and E.R. developments in East London”, in Trains Illustrated, page 527:

(US, rail transport) A railway or (UK, rail transport) a single railway track.


expressway

expressways (plural)
expy (alternative contraction)
expwy (alternative contraction)

(UK, New Zealand) A road built for high speed traffic, but not up to motorway standards or designated a motorway.

motortrafikvej

high speed road, not built to motorway standards


motorway

All the R. R.'s of America will have to be furnished with a biking way and a motor way on each side of the rails.

1895 October, “Real Estate”, in California Banker's Magazine, page 429:

Work of constructing the Texas Motorway, a stone highway which when completed will extend from Fort Worth to Del Rio, Tex., a distance of 500 miles, has been commenced and a section between 18 and 20 miles long running out from Glenrose, the county seat of Somervell County, has been completed.

1913 September 20, Good Roads, page 137:

It is presumed that in the working out of the program the motor trucks will automatically have the major use of the local low-speed highways paralleling the motorway.

1925 December, C. L. Norton, “Our Industrial Highways”, in Trade Winds, volume 4, number 10:

In 1959, Ernest Marples became the new Minister of Transport. His business career had been as a road builder and he saw the future in a network of motorways, whereas he believed there was serious overcapacity in the railway network.

2023 March 8, David Clough, “The long road that led to Beeching”, in RAIL, number 978, page 43:

One national agency is responsible for developing and maintaining the national motorway system, which typically is a small fraction of the entire roadway network. (page 8)

2001 June 10, Jim Brewer, John German, ..., “Geometric Design Practices for European Roads”, in (Please provide the book title or journal name), Office of International Programs, U.S. Dept. of Transportation, Washington:

An alternative transit route that bypasses the metropolis’ traffic-filled streets, the 400-kilometer (248.5-mile) North Marmara Motorway starts on the western side of Istanbul and ends in the eastern Marmara province of Sakarya.

2021 May 21, “Turkey opens last section of new highway connecting Asia to Europe”, in (Please provide the book title or journal name), Daily Sabah:

Charging stations for electric vehicles must be placed along the main European motorways at least every 60 kilometres from 2026, the European Parliament decided on Tuesday.

2023 July 12, “Electric vehicle charging stations to be installed every 60 km on European motorways”, in (Please provide the book title or journal name), The Brussels Times:

freeway

in parts of Australia, Canada and the U.S.

(UK, Ireland, New Zealand, Queensland, New South Wales) A highway with grade-separated crossings (rather than level crossings) and designed (and only permitted) for high-speed motor-traffic (in Europe motor vehicles with a higher speed limit than 40 km/h) running in two directions on one separate carriageway each.

snelweg

highway designed for high-speed motor-traffic

αυτοκινητόδρομος υπερταχείας κυκλοφορίας


gangway

From Middle English gangway, from Old English gangweġ (“passageway; thoroughfare”), equivalent to gang + way. Related to Dutch gang (“hallway”) and Norwegian gang (“hallway”).

jet bridge

enclosed corridor between an airport and plane


driveway

(UK, US) A short private road that leads to a house or garage.


pavement

en-noun

pavement (usually uncountable, plural pavements)

From Middle English pament, from Anglo-Norman pavement and reinforced by Middle French pavement; both from Latin pavīmentum (“paved surface or floor”), from pavīre (“to beat, to ram, to tread down”). Morphologically pave + -ment.

насти́лка

interior flooring, especially when of stone, of large buildings

pol, výložennyj figúrnoj plítkoj, mozáikoj

пол, вы́ложенный фигу́рной пли́ткой, моза́икой

It was a cold and rainy afternoon as Ethel Churchill sat at the window of their new abode, a house in one of the streets leading from the Strand to the river. It was the day after their arrival, and nothing could well be more gloomy than the view: the pavement was wet, and a yellow mist obscured every object,...

1837, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], “Meeting of Old Friends”, in Ethel Churchill: Or, The Two Brides. […], volume II, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, page 194:

Nanny Broome was looking up at the outer wall. Just under the ceiling there were three lunette windows, heavily barred and blacked out in the normal way by centuries of grime. Their bases were on a level with the pavement outside, a narrow way which was several feet lower than the road behind the house.

1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 14, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC:

(chiefly UK, Ireland, South Africa, Mid-Atlantic US) A paved path, for the use of pedestrians, located at the side of a road.


do

en-noun

do (plural dos or do's or (uncommon) doos)

dos (plural)
do's (plural)
doos (plural uncommon)

