bosh

Borrowed from Ottoman Turkish بوش (boş, “empty, unoccupied”). Entered popular usage in English from the novels of James Justinian Morier.

bor

Tho' hundreds cheer his blatant bosh,
He's but a goose for a' that.

1868, Shirley Brooks, For A' That And A' That:

But you know very well you're talking bosh," exclaimed Abraham, somewhat discomfited. "There must be government, and there must be order, say what you like.

1884, George Gissing, chapter 17, in The Unclassed:

Oliver saw Kit Carson wink at the lieutenant and Lucien Maxwell, as the speech reached them, and it was evident that these three leaders did not believe the Indian tales. Consequently he himself decided that the reports of "evil spirits" awaiting were all bosh.

1912, Edwin L[egrand] Sabin, chapter VIII, in With Carson and Frémont:

"Why, it's absolute bosh from beginning to end."

1955, C[live] S[taples] Lewis, chapter 5, in The Magician's Nephew, Collins, published 1998:


bosh

"Bosh!" said the Vicar, rejecting the hint altogether.

1904, H[erbert] G[eorge] Wells, chapter 1, in The Food of the Gods:

“The people who wrote the mediaeval ballads,” answered the priest, “knew more about fairies than you do. It isn’t only nice things that happen in fairyland.”
“Oh, bosh!” said Flambeau. “Only nice things could happen under such an innocent moon. I am for pushing on now and seeing what does really come. We may die and rot before we ever see again such a moon or such a mood.”

1911, G. K. Chesterton, “The Sins of Prince Saradine”, in The Innocence of Father Brown:

(chiefly British) An expression of disbelief or annoyance.


bosh

Compare German Posse (“farce, burlesque”), Italian bozzo (“a rough stone”), bozzetto (“a rough sketch”).

to cut a bosh — "to make a figure"

(British, chiefly Norfolk, slang, archaic) A figure.


bosh

An onomatopoeic formation, imitating a sudden blow.

It's a ~3 foot double lead with two 5-pin DIN plugs on one end and a big gameport-sized-n-shaped plug on the other. One end into the gameport, t'other plugs into the back of your keyboard. Bosh, job done.

My father registered with these people a few months ago, and all his calls dried up. He was also of the opinion that he shouldn't need to register not to be disturbed, and he's pretty ruthless on the 'phone when he wants to be . . . but eventually he grew tired of it . . . bosh. Job done.

Wrong, get a^([sic]) LPG diesel. More power than either, better economy than either, bosh, job's done.

(British) An expression of speedy and satisfactory completion of a simple or straightforward task.


bosh

en-verb

bosh (third-person singular simple present boshes, present participle boshing, simple past and past participle boshed)

boshes (present singular third-person)
boshing (participle present)
boshed (participle past)
boshed (past)

We boshed two grams each of the beast 10, and then we went downstairs.

1996, Aidan Macfarlane, Magnus Macfarlane, Philip Robson, The user: the truth about drugs, what they do, how they feel, and why people take them:

People want to make sure they are loaded up well before midnight. It's not like any other party where they might not turn up until eleven. They commence boshing pills straight away […]

2015, Oliver Merlin, Clapham High Way, page 188:

I wasn’t on three (e) pills, I was on 1. So, I remember it. It’s only when you bosh that third pill you start losing it, that’s not really how you take ecstasy. Kids do that, but it’s a bit foolish. Not that I’m saying I haven’t done that!

2017, Jon Boon, James Desborough, The Shamen rapper who sang "Es are good" has revealed he was high on drugs every time he did TOTP (in The Mirror newspaper)

(UK, slang, transitive) To consume (illicit drugs).


clearing

en-noun

clearing (countable and uncountable, plural clearings)

(British, education) The period in which remaining university places are allocated to remaining students.


borough

boroughs (plural)
boro (alternative)
bourg (alternative)
burough (alternative)
burrow (alternative)

burgh (Received Pronunciation, Scotland)

From Middle English borwe, borgh, burgh, buruh, from Old English burh, burg, from Proto-West Germanic *burg, from Proto-Germanic *burgz (“stronghold, city”).
Cognate with Dutch burcht, German Burg, Swedish borg, French bourg, Turkish burç. Doublet of Brough, burgh, and Bury.

inh

(historical, British, law) An association of men who gave pledges or sureties to the king for the good behaviour of each other.


bunker

→ Catalan: búnquer

desctree

→ German: Bunker
→ Polish: bunkier
→ Romanian: buncăr

The origin of the noun is uncertain; the earliest sense is sense 6.1 (“box or chest, the lid of which serves as a seat”), from Scots bunker (“bench; pew; window-seat; sand pit (especially in golf); coal receptacle; sleeping berth, bunk”), from Early Scots bunker, bunkur, bonker (“a chest or box, often serving as a seat”), probably from Old Norse bunki (“a heap”) (probably whence bunk (“sleeping berth in a ship, train, etc.”)), from Proto-Germanic *bunkô (“a heap, pile; a bump, lump, a crowd”), perhaps from Proto-Indo-European *bʰenǵʰ- (“thick”) or *bʰeg- (“to billow, swell; to arch, bend, curve (?)”). Compare Middle Low German bunge (“drum, container”), Middle High German bunge (“drum”). Sense 1 (“hardened shelter designed to protect the inhabitants from falling bombs or other attacks”) was derived from German Bunker during World War II, which was itself from bunker (“large bin or container for storing coal”) (sense 5).
The verb is derived from the noun.

cog

There used to be a coal bunker at the back of the house - it was demolished years ago.

(British, chiefly historical) A large bin or container for storing coal, often built outdoors in the yard of a house.


bunker

en-verb

bunker (third-person singular simple present bunkers, present participle bunkering, simple past and past participle bunkered)

bunkers (present singular third-person)
bunkering (participle present)
bunkered (participle past)
bunkered (past)

попадам в пясъчника

to hit (a golf ball) into a bunker; to place (a golfer) in the position of having a golf ball in a bunker

Proteus. Or we resign and tell the country that we cant carry on the King's Government under conditions which destroy our responsibility. / Balbus. Thatll do it. He couldnt face that. / Crassus. Yes: thatll bunker him.

1928 December (date written), [George] Bernard Shaw, The Apple Cart: A Political Extravaganza, London: Constable and Company, published 1930, →OCLC, Act I, page 18:

(transitive, golf) To hit (a golf ball) into a bunker; (chiefly passive voice) to place (a golfer) in the position of having a golf ball in a bunker.

(idiomatic, UK, informal) To place (someone) in a position that is difficult to get out of; to hinder.


bunker

From bunk (“to fail to attend school or work without permission, to play truant”) + -er (suffix forming agent nouns indicating a person or thing that does an action).

suffix

(British, slang) One who bunks off; a truant from school.


Charlie

en-noun

Charlie (usually uncountable, plural Charlies)

Charlies (plural)
Charley (alternative)
charley (alternative)
charlie (alternative)

You look a right Charlie in that clown outfit! — Yes, we make a right pair of Charlies.

He looked a right Charlie in those tails and striped trousers.

2009, Ruth Rendell, The Best Man To Die, page 26:

(countable, chiefly UK, slang, often with "right" and/or "proper") A fool.


FOC

freight operating company
freight operating company

(UK, rail transport) freight operating company


jug

jug (countable and uncountable, plural jugs)

→ Welsh: jwg, jẁg, siwg

From Middle English jugge, of uncertain origin. Possibly a variant of Middle English jubbe, jobbe, iubbe, geobbe, itself of unknown origin; or perhaps continuing (in altered form) Old English ċēac (“pitcher; jug”). Compare also jug (“a low woman, maidservant”), from Jug, familiar form of Joanna.

the jug goes to the well until it breaks

(UK, informal) A traditional dimpled glass with a handle, for serving a pint of beer.


blackjack

blackjack (countable and uncountable, plural blackjacks)

blackjacks (plural)
black jack (alternative)
black-jack (alternative)

→ Polish: blackjack

"Next!" steps gingerly in to confront the medical eye fastened questioningly upon him. "Crook in the guts," he says tersely. The picturesque reports of previously treated and disgusted patients - have left him doubtful, and he casts, an anathematising eye upon the "Black Jack" bottle. "Tabloids and duty!" says the doctor, and the sufferer sighs with relief.

1914 October 11, The Sunday Times, Perth, Australia, page 1, column 9:

I remember Black Jack very well and actually like the smell. It is no longer available with that trade name but glycerine of ichthammol can still be bought in chemists.

2010 October 19, John Davies, birminghamhistory.co.uk:

Used to be called Black Jack think my mom had an ancient jar in her medicine cupboard.

2008 September 19, stef240377, MoneySavingExpert.com:

(pharmacology, UK, Australia, rare) Ammonium bituminosulfonate.


telly

telly (usually uncountable, plural tellys or tellies)

tellys (plural)
tellies (plural)
tele (alternative)

We've got a new flat-screen telly.


orbital

Borrowed from Medieval Latin orbitālis, from orbita (“a track or rut; a circuit, orbit”) + -ālis (“-al”, adjectival suffix), equivalent to orbit + -al. Doublet of orbitalis.

af

The M25 is an orbital motorway around London.

The rail orbital routes outside of the M25 and South Coast are challenging. The corridors aren't particularly reliable, and in some places they don't exist. [...] But the reliability and journey times, particularly on the orbital routes: one train an hour from Gatwick Airport to Reading? Surely we can do better than that?

(chiefly UK) (of roads, railways) Passing around the outside of an urban area.


orbital

orbital motorway
orbital motorway#English

(chiefly UK) Ellipsis of orbital motorway.


fringe

From Middle English frenge, from Old French frenge, from Vulgar Latin *frimbia, a metathesis of Latin fimbriae (“fibers, threads, fringe”, plural), of uncertain origin. Compare German Franse and Danish frynse. Eclipsed native Middle English fnæd (“fringe”), Middle English byrd (“fringe”), Middle English fasel (“fringe”) from Old English fæs (“fringe”), and Old English fnæs (“fringe”). Doublet of fimbria.

der

Her fringe is so long it covers her eyes.

In a few minutes Mrs. Athelny appeared. She had taken her hair out of the curling pins and now wore an elaborate fringe.

1915, W[illiam] Somerset Maugham, “Chapter LXXXVIII”, in Of Human Bondage, New York, N.Y.: George H[enry] Doran Company, →OCLC:

Fayne in the photograph had a fringe, hair frizzed over hidden ears, sleeves over-ornate, the whole thing out of keeping.

1981, Hilda Doolittle, HERmione, page 155:

Ingeborg knew she wasn′t ready for fringes or short hair like some of the women she′d seen, and she hoped her daughter wasn′t either.
“No.” Astrid′s tone dismissed Sophie and the fringe as she galloped off to a new topic.

2007, Lauraine Snelling, Sophie's Dilemma, page 16:

Set against the seductive visual and textual imagery of these soft-focus fantasy worlds, the stock list details offer the reader a very real solution to achieving the look themselves, ‘Hair, including coloured fringes (obtainable from Joseph, £3.50) by Paul Nix’ (Baker 1972a: 68).

2009, Geraldine Biddle-Perry, Sarah Cheang, Hair: Styling, Culture and Fashion, page 231:

(UK) Synonym of bangs: hair hanging over the forehead, especially a hairstyle where it is cut straight across.


golden

en-adj

golden (comparative more golden or goldener, superlative most golden or goldenest)

more golden (comparative)
goldener (comparative)
most golden (superlative)
goldenest (superlative)
goulden (alternative obsolete)

From Middle English golden, a restored form (due to the noun gold) of earlier Middle English gulden, gylden, gilden ("golden"; > English gilden), from Old English gylden (“golden”), from Proto-West Germanic *gulþīn, from Proto-Germanic *gulþīnaz (“golden, made of gold”), equivalent to gold + -en.
Cognate with Dutch gouden, gulden (“golden”), German gülden, golden (“golden”), Danish gylden (“golden”). Doublet of gilden. More at gold.

gloss

"golden"; > English <i class="Latn mention" lang="en">gilden</i>

der

[ˈɡɒʊ̯ɫ.dn̩]

kill the goose that lays the golden eggs

Many anti-fog variety goggles are available, but if you don't get that type, just rub a little spit on the lenses before you put them on in the water and you'll be golden.

