blackthorn winter

blackthorn winter (plural blackthorn winters)

So-called because it (typically) falls when blackthorn is flowering.

Blackthorn winters were most severe; (I.) a week at the end of March; (II.) April 13th to 26th. Two perennial springs, in different ranges of hills, failed.

1885, Great Britain. Meteorological Office, British Rainfall, page 98:

An inveterate custom of English conversation, combined with the engaging versatility of the English climate, from which the custom derives both its origin and its vigour, must be our excuse for devoting some specific attention to this branch of the English weather. … In similar fashion we made observe, mutatis mutandis, of the blackthorn winter that, though small, it is peculiarly bitter. … Providence does not invariably temper the wind of the blackthorn winter for him. On the contrary, he too often finds that a balmy north-easter will effectually temper the rise of the May-fly, …

1888 May 19, The Saturday Review of Politics, Literature, Science and Art, section Blackthorn Winter, page 590

[...] when, sick for home, she stood in tears amid the alien corn, the chimp's sad heart was charmed by no nightingale, for the bird had not yet returned to Stotfield, and what corn was showing was but a scanty acid green, ragged among the flints of those chilly fields. It was the blackthorn winter, and Emily, who had been sent out to gather primroses, found the thin stuff dress she now wore, designed by Amy to resemble the drabbest of charity child's garments, to be but a miserable covering ...

1957, John Collier, His Monkey Wife: or Married to a Chimp, →ISBN, page 62:

A similar term was 'blackthorn winter', which perhaps referred to the frequent cold snaps that occur when the sloes, or blackthorns, flower in late March or April. Blackthorn is a relative of hawthorn but flowers earlier, before it produces foliage. Blackthorn is a common hedgerow tree of chalk and limestone areas, where it seems to thrive better and produce more fruit than on acid or clay soils. But a blackthorn winter may shrivel the flowers in bud or deter bees from pollinating the flowers, ...

(especially rustic UK) A period of cold weather in spring or early summer (March, April or May).


Talivan

(UK, slang, derogatory) A portable speed camera inside a police van, moved from place to place to detect speeding motorists.


HIGNFY

(television, comedy) Initialism of Have I Got News for You.

(UK) Have I Got News for You, a British TV panel game based on newspaper headlines


soft tommy

(UK, nautical, slang, obsolete) Soft bread, as opposed to hardtack or sea biscuit.


the chuff

What the chuff are you doing here?!

(UK, informal) Synonym of the fuck (“intensifier”).


SIB

Special Investigation Branch
w:Special Investigation Branch

(UK, military) Initialism of Special Investigation Branch.


demob suit

Joe looked very smart in his demob suit and newly trimmed beard and seemed to be just as excited as his bride-to-be.

A grateful country gave me a demob suit, a piece of paper from the King thanking me for my service, and a pamphlet telling me what to do next, which I tore up.

2014, Ian Hamilton, A Touch of Treason, →ISBN:

His toned physique perhaps indicated that he had recently returned from his duties in foreign climes, although his hair wasn't cropped short in the military style and his suit wasn't the standard shapelessness of the Government Issue demob suit.

(UK) A suit of civilian clothes issued to a soldier upon demobilization, especially at the end of World War II.


rentagub

From rent a gub. where gub is Scottish slang for "mouth".

Scores of bookies to choose from for best prices and you dont have Rentagub Cert shouting every "good thing" home

2001 January 6, Chris Mac, “Gambling Online”, in uk.sport.horseracing (Usenet):

Here you know what why don't you stop beating about the bush and get yer ass in here and just say what you really want to get aff yer chest and stop playing them little games you play .... your name should have been poison or rentagub man wie allthe shite that comes oot yer gub man

2006 January 15, DjAngie_Baby, “Windy Miller”, in uk.rec.radio.cb (Usenet):

Her name was Miriam Gelaghtly, and I think it's fair to name her because she's frequently elbowing her way into the media spotlight as the homeopathy racket's main rentagub north of the border.

2007, Christopher Brookmyre, Attack of the Unsinkable Rubber Ducks, →ISBN, page 202:

The issues at stake were health and education, as borne out by the preceding quotes from, funnily enough, health and education practitioners, but there they were too, every time, the holy rentagubs.

2011, Christopher Brookmyre, Boiling A Frog, →ISBN:


Bunteresque

en-adj

Bunteresque (comparative more Bunteresque, superlative most Bunteresque)

more Bunteresque (comparative)
most Bunteresque (superlative)

From Billy Bunter, a fictional greedy schoolboy in the Magnet comic created by Frank Richards (Charles Hamilton).

The intelligence product from this series of meetings between the Bunteresque MI5 man and Gutteridge was speedily disseminated throughout Whitehall.

1993, John Sweeney, Trading with the enemy: how Britain armed Iraq, →ISBN, page 44:

I drew a mushroom cloud; a man holding up a severed head next to a guillotine; an apple with an arrow through it; a rather Bunteresque schoolboy, braces emphasising his girth, reaching out towards a giant icecream cone; and a bus heading for a tunnel in a hillside.

2007, Christopher Brookmyre, Attack of the Unsinkable Rubber Ducks, →ISBN:

I exchange pleasantries with the old history buff on the till and spend a fascinating hour or so on the official tour of the house itself, marvelling at the Bunteresque enormity of a former earl's pantaloons; but when it comes to the guided walk around the grounds and gardens, I slip away to the riverfront path and, I don't mind admitting it, thoroughly enjoy my extensive ramble right along the western straits, almost as far as Newborough Warren itself.

2014, Kevin Sampson, The Killing Pool, →ISBN, page 101:


polemicisation

British standard spelling of polemicization.


epiphanisation

British standard spelling of epiphanization.


off-trade

Distribution networks are particularly chaotic in the ‘on’-trade which has steadily lost ground to the ‘off’-trade. Estimates for the volumes of wines consumed in public vary wildly but now usually point down towards to 25%.

1998, Pierre Spahni, Swiss Wine Market Report, Woodhead Publishing, page 56:

The off-trade has been growing at the expense of the on-trade. Traditionally, wide choices of wine have not been available through public houses in the UK. With the growing interest in wine, this absence of good wine in on-trade establishments may have aided the growth in off-trade sales.

2004, Kym Anderson, David Norman, The World's Wine Markets: Globalization at Work, Edward Elgar Publishing, page 133:

Lora Jones (2018 March 27) “Pubs in danger: Six charts on how the British drink”, in BBC News, BBC
The volume of beer sold in supermarkets and off-licences (off-trade) in the UK topped the volume sold in pubs, clubs and restaurants (on-trade) for the first time in 2014.

(Ireland, British) The sale of alcoholic drinks for consumption off the premises.


on-trade

(Ireland, British) The sale of alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises.


benefits in kind
benefits in kind#English

(UK) A form used to declare benefits in kind to HMRC (the UK tax authority).


NALGO

w:National and Local Government Officers' Association

(UK) Acronym of National and Local Government Officers' Association.


slance

en-verb

slance (third-person singular simple present slances, present participle slancing, simple past and past participle slanced)

slances (present singular third-person)
slancing (participle present)
slanced (participle past)
slanced (past)

Then a knob of margarine had to be slanced out of the kitchen to grease the wheels and bearings.

(UK, dialect, transitive) To steal; to pinch.


EWS

(British, obsolete) Initialism of emergency water supply (World War II, for fires).


homebird

homebirds (plural)
home bird (alternative)

(UK, informal) A person who is unwilling to leave their childhood home or area.


mumhood

en-noun

mumhood (countable and uncountable, plural mumhoods)

Daisy was very funny,very warm, practising mumhood.

We talked about a Four Corners programme that had depicted the relentless burden that children with disabilities were to their carers – whose mumhood was completely denied in that programme.

2015, Gwenda Tavan, State of the Nation: Essays for Robert Manne, →ISBN:

But, no, for the average lady columnist in the tabloid press, there is really only one type of woman who is worthy of trust and admiration: she must, of course, be not simply a mother, she must be 'a mum', although she can get away with not being a mum if she is 'suffering the heartbreak of infertility' and lost in envy of those who have reached the nirvana of mumhood, and wants to look at photographs of 'bubs' and smell their heads; she must love shoes, and the television production of Pride and Prejudice that starred colin Firth; she must find it impossible to resist chocolate, and enjoy drinking wine with 'the girls' while having a good old giggle about how men would never be able to cope with the pains of labour.

2016, Sarina Rowell, Not to be Rude: Intemperate outbursts from one nutty broad!, →ISBN:


drive a coach and horses through

en-verb

drive<,,drove,driven> a coach and horses through

drive a coach and horses through (third-person singular simple present drives a coach and horses through, present participle driving a coach and horses through, simple past drove a coach and horses through, past participle driven a coach and horses through)

drives a coach and horses through (present singular third-person)
driving a coach and horses through (participle present)
drove a coach and horses through (past)
driven a coach and horses through (participle past)
drive a coach and six through (alternative)

These findings drive a coach and horses through the claim that Wonga has been lending responsibly.

2014 October 2, Emma Dunkley, George Parker, quoting Pat McFadden, “Wonga to write off £220m of loans owed by customers”, in The Financial Times:

We’ve been told that No 10 is preparing to update its obesity strategy. Part of that must be to get us all eating more healthily.¶ But a sugary, junk-filled trade deal will drive a coach and horses through it all.

2018 March 18, Denis Campbell, “UK anti-obesity drive at risk from new US trade deal, doctors warn”, in The Guardian:

(British, idiomatic) To spoil, break or render ineffective (a rule, plan or agreement).


guest beer

(UK) A beer from a different brewery served in a tied house


according to Cocker

UK circa 1760. Eponymous of Edward Cocker (1631–1676), teacher and author of the popular mathematics textbook known as Cocker's Arithmetick (1678).

“Well, so you ought to be, according to Cocker, spending all your time in sick rooms.”
“According to who?”
“According to Cocker.”
“Who is Cocker?”
“Oh, I don't know; some old fellow who wrote the rules of arithmetic, I believe; it's only a bit of slang.[…]”

1859–1861, [Thomas Hughes], “A Crisis”, in Tom Brown at Oxford: […], part 2nd, Boston, Mass.: Ticknor and Fields, published 1861, →OCLC, page 140:

A man rode at an Arab who fired and missed him, and then seized his spear, with the apparent intention of meeting him as an infantry soldier should, according to Cocker.

1885, Lewis Hough, “Touch and Go!”, in For Fortune and Glory:

It seems that a certain constable whose beat included Dorchester Square was going his round rather late one evening when he noticed a hansom cab drawn up about the middle of the south side of the square. There was no sign of the driver, and no one minding the horse; and as this was not quite according to Cocker, it naturally attracted his attention.

