staycation

en-verb

staycation (third-person singular simple present staycations, present participle staycationing, simple past and past participle staycationed)

staycations (present singular third-person)
staycationing (participle present)
staycationed (participle past)
staycationed (past)

[...] I staycationed there this summer, enjoying the ancient town of Sandbach with Saxon crosses in its cobbled square; [...]

2010 September 14, Fiona Bruce, “Equitable Life (Payments) Bill: Second Reading”, in House of Commons Debates (House of Commons of the United Kingdom), volume 515, part no. 45, London: Parliament of the United Kingdom, archived from the original on 2010-09-21, column 763:

Having ‘staycationed’ with her sister in Kinnity, Co Offaly for the past four years, and with a budget of around €350, Bronwyn O’Brien says she’d just be happy to see the inside of a plane. “Although I didn’t mind holidaying at home, there’s nothing like getting on an airplane and feeling the heat hit your face the minute you arrive,” she tells.

2015 January 15, Dierdre Reynolds, “Sunshine Saturday: We’re all going on a summer holiday”, in Irish Independent, Dublin: Independent News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2017-05-11:

It's that time of the year when deleting Instagram seems like a sensible mode of self-preservation for people staycationing, or quite simply stuck on home soil, while others are hashtagging #HotGirlSummer all over the continent.

2019 August 16, Alice Newbold, “Is Anyone Else Suffering from Yacht Fatigue?”, in Vogue, London: Condé Nast, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2019-08-16:

Baz [Ashmawy] and his family are staycationing in Ireland this summer due to the Covid-19 pandemic

2020 August 5, Dara Browne, “Fam-cation: RTE’s Baz Ashmawy shares adorable snap of his mother and daughter on staycation in Co Limerick”, in The Irish Sun, Dublin: News Group Newspapers, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2020-08-07, photograph caption:

Over the last few weekends traffic is back with a vengeance, with families breaking out of lockdown to staycation in the UK and visit the coast, countryside and shops.

2020 August 5, Edmund King, quotee, “Weekend car use returns to pre-pandemic levels”, in Express & Star, Wolverhampton, West Midlands: Midland News Association, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2020-08-09:

RTE star Mary Kennedy has said that it is "so nice to explore our lovely country" as she staycations on Inis Oirr with her friend.

2020 September 25, Aine Conaty, “Merry Mary: RTE star Mary Kennedy says it’s ‘so nice to explore our lovely country’ as she staycations on Inis Oirr with pal”, in The Irish Sun, Dublin: News Group Newspapers, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2020-09-19, photograph caption:

(intransitive, informal) To spend a vacation at or close to home.

(British, Ireland) To take a holiday in one's own country as opposed to travelling abroad.


well-covered

en-adj

well-covered (comparative more well-covered, superlative most well-covered)

more well-covered (comparative)
most well-covered (superlative)
well covered (alternative)

That simple dancing of well-covered matrons, laying aside for an hour the cares of house and dairy, remembering but not affecting youth, not jealous but proud of the young maidens by their side […] it would be a pleasant variety to see all that sometimes.

1859, George Eliot [pseudonym; Mary Ann Evans], chapter 26, in Adam Bede […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), Edinburgh; London: William Blackwood and Sons, →OCLC:

"She wasn't much of a skeleton as I remember her," murmured Euphemia, "extremely well-covered."

1921, John Galsworthy, The Forsyte Saga, part 2, ch. 11:

The sculptor Botero—influenced perhaps by Maillol’s love of well covered women—created in 1981 an overweight, stumpy couple.

2003 March 20, Thomas Stuttaford, “Eat less and walk more to keep diabetes at bay”, in Times Online, UK, retrieved 2008-06-24:

(chiefly British, of a person, euphemistic) Fat, corpulent, full-figured.


darkmans

I have, by the salomon, a doxy that carries a kinchin mort in her slate at her back, besides my dell and my dainty wild dell, with all whom I'll tumble this next darkmans in the strommel […]

c. 1607–1610 (date written), Thomas Middleton; Thomas Dekker, The Roaring Girle. Or Moll Cut-purse. […], London: […] [Nicholas Okes] for Thomas Archer, […], published 1611, →OCLC, (please specify the Internet Archive page number):

Men were men then, and fought each other in the open field, and there was nae milling in the darkmans.

1815 February 24, [Walter Scott], Guy Mannering; or, The Astrologer. […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), Edinburgh: […] James Ballantyne and Co. for Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, […]; and Archibald Constable and Co., […], →OCLC:

Ah, Bess, my covess, strike me blind if my sees don't tout your bingo muns in spite of the darkmans.

1828, [Edward Bulwer-Lytton], Pelham; or, The Adventures of a Gentleman. […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC:

White thy fambles, red thy gan / And thy quarrons dainty is. / Couch a hogshead with me then. / In the darkmans clip and kiss.

1922 February, James Joyce, “[Episode 3]”, in Ulysses, Paris: Shakespeare and Company, […], →OCLC:

(obsolete, UK, thieves' cant) The night.


Colonel Blimp

From the name of a cartoon character created by Sir David Low.

(British) A stereotype of a pompous, ex-military middle-aged man, conservative and opposed to new ideas.


philosophise

en-verb

philosophise (third-person singular simple present philosophises, present participle philosophising, simple past and past participle philosophised)

philosophises (present singular third-person)
philosophising (participle present)
philosophised (participle past)
philosophised (past)

"Not that the parting speech caused Amelia to philosophise, or that it armed her in any way with a calmness, the result of argument; but it was intolerably dull, pompous, and tedious; and having hte fear of her schoolmistress greatly before her eyes, Miss Sedley did not venture, in her presence, to give way to any ebullitions of private grief."

1847 January – 1848 July, William Makepeace Thackeray, chapter 16, in Vanity Fair […], London: Bradbury and Evans […], published 1848, →OCLC:

(UK, Australia, New Zealand) Alternative spelling of philosophize.


LTA

en-noun

LTA (countable and uncountable, plural LTAs)

lifetime allowance
lifetime allowance#English

(UK, pensions) Initialism of lifetime allowance.


viviparous blenny

viviparous blenny (plural viviparous blennies)

Zoarces viviparus
Zoarces viviparus#Translingual

(British) A fish in the family Zoarcidae, Zoarces viviparus.


focaliser

(British) Alternative spelling of focalizer.


slop-basin

(British) A bowl for receiving the leavings of tea or coffee cups at table


custard cream

(British) A biscuit consisting of a soft, custard-flavoured layer sandwiched between two crisp biscuits.


soddenness

(UK) The state of being completely drunk.


FWK

framework knitter
framework knitter#English

(UK, census forms) Initialism of framework knitter.


civil enforcement officer

civil enforcement officer (plural civil enforcement officers)

(UK) A person employed to enforce parking, traffic and other restrictions and laws in England and Wales, formerly known as a parking attendant.


SWIFT

(UK) Acronym of South Wales Integrated Fast transit.


bloater

From bloat + -er, because they swell during preparation.

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

(British) A salted, and lightly smoked herring or mackerel.


bloater

From bloat + -er, in the sense of the person having a "bloated" appearance.


bloater paste

(British) A spread (a form of fish paste), made from bloaters, traditionally eaten on toast with afternoon tea


fish paste

fish paste (countable and uncountable, plural fish pastes)

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

(British) Any of several varieties of spread, made from physically processed cooked fish with the addition of some cereal, traditionally eaten on toast.


disinthral

en-verb

disinthral (third-person singular simple present disinthrals, present participle disinthralling, simple past and past participle disinthralled)

disinthrals (present singular third-person)
disinthralling (participle present)
disinthralled (participle past)
disinthralled (past)
disenthral (alternative)

(dated, British) Alternative spelling of disenthrall.


shakehole

(British, Northern England) A steep-sided, often conical, depression caused by slumping of ground into a cavity beneath. Shakeholes may or may not contain a cave entrance and/or a stream sink.


swallet

Compare German Schwall (“a sea swell”), from schwellen (“to swell”). See English swell.

(UK, dialect, dated, mining, tin mining) Water breaking in upon the miners at their work.


shalk

shalks (plural)
schalk (alternative)
schak (alternative)
schaik (alternative)
shack (alternative)

From Middle English schalk, scalk, from Old English scealc (“servant; man, soldier, sailor”), from Proto-West Germanic *skalk, from Proto-Germanic *skalkaz (“servant, knight”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)kelH- (“to cleave, separate, part, divide”). Cognate with German Schalk (“joker”), Old Norse skálkr (“servant, rogue”) ( > Danish and Swedish skalk), Gothic 𐍃𐌺𐌰𐌻𐌺𐍃 (skalks, “servant”).


permanent wave

(British) A series of waves in the hair produced by means of chemical substances and heat; a perm


caucus race

From caucus (“regular party committee meeting of elected MPs”) + race (“contest between people”); a reference to Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, chapter III "A Caucus-Race and a Long Tale", being a nonsensical satire thereof: all participants have to run in circles until an arbitrary end is called and everyone is declared a winner; Alice has to give prizes to them all, and being declared a winner too, the Dodo solemnly takes her thimble and awards it back to her.

With the dominant figure in U.S. politics forced to the sidelines for—perhaps—the rest of the year, the national political situation last week began to take on the unreal air of the Dodo's caucus race.

1955 October 17, "The Dodo's Dance", in Time magazine

The American economic system is beginning to resemble the caucus race in Alice in Wonderland. Is it not something of a contradiction to cut taxes to facilitate the resurgence of buying power that will increase the demand for appliances and, especially, vehicles —and at the same time enforce a reduction in demand for the petroleum fuels that must drive the cars and power the machines that will manufacture the appliances?

1975 February 17, John Rossouw, "To the Editors", in Time magazine

A more free and easy attitude prevailed in selecting research topics than today, when the funding squeeze keeps most academic scientists in a tight caucus race of grant getting and paper production that precludes forays into risky serendipitous pursuits.

1997, Christopher Scholz, chapter 1, in Fieldwork: A Geologist's Memoir of the Kalahari, Princeton University Press, →ISBN:

(originally British, idiomatic) A laborious but arbitrary and futile activity; an activity that amounts to running around in a circle, expending great energy but not accomplishing anything.


phone box

phone boxes (plural)
phonebox (alternative)


mithramycin

en-noun

mithramycin (countable and uncountable, plural mithramycins)

From [Term?] + -mycin (“antibiotic derived from Streptomyces”).


Speccy

TETRIS (Mirrorsoft)
Yes, it's the game that makes Amiga and ST owners look at your Spectrum with real jealousy, 'cos the Speccy version of this classic Russian reaction-tester out performs the 16-bit ports every time.

1991, Stuart Campbell, "The YS Top 100 Speccy Games of All Time (Ever!)" (in Your Sinclair magazine)

Before you sit down in front of your Speccy to play an adventure, equip yourself with a pencil, eraser and plenty of paper. This so that you may draw a 'map' of the adventure as you move around.

1992 October, Larry Horsfield, “The SU Guide to Playing and Writing Adventure Games”, in Sinclair User, number 128:

1998, Bongo, “Emulation under threat (yes, Speccies too)”, in comp.sys.sinclair (Usenet):

Developers wasted no time making games for the Speccy.

2003, Rusel DeMaria, Johnny L. Wilson, High Score!: The Illustrated History of Electronic Games:

(computing, colloquial, chiefly UK) A Sinclair ZX Spectrum computer.


phall

phalls (plural)
phaal (alternative)
phal (alternative)

“Misled how?” I toss this over in my mind as my fork tosses the murg phall, a suicidally hot Bangalore-style chicken curry designed for masochistic European taste, slowly oxidizing in my plate.

