air-con

en-noun

air-con (countable and uncountable, plural air-cons)

→ Brunei Malay: ekon

→ Indonesian: erkon

→ Japanese: エアコン (eakon)

→ Korean: 에어컨 (eeokeon)

→ Tagalog: erkon

“---- it's hot in here. Sweating like a ---- dog. Chuck the air con on.” “Yeah, alright.” (BLEEP!) “Got dust all in my throat from walking outside.” “Ugh!” (GROANS) “Yeah, that air con's doing nothing, eh? My ----'s like a ---- cheese factory down here.”

2020 August 10, Michael Cusack, “The Dusty Truck 'n' Donut Muster” (2:53 from the start), in YOLO: Crystal Fantasy, season 1, episode 2, spoken by Rachel (Todor Manojlovic):

As I say, it was a very hot day, and I found that the air-con was better on 777013 than either 777001 or 777009. There are, however, no emergency hopper windows, so if the air-con goes down on a hot day, you will cook!

2023 January 26, Pip Dunn, “Merseyrail '777s' are OK for commuters”, in RAIL, number 988, page 60:

(UK, Asia, Australia) air conditioner; air conditioning


shunter

Concurrent to this order, Good forged a link with Irish Railways, which resulted in the latter building five shunters with Brush equipment, marking the inception of dieselisation in the country.

2021 June 30, David Clough, “Brush: a UK rail icon”, in RAIL, number 934, page 55:

(rail transport, British) A railway locomotive used for shunting (switching).

The shunter has a lightweight portable radio transmitter by which, as he uncouples an incoming train into cuts for marshalling, he informs the Traffic Office of the number of wagons in each cut and its siding; [...].

1960 June, “Talking of Trains: The new Margam yard”, in Trains Illustrated, page 323:

(rail transport, British) A person who carries out shunting operations.

стрелочник

a person who carries out shunting operations

(finance, UK, historical) One who shunts (carries on arbitrage between London and provincial stock exchanges).


one under

2002, "Tube Troll", ">Incident @ Hangar lane tube <", uk.transport.london http://groups.google.com/group/uk.transport.london/browse_thread/thread/9a749f81e7f414b9/04825cc24c006db5?lnk=st&q=%22one+under%22+train&rnum=3#
The twist in this tale is that the driver (who was at the back and hadn't seen anything) booked off with stress (as drivers often do after a one under) and the guard who had been driving and witnessed the whold [sic] traumatic event had to creep into work the next day and pretend that nothing had happned...

About a one under on the Northern line.

2004, "Joe", "TV Alert: BBC3 9pm Trauma TONIGHT", uk.railway http://groups.google.com/group/uk.railway/browse_thread/thread/dacc3df5d74e3501/4b2dff0298b19cc4?lnk=st&q=%22one+under%22+train&rnum=39#4b2dff0298b19cc4

2005, "Neilw001", "'One under'", uk.transport.london http://groups.google.com/group/uk.transport.london/browse_thread/thread/2a2f71c4882d54ca/96db8446353aa28d?lnk=st&q=%22one+under%22+train&rnum=7#96db8446353aa28d
I've been on a train when some [sic] has gone under. Actually heard the thump and then the driver on the radio saying "I've got one under".

(rail transport, slang, British) A person under a train; a person hit by a train after jumping or falling in front of it.


oggy oggy oggy

(British) A simple chant to rouse a crowd.


community college

community college (plural community colleges)

The name derives from the fact that community colleges primarily attract and accept students from the local community, and are often supported by the local community through property taxes.

(British) A secondary school, usually offering extended services of some sort.


Loiner

Possibly from Old English Leodis (“a Celtic kingdom”). Joseph Wright's English Dialect Dictionary included an etymology from Marsh Lane in Leeds (volume 3, page 565). The word "lane" used to be pronounced /lɔɪn/ in the Leeds area, but this pronunciation has passed out of use.

(British, colloquial, dated) A native of Leeds, England.


buy-to-let

(UK) Describing, or relating to, a property bought as an investment, the purchaser letting it to others rather than living in it.


buy-to-let

That doesn’t mean property is untouchable from a CGT standpoint. An easier target will be second homes and buy-to-lets; the CGT rate could be aligned with income tax rates – at 20%, 40% and 45% – meaning that the tax take on buy-to-let disposals would rise sharply.

2020 July 15, Patrick Collinson, “Capital gains tax review: your questions answered”, in The Guardian:


buy to let

en-verb

buy to let (third-person singular simple present buys to let, present participle buying to let, simple past and past participle bought to let)

buys to let (present singular third-person)
buying to let (participle present)
bought to let (participle past)
bought to let (past)

(UK, idiomatic) To purchase a property as in investment, and to let it out for rental instead of living in it


windscreen washer

en-noun

windscreen washer (plural windscreen washers)

(British) A device that pumps water mixed with detergent from a tank through small nozzles on to the windscreen/windshield of a car in order to clean it.


chapiter

From Middle English chapitre, from Old French chapitre, from Latin capitulum, diminutive of caput (“head”). Doublet of chapter and capitulum.

and when the time commeth , the shyrecue shall certifie the chapiters before the Justices in Eire, how many writs he hath and what & c.

And at this day chapiters are called articles, for the most part, and are delivered as well by the mouth of the justice in his charge, as by the clerks in writing, to the inquest, where in ancient time they were (after an exhortation given by the justices, for the good observation of the laws and of the king's peace) first read distinctly and openly in the full court, and then delivered in writing to the grand inquest.

1812, John Rastell, William Rastell, Les Termes de la Ley: Or, Certain Difficult and Obscure Words and Terms of the Common and Statute Laws of England, Now in Use, Expounded and Explained, page 78:

To these twelve knights, when returned and sworn, the chapiters or articles of their charge were read, and one part in writing, indented, was delivered to them, and the other part remained with the justices, who gave commandment to the knights, that to every chapiter or article they should answer, in their verdict, severally and by itself, sufficiently, distinctly, and openly.

1822, James Lowe, Observations on Fees in Courts of Justice, page v:

(UK, law, obsolete) A written summary of matters to be inquired of or presented before justices in eyre, or justices of assize, or of the peace, in their sessions; articles.


tapper

lesser spotted woodpecker
lesser spotted woodpecker

(British, dialect) The lesser spotted woodpecker.


taxer

(UK, Cambridge University, historical) One of two officers chosen yearly to regulate the assize of bread, and to see the true gauge of weights and measures is observed.


travelator

travelators (plural)
travellator (alternative)
travolator (alternative)

(British) A moving walkway; a slow conveyor belt that transports people horizontally or on an incline in a similar manner to an escalator.


longsome

en-adj

longsome (comparative more longsome, superlative most longsome)

more longsome (comparative)
most longsome (superlative)
langsome (alternative Scotland)

From Middle English longsum, from Old English langsum (“long; taking a long time; lasting a long time; long-enduring; long-suffering”), from Proto-West Germanic *langasam (“lengthy; long-lasting; vast; extensive”), equivalent to long + -some.

inh

(archaic, UK dialectal) Marked or characterised by longness or length; lengthy; long-lasting; protracted.

(UK dialectal) Tedious; tiresomely long.


tombstoning

(British) The practice of jumping into the sea or similar body of water from a cliff or other high point such that the jumper enters the water vertically straight, like a tombstone.


bovver boots

Their byword is Aggro (Aggravation) and their crucial enemies are hippies, homosexuals and Pakis (Pakistanis or Indians). When they catch one, they use their shaven skulls for butting, their Bovverboots for caving in ribs.

1970 March 29, Nik Cohn, “England's New Teen Style Is Violence”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

1991, Rupert Loydell, review of England's Dreaming: Sex Pistols and Punk Rock, in December 1991-January 1992, ThirdWay, page 41,
I remember a punk friend - cockerel haircut, leather trousers, bovver boots, and ripped jumper - being shocked at the TV retrospective of the mid-eighties where long-haired oiks in flared trousers stared desultorily at some screaming youths on stage.

The various youth subcultures have been identified by their possessions and objects: the boot-lace tie and velvet-colourd drape jacket of the Ted, the close crop, parker^([sic]) coats and scooter of the Mod, the stained jeans, swastikas and ornamented motorcycles of the bike-boys, the bovver boots and skinned-head of the Skinhead, the Chicago suits or glitter costumes of the Bowieites, etc.

2006, Stuart Hall, Tony Jefferson, Resistance Through Rituals: Youth Subcultures in Post-War Britain, 2nd edition, page 42:

Their image of racism was not what our political culture has come to expect – that is, the Nazi, the shaven-headed skinhead with bovver boots. Rather, they were stylishly dressed in suits and wearing Ben Sherman shirts and Armani sunglasses.

2011, Christine Barter, David Berridge, Children Behaving Badly: Peer Violence Between Children and Young People, page 96:

(1970s British slang) Stout lace-up boots, especially Dr. Martens, perceived to be worn for the purpose of kicking people in fights, and popular with skinheads or other troublemakers out looking for bovver.


half-arsed

en-adj

half-arsed (comparative more half-arsed, superlative most half-arsed)

more half-arsed (comparative)
most half-arsed (superlative)

(UK, Ireland, Commonwealth, slang, sometimes considered, vulgar) Alternative spelling of half-assed.


Thunderer

(British, informal) The Times newspaper.


chocker

chocker (comparative more chocker, superlative most chocker)

more chocker (comparative)
most chocker (superlative)
chocka (alternative)
chockers (alternative)

The place was absolutely packed. It was chocker.

1947, Charles Brasch, Landfall, Caxton Press, Page 492

The largest of these service chains in Italy is Agip, and these mini-cities in the middle of nowhere are always absolutely chocker with people. Half of Italy must be in these places at any one time.

2001, Brian Thacker, Rule No.5 - No Sex on the Bus: Confessions of a tour leader, Allen & Unwin, Page 143

He briskly flicked through the catalogue. "And this seemingly innocent museum is chocker with old airplane parts!"

2003, Phillip Scott, Gay Resort Murder Shock, Alyson Publishing, Page 155

Australia is chocker with beaches strait from paradise, and Terrigal is a beach holiday mecca? I'm gobsmacked.

2005, Rachael Weiss and Julie Adams, Are We There Yet?: Rach and Jules take to the open road, Allen & Unwin, Page 209

(UK, informal) Tightly packed, especially with people.


caned

caned (comparative more caned, superlative most caned)

more caned (comparative)
most caned (superlative)

But, somehow, you missed the plane / You did too much E / Met somebody and spent the night getting caned

2004, Amy Winehouse, Salaam Remi, “Fuck Me Pumps”, in Frank, performed by Amy Winehouse:

(UK, slang) intoxicated by alcohol or drugs.


cor blimey

(UK, Ireland, Commonwealth) An exclamation of surprise.


Knight Bachelor

en-noun

Knight Bachelor (plural Knights Bachelor)

(British) A man who has been knighted by the monarch but not as a member of one of the organized orders of chivalry; the lowest rank of knight in the British honours system.


CESG

Government Communications Headquarters
Registered Education Savings Plan

(British) Communications-Electronics Security Group—A branch of the British intelligence agency, GCHQ (Government Communications Headquarters).


chipboard

chipboard (countable and uncountable, plural chipboards)

(Australia, UK) A building material made from wood chips compressed and bound with synthetic resin.

талашит

A material made from compressed wood chips


knickerbocker glory

knickerbocker glory (plural knickerbocker glories)

A genericized form of Knickerbocker Glory, attested from the 1930s.