1931, R[ichard] Austin Freeman, “Of a Hansom Cab and a Black Eagle”, in Pontifex, Son And Thorndyke:

(dated, colloquial, British, idiomatic) Done properly, correctly and reliably; in accordance with proper procedure and established rules.


knight of the shire

en-noun

knight of the shire (plural knights of the shire)

Member of Parliament
Member of Parliament

(UK, obsolete) A Member of Parliament for a county.


sea stack

sea stacks (plural)
sea-stack (alternative)

From sea + stack (“a heap, pile; large vertical column of rock in the sea”); stack is derived from Middle English stak (“a heap, pile, stack; large vertical column of rock in the sea”) [and other forms], from Old Norse stakkr (“a heap, pile; haystack; barn”) (compare Faroese stakkur (“sea stack”)), from Proto-Germanic *stakkaz (“pile of hay, haystack”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *(s)teg- (“beam, pole, stick”).

nb...

stack, stacke, stake, stakk, stakke, (Northern England) stagge, (early Middle English) stac

der

The sea-gull sprang upwards from where he had floated on the ripple, and hied him slowly away to his lodge in his deep sea-stack; the dusky cormorant flitted past, with heavier and more frequent stroke, to his whitened shelf high on the precipice; [...]

1854 May 15, “Notes on Books”, in Norton’s Literary Gazette and Publishers’ Circular, volume I (New Series), number X, New York, N.Y.: Baker, Godwin & Co., […] [for Charles Benjamin Norton], →OCLC, page 248, column 3:

That this defile may have been partly eroded by the action of the sea is also very probable; and there are certain isolated pinnacles and irregular columns of agglomerate in its immediate neighbourhood which have all the appearance of being old sea-stacks.

1878 March 6, A. C. Ramsay, James Geikie, “On the Geology of Gibraltar”, in W[illiam] S[weetland] Dallas, editor, The Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society of London, volume XXXIV, London: Longmans, Green, Reader, and Dyer; […], →ISSN, →OCLC, page 524:

The sea, with its tremendous battering-power, is excavating caves, just as the streams make pot-holes; only the action is horizontal, rather than vertical, the water lashing like a whip around the flanks of the sea-stacks and islets.

1895, Grenville A[rthur] J[ames] Cole, “Along the Shore”, in Open-air Studies: An Introduction to Geology Out-of-doors (Griffin’s Scientific Text Books), London: Charles Griffin and Company, […] , →OCLC, page 94:

At the foot of the cliffs are narrow boulder beaches and a few sea stacks.

1955, George C[layton] Kennedy, Howard H[amilton] Waldron, “Geography”, in Geology of Pavlof Volcano and Vicinity, Alaska (Investigation of Alaskan Volcanoes; Geological Survey Bulletin; 1028-A), Washington, D.C.: United States Government Printing Office, →OCLC, page 4:

Off the shore of still another island they found a stand of sea stacks, weird towers of rock sculpted by sand and wind and engulfed in flocks of gulls and cormorants, and as they banked for another look, Kate saw three bald eagles take wing.

1993, Dana Stabenow, Dead in the Water (A Kate Shugak Mystery; 3), New York, N.Y.: Berkley Books, →ISBN, page 53:

Lying off the north-west coast of the island is the Old Man of Hoy, the most famous sea stack in the world. At a height of 450ft it dominates the neighbouring cliffs of which it was once part.

2004, J. Murray Neil, “Hills of Hoy”, in The Scots Fiddle: Tunes, Tales & Traditions of the Western Highlands, Hebrides, Orkney & Shetland, Glasgow: Neil Wilson Publishing, published 2012, →ISBN, page 157:

A tall island in the sea, a geologic bone, the sea stack represents rock harder than what once surrounded it and has been eroded away. [...] The sea stack—which in desert country might be called a chimney, pinnacle, needle, knob, horn, or pillar—rises in the ocean, and is often favored by cormorants, puffins, and gulls for nesting and whitewashing with clamorous possession.

2006, Kim Stafford, “sea stack”, in Barry Lopez, Debra Gwartney, editors, Home Ground: Language for an American Landscape, San Antonio, Tex.: Trinity University Press, →ISBN, page 320:

Some sea stacks are far off shore, while others like the one on the facing page, are in the tidal zone. Consider for a moment the contrasts the sea stack brings to the painting.

2009, Claudia Nice, Down by the Sea with Brush & Pen: Draw and Paint Beautiful Coastal Scenes, Cincinnati, Oh.: North Light Books, →ISBN:

(chiefly British, geology) A pillar of rock that rises from the ocean, formed by surrounding softer ground eroding away.


QRs

Queen's Regulations
w:King's Regulations

(UK, military) Abbreviation of Queen's Regulations.


strike off

en-verb

strike off (third-person singular simple present strikes off, present participle striking off, simple past struck off, past participle struck off or stricken off)

strikes off (present singular third-person)
striking off (participle present)
struck off (past)
struck off (participle past)
stricken off (participle past)

The doctor was struck off the medical register for professional misconduct.

1891 November 27, “Dr. Steel Scott Struck Off the Medical Register”, in Birmingham Evening Mail, page 2:

"From 1992, when Dr. Starkie's name was struck off the medical register, he has been practicing—and he is entitled to do so. His name coming off the register has not made him unqualified[…]"

1929 December 2, “Efforts to Get Back on Register.”, in Evening Standard, page 12:

Andrew Wakefield, the British gastroenterologist who sparked a worldwide scare over the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine, has been found guilty of serious professional misconduct and struck off the medical register by the General Medical Council.

2010 May 24, “Wakefield is struck off for the “serious and wide-ranging findings against him””, in British Medical Journal, volume 340:

The short answer is that I took a job, with a platonic male friend, as resident porn critics for The Erotic Review magazine, literary Middle England's answer to Razzle. It was only meant to be a bit of fun—writing earnest critiques about what motivates this gardener or why that naughty doctor isn't struck off—but it soon turned to boredom, frustration and occasionally disgust.

2012 April 12, Victoria Coren, “I made a porn film for my 30th”, in Evening Standard, London:

Prosecutors said Flora Mendes had already been struck off in 2015 after being found guilty of providing unregulated immigration advice.

2024 May 4, Alex Pope, “Struck-off lawyer jailed for Grenfell fraud”, in BBC News:

Even if the BACP strikes someone off its register, it does not have the power to stop them using the title.

2025 February 27, “Caveat patient”, in The Economist (Britain section), London: The Economist Group, →ISSN, →OCLC:

(transitive) To remove from a list or register.

(usually transitive, passive voice, chiefly UK) To be forbidden from practicing in a protected field (medicine, law, etc.) by virtue of being removed (usually for malpractice) from a statutory register required to practice in that field.


RSAF

Royal Small Arms Factory
w:Royal Small Arms Factory

(UK, historical) Initialism of Royal Small Arms Factory.


come upon the town

To be sure, it would have been more for the advantage of conversation had Miss Lydia Bennet come upon the town; or, as the happiest alternative, been secluded from the world, in some distant farm house.

1813 January 27, [Jane Austen], chapter VIII, in Pride and Prejudice: […], volume III, London: […] [George Sidney] for T[homas] Egerton, […], →OCLC, page 144:

(UK, obsolete, euphemistic) To become a prostitute; to turn to prostitution.


blanket bath

(British) an all-over wash given to a person who is confined to bed or bedridden.


glimmer-gowk

'[E] sit like a great glimmer-gowk wi' 'is glasses athurt 'is noase, […]

1880, Alfred Tennyson, “[Ballads and Other Poems.] The Village Wife; or, The Entail”, in Ballads and Other Poems, London: C[harles] Kegan Paul & Co., […], →OCLC, stanza VII, page 75:


shag band

There were no efforts to devise shag-band or rainbow-party laws and no concrete evidence that these sexual games were actually commonly occurring; they remained in the realm of the legend.

2014, Joel Best, Kathleen A. Bogle, Kids Gone Wild: From Rainbow Parties to Sexting, Understanding the Hype Over Teen Sex, NYU Press, →ISBN, page 17:


local board

An administrative board operating in a local government; specifically:

(British, historical) Any of a number of local authorities established to improve public health in urban areas of England and Wales from 1848 to 1894.


arsehat

arsehats (plural)
asshat (alternative US)

(UK, Ireland, Commonwealth, sometimes vulgar, often humorous, slang) British standard spelling of asshat.


swelly

Between the two extremes, the line of coast passes through a very great depression of the strata, designated locally a "swelly," and constituting that feature generally met with in coal fields which is properly termed a basin. This greatest depression takes place near the town of Sunderland, where the coal beds are at a depth of 300 fathoms, or 1,800 feet, below the level of the sea, […]

1863, A History of the Trade and Manufactures of the Tyne, Wear, and Tees:

Swellies are depressions of seams of coal: the floor and roof dipping into a trough and rising out of it in most cases to such a level as they would have been found to exist, had no disturbance taken place. In such cases the coal in the bottom of the trough or swelly is commonly of unusual thickness. An excellent example of a swelly is found at Seaton Delaval Colliery, in Northumberland.

1870, George Clementson Greenwell, A Practical Treatise on Mine Engineering, page 120:

(UK, dialect, mining, historical) An abnormal local thickening of a seam of coal.


that's as may be

They claimed they were following procedure. That's as may be, but it was still wrong given the circumstances.

“Well, here it is,” said Silver. “We want that treasure, and we’ll have it—that’s our point! You would just as soon save your lives, I reckon; and that’s yours. You have a chart, haven’t you?”
“That’s as may be,” replied the captain.

1881–1882, Robert Louis Stevenson, “Silver’s Embassy”, in Treasure Island, London; Paris: Cassell & Company, published 14 November 1883, →OCLC, part IV (The Stockade), page 162:

That's as may be, some managers replied, but they protested vigorously that the BBC had the fairest system of appointment boards for every job and promotion, attended by the personnel department to prevent an inside fix.

1999 February 24, Polly Toynbee, “How I stopped worrying and learnt to love racial awareness training”, in Alan Rusbridger, editor, The Guardian, London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2016-11-23:

(chiefly British, followed by "but") Even if that is the case; acknowledging another's point before introducing a more pertinent one.


horse and carriage

en-noun

horse and carriage (plural horses and carriages)

(British, US) A light, simple, two-person carriage of the late 18th, 19th and early 20th centuries, drawn usually by one or sometimes by two horses.


can't do right for doing wrong

“Hold your confounded tongue!” he bawled. “You can't do right for doing wrong, can you? No, by G-d! […]

1971, George MacDonald Fraser, Flash for Freedom!, page 59:

Insolvency doesn't necessarily happen when a company is doing poorly; quite the contrary, it can happen just as easily when a company is too successful (you see, sometimes you can't do right for doing wrong!).

2013, Steve Collings, Michael Taillard, Corporate Finance for Dummies, John Wiley & Sons, page 201:

They, like the sufferer, need support, since the emotional demands placed upon them can be very intense. They often feel that they can't do right for doing wrong when trying to offer help to the sufferer.

2014, Patricia Furness-Smith, chapter 2, in Overcoming Problem Eating: A Practical Guide, Icon Books:

(British) Be in a situation where any course of action leads to a negative outcome.

damned if one does and damned if one doesn't


overspecialisation

overspecialisation (countable and uncountable, plural overspecialisations)

British standard spelling of overspecialization.


stab-rag

In conclusion, the bottom on the jacket, and the button-holes, companions thereto, would baffle the criticism of the most hyper-fastidious stab-rag; and the shirt collar, with every other detail—never forgetting the chiaro-scuro—are equal to any of the preceding.

1841 August 21, “Fine Arts”, in Punch, or the London Charivari, volume 1, page 65:

Corporal Target is at the stab-rag—tailor's, sir. Bein' measured for a new overcoat, sir.