Brittonicisms in English
Do
Do-support
Early Modern English

From Middle English don, from Old English dōn, from Proto-West Germanic *dōn, from Proto-Germanic *dōną, from Proto-Indo-European *dʰeh₁- (“to put, place, do, make”).
For senses 4 and 5, compare Old Norse duga, whence Danish du.
The past tense form is from Middle English didde, dude, from Old English dyde, *diede, an unexpected development from Proto-Germanic *dedǭ/*dedē (the expected reflex would be *ded), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰédʰeh₁ti, an athematic e-reduplicated verb of the same root *dʰeh₁-.
The meaningless use of do in interrogative, negative, and affirmative sentences (e.g. "Do you like painting?" "Yes, I do"), existing in some form in most Germanic languages, is thought by some linguists to be one of the Brittonicisms in English, calqued from Brythonic. It is first recorded in Middle English, where it may have marked the perfective aspect, though in some cases the meaning seems to be imperfective. In Early Modern English, any meaning in such contexts was lost, making it a dummy auxiliary, and soon thereafter its use became mandatory in most questions and negations.
Doublets include deed, deem, and -dom, but not deal.
Other cognates include, via Latin, English feast, festival, fair (“celebration”), via Greek, English theo-, theme, thesis, and Sanskrit दधाति (dadhāti, “to put”), धातृ (dhātṛ, “creator”) and धातु (dhātu, “layer, element, root”).

der

We’re having a bit of a do on Saturday to celebrate my birthday.

She was into French cuisine but I ain't no Cordon Bleu / This was at some do in Palmers Green, I had no luck with her

1980, Jona Lewie, Keef Trouble, “You'll Always Find Me in the Kitchen at Parties”, performed by Jona Lewie:

A gross-gutted, bulb-nosed, bourbon-stanky Boston flatfoot in plain clothes wrinkled white sox, with a race track tip-sheet stuffed in his back pocket trying real hard to mingle unnoticed at an elegant Buddies "do" to glean inside-dope.

1980 December 13, Mitzel, “Dale Barbre's Murder Transformed”, in Gay Community News, volume 8, number 21, page 13:

[…]; this aside, though, neon forever the moniker of trash, this is a posh do, in an opera house full of folk in tuxes.

2013 September 13, Russell Brand, “Russell Brand and the GQ awards”, in The Guardian:

(UK, informal) A party, celebration, social function; usually of moderate size and formality.

"How come you quit?" "I'm moving to London." "Fair dos."

(chiefly obsolete, fossilized in the UK) Something that has been done.

(obsolete, UK, slang) A cheat; a swindler.

(obsolete, UK, slang) An act of swindling; a fraud or deception.

Get it done, no not properly
Them man thought that they got me
True, I came back like a fucking zombie
Attempted do with the ching
Have an opp boy say “please don’t chong me!”

2020 December 4, “No fibs” (1:34 from the start), in (Zone 2) Karma × Trizzac (lyrics), Demented:


chat

'Do officers have chats, then, the same as us?'
'Not the same, no. The chats they got is bigger and better, with pips on their shoulders and Sam Browne belts.'

1977, Mary Emily Pearce, Apple Tree Lean Down, page 520

May a thousand chats from Belgium crawl under their fingers as they write.

2007, How Can I Sleep when the Seagull Calls?, →ISBN, page 18:

Trench foot was a nasty and potentially fatal foot disease commonly caused by these conditions, in which chats or body lice were the bane of all.

2013, Graham Seal, The Soldiers' Press: Trench Journals in the First World War, →ISBN, page 149:

(British, Australia, New Zealand, World War I military slang) A louse (small, parasitic insect).


Madras

en-noun

Madras (countable and uncountable, plural Madrases)

The etymology is uncertain; it may derive from Madraspattinam. See Wikipedia for several possible etymologies.

I’ll have the chicken Madras.

(British) A style of curry dish purported to originate from the Madras region.


unit

Formerly unite, a later form of unity; see unity.

This air-conditioner is the most efficient unit we sell.

(US, UK, Australia, New Zealand) Any piece of equipment, such as an appliance, power tool, stereo system, computer, tractor, or machinery.

(UK, electricity) One kilowatt-hour (as recorded on an electricity meter).

Luca's father, Americo Campanaro, said: "I feel like my heart has been ripped out."
Mr Campanaro added: "He was a big lad, a big unit, that's why he was a goalkeeper, with a big heart to match. A gentle giant."

2018 December 11, “Aylesbury goalkeeper, 14, dies after match injury”, in BBC News:

(UK, Australia, slang) A physically large person.


boke

en-verb

boke (third-person singular simple present bokes, present participle boking, simple past and past participle boked)

bokes (present singular third-person)
boking (participle present)
boked (participle past)
boked (past)
boak (alternative)
boken (alternative)
buck (alternative)

From Scots bock, attested from the 16th century.

(ambitransitive, UK dialectal) To thrust or push out; butt; poke.


down

en-adv

down (not generally comparable, comparative farther down, superlative farthest down)

farther down (comparative)
farthest down (superlative)

up

antonym(s) of “from a higher position to a lower one”

up

antonym(s) of “into a state of non-operation”

up

direction leading away from the principal terminus

From Middle English doun, doune, from Old English dūne (“down”), aphetic form of adūne (“down, downward”), from earlier ofdūne (“down”, literally “off the hill”), from of (“of, off of”) + dūn (“hill, mount, dune, down”). More at Etymology 2 below. For the development from directional phrases to prepositions, compare Middle Low German dāle (“down, downwards”, literally “(in/to the) dale/valley”), whence German Low German dal (“down”). Compare also Saterland Frisian deel (“down”, literally “to/into the dale”).

ncog

He's gone back down to Newcastle for Christmas.