2007, Colin Barr, Steve Katai, The Complete Idiot's Guide to Triathlon Training, Penguin, →ISBN, page 28:

Therefore, the task ahead is easy. When the spotlight is on you, never let the audience down and you'll be golden.

2009, Mark Wiskup, Presentation S.O.S.: From Perspiration to Persuasion in 9 Easy Steps, Hachette UK, →ISBN:

If all of the marks line up perfectly, then you're golden, and you can continue on with finishing up the installation.

2011, Wayne R. Dempsey, 101 Projects for Your Porsche Boxster, Motorbooks, →ISBN, page 68:

I arrived pretty late, but you didn't seem to mind / We are not the first, but we are golden tonight

2025, “Grown Ups”, in Jarvis Cocker (lyrics), More, performed by Pulp:

(UK, slang, predicative) Fine, without problems.


travelling salesman problem

travelling-salesman problem (alternative)
traveling salesman problem (alternative)
traveling-salesman problem (alternative)

(mathematics, UK, Canada) The problem in combinatorial optimization in which, given a number of cities and the costs of travelling from one to the other, it is required to determine the cheapest route that visits each city once and then returns to the initial city.

MathWorld article on the travelling salesman problem


chicory

en-noun

chicory (countable and uncountable, plural chicories)

chicories (plural)
chiccory (alternative)
chickory (alternative)

From Late Middle English cicoree, cicory, cicorea, sicory, sycory (“common chicory (Cichorium intybus); heliotrope”), from Old French cicoree (modern French chicorée (“common chicory; endive; coffee substitute made from common chicory”)), or directly from its etymon Medieval Latin cicorea, cichorea, *cichōria, from Latin cichorium, cichoreum (“common chicory; endive”), from Ancient Greek κίχορα (kíkhora), κιχόρεια (kikhóreia), neuter plural of κιχώριον (kikhṓrion, “chicory”). The English word is cognate with Italian cicórea, and is a doublet of succory.

cog

sugarloaf chicory

I sent you the chiccory seed for trial, as it is so highly spoken of by A. Young and other British writers, [...] In foreign countries an imitation of coffee is made, by grinding the dried and burnt roots, and mixing a little real coffee wih the ground roots.

1815 June, Richard Peters, “Original Letter from Judge Peters of Pennsylvania, with Remarks on the Culture of Chiccory, the Mangel Wurtzel or Scarcity Root, &c. [Addressed to the Hon. Josiah Quincy, Esq.]”, in The Massachusetts Agricultural Repository and Journal, volume III, number 4, Boston, Mass.: Published by the Trustees of the Massachusetts Society for Promoting Agriculture; printed for the Society, by Ezra B. Tileston, →OCLC, page 350:

In its fresh vegetable state, chicory, or succory—the Cichorium Intybus of botanists, is said to be a good tonic, and to have the effect of an aperient.

1849 April 7, “The Outcry about Chicory”, in William, Robert Chambers, editors, Chambers’s Edinburgh Journal, volume XI, number 275 (New Series), Edinburgh: Published by William and Robert Chambers; London: W[illiam] S[omerville] Orr, →OCLC, page 217, column 1:

The Colonial Garden contains plants brought from the Old World by colonists, as well as native plants that were used in colonial times. Planted here are yarrow (Achillea millefolium), chicory (Cichorium intybus), bee balm (Monarda didyma), and sorrel (Rumex acetosa).

1980 June, The National Herb Garden at the U.S. National Arboretum (Program Aid; no. 1261), [Washington, D.C.]: Agricultural Research Service, United States Department of Agriculture, published May 1993 (revised), →OCLC, paragraph 3:

Chicories are a cool-weather salad staple throughout most of Italy. They include the rustic cutting chicories sometimes found growing wild in Italy, the burgundy-colored heading radicchios, and the elegant Belgian endive. All chicories share a mildly bitter taste that can be mitigated by blanching them and soaking them in salted water.

1999, Rosalind Creasy, “Italian Garden Encyclopedia [Chicories (cicorie): Cichorium intybus]”, in The Edible Italian Garden, North Clarendon, Vt., Singapore: Periplus Editions, →ISBN, page 36, column 2:

Chickory and radicchio (Cichorium intybus), which is a red-leafed chickory, can add a slightly bitter tang to a salad. Green chickories can be sown in early spring.

2012, Claire Splan, “Fruits, Herbs, Nuts & Vegetables [Lettuce]”, in California Fruit & Vegetable Gardening: Plant, Grow, and Eat the Best Edibles for California Gardens, Brentwood, Tenn.: Cool Springs Press, →ISBN, page 163:

Cichorium intybus
Cichorium intybus#Translingual

(countable) Either of two plants of the Asteraceae family.

(chiefly British) Common chicory (Cichorium intybus), source of Belgian endive, radicchio, and certain other cultivars with other names.


coriander

en-noun

coriander (usually uncountable, plural corianders)

→ Japanese: コリアンダー (koriandā)

/ˌkɒɹiˈændə/

/ˈkɔɹiˌændɚ/

/ˌkɔɹiˈændɚ/

From Middle English coriandre, from Anglo-Norman coriandre, from Old French corïandre, from Latin coriandrum, from Ancient Greek κορίανδρον (koríandron), of uncertain origin. Doublet of cilantro.
cognates, etc.
Compare Ancient Greek κορίαννον (koríannon), κορίαμβλον (koríamblon), Mycenaean Greek 𐀒𐀪𐁀𐀅𐀙 (ko-ri-a2-da-na), 𐀒𐀪𐀊𐀅𐀙 (ko-ri-ja-da-na), 𐀒𐀪𐀊𐀈𐀜 (ko-ri-ja-do-no), 𐀒𐀪𐀍𐀅𐀙 (ko-ri-jo-da-na), Akkadian 𒌑𒄷𒌷𒌝 (^úḫurium) Aramaic כסברה (kusbara, “coriander”), Classical Syriac ܟܽܘܣܒܰܪܬܳܐ (kūsbartā, “coriander”) and Arabic كُزْبَرَة (kuzbara).
Beekes supposes that cluster -dn- implies a Pre-Greek word, and hypothesizes that *koriaⁿdro- may have dissimilated to *koriaⁿdno-.

cog

Vietnamese coriander (Persicaria odorata

The life of one plant would be affected by another. Rue was definitely hostile to basil, rosemary to hyssop, but coriander, dill and chervil lived on the friendliest of terms[.]

1940, Rosetta E. Clarkson, Green Enchantments: The Magic Spell of Gardens, The Macmillan Company, page 253:

Tobacco and the plant valerian are also considered to be anaphrodisiac in their effects, diminishing sexual inclination. Also vinegar, dried coriander, potassium bromide, cocaine, vervain, acid drinks, lemonade.

1961, Harry E. Wedeck, Dictionary of Aphrodisiacs, New York: The Citadel Press, page 11:

Coriandrum sativum
Coriandrum sativum#Translingual

(UK, Ireland) The annual herb Coriandrum sativum, used in many cuisines.


liquorice

en-noun

liquorice (countable and uncountable, plural liquorices)

From licorice by association with liquor.

UK, Ireland, India, and South Africa standard spelling of licorice.


innings

innings (plural innings or (rare) inningses)

innings (plural)
inningses (plural rare)

From the old verb inn (“to house corn”).

(British) The time during which any party is in possession of power, or enjoying good luck, etc.; a turn of any kind.

Forty-odd. That's a better innings than Mozart's thirty-five. Only a moderate knock perhaps in an era brimming with space age technology, and transplants, and artificial hips etcet, but still higher than Mozart's.

1994, John Lehmann, Alan Ross, Sebastian Barker, The London Magazine:

My mother-in-law died at 89 years of age, while sad and as you might expect, we used the phrase “she had a good innings”.

2007, Roger F. Peters, Police Under Pressure: A Donkey on the Edge, Roger Peters, →ISBN, page 22:

He was the first of my grandparents to die but none of them made it much past seventy, although that was very much looked on as 'a decent innings' in early-seventies England.

2009, Mark Radcliffe, Thank You for the Days: A Boy's Own Adventures in Radio and Beyond, Simon and Schuster, →ISBN:

You can only say, she had a good innings, so many times. I suppose seventy nine isn't so bad. It's a damn sight more than I can expect.

2010, Jacqueline James M P, An Ignoble End, AuthorHouse, →ISBN, page 79:

Like father, like son. Sixty-eight. Not such a bad innings, really, when the old man was gone at fifty-three.

2012, Peter Fitzpatrick, The Two Frank Thrings, Monash University Publishing, →ISBN, page 523:

(British, euphemistic) A person's lifespan.


leapfrog

leapfrog (countable and uncountable, plural leapfrogs)

leapfrogs (plural)
leap frog (alternative)
leap-frog (alternative)

Sam Hood
State Library of New South Wales

The Supreme Court can hear appeals direct from the High Court under the ‘leapfrog’ procedure. This procedure is reserved for matters certified by the Supreme Court to be of general public importance—the type of issue which would ultimately be appealed from the Court of Appeal in any event. There are normally a few of these direct appeals from the High Court each year.

2015, Scott Slorach, Judith Embley, Peter Goodchild, Catherine Shephard, “The Court System of England & Wales”, in Legal Systems & Skills, 2nd edition, Oxford: Oxford University Press, →ISBN, page 75:

An appeal to the Court of Cassation can be filed against judgments issued on (first) appeal, which means judgments issued in general by a court of appeals, even though the Code provides for judgments issued by courts of first instance that can be reviewed by the Court of Cassation through a sort of ‘leapfrog’ appeal; […]

2017, Elisabetta Silvestri, “The Italian Supreme Court of Cassation: Of Misnomers and Unaccomplished Missions”, in Cornelius Hendrik (Remco) van Rhee, Yulin Fu, editors, Supreme Courts in Transition in China and the West: Adjudication at the Service of Public Goals (Ius Gentium: Comparative Perspectives on Law and Justice; 59), Cham, Switzerland: Springer Nature, →DOI, →ISBN, →ISSN, page 234:

(chiefly British, law, usually attributive) The process by which a case is appealed or allowed to be appealed directly to a supreme court, bypassing an intermediate appellate court.


leapfrog

en-verb

leapfrog (third-person singular simple present leapfrogs, present participle leapfrogging, simple past and past participle leapfrogged)

leapfrogs (present singular third-person)
leapfrogging (participle present)
leapfrogged (participle past)
leapfrogged (past)
leap-frog (alternative)

In Jones v Kaney [2010] EWHC 61 (Q.B.) at first instance, the issue was whether the claimant's psychologist in a personal injury claim was negligent because in a joint written statement with the other side's expert, she had resiled from her diagnosis of PTSD without comment or amendment of her report, greatly damaging the claimant's case. The claimant sued in negligence, the judge was constrained by the authorities, but granted a certificate under s. 12 of the Administration of Justice Act 1960 to leapfrog the case to the Supreme Court.

2012, Lord Justice [Rupert] Jackson, editor, Civil Procedure, volume 1, London: Sweet & Maxwell, Thomson Reuters, →ISBN, paragraph 35.12.4, page 1097:

(transitive, chiefly British, law) To appeal or allow to be appealed (a case) directly to a supreme court, bypassing an intermediate appellate court.


valet

valet (third-person singular simple present valets, present participle valeting, simple past and past participle valeted)

valets (present singular third-person)
valeting (participle present)
valeted (participle past)
valeted (past)

Borrowed from Middle French valet, from Old French vaslet, from Medieval Latin *vassellittus, diminutive of Late Latin vassallus (“manservant, domestic, retainer”), from vassus (“servant”), from Gaulish *wassos (“young man, squire”), from Proto-Celtic *wastos (“servant”) (compare Old Irish foss and Welsh gwas). Doublet of varlet.

der

He revealed: “We had been through a lot and I decided the car needed to be cleaned out after Georgina had to deliver the baby in the car.
“You can imagine the scene when I left the car in for valeting. I got some funny looks and I had to explain to the guy that I wasn’t up to anything illegal because it did look a bit like a crime scene.”

