damper

damper (countable and uncountable, plural dampers)

From damp (verb) + -er.
The name of the type of bread is first attested in 1825, and originally likely refers to damping the appetite.

A certain class of 'City Arabs' do nothing but steal provisions from shop doors and sell them for one-tenth of their value, or less, […] while a fourth again do nothing but "draw the dampers," i. e. steal from shop-tills.

1853, Joseph Kay, The Condition and Education of Poor Children in English and in German Towns, page 20:


covey

From cove + -y (diminutive suffix). Cove is derived from Romani kodo (“this one; him”) or kova (“that person”).

I don't know what would become of these here young chaps, if it wasn't for such careful old coveys as we are— […]

1821 September (first performance), William T[homas] Moncrieff, “Tom and Jerry; or, Life in London”, in Selection from the Dramatic Works of William T. Moncrieff. […], volume III, London: Hailes Lacy, […], published 1851, →OCLC, Act II, scene ii, page 43:

Hullo! my covey, what's the row?

1837 May, Boz [pseudonym; Charles Dickens], “Oliver Walks to London, and Encounters on the Road a Strange Sort of Young Gentleman”, in Oliver Twist; or, The Parish Boy’s Progress. […], volume I, London: Richard Bentley, […], published 1838, →OCLC, page 123:

'Pooh!' said he, 'you are as easily wounded as an unfledged dove—don't mind what an old covey like me says—I understand it all.'

1846, Justin Jones, The Prince and the Queen; or, Scenes in High Life: A Romance of the Court of St. James, Boston, Mass.: U.S. Pub. Co., →OCLC:

There vas an old covey as lived in Wapping, at the time I'm telling you of, who vas connected vith us by ties of common interest.

1850, Waldo Howard, “The Burglar’s Story”, in The Mistake of a Life-time: or, The Robber of the Rhine Valley. […], Boston, Mass.: F. Gleason, […], →OCLC, page 140, column 2:

(British, familiar, slang, dated) A male person, a man; a chap, a chappie.


quorate

From quorum + -ate (adjective-forming suffix).

af

With only five people making it to the meeting, we were barely quorate.

(Can we date this quote?), “(please specify the article title)”, in The Times, London: News UK, →ISSN, →OCLC:

(British) (of a meeting) Having a quorum; having the minimum number of people necessary to conduct business and to cast votes.


pitch

From Middle English picchen, pycchen (“to thrust in, fasten, settle”), from Old English *piċċan, from Proto-West Germanic *pikkijan, a variant of Proto-West Germanic *pikkōn (“to pick, peck”), whence Middle English pikken, picken (“to pick, pierce”), modern English pick.

nyökkääminen

rotation angle about the transverse axis

килово клатене

nautical: measure of extent to which a vessel's bow and stern go up and down

The teams met on the pitch.

(sports, UK, Australia, New Zealand) The field on which cricket, soccer, rugby, gridiron or field hockey is played. (In cricket, the pitch is in the centre of the field; see cricket pitch.) (Not often used in the US or Canada, where "field" is the preferred word.)

camp

Alba the emperor was crook-backed, Epictetus lame; that great Alexander a little man of stature, Augustus Cæsar of the same pitch […].

1624, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], The Anatomy of Melancholy: […], 2nd edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] John Lichfield and James Short, for Henry Cripps, →OCLC, partition II, section 3, member 2:

So like in person, garb, and pitch,
'Twas hard t' interpret which was which

1662 (indicated as 1663), [Samuel Butler], “[The First Part of Hudibras]”, in Hudibras. The First and Second Parts. […], London: […] John Martyn and Henry Herringman, […], published 1678; republished in A[lfred] R[ayney] Waller, editor, Hudibras: Written in the Time of the Late Wars, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: University Press, 1905, →OCLC:

(now British, regional) A person's or animal's height.


squelch

en-verb

squelch (third-person singular simple present squelches, present participle squelching, simple past and past participle squelched)

squelches (present singular third-person)
squelching (participle present)
squelched (participle past)
squelched (past)

Unknown. Perhaps a blend of squash + quell + quench. Compare also English squolsh, English squoosh.

The mud squelched underfoot; it had been raining all night.

[After they both fell into the lake.] Reaching the mainland some moments later and squelching back to the house, accompanied by Bobbie, like a couple of Napoleons squelching back from Moscow, [...]

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

(intransitive, British) To make a sucking, splashing noise as when walking on muddy ground.

The mud was thick and sticky underfoot, but we squelched through it nonetheless.

(intransitive, British) To walk or step through a substance such as mud.

čvachtat se

to walk or step through a substance such as a mud


put up

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

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

Her account of the manner in which the 'plant' was made upon her, affords a good example of the style of 'putting up' a house robbery: […]

1856, The London Quarterly Review, volumes 98-99, page 104:

(UK, slang, archaic, transitive) To inspect or plan out with a view to robbery.


put down

put down (third-person singular simple present puts down, present participle putting down, simple past and past participle put down)

puts down (present singular third-person)
putting down (participle present)
put down (participle past)
put down (past)

BP are putting petrol and diesel down in what could be the start of a price war.

(UK, Ireland) To make prices, or taxes, lower.


hanger

From Middle English hanger, haunger, hangere, equivalent to hang + -er. Compare West Frisian hinger (“hanger”), Dutch hanger (“hanger”), German Hänger and Henker.

About the tenth of July in the same Summer a pair of sparrow-hawks bred in an old crow's nest on a low beech in the same hanger; and as their brood, which was numerous, began to grow up, became so daring and ravenous, that they were a terror to all the dames in the village that had chickens or ducklings under their care.

1789, Gilbert White, The Natural History of Selborne, Page 187:

'Twould blow like this through holt and hanger

1896, A. E. Housman, A Shropshire Lad, On Wenlock Edge the wood's in trouble:


ABC

en-noun

ABC (countable and uncountable, plural ABCs or ABC's)

ABCs (plural)
ABC's (plural)
absey (alternative)

From Middle English abece, ABC, from the first three letters of the Latin alphabet, standing for the whole alphabet.

For this reason his heart sank when, emerging from his study into the great hall at quarter to eleven, he met Beaver already dressed and prepared to be entertained; it was only a momentary vexation, however, for while he wished him good morning he noticed that his guest had an A.B.C. in his hands and was clearly looking out a train.

1934, Evelyn Waugh, A Handful of Dust, Chapman & Hall:

(UK, rail transport) A British alphabetized guidebook listing trains and their stations.


ABC

It was not worth while to go back to Barnes for the interval between the closing of the Museum and his meal in an ABC shop, and the time hung heavily on his hands.

1915, W. Somerset Maugham, chapter 37, in Of Human Bondage:

He turned into an A.B.C. shop and ordered eggs and bacon and coffee.

1922, Agatha Christie, “Chapter 17”, in The Secret Adversary:

Aerated Bread Company
w:Aerated Bread Company

(UK, now historical) Initialism of Aerated Bread Company, which ran a network of shops and cafeterias.


kick

kick (countable and uncountable, plural kicks)

→ German: Kick

→ Irish: cic

From Middle English kyken (“to strike out with the foot”), from Old Norse kikna (“to sink at the knees”) and keikja (“to bend backwards”) (compare Old Norse keikr (“bent backwards, the belly jutting forward”)), from Proto-Germanic *kaikaz (“bent backwards”), of uncertain origin. Perhaps from Proto-Germanic *kī-, *kij- (“to split, dodge, swerve sidewards”), from Proto-Indo-European *ǵeyH- (“to sprout, shoot”). Compare also Dutch kijken (“to look”), Middle Low German kīken (“to look, watch”). See keek.

cog

Two and a kick—two shillings and a kick.

1912, French's Acting Edition of Plays, Dramas, Extravaganzas, Farces etc., page 12:

That's the stuff that will do the trick / Sold at every chemist for one and a kick

1941, Eddie Latta, George Formby, “Auntie Maggie's Remedy”, performed by George Formby:

(British, historical, dated, colloquial) Sixpence.


sango

1824, Alexander Gerard, Journal of an Excursion through the Himalayah Mountains, from Shipke to the Frontiers of Chinese Tartary, David Brewster (editor), The Edinburgh Journal of Science, Volume 1: April—October, page 219,
We crossed it and another stream a little above their union by a couple of bad sangos, and ascended from its bed by a rocky footpath, winding amongst extensive forests of oak, yew, pine, and horse chesnut, to Camp.

Four large mountain torrents, the Dangalee, Dubrane, Loarnad, and Rindee Gadh, join the Ganges from the left bank, and have to be crossed by sangos.

1865, Henry Astbury Leveson, The Hunting Grounds of the Old World, page 459:

(UK) A rudimentary wooden bridge in India.


kick off

en-verb

kick off (third-person singular simple present kicks off, present participle kicking off, simple past and past participle kicked off)

kicks off (present singular third-person)
kicking off (participle present)
kicked off (participle past)
kicked off (past)

When she called him a drunk, it was the last straw. He just kicked off.

The chap opposite seems to be trying to pull a fast one, and having seen the guard is trying to buy a ticket online... but doesn't succeed. The guard helpfully sells him one, but not quite at the price of one purchased in advance. In fairness he doesn't kick off, nor does the guard treat him like some common criminal. It's a fair cop - or should that be a fare cop?

2024 April 17, “Rural railways: do they deliver?”, in RAIL, number 1007, page 57:

(intransitive, UK, idiomatic, colloquial) To be overcome with anger, to start an argument or a fight; to behave aggressively.

It really kicked off in town when the team lost.

Suddenly it all kicked off on the terraces as horrendous violence and disgraceful scenes were picked up by television cameras.

2010, Kenny Sansom, To Cap It All, John Blake Publishing, →ISBN:

(intransitive, UK, idiomatic, colloquial, impersonal) To have a fight or argument start; to fight or argue.


seize

seize (third-person singular simple present seizes, present participle seizing, simple past and past participle seized)

seizes (present singular third-person)
seizing (participle present)
seized (participle past)
seized (past)

Earlier seise, from Middle English seisen, sesen, saisen, from Old French seisir (“to take possession of; invest (person, court)”), from Early Medieval Latin sacīre (“to lay claim to, appropriate”) (8th century) in the phrase ad propriam sacire, from Old Low Frankish *sakjan (“to sue, bring legal action”), from Proto-Germanic *sakjaną, *sakōną (compare Old English sacian (“to strive, brawl”)), from Proto-Germanic *sakaną (compare Old Saxon sakan (“to accuse”), Old High German sahhan (“to bicker, quarrel, rebuke”), Old English sacan (“to quarrel, claim by law, accuse”). Cognate to sake and Latin sāgiō (“to perceive acutely”).

cog

(UK, intransitive) To submit for consideration to a deliberative body.


NRA

w:National Rifle Association of the United Kingdom

(UK) Initialism of National Rifle Association (of the United Kingdom).


CD

en-noun

CD (countable and uncountable, plural CDs)

Abbreviation of various terms and phrases.

سِي دِي

abbreviation of compact disc — see also compact disc

(UK, law) Initialism of controlled drug.


division

division (countable and uncountable, plural divisions)

PIE word
 *dwóh₁
From Middle English divisioun, from Old French division, from Latin dīvīsiō, dīvīsiōnem, noun of process form from perfect passive participle dīvīsus (“divided”), from dīvidō (“divide”). Doublet of divisio.

remainder left over if divisor does not divide dividend


dame

60th British Academy Film Awards
Judi Dench
Order of the British Empire

From Middle English dame, dam (“noble lady”), from Old French dame (“lady; term of address for a woman; the queen in card games and chess”), from Latin domina (“mistress of the house”), feminine form of dominus (“lord, master, ruler; owner of a residence”), or from Latin domus (“home, house”). Doublet of domina and donna.

der

Dame Edith Sitwell

The cover of the modern cd, issued by EMI Classics with Dame Janet Baker and Sir John Barbirolli in 1965, carries a portrait of Dame Janet wearing a long coral necklace in reference to the song 'Where the Corals lie' to words by Richard Garnett (1835–1906).