1943, Stella Gibbons, Ticky, London: Random House, published 2012, →ISBN, page 127:

(obsolete, military, British, slang) A regimental tailor.


Queen's pipe

(UK, humorous, dated) The furnace in which contraband tobacco is burned after being seized by the state, or the chimney from which the resulting smoke rises.


right as ninepence

(UK, simile) Perfectly all right; in sound condition.


sand perch

(UK) Mexican sand perch (Diplectrum macropoma (Serranidae))


sea area

(UK, nautical) Any of the 31 areas of sea, surrounding the British Isles, that are used in the Shipping Forecast


private shop

(UK) A shop that sells pornographic material, sex toys, etc.; a sex shop.


tits and bums

I mean all this tits and bums must pall after a while, doesn't it?" Graham was almost whispering, hoping that his own, much quieter approach to talking might rub off a little on Terry.

1982, Peter Finch, Between thirty-five and forty-two: short stories, page 46:

Now I come to think about it, the basic appeal of the show is probably on a par with the tits and bums in Sunday Sport — real lowest common denominator stuff.

1986, Blues & Soul - Issues 474-485, page 30:

After 1933, cabaret did not die out in Germany; but it was only the innocuous entertainment version that was allowed to flourish, interspersed here and there with a few 'tits-and-bums' shows.

1998, Richard Gough, Claire MacDonald, Ric Allsopp, Performance Research: On Risk, →ISBN, page 57:

If it's tits and bums, that's what they expect.

2013, Jo Bannister, Deadly Virtues, →ISBN:

'It was only when the tabloids started going lower orders with tits and bums that it started,' he muttered.

2014, Dan Davies, In Plain Sight: The Life and Lies of Jimmy Savile, →ISBN:

(British, vulgar, slang) Alternative form of tits and ass.


quarter-up price

quarter-up price (plural quarter-up prices)

(UK, finance) In share valuation, the bid price plus 25% of the difference between the bid and offer prices.


part brass rags

en-verb

part brass rags (third-person singular simple present parts brass rags, present participle parting brass rags, simple past and past participle parted brass rags)

parts brass rags (present singular third-person)
parting brass rags (participle present)
parted brass rags (participle past)
parted brass rags (past)

An allusion to shipmates ceasing to work together on cleaning duty.

(UK, informal) To quarrel; to cease to be on friendly terms.


Swedey

the Swedey (canonical)
Sweedy (alternative)

Blend of swede + Sweeney, the latter being Cockney rhyming slang (Sweeney Todd) for the Flying Squad, and the former a reference to agriculture, since the investigators were drawn from rural police forces.

(UK, slang, derogatory, historical) The Operation Countryman team, who led an investigation into police corruption in London, England in the late 1970s.


smell-smock

smell-smocks (plural)
smellsmock (alternative)
smell-smocke (alternative)
smellsmocke (alternative)

From smell + smock (“woman's undergarment”).

Cardamine pratensis
Cardamine pratensis#Translingual

(British, dialect) A plant, the cuckooflower or lady's smock (Cardamine pratensis).

Oxalis acetosella
Oxalis acetosella#Translingual

(British, dialect) A plant, the wood sorrel (Oxalis acetosella).


suck and blow

suck and blow (third-person singular simple present sucks and blows, present participle sucking and blowing, simple past sucked and blew, past participle sucked and blown)

sucks and blows (present singular third-person)
sucking and blowing (participle present)
sucked and blew (past)
sucked and blown (participle past)

It is called the Liberal Democratic Party, and it beats our old cleaner, because it can suck and blow at once. They have it both ways. They are like weird hermaphroditic parrotfish, changing sex at will.

2003 September 25, Boris Johnson, “The least said about Lib Dems, the better”, in Telegraph, UK, retrieved 2018-05-28:

Kravetsky said the hospital's position is contradictory.
"They suck and blow at the same time," Kravetsky said outside court on Tuesday.
"Their position is that he's suffering no damages because he's not cognizant, and yet … they describe torture which reflects a person having been tortured intentionally or suffering severe pain, so which is it?"

2008 June 4, “Doctor quits over dispute on whether to treat Winnipeg man”, in CBC News, Canada, retrieved 2018-05-28:

We all know that NASCAR came out in support of South Carolina’s decision (and Alabama’s) to remove the Confederate flag from the front of its legislative building. […] But in a classic case of trying to suck and blow at the same time, Daytona Speedway (which is owned by the same people who won NASCAR) will not ban the Confederate flag from its infield at this weekend’s races.

2015 July 2, Norris McDonald, “F1, IndyCar and NASCAR - more going on off the track than on”, in The Star, Toronto, Canada, retrieved 2018-05-28:

"You can't suck and blow at once, as they say, we're going to have to come out of the customs union in order to be able to do free trade deals," he said.

2018 February 27, Lizzy Buchan, “Brexit is like 'giving up a three-course meal for a packet of crisps', says former top Government trade official”, in Independent, UK, retrieved 2018-05-28:

(Canada, UK, idiomatic) To perform two incompatible actions; to hold views which are in contradiction.


TOISA

(UK, finance, historical) Acronym of TESSA-only ISA, a form of cash ISA that could be opened using either capital that was originally invested in a TESSA and had not been withdrawn, or with funds transferred from another TOISA.


SDS

Special Demonstration Squad
w:Special Demonstration Squad

(UK, historical) Initialism of Special Demonstration Squad.


Ofqual

(UK, education) Initialism of Office of Qualifications and Examinations Regulation.


kimberlin

Comes from the days when sailors would stay on the isle of Portland, Dorset, England and visit the Kimberlin Club.

(UK, historical) In Portland, Dorset, England, an outsider; somebody living on the island that wasn't born on the island.


bide tryst

bide tryst (third-person singular simple present bides tryst, present participle biding tryst, simple past bode tryst or bided tryst, past participle bidden tryst or bided tryst)

bides tryst (present singular third-person)
biding tryst (participle present)
bode tryst (past)
bided tryst (past)
bidden tryst (participle past)
bided tryst (participle past)

"You walk late, sir," said I, as we met a second time.
"I bide tryste," was the reply, "and so I think do you, Mr Osbaldistone."

1817 December 31 (indicated as 1818), [Walter Scott], chapter VIII, in Rob Roy. […], volume II, Edinburgh: […] James Ballantyne and Co. for Archibald Constable and Co. […]; London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, →OCLC, page 165:

(UK, dialect, archaic) To wait for a person at the appointed place and time.


pr.

B.L. cartridges have lubricators choked inside the cartridges of 40-pr. and lower natures.

1879, War Office, Manual of Siege and Garrison Artillery Exercises, page 37:


meat tea

en-noun

meat tea (countable and uncountable, plural meat teas)

April 23.—Mr. and Mrs. James (Miss Fullers that was) came to meat-tea, and we left directly after for the Tank Theatre.

1892, George Grossmith, Weedon Grossmith, chapter 3, in The Diary of a Nobody:

(British, dated) High tea, at which meat was often served.


work the oracle

en-verb

work the oracle (third-person singular simple present works the oracle, present participle working the oracle, simple past and past participle worked the oracle)

works the oracle (present singular third-person)
working the oracle (participle present)
worked the oracle (participle past)
worked the oracle (past)

Holdaway reports that procedural rules are often considered irrelevant by the British police as they go about their daily duties. The occupational culture of the British police condones the use of “verbals” or “working the oracle.”

2006, Thomas Barker, Police Ethics: Crisis in Law Enforcement, page 90:

(UK, law enforcement slang) To fabricate a suspect's verbal statement.


Brexity

en-adj

Brexity (comparative more Brexity, superlative most Brexity)

more Brexity (comparative)
most Brexity (superlative)

It feels a bit Brexity: a pained cry from the past, “We want our Shakespearean canon back!”

2016 October 26, David Greig, “Emma Rice’s exit from Shakespeare’s Globe feels a bit Brexity”, in New Statesman:

It is a society that has evolved separately from Britain’s mainland and its Anglican beliefs, but it looks like an alternative reality of fiercely insular, irrational England. Is there anything more Brexity than this?

2018 June 7, Peter Bradshaw, “The scariest horror films ever – ranked!”, in The Guardian:

She doesn't admit that I'm right — she has been distracted by a woman she has seen out of the window, limping out from a Brexity pub called The Dame's Garter with a vape dangling from her puckered lips […]

(UK, informal) Characteristic of Brexit, or the attitudes thought to underlie it; parochial, jingoistic.


cry arsing

Its easy saying people with a season ticket are priveliged and whinging about them, and I think they are lucky, but the time spent cry arsing about it could be spent trying to get tickets through other means.

2006 June 2, jward85, “ST - going halves”, in Red And White Kop, archived from the original on 2018-06-07:

Not really enjoying this game. Too much cry arsing!

2011 April 27, Harvest Sun, “Harvest Sun on Twitter”, in Twitter, archived from the original on 2018-06-07:

Why does everybody completely over-react when we lose? It happens, get the fuck over it. Signing off this shit until the cry arsing stops.

2011 May 1, Mancunia, “Mancunia on Twitter”, in Twitter, archived from the original on 2018-06-07:

What I like about this story is the way the author, who goes by the moniker CiTyBlUe, makes some good points but completely buries them in a storm of "it's just not fair mum!" type cry-arsing.

2011 May 9, biff bifferson, “biffbifferson: Leon Osman and the cry-arsing of an iddy-biddy girl”, in biffbifferson, archived from the original on 2011-08-12:

(chiefly UK, derogatory slang) whining, complaining


ULEZ

The Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ) replaced the T-Charge on 8 April 2019. It operates 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, every day of the year, within the same area as the Congestion Charge zone.

2019 April 8, “ULEZ: Where and when”, in Mayor of London, archived from the original on 2019-04-14:

You’ll probably have heard about London’s Ultra Low Emissions Zone (ULEZ) – it’s a government initiative designed to improve air quality in the highly polluted city-centre.

2020 April 22, Andrew Woodhouse, “ULEZ, LEZ and CAZ: UK low emission zones explained”, in Auto Trader:

Whether a vehicle meets ULEZ standards has become very important to used car buyers.

2020 June 7, James Ruppert, “City slickers: Interesting used cars exempt from the ULEZ”, in Autocar:

(UK, transport) Acronym of ultra low emission zone, an area in central London subject to stringent exhaust emission standards for motor vehicles; it was extended in 2023 to include all of Greater London.

ultra low emission zone

former surcharge for higher-emission vehicles


Channel 5
w:Channel 5 (British TV channel)

(British) Abbreviation of Channel 5 (“the British television channel”).


horseshite

(UK, Ireland) Alternative form of horseshit.


gollar

en-verb

gollar (third-person singular simple present gollars, present participle gollaring, simple past and past participle gollared)

gollars (present singular third-person)
gollaring (participle present)
gollared (participle past)
gollared (past)

(UK, dialect, obsolete, intransitive) To scold or speak loudly.


chubber

At least I'm not a chubber, although the pay‐off is Britain's smallest breasts.

