free

en-adj

free (comparative freer or more free, superlative freest or most free)

freer (comparative)
more free (comparative)
freest (superlative)
most free (superlative)

From Middle English free, fre, freo, from Old English frēo (“free”), from Proto-West Germanic *frī, from Proto-Germanic *frijaz (“beloved, not in bondage”), from Proto-Indo-European *priHós (“pleased, loved”), from *preyH- (“to please, love”). Related to friend.
cognates, etc
Germanic cognates include West Frisian frij (“free”), Dutch vrij (“free”), Low German free (“free”), German frei (“free”), Danish, Swedish and Norwegian fri (“free”).
Other cognates include Sanskrit प्रिय (priyá-, “beloved”).
Germanic and Celtic are the only Indo-European language branches in which the PIE word with the meaning of "dear, beloved" acquired the additional meaning of "free" in the sense of "not in bondage". This was an extension of the idea of "characteristic of those who are dear and beloved", in other words friends and tribe members (in contrast to unfree inhabitants from other tribes and prisoners of war, many of which were among the slaves – compare the Latin use of liberi to mean both "free persons" and "children of a family").

inh

there ain't no such thing as a free lunch

why buy the cow when you can get the milk for free

free service;  free socage

(UK, law, obsolete) Certain or honourable; the opposite of base.


encyclopaedia

en-noun

encyclopaedia (plural encyclopaedias or encyclopaediae)

encyclopaedias (plural)
encyclopaediae (plural)

Borrowed from New Latin encyclopaedia; the English word is an etymologically restored spelling variant of earlier encyclopedia, q.v.

(chiefly UK, Australia) Alternative spelling of encyclopedia.


pound

en-verb

pound (third-person singular simple present pounds, present participle pounding, simple past and past participle pounded)

pounds (present singular third-person)
pounding (participle present)
pounded (participle past)
pounded (past)

From Middle English pound, from Old English pund (“a pound, weight”), from Proto-West Germanic *pund, from Proto-Germanic *pundą (“pound, weight”), an early borrowing from Latin pondō (“by weight”), ablative form of pondus (“weight”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)pend- (“to pull, stretch”).
Cognate with Dutch pond, German Pfund, Danish pund and Swedish pund. Doublet of funt, pfund, pood, and punt.

der

‘Good-bye, my dear!' said Sleary. 'You'll make your fortun, I hope, and none of our poor folkth will ever trouble you, I'll pound it.’

1854, Dickens, chapter 4, in Hard Times:

“He's done,” said the Moocher brutally. “He didn't hear nuffin, I'll pound it.”

1874, Marcus Clarke, For the Term of His Natural Life, Penguin, published 2009, page 70:

(slang, UK regional, transitive) To wager a pound on.


pound

From Middle English pounde, ponde, pund, from Old English *pund (“an enclosure”). Related to Old English pyndan (“to enclose, shut up, dam, impound”). Compare also Old English pynd (“a cistern, lake”).

cog

Inspector Douglas Todd: Where did you get a truckload of cigarettes from anyway? / Detective Axel Foley: From the Dearborn Hijacking. / Todd: The Dearborn Hijacking? That bust went down weeks ago. That load's supposed to be in the damn pound!

1984, Beverly Hills Cop, Paramount Pictures:

(UK) A place for the detention of automobiles that have been illegally parked, abandoned, etc.


pie

en-verb

pie (third-person singular simple present pies, present participle pieing, simple past and past participle pied)

pies (present singular third-person)
pieing (participle present)
pied (participle past)
pied (past)

From Middle English pye, pie, pey, perhaps from Old English *pīe (“pastry”) (compare Old English pīe, pēo (“insect, bug”)), attested in early Middle English piehus (“bakery”, literally “pie-house”) c. 1199. Relation to Medieval Latin pica, pia (“pie, pastry”) is unclear, as there are no similar terms found in any Romance languages; therefore, like Irish pióg (“pie”), the Latin term may have been simply borrowed from the English.
Some sources state the word comes from Latin pīca (“magpie, jay”) (from the idea of the many ingredients put into pies likened to the tendency of magpies to bring a variety of objects back to their nests), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *(s)peyk- (“woodpecker; magpie”), though this has its controversies. However, if so, then it is a doublet of pica.

der

Some of my friends drop everyone out as soon as they get a girlfriend, and they alienate people. Or they stop going out to the gym and doing things they love because they're all about the other person. When you do that you're sacrificing yourself and you will be left with nothing if you split up. You'll have to start again and get back in contact with all your mates you've pied off. Shame.

