steak and kidney pie

steak and kidney pie (countable and uncountable, plural steak and kidney pies)

steak and kidney pies (plural)
steak-and-kidney pie (alternative)

It was while I was trying to turn this dish, in my imagination, into a decent helping of steak and kidney pie with all the trimmings that I was hailed by a hearty voice from across the table.

2009, John Mortimer, “Rumpole’s Slimmed-Down Christmas”, in A Rumpole Christmas, New York, N.Y.: Viking, →ISBN, page 22:

(UK, Australia) A savoury pie made from beef, kidney, gravy and other ingredients.


Euro wasp

Euro wasps (plural)
Euro-wasp (alternative)

The debate over greater European integration took an unexpected twist yesterday with the arrival of Euro wasp in Britain.

2001 May 26, Stewart Payne, “Alarm over invasion of the Euro wasps”, in Telegraph (online):

(British) A median wasp (Dolichovespula media), an aggressive European wasp, which spread from the continent to Britain in 1980s.


whip-round

whip-rounds (plural)
whip-around (alternative)

When the war ended, local businessmen had a whip-round to pay for rebuilding a destroyed airport terminal and the bombed-out shops on Tripoli Street in the city centre.

2013 October 5, “The can-do city”, in The Economist, page 69:

(chiefly UK, Ireland, Commonwealth, informal) A quick collection of money from a group of people, usually for a beneficial purpose.


YTS

Youth Training Scheme
w:Youth Training Scheme

(UK) Initialism of Youth Training Scheme.


spyhole

Then there is a shuffling sound, and the quiet slide of a spyhole cover.

2009 September 13, Ariane Sherine, “Golden shower”, in Guardian:


Accy

(UK, slang) The English town of Accrington.

(UK, soccer, slang) The football team Accrington Stanley F.C..


fat hen

Chenopodium album
Chenopodium album#Translingual

(UK) White goosefoot (Chenopodium album), a fast-growing weedy annual plant cultivated in some places and a weed elsewhere.

Blitum bonus-henricus
Blitum bonus-henricus#Translingual

(UK) Other species, such as Good King Henry (Blitum bonus-henricus)


left-footer

(Roman Catholic): Said to allude to the practice of Irish farm labourers of digging with their left foot on one-eared spades such as loys and slanes that were designed to be operated in that way.

Jones shook his head knowingly. "I forgot you're a left-footer. Catholic by name, catholic by nature."

2011, Elena Forbes, Die with Me, →ISBN, page 382:

(UK, Ireland, Australia, colloquial, derogatory) A Roman Catholic, especially one of Irish descent.


Torygraph

Blend of Tory + telegraph, from the newspaper's political leanings; popularised by Private Eye magazine.

I thought, I'm not going to do my spring boxes and give a picture to the bloody Torygraph.

1993, David Hare, Lyn Haill, Asking around, page 169:

(UK, derogatory, informal) The Telegraph newspaper.


driveller

Well away from the centre of sanity is dwile flonking. In this game, or possibly sport, a circle of girters dances round a member of the opposing team who revolves in the opposite direction holding a driveller.

1976, Richard Boston, Beer and skittles, page 156:

(UK) The pole used to launch the beer-soaked cloth in the game of dwile flonking.


flick-knife

flick-knives (plural)
flick knife (alternative)

(British) Alternative spelling of flick knife.


gym knickers

"But instead of going there, I sneaked into the Trunchbull's room. And after a speedy search I found the drawer where she kept all her gym knickers."

I never knew why they singled me out, though at the time I believed it was because my mother made me wear green gym knickers and everyone else's were navy or white.

1993 October 11, Angela Lambert, The Independent:

I remember being forced to do cross-country runs in horrible navy gym knickers, which is a nightmare when you're not exactly built like Paula Radcliffe [...].

2010 December 5, Gail Emms, The Guardian:

(UK) Large girls' underpants traditionally worn as shorts during school sports activities.


loun

en-verb

loun (third-person singular simple present louns, present participle louning, simple past and past participle louned)

louns (present singular third-person)
louning (participle present)
louned (participle past)
louned (past)

Uncertain. Compare Scots lounder (“to deal heavy blows on, thrash”).

cog

(UK dialectal, chiefly Northern England) To beat; thrash.


cocket

From Middle English coket, possibly from Latin quo quietus.

(UK, obsolete) A document issued by the bond office stating that duty has been paid and goods may be sold.

(UK, obsolete) An office in a customhouse where goods intended for export are entered.


cocket writer

(UK, dated) an official in the bond office whose duties included collecting duty on imported goods and issuing the relevant documentation.


youthy

I carried a 4x12 cab into the youthy for Thin Lizzy back in 1970 […]

2004, The Grate Denini, “No Persian Punch on BBC”, in uk.sport.horseracing (Usenet):

'If he's owt like the lads at the youthy, yeah,' Mary told her blithely.


snacket

(UK, archaic) Alternative form of snecket.


WCA

(UK) Initialism of waste collection authority.


slunken

en-adj

slunken (comparative more slunken, superlative most slunken)

more slunken (comparative)
most slunken (superlative)

From the past participle of slink. Compare Scots slunken (“lank, emaciated, lean, sunken”), Norwegian slunken (“lean, lank”), Danish slunken (“lean, lank”).


bewith

From be + with, in the sense of what one can be with or do with.

(UK dialectal, chiefly Scotland) A makeshift; substitute.


DLR

Docklands Light Railway
w:Docklands Light Railway

(rail transport, UK) Initialism of Docklands Light Railway.


bewest

From Middle English be west, biwesten, from Old English be westan (“west, from the west”).

inh

(UK dialectal, chiefly Scotland) To the west of.


company sergeant major

en-noun

company sergeant major (plural company sergeants major or company sergeant majors)

company sergeants major (plural)
company sergeant majors (plural)

warrant officer class 2
warrant officer class 2

(UK) An appointment in the army, the senior warrant officer in a company, usually held by a warrant officer class 2.


cottage hospital

cottage hospital (plural cottage hospitals)

Other listed health and welfare buildings at Swindon included the GWR Cottage Hospital (Grade 2 Listed), together with structures such as the (also Grade 2 Listed) railway cottages, school and lodging house, which create group value at the site.

2022 September 7, Dr Joseph Brennan, “Railway towns and a social revolution”, in RAIL, number 965, page 56:

(UK) A small hospital, typically in a rural area.


Bennite

(UK) A supporter of the political views of former British politician Tony Benn.


Bennite

(UK) Relating to or conforming with the political views of Tony Benn.


where there's muck there's brass

(UK, Ireland) There is money to be made even in unpleasant, dirty jobs.


fratch

From Middle English fracchen (“to make a harsh or strident noise; creak”). Cognate with Scots fratch (“to quarrel”).

inh

-I ha' never had no fratch afore, sin ever I were born, wi' any o' my like; Gonnows I ha' none now that's o' my makin'.

1854, Charles Dickens, “read online”, in Hard Times. For These Times, London: Bradbury & Evans, […], →OCLC:

(UK) A dispute, a quarrel; a fight or brawl.


fratch

en-verb

fratch (third-person singular simple present fratches, present participle fratching, simple past and past participle fratched)

fratches (present singular third-person)
fratching (participle present)
fratched (participle past)
fratched (past)

"I am just talking to relieve myself, John. I know better than to fratch with anyone—at least I think I do."

1915, Amelia Edith Huddleston Barr, The Measure of a Man:

(UK, Yorkshire) To argue, to quarrel; to fight.


bearward

bearwards (plural)
bear-ward (alternative)
berrord (alternative)

/ˈbɛəɹˌwɔɹd/

From Middle English bereward (“someone who handles and keeps bears, bear keeper”), from ber, bere (“bear”) + ward, warde (“care, keeping”). By surface analysis, bear + ward.

inh

But now how many men are there proude of that that is not theyrs at al? Is there no man proude of keping another mannes gate? […] [W]hat a brag-kyng maketh a beareward wͭ [with] his ſyluer buttened bawdrike, for pride of another mannes bere?

1534 (date written), Thomas More, “A Treatice vpon the Passion of Chryste (Vnfinished) […]. The Fyrst Poynt, the Fall of Aungelles.”, in Marye Basset [i.e., Mary Basset], transl., edited by Wyllyam Rastell [i.e., William Rastell], The Workes of Sir Thomas More Knyght, […], London: […] Iohn Cawod, Iohn Waly, and Richarde Tottell, published 30 April 1557, →OCLC, page 1272, column 2:

The former prohibition against bearwards is omitted iii this Act, probably because it had proved futile for the purpose intended, as a writer in "Notes and Queries," speaking of this period, says:– "I was never a witness of a bear-bait, but I well remember a poor brute who was kept alive for this sole purpose, at F——, in Lancashire.[…]"

1887, Charles James Ribton-Turner, A History of Vagrants and Vagrancy, and Beggars and Begging:

Congleton had a reputation for bearbaiting and went to some lengths to protect it, sending messengers to Knutsford and Bunbury to ensure that the bearwards got to the Congleton bearbait […]

2007, Lawrence M. Clopper, Elizabeth Baldwin, David Mills, Cheshire including Chester, page lxxv:

(chiefly UK, historical) Someone who handles and keeps bears (and sometimes other animals such as apes and bulls), especially for use in public entertainments such as baiting or dancing displays; a bearherd.


tin tabernacle

tin tabernacles (plural)
tin tab (alternative)

(UK) A church, usually nonconformist, clad in corrugated iron.


outhold

en-verb

outhold (third-person singular simple present outholds, present participle outholding, simple past outheld, past participle outheld or (obsolete) outholden)

outholds (present singular third-person)
outholding (participle present)
outheld (past)
outheld (participle past)
outholden (obsolete participle past)

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

From Middle English outholden, equivalent to out- + hold. Cognate with Scots outhald (“to outhold”).

(UK dialectal) To hold out, endure; resist, withstand; keep out by force, exclude.


TMD

en-noun

TMD (countable and uncountable, plural TMDs)

TMDs (plural)
temporomandibular joint disorder (alternative)
temporomandibular disorder (alternative)
TMJD (alternative)

traction maintenance depot
w:traction maintenance depot

(rail transport, UK) Initialism of traction maintenance depot.


schoolboy error

schoolboy error (plural schoolboy errors)

(UK, informal) A fundamental, simple mistake.


marching orders

/ˈmɑɹtʃɪŋˌɔɹɾɹ̩z/

Riled by a decision that went against him, Ziv kicked his displaced boot at the assistant referee and, after a short consultation between the officials, he was given his marching orders and the loudest cheer of the night.

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

(UK) A dismissal: an instruction to leave.


forshame

en-verb

forshame (third-person singular simple present forshames, present participle forshaming, simple past and past participle forshamed)

forshames (present singular third-person)
forshaming (participle present)
forshamed (participle past)
forshamed (past)
foreshame (alternative)

From Middle English forshamen, from Old English forscamian (“to make ashamed, be ashamed, be modest”); equivalent to for- + shame.

inh

(transitive, UK dialectal, Northern England) To dare; presume; have the face to.


dern

1855, Charles Kingsley, Westward Ho!, Ch. XIV, How Salvation Yeo Slew the King of the Gubbings
So I just put my eye between the wall and the dern of the gate, and I saw him come up to the back door […]


nothing ball

2010 Harry Redknapp, quoted in "Relegated Burnley produce comeback" (9 May 2010) ESPNsoccernet
I was very disappointed (with the first goal) because it was a nothing ball over the top, Brian Jensen was way out of position and should have been sweeping that up.

(sports, British) a ball which presents little attacking threat


Rota

en-proper noun

Rota (countable and uncountable, plural Rotas)

From Italian Rota, from Latin Rota, from Latin rota (“wheel”).