(chiefly British, slang) A chubby person.


three stops short of Dagenham

en-adj

three stops short of Dagenham (not comparable)

/ˌθɹiː stɒps ˈʃɔːt əv ˈdæɡən(ə)m/

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-three stops short of Dagenham.wav

/ˌθɹi stɑps ˈʃɔɹt əv ˈdæɡənəm/

The term refers to the location of Barking station on the District line of the London Underground, which is three stops west of Dagenham Heathway tube station, in allusion to the phrase barking mad.

If you don't already insist on the word "unrefined" being on your bags of sugar, I am willing to bet that you will from this day forth, unless you: a) suffer from a particularly virulent inability to be influenced for the better by anyone or anything; b) are three stops short of Dagenham (check it out on a Tube map); or c) are so uninterested in sourcing good ingredients that you shouldn't be let loose in the kitchen.

2001 March 15, Tamasin Day-Lewis, “So wonderfully unrefined”, in Charles Moore, editor, The Daily Telegraph, London: Telegraph Media Group, →ISSN, →OCLC:

[...] Floral Highnotes brilliantly combined opera and flower-arranging in what can only be described as a performance that was three stops short of Dagenham. Which is to say, for those not au fait with the London Underground, Barking.

2010 April 18, Robert Epstein, “Britain’s got plenty of exhibitionists, but has it got talent?”, in The Independent, London: Independent News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2020-06-04:

He winked at me. ‘Now, my friend, I’m three stops short of Dagenham.’ / ‘Three stops short of Dagenham?’ I asked. / Bert roared with laughter. ‘Barking, mate,’ he said. ‘I’m fucking barking.’

2011, Jimmy Frazier, “Barry’s Nose”, in Nurse! Nurse!: A Student Nurse’s Story, London: Constable & Robinson, →ISBN:

If you invest in a business where even they say they won't make money, you're three stops short of Dagenham.

2011 May 22, Justin Urquhart Stewart, “Money briefing: May 22”, in The Times, London: News UK, →ISSN, →OCLC:

On the other side of the room, a crowd has gathered around a box of chocolate cupcakes filled with Marmite from chic London bakery LOLA's. It sounds three stops short of Dagenham (Barking), but, strangely, it works.

2014 June 19, Emma Hughes, “Town Mouse on some Cupcakes with a Difference”, in Mark Hedges, editor, Country Life, London: TI Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2020-08-08:

If you told even the most loyal residents of Barking that their station was a masterpiece they’d probably think you were three stops short of Dagenham.

2019 March 1, “Evening Standard comment: […] Barking is just bellissimo”, in George Osborne, editor, Evening Standard, London: Evening Standard, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2019-04-01:

Barking station
Dagenham Heathway tube station
District line
London Underground


Kappa slapper

Chosen for the rhyme (in non-rhotic accents); Kappa is a sportswear clothing brand.

(UK, slang, derogatory) A female chav or townie.


zombie knife

(UK) A knife decorated with images or words suggesting that it is to be used to commit violence.


grufty

grufty (comparative gruftier, superlative gruftiest)

gruftier (comparative)
gruftiest (superlative)


aircrafthand

1937, S. Scanes in A. W. Lawrence (ed.), T. E. Lawrence by His Friends, London: Jonathan Cape, p. 418,
His first duties as an aircrafthand were connected with the food, the preparation of it, cutting bread, etc.

But I wasn’t accepted for flying duty—eyesight failed me. Neither was Frank, which, I’m ashamed to say, I found a relief. We were both channelled as aircrafthands […]

2004, Andrea Levy, chapter 9, in Small Island, London: Review, page 345:

(UK) A member of the Royal Air Force with no specific technical skill.


revising barrister

en-noun

revising barrister (plural revising barristers)

Members of Parliament
Member of Parliament

(UK, historical) A barrister appointed annually by judges to revise the list of voters for Members of Parliament.


Whitechapel cart

Whitechapel cart (plural Whitechapel carts)

(UK, historical) A light two-wheeled spring-cart once much used by London tradesmen such as butchers and grocers.


country box

(UK, dated, colloquial) A country house.


piff

en-adj

piff (comparative more piff, superlative most piff)

more piff (comparative)
most piff (superlative)

Unknown. Perhaps a variant of puff suggestive of a blown kiss; or perhaps a shortening of epiphany.

You look quite piff today.

Quick cash, flip that, now I got big cash. Sit back, sip yak with a next piff yat.

2018 November 30, “Bits” (track 10), in Original Sounds, performed by Bru-C and Window Kid:


tread on someone's corns

en-verb

tread<,,trod:tread:treaded,trod:tread:trodden:treaded> on someone's corns

tread on someone's corns (third-person singular simple present treads on someone's corns, present participle treading on someone's corns, simple past trod on someone's corns or tread on someone's corns or treaded on someone's corns, past participle trod on someone's corns or tread on someone's corns or trodden on someone's corns or treaded on someone's corns)

treads on someone's corns (present singular third-person)
treading on someone's corns (participle present)
trod on someone's corns (past)
tread on someone's corns (past)
treaded on someone's corns (past)
trod on someone's corns (participle past)
tread on someone's corns (participle past)
trodden on someone's corns (participle past)
treaded on someone's corns (participle past)

hurt someone's feelings
hurt someone's feelings

(UK, informal) To hurt someone's feelings.


have one's name in the Gazette

have<has,,had> one's name in the Gazette

have one's name in the Gazette (third-person singular simple present has one's name in the Gazette, present participle having one's name in the Gazette, simple past and past participle had one's name in the Gazette)

has one's name in the Gazette (present singular third-person)
having one's name in the Gazette (participle present)
had one's name in the Gazette (participle past)
had one's name in the Gazette (past)

(UK, obsolete, intransitive) To be officially declared bankrupt in the newspaper.


party store

(UK) A shop that sells or hires fancy dress and other goods for parties.


snabble

snabble (third-person singular simple present snabbles, present participle snabbling, simple past and past participle snabbled)

snabbles (present singular third-person)
snabbling (participle present)
snabbled (participle past)
snabbled (past)


baudrons

Perhaps of Celtic origin. See beadrach (“a frolicsome girl”).


broken man

(UK, historical) An outlaw, especially one inhabiting the Highlands and border country.


Trumpite

en-adj

Trumpite (comparative more Trumpite, superlative most Trumpite)

more Trumpite (comparative)
most Trumpite (superlative)


Trumpite

What do an Etonian, a Trumpite and a Corbyn fan have in common? My church.

2017 December 28, Giles Fraser, Guardian:


proctorise

en-verb

proctorise (third-person singular simple present proctorises, present participle proctorising, simple past and past participle proctorised)

proctorises (present singular third-person)
proctorising (participle present)
proctorised (participle past)
proctorised (past)
proctorize (alternative)

From that moment one of two courses remained open to him,—marriage, the loss of his fellowship, with probably children, and nothing to eat; or patience, the common-room cheer, holy orders, and a living in his turn. He chose the latter, jilted the young girl who had fallen for him, for one of those thousand reasons, which induce girls to throw themselves away on men who possess everything in them that is least likely to attract them in particular, and applied himself to good eating, fiery port wine, proctorising young gentlemen, and other intellectual accomplishments, which are supposed by some to perfect the university fellow for the duties of a parish priest.

1857, Ernest Richard Seymour, The Curate of Holycross, page 4:

"I was sure to find some of you. Besides, I'll admit one don't like to go in while there's any chance of a real row as you call it, and so gets proctorized in one's old age for one's patriotism."

1861, Thomas Hughes, Tom Brown at Oxford, London: Macmillan and Co., published 1883, pages 129–130:

A man who never acted wrong— / No mischief ever did; / I met him walking by himself— / In vain his pipe he hid: / Said I, I'll proctorise this man, / And fine him half-a-quid.

1866 May 5, “The Dream of the Junior Proctor”, in The Harlequin, number 3, verse 12, page 4:

(transitive, UK, university slang, archaic) To summon (a person) before the proctor of a university.


nosh off

nosh off (third-person singular simple present noshes off, present participle noshing off, simple past and past participle noshed off)

noshes off (present singular third-person)
noshing off (participle present)
noshed off (participle past)
noshed off (past)

To give oral sex to (usually a male recipient).


NUWSS

w:National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies

(UK, historical) Initialism of National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies.


fewtrils

(UK, dialect, obsolete) Little or unimportant things; trifles.


lugdor

Apparently derived from lock and door (compare lockchester) or perhaps dor (“dung beetle”). Attested from the 15th century.

Comparing the terms lok-dore and loc-chester, it is evident that the first portion of the word is an independent element, lok; and this is still further confirmed by another synonyme^([sic]) for the wood-louse recorded by Halliwell with no indication of time or locality, viz. lug-dor.

1860, Ernest Adams, “On the names of the wood-louse”, in Transactions of the Philological Society, page 9:

In former times it was known as “Lugdor” and “Socchetre ;” and in common with the hoglouse it is familiar to rustics as “Churchlouse,” “Carpenter,” “Chinch,” or “Cheslip.”

1899, W.T. Fernie, Animal Simples Approved for Modern Uses of Cure, “Woodlouse”, page 524:

(British, regional, archaic) the woodlouse


eff and jeff

eff and jeff (third-person singular simple present effs and jeffs, present participle effing and jeffing, simple past and past participle effed and jeffed)

effs and jeffs (present singular third-person)
effing and jeffing (participle present)
effed and jeffed (participle past)
effed and jeffed (past)

(British, slang) Synonym of eff and blind.


WSSL

(UK) Initialism of water supply and/or sewerage license.


go with a swing

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

goes with a swing (present singular third-person)
going with a swing (participle present)
went with a swing (past)
gone with a swing (participle past)

(British, informal) To be successful and fun.


worldie

Tanned, brunette, curvaceous, with a mega-watt smile that would put Simon Cowell to shame. […] Hats off to James, he wasn't wrong when he said she was a worldie.

2015 April 2, Holly Hagan, Holly Hagan - Not Quite A Geordie, Kings Road Publishing, →ISBN:

And so when I scored my flick-up-and-volley against Manchester City in 2012, I instead lost it. First I started shouting, 'I've scored a worldie! I've scored a worldie!'

2018 September 6, Peter Crouch, How to Be a Footballer, Random House, →ISBN:

The second goal was a worldie from Ginola bending it into the top right corner from the edge of the box.

2023 October 26, Pete Graves, Here to Compete: The Inside Story of Newcastle United and the Era of Eddie Howe, Hachette UK, →ISBN, page 1955:

(UK, slang) Anything particularly excellent of its kind; especially a goal in sports or a beautiful woman.


on the panel

The "panel" was a list of doctors who could provide limited free healthcare, prior to the introduction of the NHS. This phrase remained in use for some time after that.

(UK, dated) Off work and receiving benefits because one is unwell.


scrawm

scrawm (third-person singular simple present scrawms, present participle scrawming, simple past and past participle scrawmed)

scrawms (present singular third-person)
scrawming (participle present)
scrawmed (participle past)
scrawmed (past)

Probably from Dutch schrammen, from schram (“a rent, a tear”).

(UK, dialect, transitive) To tear or scratch.


RNAS

Royal Navy Air Service
w:Royal Navy Air Service

(UK, military, World War I, aviation, historical) Initialism of Royal Navy Air Service (British)


whittaw

whittaws (plural)
whittawer (alternative)


joss-block

joss-blocks (plural)
jossing-block (alternative)


HFEA

w:Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority

(UK) Initialism of Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority.


globalisationism

(British) Alternative form of globalizationism.


globalisationist

(British) Alternative form of globalizationist.


more sacks to the mill

From the cry of each child joining the dogpile.