2017 March 7, Stephen Maguire, “Hero Irish dad reveals he had to tell car valet he ‘wasn’t up to anything illegal’ after wife gave birth on back seat on Donegal road”, in The Irish Sun:

(transitive, chiefly UK, Ireland) To clean and service (a car), as a valet does.


plimsoll

plimsolls (plural)
plimsol (alternative)
plimsole (alternative)

From Samuel Plimsoll, a Bristol merchant who created a system of marks and symbols for the waterline of ships. The shoe was possibly named because the line of its sole resembled the Plimsoll line of ship.

“Yes, there are two distinct sets of footprints, both wearing rubber shoes—one I think ordinary plimsolls, the other goloshes,” replied the sergeant.

1928, Lawrence R. Bourne, chapter 13, in Well Tackled!:

While here, now, a large boy, a famous bully, swaggered to the front to bend, leering, and offer his satirical backside to be ineffectually beaten with a plimsoll by the gentle Scot.

(UK, Ireland) A rubber-soled lace-up canvas shoe for sports or onboard ships; a precursor of trainers.


pupil

From Middle English pupille, from Anglo-Norman pupille (“orphan”), from Latin pūpillus (“orphan, minor”), variant of pūpulus (“little boy”), from pūpus (“child, boy”).

The Pupil after his Pupillarity, had granted a Diſcharge to one of the Co-tutors, which did extinguiſh the whole Debt of that Co-tutor, and conſequently of all the reſt, they being all correi debendi, lyable by one individual Obligation, which cannot be Diſcharged as to one, and ſtand as to all the reſt.

1668 December 19, James Dalrymple, “Mr. Alexander Seaton contra Menzies” in The Deciſions of the Lords of Council & Seſſion I (Edinburgh, 1683), page 575

The bell which called the pupils to their lessons can still be seen on the roof.

1980, AA Book of British Villages, Drive Publications Ltd, page 269, about a school in Lower Peover:

Imagine a country where children do nothing but play until they start compulsory schooling at age seven. Then, without exception, they attend comprehensives until the age of 16. Charging school fees is illegal, and so is sorting pupils into ability groups by streaming or setting.

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

(dated outside UK) A learner at a school under the supervision of a teacher.


mmm

Danny: Have you got any food?
I: Mmm! As a matter of fact, got a saveloy.


sergeant

sergeants (plural)
serjant (alternative)
sergeaunt (alternative)
serjeant (alternative)

From Middle English sergeant, sergeaunt, serjent, serjaunt, serjawnt, sergant, from Old French sergeant, sergent, serjant, sergient, sergant (“sergeant, servant”), from Medieval Latin servientem, accusative of serviens (“a servant, vassal, soldier, apparitor”), from Latin serviēns (“serving”), present participle of serviō (“serve, be a slave to”). Doublet of servant and servient.
The shift from /vj/ > /dʒ/ was a regular development in Old French. Compare cavea > cage, salvia > sage.
The fish is so called because of its stripes, supposed to resemble a sergeant's insignia of rank.
The pronunciation with /ɑɹ/ is due to a widespread development of Middle English er + consonant (see barn, start etc.). In sergeant, the spelling was standardised in one way, the pronunciation in another (compare clerk, derby in Commonwealth English, further parson vs. person, and varsity vs. university).

sergeant surgeon, i.e. a servant, or attendant, surgeon

(UK, historical) A title sometimes given to the servants of the sovereign.


cowardy

en-adj

cowardy (comparative more cowardy, superlative most cowardy)

more cowardy (comparative)
most cowardy (superlative)


bimble

Probably an alteration or variant of bumble (verb), perhaps influenced semantically by association with amble (verb).
This term is originally nautical and military in usage, and is previously used outside the current meaning of traveling on foot.

(chiefly British, colloquial) A walk or journey with no particular haste.


bimble

en-verb

bimble (third-person singular simple present bimbles, present participle bimbling, simple past and past participle bimbled)

bimbles (present singular third-person)
bimbling (participle present)
bimbled (participle past)
bimbled (past)

Check-in ran like clockwork and after unpacking, we bimbled off to the cycle centre, hired two bikes and a kiddy trailer for the boys and set off to get our bearings.

2007 January 28, Paul Simon, “Surf, snow and city in one break”, in The Observer, UK, retrieved 2009-01-18:

(chiefly British, colloquial, intransitive) To walk or travel with no particular haste.


high tea

en-noun

high tea (countable and uncountable, plural high teas)

It was brawn and shape for high tea.

1978, Jane Gardam, God on the Rocks, Abacus, published 2014, page 111:

(UK, Australia, New Zealand) A late afternoon or early evening meal, typically consisting of a cooked dish with bread and butter and tea.


touch cloth

en-verb

touch cloth (third-person singular simple present touches cloth, present participle touching cloth, simple past and past participle touched cloth)

tlb

(chiefly UK, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand)

touches cloth (present singular third-person)
touching cloth (participle present)
touched cloth (participle past)
touched cloth (past)

(intransitive, slang) To be just on the point of soiling oneself.


woof

en-verb

woof (third-person singular simple present woofs, present participle woofing, simple past and past participle woofed)

woofs (present singular third-person)
woofing (participle present)
woofed (participle past)
woofed (past)

The interjection and noun are onomatopoeic. Interjection sense 2 (“used to express strong physical attraction for someone”) probably alludes to the eager barking of a dog.
The verb is probably derived from the interjection and the noun. Verb sense 1.2 (“to eat (food) voraciously”) may be influenced by or, alternatively, derived from wolf (“to eat (food) voraciously, devour, gobble”).

[N]othing makes me feel better than to see my dog's woofing down their food.

2007 June 5, Patricia O’Grady, “Feeding a Homemade Diet”, in Woofing It Down: The Quick & Easy Guide to Making Healthy Dog Food at Home, Bloomington, Ind.: AuthorHouse, →ISBN, page 23:

The dog doesn't bark, it just stares at Tom. Tom pulls out the steaks. […] Tom throws them over and the dog woofs them down.

2020, Ian Horan, “The Return of Tom Fuller”, in Psychotic Episodes: Another Collection of Crazy Stories, [Morrisville, N.C.: Lulu.com], →ISBN, page 64:

(originally British, Royal Air Force slang, informal) To eat (food) voraciously; to devour, to gobble, to wolf.


busted flush

I thought I'd draw another spade, but I ended up with a busted flush.

(UK, poker) A potential flush which ultimately was not filled.

If this [Tony Blair] is such an utterly busted flush of a leader, why are so many Tories and their outriders so keen to have this Prime Minister gone before he can fight another election?

2004 May 2, Andrew Rawnsley, “Mission not accomplished”, in Guardian online, UK, retrieved 2012-10-14:

"In November last year, at the annual conference, a decision went against me and I took the view that I couldn't carry on. I was a busted flush as the General Secretary, and in a position where I did not have the support of everyone, so it was best that I moved on.

2021 May 19, Paul Clifton asks Mick Cash, “I am retiring on my own terms”, in RAIL, number 931, page 49:

(UK, idiomatic) Anything which ends up worthless despite great potential.

Reinfall

anything which ends up worthless despite great potential


exempt

From Middle French exempt, from Latin exemptus, past participle of eximō.

(UK) One of four officers of the Yeomen of the Royal Guard, having the rank of corporal; an exon.


arctic roll

(British) A British dessert like a jelly roll, but with ice cream instead of jelly/jam.


verge

Borrowed from Middle French verge (“rod or wand of office”), hence "scope, territory dominated", from Latin virga (“shoot, rod stick”), of unknown origin. Earliest attested sense in English is now-obsolete meaning "male member, penis" (c.1400). Modern sense is from the notion of 'within the verge' (1509, also as Anglo-Norman dedeinz la verge), i.e. "subject to the Lord High Steward's authority" (as symbolized by the rod of office), originally a 12-mile radius round the royal court, which sense shifted to "the outermost edge of an expanse or area." Doublet of virga.

bor

A rod or staff of office, e.g. of a verger.

(UK, historical) The stick or wand with which persons were formerly admitted tenants, by holding it in the hand and swearing fealty to the lord. Such tenants were called tenants by the verge.

The shoulders are graded and the verges cleared well back to lessen the chances of hitting stray stock.

2000, Bob Foster, Birdum or Bust!, Henley Beach, SA: Seaview Press, page 129:

(UK, Western Australia, New Zealand) The grassy area between the footpath and the street; a tree lawn; a grassed strip running alongside either side of an outback road.

accotement

grassy area between the sidewalk and the street


porker

From pork + -er.
* (obese person; police officer): Carried over from the same senses of pig.
* (a lie): Extension of the rhyming slang pork pie.

Cockney rhyming slang
Cockney rhyming slang


extend

en-verb

extend (third-person singular simple present extends, present participle extending, simple past and past participle extended)

extends (present singular third-person)
extending (participle present)
extended (participle past)
extended (past)

From Middle English extenden, from Anglo-Norman extendre, estendre, from Latin extendō (“I stretch out”).

(UK, law) To value, as lands taken by a writ of extent in satisfaction of a debt; to assign by writ of extent.


casual

casuals (plural)
casuall (alternative)
cazh (alternative)

/ˈkɛʒ(ʉː)əl/

From Middle French casuel, from Late Latin cāsuālis (“happening by chance”), from Latin cāsus (“event”) (English case), from cadere (“to fall”) (whence English cadence).

der

(British, Australia, New Zealand) A worker who is only working for a company occasionally, not as its permanent employee.

brigádník

a worker who is only working for a company occasionally

At 15, he became a casual: one of the label-wearing, wedge-flicking, swaggering hooligan peacock boys who dominated the north-west when I was growing up. Casuals were working-class lads (called Perry boys in Manchester) who loved football, fighting and brilliant sportswear.

2019 September 14, Miranda Sawyer, “Mark Leckey: ‘There has to be a belief that art has this power, this charisma'”, in The Guardian:

(UK, historical) A member of a group of football hooligans who wear expensive designer clothing to avoid police attention; see casual (subculture).

During the great prevalence of vagrancy, the cost of the sick was far greater than the expense of relief. In the quarter ending June 1848, no less than 322 casuals were under medical treatment, either in the workhouse of the Wandsworth and Clapham union or at the London Fever Hospital.

1851, Henry Mayhew, London Labour and the London Poor, published 1861:

(UK, historical) One who receives relief for a night in a parish to which he or she does not belong; a vagrant in the casual ward.

I was a boy in 1922 or 1923, when buses first started to run between the village and the town; there were tramps, casuals as they were called; the whole pattern of my boyhood was knit into a very loaded atmosphere of human character.

1983, Reg Butler, Reg Butler, London: Tate Gallery London, page 14:


diary

→ Indonesian: diari

From Latin diārium (“a daily allowance for soldiers, in Late Latin also ‘diary’”), neuter of *diārius, from diēs (“a day”) (whence also journal). Cognate with Spanish diario (“daily; diary”).

It is recommended that teachers and pupils are issued with homework diaries to help implement and monitor the homework timetable.