2009, Marcia Pointon, “Something Rich and Strange”, in Brilliant Effects: A Cultural History of Gem Stones and Jewellery, New Haven, Conn., London: Published for the Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art by Yale University Press, →ISBN, part 1 (Stories Touching Stones), page 144:

(British) Usually capitalized as Dame: a title equivalent to Sir for a female knight.

daami

Even though the dames’ houses were being gradually phased out at Eton, [John Henry] Newman was enthusiastic about the arrangement since it met one of the promoters’ key demands; besides, he had experienced something similar as a boy at Ealing School, where the boarding houses were also under the jurisdiction of dames. The Ealing dames ensured that boys were properly dressed and cared for them when sick, and they also ran the tuck shops.

2005, Paul Shrimpton, “Darnell’s School”, in A Catholic Eton?: Newman’s Oratory School, Leominster, Herefordshire: Gracewing, →ISBN, page 88:

As he [Fréderic Guyaz] worked for Topham [Beauclerk] while he was at Eton, it is likely that Topham was a day-boarder there, living at home in Windsor. His Eton "dame" was Mrs. Bland; day-boarders were allocated to a dame at whose house they took their meals.

2016, David Noy, “Parents, Childhood, Youth (1739–1760)”, in Dr Johnson’s Friend and Robert Adam’s Client Topham Beauclerk, Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, →ISBN, page 14:

(British) A matron at a school, especially Eton College.

[page 73, column 2] Mother Goose was produced on the 29th of December; Simmons playing the Old Dame; […] [page 74, column 1] Bugle condemns her to the ducking-stool, a sentence opposed by Colin, who espouses the cause of the Old Dame, who, escaping from her persecutors, puts an end to the wedding festivities by raising the ghost of the Squire's first wife.

1870 January 29, “English Pantomime. In Two Parts.—Part II.”, in William, Robert Chambers, editors, Chambers’s Journal of Popular Literature, Science and Art, volume VII (Fourth Series), number 318, London, Edinburgh: W. & R. Chambers, →OCLC, chapter X, pages 73 and 74:

The Dame in a Panto is generally a large, gregarious and out-going man who plays the part of a large, gregarious and out-going woman. […] Every successful actor who plays the part of Dame in Panto knows that the secret of his success is that it should be obvious that it is a man playing a part, for this is not a Drag act; the intention is not to be as womanly as possible, but always to be 'a feller in a frock'. […] Oh how everyone loves the Panto Dame for she is Panto.

2013, Maureen Hughes, “Welcome to the Magical World of Pantomime”, in A History of Pantomime, Barnsley, South Yorkshire: Pen & Sword History, →ISBN, page 34:

(British, theater) In traditional pantomime: a melodramatic female often played by a man in drag.


dummy

dummies (plural)
dumbie (alternative rare)
dumby (alternative rare)

From dumb + -y. Pacifier sense from dummy teat where dummy is in the sense of a nonfunctional replica.

мор

bridge: the partner of the winning bidder, who shows his or her hand

The baby wants her dummy.

Then on the fifth day, at the first sleep of the day, remove the dummy and follow my settling guide for your baby′s age. You should throw all her dummies in the bin to ensure you are not tempted to use them again – even outside sleep times.

2006, Tizzie Hall, Save Our Sleep: A Parents′ Guide Towards Happy, Sleeping Babies from Birth to Two Years, MacMillan, published 2009, page 200:

No Fairy baby has ever been seen to suck its thumb or to use a dummy.

2008, Bern, Bern's Fairy Tales, page 15:

We′ve found that going cold turkey works best – you check that your baby isn't ill or teething, then throw all dummies away. When your baby cries for her dummy, you can look her in the eye and say, ‘It′s gone,’ and really mean it.

2011, Simone Cave, Caroline Fertleman, Baby to Toddler Month by Month, page 85:

(Australia, New Zealand, UK, Ireland) A pacifier; a plastic or rubber teat used to soothe or comfort a baby.

Raul Meireles was the victim of the home side's hustling on this occasion giving the ball away to the impressive David Vaughan who slipped in Taylor-Fletcher. The striker sold Daniel Agger with the best dummy of the night before placing his shot past keeper Pepe Reina.

2011 January 12, Saj Chowdhury, “Blackpool 2 - 1 Liverpool”, in BBC:

(sports, UK) A bodily gesture meant to fool an opposing player; a feint.


tank

→ Afrikaans: tenk

→ Albanian: tank

→ Gulf Arabic: تانْكي (tānki)

→ Armenian: տանկ (tank)

→ Assamese: টেংকি (teṅki)

→ Asturian: tanque

→ Azerbaijani: tank

→ Bashkir: танк (tank)

→ Belarusian: танк (tank)

→ Bengali: ট্যাংক (ṭêṅko)

→ Burmese: တင့်ကား (tang.ka:)

→ Buryat: танк (tank)

→ Catalan: tanc

→ Chechen: танк (tank)

→ Chinese:

Mandarin: 坦克 (tǎnkè)

→ Chuvash: танк (tank)

→ Czech: tank

→ Danish: tank

→ Dutch: tank

→ Dzongkha: ཏེངཀ (tengk)

→ Eastern Mari: танк (tank)

→ Estonian: tank

→ Fiji Hindi: tanki

→ Finnish: tankki

→ French: tank

→ Galician: tanque

→ Georgian: ტანკი (ṭanḳi)

→ German: Tank

→ Greek: τανκ (tank)

→ Greenlandic: tanki

→ Hebrew: טנק (tank)

desctree

→ Hindi: टंकी (ṭaṅkī)
→ Burmese: တိုင်ကီ (tuingki)

→ Hungarian: tank

→ Indonesian: tank

→ Italian: tank, tanca

→ Japanese: タンク (tanku)

→ Kazakh: танк (tank)

→ Korean: 탱크 (taengkeu)

→ Kumyk: танк (tank)

→ Kyrgyz: танк (tank)

→ Lao: ຖັງ (thang)

→ Latvian: tanks

→ Lezgi: танк (tank)

→ Lithuanian: tankas

→ Macedonian: тенк (tenk)

→ Malay: tank

→ Maori: taika

→ Norwegian: tank, tanks

→ Ossetian: танк (tank)

→ Persian: تانک (tânk)

desc

→ Portuguese: tanque (“armored vehicle”)

→ Quechua: tanki

→ Romanian: tanc

→ Romansch: tanc

desctree

→ Russian: танк (tank), танкъ (tank) — Pre-reform orthography (1918)
→ Armenian: տանկ (tank)
→ Kazakh: танк (tank)
→ Mongolian: танк (tank)

→ Carpathian Rusyn: танк (tank)

→ Serbo-Croatian:

Cyrillic script: тенк

Latin script: tenk

→ Sidamo: tanke

→ Slovak: tank

→ Slovene: tank

→ Swahili: tangi

→ Tajik: танк (tank), тонк (tonk)

→ Tamil: தாங்கி (tāṅki)

→ Tatar: танк (tank)

→ Thai: ถัง (tǎng)

→ Tokelauan: tane

→ Turkish: tank

→ Turkmen: tank

→ Ukrainian: танк (tank)

→ Upper Sorbian: tank

→ Urdu: ٹینک (ṭaink)

→ Uyghur: تانكا (tanka)

→ Uzbek: tank

→ Vietnamese: xe tăng, tăng

→ Walloon: tank

→ Welsh: tanc

→ Yakut: тааҥка (taañka)

→ Yiddish: טאַנק (tank)

From Portuguese tanque (“tank, liquid container”), from an Indo-Aryan language such as Gujarati ટાંકી (ṭā̃kī, “cistern”) or Marathi टांकी (ṭāṅkī). Compare the Arabic verb اِسْتَنْقَعَ (istanqaʕa, “to become stagnant, to stagnate”).
In the sense of armoured vehicle, first attested in 1915, prototypes were described as tanks for carrying water to disguise their nature as well as due to physical resemblance.

der

(UK, slang, dated, by extension) A bouncer or doorman.


wand

From Middle English wand, wond, from Old Norse vǫndr (“switch, twig”), from Proto-Germanic *wanduz (“rod”), from Proto-Indo-European *wendʰ- (“to turn, twist, wind, braid”). Cognate with Icelandic vendi (“wand”), Danish vånd (“wand, switch”), German Wand (“wall, septum”), Gothic 𐍅𐌰𐌽𐌳𐌿𐍃 (wandus, “rod”).

Without question, he is the best left-footed player I've ever played with. Along with his wand of a left foot he also has great pace and can be as hard as nails.

2013 October 17, Lee McCulloch, Simp-Lee the Best: My Autobiography, Black & White Publishing, →ISBN:

Shortly afterwards, Thomas lined up a corner and with his wand of a right foot, landed it on the head of Campbell to get Everton's second.

2019 February 15, Chris Sweeney, Mad Dog Gravesen, eBook Partnership, →ISBN:

Cresswell also had a wand of a left foot, which was a threat from open play and set-pieces – though his quality in the latter category wasn't used as often in 2015/16 due to Payet's presence.

2021 May 10, Danny Lewis, Boleyn's Farewell, eBook Partnership, →ISBN:

(UK, soccer, figurative, informal) A player's foot used especially skillfully in football.


ta

Uncertain, but possibly young child's pronunciation of thanks.
Alternatively, derived from Danish tak, from Old Norse þǫkk, from Proto-Germanic *þankō, *þankaz.

Ta for the cup of tea.

(colloquial, chiefly Commonwealth, UK, Ireland) Thanks.


legend

en-noun

legend (countable and uncountable, plural legends)

From Middle English legende, from Old French legende, from Medieval Latin legenda (“a legend, story, especially the lives of the saints”), from Latin legenda (“things which ought to be read”), from lego (“I read”).

legende

any person of extraordinary accomplishment

I've lost my pen! —Here mate, borrow mine. —You legend.

A person related to a legend or legends.

A person of extraordinary fame or accomplishments.

(UK, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, colloquial, slang) A cool, nice or helpful person, especially one who is male.


locust

From Middle English locuste, locust, from Anglo-Norman locuste, Middle French locuste, and their source, Latin locusta (“locust, crustacean, lobster”). Doublet of langouste.
The tree sense, originally referring to the carob (compare locust bean), is based on the resemblance of the trees' beanlike seed pods to the insect and is likely a semantic loan from Ancient Greek ἀκρίς (akrís).
The sense in "Mainlander" is a semantic loan from Cantonese 蝗蟲 /蝗虫 (wong4 cung4), also meaning "locust".

sl

I took my flogging like a stone. If I had sung, some of the convicts would have given me some lush with a locust in it (laudanum hocussing), and when I was asleep would have given me a crack on the head that would have laid me straight.

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

(UK, slang, obsolete) A dose of laudanum.


mot

Probably from Dutch mot (“woman”). See also mort (“woman”) and moth (“girlfriend”).

Come wed, my dear, and let's agree, / Then of the booze-ken you'll be free; / No sneer from cully, mot, or froe / Dare then reproach my Bess for Joe; / For he's the kiddy rum and queer, / That all St. Giles's boys do fear.

1789, G. Parker, “The Sandman's Wedding”, in Farmer, John Stephen, editor, Musa Pedestris, published 1896:

And we shall caper a-heel-and-toeing, / A Newgate hornpipe some fine day; / With the mots, their ogles throwing, / Tol lol, &c. / And old Cotton humming his pray.

1829 July 10, Vidocq, Eugène François with Maginn, William, transl., “Noctes Ambrosiana [En roulant de vergne en vergne]”, in Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, number 45, translation of En roulant de vergne en vergne, page 133:

After some altercation with the "mot" of the "ken" (mistress of the lodging-house) about the cleanliness of a knife or fork, my new acquaintance began to arrange "ground," &c., for the night's work.

1851, Henry Mayhew, London Labour and the London Poor, volume 1, page 217:


moo

You silly moo! What did you do that for?

'Aurora House does not expel,' said the sanctimonious moo, 'but you will be medicated, if your behaviour warrants it, for your own protection.'