(UK, historical or obsolete) A club established by James Harrington in 1659 to advocate term limits and rotation of government offices; other similar clubs of the era.


munting

en-adj

munting (comparative more munting, superlative most munting)

more munting (comparative)
most munting (superlative)

how the freak did "that" get pregnant she was totally munting!!!!!

2009, Volkszone.com, messageboards 15 Apr 2009

Other thing is, does anyone here have the mud flaps on their Twingo, or are they completely munting, cause I was considering getting them cause I did have them on my current car, and love the fact that my bumpers don't get all dirty and muddy in the bottom corners

2009, Twingooc.com, messageboards, 21 Mar 2009


shorthand typist

en-noun

shorthand typist (plural shorthand typists)

(UK, dated) A person skilled in shorthand and typing.


not touch with a barge pole

En-au-not touch something with a barge pole.ogg

Probably derived from the barge poles that bargemen used to fend off wharfs and other boats.

(idiomatic, UK) To avoid something at all costs; to refuse to associate with something; (signifies a strong aversion).


meat draw

(Canada, UK) A raffle of meat, common in pubs and bars.


scoper

An allusion to the derogatory slur spastic, following the renaming of the National Spastics Society, a UK disability charity, to Scope in 1994.

(UK, slang, derogatory, offensive, dated) Synonym of spastic (“stupid, clumsy person”).


basha

(UK military slang) A makeshift shelter made from the above.


mauther

mauthers (plural)
mawther (alternative)
modder (alternative)
mawr (alternative)
mor (alternative)

Uncertain; possibly originally a variant of mother.

KAS. Ay, I know -- Away, [TO HIS SISTER.] you talk like a foolish mauther.

c. 1610, Ben Jonson, The Alchemist, Act 4:

(archaic, UK, dialect) A girl, especially, a large awkward girl.

Cleave to a tight ship, my boy, as long as the wind blaeth, and while she lives upon the waters, she'll aye be a mauther to thee.

1823, Thomas Campbell, Samuel Carter Hall, Edward Bulwer Lytton, Colburn's new monthly magazine, volume 7, page 230:


abread

From Middle English abrede or on brede, from a- or on (“on”) + brede (“breadth”).

abreed (alternative)
abrede (alternative Scotland)
abraid (alternative Scotland)

(UK dialectal, chiefly Scotland) Abroad.


punce

en-verb

punce (third-person singular simple present punces, present participle puncing, simple past and past participle punced)

punces (present singular third-person)
puncing (participle present)
punced (participle past)
punced (past)

Cock-fighting and dog-fighting were often eclipsed by a fight between two men in the old Lancashire style, stripped to the skin with the exception of a pair of clogs, striking, wrestling, "puncing," now up, now down, for the fight was continued on the ground until the vanquished one cried off. Shins presented a sorry sight, gashed in all directions by the kicks from the clogs, and for weeks after had to be carefully washed and bandaged.

1891, Alfred Burton, Rush-bearing, page 160:

We refer in particular to that form of savagery known as the 'puncing match', in which men of enormous strength and great agility were pitted together in cold blood, often for quite paltry stakes, to kick each other with iron-bound clogs until one or the other was either disabled or killed.

2008, John Hudson, Victorian & Edwardian Lancashire:

(UK, Lancashire, historical) To fight by kicking with clogs.


secondary modern

en-noun

secondary modern (plural secondary moderns)

(education, British) In the UK, from 1944 to the 1970s, a secondary school for children who had failed the eleven plus examination.


gangrel

gangrels (plural)
gangrell (alternative)
gangerel (alternative)

From Middle English gangrel, equivalent to gang + -rel. Compare gangling.

(UK, archaic) A child just beginning to walk; toddler.


done thing

I wanted to be called Linda but Aunt Angela said that was a common name, you know, not the done thing, so I have to be Bella...

"I was only 18 and was having back problems so I got regular cortisone injections. It was the done thing in those days, all the players were having them."

2000 August 12, Vivek Chaudhary, The Guardian:

(chiefly UK) Something done habitually or according to social norms, expectations, etc.


spondulicks

Originally a US slang term of unknown origin.

spondulics (alternative)
spondulix (alternative)
spondoolics (alternative)
spondoolicks (alternative)
spondoolix (alternative)
spondoolick (alternative)
spondulick (alternative)

With just a few clicks / save your spondulicks / and you'll thank your stars that you went to GoCompare!

2009, Chris Wilkins, "Tenor" advert, for GoCompare:


fraist

en-verb

fraist (third-person singular simple present fraists, present participle fraisting, simple past and past participle fraisted)

fraists (present singular third-person)
fraisting (participle present)
fraisted (participle past)
fraisted (past)

From Middle English fraisten, freisten, frasten, from Old Norse freista (“to try, tempt, make trial of”), from Proto-Germanic *fraistōną (“to try”), from Proto-Indo-European *per- (“to try, risk”). Cognate with Icelandic freista (“to tempt”), Swedish fresta (“to try, tempt, tantalise”), Danish friste (“to try, tempt”), Old English frāsian (“to ask, inquire, tempt, try”). More at fraise.

cog

Þen found he no frekes to fraist on his strenght.

(obsolete, ambitransitive, UK dialectal) To try; test; prove; put to the proof; make trial (of).

(obsolete, transitive, UK dialectal) To learn by trial; experience.


bad cess

Uncertain. Occurs in print at least as early as 1831, when Samuel Lover used the expression as one already long-established. He unambiguously stated the derivation of cess in the malediction bad cess to be an abbreviation of success. OED speculated that it either was from success or from assessment meaning a military or governmental exaction.

...and so says the king to himself, "the divil receave the dhrop of that wine they shall get," says he, "... bad cess to the dhrop," says he, "my big-bellied bishop, to nourish your jolly red nose..."

1831, Samuel Lover, Legends and Stories of Ireland:

Bad cess to me, but it's too provokin', so it is; — and why couldn't you tell me so at wanst?

1834, Samuel Lover, Legends and Stories of Ireland:

Bad cess to the villains, but it's themselves that put me into the hobble, the thievin' rogues of the world.

1836, Philip Dixon Hardy, Legends, Tales, and Stories of Ireland:

Seen it with the ould Canal Company, bad cess to them, and all. People are decent enough in ones and twos, and maybe even threes, but they're worse than a lot of bad-mannered dogs when they band together into a crowd.

1963, Michael Farrell, Thy Tears Might Cease, Hutchinson:

(British, Ireland) Bad luck, failure, or evil befalling.


lavy

en-adj

lavy (comparative lavier or more lavy, superlative laviest or most lavy)

lavier (comparative)
more lavy (comparative)
laviest (superlative)
most lavy (superlative)

(UK dialectal, Northern England, Scotland) Lavish; liberal.


have on

en-verb

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

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

Near-synonym: have a laugh

Are you having me on?

Fifty quid for that piece of junk? He's having me on he is!

(UK, Australia, New Zealand, colloquial) To trick or deceive deliberately; to play a prank on.

So what do you have on this weekend? I have nothing on myself.

(UK, colloquial) To have (something) scheduled.


fagbutt

(UK, Ireland, slang, colloquial) The butt of a cigarette.


suck a lemon

suck a lemon (third-person singular simple present sucks a lemon, present participle sucking a lemon, simple past and past participle sucked a lemon)

sucks a lemon (present singular third-person)
sucking a lemon (participle present)
sucked a lemon (participle past)
sucked a lemon (past)
suck lemons (alternative)

From the grimace one sometimes gets from tasting the tartness of a lemon's citric acid.

I knew he must've woke up sucking a lemon when he didn't even say hello.

(idiomatic, UK) To be in a sour or negative mood.


queenie

There are no closed seasons for queenies or restrictions on fishing time or catches.

2015, Elizabeth Gosling, Marine Bivalve Molluscs, page 296:


super-injunction

super-injunctions (plural)
super injunction (alternative)
superinjunction (alternative)

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

Miss Perroncel was at the centre of a legal row in January when former England captain John Terry took out a super-injunction – a court order so secret that no one was supposed even to mention its existence – to stop any publication of allegations that he had had an affair with her.

23 August 2010, Steve Doughty, The Daily Mail:

BBC presenter Andrew Marr said on Tuesday he had taken out a superinjunction to protect his family's privacy.

26 April 2011, John Plunkett, The Guardian:

(UK) A legal injunction which also prohibits any mention of its existence to the media or public.


(UK, rail transport) Initialism of High Speed 1, a high-speed railway between London and the Channel Tunnel.


smit

smit (third-person singular simple present smits, present participle smitting, simple past and past participle smitted)

smits (present singular third-person)
smitting (participle present)
smitted (participle past)
smitted (past)

(transitive, UK, obsolete, dialect) To infect.


ampery

en-adj

ampery (comparative more ampery, superlative most ampery)

more ampery (comparative)
most ampery (superlative)

(UK dialectal) Weak; unhealthy; beginning to decay.


boomshanka

The phrase originated in an episode of the British television comedy series The Young Ones. The pilot episode, first aired in 1982 and entitled "Demolition", included a brief piece of dialogue by Neil, who was fantasizing about taking advantage of the impending demolition of their home to commit suicide:
* Neil: When they come, I'm going to hide in the wall cavity and pretend to be thermal insulation. And when they knock the wall down, boomshanka!
The phrase was also spoken by Neil in an episode entitled "Cash", which was first broadcast in 1984. The segment of dialogue, where Neil is composing a letter to his bank manager to request a loan, is as follows;
* Neil: I know, why not "Boomshanka"?
* Mike: It's hard to tell, Neil. What does it mean?
* Neil: It means, "May the seed of your loin be fruitful in the belly of your woman."
* Rick: A-ha! And what makes you think your bank manager is a man?
* Neil: Uhm... His beard.
* Mike: He'll never understand "Boomshanka". You'll have to write the whole thing out.
* Neil: Right, okay, here we go. "Darling Fascist Bullyboy: Give me some more money, you bastard. May the seed of your loin be fruitful in the belly of your woman, Neil."

(British, humorous) A wish of happiness.


feal

feal (comparative fealer or more feal, superlative fealest or most feal)

fealer (comparative)
more feal (comparative)
fealest (superlative)
most feal (superlative)
feil (alternative)
feel (alternative)
feele (alternative)
fiel (alternative)

From Middle English fele, fæle (“proper, of the right sort”), from Old English fǣle (“faithful, trusty, good; dear, beloved”), from Proto-West Germanic *failī, from Proto-Germanic *failijaz (“true, friendly, familiar, good”), from Proto-Indo-European *pey- (“to adore”). Cognate with Scots feel, feelie (“cosy, neat, clean, comfortable”), West Frisian feilich (“safe”), Dutch veil (“for-sale”), Dutch veilig (“safe”), German feil (“for-sale”), Latin pīus (“good, dutiful, faithful, devout, pious”).

cog

But if it stands in humble hame The bed, — I'll say this far in't, — Is clean and feel as ony lair King ever lay on — and that is mair Than mony ane could warrant.

1847, Henry Scott Riddell, Poems, songs and miscellaneous pieces:

(UK dialectal, Northern England, Scotland) (of things) Cosy; clean; neat.

[…] when I care na to accompany ye to the kirkyard hole mysel, and take my word for't, ye'Il lie saftest and fealest on the Buittle side of the kirk; […]

1822, Allan Cunningham, “Death of the Laird Of Warlsworm”, in Traditional Tales of the English and Scottish Peasantry, volume 2, page 330:

(UK dialectal, Northern England, Scotland) (of persons) Comfortable; cosy; safe.