2010, Donald W. Bacon, Followed by Madness:

(UK) An extremely hot British-Indian curry, often billed as the hottest curry in the world.


granny annexe

(UK, informal) An extension built to house an elderly relative.


pawky

en-adj

pawky (comparative pawkier, superlative pawkiest)

pawkier (comparative)
pawkiest (superlative)

[H]e generally meets her at one Signora Sporza's, a very pawky gentlewoman, who understands what's what as well as any woman in Naples […].

1789, John Moore, Zeluco, Valancourt, published 2008, page 161:

1836, Joanna Baillie, Witchcraft, Act 1, p.36-37.
'Awa', ye pawky thief! Dost tu think that I'll herrie the laird's cellar for thee or ony body?—But there's the whisky bottle in my ain cupboard, wi' some driblets in it yet, that ye may tak; and deil a drap mair shall ye get, an thy tongue were as guizened as a spelding. I wonder wha learnt sic a youngster as thee to be sae pawky.

Those unacquainted with the pawky humor of the Scot will search unsuccessfully in reference books for mention of the elusive Colonel Boffin.

1991, Sydney Ross, Nineteenth-Century Attitudes: Men of Science, Springer, page 32:

Just as a pun, to be a good pun, has to be not only a play on words but have a serious meaning, so pawky humour must carry sense. However the underlying humour is always there.

2010, J. A. Hadfield, Why Do We Laugh, Lulu.com, page 202:

(Scotland, northern British) Shrewd, sly; often also characterised by a sarcastic sense of humour.


autolyse

en-verb

autolyse (third-person singular simple present autolyses, present participle autolysing, simple past and past participle autolysed)

autolyses (present singular third-person)
autolysing (participle present)
autolysed (participle past)
autolysed (past)

(British) Alternative spelling of autolyze.


beer snake

(British) A long, flexible construction of stacked, empty plastic beer cups, made by the crowd at long sporting fixtures (especially cricket matches)


mis-sell

mis-sell (third-person singular simple present mis-sells, present participle mis-selling, simple past and past participle mis-sold)

mis-sells (present singular third-person)
mis-selling (participle present)
mis-sold (participle past)
mis-sold (past)

The firm is defending itself against fresh allegations of mis-selling pensions.

(British, finance) To sell misleadingly, fraudulently, or in violation of laws or regulations.


squaddie

squaddies (plural)
squaddy (alternative)

He'll turn out to be a squaddie— a Muslim squaddie. Exactly the kind of victim they're looking for.

2010, Mick Herron, Slow Horses, page 117:

Hard men from the high flats and off-dutie squaddies threw back their pints shoulder to shoulder in its spartan public bar.

2022, Liam McIlvanney, The Heretic, page 164:

(slang, UK, Ireland, Commonwealth) A private in the army.


potter about

potter about (third-person singular simple present potters about, present participle pottering about, simple past and past participle pottered about)

potters about (present singular third-person)
pottering about (participle present)
pottered about (participle past)
pottered about (past)

I like to relax pottering about the house doing this and that at the weekends.

So after "pottering about" and "daudling" a little, we moved up State Street, still attended by the same honorary retinue.

1835, Dorah Mahony, Six Months in a House of Correction:

Each man helps himself, potters about the little place, and lounges on the bed with perfect freedom, as if in the habit of doing the same thing nightly, and so periodically reimbursed the landlord in a lump sum.

1884, Hartmann Henry Sultzberger, editor, All about Opium, page 176:

Slowly the hours crawled. His father got up; he heard him pottering about.

1913, D.H. Lawrence, chapter 12, in Sons and Lovers:

"I remember before we were married he used to potter about with a paint-box. But you never saw such daubs. We used to chaff him. He had absolutely no gift for anything like that."

1919, W. Somerset Maugham, chapter 15, in The Moon and Sixpence:

Some ten years ago, an evening excursion train from the Walsall area to Manchester, when travelling well over the heavily-graded Walsall-Rugeley line, was brought to a stand at a level crossing at Hednesford by the tardiness of a gatekeeper, who was pottering about in his garden instead of attending to his duties.

1947 January and February, “Notes and News: Drivers' Reprisals”, in Railway Magazine, page 53:

[...] indeed, in April of that year five "E4s" were pottering about the port, [...].

1959 February, G. Freeman Allen, “Southampton—Gateway to the Ocean”, in Trains Illustrated, page 91:

(UK) To potter, to be gently active doing various things in an almost aimless manner.


potter around

potter around (third-person singular simple present potters around, present participle pottering around, simple past and past participle pottered around)

potters around (present singular third-person)
pottering around (participle present)
pottered around (participle past)
pottered around (past)
putter around (alternative)

I like to relax pottering around the house doing this and that at the weekends.

(chiefly British) To potter, to be gently active doing various things in an almost aimless manner.


cock a snook

cock a snook (third-person singular simple present cocks a snook, present participle cocking a snook, simple past and past participle cocked a snook)

cocks a snook (present singular third-person)
cocking a snook (participle present)
cocked a snook (participle past)
cocked a snook (past)

(UK, idiomatic, derogatory) To perform a snook, a gesture of disrespect.


dimp

(UK, colloquial, chiefly Manchester) A small or short cigarette.

(UK, colloquial, by extension) The butt end of a cigarette, before it has been completely smoked; a half-smoked cigarette.


poet laureate

en-noun

poet laureate (plural poets laureate or poet laureates)

poets laureate (plural)
poet laureates (plural)

(British, historical) Formerly, an officer of the king's household, whose business was to compose an ode annually for the king's birthday, and other suitable occasions; now, a poet officially distinguished by such honorary title, the office being a sinecure.


rejig

The verb is derived from re- (prefix meaning ‘again, anew’) + jig (“to move briskly; to move with jerks or vibrations”). The noun is derived from the verb.

prefix

(chiefly British) A rearrangement, a reorganization.


skewwhiff

en-adj

skewwhiff (comparative more skewwhiff, superlative most skewwhiff)

more skewwhiff (comparative)
most skewwhiff (superlative)

(UK, Ireland, Commonwealth) Alternative spelling of skew-whiff.


belter

From belt (“hit”) + -er (agent noun suffix).

When the second goal came, it was a belter - Fabregas launching an inch-perfect ball over the top for Van Persie to volley in without breaking stride.

2011 January 22, Ian Hughes, “Arsenal 3 - 0 Wigan”, in BBC:

(UK, informal) Anything that is particularly good of its class.

(British, informal) A very good-looking person.


Polyfilla

From the trade name of a brand of spackling paste.

He writes in well filled fourteeners, with individual words used not only vitally to convey the sense but also as a kind of metrical polyfilla.

1984, Gerardus Antonius Maria Janssens, Flor Aarts, Studies in Seventeenth-century English Literature, History and Bibliography:

Kierkegaard saw clearly that faith is not a kind of epistemic Polyfilla that closes the small cracks left by reason, but a mad leap across a chasm devoid of all reason.

2013 May 6, Julian Bagginni, “I Still Love Kierkegaard”, in Aeon:

(British) A metaphorical filler to minimize or obscure defects.


strike lucky

en-verb

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

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

(British) To have unexpected good fortune.


private candidate

en-noun

private candidate (plural private candidates)

(British) One who enters an examination without being enrolled as a student at the educational establishment where it is given.

privatist

person taking exams without being enrolled as a student


emma

(British, dated, World War I, signalese) M in RAF phonetic alphabet


ploughman's

I ordered a ploughman's, and Rich had the scampi and chips.

(British, informal) A ploughman's lunch.


O-level

(UK, dated) A subject-based qualification superseded in England by GCSEs, but still available as an international examination.


lose touch

en-verb

lose touch (third-person singular simple present loses touch, present participle losing touch, simple past and past participle lost touch)

loses touch (present singular third-person)
losing touch (participle present)
lost touch (participle past)
lost touch (past)

Francis Urquhart: I think Lord Billsborough is starting to lose touch a bit.
Tim Stamper: Shame. Used to be a hell of an operator in his day.

1990, House of Cards, season 1, episode 1:

lose one's touch
lose one's touch#English

(idiomatic, UK) Alternative form of lose one's touch.


lie in

lie in (third-person singular simple present lies in, present participle lying in, simple past lay in, past participle lain in)

lies in (present singular third-person)
lying in (participle present)
lay in (past)
lain in (participle past)

I've got a day off tomorrow, so I might lie in till about 11.

(UK) To stay in bed (longer than usual).


leed

From Middle English lede, shortened variant of leden (“language”), from Old English lēoden (“popular or national language, native tongue”), from Old English lēod (“people, nation”). Cognate with Scots leed (“language”). More at lede.

inh

(UK dialectal, Northern England, Scotland) Language; tongue.

(UK dialectal, Scotland) A national tongue (in contrast to a foreign language).

(UK dialectal, Scotland) The speech of a person or class of persons; form of speech; talk; utterance; manner of speaking or writing; phraseology; diction.


leed

From Middle English lede, led, leod, variant of Middle English leth, leoth (“song, poem”), from Old English lēoþ (“song, poem, ode, lay, verse”), from Proto-Germanic *leuþą (“song, lay, praise”), from Proto-Indo-European *lēw- (“to sound, resound, sing out”). Cognate with Dutch lied (“song”) and German Lied (“song”), whence the English doublet lied.

der

(UK dialectal, Scotland) A strain in a rhyme, song, or poem; refrain; flow.

(UK dialectal, Scotland) A constant or repeated line or verse; theme.

(UK dialectal, Scotland) Patter; rigmarole.


trig point

trig points (plural)
trigpoint (alternative)

(British) A fixed pillar with a metal housing for a theodolite on the top of a high point in the landscape; originally used for making Ordnance Survey maps.


alcatote

alcatotes (plural)
alkithole (alternative)
alkitotle (alternative)

Unknown. The beginning may be related to elk or auk.

VVhy? you knovv I [am] an ignorant unable trifle in ſuch buſineſſe; an Oafe, a ſimple Alcatote; an Innocent.

c. 1635–1636 (date written), Iohn Ford [i.e., John Ford], The Fancies, Chast and Noble: […], London: […] E[lizabeth] P[urslowe] for Henry Seile, […], published 1638, →OCLC, Act IIII, page 54:

(British, dialectal, obsolete) A foolish oaf.


God Save the King

Based on an Old English translation of 2 Kings 11:12 likely made by Dunstan for King Edgar's coronation in 973.

(Australia, Canada, New Zealand, UK) An expression of one’s patriotism and hope for the long life of the monarch, especially in his presence.

(UK) A formal statement at the end of many proclamations issued by the King or in his name.

The Queen is dead! God save the King!

(UK) A formal declaration following the death of a reigning monarch when the next monarch is male.


pedgill

en-verb

pedgill (third-person singular simple present pedgills, present participle pedgilling, simple past and past participle pedgilled)

pedgills (present singular third-person)
pedgilling (participle present)
pedgilled (participle past)
pedgilled (past)

Origin uncertain. Perhaps an alteration of peggle.

But at drawing, his hand swung naturally in big, bold lines, rather lax, so that it was cruel for him to pedgill away at the lace designing, working from the tiny squares of paper, counting and plotting and niggling.