2004, David Mitchell, Cloud Atlas, London: Hodder and Stoughton, →ISBN:

(UK, slang, mildly derogatory) A foolish woman.


dunch

en-verb

dunch (third-person singular simple present dunches, present participle dunching or dunchin, simple past and past participle dunched)

dunches (present singular third-person)
dunching (participle present)
dunchin (participle present)
dunched (participle past)
dunched (past)
dunsh (alternative)

From Middle English dunchen, of uncertain origin. Possibly from the noun (see below); or of North Germanic origin, related to Old Swedish diunga (“to hit, knock”), dialectal Swedish dunka (“to beat”); or from Middle English dengen, from Old English denġan, denċġan (“to knock, ding”), from Proto-Germanic *dangijaną (“to bang, knock”). Compare English dinge.

inh

(British) To jog, especially with the elbow.


cor

A minced oath or dialectal variant of God.

[…] She perused it with an interested eye and having mastered its contents said, “Cor chase my Aunt Fanny up a gum tree,” adding that you never knew what was going to happen next these days.

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


half and half

en-noun

half and half (countable and uncountable, plural half and halfs)

half and halfs (plural)
half-and-half (alternative)

A mixture of two things, generally in about equal proportions.

(UK, Ireland) A combination of both rice and chips as an accompaniment to a curry, as opposed to one or the other.

(UK) A combination of beer and ale (or similar alcoholic drinks) in equal quantities.


natural

natural (countable and uncountable, plural naturals)

naturals (plural)
naturall (alternative obsolete)
nat'ral (alternative)

/ˈnæt͡ʃ(ə)ɹəl/

From Middle English natural, borrowed from Old French natural, naturel, from Latin nātūrālis, from nātus, the perfect participle of nāscor (“be born”, verb). Displaced native Old English ġecynde. By surface analysis, nature + -al.

‘Sergeant-Major Robinson came in in the middle of it, and you've never seen a man look more surprised in your natural.’

1929, Frederic Manning, The Middle Parts of Fortune, Vintage, published 2014, page 155:


lavatory

lavatories (plural)
lavat'ry (alternative)

From Middle English lavatorie, from Late Latin lavātōrium, from Latin lavāre (“to wash”) + -ium (forming places related to an activity). Doublet of lavatorium. As a place to pan gold, via Spanish lavadero. See also lave.

In a traditional German lavatory, the hole in which shit disappears after we flush water is way in front, so that the shit is first laid out for us to sniff at and inspect for traces of some illness; in the typical French lavatory, on the contrary, the hole is in the back - that is, the shit is supposed to disappear as soon as possible; finally, the Anglo-Saxon (English or American) lavatory presents a kind of synthesis, a mediation between these two opposed poles - the basin is full of water so that the shit floats in it - visible, but not to be inspected.

1997, Slavoj Žižek, The Plague of Fantasies, page 4:

(UK, New England) A plumbing fixture for urination and defecation: a toilet.


daily

dailies (plural)
dayly (alternative archaic obsolete)

From Middle English dayly, from Old English dæġlīċ, from Proto-West Germanic *dagalīk, from Proto-Germanic *dagalīkaz (“daily”), equivalent to day + -ly. Cognate with Scots dayly, daly (“daily”), German Low German dagelk, dagelik (“daily”), Dutch dagelijks (“daily”), German täglich (“daily”), Danish daglig (“daily”), Swedish daglig (“daily”), Icelandic daglegur (“daily”).

Something that is produced, consumed, used, or done every day.


mint

From Middle English mynt, münet (“money, coin”), from Old English mynet (“coin”), from late Proto-West Germanic *munit, from Latin monēta (“place for making coins, coined money”), from the temple of Juno Moneta (named for Monēta mother of the Muses), where coins were made. Doublet of money and manat. The verb is from the noun; Old English mynetian (“to mint”) is a parallel formation.

der

(UK, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, slang) Attractive; beautiful; handsome.


bishop

bishops (plural)
byshop (alternative obsolete)

Tok Pisin: bisop

→ Hawaiian: pīhopa

→ Japanese: ビショップ

→ Kannada: ಬಿಷಪ್ (biṣap)

→ Korean: 비숍 (bisyop)

→ Maori: pīhopa

→ Thai: บิชอป (bì-chɔ́p)

From Middle English bischop, bishop, bisshop, biscop, from Old English bisċop (“bishop”), from Proto-West Germanic *biskop, from Vulgar Latin (e)biscopus, from classical Latin episcopus (“overseer, supervisor”), from Ancient Greek ἐπίσκοπος (epískopos, “overseer”), from ἐπί (epí, “over”) + σκοπός (skopós, “watcher”), used in Greek and Latin both generally and as a title of civil officers. Cognate with all European terms for the position in various Christian churches; compare bisp.

аҷҟәандар

church official, supervisor of priests and congregations

titular bishop

as over a diocese without a congregation

Here; tak him, an wesh him; an' put him a clen bishop on.

1874, Evelyn Waugh in Lanc. Gloss. (E.D.S.)

(UK, dialectal, archaic) A children's smock or pinafore.


bishop

en-verb

bishop (third-person singular simple present bishops, present participle bishoping or bishopping, simple past and past participle bishoped or bishopped)

bishops (present singular third-person)
bishoping (participle present)
bishopping (participle present)
bishoped (participle past)
bishoped (past)
bishopped (participle past)
bishopped (past)
byshop (alternative obsolete)

If the porage be burned to, or the meate ouer rosted, we say the bishop hath put his foote in the potte or the bishop hath played the cooke, because the bishops burn who they lust and whosoever displeaseth them.

It will be as bad as the Bishops foot in the broth.

1641, John Milton, Animadversions, section 9:

The Cream is burnt to.
Betty. Why, Madam, the Bishop has set his Foot in it.

1738, Compl. Coll. Genteel Conversat., Jonathan Swift, section 10:

She canna stomach it if it's bishopped e'er so little.

1863, E. C. Gaskell, Sylvia's Lovers, I. 64:

Th' milk's bishopped again!

(UK, dialectal) To permit food (especially milk) to burn while cooking (from bishops' role in the inquisition or as mentioned in the quotation below, of horses).


bishop

bishops (present singular third-person)
bishoping (participle present)
bishopping (participle present)
bishoped (participle past)
bishoped (past)
bishopped (participle past)
bishopped (past)

I Burked the papa, now I'll Bishop the son.

1840, R.H. Barham, Some Account of a New Play in Ingoldsby Legends 1st series, 308

There were no more Burking murders until 1831, when two men, named Bishop and Williams, drowned a poor [14-year-old] Italian boy in Bethnal Green, and sold his body to the surgeons.

1870, Walter Thornbury, Old Stories Re-told:

John Bishop and another grave-robber called Thomas Williams had drowned the boy, a woman and another boy in a well in John Bishop's garden in Bethnal Green... Bishop and Williams were hanged outside Newgate Prison in December 1831 in front of an angry crowd of 30,000.

2002, Helen Smith, Grave-Robbers, Cut-throats, and Poisoners of London, section 66:

(UK, colloquial, obsolete) To murder by drowning.


rook

en-noun

rook (countable and uncountable, plural rooks)

* Inherited from Middle English rok, roke, from Old English hrōc, from Proto-West Germanic *hrōk, from Proto-Germanic *hrōkaz (compare Old Norse hrókr, Saterland Frisian Rouk, Dutch roek, obsolete German Ruch), from Proto-Indo-European *kerk- (“crow, raven”) (compare Old Irish cerc (“hen”), Old Prussian kerko (“loon, diver”), dialectal Bulgarian кро́кон (krókon, “raven”), Ancient Greek κόραξ (kórax, “crow”), Old Armenian ագռաւ (agṙaw), Avestan 𐬐𐬀𐬵𐬭𐬐𐬀𐬙𐬀𐬝 (kahrkatat̰, “rooster”), Sanskrit कृकर (kṛkara, “rooster”)), Ukrainian крук (kruk, “raven”).
* (parson): Probably from the resemblance in plumage to a parson's garments.

cog

sometimes in Northern England; otherwise obsolete

ruck (most accents without the foot-strut split)

(British) A type of firecracker used by farmers to scare birds of the same name.


beverage

en-noun

beverage (countable and uncountable, plural beverages)

beverages (plural)
beveridge (alternative obsolete)

list of English words with dual French and Anglo-Saxon variations

/ˈbɛv(ə)ɹɪd͡ʒ/

From Middle English beverage, from Old French beverage, variant of bevrage, from beivre (“to drink”), variant of boivre (“to drink”), from Latin bibō. Related to imbibe.

(British, slang, archaic) (A gift of) drink money.


bicycle

→ Burmese: ဘိုင်စကယ် (bhuingca.kai)

→ Central Dusun: bosikol

→ Hawaiian: paikikala

desc

→ Kashubian: bajsykla (Canada, United States)

→ Malay: basikal

→ Maltese: bajsikil

→ Maori: paihikara

→ Papiamentu: baiskel

→⇒ Serbo-Croatian: bajs

→ Sranan Tongo: baisigri

Aukan: baisigii

Saramaccan: baisígi

→ Kari'na: paisiki

→ Swahili: baiskeli

→ Tausug: basikul

→ Urdu: بائیسِکَل (bāīsikal)

→ Welsh: beisicl

Borrowed from French bicycle (modern bicyclette), from bi- (“bi-”) + cycle (“cycle”). First attested in English in 1868, and in French in 1847.
(promiscuous woman): From double meaning of ride ("to transport oneself upon" vs. "to mount someone to have sex with them"). A communal bicycle would have many riders.

a woman needs a man like a fish needs a bicycle

a woman without a man is like a fish without a bicycle

(British, Australia, New Zealand) A motorbike.


tentacle

From New Latin tentāculum, from tentō. Doublet of tentaculum.

A joint RAF/Army staffed Air Support Control (ASC) headquarters was established at each army corps and each armoured division, linked to the forward brigades by a 'tentacle' equipped with two-way wireless telegraphy.

2013, Dr Ian Gooderson, Air Power at the Battlefront, page 26:

(UK, military, historical) An officer employed to drive out to troops and transmit back requests for support via a special radio link.


nick

The noun is derived from Late Middle English nik (“notch, tally; nock of an arrow”). Its further etymology is unknown; a connection with nock (“notch in a bow to hold the bowstring; notch at the rear of an arrow that fits the bowstring; cleft in the buttocks”) has not been clearly established.
The verb appears to be derived from the noun, though the available evidence shows that some of the verb senses predate the noun senses. No connection with words in Germanic languages such as Danish nikke (“to nod”), Middle Dutch nicken (“to bend; to bow”) (modern Dutch knikken (“to nod”)), Middle Low German nicken (“to bend over; to sink”), Middle High German nicken (“to bend; to depress”) (modern German nicken (“to nod”)), Middle Low German knicken (“to bend; to snap”) (modern German knicken (“to bend; to break”), Old Frisian hnekka (“to nod”), and Swedish nicka (“to nod”), has been clearly established.

unknown

further etymology is unknown

cog

The car I bought was cheap and in good nick.

[F]urther south in Kent, there was St. Mildred, whose mother [Domne Eafe], in 670, founded the minster that still stands there in good nick, with nine nuns who are an ever-present help in trouble to all religions and none.

2014 July 20, Jane Gardam, “Give us a bishop in high heels [print version: ‘Give us a high-heeled bishop’, International New York Times, 22 July 2014, page 11]”, in The New York Times, archived from the original on 2015-11-07:

[…]considering they've abused their bodies with everything from M and G to crystal meth over the course of the last day or so, some longer, they look in pretty good nick.

2017, James Wharton, Something for the Weekend, Biteback Publishing, →ISBN:

More unexpectedly, older tech and hardware stocks seem in decent nick, Mr Ives notes.

2022 May 14, “Tech bubbles are bursting all over the place”, in The Economist, →ISSN:

(UK, Ireland, Commonwealth, colloquial) Often in the expressions in bad nick and in good nick: condition, state.

He was arrested and taken down to Sun Hill nick [police station] to be charged.

He’s just been released from Shadwell nick [prison] after doing ten years for attempted murder.

I recall too that the chats in the back of the [police] van weren't too bad as they dispatched me to the nick.