(UK dialectal, Northern England, Scotland) Smooth; soft; downy; velvety.


get on someone's tits

en-verb

get on someone's tits (third-person singular simple present gets on someone's tits, present participle getting on someone's tits, simple past and past participle got on someone's tits)

gets on someone's tits (present singular third-person)
getting on someone's tits (participle present)
got on someone's tits (participle past)
got on someone's tits (past)

(UK, Ireland, Commonwealth, vulgar, slang) To annoy or irritate.


Met Office

Short for Meteorological Office, which was its official name until 2000.

(UK) The British national weather service.


fulth

From Middle English fulth, fulthe; equivalent to full + -th (abstract nominal suffix). Compare Old English fylleþ (“fullness”, in compounds) and Middle High German vüllede (“fullness”).

inh

—It was as though a garland of red roses / Had fallen about the hood of some smug nun / When irresponsibly dropped as from the sun, / In fulth of numbers freaked with musical closes, / Upon Victoria's formal middle time / His leaves of rhythm and rhyme.

Yes, these yonder are the vessels, / Which Don Juan Ponce de Leon / Hath with gear and crews outfitted / For the seeking of the island / Where, in lovesome fulth, the Water / Of Rejuvenescence welleth.

1911, John Payne, transl., The Poetical Works of Heinrich Heine: Now First Completely Rendered Into English Verse, in Accordance with the Original Forms, volume 3, page 134:

The man who looked after the clew (clough) spoke of the louth and fulth of the drain. (Lowness and fulness.)

1952, Yorkshire Dialect Society, Summer Bulletin, page 18:

(UK dialectal, Northern England, Scotland) Fullness; abundance; plenty.

A lambe will fall to the grownde, or to eatinge of grasse, when it is aboute a moneth or five weekes olde; yett if it have its fulth of milke, it will forbeare the longer; and the lambes that forbeare grasse the longest, prove for the most parte, the straightest, and best quartered; and these usually that fall to grasse over soone, proove short runtish sheepe, and are of the shepheardes callede dumplinges, or grasse belly’de lambes.

1641, Henry Best, “Rural Economy in Yorkshire in 1641: Being the Farming and Account Books of Henry Best, of Elmswell, in the East Riding of the County of York”, in The Publications of the Surtees Society, George Andrews, published 1857, page 4 & 5:

1853, Michael Theakston, A List of Natural Flies that are Taken by Trout, Grayling, & Smelt, in the Streams of Ripon, W. Harrison (publ.), page 62.
When the weather is genial, at the times of hatching and coming on the water of these two flies, the trout generally take their fulth of them in preference to all others, when the natural flies only can succeed; but if rude, westling weather then prevails, it gives good imitations a chance.

1853, Michael Theakston, A List of Natural Flies that are Taken by Trout, Grayling, & Smelt, in the Streams of Ripon, W. Harrison (publ.), page 73.
THE stars of the spring are fading, but their splendour remains iu the trout! Fat and capricious, the gilded monarch selects his fulth from the good things that surround him.

A lamb falls to the ground, i.e., begins to eat grass instead of being suckled when about five weeks old, for then they have had their fulth of milk.

1924, Yorkshire Dialect Society, Transactions of the Yorkshire Dialect Society, page 41:

(UK dialectal, Northern England, Scotland) Fill; sufficiency; repletion; satiety.


deflexion

en-noun

deflexion (countable and uncountable, plural deflexions)


know from a bar of soap

en-verb

know from a bar of soap (third-person singular simple present knows from a bar of soap, present participle knowing from a bar of soap, simple past knew from a bar of soap, past participle known from a bar of soap)

knows from a bar of soap (present singular third-person)
knowing from a bar of soap (participle present)
knew from a bar of soap (past)
known from a bar of soap (participle past)

After she won the lottery, Marge had long-lost relatives she didn't know from a bar of soap come up to her to ask for money.

(UK, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, idiomatic, informal) To know; to be acquainted with (a person).


climbing frame

(UK, Ireland) A piece of playground equipment consisting of a set of interlinked bars on which children can climb.


bouk

From Middle English bouk, from Old English būc (“belly, stomach, pitcher”), from Proto-West Germanic *būk, from Proto-Germanic *būkaz (“belly, body”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰōw- (“to blow, swell”). Doublet of bucket.
Cognate with Scots bouk, bowk, buik (“body, carcass”), Dutch buik (“belly”), German Bauch (“belly”), Swedish buk (“belly, abdomen”), Norwegian Bokmål buk (“belly”), Icelandic búkur (“torso”).
Compare puck, suck.

der

(UK dialectal) The trunk or torso of the body, hence the body itself.

(UK dialectal) The carcass of a slaughtered animal.


have-a-go

(UK) daring, courageous, particularly in the face of unexpected adversity.


fucksticks

"Fucksticks!" When some other fucker pushes in a queue / "Fucksticks!" When you get caught short and really need a poo / "Fucksticks!" When I came a-tumbling off my BMX / "Fucksticks!" When I split my frenulum while having sex

2011, Kunt and the Gang, Fucksticks (song)

Would A Christmas Carol have been as popular if instead of saying 'Bah, Humbug!' Ebenezer Scrooge had said, 'Oh, Fucksticks!'? What's the funniest expletive you can imagine Scrooge exclaiming?

2018, Richard Herring, Emergency Questions: 1001 conversation-savers for any situation:

His eyes rolled back in his head and his slender form crumpled to the floor like someone had just cut his strings.
"Oh, fucksticks!" I breathed, rushing to him and pulling him into my arms.

2019, Kaye Draper, Gesa's Menagerie Box Set (books 7-9)

(UK, Ireland, colloquial, vulgar) Expressing frustration.


jolly-hockey-sticks

en-adj

jolly-hockey-sticks (comparative more jolly-hockey-sticks, superlative most jolly-hockey-sticks)

more jolly-hockey-sticks (comparative)
most jolly-hockey-sticks (superlative)

From a catchphrase introduced in a BBC radio comedy programme, Educating Archie (1950)http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-jol1.htm.

Polly couldn't abide Pat Walsh's bossy, jolly hockey-sticks manner and her curious predilection for calling absolutely everyone "babe."

2003, Caroline Upcher, Falling for Mr. Wrong:

We had to march along behind one of our mistresses — they were all very jolly hockey-sticks. March to church and then a lockstep turn about the park, everyone staring at us, knowing where we were from.

2005, Jim Christy, The redemption of Anna Dupree, page 122:

There was a brigade of horsy women with enormous arses, moustaches and jolly-hockey-sticks ideas about everything walloping about in all directions, whose skins had weathered like leather and whose breath and hands always smelled of horse saliva and dung.

2006, Richard E. Grant, The Wah-Wah diaries: the making of a film:

Boarding-school life was a lot like Mallory Towers or St Clare's, the fictional jolly-hockey-sticks schools created by Enid Blyton. 'We would have midnight feasts, and I suppose it was a bit like the Blyton books,' recalls Susan Lawrence.

2008, Alison Bowyer, Dawn French: The Unauthorized Biography, page 19:

(UK) Wholesomely athletic and enthusiastic, in a manner stereotypically associated with traditional British public schools for girls.


headish

headish (comparative more headish, superlative most headish)

more headish (comparative)
most headish (superlative)


Camford

(UK, education, rare) Synonym of Oxbridge.


guest of Her Majesty

en-noun

guest of Her Majesty (plural guests of Her Majesty)


stell

en-verb

stell (third-person singular simple present stells, present participle stelling, simple past and past participle stelled or stold)

stells (present singular third-person)
stelling (participle present)
stelled (participle past)
stelled (past)
stold (participle past)
stold (past)

From Middle English stellen, from Old English stellan (“to give a place to, set, place”), from Proto-West Germanic *stalljan (“to put, position”), from Proto-Indo-European *stel- (“to place, put, post, stand”). Cognate with Dutch stellen (“to set, put”), dated Low German stellen (“to put, place, fix”), German stellen (“to set, place, provide”), Old English steall (“position, place”). More at stall.

cog

How he escaped a broken neck in that dreadful place no human being will ever ken. The sweat, he has told me, stood in cold drops upon his forehead; he scarcely was aware of the saddle in which he sat, and his eyes were stelled in his head so that he saw nothing but the sky ayont him.

1902, John Buchan, The Outgoing of the Tide:

(transitive, UK dialectal, Scotland) To place in position; set up, fix, plant; prop, mount.


stepbairn

stepbairns (plural)
stepbarn (alternative Northern-England)

From Middle English stepbarn (“orphan”), from Old English stēopbearn (“orphan”), from Proto-West Germanic *steupabarn, from Proto-Germanic *steupabarną (“stepchild”), equivalent to step- + bairn. Cognate with Old High German stiofbarn (“stepchild”), Norwegian stebarn (“stepchild”) Danish stedbarn (“stepchild”), Swedish styvbarn (“stepchild”), Icelandic stjúpbarn (“stepchild”).

(UK dialectal, chiefly Scotland) A stepchild.


to-draw

to-draws (plural)
te-draw (alternative)
teaa-draa (alternative)

Partly from Middle English todrawen (“to draw toward, allure”), equivalent to to + draw, and partly from Middle English todrawen (“to draw away, distract, tear apart”), equivalent to to- + draw. More at todraw.

inh

(UK obsolete, dialectal, Northern England, Scotland) A resort; refuge; a place of shelter; that which stands one in stead.

(UK obsolete, dialectal, Northern England, Scotland) A newsmonger's house; a place or person resorted to by idlers; a hangout.


foregift

foregifts (plural)
fore-gift (alternative)

(law, chiefly British) A payment in advance; an advance payment or premium paid by a lessee on taking or renewing a lease, distinct from the rent.


gloppen

en-verb

gloppen (third-person singular simple present gloppens, present participle gloppening, simple past and past participle gloppened)

gloppens (present singular third-person)
gloppening (participle present)
gloppened (participle past)
gloppened (past)

From Middle English glopnen, from Old Norse glúpna (“to frighten, grieve, look downcast”), from Proto-Germanic *glupnōną (“to frighten, cause to stare”), from Proto-Indo-European *gʰlub(ʰ)- (“to yawn, gape”). Cognate with Icelandic glúpna (“to put to shame”). More at glope.

der

"O Job! if you will help me," exclaimed Mary, brightening up (though it was but a wintry gleam after all), "tell me what to say, when they question me; I shall be so gloppened,* I shan't know what to answer." / *Gloppened; terrified.

1848, Elizabeth Gaskell, Mary Barton, HTML edition, The Gutenberg Project, published 2000:

(intransitive, UK dialectal, Northern England, Scotland) To be in fear; gaze in alarm or astonishment; look downcast

A pause before the intense guy cut in: "The Word of the Day is gloppen. Verb, transitive and intransitive. … One. To surprise or astonish. Two. To be startled or astonished. Gloppen."

2006, Jeremy Iverson, High School Confidential: Secrets of an Undercover Student, →ISBN, page 59:

(transitive, UK dialectal, Northern England, Scotland) To terrify; astonish; surprise.


amensh

en-adj

amensh (comparative more amensh, superlative most amensh)

more amensh (comparative)
most amensh (superlative)

(UK dialectal, Northern England) Equal; level.


chaunter

(UK, slang, obsolete) A street seller of ballads or similar songs.


special master

Daniel: You can't look at medical files, they're confidential.
Kate: That's why I need a special master.
Daniel: A special what?
Kate: A knowledgeable and impartial third party to review the files to report on what Corvis was gonna tell the US attorney without revealing any personal information. That's why I convinced the US attorney to appoint you.

2012 August 20, Lovesick (Perception), season 1, episode 6, spoken by Daniel Pierce and Kate Moretti (Eric McCormack and Rachael Leigh Cook):

Judge Cannon said the special master’s role would be “to review the seized property, manage assertions of privilege and make recommendations thereon, and evaluate claims for return of property.”