1915, DH Lawrence, The Rainbow, Vintage 2011, p. 11

(UK Midlands, rare) To work hard and painstakingly (at something); to plod or persevere.


rowing boat

(British, nautical) Alternative form of rowboat.


queue up

queue up (third-person singular simple present queues up, present participle queueing up or queuing up, simple past and past participle queued up)

queues up (present singular third-person)
queueing up (participle present)
queuing up (participle present)
queued up (participle past)
queued up (past)

(British, intransitive) To queue (form a line while waiting).


brent goose

brent geese (plural)
brant goose (alternative US)

The first word is perhaps from branded, meaning brindled.

Branta bernicla
Branta bernicla#Translingual

(British) A small member of the goose family (Anatidae), Branta bernicla.


stonker

Every record he played was a stonker.

(British, slang) Something highly impressive.


trog

‘I'm sharing a cell with a couple of trogs who make you look like the swan of Avon.’

1984, Martin Amis, Money, Vintage, published 2005, page 253:


mikvah

(especially UK) Alternative spelling of mikveh.


backfriend

backfriends (plural)
back-friend (alternative)

From back (adverb or noun) + friend. Sense 3 (“person who pretends to be someone’s friend”) may allude to a person who stays back instead of coming forward to help, and so is not a true friend.

They had vvings of goodvvill to fly vvith, but no vvebbes on their feete to ſvvimme vvith, for except the vvaterfoules had mercie vpon them, and ſtood their faithfull confederates and backe-friends, on their backes to tranſport them, they might returne home like good fooles, and gather ſtravves to build their neſts, or fal to theyr old trade of picking vvormes.

1599, [Thomas] Nashe, Nashes Lenten Stuffe, […], London: […] [Thomas Judson and Valentine Simmes] for N[icholas] L[ing] and C[uthbert] B[urby] […], →OCLC, page 49:

Tho they give us neither VVine nor Ale; yet if they give us a Cup of cold VVater in the time of need, in the name of Diſciple, in the name of Miniſters, they ſhall not loſe their Revvard. Novv, vvell's us for our Back-friend, he vvill ay maintain our Cauſe; […]

1707, Michael Bruce, “Sermon II. On Psalm 140. Verses 12, 13.”, in Good News in Evil Times for Fainting Believers, or The Summ of a Lecture upon Jeremiah 45 Chapter; […], [S.l]: [s.n.], published 1708, →OCLC, pages 63–64:

I would always have been able to keep up my spirits with the reflection, that I had, in case of the worst, a stout back-friend in this uncle of mine. But now I have seen him, and, woe worth him, there has been more help in a mere mechanical stranger than I have found in my own mother's brother, my countryman and a cavalier.

1823, [Walter Scott], “The Bohemians”, in Quentin Durward. […], volume I, Edinburgh: […] [James Ballantyne and Co.] for Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Hurst, Robinson, and Co., →OCLC, page 123:

[“H]e said to me, ‘Adelle, I’m going out. I’ve got a backfriend to meet.’” / “A ‘backfriend’?” / “Yes. Evidently he had a late-night appointment with someone at Wabash. That was the way he liked to do it.”

1980, David Carkeet, chapter 4, in Double Negative […], New York, N.Y.: Dial Press, →ISBN, page 65:

(archaic) A friend who supports someone; a person who has someone's back; a backer, a supporter.


khazi

khazis (plural)
carsey (alternative)
carsy (alternative)
karsey (alternative)
karsy (alternative)
karzey (alternative)
karzy (alternative)
karzi (alternative)
kazi (alternative)

A Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English

Variant of carsey, from euphemistic Cockney corruption of Italian casa (“house”), possibly via Polari [Term?] and Sabir [Term?].

Carsey,... a w.c.

1961, Eric Partridge, Dictionary of Slang, page 1029:

You made a real thorough search? Everywhere? Outhouses, karzey, the lot?

1968, T.E.B. Clarke, chapter XIII, in Trail of Serpent, page 122:

(slang, chiefly UK) An outhouse or lavatory: a place used for urination and defecation.

Well, that plan's down the khazi.

Have you seen the carsy? Just a bucket with a seat on top.

1967, J. Burke, chapter V, in Till Death Us Do Part, page 84:

(slang, chiefly UK) A toilet: a fixture used for urination and defecation (also figurative).


choc ice

(UK) A block of vanilla ice cream with a chocolate (or chocolate-like) coating

(UK, ethnic slur) A black person considered to have assimilated into white culture; an Oreo.


paillasse

paillasses (plural)
palliasse (alternative)

He served the Republic in comfort and ease, and had slept soundly on his paillasse in the little garret allotted to him in the Town Hall.

1908, Baroness Emmuska Orczy, chapter 29, in The Elusive Pimpernel:

(chiefly British) An under bed or mattress of straw.


marmalize

marmalize (third-person singular simple present marmalizes, present participle marmalizing, simple past and past participle marmalized)

marmalizes (present singular third-person)
marmalizing (participle present)
marmalized (participle past)
marmalized (past)
marmalise (alternative)
marmelise (alternative)
marmelize (alternative)

Thought to be a humorous Blend of marmalade + pulverize

(informal, British) To defeat decisively; trounce.


chequing account

en-noun

chequing account (plural chequing accounts)

In the next town he wired money to his daughter’s chequing account and kept driving.

2009, Emily St. John Mandel, Last Night in Montreal, Picador (2015), page 149:

checking account
checking account#English

(British and Canada) Alternative spelling of checking account.


Salopian

en-adj

Salopian (comparative more Salopian, superlative most Salopian)

more Salopian (comparative)
most Salopian (superlative)

From Salop (an abbreviation of Anglo-Norman Salopesberia, from Old English Scrobbesbyrig (“Shropshire”)) + -ian.

der

the Romano-Salopian pottery found at Wroxeter

(British, chiefly Shropshire) of or from Shrewsbury


admiral of the fleet

en-noun

admiral of the fleet (plural admirals of the fleet)

(military, UK) The highest rank in the Royal Navy and other Commonwealth navies, NATO grade OF-10, currently only ceremonial.

velkoadmirál

Top rank in the British Royal Navy; equivalent ranks in other navies — see also admiral, fleet admiral


rose-coloured glasses

rose-colored glasses
rose-colored glasses#English

British standard spelling of rose-colored glasses.


queer fish

/ˈkwiːɹˌfɪʃ/

He’s known amongst us as the Arab. I’ve had my eye on him ever since he came to the place. A queer fish he is. I always have said that he’s up to some game or other.

To these people, native and European, he was a queer fish, but they were used to queer fish, and they took him for granted; the world was full of odd persons, who did odd things; and perhaps they knew that a man is not what he wants to be, but what he must be.

1919, W[illiam] Somerset Maugham, “chapter 54”, in The Moon and Sixpence, [New York, N.Y.]: Grosset & Dunlap Publishers […], →OCLC:

Harry is a queer fish indeed. He is suspicious of everybody and everything.

1974 April 21, Vincent Canby, “Movie Review: The Conversation”, in New York Times, retrieved 2014-02-24:

(dated, chiefly British) An odd or eccentric person.


vegeburger

vegeburgers (plural)
vege-burger (alternative)

/ˈvɛd͡ʒiːˌbɜː(ɹ)ɡə(ɹ)/

Blend of vegetable + burger, vegetarian + burger, or alteration of veggie burger.

Here the little girl eats a "vege-burger" and her sister drinks pomegranate juice, one of favorites at snack bar

1950 June 24, “Camp Parley of Methodist Group Slated”, in Los Angeles Times:

1 serving Vegeburger Loaf with non-fat mushroom gravy

1951, E. Virginia Dobbin, The low fat, low cholesterol diet: what to eat and how to prepare it, page 346:

(UK) Alternative spelling of veggie burger.


flavourless

en-adj

flavourless (comparative more flavourless, superlative most flavourless)

more flavourless (comparative)
most flavourless (superlative)

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

British standard spelling of flavorless.


hirple

en-verb

hirple (third-person singular simple present hirples, present participle hirpling, simple past and past participle hirpled)

hirples (present singular third-person)
hirpling (participle present)
hirpled (participle past)
hirpled (past)

A word of unknown origin, first recorded in Scots sources from the late fifteenth century; but probably from Old Norse herpast (“to suffer from cramp”) the middle voice verb. Compare the Icelandic herpa (“to contract, to draw together”).

unk

unknown

cog

Get you on that bicycle and hurry on, and I'll hirple after you the best I can.

A woman hirpled along the corridor towards them with the aid of a walking frame.

2015, Kate Atkinson, A God in Ruins, →ISBN, page 136:

Around lunchtime he hirpled down the corridor to the Gents.

2022, Liam McIlvanney, The Heretic, page 513:

(intransitive, Scotland, northern UK) To walk with a limp, to drag a limb, to walk lamely; to move with a gait somewhere between walking and crawling.


scrumple

en-verb

scrumple (third-person singular simple present scrumples, present participle scrumpling, simple past and past participle scrumpled)

scrumples (present singular third-person)
scrumpling (participle present)
scrumpled (participle past)
scrumpled (past)

...once a piece of paper has been scrumpled no amount of flattening will erase the fact that it has been treated that way

"The Man Who Never Was" by Ewen Montagu, published by J. B. Lippincott Company 1954 Page 87

Throw the first sheet unfolded. Throw the second scrumpled up into a ball. And throw the third after you have folded it into a paper airplane.

2011, Brian Clegg, Inflight Science: A Guide to the World from Your Airplane Window:

(British) To crumple, crush or wad (like a piece of paper).


snig

snig (third-person singular simple present snigs, present participle snigging, simple past and past participle snigged)

snigs (present singular third-person)
snigging (participle present)
snigged (participle past)
snigged (past)


snig

Ultimately from Proto-Germanic *snigilaz or *snagilaz; related to snail.

w:Webster's Dictionary#Webster's New International Dictionary 1909


touch-tone dialling

touch-tone dialing
touch-tone dialing#English

(British) Alternative spelling of touch-tone dialing.


tone dialling

(British) Alternative spelling of tone dialing.


pulse dialling

(British) Alternative spelling of pulse dialing.


have-a-go hero

en-noun

have-a-go hero (plural have-a-go heroes)

Jack Straw today admitted that he was "always uneasy" about the government's refusal to offer greater protection for have-a-go-heroes as he explained plans to review the laws on self-defence.

2007 September 27, Deborah Summers, “Straw reveals past as have-a-go hero”, in The Guardian:

(British, informal) An ordinary member of the public who intervenes, often at personal risk, to stop a troublemaker, hooligan or ne'er-do-well in the act of committing a crime.


DRCP

(British) Director of Revenue and Customs Prosecutions


stean

→ Welsh: ystên

From Middle English stene (“waterpot”), from Old English stǣna (“stone jug, a stean, a pot of stone or earth”) and Old English stǣne (“pitcher, jug”), from Proto-West Germanic *stainijā (“stone vessel”). Cognate with Old High German steinna (“pot, saucepan”). Doublet of stein.

cog

(UK, dialectal) A large box of stones used for pressing cheese; a cheese-press.


fit for purpose

en-adj

fit for purpose (comparative more fit for purpose, superlative most fit for purpose)

more fit for purpose (comparative)
most fit for purpose (superlative)

But what ScotRail has now is a superb train that is fit for purpose. Turbostars were OK, certainly one of the best of the late 1990s glut of new designs. But were they really a good travel experience for 180 miles from Glasgow to Inverness? No, they were not (and I speak from experience). These HSTs offer a much better train for such a journey.

2019 October 23, Pip Dunn, “The next king of Scotland”, in Rail, page 55:

(British, Australia) Appropriate, and of a necessary standard, for its intended use.