2017, Marcel Somerville, Dr Marcel's Little Book of Big Love: Your Guide to Finding Love, the Island Way, London: Blink Publishing, →ISBN, page 50:

just my luck been put in a presentation group at uni with a guy I pied on tinder last week HAHA gud

2018 September 18, @_kirstenanna, Twitter, archived from the original on 2024-01-27:

(transitive, UK, slang, often followed by off) To ignore (someone).


A

* (highest rank, grade, music): From the initial position of the letter A in the English alphabet.
* (blood type): From A antigen


elephant

en-noun

elephant (countable and uncountable, plural elephants)

→ Hawaiian: ʻelepani

→ Maori: arewhana

→ Tokelauan: elefane

→ Tongan: ʻelefanite

→ Welsh: eliffant

From Middle English elefant, elefaunt, from Old French elefant, elefan, olifant, re-latinized in Middle French as elephant, from Latin elephantus, from Ancient Greek ἐλέφᾱς (eléphās) (gen. ἐλέφαντος (eléphantos)). Believed to be derived from an Afroasiatic form such as Proto-Berber *eḷu (“elephant”) (compare Tamahaq êlu, Tamasheq alu) or Egyptian ꜣbw (“elephant; ivory”). More at ivory. Replaced Middle English olifant (from the aforementioned Old French form, from Vulgar Latin *olifantus), which replaced Old English elpend (“elephant”).

elephant trunk

Pachypodium namaquanum or Agave attenuata

elephant tortoise

Testudo gigantea or Testudo elaphantopus

elephant yam

Amorphophallus konjac or Amorphophallus paeoniifolius

Most Exalted Order of the White Elephant

Let's play hide and seek. I'll count. One elephant, two elephant, three elephant...

(British, childish) used when counting to add length, so that each count takes about one second


Wednesday

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

From Middle English Wednesday, Wednesdai, from unattested Old English *wēdnesdæġ (“Wednesday”), synchronically an i-mutated form of attested wōdnesdæġ (itself from Proto-West Germanic *Wōdanas dag, its reflex Middle English Wodnesdei falling into disuse), from Proto-West Germanic *Wōdinas dag also attested in Old Frisian wednesdei and Middle Dutch wenesdach. In any case, a calque (interpretātiō germānica) of Latin diēs Mercuriī (“day of Mercury”) and Koine Ancient Greek ἡμέρα (hēméra, “day”) Ἑρμοῦ (Hermoû, “of Hermes”), via an association of the god Odin (“Woden”) with Mercury and Hermes.
Cognate with West Frisian woansdei (“Wednesday”), Afrikaans Woensdag (“Wednesday”), Dutch woensdag (“Wednesday”), Limburgish woonsdig (“Wednesday”), Dutch Low Saxon woonsdag (“Wednesday”), German Low German Woonsdag (“Wednesday”), dialectal German Wodenstag (“Wednesday”), Danish onsdag (“Wednesday”), Norwegian Bokmål onsdag (“Wednesday”), Norwegian Nynorsk onsdag (“Wednesday”), Swedish onsdag (“Wednesday”).
See also Japanese 水曜日 (Mercury's day).

cog

(UK, soccer) Nickname of Sheffield Wednesday of the Football League.


swap

en-noun

swap (countable and uncountable, plural swaps)

From Middle English swap, swappe (“a blow, strike, lash from a whip”), from the verb (see Etymology 1 above).

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


trade

trade (countable and uncountable, plural trades)

From Middle English trade (“path, course of conduct”), introduced into English by Hanseatic merchants, from Middle Low German trade (“track, course”), from Old Saxon trada (“spoor, track”), from Proto-Germanic *tradō (“track, way”), and cognate with Old English tredan (“to tread”); ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *dreh₂- (“to tread, walk, step, run”).

der

Even before noon there was considerable trade.

(uncountable, UK) The business given to a commercial establishment by its customers.


patronage

en-noun

patronage (countable and uncountable, plural patronages)

/ˈpeɪtɹənɪd͡ʒ/

/ˈpætɹənɪd͡ʒ/

From Middle English patronage, from Old French patronage (modern French patronage). Equivalent to patron + -age.