2014, Russell Brand, “I am an Anarchist-a”, in Revolution, New York, N.Y.: Ballantine Books, →ISBN, page 81:

Poor Billy, he got seven years and he died in the nick in Liverpool in January 1958. Tragedy, he was such a good man, the best. He had a big funeral back in Clerkenwell. Eva went to it. I was in the nick down south at the time.

2019 June 6, Frankie Fraser, James Morton, Mad Frank's Diary: The Confessions of Britain’s Most Notorious Villain, Random House, →ISBN:

“They say he's a friend of Stuart's who he met in the nick down south. No one in Brisbane knows him.” “Not that anyone would admit to it anyway.”

2021 March 23, William Stokes, The Riddle Exposed:: The Whiskey Firebombing's Link to the McCulkin Family Murders, Interactive Publications, →ISBN, page 80:

(UK, Ireland, Commonwealth, law enforcement, slang) A police station or prison.


nick

en-verb

nick (third-person singular simple present nicks, present participle nicking, simple past and past participle nicked)

nicks (present singular third-person)
nicking (participle present)
nicked (participle past)
nicked (past)

unknown

further etymology is unknown

Someone’s nicked my bike!

As I'm on the ground, my bat and one of the stumps are grabbed out of my hands. [...] At that point, I look up and see Adrian [Dale] – with two stumps in his hands! Hugh [Morris] has given him one and his brother Gary, who is a policeman, has seen the bloke who nicked it off me and wrestled it off him and given [it] to Adrian. He didn't get my bat back, though.

2013, Ian Botham, with Dean Wilson, “Steve James – Fine Dining”, in Beefy’s Cricket Tales: My Favourite Stories from On and Off the Field, London: Simon & Schuster, →ISBN, pages 145–146:

(transitive, UK, Ireland, Commonwealth, colloquial) To steal.

The police nicked him climbing over the fence of the house he’d broken into.

Flick knives were pulled on us, and the group demanded we give them all our money, and passports and everything else we had. [...] They [the police] had nicked the knife gang, (who had stayed there, beating the shit out of Nick), and found our passports.

2012, T. Appleby, “Die in Dunkirk or Somewhere in France”, in Life in the Harsh Lane: The Nine Lives, Mishaps, and Adventures of a No-body, [Bloomington, Ind.]: Xlibris, →ISBN, page 113:

[...] I was always getting nicked when I was a junkie, so I've had my fair share of skirmishes with the law.

(transitive, UK, Ireland, Commonwealth, law enforcement, slang) To arrest.


Ltd.

limited liability company
limited liability company#English

(British, Canada, Ireland) Abbreviation of limited liability company.


tort

en-adj

tort (comparative more tort, superlative most tort)

more tort (comparative)
most tort (superlative)

(British, dialectal) Synonym of tart (“sharp- or sour-tasting; (figuratively) keen, severe, sharp”)


tort

tort (comparative torter, superlative tortest)

torter (comparative)
tortest (superlative)

Yet holds he them with tortest rein, / That they may seize and entertain / The glance that to their glance opposes, / Like fiery honey sucked from roses.

1847, R[alph] W[aldo] Emerson, “Initial, Dæmonic, and Celestial Love”, in Poems, Boston, Mass.: James Munroe and Company, →OCLC, part I (The Initial Love), page 158:

Synonym of taut (“stretched tight; under tension”).


plaintiff

From Middle English plaintif, from Anglo-Norman, from Old French plaintif (“complaining”; as a noun, “one who complains, a plaintiff”) from the verb plaindre. Doublet of plaintive.

der

(law, UK historical, otherwise current) A party bringing a suit in civil law against a defendant; accuser.


NFL

Soon after Boston and London were over, two other dramatic races were playing out in my head [...] just as we enjoy the long term implications of a match result in baseball, NFL or soccer.

In a neo-conservative era where parents have regressed by dressing their daughters as pink princesses, where toy stores segregate their merchandise according to ‘gender’, where women playing NFL in bikinis is ‘sport’, and where Miss Universe is every adolescent girl’s ambition, was I really that gullible to believe that Gen Y would radically commit engagement rings – and, hence, elaborate weddings – to the dumpster?

2017 March 16, Pearl Bullivant, “Shine Bright like a Diamond”, in The Beast:


metre

en-verb

metre (third-person singular simple present metres, present participle metring, simple past and past participle metred)

metres (present singular third-person)
metring (participle present)
metred (participle past)
metred (past)
meter (alternative)

From French mètre, from Ancient Greek μέτρον (métron, “measure, rule, length, size, poetic metre”). Doublet of meter, metron, and mether.

der

(UK, rare) Alternative spelling of meter.


metre

en-noun

metre (countable and uncountable, plural metres)

From Old English, from Latin metrum, from Ancient Greek μέτρον (métron, “measure, rule, length, size, poetic metre”).

(UK, Canada) The rhythm or measure in language (especially verse) and musical composition.

metro

rhythm or measure in verse and musical composition


AAA

Allied Artists Association
w:Allied Artists Association

(UK, art, historical) Initialism of Allied Artists Association.


subway

At Nairobi the mail waits an hour-and-a-half. The station has three long platforms, mostly covered in awnings, the island connected with the main platform (which is used by the mails in both directions) by a subway.

1950 April, Timothy H. Cobb, “The Kenya-Uganda Railway”, in Railway Magazine, page 265:

Heading beneath the tracks via the subway to the immediate north of the station takes us to the Didcot Railway Centre.

2021 December 29, Stephen Roberts, “Stories and facts behind railway plaques: Didcot (1932)”, in RAIL, number 947, page 60:

pedestrian underpass
pedestrian underpass

(British) An underground walkway, tunnel for pedestrians (called pedestrian underpass in US).


ADA

A.D.A. (alternative)
A. D. A. (alternative)

Association of Drainage Authorities
w:Association of Drainage Authorities

(UK) Initialism of Association of Drainage Authorities.


TM

TM (countable and uncountable, plural TMs)

(UK, telecommunications, historical) Initialism of telephone manager.


dag

en-verb

dag (third-person singular simple present dags, present participle dagging, simple past and past participle dagged)

dags (present singular third-person)
dagging (participle present)
dagged (participle past)
dagged (past)

Of North Germanic origin; compare Swedish dagg. Doublet of dew.


STID

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


premier

Borrowed from Middle French premier (adjective), from Latin prīmārius. Doublet of primary.

prime minister

parliamentary leader of government and leader of cabinet in a national parliament

prime minister

head of government in a non-Westminster system

1871 July 29, “Our Tyrant”, The Spectator, Volume 303, Issues 9308-9315, page 910,
Mr. Gladstone had literally no option. Not to coerce the Lords was to coerce the Commons to continue purchase in spite of their repeated votes for its abolition, and this the Premier had as little the power as the will to do.

(politics, UK, Westminster system) The head of government in parliament and leader of the cabinet.

(politics, UK parliament) The prime minister.

More surprising than the company′s activities and interests were those of the premier of Ontario, Mitchell Hepburn.

1974, Irving M. Abella, On Strike; Six Key Labour Struggles in Canada, 1919-1949, page 96:

The major concern of most of the premiers who attended the 1887 conference was, as Macdonald well understood, to put pressure upoon Ottawa to amend the B.N.A. Act to increase the subsidies paid to the provinces by tying them to current population levels rather than those of 1860.

1986, R. Kenneth Carty, National Politics and Community in Canada, page 116:

John Forrest had dominated the fledgling state of Western Australia, serving as premier for the previous decade.

2007, Patrick Moray Weller, Cabinet Government in Australia, 1901-2006: Practice, Principles, Performance, page 1:

In 1890 it was South Australian Premier Charles Cameron Kingston who first proposed a system of compulsory conciliation and arbitration to deal with industrial unrest.

2009, Andrew Stewart, edited by John Spoehr, Chapter 16: Industrial Relations: State of South Australia: From Crisis to Prosperity?, page 302:

In 2009 Kristina Keneally became Labor premier in NSW in similar circumstances to her predecessors in Western Australia and Victoria - a Labor government that was in deep trouble because of mismanagement and corruption scandals.

2011, Jennifer Curtin, Marian Sawer, “4: Oceania”, in Gretchen Bauer, Manon Tremblay, editors, Women in Executive Power: A Global Overview, page 56:

(politics, Australia, Canada, South Africa) The leader of a state or provincial government and cabinet.

省長 /省长

Australia, Canada: head of a state or provincial government

first minister

parliamentary leader of government and leader of cabinet in a state or provincial parliament


area

A boy seized it, whom she bribed with a shilling to relinquish his prize, which she was taking home, when it escaped from her hand, and fell down the area of a house.

1790, Helen Maria Williams, Julia, Routledge, published 2016, page 95:

This was so favourably received by the milkman and beadle that he would immediately have been pushed into the area if I had not held his pinafore while Richard and Mr. Guppy ran down through the kitchen to catch him when he should be released.

1852 March – 1853 September, Charles Dickens, chapter 4, in Bleak House, London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1853, →OCLC:

He crept down the back stairs; but as he could not quite condescend to escape through the area, he was forced to emerge upon the hall, and here his aunt pounced upon him, coming out of the breakfast-parlour.

1865, Anthony Trollope, “LXVI. Lady Monk's Plan”, in Can You Forgive Her?:

A minute later we were both in the area. Hardly had we reached the dark shadows before the step of the policeman was heard in the fog above. As its soft rhythm died away, Holmes set to work upon the lower door. I saw him stoop and strain until with a sharp crash it flew open. We sprang through into the dark passage, closing the area door behind us.

1908, Arthur Conan Doyle, The Adventure of the Bruce-Partington Plans:

(British) An open space, below ground level, giving access to the basement of a house, and typically separated from the pavement by railings.

επιφάνεια υπογείων

open space, below ground level, between the front of a house and the pavement


fag

Probably from fag end (“remnant”), from Middle English fagge (“flap”).

He′d Phase Out Fag Industry
Los Angeles (UPI) - A UCLA professor has called for the phasing out of the cigarette industry by converting tobacco acres to other crops.

Oh, rent a flat above a shop / And cut your hair and get a job / And smoke some fags and play some pool / Pretend you never went to school

1995, Pulp, “Common People”, in Different Class:

All of them, like my mother, were heavy smokers, and after warming themselves by the fire, they would sit on the sofa and smoke, lobbing their wet fag ends into the fire.

2001, Oliver Sacks, Uncle Tungsten: Memories of a Chemical Boyhood, Alfred A. Knopf, section 15:

So I started off by asking the shearers if they minded if I took a belly off while they were having a fag. Then after a while they were asking me. They′d say, ‘Do yer wanta take over fer a bit while I have a fag?’ And then I got better and I′d finish the sheep and they′d say ‘Christ, I haven′t finished me bloody fag yet, yer may as well shear anotherie.’

2011, Bill Marsh, Great Australian Shearing Stories, unnumbered page:

Fag, s. the worst part or end of anything.

1788, William Perry, editor, The Royal standard English dictionary:

(UK, Ireland, obsolete, colloquial) The worst part or end of a thing.


fag

Akin to flag (“droop, tire”). Compare Dutch vaak (“sleepiness”).

We are sadly off in the country; not but what we have very good shops in Salisbury, but it is so far to go—eight miles is a long way; Mr. Allen says it is nine, measured nine; but I am sure it cannot be more than eight; and it is such a fag—I come back tired to death.

1853, Sarah Josepha Hale, Woman's Record: or Sketches of All Distinguished Women, from Creation to A.D. 1854, page 188:

(UK, Ireland, colloquial, now rare) A chore: an arduous and tiresome task.

I had the character at ſchool of being the very beſt fag that ever came into it.

1791, Richard Cumberland, The Observer, volume 4, page 67:

“He was my fag at Eton,” Warrington said. “I ought to have licked him a little more.”

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

A gang of fags was mobbing about by the notice-boards. They fell silent as he approached. He patted one of them on the head. ‘Pretty children,’ he sighed, digging into his waistcoat pocket and pulling out a handful of change. ‘Tonight you shall eat.’ Scattering the coins at their feet, he moved on.