ANPR

(UK, Australia, transport) Initialism of automatic number plate recognition.


shrammed

shrammed (comparative more shrammed, superlative most shrammed)

more shrammed (comparative)
most shrammed (superlative)

There was a bitter wind and she looked shrammed in her thin dress.

(dialect, Southern British) Of a person, cold (in temperature); shrivelled with cold.


palæography

en-noun

palæography (countable and uncountable, plural palæographies)

We should like to have them collected by Dr. Young; whose acuteness and learning seem calculated to subdue the difficulties of palæography.

1822, Sir Francis Palgrave, K.H. in The Edinburgh Quarterly Review, number 26, page 195 (quoted in: http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=V3cDAAAAMAAJ&q=%22whose+acuteness+and+learning+seem+calculated+to+subdue+the+difficulties+of+Palaeography%22&dq=%22whose+acuteness+and+learning+seem+calculated+to+subdue+the+difficulties+of+Palaeography%22&ei=xLrOSIfPEZDoigHFnqSGDA&pgis=1 & http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=FQsQAAAAYAAJ&q=%22whose+acuteness+and+learning+seem+calculated+to+subdue+the+difficulties+of+Palaeography%22&dq=%22whose+acuteness+and+learning+seem+calculated+to+subdue+the+difficulties+of+Palaeography%22&ei=xLrOSIfPEZDoigHFnqSGDA&pgis=1)

PALÆOGRAPHY. The study of antient documents, called by modern antiquaries ‘Palæography,’ is too extensive a subject to be canvassed at length in a work like the present.

1840, Charles Knight, The Penny Cyclopaedia of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge, page 149

Judging from the palæography of the inscriptions, they may have been in use from the age of Augustus to that of Marcus Aurelius, or even of Severus.

1858, Samuel Birch, History of Ancient Pottery, page 196:

The study of the caligraphy, or penmanship, of ancient MSS. is replete with interest; and the art of deciphering ancient writings, or palæography, has received of late years some of the attention it deserves.

1864, Thomas John Gullick and John Timbs, Painting Popularly Explained, page 101 (second edition; first edition published in 1859)

Palæography is the study of ancient handwriting from surviving examples.

1885, Sir Edward Maunde Thompson, Encyclopædia Britannica XVIII, page 143:

1898, Joris-Karl Huysmans (translated by Clara Bell), The Cathedral, Chapter X
Now they are editing and printing a musical Palæography, one of the most learned and abstruse of modern publications.

1913, Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 11, “Palæography”
The art of deciphering ancient writing in manuscripts or diplomas. It is distinguished from epigraphy, which provides rules for reading carved inscriptions, and from diplomatics which studies the intrinsic character of written documents, while palæography concerns itself only with written characters and the classification of documents by their external characters.
[…] palæography has become the basis of all study of historical, religious, or literary texts. There are as many branches of palæography as there are different kinds of writings, but the science of Oriental written characters is as yet hardly formed.
[…] Kopp, in his “Palæographia Critica”, laid the foundations for Oriental palæography, while devoting himself exclusively to Semitic languages.

The transition from Birc(h)- to Birt- is obscured by the palæography of -t(h)-, -c(h)-, undistinguishable in many sources.

1970, J. McN. Dodgson, Survey of English Place Names, The University Press, page 72:

(chiefly UK, dated) Alternative form of paleography (study of ancient forms of writing).

Principles of palæography*— The value of palæontology; meaning of archæan land masses; search for ancient shore-lines; reconstruction of original […] ancient mountains.

1896, The Geographical journal, number 8, page 67:

(chiefly UK, obsolete) Alternative form of paleography (paleogeography).


HBOS

Pseudo-acronym, presumed from Halifax plc + Bank of Scotland following a company merger

(UK, historical) HBOS, a former British bank and insurance company.


fucked off

en-adj

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

more fucked off (comparative)
most fucked off (superlative)

I sat in the kitchen, all fucked off / Imagining over and over what they were all doing behind my back

2004, The Streets, “Empty Cans”, in A Grand Don’t Come for Free:

(UK, Ireland, Commonwealth, idiomatic, vulgar) annoyed, irritated


beer money

(UK, historical) Money given to soldiers in the British army, in lieu of beer and spirits.


standard fare

en-noun

standard fare (countable and uncountable, plural standard fares)

Anyone found travelling without a valid ticket will be issued with a standard fare of £100 which must be paid within 21 days. This charge will be reduced to £50 if paid within 14 days.

2011, “Standard Fare”, in Transport for Greater Manchester:

(British, Ireland, countable, by extension) The price charged to passengers who travel without buying tickets in advance on certain public transport systems (especially British bus and tram systems) (compare penalty fare).

tarkastusmaksu

price charged to passengers who travel without valid tickets


white English bulldog

white English bulldog (plural white English bulldogs)

English, from English Butcher's Alaunt, a name given the breed by early English settlers in southern Georgia in reference to the old Butcher's Alaunt of England, a predominantly white dog of similar type and function.


yah boo

yah-boo (alternative)
yaa-boo (alternative)
ya boo (alternative)
ya-boo (alternative)

I don't care about your stupid party anyway, so yah boo to you.

(British) An expression of derision or scorn.


moither

en-verb

moither (third-person singular simple present moithers, present participle moithering, simple past and past participle moithered)

moithers (present singular third-person)
moithering (participle present)
moithered (participle past)
moithered (past)


claver

en-noun

claver (countable and uncountable, plural clavers)

Emmy found herself entirely at a loss in the midst of their clavers.

1847 January – 1848 July, William Makepeace Thackeray, chapter 26, in Vanity Fair […], London: Bradbury and Evans […], published 1848, →OCLC:

(UK, Scotland, dialect) Frivolous or nonsensical talk; prattle; chatter.


claver

en-verb

claver (third-person singular simple present clavers, present participle clavering, simple past and past participle clavered)

clavers (present singular third-person)
clavering (participle present)
clavered (participle past)
clavered (past)

(UK, Scotland, dialect) To gossip or chit-chat.


Heath Robinson

In reference to the drawings by William Heath Robinson.

Among the many Heath Robinson contraptions he devised were the Light Vessels (the Sun and the Moon) which would ferry the rescued Light-Particles back to their land of origin along the Milky Way.

1998, Samuel Lieu, Manichaeism in Central Asia and China, →ISBN, page 16:

And that is how we came to mow our lake weed, although we eventually found it easier to tie two ropes, one to each side of the inner tube, and to pull the Heath Robinson contraption back and forwards across the water with Chris and I standing on opposite banks, each holding one of the lines.

2014, Ivan M. Donaldson, The Truant from Medicine: A Memoir, →ISBN:

(chiefly UK, attributive) Anything ingenious (and often complex) but absurdly impractical or even useless.


ronson

From Ronson, manufacturer of lighters, in reference to their 1940s jingle "Lights first every time".

(British, military, slang, obsolete) M4 Sherman tank - due to the proclivity of Shermans to burst into flames from a single hit


wide boy

Related to wide awake, i.e. sharp-witted, open-eyed, with wide open eyes.

Much amusement at Westminster about David Mellor, a wide boy if ever there was one. Someone tapped his girlfriend's phone and sold the tape to The People. Very funny stuff—all about how knackered he was.

(slang, UK, Ireland, Commonwealth) A man who lives by his wits, wheeling and dealing.


dinner lady

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

Ten years to the month after Jamie Oliver began his school food revolution – with the help of a formidable dinner lady called Nora Sands at Kidbrooke school in south London – a small inner-city primary on the other side of the Thames is doing its best to give it a new lease of life.

2015 April 4, Sally Weale, “The new dinner lady: 10 years on, can an Ottolenghi chef prove Jamie Oliver's revolution wasn't a flash in the pan?”, in The Guardian:

(British, informal) A woman employed to serve food in a school or work canteen.


rasterise

rasterise (third-person singular simple present rasterises, present participle rasterising, simple past and past participle rasterised)

rasterises (present singular third-person)
rasterising (participle present)
rasterised (participle past)
rasterised (past)


I say

desc

Solombala English: асей (asej, “English sailor”)

→ Swahili: aisee

I say! That's impressive!

I say, what is the meaning of this?

Adrian thought it worth while to try out his new slang. ‘I say, you fellows, here's a rum go. Old Biffo was jolly odd this morning. He gave me a lot of pi-jaw about slacking and then invited me to tea. No rotting! He did really.’

1991, Stephen Fry, chapter III, in The Liar, London: William Heinemann, →ISBN, page 26:

(British, dated) An exclamation of surprise or protest.

I say! ... John ... Are you still there? If you're going into town could you get some eggs?

(British) An exclamation used to call someone or attract someone's attention.


HATO

(British) Acronym of Highways Agency traffic officer.


Highways Agency

(British, historical) An executive agency of the Department for Transport in the United Kingdom with responsibility for managing the core road network in England; superseded by Highways England.


HA

(British) Initialism of Highways Agency.


meeja

That's the life of the busy meeja type, I suppose.

Monkey noted at Victoria Real's post-Big Brother party that when it comes to debauchery, digital types are outdoing their meeja counterparts.

2000 September 29, “Big Brother's sordid secrets”, in The Guardian:

(UK, slang, humorous or derogatory) media (communications industry)


RAIB

(British, rail transport) Initialism of Rail Accident Investigation Branch.


frit

en-adj

frit (comparative more frit, superlative most frit)

more frit (comparative)
most frit (superlative)

Dialectal past participle of fright (“frighten”), formed on the model of bite:bit and light:lit. Compare the parallel formation fit (“fought”).

The right hon. Gentleman is afraid of an election, is he? Afraid? Frightened? Frit? Could not take it? Cannot stand it? If I were going to cut and run, I should have gone after the Falklands.

1983 Margaret Thatcher, Prime minister's questions, 19 April

“We shoulder life. We know its ins and outs. We've felt the draught at either end of it. What you're most frit of, that's our bread and jam, and none of us ain't got no time to spare on ignorant, bad-mannered little boys.”

2016, Alan Moore, Jerusalem, Liveright, published 2016, page 272:


Blu-Tack

It was an April Fool hoax, of course. 31200 had been rigged up with a single lightweight wooden [name] plate (loosely held on by Blu Tack).

2024 January 10, Chris Gilson, “RAIL's famous five...”, in RAIL, number 1000, page 27:

(British, New Zealand, Australia) A solid putty-like adhesive, originally blue in colour, used to secure items to walls and other surfaces.


Blu-Tack

en-verb

Blu-Tack (third-person singular simple present Blu-Tacks, present participle Blu-Tacking, simple past and past participle Blu-Tacked)

Blu-Tacks (present singular third-person)
Blu-Tacking (participle present)
Blu-Tacked (participle past)
Blu-Tacked (past)

The power switch wasn't seated properly, and so I blu-tacked it into place.

(British, New Zealand, Australia) To fix with Blu-Tack.


cross the aisle

cross the aisle (third-person singular simple present crosses the aisle, present participle crossing the aisle, simple past and past participle crossed the aisle)

crosses the aisle (present singular third-person)
crossing the aisle (participle present)
crossed the aisle (participle past)
crossed the aisle (past)

Liberal members pounded their desks in delight as Social Crediter Horace (Bud) Olson (Medicine Hat) picked up his books and papers and crossed the aisle to take the last seat in the third row on the Government side. This symbolic gesture completed his defection.