(UK, academia, dated) Away from Oxford or Cambridge.


down

en-noun

down (countable and uncountable, plural downs)

From Middle English doune, from Old English dūn, from Proto-West Germanic *dūn (“sandhill, dune”), of uncertain origin. Perhaps from Proto-Germanic *dūnaz, *dūnǭ (“pile, heap”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰewh₂- (“smoke, haze, dust”).
Alternatively, perhaps borrowed from Proto-Celtic *dūnom (“hill; hillfort”) (compare Welsh din (“hill”), Irish dún (“hill, fort”)), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰewh₂- (“to finish, come full circle”).
Cognate with West Frisian dún (“dune, sandhill”), Dutch duin (“dune, sandhill”), German Düne (“dune”). More at town; akin to dune. Doublet of Down.

unc

uncertain origin

der

Seven thousand broad-taild Sheepe gras'd on his Downes;

1636, George Sandys, “A Paraphrase Vpon Iob”, in Early English Books:

(UK, chiefly in the plural) A tract of poor, sandy, undulating or hilly land near the sea, covered with fine turf which serves chiefly for the grazing of sheep.


palm

en-verb

palm (third-person singular simple present palms, present participle palming, simple past and past participle palmed)

palms (present singular third-person)
palming (participle present)
palmed (participle past)
palmed (past)

From Middle English palme, paume, from Old French palme, paulme, paume (“palm of the hand, ball, tennis”), from Latin palma (“palm of the hand, hand-breadth”), from Proto-Indo-European *pl̥h₂(e)meh₂ (“palm of the hand”), from Proto-Indo-European *pleh₂- (“flat”). Doublet of palmo, palma, and pam. Cognate with Ancient Greek παλάμη (palámē, “palm of the hand”), Old English folm (“palm of the hand”), Old Irish lám (“hand”).

cog

He never again appeared in the house where practices of this description are carried on every night, and where officers of the police are palmed (bribed) for their forbearance.

1845, George Smeeton, Doings in London, page 78:

(UK, slang, obsolete, transitive) To bribe.


pin

→ Norwegian Nynorsk: pins

→ Polish: pin

→ Spanish: pin

→ Swahili: pini

→ Swedish: pin, pins

From Middle English pinne, from Old English pinn (“pin, peg, bolt”), from Proto-Germanic *pinnaz, *pinnō, *pint- (“protruding point, peak, peg, pin, nail”), from Proto-Indo-European *bend- (“protruding object, pointed peg, nail, edge”). Related to pen (“enclosure”).
Cognate with Dutch pin (“peg, pin”), Low German pin, pinne (“pin, point, nail, peg”), German Pinn, Pinne (“pin, tack, peg”), Bavarian Pfonzer, Pfunzer (“sharpened point”), Danish pind (“pin, pointed stick”), Norwegian pinn (“stick”), Swedish pinne (“peg, rod, stick”), Icelandic pinni (“pin”). More at pintle.
No relation to classical Latin pinna (“fin, flipper, wing-like appendage, wing, feather”), which was extended to mean "ridge, peak, point" (compare pinnacle), and often confused with Latin penna (“wing, feather”). More at feather and pen (Etymology 3).

cog

Our ground crew were lodged in the main station, but they came to the cottage for a party when operations for the night had been cancelled and we had a new ‘gong’ (decoration) to celebrate. On these occasions we always installed a pin of bitter.

1978, Hugh Verity, chapter 2, in We landed by moonlight, Manchester: Crécy Publishing, →ISBN, page 22=:

(UK, brewing) A size of brewery cask, equal to half a firkin, or eighth of a barrel.


braid

braids (plural)
brade (alternative)
brad (alternative)
bread (alternative)
bred (alternative)
breid (alternative)
breyd (alternative)

From Middle English brede, bræd, bred, from Old English bred (“board, plank, tablet, table”), from Proto-West Germanic *bred, from Proto-Germanic *bredą (“board, plank”), e-grade byform of *burdą (“board, plank”). Cognate with Scots bred, braid, brad (“board, plank, wooden tablet”), Saterland Frisian Brääd (“board, plank”), West Frisian bret (“board, plank”), Dutch bred, berd (“plank, table”), German Low German Bredd (“board, plank”), German Brett (“board, plank”), Danish bræt (“board, plank”)..

cog

(UK dialectal, Northern England, Scotland, Ireland) A shelf or board for holding objects.

(UK dialectal, Northern England, Scotland, Ireland) A board to press curd for cheese.