2004, Victoria Kidwell, Homework, page 29:

(British, Canada) A personal organizer or appointment diary.


haul

From Middle English hālen, hailen, haulen, halien (“to drag, pull; to draw up”), from Old French haler (“to haul, pull”), from Frankish *halōn (“to drag, fetch, haul”) or Middle Dutch halen (“to drag, fetch, haul”), possibly merging with Old English *halian (“to haul, drag”); all from Proto-Germanic *halōną, *halēną, *hulōną (“to call, fetch, summon”), from Proto-Indo-European *kelh₁- (“to call, cry, summon”). The noun is derived from the verb.
Cognates
The word is cognate with Danish hale (“to haul”), Middle Dutch halen (“to draw, fetch, haul”), Dutch halen (“to fetch, bring, haul”), Old Frisian halia, Saterland Frisian halen (“to draw, haul, pull”), Low German halen (“to draw, pull”), Old High German halôn, holôn, German holen (“to fetch, get”), Norwegian hale (“to haul”), Old Saxon halôn (“to fetch, get”), Swedish hala (“to hale, haul, pull, tug”), and related to Old English ġeholian (“to get, obtain”).

cog

Four goals scored by a single player in a match can be described as a 'haul', while five goals is unofficially a 'glut'.

2020 October 23, “What is a brace in soccer?”, in Goal:

(British, soccer) Four goals scored by one player in a game.


pantomime

en-noun

pantomime (countable and uncountable, plural pantomimes)

First appears c. 1606, from Latin pantomīmus, from Ancient Greek παντόμιμος (pantómimos), from πᾶς (pâs, “each, all”) + μιμέομαι (miméomai, “I mimic”). The verbal form first appears c. 1768.

With the Stoke supporters jeering Ziv's every subsequent touch, the pantomime atmosphere created by the home crowd reached a crescendo when Ziv was shown a straight red shortly after the break in extraordinary circumstances.

2011 October 20, Michael da Silva, “Stoke 3 - 0 Macc Tel-Aviv”, in BBC Sport:

(UK) A traditional theatrical entertainment, originally based on the commedia dell'arte, but later aimed mostly at children and involving physical comedy, topical jokes, call and response, and fairy-tale plots.

Pantomime

traditional theatrical entertainment, mostly for children


Greenwich Time Signal

Greenwich Time Signal (plural Greenwich Time Signals)

(British) A time signal transmitted on radio by the BBC every hour and consisting of five short beeps followed by a longer one, with the longer one coinciding with the start of the hour.


sizing

sizing (countable and uncountable, plural sizings)

(UK, Cambridge University, dated) Food and drink ordered from the buttery by a student.


reit

reit (countable and uncountable, plural reits)

The Squillae[…]live in marine[…]places: their meat is oisters, and reites.

1661, Robert Lovell, ΠΑΝΖΩΟΡΥΚΤΟΛΟΓΙΑ [PANZŌORYKTOLOGIA]. Sive Panzoologicomineralogia. Or A Compleat History of Animals and Minerals, Containing the Summe of All Authors, both Ancient and Modern, Galenicall and Chymicall, …, Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] Hen[ry] Hall, for Jos[eph] Godwin, →OCLC:


duds

I looked at what I could see of my rough blue duds, which I had plenty of opportunity of contrasting with the gay attire of the citizens we had come across; […]

1890, William Morris, News from Nowhere, in the journal The Commonweal. (First published in book form 1890.)

“I don't know how you and the ‘head,’ as you call him, will get on, but I do know that if you call my duds a ‘livery’ again there'll be trouble. […]”

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

They grab his duds and his picks as well. They hoy him down to the pit of hell. Down you go and fare ye well. You dirty blackleg miner.

1970 June 10, traditional, “The Blackleg Miner” (track 4), in Hark! The Village Wait, performed by Steeleye Span:

We were hard-pressed to find anyone who actually skis in these designer duds, but someone's buying the stuff: Hilfiger's ski and boardwear line grosses around $25 million per year […]

JESSE:Badger? Where you been keeping yourself? Nice duds.

2008 October 26, Vince Gilligan,Patty Lin, directed by Tricia Brock, Breaking Bad (Gray Matter) (1), episode 5 (TV), spoken by Jesse Pinkman (Aaron Paul):

Scavenger: Nice duds. Better watch your back. There's probably already a dozen people planning to kill you for them.

2017, BioWare, Mass Effect: Andromeda, Redwood City: Electronic Arts, →OCLC, PC, scene: Elaaden:

(US, British, informal, dated) Clothing, especially for work or of rough appearance.

Klamotten

clothing, especially those for work or of rough appearance


exhibition

exhibition (countable and uncountable, plural exhibitions)

/ɛksɪˈbɪʃən/

He was a scholarship boy who had won an Exhibition to Oxford, and then, like so many others, had found himself thrown upon the slave market of pedagogy.

1978, Lawrence Durrell, Livia (Avignon Quintet), Faber & Faber, published 1992, page 352:

Despite a couple of rustications, he gained an exhibition to Cambridge.

2016 November, Jonathan Meades, “Inside Job”, in Literary Review:

(UK) A financial award or prize given to a student (who becomes an exhibitioner) by a school or university, usually on the basis of academic merit.


make an exhibition of oneself

en-verb

make an exhibition of oneself (third-person singular simple present makes an exhibition of oneself, present participle making an exhibition of oneself, simple past and past participle made an exhibition of oneself)

makes an exhibition of oneself (present singular third-person)
making an exhibition of oneself (participle present)
made an exhibition of oneself (participle past)
made an exhibition of oneself (past)

She had far too much to drink and made an exhibition of herself by flirting with everyone.

(idiomatic, UK) To embarrass oneself or others in public by behaving foolishly.


Hooray Henry

en-noun

Hooray Henry (plural Hooray Henrys or Hooray Henries)

Hooray Henrys (plural)
Hooray Henries (plural)

It was a nice pub, down by the river, but full of Hooray Henrys.

(UK, colloquial, derogatory) An offensively loudmouthed upper-class man.


cutting

cutting (countable and uncountable, plural cuttings)

[T]he railway, however, will require a farther outlay to render it complete, though the locomotive engine has passed over every foot of ground from Liverpool to Salford. The slopes of the cuttings want dressing, and several of them want protecting with foot walls.

1832, “Documents in Relation to the Comparative Merits of Canals and Railroads, Submitted by Mr. Howard, of Maryland, […]. (Doc. No. 101) [No. 7. Observations upon the Cost of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway.]”, in Executive Documents, Printed by Order of the House of Representatives, at the First Session of the Twenty-second Congress, […] In Seven Volumes, volume III, Washington, D.C.: […] Duff Green, →OCLC, page 211:

We flash across the level. / We thunder thro' the bridges. / We bicker down the cuttings. / We sway along the ridges.

1876, William Ernest Henley, “[Poem] XXI”, in A Book of Verses, 3rd edition, New York, N.Y.: Scribner & Welford, published 1891, →OCLC, page 77:

No borrow pit excavation was necessary, and 41,000 cu. yd. were removed from cuttings by excavating machines.

1944 November and December, “Increasing G.W.R. Line Capacity”, in Railway Magazine, page 367:

On the descent the line is often in cuttings; some are high, such as at Scarcroft, where a cut through firestone and fireclay was necessary, and near Bardsey, where the line threads a deep tree-lined gorge.

1961 February, D. Bertram, “The lines to Wetherby and their traffic”, in Trains Illustrated, page 101:

(countable, UK) An open passage at a level lower than the surrounding terrain, dug for a canal, railway, or road to go through.

zářez

open passage dug for a canal, railway, or road


cloakroom

cloakrooms (plural)
cloak room (alternative)

(British, Ireland, India) A room intended for holding luggage, as at an airport.

(British, Ireland, euphemistic) A lavatory, now particularly a small secondary lavatory or a men's room.


postman

The total of their members amounts to 342,723 for 1875. Among these number … 6,968 male and sixty-three female postmen, imperial railway, telegraph, and post officials, railway workmen, dependent boatmen, waiters, &c.; …

1876–1877, Benjamin Homans (ed.), The Banker's Magazine and Statistical Register. Volume thirty-first, or, Volume eleventh of the third Series. From July, 1876, to June, 1877, inclusive, p. 283

A single narrow iron-clamped door formed the only means of entrance. On this our guide knocked with a peculiar postman-like rat-tat.

1890 February, A[rthur] Conan Doyle, “The Tragedy of Pondicherry Lodge”, in The Sign of Four (Standard Library), London: Spencer Blackett […], →OCLC, page 72:

The headmistress entered and told the girls "I want you to do everything you can to help the war effort—you are old enough to do it now." The girls changed into women postmen, head waiters, soldiers, landgirls, butchers and carpenters.

1971, J. P. Gallagher, Fred Karno: Master of Mirth and Tears, page 119:

Postmen, binmen, dock workers, even barristers are now on strike. Where will all this end?

2022 September 7, Philip Haigh, “Comment: More strikes and poor morale”, in RAIL, number 965, page 3:

(chiefly UK, Ireland, Commonwealth) someone who delivers the post (mail) to, and/or collects the post from, residential or commercial addresses, or from public mailboxes.


assistant

assistants (plural)
assistaunt (alternative obsolete)

From Middle English assistent, from Middle French assistant, from assister. By surface analysis, assist + -ant.


cooker

→ Welsh: cwcer

From cook + -er (agent noun suffix) or + -er (patient suffix) (apple; one who is cooked).

(chiefly UK, Ireland, except in compounds) An appliance or utensil for cooking food.


favourite

en-adj

favourite (comparative more favourite, superlative most favourite or favouritemost or (nonstandard) favouritest)

more favourite (comparative)
most favourite (superlative)
favouritemost (superlative)
favouritest (nonstandard superlative)
favorite (alternative US)

Attested from the 1580s, borrowed from Middle French favorit, from Old French favorit or Italian favorito (“favoured, favourite”), past participle of Italian favorire (“to favor”), from favore, from Latin favor (“good will, favor”), from the verb faveō (“I favour”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *bʰeh₂weh₁yeti (“to be favourable to”), from the root Proto-Indo-European *bʰeh₂- (“to shine, glow light”). Doublet of favori.

der

This is my second favourite occupation.

I just saw a movie with all my favourite actors in it.

The Nanny is one of Pippa's favourite shows, but tonight the pleasure of mindlessly blobbing out in her usual Sunday-laid-back-luxury style...

2004, Brigid Lowry, Guitar Highway Rose:

(superlative) Most-liked. (In other words, [person]'s favorite [noun] = the [noun] that [person] likes the most.)

What joy has this dog in miſchief!—More than I can have in the completion of my moſt favourite purpoſes!

1748, [Samuel Richardson], “Letter VII. Mr. Lovelace. In Continuation.”, in Clarissa. Or, The History of a Young Lady: […], volume V, London: […] S[amuel] Richardson; […], →OCLC, page 87:

(positive, high-register or archaic) Liked, cherished.


favourite

favourites (plural)
favorite (alternative US)

The teacher's favourite always went first.

A person or thing who enjoys special regard or favour.

любі́мец

person who enjoys special regard or favour

A person who is preferred or trusted above all others.

люби́мец

the Favourites hang loose upon the Temples with a languishing Lock in the middle

1701, George Farquhar, Sir Harry Wildair:

(in the plural) A short curl dangling over the temples, fashionable in the reign of Charles II.


favourite

en-verb

favourite (third-person singular simple present favourites, present participle favouriting, simple past and past participle favourited)

favourites (present singular third-person)
favouriting (participle present)
favourited (participle past)
favourited (past)
favorite (alternative US)

→ Japanese: ふぁぼ


biscuit

en-noun

biscuit (countable and uncountable, plural biscuits)

Tok Pisin: bisket

→ Bengali: বিস্কুট (biskuṭ)

→ Burmese: ဘီစကွတ် (bhica.kwat)

→ Cebuano: biskuwít, biskwit

→ Fiji Hindi: biskut

→ Gujarati: બિસ્કિટ (biskiṭ)

→ Hausa: bìskît

desc

ביסקוויט//בִּיסְקְוִיט

→ Hebrew: ביסקוויט /בִּיסְקְוִיט (bískvit)

→ Hiligaynon: biskwit

desctree

→ Hindi: बिस्कुट (biskuṭ)
→ Jarawa: biskuʈ (“biscuit”)

→ Indonesian: beskit, biskit

→ Japanese: ビスケット (bisuketto)

→ Korean: 비스켓 (biseuket)

→ Malay: biskut

→ Marshallese: petkōj

→ Punjabi: ਬਿਸਕੁਟ (biskuṭ)

→⇒ Scottish Gaelic: briosgaid

→ Spanish: bísquet, bísquete

→ Swahili: biskuti

→ Sylheti: ꠛꠤꠍꠇꠥꠐ (bisókuṭ)

→ Tagalog: biskuwit

→ Thai: บิสกิต (bís-gìt)

→ Urdu: بسکٹ (biskiṭ)
→ Ushojo: بسکٹ (biskiṭ)

→ Yoruba: bisikíìtì

→ Zulu: bhisikidi

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

PIE word
 *dwóh₁
From earlier bisket, from Middle English bisquyte, from Old French bescuit (French biscuit); doublet of biscotto.

