namous

namous! (canonical)
nammous (alternative)
nammus (alternative)
nommous (alternative)
nommus (alternative)
namase (alternative)

One boy (of the party) is always on the look out, and even if a stranger should advance, the cry is given of "Namous" or "Kool Eslop." Instantly the money is whipped-up and pocketed, and the boys stand chattering and laughing together.

1851, Henry Mayhew, “Gambling of Costermongers”, in London Labour and the London Poor, volume 1, page 17:

(obsolete, UK, thieves' cant) Look out! Beware!


Llandoverian

(UK) A pupil of Llandovery College, Carmarthenshire, Wales.


VCSE

(UK) Initialism of voluntary, community or social enterprise.


IDST

(UK, slang, used in graffiti) Initialism of if destroyed still true.


bugger me backwards

(UK, Ireland, Commonwealth, vulgar, slang) Expression of surprise or amazement.


ekker

"Give me ekker," said Beatrice contemptuously. "There's no ekker in biking that I can see."

1920, Edmée Elizabeth Monica Delafield, The Heel of Achilles, New York: Macmillan, published 1921, page 63:

I hated sport, ekker, games, whatever they wanted to call it. And it was a fuck sight harder to get off ekker at Uppingham than it had been at prep school.

1997, Stephen Fry, Moab is My Washpot, page 183:

New bugs at Winchester can still buy Winchester Notions, which lists the school’s slang. Invaluable if you want to translate something like ‘First-year boys, not in college but keen on exercise, will take part in the cross-house matches after half-term, before evening prep, under the supervision of all masters, the governing body, and the two joint heads of school.’ In Winchester slang, that reads, ‘For Commoners looking for Ekker, Winkies in Cloister Time for the Junior Part will be held after Leave Out, before Toytime, in the presence of all Dons, the Go. Bo., the Aul. Prae and the Sen. Co. Prae.’

2013 September 7, Harry Mount, “Public-school slang continues to thrive, particularly in rural boarding schools”, in The Spectator, retrieved 2017-06-13:

(UK, school slang) Physical activity intended to improve strength and fitness.

(UK, school slang) Scholastic activity designed to develop or hone academic skills.


on one's beam ends

By analogy with a capsizing ship; see usage note at beam-ends.

(UK, dated) In a parlous or destitute state.


identity parade

en-noun

identity parade (plural identity parades)

He moved through the circle and sat down on Cost’s left like a criminal taking his place in an identity parade.

1943, Graham Greene, The Ministry of Fear, London: Heinemann, published 1950, Book 1, Chapter 4, p. 61:

‘I deny it, I utterly deny it, my movements were those I’ve given you.’
‘Yet you refuse to take part in an identity parade?’

1984, Alan Hunter, chapter 6, in The Unhanged Man, New York: Walker, pages 87–88:

(UK, Ireland, law enforcement) A process by which a witness confirms the identity of a criminal suspect, by viewing the suspect together with other people who were not involved in the crime.


naffed off

en-adj

naffed off (comparative more naffed off, superlative most naffed off)

more naffed off (comparative)
most naffed off (superlative)


April shower

Holsom as the Aprile shower fallying on the herbes newe.

c. 1430, John Lydgate, Reason and Sensuality:

That pleaſing Shade they ſought, a ſoft retreat / From ſudden April''' Show'rs, a Shelter from the Heat.

1700, [John] Dryden, “The Flower and the Leaf: Or, The Lady in the Arbour. A Vision.”, in Fables Ancient and Modern; […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC, page 395:

2017 April 5, Harriet Walker, “How to look stylish in an April shower”, in The Times, Fashion:

(UK and Ireland) A sporadic burst of light rain in the spring season, especially in the month of April.


NPAS

National Police Air Service
w:National Police Air Service

(UK) Initialism of National Police Air Service.


gentry cove

gentry coves (plural)
gentry cofe (alternative)

As priest of the game, / And prelate of the same. / There's a gentry cove here.

1621, Ben Jonson, The Gypsies Metamorphosed:

'The gentry cove will be romboyled by his dam,' said a third gipsy. 'Queer Cuffin will be the word yet, if we don't tout.'

1837, Benjamin Disraeli, chapter XIV, in Venetia:

He's a go among the goes, is Mr. Kestrel. He's only got to sport a new kind of topper, or tie his crumpler a new way, and every gentry-cove in town does just the same.

(obsolete, UK, thieves' cant) A gentleman.


stately home

The stately homes of England
How beautiful they stand,
To prove the upper classes
Have still the upper hand,
Tho' the fact that they have to be rebuilt
And frequently mortgaged to the hilt
Is inclined to take the guilt
Off the gingerbread.

The tax man's taken all my dough
And left me in my stately home
Lazing on a sunny afternoon

'There's just something nice about the idea that you can move without being seen - that you can go down there and come up here. I grew up in a stately home,' he continued without a trace of boastfulness, 'and there actually was a secret passage. [...]'

2012, Andrew Martin, Underground Overground: A passenger's history of the Tube, Profile Books, →ISBN, pages 266–267:

(British) Synonym of country house, especially one owned by the aristocracy

(British, in particular) A country house open to the visiting public.


APW

en-noun

APW (countable and uncountable, plural APWs)

all-ports warning
all-ports warning#English

(UK, countable) Initialism of all-ports warning.


all-ports warning

all-ports warning (plural all-ports warnings)

(UK, law enforcement) A form of all-points bulletin circulated to international ports so that a fleeing suspect can be identified and apprehended.


battle-twig

An' the wool of a thistle a-flyin' an' seeädin' tha haäted to see;
 'Twur as bad as a battle-twig 'ere i' my oän blue chaumber to me.

1885, Alfred, Lord Tennyson, “The Spinster's Sweet-Arts”, in Tiresias, and Other Poems, page 111:

1929 D. H. Lawrence, Up He Goes! (from Pansies) in The Complete Poems, page 553 https://books.google.com/books?id=dHB_YjKlyIgC&lpg=PA66&dq=%22battle-twig%22&pg=PA66#v=onepage&q=%22battle-twig%22&f=false
There isn't a damn thing in 'em,
They're as empty as empty tins;
they haven't the spunk of a battle-twig,
an' all they can think of is sins.


old fruit

Possibly from the playful mid-word substitution of the word "friend" in "old friend".

(British, slang, dated, sometimes as a term of address) An old friend; an old chap or fellow.


worthiest of blood

worthiest of blood (plural worthiest of blood)

(UK, law) A male rather than a female, when legally favoured as a successor.


NRB

(UK, taxation and law) Initialism of nil-rate band.


milk train

Familiarised from the early morning goods trains used to transport milk on the British railway system.

But I also felt again the remembered romantic warmth of nodding off on the milk-train home in the early hours, with Liz by my side.

2012, Pete Townshend, Who I Am, HarperCollins, →ISBN, page 245:

(UK, colloquial) A slow passenger train leaving in the early hours of the morning.


snatch squad

There have been numerous reports of snatch squads detaining men on the street and drafting them into the army.

2022 September 19, Luke Harding, “Russia no longer has full control of Luhansk as Ukraine recaptures village”, in The Guardian:

(UK) A group of police officers who rush forward in formation so as to apprehend an individual from a crowd.


go equipped

en-verb

go equipped (third-person singular simple present goes equipped, present participle going equipped, simple past went equipped, past participle gone equipped)

goes equipped (present singular third-person)
going equipped (participle present)
went equipped (past)
gone equipped (participle past)

From the heading of section 25 of the Theft Act 1968: "Going equipped for stealing, etc."

Would I go equipped? You can get a stiff sentence for that! I've got a couple of skeleton keys, I don't deny, but I hope we won't need them. There are other ways.

1997, Claire Rayner, Fifth Member (George Barnabas; 4):

They were allegedly carrying cable cutters and a hammer when they were arrested and could face up to 10 years in prison if deemed to have "gone equipped" to commit an offence at the base.

2006 June 1, “Base trespass suspects rearrested”, in BBC News:

A Scotland Yard spokesman said three arrests were for public order offences, one was for possession of an offensive weapon, three were for going equipped and 12 breaches of the peace.

2011 November 9, “Thousands march in student fees protest”, in The Independent:

All had admitted conspiracy to burgle and Talbot also admitted going equipped to burgle and Eldred a breach of a conditional discharge.

2017 February 8, Ian Proctor, “JAILED: Burglars who went equipped with tools, disguises and homemade swag bags”, in The Lancashire Telegraph:

(UK, law and law enforcement, intransitive) To carry tools, weapons or other articles with the intent of using them to commit a crime.


green army

'We'll get the green army to keep an eye on the place, make sure there's not too much activity while our backs are turned,' said the ops officer.

1998, Catherine Jones, Sisters In Arms, →ISBN:

Roger that. Feds and green army are blue lighting to you.

2014, James Rennie, The Operators, Pen and Sword, →ISBN:

Frodsham and his guard fell in alongside Tiger and Mack, Mack flicked the safety off his L85; an unreliable piece of crap that the green army troopers hated, and the SAS had replaced with M16's and then C8 SFW carbines.

2014, Josef Black, SAS Special Operations Force (The Blades; 1), NYXZU Digital Press, →ISBN:

(UK, military slang) The regular army, not including any special forces.


Rump

Before executing Charles I, the Rump made it illegal to proclaim anyone else king to replace him.

(British, historical, with the) The Rump Parliament of 1648-1653 and 1659-1660.


ICO

“Online services and products that use personal data and are likely to be accessed by children are required to comply with the standards of our children’s code,” said an ICO spokesperson.

2022 January 9, Dan Milmo, “UK data watchdog seeks talks with Meta over child protection concerns”, in The Guardian:

Information Commissioner's Office
w:Information Commissioner's Office

(UK) Initialism of Information Commissioner's Office, the UK data protection authority.


break clause

(UK, law) A term in a tenancy agreement that allows the tenancy to come to an end before the stated date of termination.


shout the odds

shout the odds (third-person singular simple present shouts the odds, present participle shouting the odds, simple past and past participle shouted the odds)

shouts the odds (present singular third-person)
shouting the odds (participle present)
shouted the odds (participle past)
shouted the odds (past)

He's shouting the odds at the Airdrie players when the Ref nods to two Police. And he's still shouting and bawling when the Police drag him away backwards up the terraces and make him stand in the damp shade and dripping rain.

2011, Des Dillon, Return Of The Busby Babes, page 107:

(UK, colloquial) To talk loudly or boastfully; to make a verbal fuss.


arse end

It was the arse-end of the ballroom days, but the scene was still vibrant.

2011, Martin Kielty, SAHB Story: The Tale of The Sensational Alex Harvey Band, page 25:

(UK, slang, vulgar) The worst or inferior part.


laugh on the other side of one's face

laugh on the other side of one's face (third-person singular simple present laughs on the other side of one's face, present participle laughing on the other side of one's face, simple past and past participle laughed on the other side of one's face)

laughs on the other side of one's face (present singular third-person)
laughed on the other side of one's face (participle past)
laughed on the other side of one's face (past)
laugh on the other side of one's mouth (alternative)
laugh on the wrong side of one's face (alternative)
laugh on the wrong side of one's mouth (alternative)

You'll be laughing on the other side of your face when the police find out you've been lying to them.

Socialism? Ha! ha! ha! Where’s the money to come from? Ha! ha! ha!... Hitler will at any rate go down in history as the man who made the City of London laugh on the wrong side of its face. For the first time in their lives the comfortable were uncomfortable, the professional optimists had to admit that there was something wrong.