(UK dialectal, Northern England, Scotland, Ireland) A flat board attached to a beam, used for weighing.


sweet

en-adj

sweet (comparative sweeter, superlative sweetest)

sweeter (comparative)
sweetest (superlative)

nonsweet

antonym(s) of “containing a sweetening ingredient”

dry

of wines: retaining a portion of natural sugar

decaying

antonym(s) of “not decaying, fermented, rancid, sour, spoiled, or stale”

sour

antonym(s) of “free from excessive unwanted substances”

lame

antonym(s) of “(informal) very pleasing”

From Middle English swete, from Old English swēte (“sweet”), from Proto-West Germanic *swōtī, from Proto-Germanic *swōtuz (“sweet”), from Proto-Indo-European *swéh₂dus (“sweet”).
Cognate and synonymous with Scots sweit (“sweet”), North Frisian sweete (“sweet”), Saterland Frisian swäit (“sweet”), West Frisian swiet (“sweet”), Dutch zoet (“sweet”), German Low German sööt (“sweet”), German süß (“sweet”), Danish sød (“sweet”), Swedish söt (“sweet”), Norwegian søt (“sweet”), Icelandic sætur (“sweet”), Latin suāvis, Sanskrit स्वादु (svādú), Ancient Greek ἡδύς (hēdús). Doublet of suave.

money won is twice as sweet as money earned


sweet

en-noun

sweet (countable and uncountable, plural sweets)

(countable, especially UK) A confection made from sugar, or high in sugar content; a candy.

Can we see the sweet menu, please?

(countable, especially UK) A food eaten for dessert.


grammar

grammar (countable and uncountable, plural grammars)

grammars (plural)
grammary (alternative archaic)
grammer (alternative obsolete)

/ˈɡɹæm.ə(ɹ)/

From Middle English gramere, from Old French gramaire (“classical learning”), from unattested Vulgar Latin *grammāria, an alteration of Latin grammatica, from Ancient Greek γραμματική (grammatikḗ, “skilled in writing”), from γράμμα (grámma, “line of writing”), from γράφω (gráphō, “write”), from Proto-Indo-European *gerbʰ- (“to carve, scratch”). Displaced native Old English stæfcræft; a doublet of glamour, glamoury, gramarye, and grimoire. Piecewise doublet of grammatic.

grammatika

rules for speaking and writing a language

قَوَاعِد

in computing: formal system specifying the syntax of a language

a grammar of geography

To turn this sort of mixture of a gossip and a gospel into anything like a grammar of Distributism has been quite impossible.

1926, G[ilbert] K[eith] Chesterton, “VI: A Summary”, in The Outline of Sanity, London: Methuen & Co. Ltd., →OCLC:

(British, archaic) A book describing these rules or principles; a textbook.

2012 January 11, Graeme Paton, “A green light for more grammars?”, in The Daily Telegraph:


lead

en-noun

lead (countable and uncountable, plural leads)

leads (plural)
lede (alternative obsolete)
leed (alternative obsolete)

From Middle English leden, from Old English lǣdan (“to lead”), from Proto-West Germanic *laidijan, from Proto-Germanic *laidijaną (“to cause one to go, lead”), causative of Proto-Germanic *līþaną (“to go”), from Proto-Indo-European *leyt- (“to leave, die”).
Cognate with West Frisian liede (“to lead”), Dutch leiden (“to lead”), German leiten (“to lead”), Danish and Norwegian Bokmål lede (“to lead”), Norwegian Nynorsk leia (“to lead”), Swedish leda (“to lead”). Related to Old English līþan (“to go, travel”).

der

(UK, countable) An insulated metallic wire for electrical devices and equipment.


bent

en-adj

bent (comparative benter or more bent, superlative bentest or most bent)

benter (comparative)
more bent (comparative)
bentest (superlative)
most bent (superlative)

From Middle English bent-, preterite stem (as in bente, benten, etc.), and Middle English bent, ibent, ybent, past participle forms of Middle English benden (“to bend”). Equivalent to bend + -t.

(colloquial, chiefly UK) Corrupt, dishonest.

Asked bluntly by Julie Webb of the NME whether he was “bent” in December 1974, Freddie answered evasively: “You're a crafty cow. […]”

2019 January 22, Joe Sommerlad, “The reasons why Bohemian Rhapsody faced such a massive backlash”, in The Independent:

(derogatory, colloquial, chiefly UK) Homosexual.


bind

en-verb

bind (third-person singular simple present binds, present participle binding, simple past bound or (nonstandard) binded, past participle bound or (nonstandard) binded or (archaic, rare) bounden or (obsolete) ybound or (obsolete) ybounden)

binds (present singular third-person)
binding (participle present)
bound (past)
binded (nonstandard past)
bound (participle past)
binded (nonstandard participle past)
bounden (archaic participle past rare)
ybound (obsolete participle past)
ybounden (obsolete participle past)

From Middle English binden, from Old English bindan, from Proto-West Germanic *bindan, from Proto-Germanic *bindaną (compare West Frisian bine, Dutch binden, Low German binnen, binden, German binden, Danish binde), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰéndʰ-e-ti, from *bʰendʰ- (“to tie”).
Compare Welsh ben (“cart”), Latin offendīx (“knot, band”), Lithuanian beñdras (“partner”), Albanian bind (“to convince, to awe, to spell”), Ancient Greek πεῖσμα (peîsma, “cable, rope”), Persian بستن (bastan, “to bind”), Sanskrit बन्धति (bándhati). Doublet of bandana.

bindi

transitive, programming to process object modules into a program

"But it's not much good piling up the pix if I can't sell them."
"Oh do stop binding. Think of something. How will we eat, where will we sleep?"