1967 September 26, Geoffrey Stevens, “Kind thoughts, gentle words, then House reverts to form”, in Globe and Mail, Canada, page 1:

A Conservative member of Parliament crossed the aisle this weekend to join the resurgent Labor Party of Tony Blair.

1995 October 9, John Darnton, “Tories, With a Bagful of Woes, Are Hurt by a Defection”, in New York Times, retrieved 2008-09-27:

When asked by Duffy about rumours that he was being heavily courted by the Tories to cross the aisle and join them, Kilgour replied that they've opened "No doors."

2005 April 14, “Kilgour can't 'live with himself,' quits Grits”, in CTV.ca, retrieved 2009-04-01:

After Stronach's 2005 defection to Paul Martin's Liberals . . . . [a]t least one Tory MP openly called her a "whore" for crossing the aisle.

2007 April 16, David Olive, “Belinda accomplished much in relatively short time”, in Toronto Star, Canada, retrieved 2009-04-01:

(chiefly British and Canada, idiomatic, politics) Of a member of a parliament, to resign from one's political party and join another party, resulting in moving from one's currently assigned desk or seat in the legislative chamber to a new desk or seat physically located with the other members of one's new party.


kelk

kelk (third-person singular simple present kelks, present participle kelking, simple past and past participle kelked)

kelks (present singular third-person)
kelking (participle present)
kelked (participle past)
kelked (past)

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


kelk

(UK, dialect, obsolete) A stroke; a blow.


guttle

The verb is possibly derived from gut (“belly”) + -le (frequentative suffix), perhaps influenced by guzzle (“to drink or eat quickly, voraciously, or to excess; to gulp down; to swallow greedily, continually, or with gusto”).
The noun is derived from the verb.

suffix

The top of the great stained glass windows at each end of the hall, are cut off to accommodate a new flat plaster roof;—the old Gothic one, with its rich groining and carved work, could not be renewed but at the expense of at least two guttles!

1817 October 4, William Hone, “The Guttlers, and the New Lord Mayor”, in The Reformists’ Register, and Weekly Commentary, volume II, number 11, London: […] William Hone, […], →OCLC, column 324:

You don't know what it is to want rum, you don't: it gets to that p'int that you would kill a 'ole ship's company for just one guttle of it.

1884, Robert Louis Stevenson, W[illiam] E[rnest] Henley, “Admiral Guinea”, in Sidney Colvin, editor, The Works of Robert Louis Stevenson, Edinburgh edition, volume XXIII (Drama), Edinburgh: […] T[homas] and A[rchibald] Constable for Longmans Green and Co.; […], published 1897, →OCLC, Act I, scene viii, page 199:

(UK, dialectal)
An act of swallowing voraciously.

[P]lague tak the greedy guttles, I wish they wud gie ae meal, out o' the five, to their head.

1839, “A devoted friend, to non-intrusion” [pseudonym], “Dedication. To the Farmers in the Stewartry of Kirkcudbright.”, in A Letter to William Maxwell, Esq., Younger, of Cardoness, Addressed to Him as a Candidate for Parliament: […], Manchester: Thomas Smith, […], →OCLC, page xv:

Our doctor used to call me a ravenous eater; my mamma remarked I was blessed with an excellent appetite; cook said I was ‘a rare good one for vittals;’ and James, my own brother, whom I loved almost as much as stewed beef, invariably called me a ‘guttles.’ This unkind nickname pained me. It was vulgar, and more un-Christianly because it was so cuttingly true.

[1866, Augustus Mayhew, “The Almanack of Successful Courtship; […]”, in Faces for Fortunes, new edition, London: Tinsley Brothers, […], →OCLC, page 330:

(UK, dialectal)
One who eats voraciously; a glutton.


smegging

That was smegging hilarious.


send for

en-verb

send for (third-person singular simple present sends for, present participle sending for, simple past and past participle sent for)

sends for (present singular third-person)
sending for (participle present)
sent for (participle past)
sent for (past)

We all know that Family Guy sends for everyone.

(UK, transitive) To call out or diss, often in the form of a diss track; to roast.


oh my days

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-oh my days.wav

“[…] Oh, my days, don’t ’ee say another word about either of ’em. I wish I’d never been born.”

1907, Mary Patricia Willcocks, The Wingless Victory, John Lane Company, page 391:

"Oh my days," said my mother and she sank into a chair.

1963, Will P. Rose, The Vanishing Village, Citadel Press, page 192:

‘Oh my fucking days,’ cried Biscuit, shaking his head. ‘We’re fucking jinxed, man.’

2001, Alex Wheatle, East of Acre Lane, Fourth Estate, →ISBN, page 33:

Then the nurse mentioned Epidural, oh my days I know i nearly passed out at the sight of the needle going into the spinal column, all the while that wretch is screaming blue murder in the next room, get it out.

2004, "Kunjufu" (username), comment in "Fathers and Childbirth" (online forum topic), quoted in Barbara M. Newman and Philip R. Newman, Development Through Life: A Psychosocial Approach, Tenth Edition, Cengage Learning (2008), page 111

Jamal covered his face with his hands. ‘Oh my days . . .’

2006, Martyn Waites, The Mercy Seat, Pegasus Books, →ISBN, page 361:

Jessie was so amazed that she almost spilled her tea. “Oh my heavenly days!” she cried.

2008, Budge Wilson, Before Green Gables, G.P. Putnam's Sons, →ISBN, page 12:

(British, Ireland, Singapore, euphemistic) An exclamation of astonishment or gleeful disapproval.


neven

neven (third-person singular simple present nevens, present participle nevening, simple past and past participle nevened)

nevens (present singular third-person)
nevening (participle present)
nevened (participle past)
nevened (past)
nevin (alternative)
nemmin (alternative)
nem (alternative)
nevyn (alternative)

From Middle English nevenen, nevnen, nemmen, nempnen, nemnen, from Old English nemnan, nemnian (“to name, call, give a name to a person or thing; use such and such a name or title in speaking of a person or thing; enumerate; address, speak to; nominate; call upon the name of, address by name, invoke; mention by name, mention, relate”) and Old Norse nefna (“to name, call”); both from Proto-Germanic *namnijaną (“to name”). More at name.

Thou netherest of Nazareth, now nevened is thy name.

1995, Richard Beadle, Pamela M. King, York Mystery Plays:

(UK dialectal, transitive) To utter; mention the name of.

(UK dialectal, Scotland, intransitive) To tell or make mention of (a person or thing); specify; designate.


clacker

Possibly a deformation of cloaca. Alternatively of imitative origin, from the sound of farting or testicles clacking.

(UK, US, vulgar, slang, often in the plural) A testicle.


square bashing

(British, slang, military) Marching drills and other military exercises practiced on a parade ground.


expone

expone (third-person singular simple present expones, present participle exponing, simple past and past participle exponed)

expones (present singular third-person)
exponing (participle present)
exponed (participle past)
exponed (past)

From Middle English exponen. See expound.

it belongs to you alone to expone the Covenant

1643, William Drummond of Hawthornden, Σκιαμαχία: or a Defence of a Petition tendered to the Lords of the Council of Scotland by certain Noblemen and Gentlemen:

(obsolete, UK or Scotland) To expound; to explain.

(obsolete, UK or Scotland) To expose; to imperil.


Americanise

Americanise (third-person singular simple present Americanises, present participle Americanising, simple past and past participle Americanised)

Americanises (present singular third-person)
Americanising (participle present)
Americanised (participle past)
Americanised (past)

British standard spelling of Americanize.


boiled sweet

(British) A hard sweet, made by boiling sugar, which gradually dissolves when sucked.


lant

Did Mr. Ellershaw speak to Mr. Marsden, when he was playing at lant with you?

1834, Sandford Tatham, Alexander Fraser, A Verbatim Report of the Cause Doe Dem. Tatham V. Wright:

(UK, dialect, Northern England) Obsolete form of lanterloo (the card game).


rectal varicosity

en-noun

rectal varicosity (plural rectal varicosities)

(pathology) haemorrhoid (British), hemorrhoid (US)


flouse

en-verb

flouse (third-person singular simple present flouses, present participle flousing, simple past and past participle floused)

flouses (present singular third-person)
flousing (participle present)
floused (participle past)
floused (past)
floush (alternative)

(UK, dialect, ambitransitive) To splash.


chequing

(British and Canada) Alternative spelling of checking.


amber gambler

The sins the foundation has identified include eating at the wheel, becoming a traffic-light hopping "amber gambler" and drinking and driving.

2007 December 24, “Drivers warned over the ‘Seven Deadly Sins’”, in Bolton News, UK, retrieved 2011-08-29:

(UK, idiomatic) A driver of a road vehicle who accelerates when the traffic lights change from green to amber (instead of stopping, as required by law), gambling that no vehicle will cross his or her path; a driver who starts off when the traffic lights show red and amber together, but not yet green.


goggle box

goggle boxes (plural)
gogglebox (alternative)
goggle-box (alternative)
Gogglebox (alternative)

The goggle box became my own private giggle box, from out of which came the likes of Richard ‘Mr Pastry’ Hearne, Charlie Drake and I Love Lucy.

2012, Roger Foss, May the Farce Be With You, Bloomsbury Publishing, →ISBN:


lodgement

en-noun

lodgement (countable and uncountable, plural lodgements)

And in thy stead I've got a deal of judgement / Though heaven knows how it ever found a lodgement.

1819, Lord Byron, “Don Juan”, in Selected Poems of Lord Byron, Ware, Hertfordshire: Wordsworth Editions, published 2006, Canto I, stanza 215, p. 111:

Is Envy then such a monster? […] since its lodgement is in the heart not the brain, no degree of intellect supplies a guarantee against it.

1924, Herman Melville, chapter 11, in Billy Budd, London: Constable & Co.:

1934, T. S. Eliot, Chorus VII from 'The Rock' in Collected Poems, 1909-1962, New York: Harcourt, Brace & World, 1963, p. 162,
and man without GOD is a seed upon the wind: driven this way and that, and finding no place of lodgement and germination.

(British) Alternative spelling of lodgment.


macaroni cheese

macaroni and cheese (alternative)
mac 'n' cheese (alternative)
mac and cheese (alternative)
mac & cheese (alternative)

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

(UK) A savory dish made from cooked macaroni and cheese sauce.

芝士通心粉

dish made from macaroni and cheese sauce


chicken burger

chicken burgers (plural)
chickenburger (alternative)

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

(Ireland, UK) A sandwich consisting of a piece of boneless, sometimes fried chicken served in a bun, typically hot (called a chicken sandwich in the US).


bish bash bosh

Throw in a love story early on and you're laughing. Write it up as a novel and, bish-bash-bosh, you've got the next Captain Corelli.

2001 June 1, Gareth McLean, “I like your altitude”, in The Guardian:

So infectious was Jamie’s trademark bish bash bosh enthusiasm that it may actually have been counterproductive.

2007 August 8, Gerard O'Donovan, “Last night on television”, in telegraph.co.uk, retrieved 2008-10-14:

(British, informal) Indicating the completion of a task with efficiency.


outerchange

From outer + change by analogy with interchange.

The five minute walk between Northwick Park and Kenton tube stations is a valid outerchange.

(British, chiefly London, rail transport) A connection between two stations within walking distance of each other but which are not physically connected; used especially where a journey involving such a connection can be done on a single ticket.


Conservative

"Avanti has literally broken records over the last six months for delays and cancellations, and the Conservatives' answer is to reward failure with millions more in taxpayer cash," said Labour Shadow Transport Secretary Louise Haigh.