1941, George Orwell, The Lion and the Unicorn, Pt. II:

(UK, intransitive, informal) To experience discomfiture after displaying cockiness.


Lord President of the Council

(politics, UK) The fourth of the Great Officers of State of England.


get the vapours

get the vapours (third-person singular simple present gets the vapours, present participle getting the vapours, simple past and past participle got the vapours)

gets the vapours (present singular third-person)
getting the vapours (participle present)
got the vapours (participle past)
got the vapours (past)

(British) Alternative form of get the vapors.


vricht

My grandfather was the local 'vricht': joiner, blacksmith, sawyer, house painter […]

1996, W. Gordon Lawrence, Roots in a Northern landscape:

(UK, dialect, Northern) A worker in wood; a joiner.


with the best will in the world

Through the 1980s and 1990s it did not train Persian speakers, and eventually those with language and country experience aged and retired, leaving a gap that, with the best will in the world, will take at least a decade to fill.

2009, Daniel Brumberg, Dina Shehata, Conflict, Identity, and Reform in the Muslim World:

With the best will in the world, I find it very difficult to explain how these official sources might have been subverted to falsify information, peddle untruths or generally seek to play games with the general public […]

2012, Jonathon Porritt, Capitalism as if the World Matters, page 4:

(UK) Even with an optimistic and charitable outlook; used to indicate the intractability of a problem.


desanitise

desanitise (third-person singular simple present desanitises, present participle desanitising, simple past and past participle desanitised)

desanitises (present singular third-person)
desanitising (participle present)
desanitised (participle past)
desanitised (past)

British standard spelling of desanitize.


shant

If yez is smart yer will take out enough for a shant and some fun, enough to buy yer missus or yer tart a new dress, enough to put shoes on yer sister's weans, even, but leave the rest under yer feet for the next day, an' the day arter that.

2013, Richard James Bentley, Greenbeard, →ISBN:

Welcoming Captain St Claire, Prince Rupert ordered him a shant of dark porter and called upon him to speak of his travels.

2015, Michael Moorcock -, The Whispering Swarm, →ISBN:

Well, if you're willing to sub me a shant of bivvy, then I'll tell ya

2016, Christopher James, Sherlock Holmes and The Adventure of the Ruby Elephants, →ISBN:

(UK, Ireland, slang) A drink, usually a pint.

Why, I wouldn't swap this old wrack of a shant , ez I've called it, with the treasures it contains to-day, for al the bloomin'est bloomed mansions that ever stood on the face of the earth.

1889, David Hill, Out of His Sphere: A Drama in Three Acts, page 33:

I clapped Ehren on the shoulder and went away to stare broodingly upon that cramph of a shant.

2009, Alan Burt Akers, The Havilfar Cycle II, →ISBN, page 148:

I'd rather deliver in the Glossop Grubber than that apology for a shant.

2014, Alexander Cordell, Tunnel Tigers, →ISBN:


flat-track bully

en-noun

flat-track bully (plural flat-track bullies)

(British, Australia, sports) A sportsperson or sports team that dominates over inferior sides, but fails to beat opponents of similar or higher standing.


rubbish dump

(UK, Ireland, Commonwealth) Synonym of landfill.


fight one's corner

en-verb

fight one's corner (third-person singular simple present fights one's corner, present participle fighting one's corner, simple past and past participle fought one's corner)

fights one's corner (present singular third-person)
fighting one's corner (participle present)
fought one's corner (participle past)
fought one's corner (past)
fight for one's corner (alternative)

The right hon. Gentleman the Member for Trinity College, who had fought his corner well for the landlords, must know the heavy disabilities under which the tenants referred to suffered through no fault of their own.

1896, The Parliamentary Debates of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, vol. XLIII, p. 866 (Google preview)

Mr Kornhauser could now have the British Government helping to fight his corner. Malcolm Rifkind, the Foreign Secretary, is to put pressure on the Swiss government.

1996 September 10, Charlie Bain, Louise Jury, “Swiss asked: 'Where is that stolen gold?'”, in Independent, UK, retrieved 2017-08-11:

Mr. Berezovsky left Russia for a relatively opulent self-exile. . . . [H]e estimated his fortune at some $3 billion and he has enlisted high-powered public relations and law firms to fight his corner.

2003 March 25, Alan Cowell, “Russian Billionaire Is Arrested in London”, in New York Times, retrieved 2017-08-11:

Dermot Ahern established himself as a reforming and combative minister during his two years holding the Justice portfolio. . . . [H]e relished fighting his corner with successive opposition spokesmen.

2010 December 1, Tom Brady, “Combative reformer who relished fighting his corner”, in Independent.ie, Ireland, retrieved 2017-08-11:

The gull stabbed and weaved. The big crab held up its fighting claws and circled. Suddenly all the birds in the tide water flew up at once in a clatter of wings. The crab fought his corner.

2013, Ian McDonald, chapter 62, in Chaga, →ISBN:

The federation, set up in 1919 after police were banned from taking industrial action when strikes led to riots and looting, is a statutory body that provides legal support to its officers, as well as fighting their corner like a union would over pay, conditions and welfare.

2025 April 5, John Simpson, “Police Federation under fire for backing ‘unsackable’ rogue cops”, in The Observer:

(chiefly UK, idiomatic) To vigorously promote or defend one's interests, views, etc.


lumps of delight

Twelve "lumps of delight," as the Mussulman — not mussel man — calls his sweetmeats!

1861, Herbert Byng Hall, The Oyster, page 16:

Rosa replies: “I want to go to the Lumps-of-Delight shop.”
“To the—?”
“A Turkish sweetmeat, sir. My gracious me, don’t you understand anything? Call yourself an Engineer, and not know that?”

1870 April–September, Charles Dickens, The Mystery of Edwin Drood, London: Chapman and Hall, […], published 1870, →OCLC:


keywork

(UK) The form of social work done by a keyworker.


deuseaville

deasyville (alternative)
deausaville (alternative)
deuceaville (alternative)
deuse a vile (alternative)
deuseavile (alternative)
dewsavell (alternative)
dewse-a-vile (alternative)
dewse-a-vyle (alternative)
deyseaville (alternative)
duceavil (alternative)
deusavil (alternative)

Duds and cheats thou oft hast won, / Yet the cuffin quire couldst shun; / And the deuseaville didst run, / Else the chates had thee undone.

1707, “The Rum-Mort's Praise of Her Faithless Maunder”, in Farmer, John Stephen, editor, Musa Pedestris, published 1896, page 36:

(obsolete, British, thieves' cant) The countryside.


Rum-ville

From rum (“good, fine, excellent”) + -ville (“town, city”).

suffix

Rom-vile (alternative)
Rome-vile (alternative)
Rome-ville (alternative)
Romeville (alternative)
Rome-vyle (alternative)
Rome vyle (alternative)
Rum File (alternative)
Rum-vile (alternative)
Rum ville (alternative)
Rum-vill (alternative)
Rumville (alternative)

"And said if we'd meet him at the boozing-ken with the dell and kinchin co, he'd carry them off to Rum-ville," continued the first speaker.

1861, Lady Esther Hope, The Blue Dwarf, page 21:

(archaic, British, thieves' cant) London, England.


moron in a hurry

en-noun

moron in a hurry (plural morons in a hurry)

(UK, law) Any hypothetical person used in a legal test related to trade marks; the "moron in a hurry" is the only person who could reasonably be imagined to confuse two marks.


person having ordinary skill in the art

person having ordinary skill in the art (plural persons having ordinary skill in the art or people having ordinary skill in the art)

people having ordinary skill in the art (plural)

(UK, law) A hypothetical person having the normal skills and knowledge in a particular technical field (an "art"), without being a genius; used in a legal test related to patents.


Great Wen

UK 1820s. From great (“very big”) + wen (“a cyst on the skin”). Coined by William Cobbett.

But, what is to be the fate of the great wen of all? The monster, called, by the silly coxcombs of the press, 'the metropolis of the empire?'

London is of vital importance to the communications, industry and towns of the south-east Midlands as a whole, though the proximity of 'the Great Wen' may be partly responsible for the fact that no town within it has a population of more than 130,000.

1962, C. T. Smith, “The South-East Midlands”, in J. B. Mitchell, editor, Great Britain: Geographical Essays, page 135:

2014 June 2, D.K, “Let the Great Wen get greater still”, in The Economist:

(UK, derogatory, informal) Derogatory name for London: the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom.


if the cap fits, wear it

if the shoe fits, wear it
if the shoe fits, wear it#English

(British) Alternative form of if the shoe fits, wear it.


HMC

w:Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference

(UK) Initialism of Headmasters’ and Headmistresses’ Conference.

HMC NS 70 (Pepys), 269 B[lack] N[otley]

w:Royal Commission on Historical Manuscripts

(UK) Initialism of Historical Manuscripts Commission.


bollocks to it

(UK, informal, vulgar) An expression of disappointment, disapproval, or frustration; the hell with it; forget it


landguard

(UK, historical) A division of customs stationed along the coast in an attempt to prevent smuggling.


throw a sprat to catch a mackerel

en-verb

throw<,,threw,thrown> a sprat to catch a mackerel

throw a sprat to catch a mackerel (third-person singular simple present throws a sprat to catch a mackerel, present participle throwing a sprat to catch a mackerel, simple past threw a sprat to catch a mackerel, past participle thrown a sprat to catch a mackerel)

throws a sprat to catch a mackerel (present singular third-person)
throwing a sprat to catch a mackerel (participle present)
threw a sprat to catch a mackerel (past)
thrown a sprat to catch a mackerel (participle past)

En-au-throw a sprat to catch a mackerel.ogg

It is pertinent to remember that in 1892, the M.S.W.J.R. had secured from the L.S.W.R. running powers between Andover and Southampton Dock, so no doubt the "Solent Scheme" should properly be regarded as a sprat set (successfully) to catch a mackerel.

1948 November and December, “Notes and News: Southampton and the M.S.W.J.R.”, in Railway Magazine, page 410:

(British, idiomatic) To sacrifice something of little value in the hope of gaining something better.


custard wind

(UK, dialect, chiefly in the plural) Any of the cold easterly winds prevalent on the northeast coast of England in spring.


Waitrosey

en-adj

Waitrosey (comparative more Waitrosey, superlative most Waitrosey)

more Waitrosey (comparative)
most Waitrosey (superlative)

From Waitrose (after its founders Wallace Waite and Arthur Rose) + -y.

Debit cards make you feel virtuous in a Waitrosey/Volvo kind of way, but you can't delay payment for 30 days, and, more important, you have no consumer protection.

2005, Country Life, volume 199, page 88:

There is no way that Tesco could justify such a massive hike. All prices at the big supermarkets are arbitrary and have little bearing on the actual intrinisc worth of any ingredient. They have a profit margin to maintain and I expect some bright spark suggested that grapeseed oil sounded a bit posh, a bit "Waitrosey", therefore the sort of product only rich people could afford, so let's whack the price up to make it seem a real luxury.

2008, MM, “Tesco's 185% increase in the price of grapeseed oil”, in uk.legal (Usenet):

'Is my thatch not immaculate?' This is most obvious in west Suffolk, where the old wool-based opulence has been fortified by the wagonloads of Waitrosey weekenders.

2014, Matthew Engel, Engel's England: Thirty-nine counties, one capital and one man:

(UK, rare, informal) Characteristic of the upmarket Waitrose supermarket chain


scaffie

(UK, dialect, dated) A dustman or street sweeper.