Knickerbocker Glory An English sundae, imported from the United States, that has become known as the ultimate example of the sundae-makers' art.

1996, Caroline Liddell, Frozen Desserts: The Definitive Guide, Glossary, 29:

They ate in the zoo restaurant and when Dudley had a tantrum because his knickerbocker glory wasn't big enough, Uncle Vernon bought him another one and Harry was allowed to finish the first.

1997, J. K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, Chapter Two:

(UK) An elaborately-layered ice cream sundae served in a tall glass.


gobsmackingly

en-adv

gobsmackingly (comparative more gobsmackingly, superlative most gobsmackingly)

more gobsmackingly (comparative)
most gobsmackingly (superlative)

1992, Mark Lewisohn, Root Into Europe, BBC Guide to Comedy
Astonishingly blunt, completely oblivious to the fact that his opinions and rudeness might be alien or offensive to others, and gobsmackingly ignorant of any other point of view.

The AAA company Millie’s suing is run by a crooked mogul played by Taika Watiti, doing a gobsmackingly awful caricature of modern tech-bro arrogance.

2021 August 6, A. A. Dowd, “The Ryan Reynolds action-comedy Free Guy is a Truman Show for the Fortnite age”, in The A.V. Club:

‘Gobsmackingly bananas’: scientists stunned by planet’s record September heat. [title]

2023 October 5, Damian Carrington, “‘Gobsmackingly bananas’: scientists stunned by planet’s record September heat”, in The Guardian:

(slang, UK, Ireland, Commonwealth) Astonishingly; amazingly.


chief constable

en-noun

chief constable (plural chief constables)

(British) The chief of police of most territorial UK police forces, except the Metropolitan Police and City of London Police.


skrike

en-verb

skrike (third-person singular simple present skrikes, present participle skriking, simple past and past participle skriked)

skrikes (present singular third-person)
skriking (participle present)
skriked (participle past)
skriked (past)

From Middle English skriken, a borrowing from Old Norse skríkja (“to scream”) (compare Old English sċrīċ, sċrēċ > English shriek/screech), literally "bird with a shrill call," referring to a thrush, possibly imitative of its call. Attested from c 1573.

The yells and yammering, croaking, jibbering and jabbering; howls, growls and curses; shrieking and skriking, that followed were beyond description.

It's not as if you're skriking brats.

(British, regional) To cry, sob, cry out or yell; to scream.


skrike

From Middle English skrike, scryke (also skryche, schryke, shryke). Cognate with Old Frisian skrichte, Middle Low German schrichte.

c''' 1573, attested by J. Raine
at what tyme the said Herrison wyfe gave a skrike.

Aw gav a skrike.


verderer

verderers (plural)
verderor (alternative)

From French verdier, from Late Latin viridarius, from Latin viridis (“green”).

(British) An official in charge of a royal forest; in modern times, still extant in the New Forest and the Forest of Dean


disoblige

disoblige (third-person singular simple present disobliges, present participle disobliging, simple past and past participle disobliged)

disobliges (present singular third-person)
disobliging (participle present)
disobliged (participle past)
disobliged (past)

From Middle French desobliger. By surface analysis, dis- + oblige.

Sorry to disoblige everybody; I know you were depending on me to bring a good weather forecast for our fête, but it is going to rain.

But Miss Frances married, in the common phrase, to disoblige her family, and by fixing on a Lieutenant of Marines, without education, fortune, or connexions, did it very thoroughly.

1814 May 9, [Jane Austen], chapter I, in Mansfield Park: […], volume I, London: […] [George Sidney] for T[homas] Egerton, […], →OCLC, page 2:

(British) to be unwilling to oblige; to disappoint, to inconvenience, not to cooperate.

(British) To offend by an act of unkindness or incivility.


blank cheque

(Australia, New Zealand, British, Canada) Alternative form of blank check.


ferric sulphate

(British, dated, inorganic chemistry) iron(III) sulfate


chinwag

chinwags (plural)
chin wag (alternative)
chin-wag (alternative)

/ˈt͡ʃɪnˌwæɡ/

Reg liked a chat about old times and we used to go and have a chinwag in the pub.

1963, Margery Allingham, “Foreword”, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC:

Every major network has at least one prime-time newsmagazine, which features extended coverage of gruesome crimes or amazing trials, intimate chinwags with the stars, and exposés of the horrors lurking in your own home, […]

2005, Laura Penny, Your Call Is Important to Us: The Truth about Bullshit, Toronto, Ont.: McClelland & Stewart, →ISBN, page 222:

Hundreds of Reading folk got together for coffee, cake and a good old fashioned chinwag during a national cancer charity's coffee morning fundraiser.

2008 September 29, “Raising a cup for Macmillan Cancer”, in Reading Evening Post, Reading, Berkshire: Surrey & Berkshire Media, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2008-10-03:

"I have a bone to pick with you and I can't possibly nap until we've had a jolly good chin-wag about it." / "Chin-wag?" / "A powwow. A council of war."

2014, [C.] Alan Bradley, The Dead in Their Vaulted Arches: A Flavia de Luce Novel, New York, N.Y.: Delacorte Press, →ISBN:

(UK, Ireland, Commonwealth, informal) An informal conversation, usually about everyday matters; a chat, a gossip.


chinwag

chinwag (third-person singular simple present chinwags, present participle chinwagging, simple past and past participle chinwagged)

chinwags (present singular third-person)
chinwagging (participle present)
chinwagged (participle past)
chinwagged (past)
chin wag (alternative)
chin-wag (alternative)

/ˈt͡ʃɪnˌwæɡ/

I saw the pair of them chinwagging by the water-cooler.

We stamped around to get some circulation into our legs after a stint of three hours in the cold water, had a pull at a bottle of wine, and chinwagged with some of the other fishermen who were clambering out of their waders beside their parked cars.

1972 March, Keith Draper, “Big Trout are Suckers after Dark”, in Field & Stream, Los Angeles, Calif.: CBS Magazines, →OCLC, page 161:

[Trevor] Nunn gives the play [All's Well That Ends Well] more than a touch of [Anton] Chekhov; he gives it the great Slav physician's context: arrivals and departures and a country estate and house in which Helena is gentlewoman to the Countess Rossilion (Peggy Ashcroft) who has an old gnarled retainer, Lavache, the Clown (Geoffrey Hutchings), with whom she chinwags and at whom she affectionately rails.

1982, The Month, London: Simpkin, Marshall, & Co., →ISSN, →OCLC, page 317:

By the light of the big candles on stakes clusters of people were eating and drinking and chinwagging about the topics of the past four days.

1996, Ian Watson, Hard Questions, London: Gollancz, →ISBN:

(UK, Ireland, Commonwealth, informal) To chat, to gossip.


forecourt

(chiefly British) The area in front of a petrol station where the petrol pumps are situated; pumping area.

The first group is incised on the east wall and eastern part of the south wall of the temple forecourt. The second group is incised into the floor and paving stones of the forecourt, extending onto the pavement of the Podium.

2007, Pamela Rose, The Meroitic Temple Complex at Qasr Ibrim, volume 84, page 105:

Other improvements include a new station forecourt on Love Lane, new cycle parking, improved CCTV and an additional ticket vending machine in the ticket hall.

2019 October, “New White Hart Lane station opens”, in Modern Railways, page 23:

(chiefly British) Any open area in front of a building.


sile

sile (third-person singular simple present siles, present participle siling, simple past and past participle siled)

siles (present singular third-person)
siling (participle present)
siled (participle past)
siled (past)

From Middle English silen, sylen, from Middle Low German silen ("to let off water, filter, strain"; > Low German silen, sielen), equivalent to sie (“to filter, strain”) + -le. Cognate with German sielen (“let off water, filter”), Swedish sila (“to strain, filter, sift”), German Siel (“drain, sewer, sluice”).

cog

(transitive, UK dialectal) To strain, as milk; pass through a strainer or anything similar; filter.

(intransitive, UK dialectal) To flow down; drip; drop; fall; sink.

(intransitive, UK dialectal) To settle down; calm or compose oneself.

(intransitive, UK dialectal) To go; pass.

(intransitive, UK dialectal) To boil gently; simmer.

(intransitive, UK dialectal, Northern England) To pour with rain.


mumper

Here for a moment, running my eye along the Piazza, which had its usual fringe of flower girls and mumpers, swearing porters and hackney coaches, I thought my man with the white handkerchief had not come; but shifting my gaze to the Little Piazza, which was darker and less frequented, I presently espied him walking to and fro under cover, with a cane in his hand and the air of a gentleman who had supped and was looking out for a pretty girl.

1897, Stanley John Weyman, chapter XIV, in Shrewsbury:


mump

(UK, dialect, Somerset) A cube of peat; a spade's depth of digging turf.


patisserie

en-noun

patisserie (countable and uncountable, plural patisseries)

patisseries (plural)
pâtisserie (alternative)

(UK) a shop that sells pastries and cakes


Leigh

From the nominative case of Old English lēah (“wood, meadow”), 'dweller by the wood or clearing'.

A unisex given name transferred from the surname.

(UK) A female given name, Female equivalent of Lee.


answerphone

answerphones (plural)
ansaphone (alternative)
ansafone (alternative)
answer phone (alternative)

I keep trying to call her, but all I get is the answerphone.

(British, Ireland, Commonwealth) A telephone containing a built-in device for recording incoming callers’ messages for later retrieval.


purveyance

purveyance (countable and uncountable, plural purveyances)

purveyances (plural)
pourveyance (alternative)

From Middle English purveiaunce et al., from Anglo-Norman purveaunce.

static separation of duty
static separation of duty

(British, historical) The prerogative of the Crown to static separation of duty with goods and services for royal use.


tuppenny

Half a pound of tuppenny rice,
Half a pound of treacle.
That’s the way the money goes,
Pop! goes the weasel.

a. 1852, anonymous author, Pop Goes the Weasel:

Then they went off to prepare for the journey […], Peter filling his six-penny pipe with tuppenny tobacco.

1938, Xavier Herbert, chapter XI, in Capricornia, New York: D. Appleton-Century, published 1943, page 184:

The City & South London initially had a flat single fare of 2d., but it was the Central London Railway, opened ten years later, that would be nicknamed 'The Tuppenny Tube' for its flat fare of the same amount. The Central was so-called by the Daily Mail, [...]

2012, Andrew Martin, Underground Overground: A passenger's history of the Tube, Profile Books, →ISBN, page 101:

(British, Australia, becoming old-fashioned) Literally, worth tuppence (two pence); of little value or status.


tuppenny

tuppennies (plural)
twopenny (alternative)

(British, dated) A coin or stamp worth two pence.

A Lord High Chancellor is a personage of great dignity, who should never, under any circumstances, place himself in the position of being told to tuck in his tuppenny, except by noblemen of his own rank.

(British, dated, juvenile) In the children's game of leapfrog, the head (perhaps named from a tuppenny loaf).


papermaker

(UK, slang, obsolete) A person who gathers rags to sell.


workshy

en-adj

workshy (comparative more workshy, superlative most workshy)

more workshy (comparative)
most workshy (superlative)
work-shy (alternative)

Workshy benefits claimants should stop watching daytime television and get a job.


bedhead

bedheads (plural)
bed head (alternative)

From Middle English bed-head, bedhede (also as beddeshed, beddes hede, beddes heed), equivalent to bed + head.

Holonyms: bedstead; bedframe (sometimes comeronymous)

[…] upon this he went up stairs in his shirt, and found the boy hanging in his belt to the staple within the bed-head, and no higher than would admit him to be on his knees, having only his shirt on.