Weighed myself at the gym and have hit 10st 8lb, a sure sign of things getting out of control—so I can’t even console myself with a chocolate biscuit.

(UK, Australia, Ireland, New Zealand, sometimes Canada, rare in the US and the Philippines) A small, flat, baked good which is either hard and crisp or else soft but firm; a cookie.

koekie

small, flat baked good — see also cookie, cracker

cheese and biscuits

water biscuits

digestive biscuits

(UK, Philippines, Singapore, Malaysia) A cracker.


artillery

en-noun

artillery (countable and uncountable, plural artilleries)

From Middle English artillerie, from Old French artillerie (“collection of military engines, crossbows, lances etc.”), from artillier (“to equip, provide with contraptions”), alteration of atiller (“to arrange, adjust, put on clothes or, especially, pieces of armour”) (influenced by art), itself from Vulgar Latin *apticlō < **apticulō, from Latin aptō (“to make capable”).

der

(UK, Ireland, slang) A gun, or multiple.


stinker

The barely-released stinker Dark Tide continues Stockwell’s fetishistic pattern, coming alive whenever it’s paddling among the sharks off the South African coast and settling in for a long snooze once it gets back on the boat or reaches dry land.

2002 April 19, Scott Tobias, “Dark Tide”, in AV Club:

Steven Pinker, Rational Thinker: His new book is a stinker. [title]

2021 September 30, Ted McCormick, “Steven Pinker, Rational Thinker”, in Slate:

Now it’s over, let’s come out and say it: The Rings of Power was a stinker [title]

2022 October 17, Stuart Heritage, “Now it’s over, let’s come out and say it: The Rings of Power was a stinker”, in The Guardian:

(British, slang) Something of poor quality.


upright

uprights (plural)
vpright (alternative obsolete)

From Middle English upright, uppryght, upriht, from Old English upriht (“upright; erect”), from Proto-Germanic *upprehtaz, equivalent to up- + right. Cognate with Saterland Frisian apgjucht (“upright”), West Frisian oprjocht (“upright”), Dutch oprecht (“upright”), German Low German uprecht (“upright”), German aufrecht (“upright”), Swedish upprätt (“upright”), Icelandic uppréttur (“upright”).

muntant

any vertical part of a structure, especially one of the goal posts in sports

(obsolete, hunting, dialect, British) The tips of the antlers of a young deer.


dogfish

dogfish (plural)
dogfishes (plural)
dog-fish (alternative)

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

From dog + fish. Compare Greek σκυλόψαρο (skylópsaro, “dogfish”), Latin canicula (“dogfish”, literally “little dog”), Italian pescecane (“dogfish”), French chien de mer (literally “dog of the sea”), German Meerhund (literally “seadog”) and Hundfisch (“dogfish”), and English seadog. For non-Indo-European cognates, see Maltese kelb il-baħar (literally “dog of the sea”) and Turkish köpek balığı (“shark”), likely calques from Indo-European languages.

Dornhaiartige

small sharks of the Scyliorhinidae, Dalatiidae and Squalidae families

dogfish orientalis

a grunt native to coral reefs of the western Pacific Ocean

Plunket's dogfish (Centroscymnus plunketi

rasptooth dogfish (Etmopterus sheikoi

alternately known as Miroscyllium sheikoi

Scyliorhinus canicula
Scyliorhinus canicula#Translingual

Scyliorhinus stellaris
Scyliorhinus stellaris#Translingual

(UK) Scyliorhinus canicula or Scyliorhinus stellaris


roo

From Middle English roo, ro, from Old English rō, rōw (“quietness, quiet, rest”), from Proto-Germanic *rōō (“quiet, rest”), from Proto-Indo-European *ere(w)-, *rē(w)- (“quiet”). Cognate with Scots ro, ruve (“peace, repose”), German Ruhe (“rest, peace, tranquility”), Danish, Norwegian and Swedish ro (“rest, peace, tranquility”), Icelandic ró (“tranquility, quietness”).

cog

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

(UK dialectal or obsolete) Peace; quietness.


phonograph

/ˈfəʊnəˌɡɹɑːf/

/ˈfoʊnəˌɡɹæf/

(British, historical) A device that records or plays sound from cylinder records.


pickle

en-noun

pickle (countable and uncountable, plural pickles)

→ Dutch: pickles

→ French: pickles

→ Irish: picil

→ Korean: 피클 (pikeul)

→ Portuguese: picles

→ Spanish: pickles, picle

→ Welsh: picil

From Middle English pikel (“spicy sauce served with meat or fish”), borrowed from Middle Dutch, Middle Low German pekel (“brine”). Cognate with Scots pikkill (“salt liquor, brine”), Saterland Frisian Piekele (“pickle, brine”), Dutch pekel (“pickle, brine”), Low German pekel, peckel, pickel, bickel (“pickle, brine”), German Pökel (“pickle, brine”).

cog

(UK) A sweet, vinegary pickled chutney popular in Britain.


hackney cab

hackney cabs (plural)
hack cab (alternative)

hackney carriage
hackney carriage#English

(chiefly UK) Synonym of hackney carriage, (historical) a carriage pulled by a hackney horse or a motorized vehicle available for public hire.


aerodrome

→ Irish: aeradróm

* (aircraft): In the obsolete sense of “flying machine” coined by American aviation pioneer Samuel Langley in 1897, from Ancient Greek ἀεροδρόμος (aerodrómos, “traversing the air”).
* (airfield): In the sense of “airfield”, from aero- + -drome, a suffix formed in analogy with hippodrome (“horse racecourse”), from Ancient Greek.

der

(British) An airfield equipped with air traffic control facilities and hangars as well as accommodation for passengers and cargo; an airport.


antipodes

From Latin, from Ancient Greek ἀντίποδες (antípodes), from ἀντί (antí, “opposite”) + πόδες (pódes), plural of πούς (poús, “foot”).

(UK, now rare) Australia and New Zealand.


lamp

en-verb

lamp (third-person singular simple present lamps, present participle lamping, simple past and past participle lamped)

lamps (present singular third-person)
lamping (participle present)
lamped (participle past)
lamped (past)

From Middle English laumpe, lampe, from Old French lampe (“lamp, light”), from Latin lampas (“torch, lamp, light”), from Ancient Greek λαμπάς (lampás, “torch, lamp, beacon, light, meteor”), from Proto-Indo-European *leh₂p- (“to shine”). Cognate with Lithuanian lópė (“light”), Welsh llachar (“bright”). Displaced native Old English lēohtfæt (literally “light-vat”).

cog

All for the pleasure of lamping a twat in the face.

2022, Liam McIlvanney, The Heretic, page 337:

(UK, slang) To hit, clout, belt, wallop.

(UK, Ireland) To hunt at night using a lamp, during which bright lights are used to dazzle the hunted animal or to attract insects for capture.


scheme

→ Irish: scéim

→ Malay: skim

Borrowed from Medieval Latin schēma (“figure, form”), from Ancient Greek σχῆμα (skhêma, “form, shape”), from ἔχω (ékhō, “I hold”). Doublet of schema. Compare sketch.

der

It was all too dear. They all just put their prices up because it was out in the scheme.

2008, James Kelman, Kieron Smith, Boy, Penguin, published 2009, page 101:

“You can’t really say to the kids in the schemes [Scottish council estates]^([sic]): don’t do drugs, they’ll wreck your life, you’ll never get a job or a house or buy nice things.”

2023 July 2, David Barnett, quoting Irvine Welsh, “‘Choose drugs?’ 30 years after he wrote Trainspotting, Irvine Welsh says life is tougher now”, in The Observer, →ISSN:

(UK, chiefly Scotland, colloquial) A council housing estate.

(UK, pensions) A portfolio of pension plans with related benefits comprising multiple independent members.


gelt

en-noun

gelt (usually uncountable, plural gelts)

In the basic sense of "money", attested since the early 16th century, initially from (an Early New High German continuation of) Middle High German gelt (modern German Geld), from Old High German gelt (“payment, money”), or in some cases from (an Early Modern Dutch continuation of) Middle Dutch gelt. Later, and in the Jewish-related senses, from Yiddish געלט (gelt). The German, Dutch and Yiddish words are all from Proto-Germanic *geldą (“reward, gift, money”). Doublet of native words geld and yield.

der

That nothynge had / There of theyr awne / Neyther gelt nor pawne.

c. 1529, John Skelton, The Tunning of Elynour Rummyng, section 610:

It amounts to not above 12000 Fr. Rhenish, yearly, in bare gelt.

1591 (1685), Henry Wotton, in Reliquiae Wottonianae, 616

The is no Gelt to be got.

c. 1698, B. E., A New Dictionary of the Terms Ancient and Modern of the Canting Crew:

I saw him at the house of my parents; I in my earliest youth, he approaching to fourscore. He was on his way to collect the Dominie's gelt; for the Dutch always took care the stipend to the minister should be competent, that so he never might be straitened 'to desire a gift.'

1816, Egbert Benson, in a memoir read before the New York Historical Society [in 1816], quoted in History of the School of the Collegiate Reformed Dutch Church (1883), page 22

"And yet," said Captain Dalgetty, "my second and greatest difficulty remains behind; for, although I hold it a mean and sordid thing for a soldado to have nothing in his mouth but pay and gelt, like the base cullions, the German lanz-knechts, whom I mentioned before; […] yet, ex contrario, a soldier's pay being the counterpart of his engagement of service, it becomes a wise and considerate cavalier to consider what remuneration he is to receive for his service, […]

1852, Walter Scott, A Legend of Montrose And, The Black Dwarf:

Have bought some farm land in Rio Grande Valley which should bring in a sizeable bundle of gelts come cotton picking time.

1948, William Burroughs, letter, 5 Jun 1948

The miser, a-seeking lost gelt, / The doughboy, awaiting the battle, / May possibly know how I felt / While the long years dragged by as the dealer / As slow as the slowest of dubs, / Stuck out the last helping of tickets / 'Till I lifted—the Bullet of Clubs!

1969, Robert L. Vann, The Competitor, volumes 2-3, page 135:

(originally UK, especially thieves' cant and Polari, later Judaism and general slang) Money.

especially thieves' cant and Polari; later Judaism and general slang; especially thieves' cant and Polari; later Judaism and general slang


kibosh

Possibly a variant of bosh (“nonsense”).

cabosh (alternative)
kaibosh (alternative)
kibbosh (alternative)
kiebosh (alternative)
kybosh (alternative)
kyebosh (alternative)

Still I wish you a 'Appy New Year, if you care for the kibosh, old Chappie, / Though 'taint 'Igh Art Cards full o' gush and green paint 'll make you and me 'appy. / Wot we want is lucre and larks, love and lotion as much as you'll carry!

1885 January 3, ’Arry [pseudonym], “’Arry on ’Appiness”, in Punch, or The London Charivari, volume LXXXVIII, London: […] Bradbury, Agnew, & Co., […], →OCLC, page 4, column 1:

Gar'n! Gives me the 'ump, all this kibosh 'bout morals, and taste, and all that.