2023 April 5, “Network News: Conservatives accused of "rewarding Avanti's failure"”, in RAIL, number 980, page 6:

(politics) A member of a political party incorporating the word "Conservative" in its name.

(British, politics) A member of the Conservative party.


get you

Gary: Ssh. Miss is talking
Debbie: Ooh, get you! Since when have you ever wanted to listen to the teachers?

1996, Stepping Up: four play scripts for the classroom, Jane Lilliard and Mollie Hemens:

When Keanu Reeves falls apart, you just want to hiss "Ooh, get you!"

1998 January 16, “Film: Dancing with the devil”, in The Independent, London, England:

'I know that the thought of travelling with a cashmere wrap makes some people say 'ooh, get you,' Annalisa admits, 'but no one who has ever done it laughs!

2005 September 17, “The 50 Best Ways to Accessorise”, in The Independent, London, England:

(UK) An expression of encouragement, commonly used sarcastically.


good job

It's a good job that he was there to catch the vase when I dropped it.

Good job Sarah isn't scared of spiders: I don't think I could cope without someone to remove them.


every little helps

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-every little helps.wav

"There's not much money - if that's what you mean."
"Approximately."
"Once all the debts are paid there will be very little."
"Nevertheless. Every little helps. The Brothers are sorely in need of it this weather."

1980, Bernard MacLaverty, 'Lamb' (novel), (Chapter 1, at page 11 in the 1981 King Penguin paperback edition)

(UK) Even the smallest things are helpful when towards a goal.

tota pedra fa paret

even the smallest things are helpful when towards a goal

les petits ruisseaux font les grandes rivières

un grano no hace granero, pero ayuda al compañero

take care of the pennies and the pounds will take care of themselves

a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step


ring sting

(British, slang, vulgar) Irritation of the anus as a result of eating spicy food.


brivet

en-verb

brivet (third-person singular simple present brivets, present participle briveting or brivetting, simple past and past participle briveted or brivetted)

brivets (present singular third-person)
briveting (participle present)
brivetting (participle present)
briveted (participle past)
briveted (past)
brivetted (participle past)
brivetted (past)
brivit (alternative)

Once Melanie had left the house, I entered her bedroom and began to brivet around.

And all the time she'd be brivetting about on the sly with any good-for-nothing young rascals she could get hold on.

1920, Eric Leadbitter, Shepherd's warning, page 148:

(intransitive, British, West Midlands) To wander an area, or look through items, without specific purpose or to satisfy idle curiosity, especially in a furtive and illicit manner.


hiding to nothing

en-noun

hiding to nothing (plural hidings to nothing)

From horse racing, hiding (“beating”); to (“as used to express gambling odds”), e.g., 6 to 1. Literally, the phrase can be described as to bet on a contest whose outcome is at worst a beating, or at best nothing. A heavily favoured team in a sporting contest earns no credit for victory, but is shamed by defeat; this team is said to be on a hiding to nothing.

It would have been madness to encourage them to back the mare : in fact I was on a hiding to nothing whatever happened.

1915, James Forman Sloan, A. Dick Luckman, Tod Sloan, page 245:

No legitimate excuse for introduction existed, or could exist, and the odds looked like a hiding to nothing should Bayard attempt to force a meeting […]

1931, The Atlantic Monthly, Making of America Project, page 60:

It is a nasty situation and DFR knows that he is on a good hiding to nothing. He sometimes feels that he is the least understood and most unloved ATCO in [the UK]

1989, Dave Graves, A layman's guide to United Kingdom air traffic control, page 76:

This often makes it a nervous, hiding-to-nothing game in which disasters are so much more memorable than successes

2003, Robin Birn, The international handbook of market research techniques, page 543:

Company directors are on a hiding to nothing when it comes to trusting their reputations to the accounting statements for which they are responsible.

2003, Frank L. Clarke with G. W. Dean and Kyle Gaius Oliver, Corporate collapse: accounting, regulatory and ethical failure, page 39:

(idiomatic, British, informal) A situation in which victory has little or no value, but defeat has a huge cost.


carry the can

en-verb

carry the can (third-person singular simple present carries the can, present participle carrying the can, simple past and past participle carried the can)

carries the can (present singular third-person)
carrying the can (participle present)
carried the can (participle past)
carried the can (past)

For Vajpayee, who is keen that he alone does not carry the can for his unwieldy alliance, it is a tough decision.

1998 April 25, Arati R. Jerath, "18 partners hunt for one voice," Indian Express (Bombay) (retrieved 21 Oct 2008)

You could reasonably argue that Brown himself should carry the can for much of the regulatory failure of the banks.

2008 October 16, Adrian Hamilton, “Comment: I wouldn't get too carried away by success if I were Brown”, in The Independent, UK, retrieved 2008-10-21:

They're not going to play the patsy where they carry the can for all the woes caused by a tanking in oil prices that's already happened.

2015 June 17, Rick Bell, “Alberta NDP government chooses not to kick province's oil industry when it's down”, in Calgary Sun, Canada, retrieved 2015-09-25:

(British, Canada, idiomatic) To take responsibility, especially in a challenging situation.


push the boat out

push the boat out (third-person singular simple present pushes the boat out, present participle pushing the boat out, simple past and past participle pushed the boat out)

pushes the boat out (present singular third-person)
pushing the boat out (participle present)
pushed the boat out (participle past)
pushed the boat out (past)

(British, idiomatic) To do something, especially spend money, more extravagantly than usual, particularly for a celebration.


mystery tour

Each week an inconspicuous paragraph in the daily press carries a warning to travellers on the London Midland Region of the delays and diversions to be expected on account of the weekend's engineering works. In fact, Sunday travel on the West Coast route has now become a kind of mystery tour which can prolong the London-Glasgow journey to twelve hours or more.

1960 October, J. N. Faulkner, “The purgatory period of B.R. Modernisation”, in Trains Illustrated, page 584:

I recall, Anderson went on, the fine story of a Welsh mystery tour by bus from Cwmrhydyceirw in my constituency.

1999, Vernon Bogdanor, Devolution in the United Kingdom:

(British) A short-duration outing by coach to a destination that is not revealed in advance


gob stick

gob sticks (plural)
gobstick (alternative)
gob-stick (alternative)

(archaic, UK, dialect or slang) A spoon.


flother

en-noun

flother (countable and uncountable, plural flothers)

Uncertain. The English Place-Name Society suggests that the word (at least in the sense "bog") derives from Old English *flōdor (“channel”), related to flōd (“flowing; stream; flood”), and the DSL too speculates that the word (and its synonymous Scots cognate, attested since 1611) might be related to Scots flude, English flood. Alternatively, it might be related to Scots fluther, English flutter. Perhaps also compare floter (“float”). Dialect dictionaries record several other (now rare or otherwise unattested) senses, including "nonsensical talk" (which is more often found in the form vlother) and "snowflake".

Ye windy, rhymin', bleth'rin hash, Ye'll tak in woo' to card to trash; [...] Ye rhyme 'bout thrums an' wabs thegither, A hotchy potchy in a flother.

1809, Thomas Donaldson, Poems, Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect / Both Humourous and Entertaining:

She sat by the fire; the ash—of the note book to Patrick—lay in a flother on the hot bricks.

1909, Alice Dudeney ("Mrs. Henry Dudeney"), Rachel Lorian:

So if you lose your way, notes like these are worse than useless, and are likely [to] set you off into a flother of paper shuffling and awkwardness.

2021, Julia Goodman, You brand: A Manual for Confidence:

(in UK dialects, uncountable, rare) A state of agitation or disarray, a lather.


toothcomb

toothcombs (plural)
tooth comb (alternative)
tooth-comb (alternative)

The noun is derived from fine toothcomb, a rebracketing of fine-tooth comb. The verb is derived from the noun.

LL-Q1860 (eng)-I learned some phrases-toothcomb.wav

The police went through all his possessions with a toothcomb.

[advertisement] [A] quantity of Pencil Cases, Fans, Tooth-combs, and Nail-brushes, a Pier-glass, and various other very useful articles.

1828 April 19, The Hobart Town Courier, Hobart, Tasmania, page 3, column 2:

When the Arabs speak of things as alike in respect of good qualities, they call them 'as like as the teeth of a tooth-comb;' whereas, if they speak of similarity in bad qualities, they say 'as like as the teeth of an ass.'

1850, Al Hariri of Basra, “The Makamah of Damietta. The Words of Hareth ibn-Hammam.”, in Theodore Preston, transl., Makamat: Or Rhetorical Anecdotes of Al Hariri of Basra […], London: […] W[illia]m H[oughton] Allen & Co., […]; Paris: B. Duprat, →OCLC, footnote 4, page 374:

Racks, shears and toothcombs here, sit down: / With such a shaggy, shockdog crown / Who but some rustic, clodpoll clown / Would think of venturing into town?

1853 January 14, James Henry, Notes of a Twelve Years’ Voyage of Discovery in the First Six Books of the Eneis, Dresden: Meinhold and Sons, →OCLC:

Thin-skinned dunces, too, in power, hate satire, to use Sidney [i.e., Sydney] Smith's simile, for the same reason as "fleas detest tooth-combs," because they cannot escape it.

1854, Octavius Freire Owen, “The Degenerate Bees”, in John Gay, The Fables of John Gay Illustrated. […], London: George Routledge & Co. […], →OCLC, footnote 2, page 228:

Ah, Sir, you needn't look. I never had nothing in my head since I was born, and I always use the toothcomb.

1868 March 1, Matthew Browne, “A Working Man’s Courtship”, in Norman McLeod, editor, Good Words, volume IX, London: Strahan and Co., […], →OCLC, letter XI, page 188, column 2:

Mr. John Oxley Parker exhibited the following miscellaneous objects found at Othona (Bradwell-juxta-Mare), [...] two pieces of Roman tooth combs, [...]

1873 August 1, “Annual General Meeting at Maldon, 1st August, 1873”, in Transactions of the Essex Archæological Society, volume V, part IV, Colchester, Essex: […] Museum, Colchester Castle, […] “Essex & West Suffolk Gazette” Office, […], →ISSN, →OCLC, page 318:

I wandered up and down the streets, vainly hoping to be struck by some brilliant inspiration that should select for me the sort of work to take in hand. I would be a crossing-sweeper, a shoeblack, a vendor of cherries, a seller of penny watches or tooth[-]combs.

1877, Douglas Straight, “Joey the Tumbler”, in Old Pictures in a New Frame, London: Frederick Warne and Co., […], →OCLC, page 29:

Queer thing, isn't it, that all the pretty things that please one are all irretrievably wrong, and everything that sets one's teeth on edge, and scratches through one's brain like a metallic tooth comb, are all scientifically exquisite.

1878, Ouida [pseudonym; Maria Louise Ramé], chapter XXIII, in Friendship […], volume II, London: Chatto & Windus, […], →OCLC, page 259:

Gradually, as we became more wet, we grew more desperate, and before long floundered down as regardless of bumps as a bluebottle in a conservatory: at one moment slithering over wet slabs of rock to which damp tufts of moss were loosely adherent, at another climbing carefully over gigantic toothcombs of fallen trees, then plunging head foremost—sometimes not exactly head foremost—through jungle-like masses of long grass and dwarf brushwood.

1885, Clinton [Thomas] Dent, “A Day across Country”, in Above the Snow Line: Mountaineering Sketches between 1870 and 1880, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., →OCLC, page 121:

The only instrument that will adequately meet the case is a general Consular warrant under which the police shall be able to make a house to house search, swooping down upon any premises which they have reason to suspect, and, metaphorically speaking, drawing the contents through a tooth[-]comb.