1772, anonymous author, A True and Genuine Account of the Life, Trial, and Execution of James Bolland, London: self-published, page 2:

Feeling slightly ashamed of himself, he sat up against the bedhead.

1949, George Orwell, chapter 4, in Nineteen Eighty-Four:

There was a big black wrought-iron double bed, with a mosaic in the centre of the bedhead.

1977, Edna O'Brien, Johnny I Hardly Knew You, Penguin, published 1984, page 82:

A few miles from Skara Brae, you can see hearths, bedheads, and milk crate-style shelving in a cluster of stone houses that are joined by an internal corridor, like those of an apartment block. The houses are five thousand years old, older than the Egyptian pyramids.

2014, Christine Kenneally, chapter 8, in The Invisible History of the Human Race: How DNA and History Shape Our Identities and Our Futures, New York: Viking:

(British) A vertical panel or board at the end of a bed where the pillow is placed.


loadsamoney

From loadsa + money. Originally the name and catchphrase of a vulgar character who flourished wads of banknotes, invented by British comedian Harry Enfield in the 1980s.

My hon. Friend entered the House in 1987, and I am sure that my hon. Friend will recall the right hon. Gentleman the Leader of the Opposition talking about the "loadsamoney society" and the bad effect that that has had on crime rates.

1989 March 10, John Patten, parliamentary debates:

Questioned on BBC Radio 4's Today programme on whether he would be adopting a pre-election "loadsamoney" stance, Mr Blunkett said that there would be "substantial investment" but "loadsamoney will not be a term I'll be using".

2000 July 17, “Blunkett rejects 'loadsamoney' tag"”, in BBC News:

[see title]

2007 June 4, “Loadsamoney! West Ham set to join high rollers with £13m offer for Johnson; £90,000 a week.”, in Daily Mail, archived from the original on 2009-05-25:

(British, informal, humorous) Referring to the free flowing of money, to large amounts spent or earned, or to the perceived acquisitiveness and materialism engendered in society by a booming economy.


loadsamoney

(British, informal, humorous) A vulgar person who has gained a large amount of wealth and flaunts it whenever possible.


nursery school

en-noun

nursery school (countable and uncountable, plural nursery schools)

kindergarten

borrowed from German "Kindergarten"; mainly Canada, the U.S. and Australia

(Canada, British) An educational institution for small children (normally around 3 to 5 years old, who not yet have begun primary school).

çerdhe

a school for pre-school children — see also kindergarten


brank

Compare Gaelic brangus, brangas, a sort of pillory, Irish brancas, halter, or Dutch pranger, fetter.

Your armour gude ye mauna shaw, / Nor yet appear like men o' weir; / As country lads be a' array'd, / Wi' branks and brecham on each mare.

1802, “Jock o’ the Side”, in Walter Scott, editor, Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border: […], volume I, Kelso, Roxburghshire: […] James Ballantyne, for T[homas] Cadell Jun. and W[illiam] Davies, […]; and sold by Manners and Miller, and A[rchibald] Constable, […], →OCLC, 1st part (Historical Ballads), page 158:

(obsolete, UK, Scotland, dialect, usually in the plural) A sort of bridle with wooden side pieces.


brank

en-verb

brank (third-person singular simple present branks, present participle branking, simple past and past participle branked)

branks (present singular third-person)
branking (participle present)
branked (participle past)
branked (past)

(UK, Scotland, dialect) To hold up and toss the head; applied to horses as spurning the bit.


brank

Probably of Celtic origin; compare Latin brance, brace, the Gallic name of a particularly white kind of corn.

One - third of brank-ground , or mixed with any other kind of grain or roots, is as large a proportion as can be given with safety

1842, William Blackwood, The Quarterly Journal of Agriculture:


Bloody Sunday

We eat and drink while tomorrow they die / Sunday, Bloody Sunday / The real battle just begun / Sunday, Bloody Sunday

1983, “Sunday Bloody Sunday”, in War, performed by U2:

(historical, British, Ireland) A 1972 event in Northern Ireland in which 14 civil rights protesters were shot and killed by a British Army regiment.


jack in

jack in (third-person singular simple present jacks in, present participle jacking in, simple past and past participle jacked in)

jacks in (present singular third-person)
jacking in (participle present)
jacked in (participle past)
jacked in (past)

I've had enough of working nights, so I'm going to jack in my job.

I'm going to jack my job in.

And when I came round, after a couple of months of darkness, I found to my surprise that I had jacked in my course and was working in Record and Tape Exchange in Camden.

1995, Nick Hornby, High Fidelity, London: Victor Gollancz, →ISBN, page 26:

(transitive, idiomatic, British) To stop doing a regular activity, such as a job or studying.


scrag

Perhaps related to Norwegian skragg (a lean person), dialectal Swedish skragge (old and torn thing), Danish skrog (hull, carcass); perhaps related to shrink.

(UK, slang, derogatory) A chav or ned; a stereotypically loud and aggressive person of lower social class.


nervy

en-adj

nervy (comparative nervier, superlative nerviest)

nervier (comparative)
nerviest (superlative)

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

Blackpool continue to thrive on the adrenalin rush of the end-of-season shoot-out and are heading for a second Wembley date in two years after negotiating a nervy path past Birmingham.

2012 May 9, John Percy, “Birmingham City 2 Blackpool 2 (2-3 on agg): match report”, in The Telegraph:

She has been asked on a date to see The Barber of Seville in the company of society’s wealthiest and most eligible bachelor, the Hon Jeremy Malcolm (Ṣọpẹ́ Dìrísù) who is bored by her nervy and untutored chatter.

2022 August 24, Peter Bradshaw, “Mr Malcolm’s List review – Regency romcom served with cake-icing of irony”, in The Guardian:

(British) Feeling nervous, anxious or agitated.


mistal

Inherited from Middle English *mystal, from myx (“dung”) + stal (“shed”).
For the disappearance of /k/ before /st/, compare the disappearance of /x/ before /st/ in Anglian Old English hēst (“highest”), nēst (“nearest”), and sesta (“sixth”), surviving in Scots neest (“next”).


put the wind up

en-verb

put the wind up (third-person singular simple present puts the wind up, present participle putting the wind up, simple past and past participle put the wind up)

puts the wind up (present singular third-person)
putting the wind up (participle present)
put the wind up (participle past)
put the wind up (past)

P. G. Wodehouse
I find it extraordinarily difficult to explain why it is that she has always put the wind up me to such a frightful extent.

(informal, transitive, British) To frighten or disturb.


have the wind up

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

has the wind up (present singular third-person)
having the wind up (participle present)
had the wind up (participle past)
had the wind up (past)

(idiomatic, British) To be frightened or disturbed.


minikin

en-noun

minikin (countable and uncountable, plural minikins)

From Middle Dutch minnekijn (“darling, beloved”), from minne (“love”) (cf. minnesinger) and the diminutive suffix -kijn.

der

(uncountable, UK printing, dated) The size of type smaller than brilliant, standardized as 3-point.


get at

en-verb

get at (third-person singular simple present gets at, present participle getting at, simple past got at, past participle (UK) got at or (US) gotten at)

gets at (present singular third-person)
getting at (participle present)
got at (past)
got at (UK participle past)
gotten at (US participle past)


Hillsborough

From hills and borough. The village in New Brunswick was probably named in honour of British politician Wills Hill, 1st Marquess of Downshire (1718 - 1793). The civil parish is named after the village.

(British) A major football disaster at the Hillsborough Stadium in Sheffield.


Jiffy bag

Jiffy bags (plural)
jiffy (alternative)
jiffy bag (alternative)
jiffy-bag (alternative)
Jiffy (alternative)

Dutch: jiffybag

A British brand name (from jiffy) established in 1964.


get into one's stride

get into one's stride (third-person singular simple present gets into one's stride, present participle getting into one's stride, simple past and past participle got into one's stride)

gets into one's stride (present singular third-person)
getting into one's stride (participle present)
got into one's stride (participle past)
got into one's stride (past)

Tottenham were slow to get into their stride in a first 45 minutes characterised by Arsenal's defensive discipline - but once they moved through the gears the Gunners simply could not live with them.

2018 February 10, Phil McNulty, “Tottenham Hotspur 1 - 0 Arsenal”, in BBC:

As the passenger franchises got into their stride, remarkable levels of growth were recorded.

2024 January 10, 'Industry Insider', “Success built on liberalisation and market freedom”, in RAIL, number 1000, page 69:

(idiomatic, UK) To become familiar with something


dab hand

From dab (“ an expert; an adept”) + hand.

She's a dab hand in the kitchen.

(British) An expert; a very skilled person.


dab-handed

en-adj

dab-handed (comparative more dab-handed, superlative most dab-handed)

more dab-handed (comparative)
most dab-handed (superlative)

From dab (“an expert; an adept”) + handed (“having the hand of”).

compound

He is dab-handed at cricket.


conflab

Clipping of confabulation with an epenthetic l, which may be a humorous alteration done to suggest the word flab.


Vic

My next part at the Vic was Macbeth, with Judith Anderson. This play has a proverbial reputation for bad luck.

1949, Five Seasons of the Old Vic Theatre Company, page 5:

(UK, slang, historical, with definite article) The Royal Victoria Theatre, in London (now called the Old Vic to distinguish it from the New Vic Theatre in Staffordshire).


see off

en-verb

see off (third-person singular simple present sees off, present participle seeing off, simple past saw off, past participle seen off)

sees off (present singular third-person)
seeing off (participle present)
saw off (past)
seen off (participle past)

A salesman came to my door, but the dogs soon saw him off.

Jon Walters and Rory Delap scored late goals as Stoke continued their unbeaten home start by seeing off Fulham with a dominant second-half display.

2011 October 15, Owen Phillips, “Stoke 2 - 0 Fulham”, in BBC Sport:

Only four units (455704/726/736/740) are yet scrapped, but the new Class 701s will soon see them all off.

2023 February 22, Howard Johnston, “Southern '313s': is the end now in sight?”, in RAIL, number 977, page 40:

You Keep Fucking Me is one of the highlights of a new exhibition of her paintings, all of them created since her diagnosis with a cancer that should, by rights, have seen her off.

2024 May 29, Simon Hattenstone, “The radical, ravishing rebirth of Tracey Emin: ‘I didn’t want to die as some mediocre YBA’”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:


do a bunk

do a bunk (third-person singular simple present does a bunk, present participle doing a bunk, simple past did a bunk, past participle done a bunk)

does a bunk (present singular third-person)
doing a bunk (participle present)
did a bunk (past)
done a bunk (participle past)

(British, slang, idiomatic) To escape or flee, especially under incriminating circumstances.

largarse

escape under incriminating circumstances


ratbags

(UK, colloquial, dated) A mild exclamation of dismay.


TIC

en-noun

TIC (countable and uncountable, plural TICs)

TICs must be admitted by a defendant in addition to the crimes for which they have been convicted.

offence to be taken into consideration#English

(countable, UK, criminal law, law enforcement) Initialism of offence to be taken into consideration.


swingle

en-verb

swingle (third-person singular simple present swingles, present participle swingling, simple past and past participle swingled)

swingles (present singular third-person)
swingling (participle present)
swingled (participle past)
swingled (past)

From swing + -le (frequentative suffix).

(obsolete, UK, dialect) To swing for pleasure.


jargoon

en-noun

jargoon (countable and uncountable, plural jargoons)

jargoons (plural)
jargon (alternative)
jargounce (alternative)
jacounce (alternative)

/d͡ʒɑɹˈɡuːn/

From French jargon, from Italian giargone, from Arabic زَرْقُون (zarqūn). Doublet of zircon.