Advowson is the right of presentation to a church, or ecclesiastical benefice. Advowson, advocatio, signifies the taking into protection; and therefore is synonymous with patronage

1765–1769, William Blackstone, Commentaries on the Laws of England, (please specify |book=I to IV), Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] Clarendon Press, →OCLC:

(UK, law) The right of presentation to church or ecclesiastical benefice; advowson.

nimitysvalta

legal: right of presentation to church or ecclesiastical benefice


head

head (countable and uncountable, plural heads or head)

heads (plural)
head (plural)
heed (alternative obsolete)
hed (alternative obsolete)
'ead (alternative UK pronunciation-spelling)

→ Japanese: ヘッド (heddo)

Sranan Tongo: ede

Aukan: ede

Saramaccan: hédi

Etymology tree
Proto-Indo-European *kap-
Proto-Indo-European *káput-
Proto-Germanic *haubudą
Old English hēafod
Middle English heed
English head
From Middle English hed, from Old English hēafd-, hēafod (“head; top; chief”), from Proto-West Germanic *haubud, from Proto-Germanic *haubudą (“head”), from Proto-Indo-European *káput.
The modern word comes from Old English oblique stem hēafd-; the expected Modern English outcome for hēafod would be *heaved (similar to the Middle English word). Doublet of cape, capo, caput, chef, chief, and Howth.
Cognate with Scots heid, hede, hevid, heved (“head”), Old English hafola (“head”), North Frisian hood (“head”), Dutch hoofd (“head”), German Haupt (“head”), Swedish huvud (“head”), Danish hoved (“head”), Icelandic höfuð (“head”), Latin caput (“head”), Sanskrit कपाल (kapāla, “skull”), Hindi कपाल (kapāl, “skull”).

頭

つぶり, tsuburi, つぃぶる, tsiburu, つぃぶるぃ, tsiburi

pää

principal operative part of a machine or tool

have one's head screwed on the right way

know one's head from a hole in the ground

run around like a chicken with its head cut off

would lose one's head if it wasn't attached

would lose one's head if it wasn't bolted on

would lose one's head if it wasn't glued on

would lose one's head if it wasn't screwed on

would lose one's head if it wasn't stuck on

would lose one's head if it wasn't tied on

would lose one's head if it weren't attached

you can't put an old head on young shoulders

you can't put a wise head on young shoulders

(countable) The topmost, foremost, or leading part.

(British, geology) Deposits near the top of a geological succession.

The topmost, foremost, or leading part.
A headland.

At 4pm, the phone went. It was The Sun: 'We hear your daughter's been expelled for cheating at her school exams...' / She'd made a remark to a friend at the end of the German exam and had been pulled up for talking. / As they left the exam room, she muttered that the teacher was a 'twat'. He heard and flipped—a pretty stupid thing to do, knowing the kids were tired and tense after exams. Instead of dropping it, the teacher complained to the Head and Deb was carpeted.

I was called into the head's office to discuss my behaviour.

(social, countable, metonymic) A leader or expert.


name

→ Sranan Tongo: nen

→ Japanese: ネーム (nēmu)

PIE word
 *h₁nómn̥
From Middle English name, nome, from Old English nama, noma, from Proto-West Germanic *namō, from Proto-Germanic *namô, from Proto-Indo-European *h₁nómn̥. Cognates include Saterland Frisian Noome, West Frisian namme, Dutch naam, German Name, Danish navn, Swedish namn, Latin nōmen (whence Spanish nombre), Russian имя (imja), Ashkun nām, Kamkata-viri nom, num, Prasuni nom, nëmë, Waigali nām, Sanskrit नामन् (nā́man). Possible cognates outside of Indo-European include Finnish nimi and Hungarian név. Doublet of nomen and noun.

it doesn't matter what they say about you as long as they spell your name right

(UK, finance) An investor in Lloyd's of London bearing unlimited liability.


abb

en-noun

abb (countable and uncountable, plural abbs)

From Middle English ab, abbe, from Old English āweb, āb, ōweb, from away + web (“warp thread”).


ablution

ablution (countable and uncountable, plural ablutions)

From Middle English ablucioun (“cleansing of impurities”), from Old French ablution, and its source, Late Latin ablūtiō (“a washing away”), from abluō (“wash away”), from ab- (“away”) + lavō (“wash”).

inh

(plural only, UK, military) The location or building where the showers and basins are located.


abolition

/ˌæb.əˈlɪʃ.n̩/

/əˈbɔl.ɪʃən/

First attested in 1529. Either from Middle French abolition, or directly from Latin abolitiō, from aboleō (“destroy”). Compare French abolition. Equivalent to abolish + -tion.