(UK, historical games) A children's dogpile game played in Oxfordshire and other areas of Britain.


more sacks on the mill

more sacks to the mill
more sacks to the mill#English

(UK, historical games) Alternative form of more sacks to the mill.


stack-upon-the-kill

From the cry of the people joining the dogpile.

(UK, historical, games) A dogpile game played in Cheshire and other areas of Britain.


stack-upo'-the-kill

(UK, historical, games) Alternative form of stack-upon-the-kill.


posnit

(UK, dialect, obsolete) A cooking pot or saucepan.


roberd

(obsolete, UK, dialect) chaffinch; robinet


tuck away

tuck away (third-person singular simple present tucks away, present participle tucking away, simple past and past participle tucked away)

tucks away (present singular third-person)
tucking away (participle present)
tucked away (participle past)
tucked away (past)

There was no limit on drinks, and the guy next to me tucked away a few G and Ts. I confined myself to a pleasant Brewdog Ale and a glass of slightly insipid wine.

2025 June 11, Christian Wolmar, “First Class delights with an occasional pang of hunger”, in RAIL, number 1037, page 34:

(transitive, UK, slang) To eat or drink a lot of (something).


lay away

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

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

(UK, transitive) To reserve (something) for the future.

Let's lay away that coat and we can pick it up next month.

(UK, transitive) To reserve (an item for sale in a store) for future purchase.


savoury duck

(UK) A kind of meatball or faggot (not made with duck meat).


whistle in the wind

whistle in the wind (third-person singular simple present whistles in the wind, present participle whistling in the wind, simple past and past participle whistled in the wind)

whistles in the wind (present singular third-person)
whistling in the wind (participle present)
whistled in the wind (participle past)
whistled in the wind (past)

[T]hey are expending more and more effort on trying to get right something that cannot, and should not, be done in the first place. […] Endless exhortations to "do it better" are, to put it politely, whistling in the wind.

2009 February 22, Simon Caulkin, “However good the pay, it doesn't buy results”, in Guardian, UK, retrieved 2018-07-29:

It doesn’t matter how strong your USP is or how powerful your value proposition, if the message isn’t reaching the right people you're whistling in the wind.

2014 January 21, “Don't whistle in the wind?”, in DLH Marketing, UK, retrieved 2018-07-29:

[E]veryone is doing no more than whistling powerlessly in the wind.

2018 July 9, Farouk Cassim, "Let’s do much more than whistling in the wind", voices360.com (South Africa) (retrieved 29 July 2018)

(especially UK, idiomatic) To attempt something that is futile; to say something that is not heeded.


Oatibix

Derived from oat + bix (biscuits), after Weetabix.

(UK) A breakfast cereal sold in the United Kingdom, consisting of biscuits of compressed oats.


bowler hat out

bowler hat out (third-person singular simple present bowler hats out, present participle bowler hatting out, simple past and past participle bowler hatted out)

bowler hats out (present singular third-person)
bowler hatting out (participle present)
bowler hatted out (participle past)
bowler hatted out (past)

Reputed to be from the practice of turning Royal Air Force men out by giving them their bowler hat and telling them to go.

Joe was bowler hatted out of the R.A.F. for misconduct.

"Bit of luck my being here," said the brigadier, with a smile, rather like a schoolboy who has done something and got away with it. "You see, I was bowler-hatted out there. Question of age. Then, when I came back they reconsidered things.

1946, Richard McMillan, Miracle Before Berlin:

If an idea flopped, a subordinate would be bowler-hatted out of the gang; if the idea was successful, then it was Ted Donnell done it.

1958, P.H.H. Bryan, The Barford Cat Affair:

His name was Bill Sulis and amazingly he had been bowler hatted out of the Royal Air Force for flying a monoplane upside down and pranging it.

1979, Oliver Reed, Reed All about Me: The Autobiography of Oliver Reed:

(dated, military, slang, UK, usually passive voice) To eject (someone) from an organization.


slattery

en-adj

slattery (comparative more slattery, superlative most slattery)

more slattery (comparative)
most slattery (superlative)

From slatter (“to spill, splash, slop”) + -y.


slish

en-verb

slish (third-person singular simple present slishes, present participle slishing, simple past and past participle slished)

slishes (present singular third-person)
slishing (participle present)
slished (participle past)
slished (past)


inquiration

en-noun

inquiration (countable and uncountable, plural inquirations)

/ˌɪŋkwɪˈɹeɪʃən/

"It's all right," Joey startled him by announcing, toppling his tower of parcels into the cart. "Oi've made inquirations. The old Flynt chap be aloive and kickin'."

1919, Israel Zangwill, Jinny the Carrier: A Folk-comedy of Rural England:

[…] she found (as she believed) a friend; a decent woman as spoke to her about the needle-work as she had been brought up to do, about finding plenty of it fur her, about a lodging fur the night, and making secret inquiration […]

1849 May – 1850 November, Charles Dickens, chapter 51, in The Personal History of David Copperfield, London: Bradbury & Evans, […], published 1850, →OCLC:


High Tory

(politics, chiefly UK) A supporter of a very traditionalist form of conservatism in line with the Toryism that originated in the 17th century, favouring a hierarchical society over utopian equality.


High Toryism

(politics, chiefly UK) The political views of the High Tories; very traditional conservatism.


mardarse

(UK, dialect, derogatory) A person who whines and complains a lot.

(UK, dialect, derogatory) A sissy; an effeminate person.


in future

Chapter 4 is devoted to setting out the kind of planning and co-ordination we consider to be necessary in future.

1971, The Future Management of Water in England and Wales, H.M. Stationery Office, page 2:

… and if the national debt were liquidated in the manner it ought, and readily might, the nation, it is to be hoped, would in future extend the public money to other purpoſes, than thoſe to which it has hitherto been appropriated, …

1801, George Edwards, Radical Means of Counteracting the Present Scarcity, and Preventing Famine in Future, J. G. Barnard, page 10:

(UK) In the future: at some future time(s).


heavy mob

And then the police came and tried to move them away. There are two types of police in Spain – the brown shirts and the blue shirts. One seems to be the local lot and the other are like the heavy mob.

2012, Bill Gardner, Good Afternoon, Gentlemen, the Name's Bill Gardner:

As more police arrived, beer bottles were thrown at them. The heavy mob from the Tactical Aid Group finally turned up and closed the club. Officers lined up by the door as the patrons poured out to arrest those they recognised.

(UK, informal) A group of bodyguards, enforcers, burly criminals or police, or similar heavies.


outmanoeuvered

en-adj

outmanoeuvered (comparative more outmanoeuvered, superlative most outmanoeuvered)

more outmanoeuvered (comparative)
most outmanoeuvered (superlative)

(British, Australia) Alternative spelling of outmaneuvered.


PRB

en-noun

PRB (countable and uncountable, plural PRBs)

It will argue that the recommendations of the public sector pay review bodies (PRBs) are reasonable and must be adhered to. […] Second, the PRBs have limited union representation, which sets them apart from the Low Pay Commission, which is responsible for making recommendations about the minimum wage. […] This prompted industrial action by nine health unions, which resulted in the government finally accepting the PRB recommendation in full.

2022 December 18, Larry Elliott, “Sunak and Hunt face a rerun of the 70s’ winter of discontent. It didn’t end well then”, in The Guardian:

(UK, government) Initialism of pay review body.


bonfire toffee

(British) A hard and brittle toffee associated with Halloween and Guy Fawkes Night (or Bonfire Night).


bunged up

en-adj

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

more bunged up (comparative)
most bunged up (superlative)


The Ville

Clipping of Somerville. Compare The House for Christ Church and The Hall for St Edmund Hall.

(UK, rare, Oxbridge slang) Somerville College, Oxford.

Christ Church, Oxford
St Edmund Hall, Oxford


make the weather

en-verb

make the weather (third-person singular simple present makes the weather, present participle making the weather, simple past and past participle made the weather)

makes the weather (present singular third-person)
making the weather (participle present)
made the weather (participle past)
made the weather (past)

And at three o'clock this afternoon: Eureka! He had it in his hand, a flimsy brown file plucked from the catacombs of the public prosecutor's office. It was marked for destruction but by a miracle had escaped the flames. Bachmann had once more made the weather.

2008, John le Carré, A Most Wanted Man, →ISBN, page 303:

To try to imagine what the country would have looked like without the dominant politician of the past 60 years is a dizzying exercise. Margaret Thatcher made the weather.

2013 April 9, Philip Hensher, “Britain without Margaret Thatcher”, in Guardian, UK, retrieved 2018-08-27:

Winston Churchill recalled Joseph Chamberlain as "incomparably the most live, sparkling, insurgent, compulsive figure in British affairs" at the end of the nineteenth century. He was "the one", said Churchill, "who made the weather".

2016, Peter Marsh, “Did Joseph Chamberlain Really ‘Make the Weather’?”, in I. Cawood, C. Upton, editors, Joseph Chamberlain, →ISBN, page 1:

"You cannot get away from the fact that they have made the weather, politically, on two issues, on forcing the referendum and on the question of migration," he said. "They’ve had more of an influence than you would expect from a party that only won one parliamentary election."

2018 April 9, Ellen Barry, “Europe: A Drifting UKIP Ousts Leader at Center of Racism Row”, in New York Times, retrieved 2018-08-27:

(chiefly UK, idiomatic) To be extraordinarily effective, especially when in a position of authority.


day centre

(UK) A place providing care, attention and recreation facilities during the day for people who aren't able to look after themselves properly.


live tally

live tally (third-person singular simple present lives tally, present participle living tally, simple past and past participle lived tally)

lives tally (present singular third-person)
living tally (participle present)
lived tally (participle past)
lived tally (past)

(obsolete, UK, dialect) To cohabit without marriage.


working timetable

en-noun

working timetable (plural working timetables)

(rail transport, UK) A set of timetables for the internal use of railway operating staff, which shows all planned train movements in a given area.


trap points

The single-tank wagon ran away from a siding at Hanson's cement works, heading downhill towards Horrocksford Junction [...]. At Horrocksford Junction the wagon was derailed by a set of trap points, stopping clear of the main line.

2020 April 22, “RAIB investigates Clitheroe runaway”, in Rail, page 23:

(rail transport, UK) A set of facing points at the end of a crossing loop or side track parallel to a mainline which will direct a train into a sand drag if the signal on that line is passed at danger, thus preventing the train running onto the main line.


sand drag

Sand drags are usually laid in as an extension of trap sidings or of lines from catch-points. The rails are boxed in for some distance on either side, and the box is filled with sand, or, preferably, coarse gravel, the intention being, as the name implies, that the sand will act as a drag, and help bring the runaway train or vehicles to rest before they derail and cause serious damage.

1941 August, “The Why and the Wherefore: Sand Drags”, in Railway Magazine, page 382:

The brakes were applied immediately, but the engine ran into a sand drag at approximately 20 m.p.h., plunged down the embankment, and turned over on its side at the bottom.