[…] he would sigh and gently lay it aside with a slow shake of his head and the slightest raise of an eyebrow. He said that sometimes even “jargoons” or fake jewellery could be worthy of respect, […]

By the time the buyer had discovered his mistake, there was nothing he could do about it. Similarly with the 'jargoons', except that here the jewellery sold was fake from the start and the seller had to rely on faster talking and a quicker sale. […] Reggie had a way with him. People trusted him, and he could always pick up a few pounds when he needed them from the jargoons and the tweedle.

2013, John Pearson, The Profession of Violence: The Rise and Fall of the Kray Twins:

(UK, slang, countable) A fake ring or other jewellery sold as genuine.


bum chum

1989, Joseph Mills, Towards the End, Polygon, →ISBN, page 120,
‘That’s his pal,’ Beeny said to Doreen. ¶ ‘Bum-chum more like,’ John added.

2004, Phil Ferguson, Discontent, M-Y Books, →ISBN, page 83,
He was too busy playing the big, important businessman to care about anyone but himself, preferring the company of his bum chum, Pete, to me.

‘Gaylord!’ ¶ ‘Bum-chum!’ ¶ ‘Chutney Ferret!’

2005, S.J. Smith, Joe Public, Virtualbookworm Publishing, →ISBN, page 100:

(UK, derogatory slang) A male homosexual's partner; a male homosexual.


clear up

en-verb

clear up (third-person singular simple present clears up, present participle clearing up, simple past and past participle cleared up)

clears up (present singular third-person)
clearing up (participle present)
cleared up (participle past)
cleared up (past)

Accepting that incidents will always happen, what then matters is how quickly we can clear up the mess, something British Rail was better at. [...] I would turn up as quickly as possible in the on-call Hillman Avenger and assess how quickly we could clear up.

2019 October, Ian Walmsley, “Cleaning up”, in Modern Railways, page 43:

(UK, transitive, intransitive) To clean up.


colour sergeant

en-noun

colour sergeant (plural colour sergeants)

non-commissioned officer
non-commissioned officer

(British) A non-commissioned officer in some infantry regiments of the British army, equivalent in rank to a staff sergeant in most other armies. A colour sergeant ranks above a sergeant and below a warrant officer.


sergeant major

sergeant major (plural sergeant majors or sergeants major)

sergeant majors (plural)
sergeants major (plural)

(British, plural sergeant majors) An appointment (not a rank) in the British Army and Royal Marines, denoting the most senior non-commissioned officer in a battalion, regiment or company.


m'lord

m'lords (plural)
m'lud (alternative)
milord (alternative)

1986, Ben Elton et al., Blackadder II, 3: "Money"
There's a priest wants t'see you, m'lord.
Well, tell him I'm Jewish.

2012, David Benioff et al., A Game of Thrones, 2.3: "A Man without Honor"
And, girl.
My lord.
Lowborn girls say "m'lord", not "my lord". If you're going to pose as a commoner, you should do it properly.

(British, now often historical or humorous, also law, in India) My Lord (used to address peers temporal, judges, etc).


lance corporal

lance corporals (plural)
lance-corporal (alternative)

From lancepesade, an anglicization from Italian lancia spezzata

(British) A non-commissioned officer in the British Army and Royal Marines, ranking above private and below corporal. A rank with NATO code OR-3.


toastie maker

toastie makers (plural)
toastie-maker (alternative)

Once you've tried a toastie from a toastie maker, you'll never want to eat regular sandwiches again.

(British) An electrical appliance used to toast sandwiches.


bucca

Borrowed from Cornish bocka. Doublet of pooka and puck.

a fabled menagerie of fairies, buccas, sprites and giants

2008, Oliver Berry, Belinda Dixon, Devon, Cornwall & Southwest England, page 273:

(UK, Cornwall) A storm spirit in Cornish folklore, traditionally believed to inhabit mines and coastal communities.


tightener

From tighten + -er. Referring to a meal, suggests the tightening of one's belt around the expanding waistline.

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; […]

Now a belt like this is a great saving to a man inasmuch as he can save many a meal by wearing it; all you have to do if you want to save a meal is to buckle in a hole or two tighter, and you will feel as if you have had a tightener and will not miss your dinner for that day.

1876, William Green, Charles Hindley, The Life and Adventures of a Cheap Jack, page 55:

(UK, slang, archaic) A large meal; a feast or blowout.


yourn

From Middle English youren. Displaced in standard speech by the -s form, yours. See also ourn, hern. Cognate with West Flemish joen (“yourn”).

When I was a hired-out shepherd in a solitary hut, not seeing no faces but faces of sheep till I half forgot wot men's and women's faces wos like, I see yourn.

1860 December – 1861 August, Charles Dickens, chapter XX, in Great Expectations […], volume II, London: Chapman and Hall, […], published October 1861, →OCLC, page 341:

Your room's in there, back of the office, an' you'll find some clothes there that the last man forgot to take with him. You ken have 'em, an' from the looks o' yourn you need 'em.

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

(obsolete outside British and US dialects, especially Appalachia) Yours.


hisn

From Middle English hisen, ultimately corresponding to an alteration of his after mine, thine.

I will not show him this letter of yours, though you seem to desire it, lest it should provoke him to be too severe a schoolmaster, when you are his'n.

1748, [Samuel Richardson], “Letter XXXII”, in Clarissa. Or, The History of a Young Lady: […], volume (please specify |volume=I to VII), London: […] S[amuel] Richardson; […], →OCLC:

An' every feller felt ez though all Mexico wuz hisn.

1848, James Russell Lowell, The Biglow Papers:

But in the absolute whosen is often substituted, as in "if it ain't hisn, then whosen is it?" The imitation is obvious.

[1921 [1919], H. L. Mencken, The American Language, 2nd edition, New York: Alfred A. Knopf, →ISBN, →OCLC, page 297:

(now dialectal, British and US, especially Appalachia) His.


ourn

From Middle English ourn, ouren, from Old English ūrne and similar forms. Compare mine, thine; also compare and see hern. Displaced in standard speech by the -s form, ours, which see for more.

“Supposin',” continued Ward, “that we let two o' your men an' two o' ourn under Mr. Divine, shin up them cliffs back o' the cove an' search fer water an' a site fer camp—the rest o' us'll have our hands full with the salvage.”

(obsolete outside British and US dialects, especially Appalachia) Ours.


Janner

Derived from Cousin Jan (the Devonian form of John). See Janner on WikipediaWikipedia for further explanation.

(British, dated, slang) An English person born within ten miles of the sea.

(British, dated, slang) Member of the Devonshire and Dorset Regiment.


Janner

(British, slang) The accent and colloquialisms of such people used by the people of Plymouth.


Janner

(British, slang, sometimes derogatory) Describing Plymouth's lower classes.


give someone the heave-ho

en-verb

give someone the heave-ho (third-person singular simple present gives someone the heave-ho, present participle giving someone the heave-ho, simple past gave someone the heave-ho, past participle given someone the heave-ho)

gives someone the heave-ho (present singular third-person)
giving someone the heave-ho (participle present)
gave someone the heave-ho (past)
given someone the heave-ho (participle past)
give somebody the old heave-ho (alternative)

I'm looking for work again because they gave me the heave-ho.

I accused her in set terms of giving me the heave-ho in order that she could mercenarily marry a richer man.

1960, P. G. Wodehouse, Jeeves in the Offing, chapter X:

(idiomatic, British) To fire, expel or break up with someone.


give someone the old heave-ho

give<,,gave,given> someone the old heave-ho

give someone the old heave-ho (third-person singular simple present gives someone the old heave-ho, present participle giving someone the old heave-ho, simple past gave someone the old heave-ho, past participle given someone the old heave-ho)

gives someone the old heave-ho (present singular third-person)
giving someone the old heave-ho (participle present)
gave someone the old heave-ho (past)
given someone the old heave-ho (participle past)

Possibly a lot of them gained entry because there were so many other strange bees in the hive, but once they started to load up and run, the natives joined with the old ones and gave them the old heave-ho.

1947, Gleanings in Bee Culture v.75, A. I. Root Co., page 467:

Now I won't have to explain to her what sort of friend you really were and why I gave you the old heave-ho.

1968, Kurt Vonnegut, Jr., “Fortitude”, in Playboy:

I think maybe that's why they gave me the old heave-ho from the convent.

1985, William M. Hoffman, As Is, Dramatists Play Service, Inc., published 1999, →ISBN, page 13:

The least she could do was crawl back into her severely stylish shell, so she wouldn't look pitiful when he gave her the old heave-ho.

1997, Linda Howard, Shades of Twilight, Simon and Schuster, →ISBN, page 156:

So, she gave him the old heave ho!

2003, Garrison Flint, The Case of the Twisted Twins Murders: A Raymond Masters Mystery, G. F. Hutchison Press, →ISBN, page 89:

give someone the heave-ho
give someone the heave-ho#English

(idiomatic, British) Alternative form of give someone the heave-ho.


hypothecate

hypothecate (third-person singular simple present hypothecates, present participle hypothecating, simple past and past participle hypothecated)

hypothecates (present singular third-person)
hypothecating (participle present)
hypothecated (participle past)
hypothecated (past)

From Latin hypothecatus, past participle of hypotheco, hypothecare. This was in turn derived from Ancient Greek ὑποθήκη (hupothḗkē, “pledge”), from the verb ὑποτίθημι (hupotíthēmi, “to pledge as surety”).

uder

The levy needed primary legislation and permission from the Treasury to hypothecate the proceeds back into the new line. It meant that the Greater London Authority could borrow against future income from the levy.

2022 November 30, Peter Plisner, “Can land value capture set projects free?”, in RAIL, number 971, page 51:

(politics, British) To designate a new tax or tax increase for a specific expenditure.


lap sash seatbelt

en-noun

lap sash seatbelt (plural lap sash seatbelts)

lap sash seatbelts (plural)
lap/sash seatbelt (alternative)
lap-sash seatbelt (alternative)

From lap (“upper legs of a seated person”) + sash (“length of cloth worn over the shoulder”) + seatbelt (“restraining belt”).

[…]automobile accidents in which a casualty occurred in Victoria (Australia) during 1973 and 1974, Nelson (1974) has stated that from a clinical point of view the current lap-sash seatbelt-head configuration is not reducing the incidence of whiplash injuries to a significant extent.

1976, International Federation for Medical and Biological Engineering, Medical & Biological Engineering, volume 14, page 263:

From 4 years to about 11 years, a booster seat, initially with a harness (until about 6 years) and then with an adult lap/sash seatbelt, offers the safest option for car travel.

1994, Frank Oberklaid, Leah Kaminsky, Your Child's Health, page 457:

Once your child doesn′t fit into a child car restraint at around four years of age, a booster seat can be used with an adult lap/sash seatbelt.

2004, Carol Fallows, Shayne Collier, Commonsense Guide for Australian Parents, page 23:

A precise description of mechanism of injury can guide the examination, eg flexion/extension injury over lap sash seatbelt is associated with small bowel injury and lumbar vertebral fractures.

2007, Stuart Crisp, Jo Rainbow, Emergencies in Paediatrics and Neonatology, Oxford University Press, page 106:

Bruce pushed the ultralight out of the hangar; I climbed in and fastened the lap-sash seatbelt.