2022 September 6, Charlie Savage, “Special Masters and the Trump Records Investigation, Explained”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

(UK, US, law) An authority appointed by a judge to make sure that judicial orders are actually followed.


kick over the traces

en-verb

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

kicks over the traces (present singular third-person)
kicking over the traces (participle present)
kicked over the traces (participle past)
kicked over the traces (past)

Refers to a horse kicking its legs over to the wrong side of the traces, straps of leather connecting it to the vehicle being towed.

Near-synonym: kick against the pricks

1920, A. E. W. Mason, The Summons, XXX: A Revolution in Sir Chichester,
"I remember that she once said to me, 'Women do get the worst of it when they kick over the traces,'" Hillyard resumed. "And undoubtedly they do. On the other hand you have McKerrel's hard-headed verdict, 'If these poor neurotic bodies had any work to do they wouldn't have so much time to worry about their troubles.' Who shall choose between them? And what does it matter now? Stella's gone. She will strain her poor little unhappy heart no more against the bars."

(UK, dated, informal) To rebel against authority; to defy orders or instructions.

niskuroida

to rebel against authority; to defy orders or instructions

Near-synonyms: live large, live beyond one's means, live high on the hog

(UK, dated, informal) To live overextravagantly; to come to grief by fast living.


cursitor

cursitors (plural)
cursetor (alternative obsolete)

From Latin runner; in the legal sense, from Latin cursitor, from the words de cursu, applied in the statute to ordinary writs.

When actions are brought in the Courts of King's Bench or Common Pleas, founded upon original writs issuing out of the Courts of Chancery (which writs, as stated in the Report of the 9th of April 1816, it is the duty of the Cursitors to make out) it has been the practice in certain cases for the Filacers of the Courts of King's Bench and Common Pleas respectively, to receive from the Suitors the King's fines (if any) and also the fees payable to the Cursitors in respect of such original writs, and afterwards to account to the Cursitors for the fines and fees so received.

1817 December 20, House of Commons of the United Kingdom, “Second Report of the Commissioners for Examining into the Duties, Salaries and Emoluments, of the Officers, Clerks and Ministers, of the Several Courts of Justice, in England, Wales, and Berwick-upon-Tweed;—as to the Court of Chancery”, in Reports from Committees: Fever; Ireland; Courts of Justice: Session 27 January – 10 June, 1818, volume VII, [London]: [s.n.], published 6 April 1818, →OCLC, page 172:

(UK, law, obsolete) A clerk in the Court of Chancery whose business is to make out original writs.


chum up

chum up (third-person singular simple present chums up, present participle chumming up, simple past and past participle chummed up)

chums up (present singular third-person)
chumming up (participle present)
chummed up (participle past)
chummed up (past)

They have a practice of “chumming up” a new fellow-prisoner—beating him with old swords and staves kept in the prison for the purpose, to exact a fee of a half-crown.

1844 January 13, The Spectator, volume 17, number 811, page 28:

1849, John Brand, Popular Antiquities of Great Britain, revised by Henry Ellis, London: Henry G. Bohn, Volume 2, p. 452,
Mr. Miller. They are not very nice whom they chum up?
Boot. Not very; they would as soon chum you up as anybody else.

(obsolete, UK, prison slang, transitive) To initiate (a new prisoner) through a ritual involving beating him with sticks and swords, accompanied by music, to extort money from him.


head girl

(British) A girl chosen to lead a school's sixth form, whose duties may include representing the school and organising the prefects.


bar billiards

(UK) A game resembling billiards, sometimes found in public houses, with pegs and holes in the surface of the table instead of side and corner pockets.


DBS

Disclosure and Barring Service
w:Disclosure and Barring Service

(UK) Initialism of Disclosure and Barring Service.


man and boy

/ˌmæn n̩ ˈbɔɪ/

I’ve lived here forty years, man and boy.

(British) During one's manhood and boyhood; since one's childhood; all one's life.

világéletében

during one’s manhood and boyhood; all one’s life


rooped up

en-adj

rooped up (comparative more rooped up, superlative most rooped up)

more rooped up (comparative)
most rooped up (superlative)
rouped up (alternative)

I am rooped up.

(intransitive, UK dialectal, Northern England) Suffering from any affection of the throat or chest which renders the voice hoarse.


homefield

(UK, dated) A field adjacent to its owner's home.


smeggy

smeggy (comparative more smeggy, superlative most smeggy)

more smeggy (comparative)
most smeggy (superlative)

We'd been cooped up in a smeggy coach all the way from Leeds. No one told me how far it was to the south coast. And England's supposed to be small. It took us ages. Any road, we finally arrived, got parked and made for the chip shop.


crunkle

en-verb

crunkle (third-person singular simple present crunkles, present participle crunkling, simple past and past participle crunkled)

crunkles (present singular third-person)
crunkling (participle present)
crunkled (participle past)
crunkled (past)


feel someone's collar

feel someone's collar (third-person singular simple present feels someone's collar, present participle feeling someone's collar, simple past and past participle felt someone's collar)

feels someone's collar (present singular third-person)
feeling someone's collar (participle present)
felt someone's collar (participle past)
felt someone's collar (past)

From the image of an arresting police officer holding a suspect by the collar.

If you carry on like that, the law will soon be feeling your collar.

(British, informal, idiomatic) To arrest someone.


roadman

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

And officers’ definition of ‘roadman’ could prove to be controversial. They described the term as a ‘teenager who involves themselves in smoking weed, no education, puffa jacket and man bag, acts hard on a bike’.

2018 September 10, Harley Tamplin, “Police hope this embarrassing ‘slang dictionary’ will help them engage with young people”, in Metro:

The roadman look is very working-class (although it can be made to appear high-end), and features key pieces like matching tracksuits, technical jackets (like Nike wind runners or lightweight Stone Island shells) running caps, ‘trainers’ (like any Nike Air Max or a Reebok Classic), bum/shoulder bags, and maybe even a scarf on colder days.

2020 January 30, Ross Dwyer, “What's A Roadman? A Brief Background Of The UK's Most Popular Style”, in Piff Minneapolis, archived from the original on 2020-11-24:

(British, chiefly MLE, slang) A member of a subculture characterised by their clothing (notably puffer jackets and sportswear) as street fashion and the music they listen to, notably drill music.


haematoma

en-noun

haematoma (plural haematomas or haematomata or haematomae)

haematomas (plural)
haematomata (plural)
haematomae (plural)


lager top

lager top (countable and uncountable, plural lager tops)

(UK) A shandy made from lager topped up with lemonade or lime juice.


statemented

(UK, education) Having been provided with a Statement of Educational Needs.


wagger-pagger-bagger

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Naomi Persephone Amethyst (NaomiAmethyst)-wagger-pagger-bagger.wav

Jocular modification of wastepaper basket. See -er.

(Taking flowers from vase) If you don't mind, therefore, I shall deposit them in the wagger-pagger-bagger. (Drops flowers into waste paper basket.)

1948, John Courtenay Trewin, Plays of the year: Volume 1:

If only he hadn't woken himself in the night with ludicrous, fey notions which now thankfully lay at the bottom of the wagger-pagger-bagger—he punched the splintery door of the shed—damn it all to the bloodiest—

2009, H. S. Cross, Riding: Volume 2, page 364:

(UK, slang, dated, public schools) A wastepaper basket.


railway sleeper

railway sleeper (plural railway sleepers)

railway sleepers (plural)
railroad sleeper (alternative)

West's friends were so appalled by the nature of his death that they arranged for a wooden memorial in the churchyard of St Laurence's, constructed aptly from a railway sleeper.

2021 December 29, Stephen Roberts, “Stories and facts behind railway plaques: Reading (1840)”, in RAIL, number 947, page 56:

(rail transport, chiefly UK) A railroad tie.


tolt

From Latin tolta, from tollere (“to take away”).

... for a plea pending in a seignorial court could be removed into the county court by a procedure called tolt, and from the county into the common pleas by a writ of pone.

1956, Theodore Plucknett, A Concise History of the Common Law, Butterworth & Co, page 104:

(UK, law, obsolete) A writ by which a cause pending in a court baron was removed into a county court.


sick as a parrot

(very disappointed): Apparently of sporting (soccer) origin.

Bridge was over the moon and Terry sick as a parrot as the game ended 4-2 following a late Chelsea penalty.

2010 February 25, Chris Boffey, “John Terry left empty-handed as Wayne Bridge gives him cold shoulder”, in The Guardian:

2010 December 7, Wirral Euro MP is sick as a parrot over England World Cup bid humiliation, Wirral Globe.

2011 July 29, John Walsh, Ingalls awesome but Workington Comets edged out, News & Star,
Team manager Tony Jackson said: “I’m as sick as a parrot as I’ve ever been. There’s no doubt we should have won this one if it hadn’t been for the riders we have who suffered knocks.”

(colloquial, simile, idiomatic, UK) Very disappointed; miserable.


plaw

en-verb

plaw (third-person singular simple present plaws, present participle plawing, simple past and past participle plawed)

plaws (present singular third-person)
plawing (participle present)
plawed (participle past)
plawed (past)
play (alternative)

From Middle English plawen, playen, plaȝen, from Old English plagian, a dialectal (Anglian) variant of Old English plegian (“to move about quickly, play”). More at play.

cog

(transitive, UK dialectal) To boil; boil slightly; parboil.


limewood

en-noun

limewood (usually uncountable, plural limewoods)

From lime² (ultimately from Old English lind) + wood.

compound

But he would not publicly confirm his purchase of “Hercules and Achelous,” or another rarity that experts say he bought this year: a limewood figure of St. Catherine by the German Medieval sculptor Tilman Riemenschneider that went for $6.3 million at Sotheby’s in January.

2008 June 13, Carol Vogel, “Darkness Was Muse for a Master of Light”, in New York Times:

(UK) The wood from the lime tree or linden tree.


blens

(UK, dialectal, zoology, archaic) The common cod; codfish


wabs

a DVD of the noxious, abominably brilliant 1983 teen sex-comedy Screwballs. That's right, the one about a foxy cheerleader named Purity Bush and the six nerds who'll move heaven and earth to catch an eyeful of her tanktop-straining wabs.

1999 December 17, John Patterson, The Guardian:

But what of your wabs? After all, it's not like it's any easier to think of something to call your breasts. They sit on your ribcage, from the age of 13 onwards, and yet there's scarcely a word you can refer to them with that isn't going to make either you, or someone else, uncomfortable.


bliddy

Then there was thousands of the bliddy critturs left in the rabbuts' buries.


lowth

From low + -th (abstract nominal suffix). Compare Old Norse lægð.

"For I am sure that neither death nor life, neither angel nor rule, neither power, neither things present, neither things to come, neither height nor lowth, nor any other creature, shall lie able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord."

1843, Thomas Becon, John Ayre, The early works of Thomas Becon:

(UK dialectal, Northern England) Lowness.

(UK dialectal) (in the plural) Lowlands.


nobbler

(UK, obsolete) A thimbleman's or cardsharp's accomplice or shill, who poses as a player of the game to suggest that it is easy to win.


yowley

They're just as feerce as untyem'd goats, / An' all liked sowlgers dress'd; / They've a bunch ov hair upon their jaws / Just like a yowley's nest.