1952 October, “Notes and News: Derailment near Shawford”, in Railway Magazine, page 710:

Should any driver attempt to pass the Belmont starter signals at danger, he would find his train in the sand drag.

1978, Alan A. Jackson, London's Local Railways, David & Charles, page 154:

(rail transport, UK) A pile of sand or earth at the end of a siding or bay platform, intended to stop trains that overrun or pass through trap points set for a siding.


buffer stop

(rail transport, UK) a device installed at the end of a railway line or siding, which is intended to stop trains and other rail vehicles going any further.


flat wagon

Two flat wagons carrying tanks were also seen here.

1944 January and February, “Light Railways in Derbyshire”, in Railway Magazine, page 25:

One train ferry wagon, with the inscription "On hire to L.N.E.R.," was carrying British prisoners; and another odd sight was an L.N.E.R. container on a German flat wagon, offering "Door to Door Transport."

1946 March and April, “Notes and News: Train Watching in a P.O.W. Camp”, in Railway Magazine, page 117:

(rail transport, UK) An open railway wagon without sides and roof, or with very low sides.


container wagon

container wagon (plural container wagons)

(rail transport, UK) a flat wagon designed to carry international shipping containers.


Maga

In 1817 he connected himself definitively with Blackwood's Magazine, or "Maga."

1862 November 29, All the Year Round, volume VIII, page 275:

Blackwood's Magazine
w:Blackwood's Magazine

(historical, UK, publishing) Abbreviation of Blackwood's Magazine (1817–1980).


ceebs

From the pronunciation of the letters CB, from the start of various acronyms such as CBA (“can't be arsed”), CBB (“can't be bothered”).

"Okay I’m following on the extremely pricey Dyson with this cheapie – when I’m lazy and ceebs filling my entire eyebrows in with colour, I use this guy."

2018 June 26, Melissa Mason, “Beauty Products For Hot Messes With Zero Time For Looking After Themselves”, in Pedestrian, archived from the original on 2018-08-30:

(Australia, UK, colloquial) Cannot be bothered.


ceebs

"Don't understand why people wear make up on holiday, it's such a ceebs"

2014 July 30, El♡ (@_ElyPheasant), “El♡ on Twitter”, in Twitter, archived from the original on 2018-08-30:

(Australia, UK, colloquial) An activity for which one has little or no enthusiasm. Often accompanied by a size qualifier to signify the magnitude of the apathy.

"I've got a major case of the ceebs as regards making breakfast. If it was really that important I'd be bothered, right?"

2012 August 19, cam smith (@sexenheimer), “cam smith on Twitter”, in Twitter, archived from the original on 2018-08-30:

(Australia, UK, colloquial, often preceded by "the") A humorous, fictional "illness" caused by a lack of enthusiasm for an activity.


ceebs

"So, the essay's tomorrow… if you want to pass, you'll have to study tonight." "Ceebs!"

(Australia, UK, colloquial) An expression of a lack of enthusiasm for an activity.


done up like a kipper

(simile, UK, slang) cheated or exploited; treated unfairly


and no mistake

"We've fallen on our feet and no mistake," said Peter. "This is going to be perfectly splendid. That old chap will let us do anything we like."

1950, C. S. Lewis, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe:

(chiefly UK, dated) Without any doubt whatsoever; for sure.


water trough

water troughs (plural)
water-trough (alternative)
watertrough (alternative)

From Middle English water trouȝ, equivalent to water + trough. Cognate with West Frisian wettertroch (“water trough”), Dutch watertrog (“water trough”), German Wassertrog (“water trough”), Danish vandtrug (“water trough”), Swedish vattentrog (“water trough”).

cog

No water troughs are provided on any part of the Southern Railway. Even on the West of England and Bournemouth main lines, the tenders of the locomotives can carry sufficient water for the longest regular non-stop runs, such as London to Bournemouth (107.9 miles), London to Salisbury (83.8 miles), and Salisbury to Exeter (88 miles).

1946 November and December, “The Why and The Wherefore: Water Troughs on the S.R.”, in Railway Magazine, page 391:

water column#English:_water hydrant on a railway

(rail transport, UK) a long trough placed between the rails in a railway track, which enabled a steam locomotive to replenish its water supply without stopping by lowering a scoop. They were removed at the end of steam train operation.


Mothers' Day

Mothering Sunday
Mothering Sunday#English

(UK and Ireland) Synonym of Mothering Sunday.


defined benefits

DB (alternative)
defined benefit (alternative)

(UK, pensions) Describing a pension scheme in which an employer agrees to provide a pension payment or lump sum on retirement that is predetermined based on the employee's length of service, earnings history and age.


defined contributions

DC (alternative)
defined contribution (alternative)

(UK, pensions) Describing a pension scheme in which an employer agrees to provide a pension payment or lump sum on retirement that is based on the combination of the employer's and employee's contributions to the scheme over the employee's working life.


personal pension

en-noun

personal pension (plural personal pensions)

(UK, pensions) A pension plan that is funded entirely by individual contributions rather than any employer contributions.


retirement annuity contract

retirement annuity contract (plural retirement annuity contracts)

retirement annuity contracts (plural)
RAC (alternative)

(UK, pensions) A type of UK pension scheme with specific benefits, sold prior to July 1988, available to the self-employed or employees that were not offered a workplace pension.


retirement annuity plan

retirement annuity plan (plural retirement annuity plans)

retirement annuity plans (plural)
RAP (alternative)

retirement annuity contract
retirement annuity contract

(UK, pensions) A retirement annuity contract.


Section 226

Refers to Section 226 of the Income and Corporation Taxes Act 1970.


Section 620

Refers to Section 620 of the Income and Corporation Taxes Act 1988.


backward in coming forward

en-adj

backward in coming forward (not comparable)

backward in coming forwards (alternative)
backwards in coming forward (alternative)
backwards in coming forwards (alternative)

(UK, typically in the negative) shy; reluctant to share one's views


on the nod

The New Economic Policy (or NEP) in its rudimentary form was approved almost on the nod and the Leninists won the debate on the trade unions without difficulty.

2005, Robert Service, Stalin: A Biography, →ISBN:

It's because it's quite an extraordinary piece of writing, and had it come with a name more celebrated in literary than artistic circles I would have taken it on the nod, and appreciatively so.

2006 October 7, Nicholas Lezard, “In bed with Tracey Emin”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:

For similar reasons, the Conservative Chief Whip was determined not to allow the Bill to 'go through on the nod' and was prepared if necessary to object on the grounds that the Bill raised important issues.

2012, Roger Davidson, Sexual State, →ISBN, pages 80–81:

Finally, if they decided to award a triumph, the petition was presented to the people of Rome for ratification, which always went through on the nod.

2014, Robin Waterfield, Taken at the Flood: The Roman Conquest of Greece, →ISBN:

(UK, informal) With no discussion or controversy.


thoft

From Old English þofte. Compare with Swedish toft.


ODR

(UK, law) Initialism of Ogden discount rate.


LNER

London North Eastern Railway
w:London North Eastern Railway

(rail transport, British) Initialism of London North Eastern Railway.

London and North Eastern Railway
w:London and North Eastern Railway

(rail transport, British, historical) Initialism of London and North Eastern Railway.


loading gauge

In Russia, where experiments on a considerable scale have been made with condensing, the railways have the considerable advantage of a loading gauge 17 ft. high (the biggest in the world), as compared with the British 13 ft. or slightly over.

1946 January and February, “The Why and The Wherefore: Condensing Locomotives”, in Railway Magazine, page 62:

The first "K" class 4-8-4 appeared in 1932. Designed and built in New Zealand, these are probably the biggest non-articulated locomotives possible within the loading gauge.

1954 August, J. B. Snell, “The New Zealand Government Railways—2”, in Railway Magazine, page 561:

The total of wagons generally conforming to Continental standards but specially built to our loading gauge so that they are capable of use on the ferry routes is now 8,000.

1960 March, “Talking of Trains: London-Paris in four hours”, in Trains Illustrated, page 134:

The coaches are similar to those of the Hampshire diesel-electric units, which went into service in September, 1957, but have 8ft 6in wide bodies, instead of 9ft, because of loading gauge limitations on the South Eastern Division.

1962 December, “The Oxted Line diesel-electric multiple-units”, in Modern Railways, page 383:

But there is a continuing distinction between the loading gauge (the size of the trains) of the deep-level Tube trains and the loading gauge of the cut-and-cover trains. The latter are bigger - as big as main-line trains.

2012, Andrew Martin, Underground Overground: A passenger's history of the Tube, Profile Books, →ISBN, page 33:

(rail transport, UK) The maximum permitted height and width for a rail vehicle, governed by clearances in tunnels, under bridges and past lineside structures.


travelling post office

en-noun

travelling post office (plural travelling post offices)

One of the important railway facilities which disappeared on the outbreak of war was the travelling post office. […] T.P.Os. have now been resumed, with the reinstatement on October 1 of those between Euston and Aberdeen, and between Paddington and Penzanze.

1945 November and December, “Return of the T.P.O.”, in Railway Magazine, pages 311–312:

From its pre-Second World War boom of 130 Travelling Post Offices (TPOs) that sorted mail on the move, Royal Mail has slowly (but progressively) shifted its mail operations to other modes of transport.

2024 July 24, Richard Wilcock, “Royal Mail's switch to road a body blow for rail freight sector”, in RAIL, number 1014, page 26:

(rail transport, UK) A type of railway coach designed for the carriage and sorting of mail en route.


voluntary aided school

voluntary aided school (plural voluntary aided schools)

(UK, education) A state-funded school in which a (usually religious) foundation or trust contributes to building costs and has a substantial influence in running the school.


voluntary controlled school

voluntary controlled school (plural voluntary controlled schools)

voluntary aided school
voluntary aided school

(UK, education) A state-funded school in which a (usually religious) foundation or trust has some formal influence in running the school, but less than for a voluntary aided school.


POLSA

There was no sign of the stolen music book – weʼd bring in a proper POLSA team of course, but I was willing to bet money that they wouldnʼt find anything.

2020, Ben Aaronovitch, False Value, Gollancz, page 72:

police search advisor
police search advisor#English


police search advisor

police search advisor (plural police search advisors)

(UK) A police officer responsible for the planning, organisation, management and control of crime, missing person and counter-terrorism searches


JTAC

Joint Terrorism Analysis Centre
w:Joint Terrorism Analysis Centre

(UK) Initialism of Joint Terrorism Analysis Centre.


rittock

rittocks (plural)
rippock (alternative)
rittoch (alternative)

(UK, dialect, obsolete) The common tern.


IC code

(UK, law enforcement) A code used by British police to identify the apparent ethnicity of a person


(UK, law enforcement) A person of white, north European ethnicity


(UK, law enforcement) A person of white, south European ethnicity


(UK, law enforcement) A person of black ethnicity


(UK, law enforcement) A person of asian (Indian) ethnicity


(UK, law enforcement) A person of asian (Chinese, Japanese) ethnicity


(UK, law enforcement) A person of arab or north African ethnicity


(UK, law enforcement) A person of unknown ethnicity


monkey run

monkey runs (plural)
monkeyrun (alternative)

The railway underpass in the town centre has been called Tickle Cock by locals for at least a century and dates back to Victorian times. It is thought the name refers to a "monkey run" where the lads and lasses of Castleford did their courting ... He added: "It dates back to the late 19th Century or early 20th Century and would function in the same way as any 'monkey run' where you paraded up and down trying to find a boyfriend or girlfriend."