2012, S Bailey, J Bailey, Head Over Heels: A Story Of Tragedy, Triumph and Romance in the Australian Bush, unnumbered page:

(UK, Australia, automotive) A type of seatbelt which goes across the pelvis and then up and diagonally across the body; the conventional type found in most cars today.


houseman

A young houseman wearing his white coat and name-tag walked past us towards the apartment houses beside the lake.

2000, J. G. Ballard, Super-Cannes, Fourth Estate, published 2011, page 184:

(chiefly UK) A medical graduate gaining practical experience in a hospital; a house officer.


fustilugs

(UK, dialect, archaic, rare) An unattractive, grossly overweight person.


governor-general

governors-general (plural)
governor general (alternative)

It is a historical and analytical study of the position of Viceroy and Governor-General in the Indian constitutional system.

1940, Abani Bhushan Rudra, The Viceroy and Governor-General of India, page xi:

The vulnerability of the Governor-General should not be overstated.

1997, New Zealand Law Journal, page 217:

2003, The Far East and Australasia 2003, Europa Publications, page 122,
The legislative power of the Commonwealth of Australia is vested in a Federal Parliament, consisting of HM the Queen (represented by the Governor-General), a Senate, and a House of Representatives.

(UK) An official appointed by the reigning British monarch to govern a Commonwealth realm as the monarch's representative.


poncy

en-adj

poncy (comparative poncier, superlative ponciest)

poncier (comparative)
ponciest (superlative)
poncey (alternative)

From ponce (“kept man; pimp; effeminate man; homosexual man”) + -y (suffix forming adjectives meaning ‘having the quality of’).

suffix

I mean, you could tell he was a Pom all right, but he was trying, he didn't sound so poncy any more, [...]

1988, Janette Turner Hospital, “On Bea-particles and the Relativity of Scone Making”, in Charades, St. Lucia, Qld.: University of Queensland Press, published 2003, →ISBN, part I (Charade), page 100:

And in his ponciest voice he said, 'I do most humbly apologise.'

1992, Liza Cody, chapter 8, in Bucket Nut, London: Chatto and Windus, →ISBN; paperback edition, London: Bloomsbury Publishing, 1997, →ISBN, page 32:

Get off my land. Don't come back without a search warrant and by God it had better be signed by someone in authority, not your poncy boss.

1996, Beverley Harper, Storms over Africa, Sydney, N.S.W.: Pan Macmillan Australia, →ISBN; republished Sydney, N.S.W.: Pan Macmillan Australia, 2008, →ISBN:

He even helps make eggs Benedict, his namesake. Well, he's called Benedict, Anna's slightly poncey choice, but no one's ever called him that.

1997, Jacqueline Wilson, “Four in the Family”, in Girls in Love, London: Doubleday, →ISBN; 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Delacorte Press, 2002, →ISBN:

We found a decent guesthouse to stay in and then went to a poncey restaurant for food (‘poncey’ meaning that meals and drinks for two cost 3 dollars instead of 2!)

2004, Warwick Allen, “Thailand (Part One)”, in Sweat, Lincoln, Neb.: iUniverse, →ISBN, page 42:

You could tell from his long hair, grungy clothes, the poncey novel an newspaper on his dashboard an Coldplay album playin in his car that he was a muthafuckin coconut. So white he was inside his brown skin, he probably talked like those gorafied desis who read the news on TV. Probably even more poncier than the way how I used to talk. An think. Probly.

2006, Gautam Malkani, chapter 2, in Londonstani, London: Fourth Estate, HarperCollins, →ISBN; republished New York, N.Y.: Penguin Books, 2007, →ISBN, pages 20–21:

I'm not a person who finds meditation a doddle or to whom yoga comes naturally. To tell you the truth, I find the whole business a bit poncey and contrary to the way I used to see myself.

2014, Russell Brand, “Is Everybody In?”, in Revolution, New York, N.Y.: Ballantine Books, →ISBN, page 39:

She also finds the “poncy” approach that dominates the modern restaurant trade utterly grating.

2023 July 15, Josh Noble, quoting Delia Smith, “‘Life is not a bowl of cherries’”, in FT Weekend, Life & Arts, page 3:

(chiefly British, Ireland, Commonwealth, derogatory, informal) Of, relating to, or (supposedly) characteristic of a ponce.

Intended to impress others, particularly in an excessively refined or ostentatious manner; affected, pretentious.

With sudden interest Morse turned up the volume [of the radio]: the voice was donnish, slightly effeminate. [...] 'Shert erp, you poncy twit!' he said aloud, got out of bed, pulled on his clothes, walked downstairs and dialled the speaking clock.

1976 April, Colin Dexter, chapter 38, in Last Seen Wearing, London: Pan Books, →ISBN; paperback edition, London: Pan Books, 2016, →ISBN:

It was Johannesburg's only regular gay bar in those days, and not even a proper bar. [...] Since apartheid was a way of life, only the ponciest of African queens, only the butchest of Indian dykes could appear—noncitizens acceptable, in this underworld that was deviant but uncourageous, so long as they were no more than bedding material.

1990, Dale Gunthorp, “Gypsophilia”, in Naomi Holoch, Joan Nestle, editors, The Vintage Book of International Lesbian Fiction, New York, N.Y.: Vintage Books, published 1999 (2010 printing), →ISBN, page 86:

After lunch, Her mother suddenly produced a poncy lace dress out of her bag and announced, 'This is the family christening dress, which you were christened in,' etc., etc. [...] Looking at it close to, I saw that it was even poncier than the other one.

1992, Simon Brett, How to Be a Little Sod, London: Victor Gollancz, →ISBN; republished London: Orion Books, Orion Publishing Group, 2011, →ISBN:

He wore a cream-colored linen suit of a cut and color designed expressly for garden parties, the kind of suit Tom would surely have called "poncy" had he seen it on another man.

2008, Galt Niederhoffer, The Romantics, New York, N.Y.: St. Martin’s Press, →ISBN:

None of the gallery staff took any notice of a gangly, stick-thin, nose-picking, acne-faced youth wearing a plastic imitation leather jacket, winkle-picker shoes and a greasy Mick Jagger hairstyle. We all looked like that in those days, except those poncey Mods.

2009, David Stedman, chapter 1, in That Terrible Shadowing: The Quest across Time for Caravaggio’s Killer, Kibworth Beauchamp, Leicester: Matador, →ISBN, page 1:

Fixing your hair is also something that needs to be done in private (unless it is literally a quick pat and fluff). There are some who will happily stand in front of the mirror (there is only one mirror, you see, none of this fancy mirror-above-every-sink malarkey) and style their hair with pout and pose included, but they are usually too popular to get abuse about how poncey and womanly they look.

2011, Tom Clempson, “Last Break Hanging Out”, in One Seriously Messed-up Week in the Otherwise Mundane and Uneventful Life of Sam Taylor Jack Samsonite, London: Atom, →ISBN:

Chiefly of a male person: effeminate; gay, homosexual.


ploughshare

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

Holonyms: plough, plow < implement

(British spelling) The cutting edge of a plough, typically a metal blade.


tombstoner

(informal, British) A person who engages in the activity of tombstoning.


fibre bundle

(British, Canada) Alternative spelling of fiber bundle.


Seifert fibre space

en-noun

Seifert fibre space (plural Seifert fibre spaces)

Seifert fiber space
Seifert fiber space#English

(topology, British) Alternative spelling of Seifert fiber space.


Seifert fibred space

Seifert fibred space (plural Seifert fibred spaces)


homoeomorphic

(British, topology) Alternative spelling of homeomorphic.


toucan crossing

toucan crossing (plural toucan crossings)

Punningly from pelican crossing and toucan (another bird), because "two can" cross at once (pedestrians and bicycles).

(British, regional) A pedestrian crossing equipped with traffic lights operated by the pedestrians, same as pelican crossing, but also allowing bicycles to cross.


dod

Shunting discs (or "dods") are generously provided, and following modern practice, most of them permit a movement in any direction for which the road is set.

1951 October, Norman Crump, “Signalling at Thorpe-le-Soken”, in Railway Magazine, page 649:

(rail transport, UK) A ground signal, such as a shunting disc.


pig in the middle

pig in the middle (countable and uncountable, plural pigs in the middle)

monkey in the middle
monkey in the middle#English

(British) Synonym of monkey in the middle.


ticket tout

Skinner told the court he was an experienced ticket tout who travelled the world buying and selling tickets and merchandise to sporting events, concerts and festivals.

2008 December 5, “Grand Prix ‘fakes’ men convicted”, in BBC News, retrieved 2008-12-16:

(British) A person who resells tickets for events at more than the official price.


buffer lass

(British, obsolete) A young woman employed at a factory cleaning and polishing cutlery.


gut barging

(British) A somewhat comical sport in which two fat men try to push each other off a mat using their bellies.


Yonner

From the use of the Lancashire dialect terms "yon" and "yonder".

(UK, slang, derogatory) An unsophisticated resident of the towns of Oldham, Rochdale or surrounding areas. Now more widely applied to residents of any the satellite towns of Greater Manchester who speak with a broad Lancashire accent. A Lancashire hillbilly or bumpkin.


focussed

en-adj

focussed (comparative more focussed, superlative most focussed)

more focussed (comparative)
most focussed (superlative)
focused (alternative)

When first sighted on the curve, outside the focussed beam, the signal aspects were faint and difficult to identify in a confused background.

1961 February, “Talking of Trains: Collision at Newcastle”, in Trains Illustrated, page 76:


lathing

From Middle English lathinge, from Old English laþung, from Proto-West Germanic *laþungu, equivalent to lathe (“to invite”) + -ing. Cognate with German Ladung, Einladung (“invitiation”).


duffing

duffing (comparative more duffing, superlative most duffing)

more duffing (comparative)
most duffing (superlative)

'I don't comprehend your meaning, Mr. St. Leger,' was the respectful reply.
'What a duffing old file you must be, then! Caractacus, of course.'

1875, Mary Elizabeth Braddon (ed.), Belgravia, a London magazine (page 41)

(UK, slang, obsolete) Like a duffer; incompetent or worthless.


alphabetised

(British) Arranged in alphabetical order.


brattling

(in the plural, UK, East Anglia, Northamptonshire) Loppings from felled trees.


puggled

puggled (comparative more puggled, superlative most puggled)

more puggled (comparative)
most puggled (superlative)

[…] there had been plenty to drink and plenty of trouble. Never have I known men who could get so puggled in a twinkling yet, somehow, still keep going.

1977, James Aikman Cochrane, Charlie Company:


disorientated

disorientated (comparative more disorientated, superlative most disorientated)

more disorientated (comparative)
most disorientated (superlative)


honkers

honkers (comparative more honkers, superlative most honkers)

more honkers (comparative)
most honkers (superlative)


eddication

Pronunciation spelling
pronunciation spelling

(UK, dated, dialect) Pronunciation spelling of education.


moonstruck

moonstruck (comparative more moonstruck, superlative most moonstruck)

more moonstruck (comparative)
most moonstruck (superlative)

From moon + struck (adjective), possibly coined by the English poet and polemicist John Milton (1608–1674): see the quotation. Compare Byzantine Greek σεληνόβλητος (selēnóblētos), σεληνόπληκτος (selēnóplēktos), German mondsüchtig, and German Low German maansüchtig, which also refer to being struck by the moon.

noncog

σεληνόβλητος

"Yes, yes, thank God! I am not blind; I was afraid I was moon-struck." "Moon-struck!" uttered Carlos in astonishment. "What do you mean?" "Why, don't you know," answered Antonio, "that sleeping in the open air by moonlight often causes contractions, and sometimes makes persons blind whenever the moon shines?"