(historical, often capitalised, UK, US) The ending of the slave trade or of slavery.

abolició

abolition of slavery and the slave trade

Abschaffung (der Sklaverei / des Sklavenhandels)


aboon

From Middle English abone, abowne, from abuven, from Old English abūfan (“above”).


aboon

The ceiling fair that rose aboon.

1819, Joseph Rodman Drake, The Culprit Fay:

(Scotland, British, Cheshire dialect) Above.


aboon

The Sun ſhall change, the Moon to change ſhall ceaſe;
The Gaits to clim-----the Sheep to yield the Fleece,
Ere ought by me be either ſaid or done,
Shall do thee Wrang, I ſwear by all aboon.

1730, Allan Ramsay, “[https://www.google.com.au/books/edition/The_Gentle_Shepherd_Ec/Cs9ZAAAAcAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&pg=PA22 [Act II, Scene IV]]”, in The Gentle Shepherd: A Scots Paſtoral-Comedy, page 23:

We'll a' meet aboon! We'll a' meet aboon!
Oh what a blithe meeting yon meeting aboon!

1871, James Ballantine, “We'll A' Meet Aboon”, in Lilias Lee and Other Poems, Edinburgh, London: William Blackwood and Sons, page 180:


Abraham man

Abraham men (plural)
Abraham-man (alternative)
Abrahamman (alternative)
Abram man (alternative)
Abram-man (alternative)
Abramman (alternative)

From patients claiming, genuinely or not, to be temporarily discharged from the Abraham ward at Bethlem Royal Hospital (also known as Bedlam), a psychiatric hospital in London, for the purpose of begging. Possibly an allusion to a story in Luke 16, in which the beggar Lazarus ends up in Abraham's bosom. First use appears c. 1561 in The Fraternity of Vagabonds (1561) by John Awdely.

(UK, thieves' cant, obsolete) A mentally ill beggar.


on

Etymology tree
Proto-West Germanic *ana
Old English on
Middle English on
English on
From Middle English on, from Old English on, an (“on, upon, onto, in, into”), from Proto-West Germanic *ana, from Proto-Germanic *ana (“on, at”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂en-.
Cognate with North Frisian a (“on, in”), Saterland Frisian an (“on, at”), West Frisian oan (“on, at”), Dutch aan (“on, at, to”), Low German an (“on, at”), German an (“to, at, on”), Swedish å (“on, at, in”), Faroese á (“on, onto, in, at”), Icelandic á (“on, in”), Gothic 𐌰𐌽𐌰 (ana), Ancient Greek ἀνά (aná, “up, upon”), Albanian në (“in”); and from Old Norse upp á: Danish på, Swedish på, Norwegian på, see upon.

etymon

Southern US, Midland US, Philadelphia, Baltimore

It's not fair to do that – it's just not on.

This kind of over-packaging of goods is completely not on.

1998 May 22, Phoenix Gamma, “If I was owned Nintendo...”, in alt.games.video.nintendo-64 (Usenet):

so Simon Nelson saying on Feedback "we'd prefer it if everybody listened to digital radio via DAB" is completely not on at all.

2003 August 12, DAB sounds worse than FM, “Gerg Dyke's Speech at Radio Festival”, in alt.radio.digital (Usenet):

(chiefly UK, informal, usually negative) Acceptable, appropriate.


on

The Tories are on twenty-five percent in this constituency.

The blue team are on six points and the red team on five.

Smith scored again on twelve minutes, doubling Mudchester Rovers' lead.

The Spain striker had given Chelsea the lead on 29 minutes but was shown a straight red card 10 minutes later for a rash challenge on Mark Gower.

2011 September 24, Aled Williams, “Chelsea 4-1 Swansea”, in BBC Sport:

(UK, especially in sports reporting) At (a given time after the start of something).


on

From Old Norse ón, án (“without”), from Proto-Germanic *ēnu, *ēno, *ino (“without”), from Proto-Indo-European *ḗnu (“without”). Cognate with North Frisian on (“without”), Middle Dutch an, on (“without”), Middle Low German āne (“without”), German ohne (“without”), Gothic 𐌹𐌽𐌿 (inu, “without, except”).
Unlikely to be related to Ancient Greek ἄνευ (áneu, “without”), which likely akin to Proto-Germanic *sundraz instead (whence sunder).


y

Abbreviations.
y
# (Stenoscript) the sound sequence /ɔɪ̯/.
# (Stenoscript) Abbreviation of why.
# (Stenoscript) the suffix -ry or -rry.