2006 March 11, “Residents cock-a-hoop after winning fight to keep saucy underpass name”, in The Yorkshire Post:

In pre-war Britain, for example, younger people had mainly gained introductions to the opposite sex through the ‘evening walk’, with many British cities having well-known routes along which groups of young women and men would walk […]. Known colloquially as ‘monkeyruns’ or ‘monkeywalks’, these provided a relatively informal and regulated space for sexual performance and display […]

[2013, Phil Hubbard, Cities and Sexualities, Routledge, →ISBN, page 137:

(British, historical) An evening walk undertaken by groups of young people, usually along established routes, to find a boyfriend or girlfriend.


Wolves

[…] a resident of Wolverhampton, Kirtan Singh, explained: 'A slum house in Wolves is not worth even £500. […]

2018, Shirin Hirsch, In the shadow of Enoch Powell: Race, locality and resistance:

(UK, slang) The city of Wolverhampton, England.


gentleman-commoner

Unfortunately for the college, there were a very large proportion of the gentleman-commoners.

1859, Thomas Hughes, Tom Brown at Oxford, Philadelphia: Porter and Coates, published 1888, page 10:

(UK, education, historical) At the University of Oxford, a student paying higher fees and ranking above commoners, but below noblemen.


plastic pig

(UK, slang) The Reliant Robin, a three-wheeled fibreglass car.


VED

(UK) Abbreviation of vehicle excise duty.


bowcat

en-verb

bowcat (third-person singular simple present bowcats, present participle bowcatting, simple past and past participle bowcatted)

bowcats (present singular third-person)
bowcatting (participle present)
bowcatted (participle past)
bowcatted (past)

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

C'mon, cuz, I know you want to bowcat dem gyallies

Ew, fuck no, blud, I don't bowcat!

(vulgar, colloquial, Jamaica, UK, MLE, often derogatory) To perform cunnilingus.


bowcat

Hold up yuh hand if yuh nuh like battyman, hold up yuh hand if yuh nuh suck pussy, yuh nuh bowcat (Petridis 2004).

2009, Suzanne LaFont, “Not Quite Redemption Song”, in Homophobias: Lust and loathing across time and space, page 113:

“I got an idea where your head was at. I'd prefer not to think about it, bowcat.”

2015, Oscar Phoenix, This Hostage to Fortune, →ISBN:

They are hosted by one teenager with a microphone (there are a series of these hosts: My favourite channels are Koomz and Ash and 2Man TV.) The host asks passing teenagers to bait out the biggest paigon they know, or the biggest bowcat or sket or sidechick or stunter or catfish.

2016 April 20, Russell Smith, “Russell Smith: The future of English is in these teens' YouTube videos”, in The Globe and Mail:

I remember days of guys angrily denying being a bowcat (do people still call each other bowcats?), of boys being called pussies for going down on their girlfriends while their girlfriends were called sluts for giving them head.

2018 May 5, Ellen Scott, “We need to get rid of the idea that giving a woman oral sex is unmanly”, in Metro:

(Jamaica, UK, MLE, slang) A man who performs cunnilingus.


orthographic neighbourhood

en-noun

orthographic neighbourhood (plural orthographic neighbourhoods)

orthographic neighborhood
orthographic neighborhood#English

British standard spelling of orthographic neighborhood.


unbelaboured

British and Canada standard spelling of unbelabored.


unrumoured

Thy shame unrumoured, and thy suit unscoffed

1606, John Marston, The Wonder of Women, or The Tragedy of Sophonisba:

British and Canada standard spelling of unrumored.


unsavoured

British and Canada standard spelling of unsavored.


ladsy

en-adj

ladsy (comparative more ladsy, superlative most ladsy)

more ladsy (comparative)
most ladsy (superlative)


Nafta

From the acronym NAFTA, used in British press, not used in North America.

Lance Fritz, the president and C.E.O. of Union Pacific Railroad, said pulling out of Nafta would harm trade, which would in turn weigh on his business.

2017 November 15, Ana Swanson, “Trump’s Trade Approach Diverges Sharply from Free Trade Republicans”, in The New York Times, retrieved 2018-01-09:

(economics, UK) Alternative letter-case form of NAFTA (“North American Free Trade Agreement”).


sturdy beggar

(British, historical) A person who was fit and able to work, but lived as a beggar or vagrant instead.


milsey

(UK, dialect, obsolete) A milk-strainer.


rusure

(UK, dialect) The sliding down of a bank.


woss

‘Woss that on your ’ead?’ said Stan abruptly.

1999, J. K. Rowling, chapter 3, in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Bloomsbury:

'Woss he want now?' I says.

2005, Charlie Williams, Fags and Lager, page 71:

"Woss your poison, Jazz?"
"Can I have a glass of chilled white wine?"

Pronunciation spelling
pronunciation spelling

(chiefly UK) Pronunciation spelling of what's.


cool tankard

en-noun

cool tankard (countable and uncountable, plural cool tankards)


victualling yard

victualling yard (plural victualling yards)

(UK, historical) A public establishment for the collection and supply of provisions to the navy.


go down like a cup of cold sick

en-verb

go<goes,,went,gone> down like a cup of cold sick

go down like a cup of cold sick (third-person singular simple present goes down like a cup of cold sick, present participle going down like a cup of cold sick, simple past went down like a cup of cold sick, past participle gone down like a cup of cold sick)

goes down like a cup of cold sick (present singular third-person)
going down like a cup of cold sick (participle present)
went down like a cup of cold sick (past)
gone down like a cup of cold sick (participle past)
go down like a cup of sick (alternative)

Refers to sick in the Commonwealth sense of vomit.

Need I tell you that this last analysis went down like a cup of cold sick, waterworks turned on, hanky out, male sex maligned, wailing and gnashing of teeth, all culminating in yours truly agreeing to jump on the first Laker standby to Timbuctoo in search of Prodigal Son.

1997, Carol Thatcher, Below the Parapet, page 185:

It wasn't quite the same in Uzbekistan. Washington muttered something about all sides in Uzbekistan showing restraint. This must have gone down like a cup of cold sick with the families of the 750 or so dead in Uzbekistan.

2006, Neil Mackay, The War on Truth, page 426:

'It went down like a cup of cold sick,' he said to me, almost gleefully, tapping on his computer keyboard to try to locate a copy of the newsletter.

2019, Michelle Duff, Jacinda Ardern: The Story Behind an Extraordinary Leader:

(slang, UK, Australia, New Zealand) To be received very poorly; to be highly unpopular.


luvviedom

(chiefly UK) The realm or sphere of luvvies (narcissistic and pretentious actors).


scaff tag

(UK, construction) A label affixed to scaffolding to certify that it has been erected correctly and is safe to use.


placcy

[…] why else would a normal-looking person carry a stripy pillow on her back in a placcy bag?

2005, Sarah Darmody, Ticket to Ride, page 318:


UWO

(UK, law) Initialism of unexplained wealth order.


tear-up

We'd give him a bit of verbal, out would come the bouncers, chucking their weight about, and it would all end in a right tear-up.


Hansardize

Hansardize (third-person singular simple present Hansardizes, present participle Hansardizing, simple past and past participle Hansardized)

Hansardizes (present singular third-person)
Hansardizing (participle present)
Hansardized (participle past)
Hansardized (past)

Member of Parliament
Member of Parliament

(UK, Commonwealth, politics, dated) To confront a Member of Parliament with his former opinions as recorded in his speeches in Hansard.


Blob

Mr Cummings explains his loathing for the blob in his long and entertaining blog. He argues that it is made up of “grotesque incompetents”[…]

2020 February 6, Bagehot, “Cummings v the blob”, in The Economist:

Rising numbers of Tory MPs believe that Truss was the first prime minister to be intentionally deposed by the 'Blob' — the increasingly partisan quangocrats, civil servants and other key figures in Left-leaning institutions who seem determined to undermine the elected government.

2023 September 8, Andrew Pierce, “Who really runs Britain? As Liz Truss returns to the political fray ANDREW PIERCE reveals the inside story of how she was driven out as Prime Minister by the 'Blob'”, in Daily Mail:

(UK, derogatory) The civil service and other public bodies, perceived as prone to groupthink and acting as an obstacle to government action; the deep state.


Tiffy

(UK, RAF slang) A Hawker Typhoon fighter-bomber aircraft.


skilvings

(UK, dialect, obsolete) A frame fixed on top of a cart to increase its carrying capacity.


BFP

British Freedom Party
w:British Freedom Party

(UK, politics, historical) Initialism of British Freedom Party.


(British, Ireland, historical) Abbreviation of one penny (a coin with the value of 1 pence/penny; 1/240th of a pound, in pre-decimalisation currency, never used for 'one new penny').


service lift

(UK) a lift designed to carry heavy goods in a place of business

(UK) a lift used by staff in a place of business


shame reel

(UK, historical) The first dance after a wedding, where the bride is the best man's partner and the best maid is the bridegroom's.


salami-slice

salami-slice (third-person singular simple present salami-slices, present participle salami-slicing, simple past and past participle salami-sliced)

salami-slices (present singular third-person)
salami-slicing (participle present)
salami-sliced (participle past)
salami-sliced (past)
salami slice (alternative)

From the way a large salami is reduced in size by having thin slices removed from it.

Lawyers and businessmen made fortunes in land deals and then leveraged profits to build more ticky-tack in fragile areas. A friend of mine boasts how his company broke the ban on subdivisions in the foothills. Vast areas were closed off to hikers. The city council and Pima County supervisors, for reasons I've never understood, kept saying yes. In the end Tucson quietly salami-sliced itself to death.

1989, Mort Rosenblum, Back Home: A Foreign Correspondent Rediscovers America, New York, N.Y.: Morrow, →ISBN, page 198:

Congress should not be misled to believe that "salami slicing" indications and off-label prescribing practices will resolve the Act's current inequities. These trends will only proliferate problems with the Act.

1990 March 2, Thomas G. Wiggans, “[Serono Laboratories, Inc., letter to Henry Arnold Waxman, chairman, Subcommittee on Health and the Environment, regarding replies to statements made at the hearing and answers to questions submitted by members of the Subcommittee]”, in Orphan Drug Act: Hearing before the Subcommittee on Health and the Environment of the Committee on Energy and Commerce, House of Representatives, One Hundred First Congress, Second Session […] (Serial No. 101-130), Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, page 145:

As project manager it is unlikely that you have all the necessary knowledge and subject matter expertise to undertake this task alone. You will need to involve other people in helping you salami slice the project.

2009, Martin Orridge, “Successfully Managing the Change Project”, in Change Leadership: Developing a Change-adept Organization, Farnham, Surrey: Gower Publishing; Burlington, Vt.: Ashgate Publishing, →ISBN, page 73:

By salami slicing the disease into subgroups, it allows them [pharmaceutical companies] to get the orphan drug approval with all the government benefits and even some of the subsidies.