1847, [Sarah Bowdich] Lee, chapter XVIII, in The African Crusoes: Or The Adventures of Carlos and Antonio, Boston, Mass.: Lee and Shepard; New York, N.Y.: Lee, Shepard & Dillingham, […], published 1873, →OCLC, pages 392–393:

(obsolete except UK, regional) Made physically sick, or (like fish) unsuitable for food, by the supposed effect of moonlight.


clarty

en-adj

clarty (comparative clartier, superlative clartiest)

clartier (comparative)
clartiest (superlative)
clartie (alternative)
clerty (alternative)
clorty (alternative)
clurty (alternative)

CLART. To spread, smear, or daub. A flake of snow, when it is large and sticks to the clothes, is called a clart. So we have clarts, mud; clarty, muddy, sticky. Clarty-paps, a dirty sloven of a wife.

[1846, James Orchard Halliwell, “CLART”, in A Dictionary of Archaic and Provincial Words, Obsolete Phrases, Proverbs, and Ancient Customs, from the Fourteenth Century. […], volumes I (A–I), London: John Russell Smith, […], →OCLC, page 252, column 1:

(British, Northern England and Scotland dialect) Sticky and foul; dirty, filthy, muddy.


instil

en-verb

instil (third-person singular simple present instils, present participle instilling, simple past and past participle instilled)

instils (present singular third-person)
instilling (participle present)
instilled (participle past)
instilled (past)

her only real object in this call had been to instil a general uneasiness into Diva’s mind about the coal strike

1922, Edward Frederic Benson, Miss Mapp, page 70:

"If we do not instil public confidence in the system, I fear the public will lose confidence and even fewer people will travel by rail."

2020 October 21, “Network News: Labour reiterates demand for full public ownership”, in Rail, page 7:

Australia, Ireland, and UK standard spelling of instill.


cheque card

Banks have decided to end cheque guarantee card payments from July 2011. / The 24 members of the current cheque card system said that they had made the move in order to reflect consumer trends, with the popularity of the payment method in "terminal decline".

2009 September 25, “Industry to close cheque card system”, in CompareAndSave.com:

(British, banking) A small plastic card issued by a bank or similar which is a guarantee of payment of cheques written by the cardholder (up to a specified maximum amount).


unrivalled

[T]his museum of the state of flux [Newmarket, Suffolk] has a climate unrivalled for the production of the British temperament. Not without a due proportion of that essential formative of character, east wind, it has at once the hottest sun, the coldest blizzards, the wettest rain, of any place of its size in 'the three kingdoms.'

1907, John Galsworthy, “The Happy Hunting-ground”, in The Country House, London: William Heinemann, →OCLC, part I, page 33:


manège

en-noun

manège (countable and uncountable, plural manèges)

From French manège; cognate with French manier. Doublet of manage.

(UK) A riding arena (enclosed, but usually unroofed area, in contradistinction to a riding hall).

Reitbahn

not Manege = circus ring, riding hall arena


revaluation

revaluation (countable and uncountable, plural revaluations)

(UK, pensions) The application of compound growth to the value of a pension benefit, specifically from the date of the member leaving the scheme (for example, moving to a different employer) to the date that the member starts receiving the benefit (typically retirement).


tunnelball

1994, Mark Brandon “Chopper” Read, Chopper 4: For the Term of His Unnatural Life, 2012, Pan Macmillan Australia, unnumbered page,
They run the sports for ten days. This includes weightlifting, football, tennis, table tennis, cards, scrabble, chess, draughts, darts, quoits, volleyball, baseball, frisbee tossing, tunnelball, scramble ball, the piggyback race, the egg and spoon race, target handball, the spit the dummy contest, […] .

I went along to my children′s sports day and found myself cheering madly at the tunnelball games and when they played Chariots of Fire over the running races – it was all I could do not to get up and break the record for the four minute mile myself.

2006, Sonia Neale, Bad Mother′s Revenge, HarperCollins Australia, unnumbered page:

(UK, Australia, games) A children's game in which players stand in line with their feet apart, making a tunnel with their legs, down which the lead player propels a ball back to the last player, who runs with it to the front of the line and repeats; played competitively between teams for speed, or by a single team for recreation or exercise.


potter's rot

(British) A form of the disease silicosis, which can affect the lungs of potters, caused by breathing in large amounts of fine dust.


dishonoured bill

dishonoured bill (plural dishonoured bills)

financial instrument
financial instrument

(British) A cheque or similar financial instrument whose payment has been refused.


motorman

Near-synonym: engineer

Four years later, on May 27, 1898, he was promoted to fireman, and worked on all types of freight trains until November 27, 1911, when he was transferred to Heaton and became a motorman on the Tyneside electric services. After a spell of just over eight years as a motorman, he returned to Gateshead as a driver, and apart from a further short period as a motorman, he was employed at the Gateshead depot, first as a pilot driver, and then as a freight train driver.

1943 July and August, “Top Link Drivers: VII—Driver Matthew Morton, L.N.E.R.”, in Railway Magazine, page 220:

The electric train motorman denied emphatically that he had misread this train's signals for his own and asserted that the inner home signal on the up main through line for his train was displaying a green aspect, with the indicator showing platform 14.

1961 March, “Talking of trains: Collision at Waterloo”, in Trains Illustrated, page 138:

But to no avail - the suburban (Sunday) service ground to a halt, with only 20 of the 268 motormen turning up for work on Boxing Day [1949]. Kempton Park races lost 10,000 visitors, with the cancellation of 12 extra race day trains.

2023 December 27, David Turner, “Silent lines...”, in RAIL, number 999, page 29:


draught horse

draught horses (plural)
draft horse (alternative)

British standard spelling of draft horse.


AONB

area of outstanding natural beauty
w:area of outstanding natural beauty

(UK) Initialism of area of outstanding natural beauty; a type of conservation area.


pencil crayon

You'll notice that all the illustrations are done in different media: some with pencil crayons, some with felts, some with paint, some with chalk pastels.

1989, Anne D. Forester, Margaret Reinhard, The Learners' Way, page 116:

(Canada, UK, Ireland) A coloured pencil.


wieldy

en-adj

wieldy (comparative more wieldy or (archaic) wieldier, superlative most wieldy or (archaic) wieldiest)

more wieldy (comparative)
wieldier (archaic comparative)
most wieldy (superlative)
wieldiest (archaic superlative)

From Middle English wẹ̄ldī, weldy (“agile, vigorous; of a shield: easy or satisfying to wield”), from wẹ̄lden, welde (“to govern, preside over, reign, rule; to command, control, dominate; to dwell, reside; to accomplish, bring about; to overcome, prevail; to handle (a tool, weapon, etc.), use”), from Old English *wielde, ġewielde (“controlling, dominant”), from Proto-West Germanic *waldī, from Proto-Germanic *waldiz (“manageable; powerful”), possibly ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₂welh₁- (“to rule; powerful, strong”); analysable as wield + -y. Later uses of sense 2 (“capable of being easily wielded”) are likely a back-formation from unwieldy.

der

But the baron, who was neither ſo wieldy nor ſupple in his joints as his companions, flounced himſelf down with ſuch precipitation, that his feet ſuddenly tilting up, came in furious contact with the head of the marquis, […]

1751, [Tobias] Smollett, “The Doctor Prepares an Entertainment in the Manner of the Ancients, which is Attended with Divers Ridiculous Circumstances”, in The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle […], volume (please specify |volume=I to IV), London: Harrison and Co., […], →OCLC, page 131:

She bore the proportions of a marchioness all over; that is, was more wieldy than a duchess, more unwieldy than a countess. […] [T]he Marchioness of Clanweary was wieldy and limp; she moved herself surprisingly, and if not for too long together, was a good walker; but her feet were too small for her in the long run.

1868 November, “Her Winning Ways. A Novel.”, in William Harrison Ainsworth, editor, The New Monthly Magazine, volume CXLIII, number DLXXV, London: Hard Bentley, […], →OCLC, chapter IX (Starved at a Feast), page 513:

(obsolete except British, dialectal) Able to wield one's body well; active, dexterous.


mentalist

1997, I'm Alan Partridge (TV series), To Kill a Mocking Alan
Jed Maxwell: See you next week then. We'll have that pint.
Alan Partridge: Yep.
Jed Maxwell: ...go and see my brother.
Alan Partridge: No way, you big spastic! You're a mentalist!

In front a staff sergeant with the new Royal Caledonians was gassing about Scullion and the regiment. 'And this major's a total fucking mentalist,' he said. 'What's mental about him?' asked the lance corporal beside him.

2015, Andrew O'Hagan, The Illuminations, →ISBN, page 39:


strale

From Middle English stral, from Old English strǣl (“beam, ray, arrow”). More at streal.


Gog

(UK, slang) Synonym of North Walian: a person from North Wales.


misdirection

en-noun

misdirection (countable and uncountable, plural misdirections)

(UK, law) An error of law within a judgement committed by a judge or judges of a lower court, particularly as found by an appeals court.


flick knife

flick knives (plural)
flick-knife (alternative)

(British, Ireland) A type of knife which has the blade mounted on a pivot so that it can fold back sideways into the handle when not in use, but can flick out straight, usually with a spring-loaded mechanism, when required.


discoloured

en-adj

discoloured (comparative more discoloured, superlative most discoloured)

more discoloured (comparative)
most discoloured (superlative)

British standard spelling of discolored.


garibaldi

/ɡæɹɪˈbældi/

The jacket is named after Italian patriot Giuseppe Garibaldi, who wore a red shirt of similar appearance. The biscuit is also named after Garibaldi.

(British) a biscuit consisting of currants squashed between layers of flaky pastry.


green lane

(British) Any of several types of wide unsurfaced paths through the countryside, especially ancient ones once used for herding animals.

lôn werdd

unsurfaced path through the countrydside


Tans

Intuitively, on Bloody Sunday, the Tans recognized where their trouble lay: the Irish were playing their own game once again.

1931, John Bowyer Bell, To Play the Game: An Analysis of Sport:

Close quarter fighting did not suit them. It does not suit the Essex or the Tans.

1948, Tom Barry, Guerilla^([sic]) Days in Ireland, published 1949:

The Dawn contains two problems for its male protagonists: namely, Ireland's fight against the British forces, the RIC, and the Tans, and the patriotic commitment of the Malone family's sons.

1995, Lance Pettitt, Screening Ireland: Film and Television Representation:

(Ireland, British) The Black and Tans, a British irregular army group operating against Irish republicans in the War of Independence 1920/21.


passive armour

en-noun

passive armour (countable and uncountable, plural passive armours)

passive armours (plural)
passive armor (alternative US)

(British, Canada) Shielding that is chemically inert (unlike reactive armour) and does not require electricity or active sensors to operate. It is usually made of metal, ceramic, or in some cases, composite materials.


twerp

Of uncertain origin; originally British slang of the 1910s. In a letter, dated 6 October 1944, J. R. R. Tolkien mentions a contemporary of his at Oxford University T.W. Earp, calling him "the original twerp"; but no corroborating evidence for this etymology has come to light. Other suggestions include: a clipping of Antwerp (“type of racing pigeon that flew between Antwerp and London”); the onomatopoeic twirp (“imitation of the sound of a bird”); a dialectal variant of dwarf (compare Middle English dwerf); Welsh twp (“a fool”).

Now you've broken it, you twerp!

There's many an airman just finishin' his time. There's many a twerp signing on.