(UK, television) Abbreviation of youth, usually followed by an age appropriate for the content so marked.


absentee

absentista

landholder who doesn't live where his estate is

My trustees are going to lend Earl Blessington sixty thousand pounds (at six per cent.) on a Dublin mortgage. Only think of my becoming an Irish absentee!

1840, Lord Byron, “Letter 374: to Mr. Moore (24 May 1820)”, in John Murray, editor, The Works of Lord Byron: With His Letters and Journals, and His Life, page 317:

(chiefly British, historical) A landholder who lives in another district or country than the one in which his estate is situated.


rag week

From rag (“university students society run for charitable fundraising”) + week, possibly from the verb rag (“tease; torment; banter”).

compound

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

This week has been the University College Rag Week. The students are given more or less a free hand all the week. They organize a series of revels culminating in a grand procession and collection this afternoon.

1949 April 10, The Texas Outlook, volume 33, number 4, page 4:

The only acting that looks like anything but rag week at a bad university is by Billy Hartman as a private detective.

1982 January 6, B.A. Young, The Financial Times, section 1, page 9:

Worse than that, too, during Rag Week when the drink flowed quickly and the privy seemes too far to stagger.

In truth the gags seldom rise above the level of an undergraduate Rag Week but speed, quickchange wigs and sheer chutzpah from Russell Bentley, pretty blonde Marianne Levy, Joel Brookes and Teddy Lawrence give wicked twists to such as 'Richard and Judaism', a Who Wants to be a Millionaire? contestant whose phone-a-friend is his argumentative Jewish mother, a wondering 'Wandering Jew' and a savage Shylock rehearsal scene.

2002 December 19, John Thaxter, “Tower of Bagel”, in The Stage, page 15:

(chiefly British and Ireland, university slang) An annual event in many universities where students engage in unusual activities to raise money for charity.


spring

en-verb

spring (third-person singular simple present springs, present participle springing, simple past sprang or sprung, past participle sprung)

springs (present singular third-person)
springing (participle present)
sprang (past)
sprung (past)
sprung (participle past)
spring (infinitive)
spring (first-person present singular)
sprang (first-person past singular)
sprung (first-person nonstandard past singular)
spring (present second-person singular)
sprang (past second-person singular)
sprung (nonstandard past second-person singular)
springs (present singular third-person)
sprang (past singular third-person)
sprung (nonstandard past singular third-person)
spring (plural present)
sprang (past plural)
sprung (nonstandard past plural)
spring (present subjunctive)
sprang (past subjunctive)
sprung (nonstandard past subjunctive)
spring (imperative present)
springing (participle present)
sprung (participle past)
sprang (nonstandard participle past)

From Middle English springen, from Old English springan (“to spring, leap, bounce, sprout forth, emerge, spread out”), from Proto-West Germanic *springan, from Proto-Germanic *springaną (“to burst forth”), from Proto-Indo-European *spre(n)ǵʰ- (“to move, race, spring”), from *sper- (“to jerk, twitch, snap, shove”).
Cognates
* Saterland Frisian springe
* West Frisian springe
* Dutch springen
* German Low German springen
* German springen
* Danish springe
* Swedish springa
* Norwegian springe
* Faroese springa
* Icelandic springa (“to burst, explode”).
Other possible cognates include Lithuanian spreñgti (“to push (in)”), Old Church Slavonic прѧсти (pręsti, “to spin, to stretch”), Latin spargere (“to sprinkle, to scatter”), Ancient Greek σπέρχω (spérkhō, “to hasten”), Sanskrit स्पृहयति (spṛháyati, “to be eager”). Some newer senses derived from the noun.

cog

“Gee, Dad, Nancy’s springing all right,” Ray said and paused in spontaneous pleasure.
Stan Parker came, and together they looked at their swelling heifer.