(UK, Ireland, education, historical, colloquial) A younger student acting as a servant for senior students.


fag

fag (third-person singular simple present fags, present participle fagging, simple past and past participle fagged)

fags (present singular third-person)
fagging (participle present)
fagged (participle past)
fagged (past)

(intransitive, UK, Ireland, education, historical, colloquial) (of a younger student) To act as a servant for senior students in many British boarding schools.

It is everywhere observed that a liberated slave is apt to make a merciless master, and that boys who have been cruelly fagged at school are cruel faggers.

1887, Francis Bacon, Richard Whately, Essays, page 63:

(transitive, UK, Ireland, education, historical, colloquial) To have (a younger student) act as a servant in this way.

This state of things should have been to me a paradise of peace, accustomed as I was to a life of ceaseless reprimand and thankless fagging; but, in fact, my racked nerves were now in such a state that no calm could soothe, and no pleasure excite them agreeably.

1847, Charlotte Brontë, chapter 1, in Jane Eyre, HTML edition:

I walked about the streets where the best shops for ladies were, I haunted the Bazaar like an unquiet spirit, I fagged through the Park again and again, long after I was quite knocked up.

1849 May – 1850 November, Charles Dickens, The Personal History of David Copperfield, London: Bradbury & Evans, […], published 1850, →OCLC:

(intransitive, UK, Ireland, now rare) To work hard, especially on menial chores.


zinc

en-noun

zinc (countable and uncountable, plural zincs)

zincs (plural)
zinke (alternative obsolete)
zink (alternative obsolete)

Borrowed from German Zink, related to Zinke (“point, prong”), from Middle High German zinke, from Old High German zinko (“prong, tine”), allied to zint (“a jag, point”), from Proto-Germanic *tindaz (“prong, pinnacle”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₃dónts (“tooth, projection”). Cognate with Old English tind (“tine, prong”), Middle Low German tinde, Icelandic tindur (“spike, tooth of a rake or harrow, pinnacle, peak, battlement”). See also Dutch tinne (“battlement”), German Zinne (“pinnacle, battlement”), Danish tinde (“pinnacle, battlement”), Swedish tinne (“tooth of a rake”), More at tine. Doublet of zincum.

cog

Then, three workmen throwing dice for drinks. And their heads come sharply together as they count the scores. And so violently do they throw the dice that they shoot off "the zinc" on to the floor.

1904, The Saturday Review of Politics, Literature, Science and Art:

Even if there were a Chef and Brewer near Marble Arch, the name suggests a pint and pie, not a prawn and tomato sandwich and “a dock glass of white port off the zinc”; i.e., a small glass of a fine aperitif, at the counter […]

2010, Chris Ackerley, Demented Particulars, page 44:

(UK, dated, colloquial) A zinc countertop.


school

en-noun

school (countable and uncountable, plural schools)

schools (plural)
schole (alternative obsolete)

Australian Kriol: skul

Bislama: skul

Nigerian Pidgin: skul

Tok Pisin: skul, sikul

Pijin: skul

→ Hindustani:

Hindi: स्कूल (skūl)

Urdu: اِسْکُول (iskūl)
→ Ushojo: اسکول

→ Maori: kura

→ Palauan: skuul

→ Swahili: skule, skuli

→ Unami: shkul

From Middle English scole, from Old English scōl (“place of education”), from Proto-West Germanic *skōlu, from Late Latin schola, scola (“learned discussion or dissertation, lecture, school”), from Ancient Greek σχολή (skholḗ, “spare time, leisure”), from Proto-Indo-European *seǵʰ- (“to hold, have, possess”). Doublet of schola and shul.
Compare Old Frisian skūle, schūle (“school”) (West Frisian skoalle, Saterland Frisian Skoule), Dutch school (“school”), German Low German School (“school”), Old High German scuola (“school”), German Schule (“school”), Old Norse skóli (“school”).
Influenced in some senses by Middle English schole (“group of persons, host, company”), from Middle Dutch scole (“multitude, troop, band”). See school (“group”). Related also to Old High German sigi (German Sieg, “victory”), Old English siġe, sigor (“victory”).

cog

German <i class="Latn mention" lang="de">Sieg</i>

Appendix:Roget MICRA thesaurus/Class IV § 542. School

Appendix:Moby Thesaurus II/36 § graduate school

Appendix:Moby Thesaurus II/39 § high school

Appendix:Moby Thesaurus II/46 § junior high school

Appendix:Moby Thesaurus II/52 § middle school

Appendix:Moby Thesaurus II/57 § normal school

Appendix:Moby Thesaurus II/58 § open classroom school

Appendix:Moby Thesaurus II/65 § preparatory school

Appendix:Moby Thesaurus II/67 § public school

Appendix:Moby Thesaurus II/75 § secondary school

Appendix:Moby Thesaurus II/80 § special school

Appendix:Moby Thesaurus II/83 § summer school

One particularly damaging, but often ignored, effect of conflict on education is the proliferation of attacks on schools[…]as children, teachers or school buildings become the targets of attacks. Parents fear sending their children to school. Girls are particularly vulnerable to sexual violence.

2013 July 19, Mark Tran, “Denied an education by war”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 6, page 1:

educational institution
educational institution

(British) An educational institution providing primary and secondary education, prior to tertiary education (college or university).

nursery school

Divinity, history and geography are studied for two schools per week.

(UK) At Eton College, a period or session of teaching.


buggy

→ Gulf Arabic: بقي (bagi, “ATV”)

The wider station upgrade has provided lifts to the Piccadilly and Victoria lines, as well as Network Rail platforms, to make it easier for passengers with mobility needs, buggies or heavy luggage to use London Underground.

2020 January 2, “New entrance at Finsbury Park”, in Rail, page 12:

(UK, Western Pennsylvania) A pushchair; a stroller.


PC

en-noun

PC (countable and uncountable, plural PCs)

previous conviction
previous conviction#English

(UK, law enforcement) Initialism of previous conviction.


ar

(UK, West Country, West Midlands) Alternative form of arr.


pot

From Middle English pot, potte, from Old English pott (“pot”) and Old French pot (“pot”) (probably from Frankish *pott); both Old English and Frankish from Proto-Germanic *puttaz (“pot”), from Proto-Indo-European *budnós (“a type of vessel”).
Cognate with Saterland Frisian Pot (“pot”), Dutch pot (“pot”), German Low German Pott (“pot”), German Pott (“pot”), Swedish potta (“chamber pot”), Icelandic pottur (“tub, pot”), Old Armenian պոյտն (poytn, “pot, earthen pot”). Also, Old Norse pottr (“pot, tub, basin”).
The sense of ruin or deterioration was originally a general allusion to "being chopped up and tossed in a (normally fiery) pot, like a piece of meat" (i.e. to get wasted or done with (by someone)). The 'clean' slang term which was used in reference to toilet rooms and lavatories apparently derives from English chamberpots, although now usually encountered as potty in the context of children's toilet training.

pussitus

cue sports: act of causing a ball to fall into a pocket

not have a pot to piss in or a window to throw it out of

(UK, horse-racing, slang) A favorite: a heavily-backed horse.


pot

en-verb

pot (third-person singular simple present pots, present participle potting, simple past and past participle potted)

pots (present singular third-person)
potting (participle present)
potted (participle past)
potted (past)

(British) To send someone to jail, expeditiously.

It is less labour to plough than to pot it.

1623, Owen Feltham, Resolves: Divine, Moral, Political:

(obsolete, dialect, UK) To tipple; to drink.

Ideally the best Ideally the best way of tackling the problem of toilet training, is to 'pot' your child at set intervals when he is at home, even though he may no longer be a baby, thus establishing a regular routine instead of one at odd intervals.

1975, Nancie R. Finnie, Handling the Young Cerebral Palsied Child, →ISBN, page 75:

If you leave out this “catching" stage altogether and start proper toilet training at, say, eighteen months you will only have to pot your baby about 2000 times for the same effect.

1978, Penelope Leach, Your Baby & Child from Birth to Age Five, →ISBN, page 225:

Do not make the mistake of potting your baby as early as possible, but wait until she gives the signal that she is aware that puddles are somehow to do with her.

2004, Joan Gomez, Coping with Incontinence, →ISBN, page 33:

Of course, if at any stage your child takes a violent dislike to the pot, then I would put it away for a few weeks and then try again, but if the pot is very comfortable, your attitude is calm and you don't over-pot your child (put him on the pot too often or talk about the pot too much), this shouldn't happen.

2012, Nanny Smith, Nina Grunfeld, Nanny Knows Best: Successful Potty Training, →ISBN:

(transitive, British) To seat a person, usually a young child, on a potty or toilet, typically during toilet teaching.


PG

en-noun

PG (countable and uncountable, plural PGs)

I've had it. That's it George! For one year now, I've been providing X-rated entertainment and you reciprocate with PG! It's an iniquitous arrangement!

1979, Blake Edwards, 10, spoken by Neighbor:

(uncountable, film, British, US, Philippines) Initialism of parental guidance, a rating for a film that may be viewed by minors at their parents' discretion.

parental guidance

(countable, chiefly UK) Initialism of paying guest.


Sr

(UK) Abbreviation of senior; A title used after a father's name when his son is given the same name.


pint

From Middle English pinte, from Old French pinte, assumed from Vulgar Latin *pincta (“a mark used to indicate a level of quantity against a larger measure”), from Latin picta (“painted”), from Latin pingō (“paint”, verb). Doublet of pinto and Pinto.

halstuoppi

closest equivalent in traditional Finnish units

(UK, Commonwealth) 20 fluid ounces, approximately 568 millilitres (an imperial pint).

Please leave three pints tomorrow, milkman.

A couple of pints please, barman.

Finn: You must have a terrible thirst on you tonight. I've never seen a man drink two pints at the same time.

1998, Kirk Jones, Waking Ned, Tomboy films:

(UK, metonymic) A glass of beer or cider, served by the pint.

μισόλιτρο n (misólitro, literally “half a litre”)


po

Yoruba: póò

‘Pos’ or ‘chamber pots’ were provided under the beds.

1988, Richard Hoggart, A Local Habitation, 1918-40, Chatto & Windus, →ISBN, page 67:

There are always several spitoons & pos [chamber pots] about the room & a loathesome smell of consumption, which I expect I shall catch.

1989, Leonard Woolf, edited by Frederic Spotts, Letters of Leonard Woolf, page 86:

Shaking the last few drops from off the end he looked down in surprise at the great head of steam that brimmed above the po, belatedly apprised of just how icy the October garret was.

2016, Alan Moore, Jerusalem, Liveright, published 2016, page 44:

(UK, Australia, New Zealand, colloquial, dated) A chamberpot.


sole

en-verb

sole (third-person singular simple present soles, present participle soling, simple past and past participle soled)

soles (present singular third-person)
soling (participle present)
soled (participle past)
soled (past)
soal (alternative)
sowl (alternative)

From earlier sowle (“to pull by the ear”). Origin unknown. Perhaps from sow (“female pig”) + -le, as in the phrase "take a sow by the wrong ear", or from Middle English sole (“rope”). See above.

(transitive, UK dialectal) To pull by the ears; to pull about; haul; lug.


foetus

en-noun

foetus (plural foetuses or foetus or (hypercorrect) foeti)

foetuses (plural)
foetus (plural)
foeti (hypercorrect plural)

Amongst professional men, who have examined this singular foetus, a variety of opinions and conjectures have been formed, some of which it maybe well to notice.

1815, Nathaniel Highmore, Case of a Foetus Found in the Abdomen of a Young Man:

During the last 10 weeks in utero the foetus stores very considerable amounts of energy in the form of fat.

1990, James M. Tanner, Foetus Into Man: Physical Growth from Conception to Maturity, →ISBN, page 40:

The foetus gains all its food and oxygen from the mother during pregnancy.

2006, Denise Walker, Reproduction, Breathing and Health, →ISBN, page 23:

But there were clues in their reproduction: all afrotherians have unusual placentas and produce more foetuses than can be nurtured in the womb.