1913 December 13, “The Smuggling of Arms”, in The North-China Herald and Supreme Court & Consular Gazette: The Weekly Edition of the North-China Daily News, volume CIX (New Series), number 2418, Shanghai: […] North-China Daily News & Herald, Ld., →OCLC, page 791, column 3:

Word was passed to the Customs authorities, and every soul that left the ship was gone over with a toothcomb!

1924 March, Agatha Christie, “The Million Dollar Bond Robbery”, in Poirot Investigates, London: John Lane, The Bodley Head, published 2007, →ISBN, page 126:

The Russians were suspicious as hell. I gather they went over the place with a toothcomb when they got back, looking for microphones and bombs and so on.

1957, Ian Fleming, “The Tunnel of Rats”, in From Russia, with Love, London: Vintage Books, published 2012, →ISBN, part 2 (The Execution), page 197:

I want you to go through its staff with the finest toothcomb you can lay your hands on, and to miss out nothing, absolutely nothing.

1981, Peter James, chapter 9, in Dead Letter Drop, London: Pan Books, published 2014, →ISBN, page 73:

Jeremy Purseglove went through the tables with a tooth comb, which helped no end with ecology and naming; [...]

1987, [John St.] Bodfan Gruffydd, “Acknowledgements”, in Tree Form, Size and Colour: A Guide to Selection, Planting and Design, London: E. & F. N. Spon, Chapman & Hall, published 1995, →ISBN, page xi:

I just want some assurance that HMRC [Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs] will go through the deal with a toothcomb to ensure that the taxpayer gets the proper benefit under the law of the tax that Vodafone should pay on the massive windfall profit that it is making.

2013 September 2, Margaret Hodge (chair), “Oral Evidence”, in Committee of Public Accounts, House of Commons of the United Kingdom, Charges for Customer Telephone Lines: Twenty-seventh Report of Session 2013–14 […] (HC 617), London: The Stationery Office, published 11 November 2013, →ISBN, archived from the original on 2013-11-11, question 103, page Ev 16:

(British, chiefly figurative, sometimes proscribed) A comb with finely spaced teeth, chiefly as a metaphorical means of making a thorough search.


sticky tape

sticky tape (countable and uncountable, plural sticky tapes)


whatsit

whatsits (plural)
whatzit (alternative)
wotsit (alternative)
wossit (alternative)

Pass me one of those whatsits, will you?

(chiefly UK, Ireland) A thing (used in a vague way to refer to something whose name one cannot recall, or that one is embarrassed to say)


Grauniad

Deliberate misspelling of Guardian, coined by the UK satirical magazine Private Eye, implying that the Guardian newspaper was prone to typographical errors.

Good old Grauniad.

1984 [1981], Jonathan Lynn, Antony Jay, “The Right to Know”, in The Complete Yes Minister, →ISBN, page 135:

Stop along the road for papers; scan headlines, make sure that no late-breaking story displaced the Vanguard piece and that it's intact (ninety-five percent – a satisfyingly high score), check out Doonesbury in the Grauniad, then away.

Katherine Viner wants to appoints a "1 per cent correspondent" to hound the filthy rich. As befits a possible Grauniad editrix, the NUJ misspelt her name.

2015 February 24, Patrick Kidd, “Guardian Angels Declare”, in The Times, page 11:

His appointment marked the start of a daily corrections and clarifications column, a first for a UK newspaper, which has mined a rich seam of typos and other slips for which “the Grauniad” is fondly known.

2021 May 12, Elisabeth Ribbans, “Typo negative: the best and worst of Grauniad mistakes over 200 years”, in The Guardian:

(UK, newspapers, humorous) The Guardian, a British daily national newspaper.


terraced house

(UK) A type of house which shares both sidewalls with the adjacent houses, typical of Victorian and Edwardian housing in English cities.


Ugandan affairs

/juːˌɡændən əˈfɛəz/

Probably a variant of Ugandan discussions (“(UK, euphemistic, informal) sexual intercourse”), from discuss Uganda (“(UK, euphemistic, informal) to have sex”), said to have been coined by the English journalist and poet James Fenton (born 1949), based on a 1973 incident at a party at which the Irish journalist Mary Kenny (born 1944) explained why she was in the arms of a former Ugandan cabinet minister by saying they were “upstairs discussing Uganda”. The incident was reported by the British satirical and current affairs magazine Private Eye on 9 March 1973, which then popularized the expression by using it to refer to other sexual affairs.

Everyone known about them now; Rosemary has even been mentioned in Private Eye as "discussing Ugandan affairs with a gorgeous young American don."

1984, Alison Lurie, chapter 5, in Foreign Affairs, New York, N.Y.: Avon Books, published November 1985, →ISBN, page 171:

'You sure they're not … er … discussing Ugandan affairs?' Rhona asked, citing the old euphemism for illicit sex.

1998, Cathy Kelly, chapter 13, in She’s the One, London: Headline Publishing Group, published 2011, →ISBN:

The fact that his [George Jellicoe, 2nd Earl Jellicoe's] "heavy workload" included many discussions of Ugandan affairs just shows how prescient Private Eye was when it adopted the phrase as a euphemism for the sexual indiscretion of politicians at least 15 years later.

2004 January 1, Alan Travis, “Call girls, drugs and Ugandan affairs shook cabinet: Ministers in the Heath government had to quit”, in Alan Rusbridger, editor, The Guardian, London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2016-12-01:

She [Margaret Thatcher] had been baffled by what Private Eye referred to as "Ugandan affairs" in relation to [Cecil] Parkinson's affair with Sarah Keays,^([sic – meaning Sara Keays]) saying: "I know it's untrue. He's never been to Africa."

2016 January 25, “Lord Parkinson – obituary: Thatcherite star whose career faltered after revelations of an affair with his former secretary”, in Chris Evans, editor, The Daily Telegraph, London: Telegraph Media Group, →ISSN, →OCLC:

(British, euphemistic, humorous) Often in the form to discuss Ugandan affairs: sexual intercourse, usually an extramarital affair.

BBC News
James Fenton
Mary Kenny
Private Eye


barmcake

barmcakes (plural)
barm cake (alternative)

Without these deprivations we would have missed the exquisite pleasure of a Spam barmcake, bought at a local cafe on pay day.

1975, Joan Markham, The Lamp was Dimmed: The Story of a Nurse's Training:

"More like his coffin if the barmcake tries to take on the river tonight. Och, but it'll serve him right."


hench

en-adj

hench (comparative hencher, superlative henchest)

hencher (comparative)
henchest (superlative)

He's well hench.

That's a seriously hench doorman.

It caught me off guard because it was hench. My mind was like, ‘right, this burger’s hench’. I looked at it, right, ‘that look peng’, and it hit me two thirds of the way in, I clocked that the burger was not peng at all, it was just hench.

2016 December 9, Adam Boult, quoting Elijah Quashie, “These brilliant videos about London's takeaway chicken shops are a YouTube hit”, in The Daily Telegraph:

(UK, slang, MLE) Big, strong, and muscular.


polyfoto

Originally Polyfoto (“a commercial venture”), from poly- and photo.

(obsolete, British, photography) One of a series of 48 photographs (similar to photo booth photos) taken using a Polyfoto camera, which used a single glass plate negative, the operator turning a handle on the side to take each exposure and also move the plate.


polyfoto

en-verb

polyfoto (third-person singular simple present polyfotos, present participle polyfotoing, simple past and past participle polyfotoed)

polyfotos (present singular third-person)
polyfotoing (participle present)
polyfotoed (participle past)
polyfotoed (past)

(obsolete, British, photography) To take such a series of photographs.


at latter Lammas

According to one theory, Lammas Day (1 August) being an important day for settling accounts, latter Lammas signified the last day for settling accounts: in other words, judgement day. Thus, in worldly terms, at latter Lammas means never.


triculate

triculate (third-person singular simple present triculates, present participle triculating, simple past and past participle triculated)

triculates (present singular third-person)
triculating (participle present)
triculated (participle past)
triculated (past)

I ha' just finished triculating on her up like. She'll dew now.

1903, Charles Fielding Marsh, God's Scholars, page 109:

(British, dialectal, usually with "up") To beautify; to pretty


PMSL

(Commonwealth, UK, Ireland, Internet slang, text messaging) Initialism of pissing myself laughing (used to indicate great amusement).


ground game

en-noun

ground game (countable and uncountable, plural ground games)

1. Every occupier of land shall have, as incident to and inseparable from his occupation of the land, the right to kill and take ground game thereon, concurrently with any other person who may be entitled to kill and take ground game on the same land.

(British, law, uncountable) Rabbits and hares


vell

en-verb

vell (third-person singular simple present vells, present participle velling, simple past and past participle velled)

vells (present singular third-person)
velling (participle present)
velled (participle past)
velled (past)

For velling, the share is made wide, with the angle or outer point of the wing or fin turned upward, to separate the turf entirely from the soil

1796, William Marshall, Rural Economy of the West of England:

(UK, dialect) To cut the turf from, as for burning.


vell

Compare Latin vellus (“the skin of a sheep with the wool on it, a fleece, a hide or pelt”), or English fell (“a hide”).

cog

(UK, dialect) The salted stomach of a calf, used in making cheese; a rennet bag.


midnight feast

I think we ought to have a midnight feast every term, you know! School doesn't seem really complete without that!

1944, Enid Blyton, The Second Form at St. Clare's:

(British) An informal meal of various snack foods, eaten at or around midnight, typically arranged and held in secret by children.


alleygating

Alleygating has been shown to work. A number of criminal or anti-social acts can be curtailed or eliminated if security gates are installed.

(British) The erection of lockable gates at the ends of alleys and passages.


untick

en-verb

untick (third-person singular simple present unticks, present participle unticking, simple past and past participle unticked)

unticks (present singular third-person)
unticking (participle present)
unticked (participle past)
unticked (past)

(transitive) (UK) To uncheck; to remove a tick mark from.


miscapitalise

miscapitalise (third-person singular simple present miscapitalises, present participle miscapitalising, simple past and past participle miscapitalised)

miscapitalises (present singular third-person)
miscapitalising (participle present)
miscapitalised (participle past)
miscapitalised (past)

(UK) Alternative spelling of miscapitalize.


wineberry

From Middle English wynberie, wynberie (“a grape or some other kind of berry”), from Old English wīnberġe (“grape”, literally “wine-berry”), from Proto-West Germanic *wīnabaʀi, from Proto-Germanic *wīnabasją (“wineberry; grape”), equivalent to wine + berry. Doublet of whimberry (“bilberry”).
Cognate with Dutch wijnbeer, West Frisian wynbei (“grape”), wiemer (“currant”), German Weinbeere (“grape”), Swedish vinbär (“currant”), Icelandic vínber (“grape”), Gothic 𐍅𐌴𐌹𐌽𐌰𐌱𐌰𐍃𐌹 (weinabasi, “grape”).


eleven plus

eleven pluses (plural)
11 plus (alternative)

From eleven + plus, eleven years being the minimum age of students taking the test.

The fact that late developers emerged, ripe for grammar school education, having 'failed' the eleven plus test, was embarrassing.

1967, Robert John Montgomery, Examinations: An Account of Their Evolution as Administrative Devices in England:

As one vociferous eleven-plus critic put it, when Winston Churchill was a boy he produced nothing more than "a large blob of ink" on his entrance exam.