(UK, dialect) To complain; to whine about something.


blow

en-verb

blow (third-person singular simple present blows, present participle blowing, simple past blew, past participle blown)

blows (present singular third-person)
blowing (participle present)
blew (past)
blown (participle past)

From Middle English blowen, from Old English blāwan (“to blow, breathe, inflate, sound”), from Proto-West Germanic *blāan, from Proto-Germanic *blēaną (“to blow”) (compare German blähen), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰleh₁- (“to swell, blow up”) (compare Latin flō (“to blow”) and Old Armenian բեղուն (bełun, “fertile”)).

der

'As for that,' says Will, 'I could tell it well enough, if I had it, but I must not be seen anywhere among my old acquaintances, for I am blown, and they will all betray me.'

(UK, slang, archaic, transitive) To expose, or inform on.


blow

en-noun

blow (countable and uncountable, plural blows)


break

From Middle English breken, from Old English brecan (“to break”), from Proto-West Germanic *brekan, from Proto-Germanic *brekaną (“to break”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰreg- (“to break”). Doublet of bray.
Cognates
Cognates of Germanic origin include Scots brek (“to break”), West Frisian brekke (“to break”), Dutch breken (“to break”), Low German breken (“to break”), German brechen (“to break”), French broyer (“to crush, grind”), Gothic 𐌱𐍂𐌹𐌺𐌰𐌽 (brikan, “to break, destroy”), Norwegian brek (“desire, yearning”).
Also cognate with Albanian brishtë (“fragile”), Latin frangō (“break, break up, shatter”, verb), whence English fracture and other terms – fragile, frail, fraction, and fragment.

cog

(UK, education) A time for students to talk or play between lessons.

(British, weather) A change, particularly the end of a spell of persistent good or bad weather.


burn

en-noun

burn (countable and uncountable, plural burns)

From Middle English bernen (collateral form of brennen), from Old English birnan (“to burn”), metathesis from Proto-West Germanic *brinnan, from Proto-Germanic *brinnaną (“to burn”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰrenw-, present stem from *bʰrewh₁-. Doublet of brew.
See also Middle Irish brennim (“drink up”), bruinnim (“bubble up”); also Middle Irish bréo (“flame”), Albanian burth (“Cyclamen hederifolium, mouth burning”), Sanskrit भुरति (bhurati, “moves quickly, twitches, fidgets”). More at brew.

cog

TOM: I’m serious bruv. Put my burn and lighter and all that in my jeans please and give them here, then press the cell bell.

2002, Tom Wickham, “A Day In The Wrong Life”, in Julian Broadhead, Laura Kerr, editors, Prison Writing, 16th edition, Waterside Press, →ISBN, page 26:

“Any of you want to borrow some burn,” asked a scarred inmate known as Bull.

2006, S. Drake, A Cry for Help, Chipmunkapublishing ltd, →ISBN, Chapter 7, page 94:

It was like no one was looking out for me, and the older kids used to take the piss ...they were always threatening me and taking my burn [tobacco][…]

2006, Peter Squires, editor, Community Safety: Critical Perspectives on Policy and Practice, Policy Press, →ISBN, page 23:

As the prison week ended and the less careful inmates began to run out of burn they went through a peculiar begging ritual that I, never one to husband resources either, was quick to learn.

(uncountable, UK, chiefly prison slang) Tobacco.


cut

en-adj

cut (comparative more cut, superlative most cut)

more cut (comparative)
most cut (superlative)

From Middle English cutten, kitten, kytten, ketten (“to cut”) (compare Scots kut, kit (“to cut”)), of North Germanic origin, from Old Norse *kytja, *kutta, from Proto-Germanic *kutjaną, *kuttaną (“to cut”), of uncertain origin, perhaps related to Proto-Germanic *kwetwą (“meat, flesh”) (compare Old Norse kvett (“meat”)). Akin to Middle Swedish kotta (“to cut or carve with a knife”) (compare dialectal Swedish kåta, kuta (“to cut or chip with a knife”), Swedish kuta, kytti (“a knife”)), Norwegian Bokmål kutte (“to cut”), Norwegian Nynorsk kutte (“to cut”), Icelandic kuta (“to cut with a knife”), Old Norse kuti (“small knife”), Norwegian kyttel, kytel, kjutul (“pointed slip of wood used to strip bark”). Displaced native Middle English snithen (from Old English snīþan; compare German schneiden), which still survives in some dialects as snithe or snead. See snide. Adjective sense of "drunk" (now rare and now usually used in the originally jocular derivative form of half-cut) dates from the 17th century, from cut in the leg, to have cut your leg, euphemism for being very drunk.

silvottu

colloquial: circumcised — see also circumcised

I was dev’lish cut—uncommon—been dining with some chaps at Greenwich.