1955, Patrick White, chapter 15, in The Tree of Man, New York: Viking, page 228:

(intransitive, UK, dialectal, chiefly of cows) To swell with milk or pregnancy.


van

(British) An enclosed railway vehicle for transport of goods, such as a boxcar/box van.


in

en-adj

in (comparative more in, superlative most in)

more in (comparative)
most in (superlative)
i' (alternative colloquial poetic)

→ Portuguese: in

PIE word
 *h₁en
Preposition and verb from Middle English in, from Old English in, from Proto-Germanic *in.
Adverb, noun and adjective from Middle English in, from Old English inn and inne, from Proto-Germanic *innai.
Sense 1/2 "in"/"into" are from the original PIE prefix, with locative/accusative case respectively. Sense 3/4 "qualification"/"means" are from the PIE metaphor of all infinitives coming from locatives.

Blocks of compressed coal keep the fire in for a long time, but they give out very little heat.

1888, H.C. O’Neill, Edith A. Barnett, Our Nurses and the Work They Have to Do, page 81:

“At all events,” said the Doctor, “the fire’s in, and here’s the camp-oven, too. Somebody will be here soon. I will go in and light my pipe.”

1894, Henry Kingsley, The Recollections of Geoffry Hamlyn - Volume 2, page 183:

Was there any person in your own house at Renmore to keep the fire in while you were here?.

1901, William Francis Barry, The Wizard’s Knot, page 231:

Normally when they camped in the wild they took turns to sit up and keep the fire in while the others slept, […].

2011, Rosemary Sutcliff, The Eagle of the Ninth Chronicles:

He turned and started making up the range to keep the fire in overnight, and heard the front door click and Grant’s motor fire up. Sleep. He needed to sleep.

2019, A.L.Lester, Shadows on the Border:

(of fire or fuel) (British, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand) Burning; ablaze.


sky

From Volsci (“a tribe who opposed the Romans”).

(UK, slang, obsolete, Westminster School) A disagreeable person; an enemy.


German

en-noun

German (countable and uncountable, plural Germans)

Germans (plural)
Germ. (alternative abbreviation)

/ˈd͡ʒɜː.mən/

From Latin Germānus, Germānī (“the peoples of Germānia”), as distinct from Gauls (in the writings of Caesar and Tacitus), and of uncertain ultimate origin (possibly Celtic/Gaulish).
Not related to german (“closely related”) or germane (from the Latin adjective germānus, through Old French).
Attested since at least 1520. Replaced the older terms Almain and Dutch (from Proto-Germanic *þiudiskaz) in English. Besides cognates of German, Almain, and Dutch, two other categories of words for the Germans in other languages are cognates of Saxon and descendants of Proto-Slavic *němьcь; see those entries for more.
The surname is generally from the noun, though sometimes confused with Herman, Hermann under Russian influence. As a German surname, Americanized from Germann. Compare Germán, Germain, Jerman.

There are some 32 different terms for prison officers, from the humorously affectionate kanga(rhyming slang:kangaroo = screw) and the variants Scooby-Doo and Dr. Who via the mildly confrontational German (as if still the enemy over 50 years after World War II!) to the outright abuse of shit-parcel.

1996, Angela Devlin, Prison Patter, Waterside Press, →ISBN:


fortnight

fortnights (plural)
fortnith (alternative dialectal obsolete)

From Middle English fourtenyght, fourtene nyght, from Old English fēowertīene niht (literally “fourteen nights"; the Anglo-Saxons counted by nights), equivalent to fourteen + night. Compare sennight.

Near-synonym: halfmonth

On being kicked the girl fell desperately in love with Henri, and for a fortnight they lived together and spent a thousand francs of Henri's money.

1933 January 9, George Orwell [pseudonym; Eric Arthur Blair], chapter I, in Down and Out in Paris and London, London: Victor Gollancz […], →OCLC:

The “lame duck” Johnson Administration, in its final fortnight in office, grappled last week with a diplomatic hot potato in the form of the latest Soviet proposal for a “just and lasting” Middle East peace settlement.

1969 January 12, Benjamin Welles, “A Hot Potato for Nixon”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

(chiefly UK, Ireland, Commonwealth, dated in North America) A period of 2 weeks.


grass

grass (countable and uncountable, plural grasses)

Tok Pisin: gras, garas

Fiji Hindi: giraas

New York, New Orleans, Philadelphia, Baltimore

From Middle English gras, from Old English græs, from Proto-Germanic *grasą (“grass”), from Proto-Indo-European *gʰreh₁- (“to grow”).
Cognates
Cognate with Scots girs, gers, gress (“grass”), North Frisian gäärs, geers (“grass”), Saterland Frisian Gäärs (“grass”), West Frisian gers (“grass”), Low German Gras (“grass”), Dutch gras (“grass, turf, pasture”), German Gras (“grass, weed”), Danish græs (“grass”), Swedish gräs (“grass”), Norwegian Bokmål gress (“grass”), Faroese, Icelandic and Norwegian Nynorsk gras (“grass”), Latin herba (“plant, weed, grass”), Albanian grath (“grass blade, spike”). Related to grow, green.
The "informer" sense is probably a shortening of grasshopper (“police officer, informant”), rhyming slang for copper (“police officer”) or shopper (“informant”); the exact sequence of derivation is unclear.

inh

the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence

the grass is always greener on the other side of the road

What just happened must remain secret. Don't be a grass.