1863, Edward Corvan, A choice collection of Tyneside songs, page 56:

(dated, UK, dialect) The European yellowhammer.


wroo

wroos (plural)
wro (alternative)
roo (alternative)
ray (alternative)

From Middle English wro, wra, from Old Norse rá, vrá (“corner, nook”), from Proto-Germanic *wranhō (“angle, corner”), from Proto-Indo-European *wrenk- (“to turn, twist, bend”). Cognate with Scots wra, wray (“corner, nook”), Danish and Swedish vrå (“corner, nook, recess”).

der

(UK dialectal) An enclosure in a grass field, in which cattle are penned up at night.


pleck

From Middle English pleck, plek, perhaps a variation of plack, or perhaps from Middle Dutch plecke, ultimately from Proto-West Germanic *plakkju, from Proto-Germanic *plakjō (“spot, stain”).
Cognate with West Frisian plak (“place, location, spot”), Dutch plek (“place, spot, patch”), Low German Plakk, Plakke (“spot, place, patch”). More at patch.


forflutter

en-verb

forflutter (third-person singular simple present forflutters, present participle forfluttering, simple past and past participle forfluttered)

forflutters (present singular third-person)
forfluttering (participle present)
forfluttered (participle past)
forfluttered (past)
forfluther (alternative)
fairflutter (alternative)

(transitive, UK dialectal) To disorder; discompose.


forflutter

forfluther (alternative)
fairflutter (alternative)

(UK dialectal) A state of confusion or agitation.


gro

(UK, in street addresses) Abbreviation of grove.


Aunt Sally

Apparently after My Old Aunt Sally, the title of a blackface minstrel song written by Dan Emmett in 1843.

But the novel is something more than a national institution; it has become the recognized channel of communication between the crank and his victims; it is the shooting gallery through which we fire our messages at that dear old Aunt Sally, the British Public.

1912 November 24, W. B. Maxwell, “The Future of the Novel”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

He is helpless, an Aunt Sally, a figure from a cartoon, a missionary in cassock and topi waiting with clasped hands and upcast eyes while the savages jaw away in their own lingo preparatory to plunging him into their boiling cauldron.

1999, J. M. Coetzee, Disgrace, Vintage, page 95:

IN FOUR years as India's prime minister, Manmohan Singh has come to resemble a bearded and turbaned Aunt Sally.

2008 June 26, “Manmohan Singh’s burning ambition”, in The Economist, →ISSN:

The finance minister, a true Aunt Sally figure, was dispatched to Moscow in search of backing.

2013 March 23, Kyran Fitzgerald, “Stakes couldn’t be higher”, in Irish Examiner:

(figurative, chiefly UK) A figure drawing criticism or ridicule, especially when prejudiced or unwarranted.


nancyboy

nancyboys (plural)
nancy boy (alternative)

With Mum out of earshot, he continued: "I don't believe you did six girls. I think you're a liar. I think you're either a virgin or a nancyboy."

2003, Alan Grayson, Mile End, Ragged Sky Press, published 2003, →ISBN, page 84:

This was Marcus, this effeminate, mincing nancyboy, picking his way fastidiously across the grass?

2009, Andrew Chapman, Pagan, →ISBN, page 303:

Always having to look over your shoulder for some prissy little nancyboy from the ACLU trying to get you bounced from the force.

2009, Peter S. Fischer, The Blood of Tyrants, The Grove Point Press, published 2009, →ISBN, page 60:

(slang, derogatory, Commonwealth, Ireland, UK) Synonym of nancy: an effeminate man, especially an effeminate homosexual.


number six

Bessy knew it was called “Calverton's School” — and though many who attended it were big men who ought to have known their letters better, yet others were only youths, and a few quite little boys, who wore their hair in “number sixes” at the temples, when law had left them hair sufficient for such ornamentation.

1861, Frederick William Robinson, No Church, page 252:

(UK, slang, obsolete) Synonym of Newgate knocker (“a lock of hair worn twisted back toward the ear”).


yarrish

en-adj

yarrish (comparative more yarrish, superlative most yarrish)

more yarrish (comparative)
most yarrish (superlative)

The others are of a dry or yarrish taste and mixd with Whitesour make an incomparable Cider.

1900, Devonshire Association for the Advancement of Science, Literature and Art, Report and transactions, volume 32:

(UK dialectal, archaic) Having a rough, dry taste.


querier

(UK, obsolete) A chimney sweep who goes door to door looking for work.


simple majority

en-noun

simple majority (plural simple majorities)

(UK, informal) Synonym of plurality: The largest share of the item being counted.


bootload

(UK) As much as the boot of a car can hold; a trunkload.


yarr

(UK, dialect) The plant Spergula arvensis, corn spurry.


yeldrin

yeldrins (plural)
yoldrin (alternative Scotland)
yaldrin (alternative Scotland)
yowdrin (alternative Scotland)
yaldring (alternative Scotland)

Alteration of earlier yowlring, equivalent to yellow + ring.

Bless the bramble and its berries —nor can we conjecture why it should be “a maltreated shrub,” any more than why the “Yellow Yeldrin” should in Scotland—and we believe in England too—be a maltreated bird.

1834, “The moral of flowers”, in Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, volume 35 (review of The Moral of Flowers by Rebecca Hey), page 811:

(archaic, dialect, UK, Scotland) The yellowhammer.


kindful

en-adj

kindful (comparative more kindful, superlative most kindful)

more kindful (comparative)
most kindful (superlative)
kindiful (alternative)

From Middle English kindeful, kyndeful, equivalent to kind + -ful.

"Men and women, horses and asses, sheep and oxen, and all kindiful things"

1830, Robert Forby, The vocabulary of East Anglia:

(UK dialectal) Of, relating to, or denoting a specified kind or sort; kindly.


kirkmaister

kirkmaisters (plural)
kirkmaster (alternative)

From kirk (“church”) + maister (“master”), possibly a calque of Middle Dutch keercmeester (“churchmaster”).

calque

(UK dialectal, Northern England, Scotland) A churchwarden


what ho

What ho, Frobisher!

The Count’s in danger,—what ho! there! approach!

1817 May 5, Lord Byron, “Letter CCLXXVIL To Mr. Murray.”, in Thomas Moore, editor, Letters and Journals of Lord Byron: With Notices of His Life, […], volume II, London: John Murray, […], published 1830, →OCLC, page 23:

What ho, there! All who are within hearing, return without fear. Caesar has tamed the lion.

1912 February 6 (date written), [George] Bernard Shaw, “Androcles and the Lion”, in Androcles and the Lion, Overruled, Pygmalion, London: Constable and Company, published 1916, →OCLC, Act II, page 44:

"[…]in he came, and I said ‘Oh, what ho!' and introduced Wally Mason.[…]"

1920 April 10 – August 28, Pelham Grenville Wodehouse, The Little Warrior [Jill the Reckless], New York, N.Y.: George H[enry] Doran Company, published 8 October 1920, →OCLC, page 152:

‘What ho!’ said Adrian, getting up to shut the door. ‘Treasons, strategems and spoils.’

1991 September, Stephen Fry, chapter 1, in The Liar, London: Heinemann, →ISBN, section I, page 18:

(Commonwealth, UK, Ireland, informal, dated) An exclamation of greeting, summons, or surprise.


whitling

The whitling and the finner, or finnoc, have been supposed by many to be young salmon.

1803, Henry Mackenzie, Prize Essays and Transactions of the Highland Society of Scotland, page 377:

(UK, dialect) A young full trout during its second season.


ouze

Partly from Middle English woose, wose, woos, from Old English wōs (“juice, liquor, sap”); partly from Middle English wose, wase, from Old English wāse, wase (“mud, mire, marsh, slime”). Cognate with Low German wees (“wet, ooze, mire”), German Wasen (“sod, turf”), Icelandic veisa (“mire, bog”). More at ooze.

oose (alternative)
ouse (alternative)
oase (alternative)
oaze (alternative)
oze (alternative)
oes (alternative)


Kingo

(UK, military, slang) A member of the King's Liverpool Regiment, later the King's Regiment.


Africanisation

From African + -isation or Africanise + -ation.


badders

Jocular diminutive with the Oxford "-er".


polyocracy

(UK) The section of the left-wing political establishment typically educated at polytechnics (or similar new universities).


whizz-bang

whizz-bangs (plural)
whiz-bang (alternative)

Some other new chaps started blazing away, too. Fritz retaliated with machine-guns and whizz-bangs. No casualties.

1929 November, Robert Graves, chapter XII, in Good-bye to All That: An Autobiography, London: Jonathan Cape […], →OCLC, page 139:

(British, military slang, historical) A small calibre shell from World War I.


Marley

Marlee (alternative)
Marleigh (alternative)
Marly (alternative)

From several different places in England, from Old English mære (“boundary”) or myrig (“pleasant”) or mearþ (“marten”) + lēah (“woodland clearing”). In the first case, equivalent to mere (“boundary”) + -ley (“lea”).

(chiefly British) A male given name transferred from the surname.


forhow

en-verb

forhow (third-person singular simple present forhows, present participle forhowing, simple past and past participle forhowed)

forhows (present singular third-person)
forhowing (participle present)
forhowed (participle past)
forhowed (past)
forhoo (alternative)
forhooie (alternative)
forhooy (alternative)
forhui (alternative)
furhow (alternative)

From Middle English forhowien, from Old English forhogian (“to neglect, disregard, despise”), equivalent to for- + how. Cognate with Old Saxon farhuggjan, Old High German farhuggan.

inh

It was believed that handling any bird's eggs in the nest made the bird forhooie them, [...]

(transitive, UK dialectal, Scotland) To forsake; quit; abandon; desert.

Mind what this lass has undergane for you, Since ye did her so treach'rously forhow, [...]

(transitive, UK dialectal, Scotland) To cast off; scorn.


back-

From Middle English bak-, bac-, apheretic form of abak, aback (“aback”, adverb). See also aback.

backfriend


forlat

en-verb

forlat (third-person singular simple present forlats, present participle forlatting, simple past forleet or forlut, past participle forlatten or forlutten)

forlats (present singular third-person)
forlatting (participle present)
forleet (past)
forlut (past)
forlatten (participle past)
forlutten (participle past)

(transitive, UK dialectal, Northern England, Scotland) To deal a blow; hit out.


forgitty

en-adj

forgitty (comparative more forgitty, superlative most forgitty)

more forgitty (comparative)
most forgitty (superlative)


backgain

backgains (plural)
backgaun (alternative)
back-gang (alternative)
back-gannin (alternative)
backgane (alternative)


backgain

backgain (comparative more backgain, superlative most backgain)

more backgain (comparative)
most backgain (superlative)
back-ga'en (alternative)
back-gaen (alternative)

Alteration of back-ganging (adjective), equivalent to back + ganging.

a backgain family

(UK dialectal, of persons) Not thriving in health or in worldly concerns.


peer of the realm

en-noun

peer of the realm (plural peers of the realm)

(UK) Any member of the House of Lords who is not a life peer.

The proudest Peere in the Realme shall not weare a head on his shoulders vnlesse he pay me tribute.

1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Second Part of Henry the Sixt, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies. […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene vii], line 117:

All Peers of the Realm being look'd on as the King's Hereditary constant Counsellors.

1707, John Chamberlayne, Angliæ Notitia, 22nd edition, iii. iii. 276:

(UK, historical) Any member of the hereditary peerage of the United Kingdom, (chiefly) of the Kingdom of England.


narrow seas

(nautical, law, UK) Those seas (bodies of ocean water) which surround the British Isles, especially the English Channel.


not long

"[…] You ought to try one of these biscuits. They're good."
"I've not long had breakfast," Morgan told him.

1976, L. P. Davies, Possession, The Crime Club, →ISBN, page 138:

So I'd be going along to Elam Church sometimes and they had to go to a spring to get their water for the church; the spring was less'n a quarter of a mile from the church, good spring of water. And I'd be there, maybe not long got there, or I'd be there a pretty good while before I'd see her.