1848 November – 1850 December, William Makepeace Thackeray, chapter 51, in The History of Pendennis. […], volume (please specify |volume=I or II), London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1849–1850, →OCLC:

(slang, New Zealand, formerly UK) Intoxicated as a result of drugs or alcohol.

päihtynyt

intoxicated as a result of drugs or alcohol


dig

From Middle English diggen (“to dig”), alteration of Old English dīcian (“to dig a ditch, to mound up earth”) (compare Old English dīcere (“digger”)) from dīc, dīċ (“dike, ditch”) from Proto-Germanic *dīkaz, *dīkiją (“pool, puddle”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰeygʷ- (“to stab, dig”). Additionally, Middle English diggen may derive from an unrecorded suffixed variant, *dīcgian. Akin to Danish dige (“to dig, raise a dike”), Swedish dika (“to dig ditches”). Related to French diguer (“to dig”), from Middle French diguer, from Old French dikier, itself a borrowing of the same Germanic root (from Middle Dutch dijc). More at ditch, dike.

der

(UK, dialect, dated) A tool for digging.


exeat

Borrowed from Latin exeat, third-person singular subjunctive of exeō (“depart”) used as an impersonal imperative, literally “let him go forth”.

[I]t was impossible to imagine her doing anything except eating ice-cream and smoking, like a child on an exeat from school.

1984, Anita Brookner, Hotel du Lac, Penguin, published 2016, page 66:

(dated, UK, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa) Leave of absence from a public school or college.


fire

en-noun

fire (countable and uncountable, plural fires)

fires (plural)
fier (alternative archaic)

→ Japanese: ファイヤー (faiyā)

Sranan Tongo: faya

From Middle English fyr, from Old English fȳr (“fire”), from Proto-West Germanic *fuir, from *fuïr, a regularised form of Proto-Germanic *fōr (“fire”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *péh₂wr̥.
See also Saterland Frisian Fjuur, West Frisian fjoer, Dutch vuur, Low German Füer, German Feuer, Danish fyr. Also, compare Hittite 𒉺𒄴𒄯 (paḫḫur), Umbrian pir, Tocharian A/B por/puwar, Czech pýř (“hot ashes”), Russian пуры́нь (purýnʹ), Ancient Greek πῦρ (pûr, “fire”), and Armenian հուր (hur, “fire”). This was an inanimate noun whose animate counterpart was Proto-Indo-European *h₁n̥gʷnis (see ignite). Cognate to pyre.

I wouldn't piss on someone if they were on fire

pull someone's chestnuts out of the fire

there may be snow on the mountaintop but there's fire in the valley

there may be snow on the rooftop but there is fire in the furnace

you don't look at the mantelpiece when you poke the fire

you don't look at the mantelpiece when you're poking the fire

(countable, British) A heater or stove used in place of a real fire (such as an electric fire).

վառարան

heater or stove used in place of real fire


drive

drive (countable and uncountable, plural drives)

[d̠ɹ̠ ̝ʷaɪv]

From Middle English driven, from Old English drīfan (“to drive, force, move”), from Proto-West Germanic *drīban, from Proto-Germanic *drībaną (“to drive”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰreybʰ- (“to drive, push”).
Cognates
Cognate with Scots drive (“to drive”), North Frisian driwe (“to drive”), Saterland Frisian drieuwe (“to drive”), West Frisian driuwe (“to chase, drive, impel”), Dutch drijven (“to drive”), Low German drieven (“to drive, drift, push”), German treiben (“to drive, push, propel”), Norwegian Bokmål drive, Danish drive (“to drive, run, force”), Norwegian Nynorsk driva, Swedish driva (“to drive, power, drift, push, force”), Icelandic drífa (“to drive, hurry, rush”).

cog

Yeah, thanks, drive!
You boyz all goin' shoppin'?
We are, drive, says Chip.

2017 March 21, Leonora Brito, Dat's Love and Other Stories, Parthian Books, →ISBN:

The coaches dropped us where we had begun, outside the chapel; each child in turn piping up, 'Thank you, drive!' as we disembarked.

2017 July 1, Huw Lewis, To Hear the Skylark's Song, Parthian Books, →ISBN:

Soon every stop on every route was once again punctuated by rounds of 'Cheers drive! Cheers drive! Cheers drive!' And with this little nicety reinstated, all was relatively well in Bristol town.

2018 June 28, Wilf Merttens, Bristol Urban Legends: The Hotwells Crocodile and Other Stories, The History Press, →ISBN:

'Cheers, Drive!' said Dylan as they climbed off the bus.

2019 May 30, Ed Clarke, The Secret Dragon, Penguin UK, →ISBN:

(UK, especially Bristol and Wales, slang) Friendly term of address for a bus driver.


fell

en-adj

fell (comparative feller, superlative fellest)

feller (comparative)
fellest (superlative)

From Middle English fel, fell (“strong, fierce, terrible, cruel, angry”), either from Old French fel or from Old English *fel, *felo, *fæle (“cruel, savage, fierce”) (only in compounds, wælfel (“bloodthirsty”), ealfelo (“evil, baleful”), ælfæle (“very dire”), etc.), from Proto-West Germanic *fali, *falu, from Proto-Germanic *faluz (“wicked, cruel, terrifying”). Cognate with Old Frisian fal (“cruel”), Middle Dutch fel (“wrathful, cruel, bad, base”), German Low German fell (“rash, swift”), Danish fæl (“disgusting, hideous, ghastly, grim”). Compare also Middle High German vālant (“imp”) and Dutch fel (“fierce, feisty, bitter”). See felon.

cog

(UK dialectal, Scotland) Strong and fiery; biting; keen; sharp; pungent

ärhäkkä

strong and fiery; biting; keen; sharp; pungent

(UK dialectal, Scotland) Very large; huge.


feed

en-noun

feed (countable and uncountable, plural feeds)

From Middle English fede, fed, from the verb (see above). Alternatively, perhaps from Old Norse fœða (“nourishment, food”), from Proto-Germanic *fōdijaną (“to feed”), whence also Old English fēdan (“to feed”).