Tescoization

From Tesco, name of a British multinational grocery and general merchandise retailer (from the names T. E. Stockwell and Cohen), + -ization.

the Tescoization of public services

The movement against the Tesco-ization of small-town Britain is active in Todmorden. Decals reading 'Save our markets. No more supermarkets' are on prominent display throughout the town and a recent application for a further supermarket has been declined by the local council.

2013, Jessica Fanzo, Danny Hunter, Teresa Borelli, Diversifying Food and Diets:

Similar comments were prominent in publications from the Centre for Social Justice (2013, 2014), whose founder, Iain Duncan Smith, had previously criticized the so-called Tescoization of the charitable sector.

2016, Beth Breeze, J. Mohan, The Logic of Charity: Great Expectations in Hard Times, page 34:

(UK) A policy of aggressive commercial expansion.


couch a hogshead

en-verb

couch a hogshead (third-person singular simple present couches a hogshead, present participle couching a hogshead, simple past and past participle couched a hogshead)

couches a hogshead (present singular third-person)
couching a hogshead (participle present)
couched a hogshead (participle past)
couched a hogshead (past)

I couched a hogshead in a Skypper this darkemans.

1566, Thomas Harman, A Caveat or Warning for Common Cursitors, T. Bensley, published 1814, page 66:

Ben mort, shall you and I heave a bough, mill a ken, or nip a bung, and then we'll couch a hogshead under the ruffmans, and there you shall wap with me, and I'll niggle with you.

1611, Thomas Middleton, “The Roaring Girl”, in Arthur Henry Bullen, editor, The Works of Thomas Middleton, volume 4, published 1885, act 5, scene 1, pages 128–129:

Mayhap we have been in the same bousing ken or stalling ken at some time. Mayhap we have couched a hogshead at the same house in Southwark.

(obsolete, UK, thieves' cant) To lie down to sleep.


God's own country

(British) Nickname for Yorkshire: a county in northeast England.


tractor vaporising oil

(UK) A type of paraffin (untaxed) used to fuel agricultural machinery.


on the dry

I bumped into an old mate of mine, Bill, the other day whom I was banged up with in 1972 in St Bernard's Hospital. He's on the dry now but he told me he has had several lapses since we left muttering that it was all going to be different tomorrow.

1985 August 24, Jeffrey Bernard, “Low life: High and dry”, in The Spectator, page 34:

Then, maybe two weeks before cameras rolled, he'd put the blinkers on again and totally focus on it, and that included staying off the booze. 'I'm on the dry,' he'd announce.

2013, Robert Sellers, “A Date with Cronenburg”, in What Fresh Lunacy is This?: The Authorized Biography of Oliver Reed, Little, Brown Book Group, →ISBN, page 175:

Jessie J hasn't had an alcoholic drink since October 15, 2012. The 'Wild' singer can remember the exact date she last touched booze and claims she only ever drinks on very special occasions because alcohol leaves her lethargic and she worries it might ruin her career.

2013 July 13, “Jessie J on the dry since last October”, in Irish Examiner:

(idiomatic, informal, British, Ireland) temporarily refraining from drinking alcohol


do the needful

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

does the needful (present singular third-person)
doing the needful (participle present)
did the needful (past)
done the needful (participle past)

My father had, generally speaking, his temper under complete self command, and his anger rarely indicated itself by words, except in a sort of dry testy manner to those who had displeased him. He never used threats or expressions of loud resentment. All was arranged with him on system and it was his practice to "do the needful" on every occasion, without wasting words about it.

1817, Sir Walter Scott, chapter 2, in Rob Roy, volume 1, Edinburgh: James Ballantyne and Co., published 1818, page 24:

The best way to handle Biafra agitation is through a round table, dialogue with them since they feel they are not well treated. These people are hungry. Let the president do the needful by calling them to order, call the youth to order.

2017 November 3, Seun Opejobi, quoting Rev. Divine Okwara, “Biafra: Prophet Okwara reveals how Buhari can ‘kill’ agitation for Igbo nation”, in Daily Post (Nigeria):

(India, Nigeria, dated UK) To do that which is necessary or required.


strommel

From Old French *estramaille (“straw for bedding”), from Latin stramen (“straw for bedding”), from Proto-Indo-European *sterh₃- (“to spread”).

der

strammel (alternative)
strummel (alternative)

My doxy I have by the Salomon a doxy, that carries a kinchin mort in her slat at her backe, besides my dell and my dainty wild del, with all whom I'le tumble this next darkmans in the strommel, and drinke ben bause, and eate a fat gruntling cheate, a cackling cheae, and a quacking cheate.

1611, Thomas Middleton, Thomas Dekker, The Roaring Girle, Tudor Facsimile Texts, published 1914:

For quotations using this term, see Citations:strommel.


beneship

en-adj

beneship (comparative more beneship, superlative most beneship)

more beneship (comparative)
most beneship (superlative)
benship (alternative)

Towre ye, yander is the ken, dup the gyger and maunde that is beneship.
See you, yonder is the house, open the doore, and aske for the best.

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

Beneship, beneship dearlie. Settle thine arse sopra this chaise the while I preparare the wrinkle-mousse to smoddle thee in.

1984, Gillian Hanna, Elizabeth: Almost by Chance a Woman, translation of Quasi per caso una donna: Elisabetta by Fo, Dario:

(obsolete, UK, thieves' cant) Very good; excellent.


beneshiply

en-adv

beneshiply (comparative more beneshiply, superlative most beneshiply)

more beneshiply (comparative)
most beneshiply (superlative)
benshiply (alternative)

The doxy dell can cut bene whids, And wap well for a win, And prig and cloy so beneshiply, All the dewse-a-vill within.

, x, "O per se O", "The Canting Song", quoted in 2013, The Elizabethan Underworld - a collection of Tudor and Early Stuart Tracts: : Previously published 1930 and 1965 (Routledge), edited by A. V. Judges, page 381

(obsolete, UK, thieves' cant) Excellently


bene lightmans

(obsolete, UK, thieves' cant) Good day; a greeting said in the morning or daytime.


bene darkmans

been darkmans (alternative)
bein darkmans (alternative)

Bien Darkmans then, Bouse Mort and Ken,
 The bien Coves bings awast,
On Chates to trine by Rome-Coves dine,
 For his long lib at last.
Bing'd out bien Morts and toure, and toure,
 Bing out of the Rome vile bine,
And toure the Cove that cloyd your duds,
 Upon the Chates to trine.

1665, Richard Head, Francis Kirkman, The English Rogue, part 1, page 46:

"Bene darkmans, Drothe," said Jelem. "I hear you've been looking for me."

2011, Douglas Hulick, chapter 12, in Among Thieves:

“Think I'll look out from the foremast tonight, Mister Majoor,” Bram said. “Bene darkmans, O'Brian.”
“Bene darkmans,” O'Brian said, yawning. He handed Bram the spyglass before shuffling off.

2015, Eve Yohalem, chapter 15, in Cast Off: The Strange Adventures of Petra de Winter and Bram Broen:

But one darkmans, when the moon glimmed full and sharp over Drury, I spied him padding it home to his lodgings[…]'B-b-bene darkmans, Bess,' he called out[…]

(archaic, UK, thieves' cant) Good night; a farewell said in the evening or nighttime.


prayer card

Normally sittings of the House of Commons begin with prayers and, at intervals along the back of each bench, there are little brass frames for holding prayer cards.

2009, Dennis Canavan, Let the People Decide: The Autobiography of Dennis Canavan:

(UK, politics) In the House of Commons, a card reserving a seat for a backbencher during prayers and for the rest of the day.


jobbie jabber

jobbie jabbers (plural)
jobby jabber (alternative)

From jobbie (“lump of shit”) + jabber (“one who jabs”), in reference to anal sex.

By the time the bell goes, I think most of us have forgotten the jobbie jabber's even in the cupboard

He's a bit of a jobbie jabber if you know wha' a mean. Aye, he's gay. But he's actually alright.

2020, Jon Bradfield, Martin Hooper, He's Behind You: Eleven Gay Pantomimes:

(childish, vulgar, UK, slang) A homosexual man.


bene cove

bene coves (plural)
ben cofe (alternative)
ben cove (alternative)
bencove (alternative)
ben cull (alternative)
ben-cull (alternative)
bene cofe (alternative)
bene cull (alternative)
bien cofe (alternative)
bien cove (alternative)

(obsolete, UK, thieves' cant) A friend; a good fellow; a good companion.


Robbins principle

From its appearance in the 1963 Robbins Report from the Committee on Higher Education, chaired by Lord Robbins.

(UK, education) The idea that university places should be available to everybody who qualifies for them by ability and attainment.


have drink taken

en-verb

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

has drink taken (present singular third-person)
having drink taken (participle present)
had drink taken (participle past)
had drink taken (past)

My client had drink taken when he vandalised that wall, Your Honour.

The coroner wanted to know where the hell he thought he was going, and the Sheep explained that he was “going behind”, for he had drink taken and his bladder was weak.

1970, Eric Cross, The Tailor and Ansty, page 106:

Next day on the Earl's Court Road I had drink taken and they said, rather unkindly, that I was seen running down the center of the street swinging an umbrella and that I attacked poor MacDoon who only asked that I desist.

(UK, Ireland, colloquial, humorous) To be (extremely) drunk.


livery yard

(UK, Ireland) A stable where horse owners pay a regular fee to keep their horses.


blow me over

'Well blow me over, if it isn't Barley Bloody Blair,' a familiar voice declared from the centre of a multi-lingual display of illustrated Bibles.

Well, blow me over. If it isn't Mr. Randilin himself. What a pleasant surprise!

2016, Daniel Blackaby, The Lost City Chronicles:

(UK, slang, archaic) An expression of surprise.


blow me pink

Why the guv'nor's going to marry again. Well blow me pink! 'E ain't 'arf a husband, 'e's got a few still living!

1904, Edgar Wallace, An African Millionaire:


blow me tight

Puss 'unting is werry well for cripples, and those that keep donkeys (renewed cheers from the blues, with angry looks from the green-coated gentry)—Blow me tight, but I never sees a chap a trudging along the turnpike, with a thick stick in his 'and, and a pipe in his mouth, but I says to myself, there goes a man well-mounted for 'arriers!

1838 December 10, “The Handley-Cross Hounds”, in The New Sporting Magazine, volume 15, number 92, page 346:

"Wallingford lock!" they answered. "Lor' love you, sir, that’s been done away with for over a year. There ain't no Wallingford lock now, sir. You’re close to Cleeve now. Blow me tight if 'ere ain't a gentleman been looking for Wallingford lock, Bill!"

1889, Jerome K. Jerome, chapter 9, in Three Men in a Boat […] :

(UK, Ireland, Commonwealth, slang, archaic) An expression of surprise.


bin lorry

(UK, informal) a special-purpose vehicle for the collection of domestic (and commercial) waste.


yaff

yaff (third-person singular simple present yaffs, present participle yaffing, simple past and past participle yaffed)

yaffs (present singular third-person)
yaffing (participle present)
yaffed (participle past)
yaffed (past)


AFA

en-noun

AFA (countable and uncountable, plural AFAs)

Faculty of Actuaries
w:Faculty of Actuaries

(UK) Initialism of Associate of the Faculty of Actuaries (professional qualification).


kinchin lay

This is still a popular form of the "Kinchin lay", and as the turbands are often of fine stuff, the petite industrie pays well.