1940, Fred Godfrey, “Bless 'Em All”performed by George Formby:


RNIB

w:Royal National Institute of Blind People

(UK) Initialism of Royal National Institute of Blind People.


kerb crawler

(British) Someone who drives slowly along roads seeking sex from prostitutes or other women.


kerb crawling

(British) The act of driving up roads seeking prostitutes or other women for sex


bonxie

From Scots bonxie, from Old Norse bunki.

Bonxies are more than happy to fly at you as you walk harmlessly across the moors, and they regularly clip people with a wing or extended foot […]

2006, Graham Uney, Backpacker's Britain: Northern Scotland:

It is the large brown bonxies that heckle me as I pass across the high moor and approach the sheep gate.

2020, Tim Ecott, The Land of Maybe, Short Books, published 2021, page 102:

Stercorarius skua
Stercorarius skua#Translingual

(UK, chiefly Shetland) The great skua, Stercorarius skua.


nibs

Vera, you are a gleam of brilliant modernity in our dim old cave of antiques — and their nibs, our ancestors." Peter waved disrespectfully to the portrait

1919, Robert Nichols, “The Secret”, in The Century, page 734:

Betsey Reed, Her Nibs, was just as witty and quaint as usual, sitting in state in her wheel chair and dominating everything and everybody.

1920, Oreola Williams Haskell with Ida Husted Harper, Banner bearers: tales of the suffrage campaigns, page 345:

You may also know that, during intermission, Paul and Linda were summoned to a room behind the royal box for a private chat with her nibs.

1983 June 5, “OFFSTAGE”, in Chicago Tribune:

"Your Nibs," I panted, "I am sent by the machine gunner man to tell you that ... "Please don't call me Your Nibs, and knock before you come in next time,

2004, Michael Arnold, A game with dice, page 59:

(slang, UK, after possessive pronoun) An important or self-important person.

(slang, UK, dated, 19th century, after possessive pronoun) Self.


play up

en-verb

play up (third-person singular simple present plays up, present participle playing up, simple past and past participle played up)

plays up (present singular third-person)
playing up (participle present)
played up (participle past)
played up (past)

Children who do not receive enough attention may begin to play up.

The radar system is playing up again.


play along

play along (third-person singular simple present plays along, present participle playing along, simple past and past participle played along)

plays along (present singular third-person)
playing along (participle present)
played along (participle past)
played along (past)

The con man plays his victims along until he senses the moment to ask for money.

(idiomatic, UK) To manipulate (someone).


hield

hields (plural)
heeld (alternative)
heald (alternative)
heild (alternative)
hild (alternative)
hyld (alternative)
held (alternative)
helde (alternative)

From Middle English held, from Old English hielde (“slope, declivity”), from Proto-Germanic *halþijōn, *halþijō (“inclination, slope”), from Proto-Indo-European *kel- (“to tilt, tip, incline”). Cognate with German Halde (“slope”), Danish hæld (“an incline, slope”).


ghost island

(UK, road transport) An area of road surface marked with cross hatching as a means of separating traffic or reducing speed, or to provide a safe area to turn right across approaching traffic.


gyppo

en-noun

gyppo (countable and uncountable, plural gyppos or gyppoes)

(UK, slang, offensive) Alternative spelling of gippo.


scopie

I always thought we were paid more BECAUSE of the boredom factor. Certainly the air traffic sections worked just the same shifts, and stood their turn at ground defence like us scopies so no cause for a scopie premium there !

1999 February 24, Roger Gilmartin, “Leaving the RAF”, in uk.people.ex-forces (Usenet):

I don't regret joining as a scopie even though I wanted to be a Telecomms techie!

1999 March 1, Gordon Clark (author), “Re:Leaving the RAF”, in uk.people.ex-forces (Usenet):

Yup - Buchan scopie 75 - 77. What a good radar that was.

1999 August 19, Roger G, “Type 80 Radar”, in uk.people.ex-forces (Usenet):

Perhaps this site is something to do with the Scopies at Boulmer?

2000 February 23, Steve McNamara, “RAF Brownside”, in uk.rec.subterranea (Usenet):

(UK, military, slang) An aerospace systems operator (ASOp) or fighter controller (FC) in the Royal Air Force.


fack

facks (plural)
fec (alternative obsolete)

From Middle English *fak, fec, fæc (“space, compartment”), from Old English fæc (“space of time, while, division, interval; period of five years, lustrum”), from Proto-West Germanic *fak, from Proto-Germanic *faką (“division, department, space”), from Proto-Indo-European *peh₂ǵ-, *paǵ- (“to fasten, fix”). Cognate with West Frisian fek, Dutch vak (“section, compartment”), German Fach (“compartment”), Swedish fack (“compartment, box, department”), Latin pangō (“fasten, fix”). Doublet of Fach.

cog

(UK dialectal) One of the four stomachs of a ruminating animal; rumen; paunch.


fack

en-verb

fack (third-person singular simple present facks, present participle facking, simple past and past participle facked)

facks (present singular third-person)
facking (participle present)
facked (participle past)
facked (past)

(UK, Cockney, vulgar) Pronunciation spelling of fuck.


ratted

en-adj

ratted (comparative more ratted, superlative most ratted)

more ratted (comparative)
most ratted (superlative)


Bradshaw

Bradshaws (plural)
Brayshaw (alternative)

From Old English brād + sceaga (“thicket”), equivalent to broad + shaw.

He was at breakfast at nine, and for the twentieth time consulted his Bradshaw to see at what earliest hour Dr Grantly could arrive from Barchester.

The "5th Mo. (May) 1939" issue of Bradshaw's Railway Shipping, and Hotel Guide for Great Britain and Ireland appears in a cream cover printed in blue and gold, and a prefatory note explains that, as 1939 is being celebrated as the centenary year of Bradshaw, it is intended to adopt this livery from now until the September issue inclusive. For October, the centenary month, Bradshaw will be published in a gold cover printed in red and blue.

1939 June, “Railway Literature: Bradshaw's Guide”, in Railway Magazine, page 465:

(British, rail transport) A former railway guide and timetable published by George Bradshaw. Publication ceased in May 1961.


dosser

Illustrating the strength of feeling, some said Dorries was “never here and is as useful as a chocolate teapot”, while “Dosser Dorries” posters appeared in the area.

2023 October 20, “Labour takes Nadine Dorries’ former seat in Mid Bedfordshire byelection”, in The Guardian, UK:

(British, Ireland) Someone who dosses, someone known for avoiding work.


greys

There was a clatter at the back of the gallery, a sharp word from a warder, and the men marched in in their prison greys, jackets too large, trousers too small.

'No one told me that I had to be dressed in Greys not Blues! When I appeared before the BOV I was told that I could not go in and see them because I was improperly dressed.'

Quoted in 1982, Geoff Coggan, Martin J. Walker, Frightened for My Life: An Account of Deaths in British Prisons (page 110)

“Drop your trousers!” I loosened the clasp on my prison greys and my trouser dropped to my ankles.

2013, Constantine Buller, Operation Dolby, page 266:

(UK, prison slang) Grey trousers and/or jackets worn by prisoners on relatively formal occasions.


batchelor

[…] could Richard have anticipated that his elder brother, Sir Everard, taking to heart an early disappointment, would have remained a batchelor at seventy-two.

1814 July 7, [Walter Scott], chapter II, in Waverley; or, ’Tis Sixty Years Since. […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), Edinburgh: […] James Ballantyne and Co. for Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, →OCLC:


Mossie

Form of mossie (“diminutive of mosquito”).

He leaned into the electric gunsight, aiming the Mossie at the left wingroot between engine and fuselage, where he knew there were fuel tanks — his right thumb mashed the control-column firing button.

1983, John Kelly, The Wooden Wolf, page 142:

The Mossies were still able to land before the bombers were over the Channel.

1993, Air League of the British Empire, Air Pictorial: Journal of the Air League, volume 55, page 8:

Almost 8,000 Mossies were built in Great Britain, Canada and Australia.

2003, Harold A. Skaarup, Maryland, Virginia, and Washington D.C. Warbird Survivors 2003: A Handbook on Where to Find Them, page 97:

(dated or historical, UK, military, informal, colloquial) A de Havilland Mosquito.


indorse

en-verb

indorse (third-person singular simple present indorses, present participle indorsing, simple past and past participle indorsed)

indorses (present singular third-person)
indorsing (participle present)
indorsed (participle past)
indorsed (past)

Alteration influenced by Medieval Latin indorsare of Middle English endosse, from Old French endosser (“to put on back”), from Latin dossum, alternative form of dorsum (“back”), from which also dorsal (“of the back”). That is, the ‘r’ was dropped in Latin dossum, which developed into Old French and then Middle English endosse, and then the ‘r’ was re-introduced into English via the Medieval Latin indorsare, which had retained the ‘r’; at the same time the ‘e’ (French) was changed to ‘i’ (Latin) (in-, rather than en-). Note that the alternative form endorse is now more common, retaining the restored ‘r’ but reverting to the initial ‘e’, rather than the Latinate ‘i’.

(British, India, rare) Alternative form of endorse.


video nasty

→ Irish: físghránnán (calque)

(British, informal) A video recording depicting excessive gore and violence.

físghránnán

video depicting excessive gore and violence


doss down

doss down (third-person singular simple present dosses down, present participle dossing down, simple past and past participle dossed down)

dosses down (present singular third-person)
dossing down (participle present)
dossed down (participle past)
dossed down (past)

After the party, John let me doss down on the living-room floor.

The fastidious and solitary public-schoolboy [George Orwell] dosses down with tramps and tarts and forces himself to endure bedbugs and chamberpots and lockups.

2002, Christopher Hitchens, Why Orwell Matters, New York: Basic Books, →ISBN, page 10:

(British, slang) To sleep on someone's sofa or floor because there is no bed spare.


shove ha'penny

(British) A game, traditionally played in pubs in Great Britain, in which players attempt to push coins so that they land between marked boundaries.


tuppenny-ha'penny

From tuppenny + ha’penny, i.e. “worth 2½ (old) pence”.

You’d think he’d lost a Rolex rather than that tuppenny-ha’penny old watch of his.

(UK, Ireland, chiefly derogatory) Very cheap.


spang

spang (third-person singular simple present spangs, present participle spanging, simple past and past participle spanged)

spangs (present singular third-person)
spanging (participle present)
spanged (participle past)
spanged (past)

Uncertain. Cognate with Scots spang, and possibly related to English spank.

a. 1758, Allan Ramsay, epistle to Robert Yarde
But when they spang o'er reason's fence, / We smart for't at our own expense.

(intransitive, dialect, UK, Scotland) To leap; spring.

(transitive, dialect, UK, Scotland) To cause to spring; set forcibly in motion; throw with violence.


fuelling

fuellings (plural)
fueling (alternative)


happy families

(British) A children's card game played with a pack of 44 picture cards that depict a father, mother son and daughter of 11 families mostly having occupational surnames (e.g. Mr Bun the Baker); players have to collect entire families


ha'

(British, colloquial) Abbreviation of half.


sleeping policeman

en-noun

sleeping policeman (plural sleeping policemen)

We don't care much to figure out terms like "brolly" (umbrella) and "sleeping policeman" (speed bump).