1887 April 9, ’Arry [pseudonym], “Studies from Mr. Punch’s Studio. No. XXIV.”, in Punch, or The London Charivari, volume XCII, London: […] Bradbury, Agnew, & Co., […], →OCLC, page 172, column 2:

(British, slang, obsolete, rare) Bosh, nonsense.


kibosh

She was, in very Sooth, among the highest of the Rollers, but Hiram stood for the Bills with nary a Whimper. He was proud to be the Husband of the Lady Ki-Bosh of the Local Knickerbockers.

1904 March, George Ade, “Rugged Hiram and Hiram’s Giddy Wife”, in Breaking into Society, New York, N.Y., London: Harper & Brothers, →OCLC, page 34:

(British, slang, obsolete, rare) Chiefly preceded by the: fashion, style.


shako

Borrowed from French shako, from Hungarian csákó (“cylindrical military dress hat worn by the Hungarian hussars from the 18th century to World War I”).


statute mile

Weights and Measures
weights and measures

(UK) The mile of 5,280 feet or 1,760 yards, distinguished from the traditional mile of 5,000 feet employed before the 1593 Weights and Measures Act.


rosebud

(British, sometimes as a term of endearment) A pretty young woman.


flit

en-verb

flit (third-person singular simple present flits, present participle flitting, simple past and past participle flitted)

flits (present singular third-person)
flitting (participle present)
flitted (participle past)
flitted (past)

From Middle English flitten, flytten, from Old Norse flytja (“to move”), from Proto-Germanic *flutjaną, from Proto-Indo-European *plewd- (“to flow; run”).
Cognate Icelandic flytja, Swedish flytta, Danish flytte, Norwegian flytte, Faroese flyta. Compare also Saterland Frisian flitskje (“to rush; run quickly”).

cog

After this manner did the late Warden of Barchester Hospital accomplish his flitting, and change his residence.

1855, Anthony Trollope, The Warden, →ISBN, page 199:

[…] we can't give any one house-room just now, for every Christmas Eve such a pack of Trolls come down upon us that we are forced to flit, and haven't so much as a house over our own heads, to say nothing of lending one to any one else.

1859, “The Cat on the Dovrefell”, in George Dasent, transl., Popular Tales from the Norse:

(UK, dialect) To move house (sometimes a sudden move to avoid debts).


wight

From Middle English wight, from Old Norse vígt, neuter of vígr (“skilled in fighting, of age”), from Proto-Germanic *wīgaz (“fighting”), from Proto-Indo-European *weyk- (“to fight”). Cognate with Old English wīġ.

Then spake Much the milner son, / Ever more well him betide! / ‘Take twelve of thy wight yeomen, / Well weapon’d by thy side. / Such one would thyselfë slon, / That twelve dare not abide.’

a. 1450, “Robin Hood and the Monk”, in Frank Sidgwick, editor, Ballads of Robin Hood and other Outlaws, published 1912, page 98, lines 29–34:

Ye do you to my father's stable, / Where steeds do stand baith wight and able; / Strike ane o' them upo' the back, / The swiftest will gie his head a wap.

a. 1828, “Leesome Brand”, in Peter Buchan, editor, Ancient Ballads and Songs of the North of Scotland, volume 1, published 1828, page 39, lines 21–24:

(UK dialectal, obsolete) Strong; stout; active.


furlough

en-noun

furlough (countable and uncountable, plural furloughs)

From Dutch verlof (“furlough”), probably from Middle Low German verlōf (“furlough, permission”) (possibly via German Verlaub), from the verb verlōven (“to allow”), from Old Saxon far- + levian (“to give over, leave”).
From Middle Low German also German Verlaub, Danish forlov. Doublet of leave.

der

(British) especially one granted to a missionary.

A leave of absence or vacation.
especially one granted to a missionary.


slipper

en-verb

slipper (third-person singular simple present slippers, present participle slippering, simple past and past participle slippered)

slippers (present singular third-person)
slippering (participle present)
slippered (participle past)
slippered (past)

1981, Andrew Loudon, Staffroom mole leaks secret of his school's beatings book, Daily Mail and General Trust, World Corporal Punishment Research
"One boy was slippered five times in four days for offences such as missing detention, fooling about and being out of bounds."

(UK, Australia, New Zealand) To spank with a plimsoll as corporal punishment.


smashing

en-adj

smashing (comparative more smashing, superlative most smashing)

more smashing (comparative)
most smashing (superlative)

From smash + -ing. As a synonym for wonderful, the term first appeared in the United States in the early twentieth century, and possibly derives from the sense of smash used in smash hit and similar terms. Popular folk etymology connects the term to the broadly homophonous Irish is maith sin or Scottish Gaelic 's math sin ("that is good"), but this has been described as "improbable", and does not appear in the etymological dictionaries.

We had a smashing time at the zoo.

Um, the reason for this call is because I haven’t told you for seven hours that I love you, which is a scandal! And even if we weren’t getting married tomorrow, I’d ask you to marry me anyway. Yes I would, because you are smashing!

2010, Toby Whithouse, “The Vampires of Venice”, in Doctor Who, season 5, episode 6, spoken by Rory Williams (Arthur Darvill):

(originally US, now British and Ireland) Wonderful, very good or impressive.


tilly

From WWII British Army usage Tilly (“name of a range of British Army vehicles”), from utility.

After a fortnight's careful nursing my leg healed and I was packed off in a tilly (utility truck) with my kit-bag to join my comrades at Fairmilehead.

1978, Ada F Kay (A. J. Stewart), Died 1513-born 1929 / King's Memory, page 83

One night soon after our arrival in Belgium, four of us set off to a dance in a rest centre, behind the lines, for the forces. We drove across a snowy waste in a tilly truck, singing "Lilly Marlene".

1980, Once Upon a Ward: V.A.D.s' Own Stories and Pictures, page 119:


surgery

en-noun

surgery (countable and uncountable, plural surgeries)

/ˈsɜːd͡ʒəɹi/

From Middle English surgerie, from Old French surgerie, from Latin chirurgia, from Ancient Greek χειρουργία (kheirourgía), from χείρ (kheír, “hand”) + ἔργον (érgon, “work”). Doublet of chirurgy.

I dropped in on the surgery as I was passing to show the doctor my hemorrhoids.

Surgery is from six to seven o’clock. If you wanted to bring a dog in, that would be your best time.

1972, James Herriot, All Creatures Great and Small:

(British) A medical practitioner’s office hours.

Our MP will be holding a surgery in the village hall on Tuesday.

(British) Any arrangement where people arrive and wait for an interview with certain people, particularly a politician. cf. clinic.

fogadóóra

any arrangement where people arrive and wait for an interview with certain people, particularly a politician


points

(rail transport, UK, Ireland, Commonwealth) Movable rails which can be used to switch a train from one railway track to another.

výhybka

movable rails used to switch a train from one track to another


wigger

wiggers (plural)
wigga (alternative)
whigger (alternative)
whigga (alternative)

Blend of white + nigger. First use appears c. 1988. See cite below.

I have often heard the word "wigger" used to describe a white person who supposedly acts and talks "black," while the same type of taunting is put upon a black person who supposedly acts "white."

1988 April 20, “How race-conscious are high school students today?”, in The Washington Post, number ?, Washington, D.C., →ISSN, →OCLC, column ?:

To some extent wiggers are simply the most visible examples of a very American brand of teenage rebellion.

1999, Leonard Steinhorn et al., By the Color of Our Skin: The Illusion of Integration and the Reality of Race, page 178:

And I just do not got the patience
To deal with these cocky Caucasians
Who think I'm some wigger who just tries to be black...

cultural appropriator
cultural appropriator

(derogatory, ethnic slur) A white person, typically young and male, considered to be overly infatuated with African-American or (UK) Afro-Caribbean culture, a cultural appropriator.


-bloody-

Absobloodylutely!

Were it not for the tattoos, honestly, they'd be able to stand on one foot for hours and truly focus and not think once about how they forgot to set the Sky+ for The Daily Show a-bloody-gain.

2010 October 17, Hadley Freeman, “Tattoos: what makes one spiritual and another Katona-esque?”, in The Guardian:


crackling

crackling (countable and uncountable, plural cracklings)

To make chicken crackling, use 500 g (1 lb 1V2 oz) chicken skin. Wash and remove excess fats.

2011 February 28, Arlene Diego, Step by Step Cooking Filipino: Delightful Ideas for Everyday Meals, Marshall Cavendish International Asia Pte Ltd, →ISBN, page 54:

(cooking, in the singular in British) The crispy rind of roast pork.


fluffer

(UK) One who is employed to clean the tracks in the tunnels of the London Underground.


minge

From Angloromani mintš, from Romani minʒ (“female genitals”), probably from Old Armenian մէջ (mēǰ, “middle, midst; inside, interior; the middle part of the body; loins, reins; waist; belly, abdomen; back”). Doublet of medius.
Alternate etymology: from the Latin mingere (“to urinate”), synecdochically used to describe the organ through an associated function (possibly ironically or euphemistically).

der

Last week, she ended up on a binge / She got off her tits and showed the bouncers her minge

2005, “Your Missus Is A Nutter”, performed by Goldie Lookin Chain:

Big Bird / Sesame / Big minge energy

2024, “Mugshot Freestyle”, performed by Pete & Bas:

(UK, Ireland, Commonwealth, vulgar, slang) The pubic hair and vulva.


spoof

en-noun

spoof (countable and uncountable, plural spoofs)

Coined by the English comedian Arthur Roberts (1852–1933) in 1884 as the name of a card game involving deception and nonsense.

The British journalist and author Richard Boston supplies an illustrative example of a drinking game once commonly played in British public houses but which has since faded from use: The game Spoof involves three or more players concealing between zero and three coins or similar small objects in a clenched fist that they hold in front of their body or place on the bar counter or table. Players are then prompted to correctly guess the total number of coins held by all players. As the game progresses, correct guesses allow players to drop out until the final round, in which the "loser," determined by making an incorrect guess, is punished by being required to buy the next round of drinks.

2015, Thomas Thurnell-Read, “Drinking Games”, in Scott C. Martin, editor, The SAGE Encyclopedia of Alcohol: Social, Cultural, and Historical Perspectives, Thousand Oaks, Calif.: SAGE Reference, →ISBN:

(countable, British, historical) A drinking game in which players hold up to three (or another specified number of) coins hidden in a fist and attempt to guess the total number of coins held.


lurgy

lurgies (plural)
lurgi (alternative)
lurgey (alternative)
lurgee (alternative)

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

Eric Sykes
Michael Quinion
Spike Milligan
The Goon Show

A nonsense word popularized by Spike Milligan and Eric Sykes, scriptwriters for a 9 November 1954 programme of The Goon Show, “Lurgi Strikes Britain”, about the outbreak of a highly dangerous, highly infectious and—as it turns out—highly fictitious disease known as “the Dreaded Lurgi”.
Folk etymologies include:
* a corruption and contraction of allergy. This is not supported by the use of the hard /ɡ/ in lurgi (rhyming with Fergie), as allergy has a soft 'g' /dʒ/.
* based on the Northern English dialectal phrase fever-lurgy (“lazy or idle”).

the dreaded lurgy

He was helped, of course, by his presentational skills, still present here despite a sore throat and what seemed to be a spot of the perennial conference lurgy.

2011 October 5, Jonathan Freedland, “David Cameron's speech fails to match the gravity of the times”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:

(UK, Ireland, slang) A fictitious, highly infectious disease; sometimes as a reference to flu-like symptoms.

Blocked nose, watering eyes, a sore throat – the signs of a cold are all too familiar. Here are seven ways to dodge the lurgy, or shrug it off sooner[.]

2019 January 6, Nicola Davis, “Seven ways to dodge a cold – or recover faster”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:

(UK, Ireland, slang) Any uncategorised disease with symptoms similar to a cold or flu that renders one unable to work.


transit

transit (countable and uncountable, plural transits)

From French, from Latin transire (“to go across, pass in, pass through”), from trans (“over”) + ire (“to go”).

der

Beufort road, Birkenhead, about 17.15 June 19 2013, white transit overtakes and swerves left into junction almost taking my front wheel.