2018, Tim Flannery, Europe: A Natural History, page 59:

(chiefly UK) Alternative spelling of fetus.


half

halves (plural)
'arf (alternative)
ha'f (alternative)
halfe (alternative)

New York City, New Orleans, Philadelphia, Baltimore

From Middle English half, halfe from Old English healf (“half”); as a noun, 'half', 'side', 'part', from Proto-West Germanic *halb, from Proto-Germanic *halbaz.
Cognates
Cognate with Old Saxon, Old Frisian, and Old Dutch half, West Frisian heal, Dutch half, German halb, Swedish, Danish and Norwegian halv, Icelandic hálfur and Gothic 𐌷𐌰𐌻𐌱𐍃 (halbs). Compare halve, behalf.

абжа

one of two equal parts into which anything may be divided

He came back with a pint of Guinness for me and a half of bitter for Wendy.

1968, John Braine, The Crying Game, Houghton Mifflin, page 11:

I accepted a half of bitter from him.

1974, James Herriot, All Things Bright and Beautiful, St. Martin's Press,, →ISBN:

I went to the bar where I bought a pint and two large brandies. ... "Not brandy," she replied, "but I could use a long drink - maybe a half of lager."

2006, Bill Appleton, Wide Boy, Pegasus Elliot Mackenzie, →ISBN, page 168:

(British) half a pint of beer or cider. (Refusing a pint) Just a half, thank you. (Offering to top up a pint glass) Do you want a half in that? (Minimizing the amount of drink taken) A swift half at the Pear Tree.

(UK, dated) A child ticket. Two and a half to Paddington.


half

'arf (alternative)
ha'f (alternative)
halfe (alternative)

The time is 9:30; it is half nine.

(UK, Ireland) Half past; a half-hour (30 minutes) after the last hour.


twee

en-adj

twee (comparative more twee or tweer, superlative most twee or tweest)

more twee (comparative)
tweer (comparative)
most twee (superlative)
tweest (superlative)

From a childish pronunciation of sweet. The Oxford English Dictionary records the first use in 1905 in Punch.

Those Beatrix Potter animals are a little twee for my taste.

Despite the fact that the designs were all a bit twee […] they stood out a mile in the market place at that time.

1999, Janet Foster, Docklands: Urban Change and Conflict in a Community in Transition, London, Philadelphia, Pa.: UCL Press, →ISBN, page 82:

Forget the clichéd image of Brigadoon and shortbread tins, the dreadfully twee tartan tat and Celtic kitsch that, sadly, still exists in the 21st century, and is too often passed off as a genuine Highland experience.

2001, Alan Murphy, Scotland Highlands & Islands Handbook: The Travel Guide, Bath, Somerset: Footprint Handbooks, →ISBN, page 11:

As always with Disney, there are moments when it all seems a bit twee, others when it is excessively PC.

2002, Peter Ellison, Essential Non-fiction, Dublin: Folens Publishers, →ISBN, page 40:

I just wouldn’t have felt comfortable saying, "I am a duckbilled platypus, and this is how I find my shrimps." I think it would have been twee.

2005 September 8, Stephen S. Hall, quoting Richard Dawkins, “Darwin's Rottweiler: Sir Richard Dawkins: Evolution's fiercest champion, far too fierce”, in Discover, archived from the original on 2016-01-01:

[Neil] Tennant's accent obviously has a lot to do with that, but the fact he's rapping is further masked by his twee, effeminate delivery.

2015 June 2, Kenneth Partridge, “With ‘West End Girls,’ Pet Shop Boys set a high standard for U.K. hip-hop”, in The A.V. Club, archived from the original on 2015-09-06:

(UK, Ireland, derogatory) Overly quaint, dainty, cute or nice.


gramme

(UK) Dated spelling of gram (unit of mass).


VI

Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom
w:en:Victoria I of the United Kingdom

(UK) Abbreviation of Victoria Imperatrix; the royal cypher of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom, queen regnant and empress of the British Empire, Empire of India.


well

en-adv

well (comparative better, superlative best)

better (comparative)
best (superlative)
wall (alternative)
weel (alternative)
weil (alternative)
welp (alternative)

From Middle English wel, wal, wol, wele, from Old English wel (“well, abundantly, very, very easily, very much, fully, quite, nearly”), from Proto-Germanic *wela, *wala (“well”, literally “as wished, as desired”), from Proto-Indo-European *welh₁- (“wish, desire”).
Cognate with Scots wele, weil (“well”), North Frisian wel, weil, wal (“well”), West Frisian wol (“well”), Dutch wel (“well”), Low German wol (“well”), German wohl (“well”), Norwegian and Danish vel (“well”), Swedish väl (“well”), Icelandic vel, val (“well”). Related to will.

der

wool (interjection or unstressed, some accents)

That guy rocks! I think he's called Matthew Lillard or sommat but he is well cool in Scream.

1999, Drummond Pearson, “What Ash are doing right now...”, in alt.music.ash (Usenet):

Hey Dude / FIFA 2003 is well wicked, I've got FIFA 2002 on PS2, David Beckham on Xbox and Football Manager on Xbox too, out of all pf^([sic]) them FIFA 2003 is easliy^([sic]) the best.

2002, jibaili, “FIFA 2003 How is it?”, in microsoft.public.xbox (Usenet):

Hey, you should've seen it, it was well good.

(degree, UK, Ireland, Commonwealth, slang) Very (as a general-purpose intensifier).


zebra crossing

From the similarity of the stripes to those of a zebra.

'Oh, that was easy,' says Man, and for an encore goes on to prove that black is white and gets himself killed on the next zebra crossing.

1979 October 12, Douglas Adams, chapter 6, in The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, London: Pan Books, →ISBN, page 50:

Do not ride across a pelican, puffin or zebra crossing. Dismount and wheel your cycle across.

2003, The Highway Code for Northern Ireland, The Stationery Office, →ISBN, page 16:

They also believed that if they were killed on a zebra crossing, the Government would pay for their funerals. They had the definite impression that that was what zebra crossings were meant for. Free funerals.

2008 December 16, Arundhati Roy, The God of Small Things, Random House, →ISBN, →OL, Ch. 1:

The Abbey Road zebra crossing in north London — made famous after appearing on a Beatles album cover — has been given Grade II listed status.

2010 December 22, “Beatles' Abbey Road zebra crossing given listed status”, in BBC News:

(UK, Ireland, Commonwealth) A pedestrian crossing featuring broad white stripes painted parallel to the street.


tool

en-verb

tool (third-person singular simple present tools, present participle tooling, simple past and past participle tooled)

tools (present singular third-person)
tooling (participle present)
tooled (participle past)
tooled (past)

From Middle English tool, tol, from Old English tōl (“tool, implement, instrument”, literally “that with which one prepares something”), perhaps borrowed from Old Norse tól, but at any rate ultimately from Proto-Germanic *tōlą (“that which is used in preparation, tool”), from Proto-Indo-European *dewh₂- (“to tie to, secure”), equivalent to taw (“to prepare”) + -le (agent suffix). Cognate with Scots tuil (“tool, implement, instrument, device”), Icelandic tól (“tool”), Faroese tól (“tool, instrument”). Related to Old English tāwian (“to make, prepare, or cultivate”); see taw, and tow ("fibres used for spinning").

cog

(transitive, UK, slang, dated) To drive (a coach or other vehicle).

1850s, Cuthbert M. Bede, The Adventures of Mr. Verdant Green
Among those who seemed disposed to join in this opinion was the Jehu of the Warwickshire coach, who expressed his conviction to our hero, that "he wos a young gent as had much himproved hisself since he tooled him up to the Warsity with his guvnor."

(transitive, UK, slang, dated) To carry or convey in a coach or other vehicle.


hook

sometimes in Northern England and Ireland, otherwise obsolete

From Middle English hoke, from Old English hōc, from Proto-West Germanic *hōk, from Proto-Germanic *hōkaz, variant of *hakô (“hook”), probably ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *kog-, *keg-, *keng- (“peg, hook, claw”).
Cognates
Compare West Frisian heak, Dutch haak (“hook”)) (compare West Frisian/Dutch hoek (“hook, angle, corner”), Low German Hook, Huuk); also related to hake.

He preceded me to Dartmoor, where I found his fame even more loudly trumpeted than ever, especially by Manchester “hooks” (pickpockets), who boast of being the rivals of the “Cocks,” or Londoners, in the art of obtaining other people's property without paying for it.

1885, Michael Davitt, Leaves from a Prison Diary, page 18:

"Everybody's a tool over there. Everybody's a hook, except them four guys on the points of the compass. They are eight or ten strong over there." But all professional pickpockets, however expert or however clumsy, operate on the basis of the situation just outlined.

2003, David W. Maurer, Whiz Mob: A Correlation of the Technical Argot of Pickpockets with Their Behavior Pattern, page 58:


hook

en-verb

hook (third-person singular simple present hooks, present participle hooking, simple past and past participle hooked)

hooks (present singular third-person)
hooking (participle present)
hooked (participle past)
hooked (past)

koukata

hockey: to engage in the illegal maneuver of hooking


French letter

From French + letter. Compare earlier French pox, French-sick (“syphilis”), or later French safe, French tickler (“condom”), or French kiss. Attested from the 19th century.

‘So you’re fifteen – and you know the function of a “French letter”? You are familiar with its use?’
‘I know what it’s for, sir, yes.’

1984, Leslie Thomas, In my Wildest Dreams, page 289:

“I suppose it’s too much to hope that you have a question about gonorrhea. Those questions are so much easier to answer.”[…]
“I was going to ask about what you said earlier. That you’d... that you’d... not used a French letter in eighteen months.”

2012, Courtney Milan, A Kiss for Midwinter, page 80:

(UK, Ireland, Commonwealth, dated, euphemistic) A condom.


bill

→ Swahili: bili

→ Thai: บิล (bin)

→ Tokelauan: pili

→ Jamaican Creole: bills

From Middle English bille, from Anglo-Norman bille, from Old French bulle, from Medieval Latin bulla (“seal, sealed document”). Doublet of bull (“papal bull; bubble”) and bulla.

dbt

l-vocalizing: UK, General Australian, New Zealand

In the conversation Henshall says he "struggling to find people to go up the roads" explaining how it would be "no good for black people" and how they need a "young white boy to go up there".
Stock agrees, saying how he knows "this kid" who "owes me 12 bills".

2023, BBC News: "Newport: Drugs gang jailed for exploiting vulnerable child" https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-66570256

(slang, UK) One hundred pounds sterling.

One of the best stories of the period describes the misadventure of a batch of candidates for confirmation whose names were by accident sent up to the Head-Master on a piece of paper identical in size and shape with the "bill" used by the Masters for the purpose of reporting delinquents. Keate, we are told, insisted on flogging all the boys mentioned in the document […]

1875, Sir H. C. Maxwell Lyte, A History of Eton College, 1440-1875, page 373:

(UK, Eton College) A list of pupils to be disciplined for breaking school rules.


bill

en-verb

bill (third-person singular simple present bills, present participle billing, simple past and past participle billed)

bills (present singular third-person)
billing (participle present)
billed (participle past)
billed (past)

And we don't really need Netflix, I'mma give you something to watch / After we done, bill a spliff and cotch / Pour me a glass of the Henny on the rocks

2016 February 14, Joseph Adenuga, Darren Dixon, Tariq Devega, “Ladies Hit Squad” (track 6), in Konnichiwa, performed by Skepta ft. D Double E and ASAP Nast, Boy Better Know:

(ambitransitive, UK, slang) To roll up a marijuana cigarette.


roadster

(UK, dated) One who drives much; a coach driver.

(UK, dated, slang) A hunter who keeps to the roads instead of following the hounds across country.


steam engine

boiler

steam boiler; what supplies steam to the engine or turbine

(especially British) A steam locomotive.


engine driver

Queen Mary of the Iron Road. By Fred C. Bishop. […] This is the life-story of a boy who was determined to become an engine driver, and who lost no time in realising his ambition. A bold plunge from a clerkship in a coal merchant's office carried Fred Bishop, at the age of 14, into the locomotive department of the London & North Western Railway.