2000 July 5, William Weir, “They're looking up 'Yankspeak' for the Oxford English Dictionary”, in CNN.com, retrieved 2007-09-18:

(British and Caribbean English, idiomatic) A speed bump.


dave

en-verb

dave (third-person singular simple present daves, present participle daving, simple past and past participle daved)

daves (present singular third-person)
daving (participle present)
daved (participle past)
daved (past)
daive (alternative)
deave (alternative)
deve (alternative)

From Middle English deven, deaven (“to make deaf”), from Old English dēafian (“to wax or become deaf”) and Old Norse deyfa (“to make deaf, make blunt, numb, soothe, allay”). Cognate with dialectal Norwegian døyva (“to deafen, make dull”).

cog

(transitive, UK dialectal) To assuage; soften; mitigate; relieve; calm; alleviate (pain).


mortgage lender

en-noun

mortgage lender (plural mortgage lenders)

(British) Any former mutual building society that is now a bank


ASC

Association of Speakers Clubs
w:Association of Speakers Clubs

(UK) Initialism of Association of Speakers Clubs.

Avon and Somerset Constabulary
w:Avon and Somerset Constabulary

(UK) Initialism of Avon and Somerset Constabulary.


unlisted

(UK, of a building) Not officially protected from demolition or alteration.


sterilisation

sterilisation (countable and uncountable, plural sterilisations)

(British) Alternative spelling of sterilization.


yarrum

Here's Pannum and Lap, and good Poplars of Yarrum, / To fill up the Crib, and to comfort the Quarron.

1652, Richard Brome, A Joviall Crew: or, the Merry Beggars, play, first performed 1641:


rent boy

rent boys (plural)
rentboy (alternative)

From rent (“to lease, let out”) + boy, a diminutive term for man.

Francis Urquhart: Got anything on him?
Tim Stamper: There was a whiff of scandal about ten years ago.
Francis Urquhart: Rent boy. In a train. To Red Hill. Yes. Wanted to sell his story but we bought it and hushed him up. Be ungentlemanly to bring that up. A man's private life should be private.
Tim Stamper: On the other hand, getting sucked off in second class is hardly prime ministerial behaviour.
Francis Urquhart: Yes, you have a point there.

1990, House of Cards, Season 1, Episode 4:

An Irishman came up to him, bought him a drink, asked him if he was a rent boy, and agreed to give £40 for coming back.

1992, Donald James West, Buz De Villiers, Male prostitution, page 93:

Just then, a rent boy with perfect white teeth and a babyface flashed me one of those unforgettable Thai smiles.

2007, John Patrick, Dangerous Boys, Rent Boys, page 12:

(chiefly British, informal) A male prostitute, typically young and gay.


bag and baggage

Hudson personally would not face the music at that meeting and the business could hardly proceed for groans and hisses and cries of "Hudson! Hudson! Why is Hudson not here?" and so the ungrateful shareholders to whom Hudson had generously paid dividends out of their own capital cast out Hudson bag and baggage, including therein the agreement with the Newmarket Railway.

1941 December, Kenneth Brown, “The Newmarket & Chesterford Railway—II”, in Railway Magazine, page 533:

1989, John P. Murphy (annotator and editor), Jesuit Latin Poets of the 17th and 18th Centuries, page 85,
They did not wait the two months granted, but made a quick decision and picked up bag and baggage, and after leaving four Fathers to care for the Catholics, left on carts and on foot for Antwerp.

For many years, INS regulations required that deportable aliens be issued a "bag-and-baggage" letter notifying them of their obligation to appear for deportation at a time no sooner than seventy-two hours after service of the notice.[…]Sensibly, the INS amended their regulations in 1986 to eliminate the bag-and-baggage letter, instead assuring that the INS would hold the apprehended person for a minimum of seventy-two hours before removal,[…].

1998, David A. Martin, “Chapter 1: Obstacles to the Effective Enforcement of Immigration Laws in the United States”, in Kay Hailbronner, David A. Martin, Hiroshi Motomura, editors, Immigration Controls: The Search for Workable Policies in Germany and the United States, page 25:

With bag and baggage, they, along with about six hundred other servicemen of various US Forces, were herded into olive drab military buses and transported to San Francisco, where their ship was waiting, the USNS General Walker.

2002, Joseph H. Maddox, Save the Day, page 79:


bag and baggage

I could go from valley to valley and from hill to hill; I could “bring up” when it was necessary; and when my labours were finished in one place, I could go on, bag and baggage, to another.

1857, Robert Fortune, A Residence Among the Chinese, Digital Print, published 2012, page 94:

The summer camp was being dismantled, and the tribe, bag and baggage, was preparing to go off to the fall hunting.

1906 May–October, Jack London, chapter IV, in White Fang, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., published October 1906, →OCLC, part 3 (The Gods of the Wild):

In early February the North China Marines arrived, bag and baggage, decked out with full uniforms, overcoats and fur-lined hats.

2011, Stanford D. Carman, Wake And Reunion, page 125:

(chiefly UK) With all one's possessions.


linge

en-verb

linge (third-person singular simple present linges, present participle linging, simple past and past participle linged)

linges (present singular third-person)
linging (participle present)
linged (participle past)
linged (past)

From Middle English lengen (“to linger”), from Old English lenġan (“to make long, lengthen”), from Proto-West Germanic *langijan, from Proto-Germanic *langijaną (“to make long”). Cognate with Scots ling (“to lengthen, prolong, delay; tarry, continue”). More at linger.

cog

(intransitive, UK, dialectal, obsolete) To work hard.


CHAPS

(British) Acronym of clearing house automated payment system, a method of same-day banking transfer.


fancy dress

en-noun

fancy dress (usually uncountable, plural fancy dresses)

And yet here he was, if one could credit one's senses, about to take part in a fancy-dress ball, a form of entertainment notoriously a testing experience for the toughest. And he was attending that fancy-dress ball, mark you--not, like every other well-bred Englishman, as a Pierrot, but as Mephistopheles--this involving, as I need scarcely stress, not only scarlet tights but a pretty frightful false beard.

1934, P. G. Wodehouse, Right Ho, Jeeves:

Royal Mail worker Evette Chapman gathered a team of 12 colleagues to deliver post in fancy dress and raise money for a nurses' charity and patients in Musgrove Park Hospital, Taunton.

2020 November 18, “Stop & Examine”, in Rail, page 71:

(UK, Australia) A costume, disguise to masquerade as something or someone else.


street hockey

(British) An informal kind of hockey (field hockey) played on a quiet street.


rubbish bin

(UK, Ireland, Commonwealth) garbage can, trash can.


nobby

en-adj

nobby (comparative nobbier, superlative nobbiest)

nobbier (comparative)
nobbiest (superlative)

I'll come back in the course of the evening, if agreeable to you, and endeavor to meet your wishes respecting this unfortunate family matter, and the nobbiest way of keeping it quiet.

c. 1852-1853, Charles Dickens, edited by Levi C. Goodale and Charlie Lulledge, Works of Charles Dickens: Bleak House, published 1876, page 106:

"[…]What makes it worse,” she continued, in the extremity of confidence, “I heard those two cricketing men say just now, 'She's the nobbiest girl on the boat.' But I don't mind it, you know, Harry."

1873, Thomas Hardy, A Pair of Blue Eyes, page 291:

(UK, informal) Wealthy or of high social position; of or pertaining to a nob (person of great wealth or social standing).


knob jockey

tlb

(UK, vulgar, slang, derogatory, humorous)

Refers to a person who rides a knob (UK slang for "penis"), analagous to a jockey riding a horse.

In fact maybe now's as good a time as any to tell you: if you're gay, you go to Hell. Doesn't matter what else you spend your time doing – painting the Sistine Chapel, for instance – knob-jockey? Down you go. (Lezzers are borderline; room for manoeuvres if they've done social work.)

2007, Glen Duncan, I, Lucifer: Finally, the Other Side of the Story:

A Knob Jockey, was John's take. He was slender and moved in a series of jerks. He wore black skinny jeans, a Ramones Tshirt and Converse runners.

2009, Arlene Hunt, Missing Presumed Dead:

You could call Julien a poof, a fag, a shirt-lifter or a knob jockey, and he didn't mind but, for some reason he hated to be likened to a herbaceous plant of the genus Viola. 'You pansy,' said Dusty.

2009, Phillip Gwynne, The Build Up, page 93:

Maybe he was in fact a knob jockey. He snatched a handful of Katie's lingerie in his palm and inhaled deeply. Well then. No. He wasn't gay.

2011, Dakota Cassidy, Accidentally Catty:

Poofter. Bum bandit. Knob jockey. Fag. The comments on YouTube left him in no doubt of what they thought — and, though he had no problem with gays (had several close friends that way inclined), he resented being labelled one merely because he'd cried.

2014, Mandy Hager, Singing Home the Whale:

I can't fucking stand those sorts of men, but the biggest dope in all of this is me for letting myself fall in love with such a waste of space, knob-jockey, lady-boy, the piercing pressed deeper into her brain, but she no longer felt like improvising and imagining what would be if it would only be, […]

2014, Sead Mahmutefendić, Kelvin's Zero, page 27:

He's right though, a queer, a nonce, shirt lifter, shit stabber, knob jockey, uphill gardener, bender, homosexual.

Christ, she is a knob jockey of the old school. She's had more pricks in her than a pub dartboard.

2010, Geraint Anderson, Cityboy: Beer and Loathing in the Square Mile:

'I grab the rancid knob jockey by her filthy blonde locks and slap her hard across the face. She squeals and scrambles off the soiled sheets before falling into some stranger's groin—mouth open, naturally.'

2011, Paul Burston, Karen Mcleod, Men & Women:

Although reality was probably farther from my imagination than I suspected; after all, I was no knob jockey. That being said, I still felt like I'd had more than my fair share of lovers—none of whom turned out to be my Prince Charming.

[…] If we have time, I need to divert to Los Angeles, and find out if Charlie Li is coming back to work.” Jessica frowned. “I haven't heard from him since he married that Hollywood knob jockey.” Charlie Li had married famous movie actress Carly Stewart a few weeks earlier.

2019, T. M. Bilderback, Jim Dandy - A Justice Security Novel:

She also needed a certain knob jockey to leave her alone.

2019, Eve Langlais, Furry United Coalition #2:

'How are you?' he said. 'Pregnant. Thanks to a crap shag with a knob-jockey.'

"And I'm going to guess," Gawler said, still not moving from his spot, "that you wankers get-off by beating up your women because it makes you feel better about your problem," he gestured to Johnny's crotch, “not much good as a knob jockey.”

2022, Mark Edmonds, Turmoil in Paradise: Trouble Shooter or Hitman:

Ruining a barbecue by burning the meat. You really are a complete knob jockey.

No worries knob jockey, I will find you some work.

2011, Dean Monet, Reign on Cloud Nine, page 118:

Maybe he fell into a vat of some kind of knob-jockey supervillain juice over the summer holidays.

2013, Melissa Keil, Life in Outer Space:

Driving out of the car park, I sarcastically gave the knob jockey a wave and said in a high-pitched sarcastic tone, “Bye, bye now. Stay safe.”

2018, Michael Sinclair-Thomson, Peaceful Freeman: A Story by a Peaceful Freeman on the Land:

Children can be so cruel and he would delight in pronouncing 'disc jockey' as 'knob jockey'.

2020, Pat Sharp, Darren Richman, Luke Catterson, Re-run the Fun: My Life as Pat Sharp:


eggball

Australian rules football
Australian rules football

(British, slang) Rugby Union, rugby league, Australian rules football, American football, or any game played with an elliptical ball.


in-tray

(British, Ireland) A desktop organizer; inbox, in-basket.


funfair

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

(UK, Ireland) A travelling amusement park.