(UK, Ireland) A Ford Transit van, see Transit.


brick and mortar

brick-and-mortar (alternative)
bricks and mortar (alternative)
bricks-and-mortar (alternative)

(UK) Buildings, especially domestic housing.


rates

(British, New Zealand, Australia, Hong Kong) Taxes, usually on property, levied by local government.


crank

From Dutch or Low German krank, ultimately from Proto-West Germanic *krank, from Proto-Germanic *krangaz, *krankaz (“bent; weak”). Cognate with Scots crank, krank, German krank (“sick”).

John is a crank because he talks to himself.

Persons whom the Americans since Guiteau’s trial have begun to designate as ‘cranks’—that is to say, persons of disordered mind, in whom the itch of notoriety supplies the lack of any higher ambition.

The raw meat cranks are in dead earnest. They think that raw food is the manna of heaven.

1901 July 19, “Gleanings”, in The Agricultural Journal and Mining Record, volume 4, number 10, page 318:

But do you know what isn't in the school books? That old Rossum was mad. Seriously, Miss Glory, you must keep this to yourself. The old crank wanted to actually make people.

c. 1921 (date written), Karel Čapek, translated by Paul Selver, R.U.R. (Rossum’s Universal Robots): A Fantastic Melodrama […], Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, Page & Company, published 1923, →OCLC, Act 1:

(informal, British, dated in US) A person who is considered strange or odd by others, and may behave in unconventional ways.


piazza

From Italian piazza. Doublet of piatza, place, and plaza.

(UK) A roofed gallery or arcade (for example around a public square or in front of a building).


luncheon meat

en-noun

luncheon meat (countable and uncountable, plural luncheon meats)


schooner

Attested ca. 1715, of uncertain origin. Said to be derived from dialectal scoon (“to skim over water”). Compare also shunt (“to cause to move (suddenly)”).

Boycott any pub that bans work clothes, allows customers to reserve tables or only sells beer in schooners. That is less a pub, more a private members’ club.

2018 June 6, Tony Naylor, “The new rules of pub etiquette: don't flirt with bar staff or steal the glasses”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:

(UK) A glass for drinking a large measure of sherry.


first class

- How was your holiday? - It was first class.


get out

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

Just get out.

(UK, Ireland, slang) Expressing disapproval or disgust, especially after a bad joke.


get down

en-verb

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

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

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

Mummy, can I get down please?

(intransitive, British, informal, of a child) To leave the table after dining.


SAT

en-noun

SAT (countable and uncountable, plural SATs)

Statutory Assessment Test
w:National Curriculum assessment

(British) Acronym of Statutory Assessment Test, a national curriculum assessment, or exam.


boy racer

By this time in the evening, the city was mainly quiet, with one exception, boy racers; young men out to impress each other, as well as the city's young females, periodically tore along the street, in a variety of cars, booming out ‘musical’ bass rhythms, apparently oblivious of the speed limits and any concern for anybody else.

2006, Geoff Porter, Little Bites of Australia, page 240:

He and his boy racer mates used to spend every Friday and Saturday nights spreading diesel across the roads and racing their cars.

2006, Jan Colley, Melting the Icy Tycoon, page 51:

2011, Andy Frankham-Allen, Seeker, Untreed Reads, unnumbered page,
The sound of music pumping from the arcades was one thing, this was a standard sound expected in a seaside resort, but the cacophony of the boy racers was not.

(UK, New Zealand) A young man who drives recklessly fast, especially one who participates in gatherings of car-culture enthusiasts and/or in illegal street racing.

เด็กแว้น

young man driving recklessly, participating in illegal street racing, etc.


slough

Maxwell Township, Lac qui Parle County, Minnesota

sloughs (plural)
slue (alternative)
slew (alternative)

From Middle English slough (“muddy place; swamp; mire”), Old English slōh, probably from Proto-Germanic *slōhaz.

inh

"That comed - as you call it - of being arrant asses," retorted the doctor, "and not having sense enough to know honest air from poison, and the dry land from a vile, pestiferous slough.

1881–1882, Robert Louis Stevenson, Treasure Island, London; Paris: Cassell & Company, published 14 November 1883, →OCLC:

Notwithstanding this discrepancy, however, and though, taught by experience, I hastened to agree with her that the secret of her birth was not likely to be discovered in a moment, nor by so simple a process as the journey to Norwich, which I had been going to suggest, it was natural that we should often revert to the subject, and to her pretensions, and the hardship of her lot: and my curiosity and questions giving a fillip to her memory, scarcely a day passed but she recovered some new detail from the past; as at one time a service of gold-plate which she perfectly remembered she had seen on her father's sideboard; and at another time an accident that had befell her in her childhood, through her father's coach and six horses being overturned in a slough.

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


supergrass

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

From super- + grass, from grass (“an informer”).

I have to tell the hon. and learned Gentleman that I do not know the facts which led to that decision. On the other hand, although it is an unpleasant fact of life, there are now and again occasions on which, in order to achieve convictions against really bad villains, it is necessary to use people who are termed supergrasses.

1979 July 23, Havers, Michael (Attorney-General), “Witnesses (Immunity From Prosecution)”, in Hansard, volume 971, Parliament of the United Kingdom, page 64:

In several cases the supergrass spent days in the witness box giving evidence of scores of offences allegedly committed by many individuals over a period of years.

2000, D. Walsh, Bloody Sunday and the Rule of Law in Northern Ireland, page 241:

(UK, slang) An informer providing substantial quantities of information on criminal or terrorist activities to the police.


Paki-bashing

(British, derogatory) In skinhead culture the act of physical or verbal attacks by non-Asians against Pakistanis or other people originating from North Africa, the Middle East or the Indian subcontinent, and predominantly of a Muslim background.


poorly

en-adj

poorly (comparative poorlier or more poorly, superlative poorliest or most poorly)

poorlier (comparative)
more poorly (comparative)
poorliest (superlative)
most poorly (superlative)

to report one's child poorly

We talk about Kim, who is very poorly now. He can hardly see at all, and his legs are suppurating.

2008, Carla van Raay, “The Passing of a Friend”, in The Price of Passion, London: Ebury Press, →ISBN, page 241:

A hospital was established very quickly – beds and clean sheets and skilled care – then by ambulance my cousin and I were taken to Celle and here hospital staff were wonderful. […] particular attention was given to my cousin who was poorlier than me […]

2011, Peter Liddle, quoting Manya Stern, “Manya Stern – A Polish Jewess, Life under German Occupation, Forced Labour in Germany, and Survivor of Bergen-Belsen”, in Captured Memories 1930–1945: Across the Threshold of War: The Thirties and the War, Barnsley, South Yorkshire: Pen & Sword Military, →ISBN, section two (1939–1945), subsection “On the Home Front”, page 334:


turning

From Middle English turnyng, turnynge, from Old English tyrning, turnung, equivalent to turn + -ing.

Take the second turning on the left.

Except for turnings with a deflated rear tire as an outerside tire, difference in the performance is small between fixed control and manual control.

1974, Shoichi Sano, “Steering and Handling Characteristics of a Vehicle when Fail-safe Tire is Deflated”, in Fifth International Technical Conference on Experimental Safety Vehicles, page 909:

(UK, Ireland) A turn or deviation from a straight course.


rocket

From Italian rocchetta, from Old Italian rocchetto (“rocket”, literally “a bobbin”), diminutive of rocca (“a distaff”), from Lombardic rocko (“spinning wheel”), from Proto-West Germanic *rokkō, from Proto-Germanic *rukkô (“a distaff, a staff with flax fibres tied loosely to it, used in spinning thread”). Cognate with Old High German rocco, rocko, roccho, rocho ("a distaff"; > German Rocken (“a distaff”)), Swedish rock (“a distaff”), Icelandic rokkur (“a distaff”), Middle English rocke (“a distaff”). More at rock⁴.
For the meaning development, compare fuselage, ultimately from Latin fūsus (“spindle, spinning wheel”).

gloss

"a distaff"; > German <i class="Latn mention" lang="de">Rocken</i> (“a distaff”)

The Burmese nurse who'd gone with her was crying, for which she'd no doubt get a rocket from matron.

1973, Elizabeth Mavor, A Green Equinox, Virago, published 2023, page 93:

While Solborg and Lemaigre were dreaming of revolts, Donovan had learned of Solborg’s insubordination and meddling. He sent him a “rocket” ordering him out of North Africa and back to Lisbon at once.

1980, David Schoenbrun, Soldiers of the Night: The Story of the French Resistance, Dutton, →ISBN, page 203:

(UK slang, originally military) A severe reprimand; a telling-off.

Figurative uses.
A severe reprimand; a telling-off.


rating

In the Royal Navy the ratings, in order, are: ordinary seaman, able seaman, leading seaman, petty officer and chief petty officer.

Fifty officers and seven hundred and fifty ratings from the two British ships were picked up by the Japanese, together with the survivors from the Pope

1950, Winston S. Churchill, “The Hinge of Fate”, in The Second World War, volume 4, Boston: Houghton Mifflin, page 149:

(nautical, British) An enlisted seaman not a commissioned officer or warrant officer.


growler

From growl + -er. Sense "jug" is 19th century American slang, of uncertain origin.

Now, on first impression, a pork pie - or a ‘growler’ if you're from Yorkshire - looks like a delicious snack.

2008 August 22, Christina McDermott, The Guardian:

On our first meeting he'd asked me if I dyed my hair. I told him I did and his follow up^([sic]) question had been the much under rated^([sic]), "What colour's your growler then?"

2007, Cesca Martin, Agony Angel, Troubadour Publishing, pages 125–6:


flog

en-verb

flog (third-person singular simple present flogs, present participle flogging, simple past and past participle flogged)

flogs (present singular third-person)
flogging (participle present)
flogged (participle past)
flogged (past)

From Middle English *floggen (suggested by flogge (“hammer, sledge”), from Old English *floggian, a stem variant of Proto-Germanic *flukkōną (“to beat”), itself a secondary zero-grade iterative with unetymological -u-, derived from *flōkaną.
The original zero-grade iterative *flakkōną had been misinterpreted as an o-grade. See flack (“to beat”), also as a dialectal noun "a blow, slap". Cognate with Scots flog (“a blow, stripe, flogging”, noun), Scots flog (“thin strip of wood”), Norwegian flak (“a piece torn off, strip”).
Alternatively, a back-formation from flogger, from Low German flogger (“a flail”).

cog

And then there's my part time job at Telstra Bigpond flogging their cable network for just $67.55/month long term cost, a BARGAIN, and the other part time job flogging Foxtel at something like $50/month.

2001 January 26, Paul Edwards, “Optus $5/month 5110, T10 and 2288 only 4 days”, in aus.comms.mobile (Usenet):

Flanders was able to flog his piece of land, for which he had originally paid £4,000, to one of the largest gold-mining corporations for something like a couple of million smackers.

2007, Dave Lee (jazz musician), Nothing Rhymes with Silver 2, page 78:


mufti

en-noun

mufti (countable and uncountable, plural muftis)

muftis (plural)
muftee (alternative archaic)
mufty (alternative archaic)

Borrowed from Ottoman Turkish مفتی (müfti), from Arabic مُفْتِي (muftī, “fatwa-deliverer”, literally “deliverer of formal opinion”).

der

He had a suit of summer mufti, and a broad-brimmed blue beaver hat looped with leaves broken from the hedgerows in the lanes, and a Leander scarf tucked full of flowers: loosestrife, meadowrue, orchis, ragged-robin.

1919, Ronald Firbank, Valmouth, hardback edition, Duckworth, page 91:

The innate reluctance of the Englishman to make himself conspicuous has stood him here in good stead. Except on special occasions, the British officers are almost always in mufti.