1885, Richard F. Burton, chapter XXV, in The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night, volume I, The Burton Club, page 259 footnote:

(obsolete, UK, thieves' cant) The robbing of children.


stanstickle

threespine stickleback
threespine stickleback

(UK, dialectal) A small fish, the threespine stickleback.


CTCRM

w:Commando Training Centre Royal Marines

(UK, military) Initialism of Commando Training Centre Royal Marines.


SIPP

SIPP (countable and uncountable, plural SIPPs)

self-invested personal pension
w:self-invested personal pension

(UK, pensions) Acronym of self-invested personal pension.


overyear

(UK, dialect) Kept over from the previous year.


overyear

en-verb

overyear (third-person singular simple present overyears, present participle overyearing, simple past and past participle overyeared)

overyears (present singular third-person)
overyearing (participle present)
overyeared (participle past)
overyeared (past)

(UK, dialect, transitive) To keep (seed, etc.) from the previous year.


flimp

flimp (third-person singular simple present flimps, present participle flimping, simple past and past participle flimped)

flimps (present singular third-person)
flimping (participle present)
flimped (participle past)
flimped (past)

Not worth flimping, eh?

1985 October 24, Martin Banham, Plays by Tom Taylor: Still Waters Run Deep, The Contested Election, The Overland Route, The Ticket-of-Leave Man, Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, page 166:

I don't go to say that what with flimping, and with cly-faking, […]

(obsolete, UK, thieves' cant) To steal; to commit petty theft.


grockle box

grockle boxes (plural)
grockle-box (alternative)

From the fact that it is a container for grockles.

Mind, there were a good few grockle boxes around this weekend, so maybe things are picking up a bit ;)

2001 April 17, Sue H, “Meet - 21st April- The Crumplehorn Inn”, in uk.local.southwest (Usenet):

Well said. Get rid of the grockle box's and a the pikey mutha farker's who tow them.

2003 July 3, Groid, “OT - Caravan owners”, in : uk.radio.amateur (Usenet):

What is a Winnebago? Think grockle box but 10 times worse.

2011 January 27, Brian Howie, “OT:Radio 4 News Item”, in uk.radio.amateur (Usenet):

Are you thinking of getting a grockle box then Markyboy?

2015 February 21, charles, “Not more retuning”, in uk.tech.digital-tv (Usenet):

(slang, British, various parts of the West Country) A caravan; a trailer that is used as holiday accommodation.


roggle

roggle (third-person singular simple present roggles, present participle roggling, simple past and past participle roggled)

roggles (present singular third-person)
roggling (participle present)
roggled (participle past)
roggled (past)


city desk

Many expected the then editor of the Daily Mirror, Piers Morgan, who had traded stock on the basis of his city desk's inside tips, to be fired, but he retained the support of the company, until eventually a bigger, ethical scandal involving faked pictures forced him from office.

2014, Ian Hargreaves, Journalism: A Very Short Introduction, page 87:

(British, newspapers) The department or staff responsible for reporting and editing financial and business news.


epiphanise

epiphanise (third-person singular simple present epiphanises, present participle epiphanising, simple past and past participle epiphanised)

epiphanises (present singular third-person)
epiphanising (participle present)
epiphanised (participle past)
epiphanised (past)

British standard spelling of epiphanize.


LAC

(UK, education) Initialism of looked-after children.


CFH

(UK) Initialism of critical fall height: a measurement used in gauging the amount of safety surfacing required under children's play equipment.


NHBC

National House Building Council
w:National House Building Council

(UK) Initialism of National House Building Council.


T-Charge

The world's toughest emission standard, the £10 Toxicity Charge (T-Charge) to help tackle London's lethal air pollution and get older more polluting cars off the roads has today (Monday 23rd October 2017) been introduced by the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan.

2017 October 23, “GLA - Mayor’s new £10 ‘T-Charge’ starts today”, in Transport for London:

Like the current ULEZ emissions standards, the T-Charge targeted car, van, lorry, coach and bus drivers in vehicles deemed to produce higher levels of exhaust emissions, but the standards were much less stringent, meaning that fewer drivers had to pay.

2019 November 7, “What is the London T-Charge?”, in Buy a Car, archived from the original on 2020-10-13:

(UK) A surcharge from 2017 to 2019 on top of the normal congestion charge for motor vehicles in London, England, and applicable only to older vehicles that generate more pollution.


non-inscrit

From French non (“not”) inscrit (“registered”).

A non inscrit can produce amendments but he cannot be a rapporteur.

1972, Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons, Papers by Command:

Lastly, a pair of moves that are invisible in Table 17-4 involves one non-inscrit who affiliated with the Gaullist group only to return to the ranks of the non-inscrits one week later.

1986, Philip E. Converse, Roy Pierce, Political Representation in France, Harvard University Press, →ISBN, page 548:

The vice-presidents are members, along with the chairs of the six permanent commissions, the rapporteur général of the finance commission, the presidents of the political groups (including a delegate representing the non-inscrits) [...]

2009, P. Smith, The Senate of the Fifth French Republic, Springer, →ISBN, page 178:

(politics, especially in France and UK, Ireland) An independent politician.


hairdresser's

C’mon, Fangmei Wu, you know that I know what’s going on, what kind of services are being provided behind the closed doors of hairdressers’, beauty salons, and massage parlors.

2009, Shouhua Qi, “The Evidence”, in Love Me, Love My Dog and Other Stories, English Chinese Bilingual Edition, Southington, Conn.: WingsAsCloudsPress, →ISBN, page 8:


teejay

(UK, dated, slang) At Winchester College, a new boy placed under the care of older pupils.


arslikhan

Alteration of arse-licking. Coined by Private Eye.

The constituency's large Jewish population is in open revolt over the Foreign Secretary's Arafat arslikhan.

As this passage suggests, Masters is a graduate of the Arslikhan school of biography.

1996, Francis Wheen, Lord Gnome's Literary Companion, Verso, →ISBN, page 226:

We'll have a couple of after-dinner speeches – I'll say a few words, interspersing a couple of jokes with a vote of arslikhan thanks for their business, and then introduce our guest speaker.

2012, David Croydon, The Unprincipled, Hilltop Publishing Ltd, →ISBN:

(UK, slang) Overt flattery, especially in print.


shitcunt

(chiefly Australia, New Zealand, UK, Ireland, Commonwealth, slang, vulgar, derogatory, offensive) A term of abuse.


cash for crash

(UK) A form of scam in which a motor vehicle collision is staged in order to claim insurance money.


mothering-cake

(British, food) A simnel cake; one of various dessert cakes eaten on Mothering Sunday.


turnip tops

There are many ways to eat this green: Italian-style, lightly boiled, rinsed, wrung and dressed in olive oil and garlic; south American-style with bacon, sausage or ham and Cajun seasoning; southern Indian-style in a poriyal (a fried vegetable dish); northern Spanish-style with potatoes, sweet paprika and a touch of red-wine vinegar; or fermented, Asian-style, as pickles. Turnip tops appear in many cuisines for good reason: they fill a very hungry gap.

2010 October 25, Alys Fowler, “Alys Fowler: Turnip tops”, in The Guardian:


on the lash

There's endless coverage of drunken "ladettes" out on the lash, young girls being sick into gutters, lying in streets, smoking, getting pregnant, looking gormless, telling people with research clipboards that "all they wanna be is famous, innit".

2011 January 9, Barbara Ellen, “Too many of us treat young white women as trash”, in The Observer:

(UK, slang) Out drinking socially; usually involving heavy alcohol consumption.


rulley

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

When a trolley was fully loaded it was moved to a narrow platform (called a butting strip) against which rulleys [f]or the various town delivery districts were backed, and the goods were transferred from the trolley to the rulleys.

1944 March and April, T. F. Cameron, “The Working of Marshalling Yards and Goods Sheds”, in Railway Magazine, page 85:

We picked up the Ellerbecks at the Station — as Chapel Steward he'd been kept a seat at Mr Dowthwaite's right hand on the first rulley — then on to town where market day slowed us to a walk and, sometimes, a halt, as other wagons manoeuvred on the cobbled square.

1982 [1980], J L Carr, A Month in the Country, Harmondsworth, Middlesex: Penguin Books/Harvester Press, →ISBN, page 97:

(UK, Yorkshire) A four-wheeled horse- or tractor-drawn wagon, usually with low or non-existent sides, used for farm work, to carry goods and, on occasion, people. Fixed rear axle, turntable front axle.


churchtown

From Middle English *chirchetoun, from Old English ċiriċtūn. Equivalent to church + town.

Zennor Churchtown

Attached to a house in the churchtown is a tablet inscribed thus:— […]

1872, Joseph Polsue, A Complete Parochial History of the County of Cornwall:

About half a mile Southwest of the churchtown is Tredrea, the seat of the Rev. Edward Giddy.

1791, Peter Barfoot, John Wilkes (of Milland House, Sussex), The Universal British Directory of Trade, Commerce, and Manufacture (volume 2, page 539)

Like many Cornish fishing villages, Gorran is in two parts: a cluster of cottages and houses built around the harbour, and higher inland a 'churchtown', where the streets are broader, the houses bigger and the smell of fish (in the past) less invasive.

2015, Kirsty Fergusson, Cornwall (Slow Travel), page 163:

(UK) In the southwest of England, a hamlet or village distinguished by being the location of a parish church.


go walkabout

go walkabout (third-person singular simple present goes walkabout, present participle going walkabout, simple past went walkabout, past participle gone walkabout)

goes walkabout (present singular third-person)
going walkabout (participle present)
went walkabout (past)
gone walkabout (participle past)

The paper shredder seems to have gone walkabout.

(UK, Australia, colloquial, of an object) To go missing from its usual place; to be lost or stolen.


faffy

en-adj

faffy (comparative faffier, superlative faffiest)

faffier (comparative)
faffiest (superlative)

[...] three kinds of pickles, the tinned peaches ready in a bowl with a jug of fresh cream on the serving hatch, home-made cakes, tarts and chocolate biscuits. It was a faffy, time-consuming job […]

1986, Gwynneth Branfoot, Men have all the fun, page 125:

Maybe go nuts with a sprinkle of sea salt and a crack of black pepper. Other than that, I'd be an idiot to interrupt their perfection with a faffy recipe.

2017, Hollie Newton, How to Grow: A guide for gardeners who can't garden yet, →ISBN:

(UK, informal) Time-consuming or awkward; too complicated or fancy.


Hackgate

(UK, slang) The News International phone hacking scandal.


Pizzagate

Battle of the Buffet
Pizzagate conspiracy theory

(UK, sports, slang) A 2004 controversy around the alleged throwing of food (variously reported as pizza, soup, or coffee) at Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson by an unknown Arsenal player after a match between those two teams.


Westlandgate

(UK, slang) A 1985 controversy around government plans to bail out the helicopter company Westland.


foof

‘You may have a ring on your hand but I'm of the opinion there's no chastity belt on your foof,’ he whispered.

2013, Karenne Griffin, New Voices in the Valley, page 299:

I am proud of my foof. A vagina is empowering.

2017 November 19, John Crace, The Guardian:


EYFS

(UK, education) Initialism of Early Years Foundation Stage.


Moz

(UK, slang) Morrissey (born 1959), an English singer-songwriter and author.


blow one's own trumpet

en-verb

blow one's own trumpet (third-person singular simple present blows one's own trumpet, present participle blowing one's own trumpet, simple past blew one's own trumpet, past participle blown one's own trumpet)

blows one's own trumpet (present singular third-person)
blowing one's own trumpet (participle present)
blew one's own trumpet (past)
blown one's own trumpet (participle past)

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-blow one's own trumpet.wav

(British, Commonwealth, idiomatic) To praise oneself.