1947 January and February, “Railway Literature”, in Railway Magazine, page 62:

In 1914, the Hendon and Finchley Times published a piece titled 'People who have no Christmas'. An engine-driver's comment was this: "For many years now I have never enjoyed a real Christmas. My engine has claimed me on this day, and my only regret is that I am not attached to a slow goods train, so that I could snatch time to eat some plum-pudding."

2022 December 14, David Turner, “The Edwardian Christmas getaway...”, in RAIL, number 972, page 35:

(British, dated) The person who drives the engine of a train.


quintillion

Previous: quadrillion. Next: sextillion.

Previous: quadrilliard. Next: quintilliard.

(dated, British, Australia, long scale) A million quadrillion: 1 followed by 30 zeros, 10³⁰.

հնգիլիոն

a million quadrillion, 1030 — see also nonillion


town

en-noun

town (countable and uncountable, plural towns)

towns (plural)
tahn (alternative)
tawn (alternative)
toon (alternative Geordie)
toune (alternative obsolete)
towne (alternative obsolete)

→ Chichewa: tawuni

→ Hawaiian: kaona

→ Jersey Dutch: tāun

→ Pennsylvania German: Taun

→ Japanese: タウン (taun)

From Middle English toun, from Old English tūn (“enclosure, garden”), from Proto-West Germanic *tūn, from Proto-Germanic *tūną (“fence”), of Celtic origin, from Proto-Celtic *dūnom, from Proto-Indo-European *dewh₂- (“to finish, come full circle”).
See also West Frisian tún, Dutch tuin (“garden”), German Zaun, Danish, Swedish and Norwegian tun; also archaic Welsh din (“hill”), Irish dún (“fortress”). Doublet of dun. See also -ton and tine (“to enclose”).

der

(UK, historical) A rural settlement in which a market was held at least once a week.

(UK, Scotland, dialect, obsolete) A farm or farmstead; also, a court or farmyard.


shop

en-noun

shop (countable and uncountable, plural shops)

→ Cornish: shoppa

→ Irish: siopa

→ Japanese: ショップ (shoppu), (Okinawa) シャープ (shāpu)

→ Manx: shapp

→ Norwegian: sjappe

→ Telugu: షాప్ (ṣāp)

→ Welsh: siop

From Middle English shoppe, schoppe, from Old English sċoppa (“shed; booth; stall; shop”), from Proto-Germanic *skupp-, *skup- (“barn, shed”), from Proto-Indo-European *skub-, *skup- (“to bend, bow, curve, vault”). Cognate with Dutch schop (“spade, kick”), German Schuppen (“shed”), German Schober (“barn”), French échoppe (“booth, shop”) (< Germanic). The verb is denominal. The noun senses “act of shopping”, “purchased items” are backformed from the verb.

inh

I’ve got a big shop, so feel free to go in front.

(UK, colloquial) The collective items bought (or to be bought) on a shopping trip.


shop

en-verb

shop (third-person singular simple present shops, present participle shopping, simple past and past participle shopped)

shops (present singular third-person)
shopping (participle present)
shopped (participle past)
shopped (past)

→ Danish: shoppe

→ Dutch: shoppen

→ Finnish: shoppailla

→ German: shoppen

→ Swedish: shoppa

→ Welsh: siopa

He shopped his mates in to the police.

(transitive, slang, chiefly UK) To report the criminal activities or whereabouts of someone to an authority.

(transitive, slang, chiefly UK) To imprison.


champion

Etymology tree
Proto-Italic *kampos
Latin campusbor.
Proto-West Germanic *kamp
Proto-Indo-European *-yéti
Proto-Germanic *-janą
Proto-West Germanic *-jan
Proto-West Germanic *kampijan
Proto-Germanic *-jô
Proto-West Germanic *-jō
Frankish *kampijōbor.
Medieval Latin campiō
Old French champiunbor.
Middle English champioun
English champion
From Middle English champioun, from Old French champion, from Medieval Latin campio (“combatant in a duel, champion”), from Frankish *kampijō (“fighter”), from Proto-West Germanic *kampijō (“combat soldier”), a derivative of Proto-West Germanic *kampijan (“to battle, to campaign”), itself a derivative of Proto-West Germanic *kamp (“battlefield, battle”), ultimately a borrowing in West-Germanic from Latin campus (“a field, a plain, a place of action”). By surface analysis champ + -ion.

der

"That rollercoaster was champion," laughed Vinny.

(predicative, Ireland, British, dialect) Excellent; brilliant; superb; deserving of high praise.


sweat

en-noun

sweat (usually uncountable, plural sweats)

Sranan Tongo: sweti

Torres Strait Creole: swet

From Middle English swete, swet, swate, swote, from Old English swāt, from Proto-Germanic *swait-, *swaitą, from Proto-Indo-European *swoyd- (“to sweat”), o-grade of *sweyd- (“to sweat”). Cognate with West Frisian swit, Dutch zweet, German Schweiß, Danish sved, Swedish svett, Yiddish שוויצן (shvitsn) (English shvitz), Latin sudor, French sueur, Italian sudore, Spanish sudor, Persian خوی (xway, “sweat”), Sanskrit स्वेद (svéda), Lithuanian sviedri, Tocharian B syā-, Albanian djersë, and Welsh chwys.

inh

(British, military slang, especially WWI) A soldier (especially one who is old or experienced).


maintenance

en-noun

maintenance (usually uncountable, plural maintenances)

From Middle English mayntenaunce, from Old French maintenance, from maintenir, from Latin manus tenēre (“to hold in the hand”). By surface analysis, maintain + -ance.
Note that maintain has undergone a sound and spelling change, hence is spelt with -tain-, rather than the -ten- still found in maintenance.

der

(law, UK) Alimony, a periodical payment or a lump sum made or ordered to be made to a spouse after a divorce.


BSA

Birmingham Small Arms Company
w:Birmingham Small Arms Company

(UK, historical) Initialism of Birmingham Small Arms Company.


fork

Sranan Tongo: forku

→ Dutch: fork

→ Japanese: フォーク (fōku)

→ Kannada: ಫೋರ್ಕ್ (phōrk)

→ Korean: 포크 (pokeu)

→ Maori: paoka

→ Tamil: போர்க் (pōrk)

→ Telugu: ఫోర్క్ (phōrk)

From Middle English forke (“digging fork”), from Old English force, forca (“forked instrument used to torture”), from Proto-West Germanic *furkō (“fork”), from Latin furca (“pitchfork, forked stake; gallows, beam, stake, support post, yoke”), of uncertain origin. The Middle English word was later reinforced by Anglo-Norman, Old Northern French forque (= Old French forche whence French fourche), also from the Latin. Doublet of fourche and furcate. Cognate also with North Frisian forck (“fork”), Dutch vork (“fork”), Danish fork (“fork”), German Forke (“pitchfork”). Displaced native gafol, ġeafel, ġeafle (“fork”), from Old English.
In its primary sense of “fork”, Latin furca appears to be derived from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰerk(ʷ)-, *ǵʰerg(ʷ)- (“fork”), although the development of the -c- is difficult to explain. In other senses this derivation is unlikely. For these, perhaps it is connected to Proto-Germanic *furkaz, *firkalaz (“stake, stick, pole, post”), from Proto-Indo-European *perg- (“pole, post”). If so, this would relate the word to Old English forclas pl (“bolt”), Old Saxon ferkal (“lock, bolt, bar”), Old Norse forkr (“pole, staff, stick”), Norwegian fork (“stick, bat”), Swedish fork (“pole”).

tienhaara

figurative: point in time of making a decision

afsplitsing

computer science: splitting of a process

odnož

computer science: copying and separately developing a project

bifurcació

computer science: a separately developed project based upon a copy of an existing project

a three-prong spear somewhat resembling a pitchfork


fork

en-verb

fork (third-person singular simple present forks, present participle forking, simple past and past participle forked)

forks (present singular third-person)
forking (participle present)
forked (participle past)
forked (past)

(transitive, British) To kick someone in the crotch.


lever

lever (third-person singular simple present levers, present participle levering, simple past and past participle levered)

levers (present singular third-person)
levering (participle present)
levered (participle past)
levered (past)

From Middle English lever, levore, levour, from Old French leveor, leveur (“a lifter, lever (also Old French and French levier)”), from Latin levātor (“a lifter”), from levō (“to raise”). Doublet of levator.

"The equity holders want you to 'lever up,' use as much debt as you can," said David Stanley, chairman of Kansas City-based Payless Cashways,

1989 June 26, “Corporate America wants its privacy”, in Minneapolis Star-Tribune:

(chiefly UK, finance) To increase the share of debt in the capitalization of a business.


whither

whither (third-person singular simple present whithers, present participle whithering, simple past and past participle whithered)

term-label

(British, dialectal, especially Scotland)

whithers (present singular third-person)
whithering (participle present)
whithered (participle past)
whithered (past)
wuther (alternative)

The verb is borrowed from Scots whidder, whither (“(of the wind) to bluster; to move quickly”), a frequentative form of whid (“(of wind) to gust; to move quickly”), of Scandinavian/North Germanic origin, from Old Norse hviða (“gust of wind”).
Related to Middle English hwiþa, whyȝt (“breeze; wind”), Old English hwiþa, hwiþu, hweoþu (“breeze”). The noun is derived from the verb.

To move quickly, to rush, to whiz; also, to make a rushing sound; to whizz.


own

en-verb

own (third-person singular simple present owns, present participle owning, simple past and past participle owned)

owns (present singular third-person)
owning (participle present)
owned (participle past)
owned (past)

A back-formation from owner, owning and own (adjective). Compare Old English āgnian, Dutch eigenen, German eignen, Swedish ägna.

(intransitive, UK dialectal) To confess.


pop

pop (third-person singular simple present pops, present participle popping, simple past and past participle popped)

pops (present singular third-person)
popping (participle present)
popped (participle past)
popped (past)

From Middle English pop, poppe (“a blow; strike; buffet”) (> Middle English poppen (“to strike; thrust”, verb)), of onomatopoeic origin – used to describe the sound, or short, sharp actions. The physics sense is part of a facetious sequence "snap, crackle, pop", after the mascots of Rice Krispies cereal.

cog

Just pop it in the fridge for now.

He popped his head around the door.

Mix a pancake,
Stir a pancake,
Pop it in the pan;[…]

1986, Christina Rossetti, edited by Alfred Knopf, Read-Aloud Rhymes for the Very Young, Mix a Pancake, page 50:

(transitive, UK, Australia) To place (something) (somewhere); to move or position (something) with a short movement.


sextillion

From sext- (“six”) + -illion; originally the sixth power of a million, 10³⁶.

Previous: quintillion. Next: septillion.

(US, British, Australia, short scale) A trillion billion: 1 followed by 21 zeros, 10²¹.

հազար եռիլիոն

a trillion billion, 1021 — see also trilliard

a long scale thousand trillion (trilliard)

(dated British and Australia, long scale) A million quintillion: 1 followed by 36 zeros, 10³⁶.

sextiljoen

a million quintillion, 1036 — see also undecillion


might

en-verb

might (third-person singular simple present might, no present participle, simple past might, no past participle)

might (present singular third-person)
might (past)
mought (alternative)
mout (alternative)
med (alternative dialectal)
mite (alternative)

From Old English meahte and mihte, inflections of magan, whence English may.

Yeah, I think we might need something a bit sturdier.

(auxiliary, UK, meiosis) Used to express certainty.


bless

An ellipsis for an expression such as bless your heart.

Ah bless! You must be the welcoming committee for anyone who dares express ignorance.

1998, Peter Coffey, “New Alternative View Of Atomic Structure”, in sci.chem (Usenet):

oh bless. *hug* that is not true. nobody here bears a grudge against 13 year old dear or against you.

2000, Hellraiser, uk.people.teens (Usenet):

Aw bless... have white chocolate fudge muffin....a new batch.... made them last night after Nigella....

2001, Will, “Am I still here?”, in uk.religion.pagan (Usenet):

(UK, Canada, informal) Used as an expression of endearment, gratitude, or (ironically) belittlement.


slash

Uncertain. Compare Scots slash (“large splash”), possibly from Old French esclache. Slang use for urination attested from the 1950s.