2018 July 31, Theodore Rosengarten, All God's Dangers: The Life of Nate Shaw, Vintage, →ISBN, page 60:


SLD

Statute Law Database
w:Statute Law Database

(UK, law) Initialism of Statute Law Database; the former name for legislation.gov.uk.


yarm

en-verb

yarm (third-person singular simple present yarms, present participle yarming, simple past and past participle yarmed)

yarms (present singular third-person)
yarming (participle present)
yarmed (participle past)
yarmed (past)

From Middle English ȝarmen, ȝermen, from Old English ġyrman, ġierman (“to cry, mourn, cry out, roar, lament”), of uncertain origin. Perhaps from Proto-West Germanic *jarmijan, from Proto-Germanic *jarmijaną, *jarmōną (“to bellow, bleat”). Cognate with Scots yirm (“to whine, wail”), dialectal Danish jærme (“to lament, shriek”), dialectal Norwegian jerme (“to bleat”), dialectal Swedish jarma (“to lament, shriek”), Icelandic jarma (“to whine, complain, bleat”). Compare Albanian jerm (“to rave, be delirious”). Compare English yammer.

cog

(UK dialectal) To cry out; make a loud, unpleasant noise; shriek; yell.


yed

en-verb

yed (third-person singular simple present yeds, present participle yedding, simple past and past participle yedded)

yeds (present singular third-person)
yedding (participle present)
yedded (participle past)
yedded (past)
yedd (alternative)

From Middle English ȝedden, ȝeddien, from Old English ġieddian (“to speak formally, discuss, speak with alliteration, recite, sing”), from ġiedd (“song, poem, saying, proverb, riddle, speech, story, tale, narrative, account, reckoning, reason”).

inh

(intransitive, UK dialectal) To magnify greatly in narration; exaggerate a tale; fib.

(intransitive, UK dialectal) To contend; wrangle.


yed

From Middle English ȝed, from Old English ġiedd (“song, poem, saying, proverb, riddle, speech, story, tale, narrative, account, reckoning, reason”).


yed

yeds (present singular third-person)
yedding (participle present)
yedded (participle past)
yedded (past)
yerd (alternative)
eard (alternative)
yedd (alternative)

From Middle English eorþien (“to bury, dig”), from eorþe (“earth”). Influenced or conflated with Middle English eardien (“to dwell, inhabit”), from Old English eardian (“to live, dwell, be inhabitant, occupy”). More at earth.

(UK dialectal) To burrow underground, as a rabbit or mole; also said of miners.

(UK dialectal) To be associated with a place or locality.


yed

yeds (plural)
yerd (alternative)
eard (alternative)
yedd (alternative)

(UK dialectal) A burrow; a hole made by an animal in the ground.


yedding

yeddings (plural)
yerding (alternative)
earding (alternative)

From Middle English eorþing (“burial, digging”), from eorþien (“to bury, dig”), from eorþe (“earth”), equivalent to earth + -ing. Possibly influenced by Middle English earding (“habitation, dwelling”), from eard (“dwelling, habitation”), from Old English eard (“native soil, native land, native country, country, province, region, place of residence, dwelling, home, dwelling place, estate, cultivated ground”). More at earth.

(UK dialectal) A burrow; a mole or rabbit hole.


misken

en-verb

misken (third-person singular simple present miskens, present participle miskenning, simple past and past participle miskenned or miskent)

miskens (present singular third-person)
miskenning (participle present)
miskenned (participle past)
miskenned (past)
miskent (participle past)
miskent (past)

From Middle English *miskennen (suggested by miskenninge (“mistake, misinterpretation”)), from Old English *miscennan (suggested by miscennung (“a mistake or variation in pleading before a court, or a fine exacted for this mistake”)), equivalent to mis- + ken. Cognate with Scots misken (“to not know, misken”), Dutch miskennen (“to fail to recognise, ignore”), German mißkennen (“to misunderstand”), Swedish misskänna (“to misunderstand”).

cog

(transitive, UK dialectal) To mistake one for another; mistake in point of knowledge or recognition; misconceive.

(transitive, UK dialectal) To fail to know; be ignorant or unaware of; appear to be ignorant of.

(transitive, UK dialectal) To misunderstand; mistake; have the wrong idea of.

(reflexive, UK dialectal) To esteem oneself incorrectly; have a false or exaggerated opinion of oneself or one's position.

(transitive, UK dialectal) To fail to recognise or identify.

(transitive, UK dialectal) To refuse to acknowledge; disown; repudiate; pass over; ignore; disregard; neglect; overlook; disavow; disclaim; disown; deny.

(transitive, UK dialectal) To fail to mention.


colouring book

British standard spelling of coloring book.


fair dos

fair do's (alternative)
fair doos (alternative uncommon)

"[…] Lansley said he was disappointed I had gone public without telling him. Which is fair dos except he could have found out if he had bothered to see me […]"

2011 July 26, Jeremy Laurance quoting Sir Roger Boyle, “Sir Roger Boyle: 'It is horrific that the NHS's future is threatened'”, in Independent:


faff about

en-verb

faff about (third-person singular simple present faffs about, present participle faffing about, simple past and past participle faffed about)

faffs about (present singular third-person)
faffing about (participle present)
faffed about (participle past)
faffed about (past)
faff around (alternative)

She faffed about so much, she never got to eat her breakfast.

I decided to stop faffing about and get some work done.

It's a shame; not only are nuts quite ridiculously nutritious but, as anyone who's ever shelled out (sorry) for a tiny glass of pistachios in a pub will know, they're a guaranteed crowd-pleaser. But although I happen to have a soft spot for nut roast – an option often preferable to the meat that emerged from the school kitchen – it seems I'm in a cranky minority. A request for recipe recommendations was met with a polite silence on Twitter: vegetarianism, apparently, has moved on a bit. You don't see Yotam Ottolenghi faffing about with nut roasts, do you? But I'm determined to revive the fortunes of this much-maligned classic. After all, Christmas isn't Christmas without a luxury nut selection.

2011 December 15, Felicity Cloake, “How to cook the perfect nut roast”, in Guardian:

(intransitive, chiefly UK) To waste time; to spend time idly.


clatfart

The Guild was called by some hostile husbands, who found their wives getting too independent, the "clat-fart" shop—that is, the gossip-shop.

1913, D[avid] H[erbert] Lawrence, “chapter 2”, in Sons and Lovers, London: Duckworth & Co. […], →OCLC:

Folks should do their own fuckin', then they wouldn't want to listen to a lot of clatfart about another man's.

1928, D[avid] H[erbert] Lawrence, Lady Chatterley’s Lover, [Germany?]: Privately printed, →OCLC:


befang

befang (third-person singular simple present befangs, present participle befanging, simple past and past participle befanged)

befangs (present singular third-person)
befanging (participle present)
befanged (participle past)
befanged (past)
befong (alternative)

From Middle English befon (past participle befangen), from Old English befōn (“to surround, clasp, include, envelop, encase, clothe, comprehend, seize, attack (at law), lay hold of, catch, ensnare, contain, receive, conceive, explain”), equivalent to be- + fang. Cognate with Dutch bevangen (“to seize”), Middle High German bevāhen (“to comprehend”).

cog

Come here an' I'll befang thee!

(transitive, UK dialectal, Yorkshire) To lay hold on; seize; grasp; catch; clutch.


begeck

en-verb

begeck (third-person singular simple present begecks, present participle begecking, simple past and past participle begecked)

begecks (present singular third-person)
begecking (participle present)
begecked (participle past)
begecked (past)

From Middle Dutch begecken or Middle Low German begecken (“to deride”), equivalent to be- + geck. More at geek.

bor

(transitive, UK dialectal) To deceive; disappoint; jilt.


begeck

(transitive, UK dialectal) A disappointment; trick.


gradely

en-adv

gradely (comparative more gradely, superlative most gradely)

more gradely (comparative)
most gradely (superlative)
grathely (alternative)
graadly (alternative)
greadly (alternative)
greadley (alternative)
graidly (alternative)
graidely (alternative)
graideley (alternative)
graithly (alternative Scotland)
grathly (alternative Scotland)
graithlie (alternative Scotland)
graithlye (alternative Scotland)
grathlie (alternative Scotland)
graythlie (alternative Scotland)
graithly (alternative obsolete)
grathly (alternative obsolete)
graythely (alternative obsolete)

From earlier graithly, from Middle English graythely, graydly, graitheli, graithlich, grathliche, graythelyche, from Old Norse greiðliga, equivalent to graith + -ly.

(UK, regional, obsolete) readily, speedily


foreway

I got a whisper of this; so by my song, I was determined to cut them all out in that, as well as I did in getting herself; but you know, I couldn't be angry, even if they had got the foreway of me in it, bekase it's an ould custom.

1852, William Carleton, Traits and stories of the Irish peasantry:

Provided that old Gilligan had not more horse sense than yourself and got the foreway of you," says I, [...]


wankstain

(UK, slang, vulgar, derogatory) Term of abuse.


small blue

(UK) A very small butterfly, Cupido minimus, of the lycaenid subfamily Polyommatinae, the blues


farden

Sir Pitt did not care, as he said, a brass fardenfor any one of them.

1847 January – 1848 July, William Makepeace Thackeray, chapter 9, in Vanity Fair […], London: Bradbury and Evans […], published 1848, →OCLC:

The young gent's been and popped all his things for the play and the drink; and I haven't myself so much as a brass farden to get a mouthful o' meat with."

Nicked the bloomin' lot 'e did--and me with not a farden to take 'ome to my brother and his missus.'

1904, E. Nesbit, The Phoenix and the Carpet:

He was off with the letters and all, and never gave me a farden for what he had or what he l'arnt off o' me.

1908, James Blyth, Edward FitzGerald and "Posh":

'If tha weant, tha weant,' he sed, soa that settles it, but awd rayther let th' bums tak away nearly ivvery stick aght o'th' haase nor awd take a farden less nor seven shillin'; that's th' lowest aw ivver will tak, an if tha doesn't buy'em at that price tha'll rue, for tha'll niver have sich a chonce ageean.'

Pronunciation spelling
pronunciation spelling

(UK, obsolete, Northern England, Jamaica) Pronunciation spelling of farthing.


slumpy

en-adj

slumpy (comparative slumpier, superlative slumpiest)

slumpier (comparative)
slumpiest (superlative)

So away goes lunch, and off goes you and the 'Sir,' a trampousin' and trapsein' over the wet grass agin […] and then back by another path that's slumpier than t'other, and twice as long […]

1843, Thomas Chandler Haliburton, The Attaché Or Sam Slick in England, Paris: Baudry's European Library, page 219:

[…] a large extent of rushy ground, either dry or hard, or slumpy and wet, […]

1853, George Johnston, The Botany of the Eastern Borders, I., page 250:

[…] making a rock his easy-chair, and a pair of hunting-boots his slippers; letting his dressing-gown be a woollen shirt or an india-rubber overcoat; finding his dainty, creamy-leaved books in white birch trees, or yeasty, frothy, river-rapids, and for delicate annotations making big tracts through the slumpy alluvion of the forest[…]

1869, G. M. Hoppin, “The Adirondac Lakes”, in The Broadway, London: George Routledge and Sons, page 263:

The softening of the great body of snow renders the roads slumpy and full of "Thank-ye-ma'ams," so that sleighing is not altogether a blissful experience just now.

1877, John Russell Bartlett, anonymous quotee, Providence Journal, letter from Maine, date unknown, quoted in Dictionary of Americanisms, 4th edition, Boston: Little, Brown and Company, page 611:

(UK, US, dialect) Easily broken through; boggy; marshy.


flyman

When driving round and about Cromer, our flyman pointed out "Poppy Land" to me.