1921 October, Maxwell H. H. Macartney, “An Ex-Enemy in Berlin to-Day”, in The Atlantic:

The neutrality, however, causes some peculiar situations, such as that arising from the prohibition of uniforms other than those of the Eireann Defence Forces and the Diplomatic Corps. This would be simple if no one from Eire were a sailor, soldier, or airman in the British Forces, but thousands of them are, and as such they may not wear mufti unless on leave from the B.E.F.

1940 May, “The Irish Railways Today”, in Railway Magazine, page 295:

The sailors in mufti returned with 140 quarts of Bar's Leak, half of which was poured into the condenser.

2002 April 3, Dave Wilma, “First nuclear submarine U.S.S. Nautilus visits Seattle and crew secretly buys Bar's Leak on June 3, 1958”, in HistoryLink.org: Essay 3739:

(uncountable, Australia, British, New Zealand) A civilian dress when worn by a member of the military, or casual dress when worn by a pupil of a school who normally would wear uniform.


fall off the back of a lorry

en-verb

fall<,,fell,fallen> off the back of a lorry

fall off the back of a lorry (third-person singular simple present falls off the back of a lorry, present participle falling off the back of a lorry, simple past fell off the back of a lorry, past participle fallen off the back of a lorry)

falls off the back of a lorry (present singular third-person)
falling off the back of a lorry (participle present)
fell off the back of a lorry (past)
fallen off the back of a lorry (participle past)
fall off a truck (alternative)

(idiomatic, British, euphemistic) Of an item of merchandise, to come into a person's possession without having been paid for; to have been acquired illegally.


watershed

Compound of water + shed. Calque of German Wasserscheide.

(hydrology, UK, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand) The topographical boundary dividing two adjacent catchment basins, such as a ridge or a crest.

вададзе́л

boundary between adjacent catchment basins

(Canada, British, television, radio) The time during the day which material of a more adult nature (e.g., violence, swear words, or sex) may be broadcast on television or radio, either one permitted by law or one contrived from convention (e.g. when children are not watching).

dos rombos

time after which adult material may be broadcast


Judy

Then I ring the bell at this door marked Slocum, and who appears but a tall young Judy with black hair who is without doubt beautiful, but who is so skinny we have to look twice to see her […]

To steal a housewife's purse might mean that her children would have to go hungry; but what of that, if the flash young “dip” could gain admiration from his mates by boasting that he had “frisked a judy's cly and lifted a skinful of bunce”?

1959, Frank Clune, Murders on Maunga-tapu, page 10:

(slang, chiefly UK, Liverpool) A girl or woman.


trinket

Origin uncertain, possibly:
* from trinket (“small, showy ornament; thing of little value”) (see etymology 1); or
* borrowed from Welsh trànked.

Mrs. Bargrave asked her, vvhether ſhe vvould not drink ſome Tea. Says Mrs. Veal, I do not care if I do: But I'le VVarrant this Mad Fellovv (meaning Mrs. Bargraves Husband,) has broke all your Trinckets.

1706, [attributed to Daniel Defoe], A True Relation of the Apparition of One Mrs. Veal, the Next Day after Her Death: […], London: […] B. Bragg, […], →OCLC, page 7:

(UK, dialectal, chiefly Cheshire, Lancashire, obsolete) A small vessel for drinking from; a cup, a mug, a porringer.

chiefly Cheshire; Lancashire; chiefly Cheshire; Lancashire


grange

From Middle English graunge, borrowed from Old French grange (“granary; barn; small farm”), from Vulgar Latin *grānica, from Latin grānum (“grain”).

der

What tell'st thou me of robbing? / This is Venice. My house is not a grange.

c. 1603–1604 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Othello, the Moore of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene i], line 120:

(British) A farm, with its associated buildings; a farmhouse or manor.


standing

en-noun

standing (countable and uncountable, plural standings)

→ German: Standing

From Middle English standyng, stonding, stondung, from Old English *standung, equivalent to stand + -ing.

"There was no garage at Lathbury Road, but we had standing for two cars in front of the house."

1992, P. D. James, The Children of Men, page 28:

"The engineering crisis boiled down to roads, hard standing, and waste."

2000, Bob Breen, Mission Accomplished, East Timor, page 149:

(British) Room in which to park a vehicle or vehicles

(UK, slang, obsolete) The location on a street where a market trader habitually operates.


CP

CP (countable and uncountable, plural CPs)

(British) Initialism of county primary or community primary (school).


one-to-one

en-adj

one-to-one (comparative more one-to-one, superlative most one-to-one)

more one-to-one (comparative)
most one-to-one (superlative)

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

a one-to-one discussion

a one-to-one teaching session

(chiefly UK) Involving direct communication between two people.


quango

From the initial letters (the first two letters for the first word) of quasi-autonomous non-governmental organization. Coined by American president of the Carnegie Foundation Alan Pifer in 1967.

coinage

The strongest link to the State, however, occurs with quangos, (quasi-NGOs), and the many umbrella groups that also thrive on State support. Many of the new parties realized after their Sturm und Drang years that they still needed regular contacts with the 'civil' world and that their civilian support base had been seriously eroded.

1998, Ferenc Miszlivetz; Katalin Ertsey, “Hungary: Civil Society in the Post-Socialist World”, in Alison van Rooy, editor, Civil Society and the Aid Industry: The Politics and Promise, London: Earthscan, OCLC ISBN 978-1-85383-553-7; republished as Civil Society and the Aid Industry (Earthscan Library Collection, Aid and Development; 3), London; Stirling, Va.: Earthscan, 2013, ISBN 978-1-84971-042-8, page 78

Various state committees and quangos had had stands; government and opposition ministers had attended.

2009, China Miéville, The City & The City:

(UK, government, often derogatory) An organization that, although financed by a government, acts independently of it.

autorité administrative indépendante

квазиавтономная неправительственная организа́ция

полуавтономная неправительственная организа́ция


fagot

Most likely from Italian fagotto, from Latin fascis.

(UK, Ireland, obsolete) A person hired to take the place of another at the muster of a company .


pillar box

We were over the border here, into Northern Ireland, and the post office had a very English atmosphere. It was pleasant, too, much as we enjoyed the hospitality of the Republic, to be buying stamps with the Queen's head on them, and to be posting our cards in a red pillar-box, instead of a green one.

1955 June, Rev. A. W. V. Mace, “An Irish Journey—2”, in Railway Magazine, page 393:

(UK, Ireland) A free-standing item of street furniture in the form of a short, red pillar (green in the Irish Republic) with a slot for posting letters.


impeachment

en-noun

impeachment (countable and uncountable, plural impeachments)

impeachments (plural)
empeachment (alternative)

→ Polish: impeachment

→ Portuguese: impeachment

desctree

→ Russian: импи́чмент (impíčment)
→ Kazakh: импичмент (impiçment)

→ Spanish: impeachment

Richard Nixon
United States Senate
Watergate scandal

From Middle English empechement (“hindrance, impediment, obstacle, obstruction; legal accusation or charge; act of calling into question or discrediting; challenge to a claim or right”), and thence either:
* from Middle English empechen, empeschen, empesche, enpechen, impechen (“to cause to get stuck; of a ship: to run aground; to block, obstruct; to hinder, impede; to prevent; to interfere with, harm; to criticize, disparage; to bring charges against; to formally accuse of treason or another high crime”) (from Anglo-Norman empecher, Old French empechier, empeechier) + -ment (suffix forming action nouns, concrete nouns, and nouns indicating a result or a condition or state); or
* from Old French empechement, empeechement, empeschement (“obstacle”) (modern French empêchement (“impediment, obstacle”)), from empeechier (“to fetter; to hinder”), empescher (“to inhibit, prevent”) + -ment (suffix forming nouns from verbs).
The English word is analysable as impeach + -ment.
Old French empechier, empeechier and empescher (compare modern French empêcher) are derived from Late Latin impedicāre (“to catch; to entangle”), present active infinitive of Latin impedicō (“to entangle; to fetter”), from im- (variant of in-) + pedica (“fetter, shackle; snare, trap”) (from pēs (“foot”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *ped- (“to step, walk; to fall, stumble”)) + -ō.
In senses 1.2 (“accusation that a person has committed a crime”) and 1.3 (“act of impeaching or charging a public official with misconduct”), the word has been used in place of Latin impetere, the present active infinitive of impetō (“to assail, attack, rush upon”).

Abqualifizierung

He [William Howard, 1st Viscount Stafford] is charged in the Articles of Impeachment with Contriving the Death of the King, and being at ſeveral Meetings and Conſults about the King's Death, and Hiring Perſons to kill the King; And are theſe no Overt Acts? [...] My Lords, another Exception that is taken, is, That there is no Indictment. I conceive that an Impeachment of the Houſe of Commons is more than an Indictment. And there cannot be any doubt of that, the Impeachment of the Houſe of Commons having always been received and proceeded on by your Lordships.

1680 December 4, “The Fifth Day”, in The Tryal of William Viscount Stafford for High Treason, […], Dublin: Reprinted by Jos[eph] Ray, […], and are to be sold by S. Helsham, Joh. North, Jos[eph] Howes […], published 1681, →OCLC, page 243:

Backed by the Treasurer's bitterest enemies he brought charges against Danby. Impeachment followed. There was fresh uproar in the House.

1923, Georgette Heyer, “The Revenge”, in The Great Roxhythe, Boston, Mass.: Small, Maynard and Company, →OCLC, page 325:

calling into question
call into question

(countable) The act of calling into question or challenging the accuracy or propriety of something.

(countable, law, British) An accusation that a person has committed a crime against the state, such as treason.


chuffed

en-adj

chuffed (comparative more chuffed, superlative most chuffed)

more chuffed (comparative)
most chuffed (superlative)

From dialectal (northern England, not Scotland) chuff, originally meaning “puffed with fat”. First attested in 1957.

Then when Karen got him on her morning show he was chuffed as a haemophiliac with a foolproof razor

1992, Vincent O'Sullivan, Palms and Minarets: Selected Stories:

Got to the video shop in a state / But chuffed it wouldn't be late

2004, “It Was Supposed to Be So Easy”, in Mike Skinner (lyrics), A Grand Don’t Come For Free, performed by The Streets:

“I'm chuffed,” she said, putting the kettle on. He gave her that wonderful smile. “Why, exactly?” “Why do you suppose we drink so much strong tea?” “Habit. It's a drug within the bounds of the law.” “Very true!” “Why are you so chuffed, Edda?”

2014, Colleen McCullough, Bittersweet: A Novel, Simon and Schuster, →ISBN, page 131:

As he arrived on the red carpet Michael said: 'It is my first nomination and I could not be more chuffed.' Well, he could be more chuffed. And that was if he was to win the Olivier honour.

2015, Willie Robertson, Michael Ball - The Biography, John Blake Publishing, →ISBN:

I sold a rug to someone on marketplace and they just sent me this picture with the message “little man is chuffed”

2023 April 5, Travis Greenwood, quoting lucindalvngstn, Cuteness, archived from the original on 2024-08-23:

(UK, Ireland, informal) Very pleased or satisfied; delighted.


chuffed

From chuff, "a coarse or stupid fellow".

(UK, Ireland, dialect) Displeased; gruff.


porridge

en-noun

porridge (usually uncountable, plural porridges)

porridges (plural)
parritch (alternative Scotland)
porage (alternative)
porrige (alternative)

Variant of pottage (“thick soup or stew”), influenced by porray (“stew of leeks”). The "prison sentence" sense comes from the British tradition of serving prisoners porridge for breakfast.

keep one's breath to cool one's porridge

save one's breath to cool one's porridge

A dish made of grain or legumes, milk or water, heated and stirred until thick and typically eaten for breakfast.

(chiefly British) Oat porridge; oatmeal.

Just do your porridge and keep your head down.

(British, slang, uncountable) A prison sentence.

pap

breakfast cereal dish — see also oatmeal