Tiggerish

en-adj

Tiggerish (comparative more Tiggerish, superlative most Tiggerish)

more Tiggerish (comparative)
most Tiggerish (superlative)

From Tigger + -ish, from the nature of the fictional character Tigger in works about Winnie-the-Pooh by the English author A. A. Milne (1882–1956).

In the crucial scene of third-degree examination the wife of the accused turns on the magistrate and berates him with tiggerish ferocity and later stabs him to his death by way of reprisal.

1920, Burns Mantle, The Best Plays of 1919–1920: And the Year Book of the Drama in America (The Burns Mantle Yearbook), Boston, Mass.: Small, Maynard & Company, →OCLC, page 431:

And still there is about him a hint of the ingenu; a Tiggerish quality of enthusiasm for the [Tony] Blair vision that has nothing to do with fawning loyalism.

1996, New Statesman, volume 125, London: New Statesman Ltd., →ISSN, →OCLC, page 25, column 2:

If you want to kill inertia and overcome the hard part of starting up, in your own way you've got to develop Tiggerish characteristics. You need a relentless, boundless optimistic enthusiasm for what can be achieved although it is yet to happen […]

2009, Will King, “Chapter New: You”, in How to Build a Great Business in Tough Times: The King of Shaves Story, London: Headline Business Plus, →ISBN:

Everyone likes Sam – often despite themselves – because he makes them feel likeable, because they want him to like them back, because he exudes such a Tiggerish enthusiasm for life. Quite simply, he makes life more interesting.

2010, Iain Hollingshead, chapter 2, in Beta Male: Four Friends, Three Assumed Identities, Two Weddings and One Very Dangerous Bet, London, New York, N.Y.: Duckworth Overlook, →ISBN:

Perhaps because of these emotionally engaging techniques, [Adam] Curtis inspires cultish devotion, and not just from viewers – he has won six Baftas. A former politics tutor at Oxford, and a Tiggerish man of 55, it's surprising to learn that he began his career in TV working on the zany magazine show That's Life! […]

2011 May 6, Katharine Viner, “Adam Curtis: Have computers taken away our power?”, in The Guardian, London, archived from the original on 2017-08-10:

(British) (Excessively) cheerful and exuberant; bouncy.


tolter

en-verb

tolter (third-person singular simple present tolters, present participle toltering, simple past and past participle toltered)

tolters (present singular third-person)
toltering (participle present)
toltered (participle past)
toltered (past)

From Middle English *tolteren, from Old English tealtrian (“to totter, vacillate”), from Proto-Germanic *taltrōną, *taltōną (“to sway, dangle, hesitate”), from Proto-Indo-European *del-, *dul- (“to shake, hesitate”). Doublet of totter.


quangoization

(UK) The process of introducing quangos.


rizzle

en-verb

rizzle (third-person singular simple present rizzles, present participle rizzling, simple past and past participle rizzled)

rizzles (present singular third-person)
rizzling (participle present)
rizzled (participle past)
rizzled (past)


foeticidal

en-adj

foeticidal (comparative more foeticidal, superlative most foeticidal)

more foeticidal (comparative)
most foeticidal (superlative)

From foeticide + -al or foetus + -cidal.


labour exchange

en-noun

labour exchange (plural labour exchanges)

Isn't it taking candour unwisely far to anticipate clueless responses from some station staff and excuse them on the grounds that "some of the chaps you see in uniform have just arrived from the labour exchange"?

1963 February, “Nobody runs this railway, mate”, in Modern Railways, page 75:

Against her father’s wishes, at the age of 18 Elizabeth registered at a labour exchange and undertook a vehicle maintenance course at Aldershot, Hampshire, learning how to strip an engine.

September 8 2022, Stephen Bates, “Queen Elizabeth II obituary”, in The Guardian:

Wadebridge area railwaymen were reported in the local press as "worried", while National Union of Railwaymen (NUR) Wadebridge branch secretary W J Hambly believed "the rail closures will mean dole queues at the Labour Exchange for many".

2023 March 22, Mike Esbester, “Staff, the public and industry will suffer”, in RAIL, number 979, page 38:

(dated, UK) An employment agency, a job centre.


silver beer

(UK) Beer traditionally served after a game of Cornish hurley; the silver ball from the game is placed in the jug.


en-proverb

what you lose on the swings you gain on the roundabouts

you win some, you lose some
you win some, you lose some

(UK) There are both gains and losses in life; you win some, you lose some.


outlodging

(UK, historical) A lodging outside the college bounds at Oxford or Cambridge.


scoved

en-adj

scoved (comparative more scoved, superlative most scoved)

more scoved (comparative)
most scoved (superlative)


greyers

From grey + -er + -s, using the Oxford "-er".

(UK, school slang) Grey trousers as part of a school uniform.


moffle

en-verb

moffle (third-person singular simple present moffles, present participle moffling, simple past and past participle moffled)

moffles (present singular third-person)
moffling (participle present)
moffled (participle past)
moffled (past)

(intransitive, UK, dialect, dated) To do something clumsily.


American cloth

[…] who sat on two benches before a long table covered with American cloth and set out with immense plates of bread and dripping and two brown jugs that faintly steamed.

1918 June, Katherine Mansfield [pseudonym; Kathleen Mansfield Murry], “Prelude”, in Bliss and Other Stories, London: Constable & Company, published 1920, →OCLC, page 4:


oaf-rocked

en-adj

oaf-rocked (comparative more oaf-rocked, superlative most oaf-rocked)

more oaf-rocked (comparative)
most oaf-rocked (superlative)

Oaf is possibly a corruption of half or elf.

(UK, Yorkshire dialect, obsolete) Weak of intellect from infancy.

(UK, Yorkshire dialect, obsolete) Badly brought up; spoiled.


twankle

en-verb

twankle (third-person singular simple present twankles, present participle twankling, simple past and past participle twankled)

twankles (present singular third-person)
twankling (participle present)
twankled (participle past)
twankled (past)

(UK, dialect) To twang with the fingers on a music instrument.


binology

(journalism, UK) the ethically questionable practice of searching through the dustbins of celebrities and other public figures to obtain information for use in tabloid newspapers


gammock

en-noun

gammock (countable and uncountable, plural gammocks)

gammocks (plural)
gammick (alternative)
gammik (alternative)
gammuk (alternative)
gammyk (alternative)
gamock (alternative)
gamalk (alternative)
gammux (alternative)
gommack (alternative)

Uncertain. Perhaps from Middle English *gammok, from Old English *gamnoc, *gamenoc (“little game, bit of fun”), equivalent to game + -ock (diminutive suffix). Alternatively, perhaps from Old English *gamnecian, *gamenecian (“to frolic”), from Old English gamen (“sport, amusement”) + -(e)cian (frequentative suffix).

(UK, dialect, uncountable) Fun, sport, play, frolic.

(UK, dialect, countable) A joke, trick, prank.


gammock

en-verb

gammock (third-person singular simple present gammocks, present participle gammocking, simple past and past participle gammocked)

gammocks (present singular third-person)
gammocking (participle present)
gammocked (participle past)
gammocked (past)
gammick (alternative)
gammik (alternative)
gammuk (alternative)
gammyk (alternative)
gamock (alternative)
gamalk (alternative)
gammux (alternative)
gommack (alternative)

(UK, dialect, intransitive) To romp, frolic, play pranks, lark about; to go partying from place to place.


take the shilling

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

takes the shilling (present singular third-person)
taking the shilling (participle present)
took the shilling (past)
taken the shilling (participle past)

/teɪk ðə ˈʃɪlɪŋ/

A reference to the practice during the 18th and 19th century of a recruiting officer getting a person to enlist in the British Army or Royal Navy by accepting (or being tricked into accepting) a shilling, which was then a soldier’s daily pay. The practice was officially ended in 1879.

[O]ne fellow was jilted by his miſtreſs and took the ſhilling in deſpair; […]

1852, William Makepeace Thackeray, “Mohun Appears for the Last Time in This History”, in The History of Henry Esmond, Esq. […] , volume III, London: […] Smith, Elder, & Company, […], →OCLC, page 135:

I have taken the King's shilling, but perhaps if you came for me they would let me go back with you. I was a fool when I did it. I don't want to be in the army.

1913, D[avid] H[erbert] Lawrence, “Strife in Love”, in Sons and Lovers, London: Duckworth & Co. […], →OCLC, part II, page 182:

(British, military, historical) To enlist as a soldier in the British army or navy by accepting a shilling from a recruiting officer.

värväytyä šillingistä

to enlist as a soldier in the British army or navy by accepting a shilling from a recruiting officer


status zer0

Status Zer0 (alternative)
status zero (alternative)

A cursory comparison of status zer0 young people from two neighbouring, but contrasting localities illuminates not only important similarities amongst status zer0 young people but also some striking differences: in backgrounds, support networks, attitudes and anticipated futures.

1997, Howard Williamson, Youth and policy: contexts and consequences, →ISBN:

At their most desperate or resourceful, young women who are status zer0 survive through the criminal economy and in many cases through prostitution.

2004, Anita Harris, Future Girl: Young Women in the Twenty-First Century, →ISBN:

What was particularly disturbing in the data is that, of those in 'status zer0', 'long-term' members far outnumbered the 'short-termers' who had spent less than six months out of work and learning - only 6 out of the 402 sample (Istance et al., 1994, p. 53).

2004, Peter Dwyer, Johanna Wyn, Youth, Education and Risk: Facing the Future, →ISBN, page 40:

(UK, dated, of youth) A status of having no employment and not in any educational or training programme.


lean over backwards

lean over backwards (third-person singular simple present leans over backwards, present participle leaning over backwards, simple past and past participle leaned over backwards or leant over backwards)

leans over backwards (present singular third-person)
leaning over backwards (participle present)
leaned over backwards (participle past)
leaned over backwards (past)
leant over backwards (participle past)
leant over backwards (past)

We're leaning over backwards to give gay people a place to go.

1976 December 4, Tom Dungel, quotee, “Opulent Rainbow Disco Makes Boston Debut”, in Gay Community News, volume 4, number 23, page 3:

bend over backwards
bend over backwards#English


red-tapeism

British standard spelling of red-tapism.


gammerstang

(UK, dialect, archaic) A tall, awkward person, especially a wanton girl.


scrumpy and western

(UK, humorous, music) A genre of comical folk songs from England's West Country.


oven bottom

They'd just got a delivery and it smelt lovely, and some oven bottoms as well. I'll make us a nice sarnie.

2017, Pam Howes, The Lost Daughter of Liverpool:

(UK, regional) A kind of muffin or bread roll.


TRF

Transport Research Foundation
w:Transport Research Foundation

(UK) Initialism of Transport Research Foundation.


chucker-out

Then Dawes made a remark which caused Paul to throw half a glass of beer in his face. “Oh, Mr. Morel!” cried the barmaid, and she rang the bell for the “chucker-out.”

1913, D. H. Lawrence, “Baxter Dawes”, in Sons and Lovers, page 345:

"An old scrapper don't find many openings. Chucker-out at a pub with free drinks. Nothing doing there."