Where's the gents? I need to take a slash.

(UK, slang, vulgar) A piss: an act of urination.

That bus shelter smells of slash.


slash

slash (third-person singular simple present slashes, present participle slashing, simple past and past participle slashed)

slashes (present singular third-person)
slashing (participle present)
slashed (participle past)
slashed (past)

If you can slash in my bed (I thought) don't tell me you can't suck my cock.

1973, Martin Amis, The Rachel Papers,, page 189:

(intransitive, UK, slang) To piss, to urinate.


slash

(UK) Alternative form of slatch: a deep trough of finely-fractured culm or a circular or elliptical pocket of coal.


monolith

/ˈmɑn.əˌlɪθ/

The noun is borrowed from French monolithe (“object made from a single block of stone”), from Middle French monolythe (“made from a single block of stone”) (rare), and from their etymon Latin monolithus (“made from a single block of stone”), from Ancient Greek μονόλιθος (monólithos, “made from a single block of stone”), from μονο- (mono-, prefix meaning ‘alone; single’) (from μόνος (mónos, “alone; only, unique”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *mey- (“little, small”)) + λίθος (líthos, “a stone; stone as a substance”); analysable as mono- + -lith. The English word is cognate with German monolith (“made from a single block of stone”).
The verb is derived from the noun.

cog

[page 98] If a stub is to be retained, either for the reasons stated above, or when a tree is to be reduced to a "monolith" [...], unconventional methods of cutting or fracturing (not recommended in BS 3998) may be employed, [...] [page 147] Even dead standing or fallen trees are important, and so owners should be encouraged to be untidy-minded and to leave monoliths or fallen dead wood in situ.

2013 February, “Tree Work: Assessment of Requirements” and “Ancient Trees in the Landscape: Advocacy for Holistic and Landscape-scale Management”, in David Lonsdale, editor, Ancient and Other Veteran Trees: Further Guidance on Management, London: The Tree Council, →ISBN, archived from the original on 2020-02-05, pages 98 and 147:

Stumps of older fallen trees, known as upright monoliths, have incredible environmental value and can provide a home and food source for insects for decades.

2020 August 15, Jess Warren, “New home for remains of oak tree that fell into Earley road”, in The Wokingham Paper, Wokingham, Berkshire: Xn Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2020-09-10:

Unexpectedly, even some of the monoliths are throwing out new shoots. This is great news, as these trees contain ancient woodland DNA, so are a very valuable seedbank. Further along the site, Penny shows me a famous translocated stump... the Cubbington pear tree. [...] The stump was translocated, and the trunk used as a monolith - but not before dozens of cuttings had been taken, some of which are growing nearby. And the stump? It's already throwing out dozens of new shoots as it's become re-established.

2022 March 23, Paul Bigland, “HS2 is just 'passing through'”, in RAIL, number 953, page 44:

(British, horticulture) A dead tree whose height and size have been reduced by breaking off or cutting its branches.


monolith

en-verb

monolith (third-person singular simple present monoliths, present participle monolithing, simple past and past participle monolithed)

monoliths (present singular third-person)
monolithing (participle present)
monolithed (participle past)
monolithed (past)

/ˈmɑn.əˌlɪθ/

Residents who use the park regularly for sports say they are gobsmacked that the council consider cutting the tree down as the only option. But the council have said that public safety is paramount when assessing damaged trees, a branch crashing down could kill someone, and that the tree is not being cut down but just monolithed.

2018 December 5, Daniel Clark, “Campaigners Tie Themselves to Historic Cowick Barton Oak Tree that Council Says is Dangerous”, in Devon Live, archived from the original on 2018-12-06:

The go-ahead has been given to fell 23 Lawson cypress and ‘monolith’ (reduce to their main stems, without branches) four dead alder, which made up part of the woodland off Bickland Water Road.

2020 February 19, Emma Ferguson, The Falmouth Packet, Falmouth, Cornwall: Packet Newspapers, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2020-02-19:

(transitive) To create (something) as, or convert (one or more things) into, a monolith.

(British, horticulture) To reduce the height and size of (a dead tree) by breaking off or cutting its branches.


rock

en-noun

rock (countable and uncountable, plural rocks)

From Middle English rocke, rokke (“rock formation”), from Old English *rocc (“rock”), as in Old English stānrocc (“high stone rock, peak, obelisk”), and also later from Anglo-Norman roque, (compare Modern French roc, roche, rocher), from Medieval Latin rocca (attested 767), of uncertain origin, sometimes said to be of Celtic (in particular, perhaps Gaulish) origin (compare Breton roc'h). Related also to Middle Low German rocke (“rock ledge”). One suggestion is that it derives from Vulgar Latin *rupica, from rupes (compare rupico).

rockcress

Brassicaceae: Arabis, Arabidopsis, Boechera spp.

Some fool has thrown a rock through my window.

(chiefly UK, Ireland) A boulder or large stone; or (US, Canada) a smaller stone; a pebble.

While we're in Brighton, let's get a stick of rock!

(British, uncountable) A type of confectionery made from sugar in the shape of a stick, traditionally having some text running through its length.


bash

From Middle English *basshen, *basken, likely from Old Norse *baska (“to strike”), akin to Swedish basa (“to baste, whip, lash, flog”), Danish baske (“to beat, strike, cudgel”), German patschen (“to slap”)

give something a bash

I'm not sure I'll be any good at this, but let me have a bash.

This was my first bash at macramé, so I'm quite pleased with how it's turned out.

(UK, informal) An attempt at doing something.


gash

en-noun

gash (countable and uncountable, plural gashes)

From French gâcher (“to waste, to mess up”) or gâchis (“waste, a mess”), likely borrowed into English by ships' crews in the 19th century. Became increasingly vulgar by association with Etymology 1.

[…] each man was on 'gash duty' about once in eighteen days.

1960, David Brunt, The Royal Society International Geophysical Year Antarctic Expedition, page 17:

You will learn flight safety, aircraft duties, uniform, SEP, oxyCrew, gash cart, safety card, bar seals, life jacket, diagram, uplift, C209, plonky kit, Crew lounge!

2007 04, Liz And Julie, You F`Coffee Sir, BingBong Ltd, →ISBN, page 104:

After scradge and another mug of tea I washed up, tipping the slops into the gash tin […]

2024, Lewis Juckes, Antarctic Basalt, page 126:

(slang, chiefly UK, Antarctica) Rubbish, particularly on board a ship or aircraft.

I hope you don't mind, but instead of “a load of gash” in this paragraph, could we say, “completely without merit”?

2025 July 8, Charlotte Runcie, Bring the House Down: A Novel, Penguin Group, →ISBN, page 96:

This new one he's got for free off a friend (I think), but it's absolute gash. It's huge and doesn't fit in with the deco of the room, but because he's got it for nowt he's not arsed about that.

2012, Bennyness, No New Notifications, Lulu.com, →ISBN, page 172:

When you load up the game, the first thing you notice is that it looks like complete and utter gash. Everything is made up of ugly blocks.

2017 October 19, Arron Crascall, See Ya Later: The World According to Arron Crascall, Hachette UK, →ISBN:

Well, this chap's obviously just cooked a pile of rancid old gash, no?

2020, Tim Key, quoting Emily Juniper, He Used Thought as a Wife, →ISBN, page 38:

(slang, UK, now vulgar) Something low quality.


gash

(slang, UK, now vulgar) Of poor quality; makeshift; improvised; temporary; substituted.

"All gash kit? There won't be no trouble with the books?"

1987, Simon Raven, The Sabre Squadron: A Novel, →ISBN:

(slang, dated, UK, chiefly military) Spare, extra.


gash

en-adj

gash (comparative more gash, superlative most gash)

more gash (comparative)
most gash (superlative)

From ghastful, by association with gash.

(UK, Scotland, dialect) ghastly; hideous


dash

From Middle English daschen, dassen, from Danish daske (“to slap, strike”), related to Swedish daska (“to smack, slap, spank”), of obscure origin. Compare German tatschen (“to grope, paw”), Old English dwǣsċan (“to quell, put out, destroy, extinguish”). See also dush.


meal

Variation of mole (compare Scots mail), from Middle English mole, mool, from Old English māl, mǣl (“spot, mark, blemish”), from Proto-Germanic *mailą (“wrinkle, spot”), from Proto-Indo-European *mey- (“to soil”). More at mole.


ea

From Middle English ee, ea, æ, from Old English ēa (“river”), from Proto-West Germanic *ahu (“waters, river”), from Proto-Germanic *ahwō (“waters, river”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂ekʷeh₂ (“water, flowing water”). Doublet of aqua.
Cognates
Cognate with North Frisian ia (“river”), Saterland Frisian Äi (“river”), West Frisian ie (“water, stream”), Dutch a (“water, stream”), German Ache (“water, stream, river, flood”), Danish å (“stream, creek”), Swedish å (“stream, creek”), Icelandic á (“stream, river”), Latin aqua (“water”).

cog

And they rowed away for Crowland, by many a mere and many an ea; through narrow reaches of clear brown glassy water; between the dark-green alders; between the pale-green reeds; where the coot clanked, and the bittern boomed, and the sedge-bird, not content with its own sweet song, mocked the song of all the birds around; and then out into the broad lagoons, where hung motionless, high overhead, hawk beyond hawk, buzzard beyond buzzard, kite beyond kite, as far as eye could see.

1866, Charles Kingsley, Hereward the Wake: Last of the English:

(UK dialect or archaic) A river or watercourse.


kennel

PIE word
 *ḱwṓ
From Middle English kenel, kenell, borrowed from Anglo-Norman *kenil, northern variant of Old French chenil, from Vulgar Latin *canīle, from Latin canis.

A little herd of England's timorous deer, / Mazed with a yelping kennel of French curs!

1591, William Shakespeare, Henry VI, Part 1, act 4, scene 2:

A world of mere Patent-Digesters will soon have nothing to digest: such world ends, and by Law of Nature must end, in ‘over-population;’ in howling universal famine, ‘impossibility,’ and suicidal madness, as of endless dog-kennels run rabid.

1843, Thomas Carlyle, “IX: Working Aristocracy”, in Past and Present, book 3:

(UK, collective) The dogs kept at such a facility; a pack of hounds.


college

colleges (plural)
colledg (alternative obsolete)
colledge (alternative obsolete)

⇒ Bengali: কলেজ (kolej)

→ Finnish: college

⇒ Hindustani:

desc

Hindi: कालिज (kālij), कॉलेज (kŏlej), कालेज (kālej)

Urdu: کالِج (kālij)

→ Russian: ко́лледж (kólledž), колле́дж (kollédž)

→ Serbo-Croatian:

Cyrillic script: ко̀леџ

Latin script: kòledž

→ Slovene: koledž

→ Ukrainian: ко́ле́дж (kólédž)

Etymology tree
Proto-Indo-European *ḱe-?
Proto-Indo-European *ḱóm
Proto-Italic *kom
Old Latin com
Latin cum
Latin con-
Latin lēx
Latin -ō
Latin lēgō
Proto-Indo-European *-h₂
Proto-Indo-European *-eh₂
Proto-Italic *-ā
Latin -a
Latin collēga
Proto-Indo-European *-yós
Old Latin -ios
Latin -ius
Latin -ium
Latin collēgiumbor.
Old French college
Middle French collegebor.
Middle English college
English college
From Middle English college, from Middle French college, from Old French college, from Latin collēgium. Doublet of collegium.

大專 /大专

postsecondary institution that does not award bachelor's degrees

مَعْهَد

Pembroke College, Cambridge

Balliol College, Oxford

University College, London

(chiefly UK) A non-specialized, semi-autonomous division of a university, with its own faculty, departments, library, etc.

(UK) An institution of further education at an intermediate level; sixth form.

كُلِّيَّة

(UK) An institution for adult education at a basic or intermediate level (teaching those of any age).

大學 /大学

Eton College

(UK, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, South Africa) A high school or secondary school.

An academic institution.
A high school or secondary school.

私立高中

in the formal names of private schools: secondary school