184?, Henry Mayhew, London Labour and the London Poor
One proposed going to Hungerford-market to do a feed on decayed shrimps or other offal laying about the market; another proposed going to Covent-garden to do a 'tightener' of rotten oranges, to which I was humorously invited; […]

"There won't be any more blessed concerts for a million years or so; there won't be any Royal Academy of Arts, and no nice little feeds at restaurants."

1898, H.G. Wells, The War of the Worlds, London: William Heinemann, page 257:

(UK, Australia, New Zealand, colloquial, countable) A meal.


fit

en-adj

fit (comparative fitter, superlative fittest)

fitter (comparative)
fittest (superlative)

Possibly from Middle English fit (“an adversary of equal power”), of uncertain further origin. The original sense appears to have been "to marshal or deploy troops", which shifted to "to suit (troops to a certain location" > "suitable", and may be further related to Icelandic fitja (“to web, knit, cast on”).

cog

I think the girl working in the office is fit.

I think you are really fit / You're fit but my gosh don't you know it.

2004, Mike Skinner, “Fit but You Know It”, in A Grand Don't Come for Free, performed by The Streets:

I said I'd rather be with your friends, mate, cos they are much fitter.

2007, “Foundations”, in Kate Nash, Paul Eppworth (lyrics), Made of Bricks, performed by Kate Nash:

(British, informal, chiefly slang) Sexually attractive; good-looking; fanciable.


flew

en-adj

flew (comparative more flew, superlative most flew)

more flew (comparative)
most flew (superlative)
flue (alternative)


tuition

en-noun

tuition (countable and uncountable, plural tuitions)

/t͡ʃʉːˈɪʃən/

From Old French [Term?], from Latin tuitiō (“guard, protection, defense”), from tuēri (“to watch, guard, see, observe”). Compare intuition, tutor.

обучение

Imagine a country where children do nothing but play until they start compulsory schooling at age seven. Then, without exception, they attend comprehensives until the age of 16.[…]There are no inspectors, no exams until the age of 18, no school league tables, no private tuition industry, no school uniforms. […]

2013 July 19, Peter Wilby, “Finland spreads word on schools”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 6, page 30:

(Ireland, UK) The training or instruction provided by a teacher or tutor.

tuition classes

Tuition in the past was like taking medicine and you sent children for it only if they were doing poorly in a subject.

2021 August 18, Qiu Guanhua, “Forum: Heavy reliance on tuition to boost performance is not healthy”, in The Straits Times, Singapore, archived from the original on 2022-12-28:

(India, Malaysia, Singapore, Australia) Paid private classes taken outside of formal education; tutoring. (also used attributively)


get

Kylie: Oi, Bono! You lazy get! Have you finished my song yet?

1990 January 13, David Quantick, Steven Wells, “Is It Rock Art Or Is It Nart?”, in New Musical Express:

(UK, Ireland, regional) Synonym of git (“contemptible person”).


gone

From Middle English gon, igon, gan, ȝegan, from Old English gān, ġegān, from Proto-Germanic *gānaz (“gone”), past participle of *gāną (“to go”). Cognate with West Germanic Scots gane (“gone”), West Frisian gien (“gone”), Low German gahn (“gone”), and Dutch gegaan (“gone”).

You'd better hurry up, it's gone four o'clock.

(British, informal) Past, after, later than (a time).

you never know what you've got till it's gone


go

en-verb

go (third-person singular simple present goes, present participle going, simple past went or (obsolete) yode, past participle gone or (nonstandard) went or (substituted in certain contexts) been)

goes (present singular third-person)
going (participle present)
went (past)
yode (obsolete past)
gone (participle past)
went (nonstandard participle past)
been (participle past)
go (infinitive)
go (first-person present singular)
went (first-person past singular)
yode (archaic first-person past singular)
go (present second-person singular)
goest (archaic present second-person singular)
went (past second-person singular)
yode (archaic past second-person singular)
wentest (archaic past second-person singular)
goes (present singular third-person)
goeth (archaic present singular third-person)
went (past singular third-person)
yode (archaic past singular third-person)
go (plural present)
went (past plural)
yode (archaic past plural)
go (present subjunctive)
went (past subjunctive)
yode (archaic past subjunctive)
go (imperative present)
going (participle present)
goand (archaic participle present)
gone (participle past)
yode (archaic participle past)