1925 July – 1926 May, A[rthur] Conan Doyle, “(please specify the chapter number)”, in The Land of Mist (eBook no. 0601351h.html), Australia: Project Gutenberg Australia, published April 2019:

[…] a shining angel, but — pitch! — ah now, Mrs. Philip Ederney! There's no denying that the dad's soul mayn't be as white as it would be if he hadn't spent ten years as a chucker-out in a speak-easy in Chicago. Souls get a bit blind and tough in that sort of job and, sure enough, […]

2000, Joseph O'Neill, M. Kelly Lynch, The Black Shore, Bucknell University Press, →ISBN, page 195:

Then came the end of the turn, when the dummy asked us all to 'kindly rise and give a toast to his Majesty the King', at which Mack didn't stand but shouted, 'Kindly leave off, will you?' I moved along the row of seats towards him. By the time I got to him they were changing the scenery on the stage, and he was having a fight with the chucker-out.

2009, Andrew Martin, The Necropolis Railway: A Historical Novel, Faber & Faber, →ISBN:

But the feature of the place was really Abdul, the chucker-out. Abdul was a huge fellow, reputed to be an^([sic]) eunuch, coal-black, shiny, and with biceps that would have made Jack Dempsey cry.

2015, Robin Hyde, Passport to Hell, Auckland University Press, →ISBN, page 97:


Pac-Man defence

en-noun

Pac-Man defence (plural Pac-Man defences)

(UK) Alternative spelling of Pac-Man defense.


on the telephone

(dated, UK) Connected to a telephone system.


poshen

en-verb

poshen (third-person singular simple present poshens, present participle poshening, simple past and past participle poshened)

poshens (present singular third-person)
poshening (participle present)
poshened (participle past)
poshened (past)

([…] He's a grammar-school lad on the make, who poshened up at Cambridge and now can't speak normal, which makes him sound ludicrous when he tries. Along the way he also poshened up his team, dumping Fulham to follow Chelsea.)

1997, New Statesman, volume 126, numbers 4316-4327, page 35:

Most people tend to poshen up their accent if they go for a job interview and a lot of us have a Sunday-best voice for when we answer the phone or talk to the doctor. We save our real accent for our family and friends.

2005, Judith Holder, It's Grim Up North, page 99:

(ambitransitive, UK) To make or become posh, to posh up


franzy

en-adj

franzy (comparative more franzy, superlative most franzy)

more franzy (comparative)
most franzy (superlative)


hairy canary

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

McPhee would have had a hairy canary if the flabby, sweaty bastard before her started gyrating to music and taking his egg stained jumper off to reveal his man boobs.

2019, Jennifer Lee Thomson, How Kirsty Gets Her Kicks:


like painting the Forth Bridge

The bridge across the Firth of Forth was in a continuous state of being painted (until finished in 2011, 122 years after its completion): (owing to its large size) as soon as one end was reached, it was time to begin all over again.

Where only an overview has been given, I hope that the book will provide a useful springboard and the appropriate legal advice is sought. The revision has been rather like painting the Forth Bridge and whilst every effort has been made to bring the law as up to date as possible, events often overtake one and a keen eye should be kept on the construction journals and newspapers.

2014, Stephanie Owen, J. R. Lewis, Law for the Construction Industry, page viii:

Weeding can feel like painting the Forth Bridge—by the time you finish, it’s time to start again.

2017 April 29, Alys Fowler, “How to win the war on weeds”, in The Guardian:

(chiefly UK) Never-ending; said of a task which will never be completed due to the perpetual cycle of having to recommence as soon as one has reached the end, or of efforts that are in vain because of this.


tight as a gnat's chuff

tight as a gnat's chuff (not comparable)

(UK, slang, vulgar) Extremely tight (in various senses: narrow, stingy, etc.).


cumper

From Tony Cumper, imposter who apparently named himself after Captain William John Cumper MC, a founding member of the SAS.

(British, colloquial) A man who concocts or massively exaggerates a military service record for himself, usually claiming membership of the special forces.


jerrymunglum

The well known Galeodes, is very common in arid countries, and is popularly known as a "Jerrymunglum." It is a harmless arthropod.

1929, Walter Scott Patton, Alwen M Evans, Insects, Ticks, Mites and Venomous Animals of Medical and Veterinary Importance:

Your correspondence about contests staged between scorpions and spiders recalls a small military cantonment in Hyderabad (Deccan) in 1893. We were a small community, and one of our after-dinner amusements was to stage jerrymunglum v. Scorpion contests within the confines of an inverted finger bowl.

1948, Country Life, volume 104, page 488:

Jerrymunglums are relatives of the spiders and scorpions and are not true insects.

1959, Nesta Pain, Grassblade Jungle, page 174:

(British, dated) Synonym of camel spider (arachnid of the order Solifugae)


wet bob

(UK, slang, dated) A schoolboy who goes in for rowing in preference to cricket or football.


panny

The pigs frisked my panny, and nailed my screws; the officers searched my house, and seized my pick-lock keys.

1823, Francis Grose, Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue, page 7:

Why, you would not be boosing till lightman's in a square crib like mine, as if you were in a flash panny?

1828, Edward Bulwer Lytton Baron Lytton, Pelham, Or, Adventures of a Gentleman:


Gabriel's hounds

(UK, dialect, obsolete) curlews or nightjars, whose cries are associated with various superstitions


corpse hounds

Gabriel's hounds
Gabriel's hounds#English

(UK, dialect, obsolete) Synonym of Gabriel's hounds.


travis

(British) A screen or partition between stable stalls.


bastard toadflax

en-noun

bastard toadflax (usually uncountable, plural bastard toadflaxes)

Any of several related hemiparasitic plants in the family Santalaceae.

(UK, Ireland) Any plant in the genus Thesium.


Montenegrinisation

British standard spelling of Montenegrinization.


Pestminster

Those following what has been dubbed “Pestminster” may nevertheless struggle to keep up with the Byzantine internal reporting structures, the range of accusations being levied and the sheer number of MPs involved.

2017 3 November, Julia Rampen, “A week in Pestminster”, in New Statesman:

Activists turned Westminster into “Pestminster” today to highlight a perceived lack of action over Parliament’s sexual harassment scandal.

2018 26 October, Kate Proctor, Ella Wills, “The next station is now Pestminster”, in Evening Standard:

It’s shocking that two years after the ‘Pestminster’ scandal, female MPs are fleeing politics.

2019 31 October, Catherine Mayer, “It’s shocking that two years after the ‘Pestminster’ scandal, female MPs are fleeing politics”, in The Telegraph:

(UK, informal) A scandal involving sexual harassment by members of the British parliament.


Jenny Greenteeth

(UK, dialect) pondweed or duckweed, which forms a mat-like surface on water and makes it look treacherously like dry land


grundylow

(UK, folklore, mythology) Alternative form of grindylow.


grindylow

grindylows (plural)
grundylow (alternative)

Possibly connected to Grendel, the monster from the epic Beowulf.

(UK, folklore, mythology) A folkloric creature, said to inhabit water and to grab children with its long sinewy arms and drown them.


on the rob

He tries to plug himself in the mains with his knob,
And when he's fully recharged he goes out on the rob.

2004, Goldie Lookin Chain (band), Half Man Half Machine (song)


strub

en-verb

strub (third-person singular simple present strubs, present participle strubbing, simple past and past participle strubbed)

strubs (present singular third-person)
strubbing (participle present)
strubbed (participle past)
strubbed (past)

Origin obscure. Perhaps from Middle English strupen, a variant of strepen (“to strip, rob, plunder”), from Old English *strȳpan (attested in Old English bestrȳpan (“to strip, rob, spoil, bereave”), whence English bestrip). More at strip.

cog

"[…] I mind a year ago, when I found a gladdy's nest and strubbed it, he catched me blowing the eggs to put along with others for a necklace for Jonathan French's sister, and, if he could have done it, he'd have given me a proper hiding."

1920, Eden Phillpotts, The Thief of Virtue, page 172:

(UK, dialect, ambitransitive) To rob, plunder; clear out completely; to strip.


sponditious

en-adj

sponditious (comparative more sponditious, superlative most sponditious)

more sponditious (comparative)
most sponditious (superlative)

Popularised by the English comedian Lenny Henry with his Delbert Wilkins character.

All round, a totally sponditious game.

1988, Tony Dillon, "Nightshade" (video game review) in Sinclair User (issue 70, page 91)


SCOPA

(UK) Acronym of Seed Crushers and Oil Processors Association.


style it out

en-verb

style it out (third-person singular simple present styles it out, present participle styling it out, simple past and past participle styled it out)

styles it out (present singular third-person)
styling it out (participle present)
styled it out (participle past)
styled it out (past)

Emergency: One trips while being taken up the aisle.
 Solution: Style it out. Turn that tumble into a dance move, and keep it up all the way to the altar.

2011 April 29, Polly Hudson, “Advice for Kate Middleton: If anything goes wrong, style it out...”, in Daily Mirror:

2012 December 12, “Not so cool now! Kate Moss tries to style it out after tripping over her heels during mid-morning stroll with husband Jamie Hince”, in Daily Mail:

Is this the smoothest newsreader ever? Joanna Gosling more than made up for missing her cue on BBC News this morning (October 27) with a suave recovery. Gosling was late to start her report, but styled it out with a smooth "belated good morning".

2015 October 27, Harry Fletcher, “Watch BBC newsreader Joanna Gosling style it out after missing her cue”, in Digital Spy:

(British) To pretend not to be embarrassed; to deny that an embarrassing thing ever happened.


football hooligan

en-noun

football hooligan (plural football hooligans)

They speak of the respect among their peers that they hope their hooligan involvements will bring, and of "battle excitement," "the adrenaline racing," and "aggro" (short for aggression) almost erotically arousing. Indeed, Jay Allan, a leading member of the Aberdeen Casuals, a Scottish football hooligan “firm” in the 1980s, wrote of fighting at football as even more pleasurable than sex (1989).

2010, Earl Smith, Sociology of Sport and Social Theory, →ISBN, page 22:

All of these factors have probably had their effect, though directly addressing the deeper, social causes of football hooligan behaviour has not been a major focus in the shaping of the current version of the sport in England.

2013, Mark Perryman, Hooligan Wars: Causes and Effects of Football Violence, →ISBN:

I wasn't a football hooligan but I knew a lot of people and I knew a lot of football hooligans, and I got on with a lot of them.

2014, Luke Bainbridge, The True Story of Acid House: Britain’s Last Youth Culture Revolution, →ISBN:

(UK) A violent football (soccer) fan who routinely fights with supporters of opposing teams and/or with police, often the member of a firm.


football hooliganism

Since the 1980s Chinese professional football has developed tremendously, but the quantity and intensity of football-related social disorder, especially the visibility of football hooliganism, has also increased.

2004, John Horne, Wolfram Manzenreiter, Football Goes East: Business, Culture and the People's Game in East Asia, →ISBN:

Religious, subnational, city-based, regional, and generation-based fault lines may draw into football hooliganism more people from higher on the social scale than tends to be the case in England.

2010, Earl Smith -, Sociology of Sport and Social Theory, →ISBN, page 24:

(UK) Fighting at soccer games by football hooligans.


rypeck

rypecks (plural)
repeck (alternative)
ripeck (alternative)
ryepeck (alternative)

(UK, dialect) A pole used to move a punt while fishing.


magslip

magslips (plural)
mag-slip (alternative)
mag slip (alternative)

From "magnetic slip ring", because these replace electrical slip-rings that rely on direct contact.

Provision should be made as in GL 1 for entry of electrical supplies and for connection of telephone and magslip cables.