2007, Stephen Murdoch, IQ: A Smart History of a Failed Idea:

(UK) An examination formerly administered to all students in their final year of primary education, now used only in a few counties of England and Northern Ireland.


grebo

en-noun

grebo (countable and uncountable, plural grebos)

The highlight of my school days was one day in the mid-70s. There was a sort of glam-rock cult called the Grebos back then who wore smartish Disco clothes […]

1998, "Bill Jillians", alt.journalism.gonzo (Internet newsgroup)

But the realistic side stepped in — y'know, if you're on the point of giving birth, you don't really need a bunch of grebos playing some dodgy old music downstairs.

2002, Glyn Brown, “Baxter Dury: Chip off the old Blockhead”, in The Independent on Sunday:

(slang, UK, countable, chiefly West Midlands) A greaser or biker; a member of any alternative subculture, as opposed to a chav or townie.

[…] they were soon pigeonholed under the banner of "grebo rock" […]

1995, Colin Larkin, The Guinness Encyclopedia of Popular Music:

[…] focused on the hyper punk aspect of England's "grebo" movement […]

2002, Vladimir Bogdanov, Chris Woodstra, Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide to Rock:

This debut album is a glorious grebo-fest.

2003, Peter Buckley, Jonathan Buckley, The Rough Guide to Rock:

(slang, UK, countable) A member of a United Kingdom subculture of the late 1980s and early 1990s, musically affiliated with garage rock and electronica, typically wearing baggy clothes and hair in high ponytails.


amber light

(British) An amber-coloured traffic light indicating that vehicles should stop unless it is unsafe to do so, approximately equivalent to the yellow light in the US.

(British, idiomatic) Hesitance to proceed; limited approval or permission to proceed.


patronisingly

en-adv

patronisingly (comparative more patronisingly, superlative most patronisingly)

more patronisingly (comparative)
most patronisingly (superlative)

(British, Australia) Alternative spelling of patronizingly.


play silly buggers

en-verb

play silly buggers (third-person singular simple present plays silly buggers, present participle playing silly buggers, simple past and past participle played silly buggers)

plays silly buggers (present singular third-person)
playing silly buggers (participle present)
played silly buggers (participle past)
played silly buggers (past)
play silly beggars (alternative)

"Look," he said, "it's just fate playing silly buggers with you. With me. With us. It's a complete coincidence."

1982, Douglas Adams, Life, the Universe and Everything, page 95:

(British, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, idiomatic) To act in a stupid or reckless manner.


barse

So the prospects for this were pretty bad, and truly the most exciting thing I got out of watching this was feeling a pool of cold sweat collect in the hairy part of my barse, so livid was I with the treatment of Hooper's original classic.

2000 March 13, death_hammer [username], “texas chainsaw 4”, in alt.horror (Usenet):

The padding is also way too thin and I'm constantly aware of the pressure on my barse (I think perinium^([sic]) is the correct term) - something I don't have with my other shorts or tights.

2002 September 5, bomba, “SR: Shorts Review”, in alt.mountain-bike (Usenet):

Going to be a cruiser style one me thinks, low seat making it easy to swing my leg over, laid back riding position, bit wide seat for my arse cheeks to sit on, rather than my barse being perched on a plank seat,

2012 March 28, Gazz, “After a mid size cruiser”, in uk.rec.motorcycles (Usenet):

(UK, vulgar, slang) The perineum of a man.


sent to the Tower

Referring to the Tower of London, a famous citadel used as a prison.

(British, colloquial) imprisoned; punished.


formularise

formularise (third-person singular simple present formularises, present participle formularising, simple past and past participle formularised)

formularises (present singular third-person)
formularising (participle present)
formularised (participle past)
formularised (past)
formularize (alternative)

(British) To express as a formula, to formulate.


promenader

(chiefly UK, music) An attender at, or devotee of, promenade concerts.


laddish

en-adj

laddish (comparative more laddish, superlative most laddish)

more laddish (comparative)
most laddish (superlative)

[…] versions of a laddish or protest heterosexual masculinity […]

2003, Linda McDowell, Redundant Masculinities?: Employment Change and White Working Class Youth:

This underachievement is linked to a laddish culture […]

2006, Carolyn Jackson, Lads and Ladettes in School: Gender and a Fear of Failure:

(British) Like a stereotypical Jack the lad: boorish, reckless, inclined to binge drinking, etc.


laddism

(British) Laddish beliefs and behaviours.


tarty

tarty (comparative tartier, superlative tartiest)

tartier (comparative)
tartiest (superlative)

Atwood's Edible Woman offers a brilliant analysis of woman as consumable in consumer capitalism: when Marian turns out in a tarty hairdo and red dress...

1991, Gayle Greene, Changing the Story: Feminist Fiction and the Tradition:

The vice trust, with equal ingenuity, sent prostitutes dressed in their tartiest outfits into respectable neighborhoods to inquire about apartments for rent.

2004, Thomas A Reppetto, American Mafia: A History of Its Rise to Power:

Ravey Davy's flashy, trashy signature style doesn't seem to be quite as big a hit among the Boujis Boozers as I might have hoped. Maybe it'll get tartier as the season progresses and the climate allows for rising hemlines.

2007 February 24, Polly Vernon, “Posh versus grunge - the new bar wars”, in The Guardian:

(British, slang) Like a tart (promiscuous woman); slutty, whorish.


estate car

From estate; estate cars were originally designed for transporting people and luggage between railway stations and country estates.


pieman

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

* From Middle English pyman (attested as a surname), equivalent to pie + -man.
* (caller in gambling games): Such games were once often run by sellers of pies as a sideline.

(UK, slang, obsolete) The man who called heads or tails in street gambling games of coin tossing.


council estate

A person who has grown up in a council housing estate is likely to be—indeed, visibly is—more middle class in outlook than a person who has grown up in a slum.

1941, George Orwell, The Lion and the Unicorn:

(UK) A housing estate consisting, entirely or principally, of council housing.

kaupungin vuokra-asuntoalue

a housing estate consisting of council housing


sink estate

(UK) A council estate characterised by high levels of economic and social deprivation, often associated with high crime rates.

ongelma-alue

council estate characterized by deprivation


Zimmer frame

Zimmer frames (plural)
zimmer frame (alternative)

From Zimmer Orthopaedic Ltd, the original manufacturer.

Aids, such as a Zimmer frame, walking stick, or foot-drop splint may be needed at some point by many patients.

1988, Derick T Wade, Stroke: A Practical Guide:

These are three- or four-legged frames, on wheels, which remind one of a modern-day Zimmer frame.

2006, Irina Metzler, Disability in Medieval Europe:

(UK, Ireland, Commonwealth) A walking frame.


zimmer frame

the well-dressed, terminally ill defendant who stumbles into the dock, supported by a zimmer frame

She was leaning on a zimmer frame, peering up at them from under a bird's nest of uncombed grey hair.

2004, M C Beaton, Agatha Raisin and the Case of the Curious Curate:

(UK, Ireland, Commonwealth) Alternative letter-case form of Zimmer frame.


belt up

en-verb

belt up (third-person singular simple present belts up, present participle belting up, simple past and past participle belted up)

belts up (present singular third-person)
belting up (participle present)
belted up (participle past)
belted up (past)

(British, intransitive) To fasten one's seat belt.

(British, intransitive, colloquial, derogatory, usually in imperative) To stop talking or chattering; to shut up.


aerobridge

/ˈɛəɹ.əʊˌbɹɪdʒ/

(UK, aviation) Alternative form of airbridge: an elevated corridor connecting an airport to a plane.


dustcart

dustcarts (plural)
dust cart (alternative)

There were other disputes in Scotland, indeed in Glasgow, some affecting local authority services, and from the second day of coverage of the dustcart strike, reporting often linked them in bulletins; […]

2009, Peter Beharrell, Howard Davis, John Eldridge, Bad News, page 246:

Imagine your dismay if you'd been using film and not noticed the dustcart in the shot until you were back home, when your photos had been processed.

2014, Simon Whaley, Compass Points - Photography for Writers:

(UK, Ireland) A vehicle for collecting refuse.


do over

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

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

/ˈduːˌəʊvə(ɹ)/

If someone tries to do my guitar, and I don't want it to be done, it's between him and me. I don't call in Bill Wyman to come in and do him over for me, with one of his vicious ankle-twisters or Chinese burns.

1971 August 19, Robert Greenfield, quoting Keith Richards, “The Rolling Stone Interview: Keith Richard[s]”, in Rolling Stone, number 89, San Francisco, Calif.: Rolling Stone, →ISSN, →OCLC; republished in Cindy Ehrlich, editor, The Rolling Stones, [San Francisco, Calif.]: Straight Arrow Publishers, 1975, →OCLC, page 57, column 2:

I go to a match for one reason only: the aggro. […] [E]very night during the week we go round looking respectable … then if we see someone who looks like the enemy we ask him the time; if he answers in a foreign accent, we do him over; and if he's got any money on him we'll roll him as well.

1974, Paul Harrison, “Soccer’s Tribal Wars”, in New Society: The Social Science Weekly, London: Harrison Raison & Co., →ISSN, →OCLC, page 604; republished as Patrick Murphy, John Williams, Eric Dunning, Football on Trial: Spectator Violence and Development in the Football World, London, New York, N.Y.: Routledge, 1990, →ISBN, page 86:

(transitive, British, slang) To beat up.


jumble sale

Today's children at Christmas-time take a cast-off toy to the Toy Service held in many churches, and it is a pretty sight to watch those tiny mites clutching their toys and parting from them. However, it has been said that they should take one which they really love, otherwise it is no sacrifice. What busy-bodies some of these grown-ups are! Do they send off their best clothes to the local jumble sale?

1971, Gwen White, Antique Toys And Their Background, page 35:

(UK, Ireland) A sale of used goods by individuals operating tables or stalls, usually held indoors and open to the public.


shaggable

en-adj

shaggable (comparative more shaggable, superlative most shaggable)

more shaggable (comparative)
most shaggable (superlative)

"Still think she's shaggable, Lee?" Di Earnshaw's thin mouth pursed. "Not unless you like singing falsetto."

2002, Val McDermid, The Wire in the Blood:

And as if to confirm what cycling shorts had suggested, the magazines that once determined what would make a girl shaggable now explained to me why I and most of the other sixty per cent would remain unshagged until our buns could crack the porcelain.

2003, James Birrell, The Manana Man, page 29:

(British, slang) Worthy of shagging; fuckable.


woz ere

What are couples up to when one reclines on the stones and is ridden by the other? Will our talk excite the vandal? He woz ere, like you are now […]

The wooden surfaces of these desks also made a wonderful surface on which to scratch your name for all posterity: "I woz ere" being a favoured phrase.

2004, Sue Cowley, Sue Cowley's A-Z of Teaching:

[…] but it quickly gets repainted with Lennon images, peace messages and inconsequential tourist graffiti of the "we woz ere" variety.

(British, slang) Was here. Frequently placed after the author's name in graffiti.


biccy

biccies (plural)
biccie (alternative)
bickie (alternative)
bicky (alternative)
bikkie (alternative)
bikky (alternative)

From a clipping of biscuit + -y (forming diminutives).

Unnoticed, little Wayne, having finished his second choccy biccy, had moved off […]

Max had a gorgeous round, pale face surrounded by light brown curls, and he would say things like, "May I have a biccy, Mummy?"

(Australia, New Zealand, UK, colloquial, sometimes childish) Alternative form of biscuit: a cookie.