From Middle English gon, goon, from Old English gān (“to go”), from Proto-West Germanic *gān, from Proto-Germanic *gāną (“to go”), from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰeh₁- (“to leave”).
The inherited past tense form yode (compare Old English ēode) was replaced through suppletion in the 15th century by went, from Old English wendan (“to go, depart, wend”).
cognates and related terms
Cognate with Scots gae (“to go”), West Frisian gean (“to go”), Dutch gaan (“to go”), Low German gahn (“to go”), German gehen (“to go”), Swedish, Norwegian and Danish gå (“to go”). Compare also Albanian ngah (“to run, drive, go”), Ancient Greek κιχάνω (kikhánō, “to meet with, arrive at”), Avestan 𐬰𐬀𐬰𐬁𐬨𐬌 (zazāmi), Sanskrit जहाति (jáhāti).

cog

the fucking you get isn't worth the fucking you're going to get

the screwing you get isn't worth the screwing you're going to get

Going pub now :)

Ffs I really want to go pub now

2021 September 9, __merrycrisis, Reddit:

I’m gonna go shops on Monday arvo.

2021 October 11, Wilton Public School, Grammar_Focus_Wk3_Y4.pdf:

Guys I went McDonalds

2023 November 25, 𝔹𝕣𝕠𝕨𝕟𝕊𝕦𝕘𝕒𝕣 🌸, Twitter:

I had a severe stomach pain, my GP was closed so had to go hospital at 6 am

2024 September 5, NotSureIfIWanna20, “I was sick yesterday, went hospital in the morning at 6 am and came back at 9am.”, in Reddit:

Went pub and got a free beer!

(UK, Australia, intransitive, colloquial) Clipping of go to the.


have

en-verb

have (third-person singular simple present has, present participle having, simple past and past participle had)

has (present singular third-person)
having (participle present)
had (participle past)
had (past)
have (infinitive)
have (first-person present singular)
had (first-person past singular)
have (present second-person singular)
hast (archaic present second-person singular)
had (past second-person singular)
hadst (archaic past second-person singular)
has (present singular third-person)
have (dialectal present singular third-person)
hath (archaic present singular third-person)
had (past singular third-person)
have (plural present)
had (past plural)
have (present subjunctive)
had (past subjunctive)
have (imperative present)
having (participle present)
haveing (archaic participle present)
had (participle past)
haue (alternative alternative obsolete)
hae (alternative)

From Middle English haven, from Old English habban (“to have”), from Proto-West Germanic *habbjan, from Proto-Germanic *habjaną (“to have”), durative of *habjaną (“to lift, take up”), from Proto-Indo-European *kh₂pyéti, present tense of *keh₂p- (“to take, seize, catch”). Related to heave.
Since there is no common Indo-European root for a transitive possessive verb have (notice that Latin habeō is not etymologically related to English have), Proto-Indo-European probably lacked the have structure. Instead, the third person forms of be were used, with the possessor in dative case, compare Latin mihi est / sunt, literally to me is / are.
Cognates
Cognate with Saterland Frisian hääbe (“to have”), West Frisian hawwe (“to have”), Dutch hebben (“to have”), Afrikaans hê (“to have”), Low German hebben, hewwen (“to have”), German haben (“to have”), Danish have (“to have”), Swedish hava (“to have”), Norwegian Nynorsk ha (“to have”), Icelandic hafa (“to have”), Albanian kap (“I grab, catch, grip”), Latin capiō (“take”, verb), Russian хапать (xapatʹ, “to seize”).

we have always been at war with Eastasia

I could have him!

(British, slang, transitive) To defeat in a fight; take.

When we did a rerecorded version for Top of the Pops, the Musicians' Union bloke said, "If I think you're making strings sounds out of a synthesiser, I'm going to have you. Video Killed the Radio Star is putting musicians out of business."

2018 October 30, Dave Simpson, “The Buggles: how we made Video Killed the Radio Star”, in The Guardian, Guardian News & Media, retrieved 2025-03-20:

You broke the window! Teacher’ll have you for that!

(British, slang, transitive) To inflict punishment or retribution on.


pigeon

en-noun

pigeon (countable and uncountable, plural pigeons)

From pidgin English, from a Chinese Pidgin English pronunciation of English business during trade in the Far East. See pidgin.

It's their pigeon.

(archaic, idiomatic, UK, informal) Concern or responsibility.


keep

en-verb

keep (third-person singular simple present keeps, present participle keeping, simple past and past participle kept)

keeps (present singular third-person)
keeping (participle present)
kept (participle past)
kept (past)
keepe (alternative)

From Middle English kepen (“to keep, guard, look after, watch”), from Old English cēpan (“to seize, hold, observe”), from Proto-West Germanic *kōpijan, from Proto-Germanic *kōpijaną (“to look, heed, watch, observe”) (compare West Frisian kypje (“to look”)), from Proto-Indo-European *ǵab-, *ǵāb- (“to look after”) (compare Lithuanian žẽbti (“to eat reluctantly”), Russian забо́та (zabóta, “care, worry”)).

inh

keep one's breath to cool one's porridge

the family that sleeps together keeps together

who keeps company with the wolf will learn to howl

(intransitive) To hold or be held in a state.

(UK, obsolete) To have rooms at college, at the University of Cambridge.