1981, W E K Middleton, Radar Development in Canada, →ISBN, page 130:

There are two gyroscopes. One is a vertical keeping gyroscope whose signal goes through two selective transmitter magslips to a follow through magslip which is similarly operated by a rolling velocity gyroscope. The combined selected signal is transmitted to the hunter magslip of the oil motor and pump. The mechanical movement of a gyroscope alters the rotor position of the transmitter magslip and the current flow moves the rotor of the hunter magslip to a corresponding positon (just as transmitter and receiver telemotors).

2013, Paul Anthony Russell, Leslie Jackson, Thomas D. Morton, Reeds Vol 8 General Engineering Knowledge for Marine Engineers, →ISBN:

With a single magslip as the transmitter and another as the receiver, the error of alignment is of the order of 1°.

2017, A. M. P. Brookes, P. Hammond, Basic Instrumentation for Engineers and Physicists, →ISBN:

(UK, Australia, New Zealand, Canada) Any of a variety of devices that rely on magnetic slip rings to drive a transmitter and receiver that rotate in unison.


breakfast club

(UK, education) A facility to provide children with a morning meal at school, before classes.


bobowler

(UK, dialect, obsolete, Black Country) A large moth.


foudrie

(British, Shetland and Orkney) The jurisdiction of a foud.


key stage

key stages (plural)
Key Stage (alternative)

(UK, Ireland, education) Any of the sequential stages of attainment in the state education system of England, Wales, Northern Ireland and Gibraltar, specifying the knowledge expected of students at various ages.


be ages with

en-verb

be ages with (third-person singular simple present is ages with, present participle being ages with, simple past was ages with, past participle been ages with)

is ages with (present singular third-person)
being ages with (participle present)
was ages with (past)
been ages with (participle past)

Kenny is ages with me and already a fast powerful winger with a really hard shot—a mini Peter Lorimer and he even looked a bit like him.

2008, James Meikle, Fitba Daft: A Story of Total Soccer Addiction in Scotland and America, →ISBN:

Gary's son is ages with my youngest and they both play mini-rugby.

2011, Jeff Connor, Giants Of Scottish Rugby, →ISBN:

Mrs Griggs is ages with Marjory.

2013, Michael Cannon, Four New Words for Love, →ISBN:

(UK) To be approximately the same age as.


family grouping

en-noun

family grouping (countable and uncountable, plural family groupings)

Family grouping, as Elsa Ferri pointed out in her study of combined nursery centres (Ferri etal., 1981), similarly carries an element of wishful thinking. What could be less like the average family in the 1990s than up to ten shildren of different ages spending all day in the same room in the charge of one or two young nursery workers?

2004, Elinor Goldschmied, Sonia Jackson, People Under Three: Young Children in Day Care, →ISBN, page 24:

As Mindel (1995) has noted, use of a “family grouping model” in child care, in which small cross-age groups stay together with the same child care professional during their entire time in child care, benefits children through the grade school years. How many more benefits could be seen in family grouping models staffed by teachers trained on attachment relationship building?

2012, Susanne A. Denham, Rosemary Burton, Social and Emotional Prevention and Intervention Programming for Preschoolers, →ISBN:

When doing so, he gave his head teachers ownership of how they ran their schools, encouraging them to adopt an approach to teaching similar to the infant school “family grouping” practices, which were getting a lot of publicity in education circles.

2012, John Paull, Through My Eyes: On Becoming a Teacher, →ISBN, page 136:

(uncountable, UK) The system of grouping children of differing ages together, used primarily at the preschool level.


tuzz

(UK, dialect) A tuft of wool or similar material.


ill-humoured

en-adj

ill-humoured (comparative more ill-humoured, superlative most ill-humoured)

more ill-humoured (comparative)
most ill-humoured (superlative)

British standard spelling of ill-humored.


adderbolt

From adder (“venomous snake”) + bolt (“arrow”).

compound

Other Animals I observ'd to have yet a greater number, as the Dragon-Fly or Adderbolt […].

1665, Robert Hooke, Micrographia, section XXXIX:

This philosopher has also found an insect fish, which transforms into an adder-bolt.

1742, John Martyn, Ephraim Chambers, transl., The Philosophical History and Memoirs of the Royal Academy of Sciences at Paris, volume II, page 355:


zwodder

From Middle English swodderen, from Old English swodrian (“to get drowsy, fall asleep”), of uncertain origin. Perhaps a variant of Old English swaþrian (“to withdraw, retreat, subside”). Compare also Middle Dutch swadderen (“to be weary from drinking, stagger”).

cog

So most volk came round to think that 'twur a kind o' zwodder that had suddenly come over en — zummet in the line of a fainting-fit, lookyzee.

1923, John Read, Cluster-o'-vive: stories and studies of old-world Wessex, page 148:

(UK, dialectal) A dull, drowsy state; stupor


one of these odd-come-shortlies

en-adv

one of these odd-come-shortlies (not comparable)

(UK, dialect, archaic) Some day soon; one of these days.


anti-civilisational

en-adj

anti-civilisational (comparative more anti-civilisational, superlative most anti-civilisational)

more anti-civilisational (comparative)
most anti-civilisational (superlative)

British standard spelling of anti-civilizational.


passion killer

(UK, informal) Something that is sexually off-putting; something that kills someone's sexual mood.


lose one's bottle

en-verb

lose one's bottle (third-person singular simple present loses one's bottle, present participle losing one's bottle, simple past and past participle lost one's bottle)

loses one's bottle (present singular third-person)
losing one's bottle (participle present)
lost one's bottle (participle past)
lost one's bottle (past)

“You'll never lose your bottle for football,” Kate promised him. “No matter how long you'll be out for. Keep the faith, Shaggy. Nothing is set in stone forever. The bloke who nicked the Sea Journey has to be caught.”

2005, Forest Jones, The Greatest English Detective Club #1, →ISBN, page 49:

On the Friday, I took her home and, after a quick snog, completely lost my bottle.

2010, Emily Herbert, Take That and Robbie Williams, →ISBN:

It was just before she went to Europe, I made her swear that she wouldn't tell you that she had seen me just in case I lost my bottle again and didn't come home.

2013, Val Creasey, Lost Lives, →ISBN, page 126:

(UK, idiomatic) To lose courage and determination.


AISP

service provider
service provider#English

(UK, finance) Initialism of account information service provider.


Groom of the Stool

en-proper noun

Groom of the Stool (plural Grooms of the Stool)

Grooms of the Stool (plural)
groom of the stool (alternative)

/ˈɡɹuːm əv ðə ˈstuːl/

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-Groom of the Stool.wav

From groom (“officer of the English royal household”) + of + the + (close-)stool (“a chamber pot enclosed in a stool or box”).

The leſſer Corporations were [...] his Majeſties gratuities to the Lord of, &c. Marqueſs, &c. Q[ueen] Mother, Lady Nurſe, Groom of the ſtool, that is, the Cloſe ſtool, whether King or Queen (high and advantageous honours) and this diſcended to outlandiſh, as in Land commodities; yea, to pins and brooms; and it was ſaid, to Rags for paper, and Marrow-bones for Kitchin-ſtuff, or greaſe; [...]

1651, Charl[e]s George Cock, English-Law; or, a Summary Survey of the Household of God on Earth; […], London: Printed by Robert White for T. G. and Francis Tyton, […], →OCLC, page 52:

The King hath thirteen Gentlemen of the Bed-Chamber, who conſiſt uſually of the Prime Nobility of England, whereof the firſt is call'd Groom of the Stool [...] The meaning is a Groom or Servant of the Robe or Veſtment. He hath the Office and Honour to put on his Majeſties Shirt every morning, and to order the things of the Bed-Chamber[.]

1675, Paul Festeau, “Dialogues”, in Nouvelle Grammaire Angloise, Enrichie de Dialogues Curieux Touchant l’Estat & la Cour d’Angleterre. […] [New English Grammar, Enriched with Curious Dialogues Touching the State & the Court of England. […]], 2nd corrected and augmented edition, London: Chez George Wells, […], →OCLC, pages 193–194:

[T]he Statute enjoyns the Clergy-man to be reſident in and upon his Living, that is, his Parſonage or Vicarage-Houſe, if he have any, and not at any other Houſe in the Pariſh; [...] But the Chaplains of the Chancellor of the Dutchy, Augmentations, Firſt-fruits, Maſter of the Wards, Surveyor General, Treaſurer of the Chamber and Augmentations, and Groom of the Stool, are to be Reſident twice in a year at leaſt, Eight days at each time: [...]

1695, Simon Degge, chapter VII, in The Parson’s Counsellor, with the Law of Tythes or Tything: In Two Books. […], 5th corrected and enlarged edition, London: Printed by the assigns of Richard and Edward Atkyns, Esquires, for Richard Sare […], and Jos[eph] Hindmarsh […], →OCLC, pages 80–81:

MONTMORENCY (Anne de) firſt baron, peer, mareſchal, high-ſteward, conſtable of France; knight of St. Michael, and of the garter, groom of the ſtool, and governor of Languedoc, &c. was ſecond ſon to William lord of Montmorency.

1743, “MONTMORENCY (Anne de)”, in Historical, Genealogical, and Classical Dictionary. […] In Two Volumes, volume II, London: Printed for A[ndrew] Millar, […], →OCLC, column 2:

The Queen then rises and goes to the faldstool, at which she is to be anointed and crowned, placed between King Edward's chair and the steps of the altar, where the Groom of the Stool to her Majesty (with the two Ladies of her Bedchamber) take off her rich circlet or coronet; when the Queen kneels down, and the Archbishop pours the holy oil on the crown of her head, in the form of a cross, using these words, "In the name of the Father, the Son, and Holy Ghost, let the anointing of this oil increase thine honour," &c.

1831 September 1, “A Particular and Historical Account of the Ceremonies usually Observed at the Coronation of the Kings and Queens of Great Britain”, in The World of Fashion, and Continental Feuilletons. […], volume VIII, number 89, London: Printed by Mr. Bell, […], →OCLC, page 211, column 1:

It is the king's pleasure that Mr Norris shall be in the room of Sir William Compton, not only giving his attendance as groom of the stool but also in his bedchamber and other privy places as shall stand with his pleasure. And the king's express command is that none other of the said six gentlemen [of the privy chamber] presume to enter or follow his Grace into the said bedchamber, or any other secret place, unless he shall be called and admitted thereunto by his said grace.

1995, Eric Ives, “Henry VIII: The Political Perspective”, in Diarmaid MacCulloch, editor, The Reign of Henry VIII: Politics, Policy and Piety (Problems in Focus), Basingstoke, Hampshire, London: Macmillan Press, →DOI, →ISBN, page 20:

As David Starkey has delineated in great detail, one of Henry [VIII]'s major administrative achievements was the centralization of court administration in a collection of younger gentry in bodily service to the King. Grooms of the Chamber, Grooms of the Stool, Esquires of the Body – these were the titles granted men who ministered to Henry's private functions, and as Starkey argues, it is this new sense of intimacy that recalibrates the English body politic into a politics of the King's body.

1997, Seth Lerer, “Pretexts: Chaucer’s Pandarus and the Origins of Courtly Discourse”, in Courtly Letters in the Age of Henry VIII: Literary Culture and the Arts of Deceit, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, page 22:

The title of Groom of the Stool derived from that gentleman's privilege of attending his sovereign whenever he used the close stool; his duties were to provide him with a flannel "to wipe his nether end" and to summon a Yeoman of the Chamber to empty and clean the pot. Sir Thomas Heneage, Groom of the Stool from 1536 to 1546, was witness to the King's chronic constipation and his efforts to relieve it, [...]