1891, Francis Burnand, Punch, Volume 101, September 19, 1891:

Who does not know the "Copper Horse" at Windsor--that equestrian statue at the end of the Long Walk to which (and back again) the local flyman always offers to drive the tourist?

1898, George William Erskine Russell, Collections and Recollections:

She is as considerate for the flyman waiting for her on a rainy night as she would be for her father's coachman and horses, remembering that the flyman is quite as liable to catch cold as the coachman, and has fewer facilities for curing himself.

1903, Lucy H. M. Soulsby, Stray Thoughts for Girls:

Derrick gave his small portmanteau to the flyman and told him to drive there, and he himself set out walking.

The flyman touched his hat, turned the horse, and drove back as directed.

1920, Thomas Hardy, A Group of Noble Dames:

A contemporary picture in The Illustrated London News shows a steam train, and Bradshaw's times are incompatible with horse-traction, but "Medicus" stated in The Times that on February 9 the 12.45 up train was worked to the junction by "an old grey horse, in charge of Evans, the Moulsey flyman," that the trip took 20 min., and that this sort of thing was of daily occurrence.

1942 January, “Horsepower”, in Railway Magazine, page 5:

(UK, historical) Someone who drives the type of coach called a fly.


ontake

en-verb

ontake (third-person singular simple present ontakes, present participle ontaking, simple past ontook, past participle ontaken)

ontakes (present singular third-person)
ontaking (participle present)
ontook (past)
ontaken (participle past)

From Middle English ontaken, equivalent to on- + take. Compare Old English onniman (“to receive, take”).

cog

(transitive, UK dialectal) To undertake a debt.


daiker

en-verb

daiker (third-person singular simple present daikers, present participle daikering, simple past and past participle daikered)

daikers (present singular third-person)
daikering (participle present)
daikered (participle past)
daikered (past)

(UK, dialect, obsolete, transitive) To deck out; to adorn.


take a pew

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

takes a pew (present singular third-person)
taking a pew (participle present)
took a pew (past)
taken a pew (participle past)
pull up a pew (alternative)

There are many ways of inviting a person to seat himself. The genial ‘take a pew’ of one's equal inspires confidence. The raucous ‘sit down in front’ of the frenzied pit, when you stand up to get a better view of the stage, is not so pleasant.

1903, P. G. Wodehouse, chapter 16, in A Prefect's Uncle:

"Oh!" he said, looking round him with his chin a little in the air, "am I intruding, Turl?" . . .
"Not at all, Berryman—take a pew!"

1904, John Galsworthy, chapter 18, in The Island Pharisees:

"Come in," he said cheerily. "I'm delighted to see you. Take a pew."

1919, William Somerset Maugham, chapter 11, in Moon and Sixpence:

"Come in. Come in. Take a pew. Cigarette?"

1965, Ian Fleming, chapter 1, in The Man with the Golden Gun:

(UK, idiomatic) To take a seat; to sit down.


playock

From play + -ock. Cognate with Scots playok (“toy”).

[…] I would therefore like if you will lend her a note, and ye may put half-a-crown in the hand of each of the poor weans for a playock, — for she's a proud spirit, and will bear much before she complain.

1936, John Galt, David Storrar Meldrum, William Roughead, The Works of John Galt:

(obsolete, UK dialectal) A plaything; a toy.


playstow

playstows (plural)
pleystow (alternative)
plestor (alternative)
Plaistow (alternative)

From Middle English *pleystow, from Old English pleġstōw, pleġestōw (“playground, gymnasium, amphitheater, a place for a play, wrestling-place”), equivalent to play + stow (“place”).

(UK dialectal) A place for play; playground.


slicken

en-adj

slicken (comparative more slicken, superlative most slicken)

more slicken (comparative)
most slicken (superlative)


Mareva injunction

en-noun

Mareva injunction (plural Mareva injunctions)

Named after the legal case Mareva Compania Naviera SA v International Bulkcarriers SA [1975] 2 Lloyd's Rep 509, decided in 1975.

(law, British, Canada) A court order which freezes assets so that a defendant to an action cannot dissipate their assets from beyond the jurisdiction of the court.


forspare

en-verb

forspare (third-person singular simple present forspares, present participle forsparing, simple past and past participle forspared)

forspares (present singular third-person)
forsparing (participle present)
forspared (participle past)
forspared (past)

I don't never buy no cheese, miss; I can't forspare the money for it.

1889, Eliakim Littell, Robert S. Littell, The living age: Volume 183:

(transitive, UK dialectal) To spare; do without.


forridden

en-adj

forridden (comparative more forridden, superlative most forridden)

more forridden (comparative)
most forridden (superlative)

From for- + ridden. Compare Middle English forriden (“to ride ahead of, intercept”), from Old English forrīdan (“to intercept by riding before”).

cog

(UK dialectal) Worn out or weary from hard or excessive riding.


fortake

en-verb

fortake (third-person singular simple present fortakes, present participle fortaking, simple past fortook, past participle fortaken)

fortakes (present singular third-person)
fortaking (participle present)
fortook (past)
fortaken (participle past)
fortake (infinitive)
fortake (first-person present singular)
fortook (first-person past singular)
fortake (present second-person singular)
fortakest (archaic present second-person singular)
fortook (past second-person singular)
fortookst (archaic past second-person singular)
fortakes (present singular third-person)
fortaketh (archaic present singular third-person)
fortook (past singular third-person)
fortake (plural present)
fortook (past plural)
fortake (present subjunctive)
fortook (past subjunctive)
fortake (imperative present)
fortaking (participle present)
fortaken (participle past)

From Middle English fortaken, equivalent to for- + take. Cognate with dialectal Norwegian fortaka (“to assail, assault”), Swedish förta (“to deprive, take away, deaden”).

cog

(transitive, UK dialectal) To mistake; make a mistake.

(transitive, UK dialectal) To aim or deal a blow at; hit.


armth

From Middle English armthe, earmthe, from Old English iermþu, from Proto-West Germanic *armiþu (“poverty”), from *arm (“poor, arm”). Equivalent to arm (“poor”) + -th (abstract nominal suffix).

suffix

armthe (alternative)
ermth (alternative)
earmth (alternative)

(UK dialectal or obsolete) Poverty; want; wretchedness; misery; calamity.


spectrum analyser

en-noun

spectrum analyser (plural spectrum analysers)

spectrum analyzer
spectrum analyzer#English


metropolitan county

metropolitan county (plural metropolitan counties)

(UK) A county-level administrative division that covers a large urban area


metropolitan borough

metropolitan borough (plural metropolitan boroughs)

(UK) A subdivision of a metropolitan county, having the status of a borough.


bootneck

(UK, slang, military) A member of the Royal Marines.


home-along

“[…]And what did the lady say then?”
“I can't mind. Please, Master Reddleman, may I go home-along now?”

1878, Thomas Hardy, The Return of the Native:

(UK, dialect, archaic) To one's home; homeward.


antichav

en-adj

antichav (comparative more antichav, superlative most antichav)

more antichav (comparative)
most antichav (superlative)

The source of the texts is http://www.chavscum.co.uk, a chav-bashing site, also selling antichav merchandise such as T-shirts with the paraphrased Trainspotting text.

2008, Karol Jakubowicz, Miklós Sükösd, Finding the right place on the map, page 274:

Take a book, and some antichav spray. I recommend War and Peace, and aqua regia.

2008, Peter Corlett, “The nerve! The sweet tooth!”, in alt.sysadmin.recovery (Usenet):


academize

en-verb

academize (third-person singular simple present academizes, present participle academizing, simple past and past participle academized)

academizes (present singular third-person)
academizing (participle present)
academized (participle past)
academized (past)
academise (alternative)

(transitive, UK, education) To convert (a school) into a publicly-run academy.


chimbley

chimbleys (plural)
chimley (alternative)
chimbly (alternative)

By dissimilation of mn to ml, followed by epenthesis of b

Golden lad and chimbley sweep / Die; and so their song shall keep.

1936, Dorothy Parker, “Lines on Reading Too Many Poets”, in The collected poetry of Dorothy Parker, page 180:

(UK, dialect, Caribbean) Alternative form of chimney.


soss

From Middle English sosse, sos, soos (“hounds' meat; a mess of food”), of uncertain origin. See sesspool.

(UK, dialect) Anything dirty or muddy; a dirty puddle.


soss

soss (third-person singular simple present sosses, present participle sossing, simple past and past participle sossed)

sosses (present singular third-person)
sossing (participle present)
sossed (participle past)
sossed (past)
suss (alternative)


maffled

en-adj

maffled (comparative more maffled, superlative most maffled)

more maffled (comparative)
most maffled (superlative)


helply

helply (comparative helplier or more helply, superlative helpliest or most helply)

helplier (comparative)
more helply (comparative)
helpliest (superlative)
most helply (superlative)

From Middle English helply, equivalent to help + -ly. Cognate with Middle Low German hulplik (“helply”), Middle High German helflich, helfelich (“helply”).

(UK dialectal) Aiding; assisting; ready to help; helpful.


helpsome

helpsome (comparative more helpsome, superlative most helpsome)

more helpsome (comparative)
most helpsome (superlative)

(UK dialectal) Marked by a readiness or a willingness to help; characteristically helpful.


nevvy

nevvies (plural)
nevey (alternative)
nevvie (alternative)
neffy (alternative)
nevy (alternative)

What signifies your sisters’ bits o’ money when they’ve got half-a-dozen nevvies and nieces to divide it among?

1860, George Eliot, chapter VI, in The Mill on the Floss, Edinburgh: William Blackwood and Sons:


chat-up line

Chatup lines are all well and good (or let's be honest, usually bad and awful), but for some people, the silently charming approach to flirting works better.

2022 May 24, Nancy Groves, “What Is Unspoken Rizz? 23 Tweets That Might Just Explain It To You”, in Huffington Post:

(chiefly British) Synonym of pick-up line.


atgo

en-verb

atgo (third-person singular simple present atgoes, present participle atgoing, simple past atwent, past participle atgone)

atgoes (present singular third-person)
atgoing (participle present)
atwent (past)
atgone (participle past)

From Middle English atgon, from Old English ætgān (“to go away, disappear”); equivalent to at- + go.

inh

(UK dialectal) To expend; go; pass away; vanish.


banker's draft

en-noun

banker's draft (plural banker's drafts or bankers' drafts)

banker's drafts (plural)
bankers' drafts (plural)
banker's draught (alternative)

(UK) A type of financial instrument, used similarly to a cheque to make a payment or transfer money, but drawn on funds already taken from the payer's account and held by the bank, and hence seen as more certain of being honoured than a personal cheque.


banker's draught

banker's draught (plural banker's draughts or bankers' draughts)

banker's draughts (plural)
bankers' draughts (plural)

The ſeſſions ended at the Old Bailey, when twelve convicts received ſentence of death, among whom was Samuel Burt, for the forgery of a banker's draught of 100l. who had been recommended to mercy by the jury, his conduct having evinced ſome degree of inſanity.

1786, The Annual Register, or General Repository of History, Politics, and Literature, page 34:

[...] if any clerk or servant, or person employed as such, by any individual or body politic, shall fraudulently embezzle, secrete, or make away with such money, goods, bond, bill, note, banker's draught, or other valuable security, so coming into his possession, he shall be deemed to have feloniously stolen the same from his master, and shall suffer transportation for a term not exceeding fourteen years.

1814, David Hume, Supplemental Notes to Mr. Hume's Commentaries on the Law of Scotland Respecting Crimes, page 12:

[...] accept, draw, or endorse any promissory note, bill of exchange, banker's draught, cheque, dividend warrant, or other such like instrument; and any such instrument shall be signed, accepted, drawn, or endorsed by such person or persons as the board shall from time to time appoint for that purpose.