2015 November 19, Sarah Jane Tribble, Sydney Lupkin, quoting Martin Makary, “Drugs For Rare Diseases Have Become Uncommonly Rich Monopolies”, in NPR, published 17 January 2017, archived from the original on 2020-05-26:

Getting a sense of inter-generational solidarity and buy-in to a revised social contract will be critical to reform, and any approach that salami-slices the population risks instead becoming highly divisive.

2018 March 22, Melanie Henwood, “Jeremy Hunt’s seven principles on adult social care reform: a new way forward or just rhetoric?”, in British Politics and Policy, London School of Economics and Political Science, archived from the original on 2018-06-13:

(transitive, chiefly British, informal) To engage in salami slicing.

To divide (something) into small groups or portions; specifically, to tackle (a big task, etc.) in incremental steps.

fare a fettine

to tackle a big task in incremental steps

So basically it means we are going to take an entire MEDAC out of the ability to contribute to the health care of the men and women and their families in uniform. There is no way that I can salami slice that.

2007 March 27, Gale S. Pollock, The State of the Military Health Care System: Hearing before the Military Personnel Subcommittee of the Committee on Armed Services, House of Representatives, One Hundred Tenth Congress, First Session […] (H.S.A.C. No. 110-45), Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, published 2008, →OCLC, page 24:

I mean, I have a personal view that the approach to the budget has been to salami-slice across everything, so the good and the bad get cut equally. It avoids the very contentious decisions, but it also unfortunately means that some very productive stuff takes a hit, rather than gets prioritised.

2011 June 9, Naomi Long, Corporation Tax: First Report of Session 2010–12: House of Commons, Northern Ireland Affairs Committee […] (HC 558-II (incorporating HC 803, HC 919 and HC 951)), volumes II (Oral and Written Evidence), London: The Stationery Office, →ISBN, question 171, page Ev 138, column 1:

In the last few years, as the cuts have really started to bite, austerity has morphed from theoretical Whitehall discussions about how best to salami-slice departmental budgets into the reality of people’s everyday lives.

2018 October 28, “The Observer view on the budget and the decade of austerity”, in The Observer, London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2019-10-19:

"[...] Bit by bit, HS2 and its grand vision for a rail network that might actually belong in the 21st century rather than in the 19th century is being salami-sliced until all that is left is a Birmingham to London shuttle with a few token services to Manchester - benefiting few but costing us all."

2021 December 1, Philip Haigh, “HS2 to Leeds axed as North slams "inadequate" rail plan”, in RAIL, number 945, page 7:

To reduce (something) incrementally (for example, to cut a budget by gradually removing sums of money from it).


cuzza

Get your Kombi around this little beauty, a classic korma-esque cuzza made from scratch, that's easy to make and just as easy to scoff.

2016, Martin Dorey, The Camper Van Bible: Live, Eat, Sleep (Repeat), page 238:


enter the lists

enter the lists (third-person singular simple present enters the lists, present participle entering the lists, simple past and past participle entered the lists)

enters the lists (present singular third-person)
entering the lists (participle present)
entered the lists (participle past)
entered the lists (past)

(UK, figuratively) To take part in a struggle or conflict.


live in each other's pockets

live in each other's pockets (third-person singular simple present lives in each other's pockets, present participle living in each other's pockets, simple past and past participle lived in each other's pockets)

lives in each other's pockets (present singular third-person)
living in each other's pockets (participle present)
lived in each other's pockets (participle past)
lived in each other's pockets (past)

(UK, informal) To be found together most of the time.


half-mourning

(UK, slang, obsolete, humorous) The condition of having one black eye.


pollman

Blend of poll (“ordinary university degree”) + man. First part from Ancient Greek πολλοί (polloí, “the many, the masses”). Second part from Middle English man, from Old English mann m (“human being, person, man”).

der

Even the wretched pollmen cannot be expected to unravel the quirks and catches in their elementary papers with any degree of credit, unless they have been privately trained for the purpose.

1860 July 1, “IX. Cambridge University Reform”, in The British Quarterly Review, volume 32, page 227:

Nevertheless, it is tolerably clear, from various parts of their Report, that while they believe the best Harrow or Rugby boy to be equal to the picked scholars of their own schools, they are persuaded that the average Harrow or Rugby boy—one, for example, who goes from the fifth form to be a pollman at Cambridge or an officer in the army—knows less, and has received less intellectual training and intellectual stimulus, than a French boy of the same age.

1869 January 16, “A French View of English Schools”, in The Saturday Review, volume 27, number 690, page 92:

It is related of some Cambridge poll-man that he was once so ill-advised as to desert a private tutor.

(UK, historical, Cambridge University slang) One who takes an ordinary university degree, without honours.


LAUTRO

(British, finance, insurance) Abbreviation of Life Assurance and Unit Trust Regulatory Organisation.


durgy

en-adj

durgy (comparative more durgy, superlative most durgy)

more durgy (comparative)
most durgy (superlative)

From Middle English *dwerghy, from Middle English dwergh (“dwarf”), equivalent to dwarf + -y.


all hands to the pump

(chiefly UK) A situation where as many people as possible are required to contribute to some urgent enterprise.


Fireside Poets

(UK, historical) A school of 19th century New England poets, often characterized as including Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, William Cullen Bryant, John Greenleaf Whittier, James Russell Lowell, and Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr.


fitless cock

(UK, obsolete) A cake of lard and oatmeal boiled in broth.


talk the hind leg off a donkey

en-verb

talk the hind leg off a donkey (third-person singular simple present talks the hind leg off a donkey, present participle talking the hind leg off a donkey, simple past and past participle talked the hind leg off a donkey)

talks the hind leg off a donkey (present singular third-person)
talking the hind leg off a donkey (participle present)
talked the hind leg off a donkey (participle past)
talked the hind leg off a donkey (past)
talk the hind legs off a donkey (alternative)

Near-synonyms: talk someone's head off, talk someone's arm off, talk someone's leg off, talk the ears off someone, talk someone under the table


creeping Jesus

(UK, informal, derogatory) A person who puts on a pretense of piety.


board school

(UK, historical) A school under the control of a school board, as elected by the Elementary Education Act 1870.


sprunny

en-adj

sprunny (comparative more sprunny, superlative most sprunny)

more sprunny (comparative)
most sprunny (superlative)


sculsh

(UK, dialect, obsolete) unwholesome foods such as confectionery or unripe fruits


slottery

slottery (comparative more slottery, superlative most slottery)

more slottery (comparative)
most slottery (superlative)


Fastens Tuesday

(UK, dialect, obsolete, Cheshire, Lincolnshire) Shrove Tuesday


buldering

buldering weather


sencion

Corruption of Latin seneciō (“groundsel”).

sention (alternative)
simson (alternative)
simpson (alternative)


active service

She was built by William Denny & Bros. Ltd., and launched in 1939, but went immediately on active service as a trooper [troopship].

1947 January and February, “Notes and News: New Southern Channel Steamer”, in Railway Magazine, page 49:

(UK, military) Full-time occupation in the military.


biosulphur

(UK, India) Alternative spelling of biosulfur.


book token

book tokens (plural)
booktoken (alternative)
book-token (alternative)

I got a Dunnes jumper and a twenty euro book token from Dad, and luckily he left the tag on the jumper, so I can bring it back after school tomorrow and swap it for something that doesn't look like it was bought by someone who has NO IDEA what thirteen-year-old girls are wearing these days.

2013, Roisin Meaney, Don't Even Think About It, →ISBN:

(UK, Australia, New Zealand) A voucher that can be redeemed in the purchase of a book.


egg banjo

(UK, military, slang) A sandwich containing fried egg.


quarrender

quarrenders (plural)
quarandine (alternative)
quarrenden (alternative)


bunce

Costermonger jargon bunts, perhaps from bonus.

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

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

(UK, Ireland, regional) A bonus; additional pay; money.


on a promise

(UK, colloquial) Looking forward to sexual intercourse later.


chorizont

From Ancient Greek χωρίζων (khōrízōn), present participle of χωρίζω (khōrízō, “to separate”).

This passage was used by van Leeuwen as evidence in his argument for different authorship of the Odyssey. Since this argument is given much weight by the chorizont Wilhelm Schmid, let us quote it in full:

1938, Samuel Eliot Bassett, The Poetry of Homer - Volume 15, page 137:

It is strange that in a matter of such vital importance we should have to say “ seems ”; but it is a fact that we have carefully searched 'Homer and the Epic,' and yet failed to make out whether Mr. Lang is a chorizont or no.

I say this not for your benefit, my dear friend, but lest some chorizont seek to sow discord between us.

2005, Jacob Burckhardt, Maurizio Ghelardi, Italian Renaissance Painting According to Genres, →ISBN, page 8:

(UK) One who challenges a widely held assumption of authorship for a major work, especially one who believes that the Iliad and the Odyssey were not written by Homer.


scramp

en-verb

scramp (third-person singular simple present scramps, present participle scramping, simple past and past participle scramped)

scramps (present singular third-person)
scramping (participle present)
scramped (participle past)
scramped (past)

(UK, dialect, transitive) To catch at; to snatch.


rot-steep

rot-steep (third-person singular simple present rot-steeps, present participle rot-steeping, simple past and past participle rot-steeped)

rot-steeps (present singular third-person)
rot-steeping (participle present)
rot-steeped (participle past)
rot-steeped (past)

(UK, textiles, transitive) To steep (cotton) to remove impurities.


scramb

The verb, especially sense 2 (“to scratch with the claws or fingernails”), is possibly related to Dutch schrammen (“to graze, scratch”) and German schrammen (“to scratch, scrape”), from Late Middle High German schramm, schramme (“a graze, scratch”); further etymology unknown.
The noun is derived from the verb.

A handful of something scraped together.


besom-head

(UK, dialect, obsolete) A fool; a blockhead.


wolly

I looked at the small stack of books in my room […] Stringfellow would say they were written by women who really ought to straighten their dreadlocks and stop complaining.
“Bloody wolly,” I said.

2005, Sefi Atta, Everything Good Will Come, Arris Books, page 77:


purchase system

(UK, historical) The practice, abolished in 1871, of paying money to be made an officer in the cavalry and infantry regiments of the English and later British Army, without having to wait for promotion.

Purchase of commissions in the British Army


anaw

Human Transplantation (Wales) Act 2013 (2013 anaw 5)

w:Act of the National Assembly for Wales

(UK, law, in citation) Initialism of Act of the National Assembly for Wales; now called Acts of Senedd Cymru, but still used for Acts passed prior to the change of name.


in a flap

to be in a flap, to get in a flap


be taken bad

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

is taken bad (present singular third-person)
being taken bad (participle present)
was taken bad (past)
been taken bad (participle past)


sandwich degree

en-noun

sandwich degree (plural sandwich degrees)

→ Hungarian: szendvics képzés (calque)

desc

→ Portuguese: graduação-sanduíche (calque)

(UK, education) An undergraduate course of study incorporating a placement or internship year.


peggy

Against this, her deck staff runs to about a hundred, being made up of some fifty able-seamen, eight or ten 'peggies' […]

1936, Charles Richard Benstead, Atlantic Ferry, page 178:

The number of "peggies" going aft to fetch the meals had been increasing steadily.

1955, Willi Frischauer, Robert Jackson, The Altmark affair, page 177:

(UK, naval slang) The petty officers' mess steward.