2001, Alison Weir, Henry VIII: The King and His Court, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Ballantine Books, →ISBN; republished New York, N.Y.: Ballantine Books, 2008, →ISBN, page 81:

As cloacal factotum, the Groom of the Stool presides over the offices of royal excretion; he maintains the royal close-stool and examines its products for signs of health or distemperature; he serves, in this sense, both as a royal confidant and an intermediary between the royal self in its private and public capacities. The Groom's office, in short, involves an "exquisite combination of intimacy, degradation, and privilege" (Paster 1993: 32); [...]

2003, Bruce Boehrer, “The Privy and Its Double: Scatology and Satire in Shakespeare’s Theatre”, in Richard Dutton, Jean E. Howard, editors, A Companion to Shakespeare’s Works, volume IV (The Poems, Problem Comedies, Late Plays), Malden, Mass., Oxford, Oxfordshire: Blackwell Publishing, →ISBN, page 78:

The exaltation of a monarch was such that few were fit to dine with one. Meanwhile, as many as eight "grooms of the stool" waited on kings when at privy. A king sat alone at the table and in company at the "throne."

2014, Leonard Sweet, “Setting the Table at Home”, in From Tablet to Table: Where Community is Found and Identity is Formed, Colorado Springs, Colo.: NavPress in alliance with Tyndale House Publishers, →ISBN, part II (Life’s Three Tables), page 81:

(British, monarchy, historical) Originally an official responsible for helping the English monarch use the toilet; later a senior official who was allowed access to the monarch's privy chamber and served as a personal secretary.


admag

The admag was unique to Britain, and there was a kind of backdoor bravado about them in the way every admag transmission cheekily bumped up the amount of advertising per clock hour.

1980, Jo Gable, The Tuppenny Punch and Judy Show: 25 Years of TV Commercials, page 74:

This particular admag focused on a married couple who ran a pub in the fictional village of Wembleham, and they would discuss the price and quality of various real consumer products with their customers.

2007, Rob Turnock, Television and Consumer Culture: Britain and the Transformation of Modernity, page 145:

[…] ABC operated under the same advertising structures as the BBC when it came to programme material – the parameters of which had been tested by the controversy surrounding the advertising magazine, or 'admag'.

2007, Su Holmes, "A friendly style of presentation which the BBC has always found elusive?", published in Re-viewing Television History: Critical Issues in Television Historiography, page 75

(UK, television, dated) A television programme in which actors advertise real products in a fictional setting.


decentralised planning

decentralized planning
decentralized planning#English

British standard spelling of decentralized planning.


centralised planning

centralized planning
centralized planning#English

British standard spelling of centralized planning.


yockel

Variant of hickwall, influenced by yaffle.

Mr. F.C. Birkbeck Terry quoting from the Rev. C. Swainson's “Folklore of British Birds” gives yockel as the local Salopian name for the green woodpecker. ¶ Can any readers of Salopian Shreds and Patches give instances of localities for these names?

May 19, 1886, W.B., “Shropshire Birds”, in Salopian Shreds and Patches, page 114:

Picus viridis
Picus viridis#Translingual

(rare, UK, dialect) The yaffle or green woodpecker, Picus viridis.


pair of secateurs

en-noun

pair of secateurs (plural pairs of secateurs)

(chiefly British) Small, handheld pruning shears.


airgraph

A recent airgraph from the G.I.P. Railway to "The Railway Magazine"

1942 May-June, “The Why and the Wherefore”, in Railway Magazine, page 192, photo caption:

(UK, historical) A form of airmail used to send messages to servicemen during the Second World War.


jeopardisation

British standard spelling of jeopardization.


SPA

SPA (countable and uncountable, plural SPAs)

state pension
w:State Pension (United Kingdom)

(UK, pensions) Initialism of state pension age.


NAEI

(UK, economics) National Average Earnings Index, a measure of inflation based on the change in population salaries.


IMD

index of multiple deprivation
w:Indices of Multiple Deprivation

(British, demography) Initialism of index of multiple deprivation.


Blastaway

We drank Blastaways and danced to Everything But the Girl's 'Missing', 'Dreamer' by Livin' Joy and 'Rhythm is a Mystery' by K Klass which we played repeatedly, […]

[…] just thought she was wrecked from all the Diamond White ciders she'd been sinking – I'd even bought her a couple of Blastaways, which in hindsight was a mistake.

2021, Barbara Copperthwaite, The Girl in the Missing Poster:

(UK, slang) A cocktail of Castaway (an alcopop) and Diamond White (a brand of cider).


Revenue

A body corporate is an entity with a legal personality of its own. The Revenue does not treat a Scottish partnership as a body corporate even though it has separate legal personality.

2003, Michael Thomas, Stamp Duty Land Tax, Cambridge University Press, page 83:

We in the Revenue and our National Insurance Contributions Office have held that money, as we could not trace this person, but up pops the person, having got the letter and we re-unite them.

2004, House of Commons Committee of Public Accounts, The Recovery of Debt by the Inland Revenue (Forty-ninth Report of Session 2003-04), The Stationery Office, page Ev 9

As a result of the decision of the Court of Appeal in Clark v. Perks (2001) 74 TC 187, the Revenue accepted that jack-up rigs similar to the rig on which the taxpayer worked should be treated as being a ship for the purposes of claiming foreign earnings deductions before 17 March 1998.

2005, Tax Cases Reported Under the Direction of the Board of Inland Revenue (with Notes of Argument Prepared by the Law Reporters to the Incorporated Council of Law Reporting for England and Wales), The Stationery Office, page 391

(UK) The Inland Revenue, formed in 1849 and dissolved in 2005 to form part of HMRC.


careers officer

careers officer (plural careers officers)

(UK) A person employed to give advice to people, especially young people, about which career to choose.


Mrs Miggins

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

From Mrs + Miggins (a surname), possibly popularized by the character Mrs Miggins who is mentioned in the British television comedy series Blackadder II (first broadcast 9 January – 20 February 1986) as the owner of a pie shop, and appears in Blackadder the Third (17 September – 22 October 1987) as a coffee shop proprietress.

Near-synonym: woman on the street

I doubt that Mrs Miggins on the number 32 bus cares much about the plight of the yellow woodlouse.

Many were the high expectations entertained by fond parents, of the rapid progress which their darlings would make, when placed under the tuition of the young man from college, that would teach without whipping, "Old man," said Mrs. Miggins (as I heard) to her husband, a sturdy farmer, "old man, our Jack is a mighty smart boy: I saw him the other day, when he wanted some cake go to the cupboard, take a long stick, pull it down on the floor, and then taking it up, he ran to me and cried out, 'Goodness, mother, look here what a piece of cake I found on the floor; may'nt I have it?' He is a mighty clever boy, and neighbor Johnson's son will teach him every thing that's smart."

1849 February, “The ‘Moral Suasion’ Theory”, in The University Magazine, volume I, number 2, Charlottesville, Va.: University of Virginia, →OCLC, pages 53–54:

You can do nothing Evangelical without a tea-meeting. […] Mrs. Griggs and Mrs. Miggins are ready with their donation to your subscription list, but you must give them the opportunity of drinking Bohea in public before they will disburse.

1873, Iota [pseudonym; John Francis Waller], “Hatchley Colne”, in The Adventures of a Protestant in Search of a Religion, London: R. Washbourne, […], →OCLC, page 192:

It's all very well trusting users, but what happens if Mrs. Miggins brings in a floppy disk from home with some code on it written by her son.

2003, Nigel Stanley, “Scalability and Security”, in Microsoft .NET Jumpstart for Systems Administrators and Developers, Burlington, Mass.: Digital Press, Elsevier Science, →ISBN, page 150:

Instead, this government seems to see a Britain stymied by local vested interests, where our whole economic future is called into question because Mrs Miggins doesn't want a motorway through her back garden, or a nuclear power station built next door. […] Its solution is to cut Mrs Miggins – and anyone else who wants a say in what happens in their local neighbourhood – out of the process. Instead, big decisions will be taken by an appointed panel of "experts".

2007 June 4, Mark Lynas, “Don’t Blame Mrs Miggins”, in New Statesman, London: New Statesman Ltd., →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2011-01-03:

For a mercifully short period, it felt as though the Today programme was dominated by high-level political debate over whether Labour could be blamed for the whole thing (in general, government spokesmen were not persuaded by this thesis), or whether Gordon Brown could take credit for Mr and Mrs Miggins and the Miggins brood getting home in one piece (the direction of this debate was not unpredictable either).

2010, Adam Boulton, Joey Jones, “Decision Time”, in Hung Together: The Cameron–Clegg Coalition, London: Simon & Schuster UK, published 2012, →ISBN, part I (Campaign), page 80:

If Tesco want to invest and produce a front-end to interact and deal with Mrs Miggins and her interaction with Government, why shouldn't they be able to? Tesco don't want to get involved in a £1 billion procurement, but they want more up-sell to Mrs Miggins.

2011 March 15, Public Administration Select Committee, House of Commons, quoting Martin Rice, witness, Government and IT—“a Recipe for Rip Offs”: Time for a New Approach: Twelfth Report of Session 2010–12 (HC 715-II), volumes II (Oral and Written Evidence), London: The Stationery Office, published 28 July 2011, →ISBN, page Ev 26, column 1:

[…] Volvo is a motoring minnow. They made around 450,000 cars last year. […] So Volvo announcing that it's going all electric is going to have the same effect on the world's carbon emissions as Mrs Miggins turning the thermostat down in her front room.

2017 July 7, Jeremy Clarkson, “Volvo going electric will have the same effect as Mrs Miggins turning down the heating in her front room”, in The Sun, London: News Group Newspapers, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2020-11-20:

Although asset managers ultimately manage money for private individuals – a point which they frequently shorthand by referring to the end investor under the patronising and arrogant generic term ‘Mrs Miggins’ – very few people working in the firms have had any contact with private individuals at all. […] [E]ven in the retail market the very large majority of relationships with end clients are mediated – it isn’t actually necessary to meet Mrs Miggins, Mr Miggins or any other members of the Miggins family.

2018, Lucian Camp, Anthony Thomson, No Small Change: Why Financial Services Needs a New Kind of Marketing, Chichester, West Sussex: John Wiley & Sons, →ISBN:

From the moment you park up in a police car outside some little old lady's house, even if it's only to walk down the road to make an inquiry at a neighbour's, Mrs. Miggins will be convinced that you're there to tell her that one of her family has died in some tragic accident.

2022, Darren Moor, “Try Not to Frighten Mrs. Miggins Any More than You have Already”, in How to Survive Your Early Years as a Police Officer: Tips, Tactics and Humour for the Probationer and Beyond, Market Harborough, Leicestershire: Matador, →ISBN:

(UK, informal) Any ordinary woman, especially an older woman.

List of Blackadder characters#Mrs Miggins

Pihtiputaan mummo

any ordinary woman, especially an older woman


normativisation

normativisation (countable and uncountable, plural normativisations)

(UK) Alternative form of normativization.


dark blue

dark blue (countable and uncountable, plural dark blues)

The university did not touch my world directly but you couldn't be a boy in Oxford without supporting the dark blues against the Cambridge light blues, in the boat race […]

2018, Will Wyatt, Oxford Boy: A Post-War Townie Childhood:

(UK, rowing) A member of the Oxford rowing team.


light blue

light blue (countable and uncountable, plural light blues)

From Middle English light blewe, equivalent to light + blue.

(UK, rowing) A member of the Cambridge rowing team.