1901, Herapath's Railway Journal, page 470:

Raising his clipboard as a preacher might raise his bible, he reminded Charlie of his duty to the Crown, and demanded the monies outstanding, in full, in cash, banker's draught, or negotiable securities.

(UK) Alternative spelling of banker's draft.


religious education

(UK) The teaching about various religions; also known as religious studies.


scarfer

On the Internet self-identifying Wigan hooligans claimed victory over ICF members, but the latter dismissed these claims since attacking 'scarfers' (non-hooligan supporters) was considered illegitimate.

2006, Ramn Spaaij, Understanding football hooliganism, page 152:

(UK, slang) An everyday football supporter who is not involved in hooliganism.


besharp

en-verb

besharp (third-person singular simple present besharps, present participle besharping, simple past and past participle besharped)

besharps (present singular third-person)
besharping (participle present)
besharped (participle past)
besharped (past)

(intransitive, UK dialectal) To make haste; hurry.


bergh

From Middle English bergh, from Old English beorg (“mountain, hill, mound, barrow, burial place”), from Proto-West Germanic *berg, from Proto-Germanic *bergaz (“hill, mountain”). Doublet of berg and barrow; see there for more.


benow

en-adv

benow (comparative more benow, superlative most benow)

more benow (comparative)
most benow (superlative)


umbethinking

From Middle English, equivalent to umbethink + -ing.

(UK, dialectal, obsolete) A reminder; a sudden act of reminding; a reproof or blow given unexpectedly.


umcast

en-verb

umcast (third-person singular simple present umcasts, present participle umcasting, simple past and past participle umcast)

umcasts (present singular third-person)
umcasting (participle present)
umcast (participle past)
umcast (past)

From Middle English umcasten, umbecasten, equivalent to um- + cast.

to umcast a splice = to fasten it by a wrapping of cord


umstrid

From Middle English umstridden, past participle of umstriden (“to mount (a horse)”), equivalent to um- + stride. Compare astride.

umpstridden (alternative)
hump-stridden (alternative)


OFT

Office of Fair Trading
w:Office of Fair Trading

(UK) Initialism of Office of Fair Trading.


SORN

(UK, automotive) Acronym of statutory off-road notification.


umbegrip

umbegrip (third-person singular simple present umbegrips, present participle umbegripping, simple past and past participle umbegripped)

umbegrips (present singular third-person)
umbegripping (participle present)
umbegripped (participle past)
umbegripped (past)
umbegrippe (alternative)
umbe-grippe (alternative)

From Middle English umbegrippen, equivalent to umbe- + grip.

(obsolete, transitive, UK dialectal) To seize hold of.


umbeclap

umbeclap (third-person singular simple present umbeclaps, present participle umbeclapping, simple past and past participle umbeclapped)

umbeclaps (present singular third-person)
umbeclapping (participle present)
umbeclapped (participle past)
umbeclapped (past)
umbeclappe (alternative)
umbe-clappe (alternative)

From Middle English umbeclappen. By surface analysis, umbe- + clap, or um- + beclap.

(transitive, UK dialectal) To embrace; enclose.


bedirten

en-adj

bedirten (comparative more bedirten, superlative most bedirten)

more bedirten (comparative)
most bedirten (superlative)

From Middle English bedritten, past participle of bedriten (“to befoul”), equivalent to be- + dritten. More at bedrite.

(obsolete, UK dialectal) Fouled with dirt or excrement; befouled.


bedrite

en-verb

bedrite (third-person singular simple present bedrites, present participle bedriting, simple past bedrote or bedrit, past participle bedritten)

bedrites (present singular third-person)
bedriting (participle present)
bedrote (past)
bedrit (past)
bedritten (participle past)

(transitive, obsolete, UK dialectal) To befoul with ordure; bedirt.


downarg

downarg (third-person singular simple present downargs, present participle downarging, simple past and past participle downarged)

downargs (present singular third-person)
downarging (participle present)
downarged (participle past)
downarged (past)
donnarg (alternative)

(transitive, UK dialectal) To gainsay or contradict in an overbearing, domineering manner; browbeat; assert violently.


PEP

en-noun

PEP (countable and uncountable, plural PEPs)

(UK, finance) Initialism of personal equity plan (a former financial instrument).

politically exposed person
w:politically exposed person

(UK, countable) Initialism of politically exposed person.


bottom of the table

(UK, sports) Finishing in last place in the standings in a league or tournament.


Jacob's ladder

Jacob's ladders (plural)
Jacob's-ladder (alternative)
Jacob's Ladder (alternative)

[…] because the left leg of her tights has exhibited symptoms of the defect in the warp known as a "Jacob's ladder."

(UK, slang, obsolete) A ladder or run in a pair of tights.


fleak

The uſes indeed of the forenamed Plants are ſo univerſall, and take place ſo in every affaire of Man, that if it vvere lavvfull to be a little merry in ſo ſerious a matter, a man might not unfittingly apply that verſe of the Poet [Ovid, Epistulae ex Ponto (Letters from the Black Sea), book IV, 3-35] to this ſo generall a commodity; / Omnia ſunt homini tenui pendentia filo. / That all the buſineſſes of Men do very much depend upon theſe little long fleaks or threds of Hempe and Flaxa.

1653, Henry More, “Arguments of Divine Providence Drawn from the Usefulness of Plants”, in An Antidote against Atheisme, or An Appeal to the Natural Faculties of the Minde of Man, whether There Be Not a God, London: […] Roger Daniel, […], →OCLC, book II, page 73:

Above that Region the Wind blew at South-weſt by South, as appeared by ſome ſmall Fleaks of Clouds coming from that Quarter.

1741 January–March, Eustachio Zanotti, “VII. A Collection of the Observations of the Remarkable Red Lights Seen in the Air on Dec. 5. 1737. Sent from Different Places to the Royal Society. [3. Description of an Aurora Borealis Observed at the Observatory of the Institute of Bononia, the Night of the ⁵⁄₁₆ of December 1737. […]]”, in T. S., transl., Philosophical Transactions. Giving Some Account of the Present Undertakings, Studies, and Labours, of the Ingenious, in Many Considerable Parts of the World, volume XLI, part II, number 459, London: […] T. Woodward, and C. Davis, […] ; printers to the Royal Society, published 1744, →OCLC, page 600:

(obsolete except British, dialectal) Synonym of flake.

A small, light piece that is only loosely joined to something else, and which has a tendency to detach.

Plutarke alſo calleth this beaſt a meticulous and fearefull beaſt, and in this cauſe concludeth the change of his colour, not as ſome ſay, to auoyde and deceiue the beholders and to vvorke out his ovvne happineuſſe, but for meere dread and terrour. […] But I for my part doe aſſigne the true cauſe to bee in the thinneſſe of their skinne, and therefore may eaſily take impreſſion of any colour, like to a thin fleake of a horne, vvhich being layde ouer blacke, ſeemeth blacke, and ſo ouer other colours: […]

1608, Edward Topsell, “Of the Chamæleon”, in The Historie of Serpents. Or, The Second Booke of Liuing Creatures: […], London: […] William Jaggard, →OCLC, page 116:

Now, it is very demonſtrable from vvhat has been ſaid, that all ſuch Effects may be produc'd by a Prick of a Nail, a Stub, or a Fleak, when it ſticks in thoſe tender ſenſible Parts, […] [I]f there be any Fleak or Piece of Nail remaining in the Quick, vvhich may be knovvn by examining the Nail you have pull'd out, or by the continued Pain, with a conſtant Diſcharge of matter, you may introduce a Piece of dry Spunge, made in form of a Tent, vvith a Thread dravvn through the End of it: […]

1722, W[illiam] Gibson, “Of Retraits and Pricks in the Foot”, in The Farrier’s New Guide. […], 3rd edition, London: […] S. Palmer, for William Taylor, […], →OCLC, page 252:

A thin piece that is chipped or peeled off from the surface of something else.

Upon Examination, I found that they [the fat] conſiſted of regular large Laminæ: vvhich vvere eaſily ſeparable from one another, in broad Fleaks; […]

1698 April, Edw[ard] Tyson, “Carigueya, seu Marsupiale Americanum. Or, The Anatomy of an Opossum, Dissected at Gresham-College by Edvv. Tyson, […]”, in Philosophical Transactions. Giving Some Account of the Present Undertakings, Studies and Labours of the Ingenious, in Many Considerable Parts of the World, volume XX, number 239, London: […] Sam[uel] Smith and Benj[amin] Walford, printers to the Royal Society, […], →OCLC, page 139:

A thin piece that the flesh of some animals (such as fish) tends to break into.


crack onto

en-verb

crack onto (third-person singular simple present cracks onto, present participle cracking onto, simple past and past participle cracked onto)

cracks onto (present singular third-person)
cracking onto (participle present)
cracked onto (participle past)
cracked onto (past)

(slang, UK, Australia, transitive) To flirt with; to approach and speak to (someone), seeking romance, love, sex, etc.


blow me

With a look of disdain, he exclaimed: “Blow me, your shirt! Why in 'ell didn't you use mud?”

1917, Arthur Guy Empey, “Lewis Gun”, in Over the Top, G. P. Putnam's, page 44:

(UK, Ireland, Commonwealth, dated, informal) Ellipsis of blow me tight.


overcatch

overcatch (third-person singular simple present overcatches, present participle overcatching, simple past and past participle overcaught)

overcatches (present singular third-person)
overcatching (participle present)
overcaught (participle past)
overcaught (past)

She sent an arrow forth with mighty draught ,
That in the very dore him overcaught

1590, Edmund Spenser, “(please specify the book)”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:


overbreak

overbreak (third-person singular simple present overbreaks, present participle overbreaking, simple past overbroke, past participle overbroken)

overbreaks (present singular third-person)
overbreaking (participle present)
overbroke (past)
overbroken (participle past)

From Middle English *overbreken, from Old English oferbrecan (“to transgress, violate”), equivalent to over- + break.

der

He was never able to overbreak his rheumatism.

(transitive, UK dialectal) To get over; recover from.


lay on

en-verb

lay on (third-person singular simple present lays on, present participle laying on, simple past and past participle laid on)

lays on (present singular third-person)
laying on (participle present)
laid on (participle past)
laid on (past)

(UK) To give (something) as a gift, special treat or bonus.


clown about

clown about (third-person singular simple present clowns about, present participle clowning about, simple past and past participle clowned about)

clowns about (present singular third-person)
clowning about (participle present)
clowned about (participle past)
clowned about (past)
clown around (alternative)

(UK) To have fun in an irresponsible manner.


knobtwat

(UK, neologism, vulgar, informal, derogatory) A stupid or contemptible person.


overword

/ˈəʊ.və(ɹ)ˌwɜːd/

(UK, dialectal) Any word or phrase frequently repeated.

(UK, dialectal) The burden or chorus of a song.


chips with everything

It was one of the first to lead the charge to wean Glaswegians away from their "chips-with-everything" habit.

1997 May, The Rotarian, volume 170, number 5, page 24:

Mijas village has some excellent restaurants in among the 'chips with everything' establishments catering for the day trippers.

2007, Andy Symington, 'Footprint Andalucía, page 253:

For almost a century, Long's has been serving misers, minions and millionaires its classic chips with everything fast food ....

2008, Heidi McAlpin, Belfast In Your Pocket:

In the post-chips-with-everything world, here is a selection of what various companies have on the menu ....

2009 April 22, Hattie Ellis, “Are you being served?”, in The Times, London, section T2, pp. 2-3:

(UK, used attributively, usually derogatory) A basic restaurant menu, without much planning or style.