He was a grass and an arse lick and he didn't do it for him, he did it for his brother, because if Vaughan had hit him especially with his mallet, Mark was the kind of lowlife that would have pressed charges and then that's a whole different problem.

2007, Paul Knight, Coding of a Concrete Animal, page 215:

Another claimed a £10,000 bounty was put on his head as he was rumoured to be a “grass”.

2023 June 29, Metro, London, page 4, column 1:

(countable, British, slang) An informer, police informer; one who betrays a group (of criminals, etc) to the authorities.


MBE

en-noun

MBE (countable and uncountable, plural MBEs)

Taken on by the Guardian (then the Manchester Guardian) after winning the Observer's crossword-setting competition two years running, he was later made an MBE for services to the newspaper industry.

2013 November 26, John Plunkett, “Rev John Graham, aka crossword setter Araucaria, dies aged 92”, in The Guardian:

Order of the British Empire
w:Order of the British Empire

(UK) Initialism of Member of the Order of the British Empire, a British honour originally intended for non-combatants in World War One.


OS

We've got an OS of the Cuckmere area.

Calton Hill in Edinburgh is located at OS grid ref NT262741.


FBI

→ Arabic: إِف بِي أَي (ʔif bī ʔay)

→ Bulgarian: ФБР (FBR)

→ Dutch: FBI

→ French: FBI

→ Galician: FBI

desc

→ Hindi: एफ़ बी आई (ef bī āī)

→ Hindi: एफ़ बी आई (ef bī āī)

→ Indonesian: FBI

→ Japanese: エフ・ビー・アイ

→ Japanese: エフ・ビー・アイ

→ Marathi: एफ्.बी.आय्. (eph.bī.āy.)

→ Persian: افبیآی

→ Portuguese: FBI

→ Romanian: FBI

→ Russian: ФБР (FBR)

→ Thai: เอฟบีไอ

→ Thai: เอฟบีไอ

(British) Federation of British Industry (1916–1965), forerunner of CBI (Confederation of British Industry).


second

en-verb

second (third-person singular simple present seconds, present participle seconding, simple past and past participle seconded)

seconds (present singular third-person)
seconding (participle present)
seconded (participle past)
seconded (past)

From Middle French seconder, from Latin secundō (“assist, make favorable”).

der

The army officer was seconded while he held civil office.

Things changed quickly from 1892 when Sam Fay was seconded from the L.S.W.R. as General Manager & Secretary.

1961 October, “Talking of Trains: Last of the M.S.W.J.R.”, in Trains Illustrated, pages 585–586:

Daniel had still been surprised, however, to find the lab area deserted, all the scientists apparently seconded by Cleomides's military friends.

1998, Paul Leonard, chapter 9, in Dreamstone Moon:

(transitive, UK) To transfer temporarily to alternative employment.


clock

en-noun

clock (countable and uncountable, plural clocks)

First use appears c. 1370. Middle English clokke, clok, cloke, from Middle Dutch clocke (“bell, clock”), from Old Dutch *klokka, from Medieval Latin clocca, probably of Celtic origin, from Proto-Celtic *klokkos (“bell”) (compare Welsh cloch, Old Irish cloc), either onomatopoeic or from Proto-Indo-European *klek- (“to laugh, cackle”) (compare Proto-Germanic *hlahjaną (“to laugh”)). Related to Old English clucge, Dutch klok, Saterland Frisian Klokke (“bell; clock”), Low German Klock (“bell, clock”), German Glocke, Swedish klocka. Doublet of cloak and cloche.

onomatopoeic

onomatopoeic

cog

even a stopped clock is right twice a day

This car has over 300,000 miles on the clock.

(British) The odometer of a motor vehicle.

Arthur Morrison, Chance of the Game
But if the clock was a red 'un, and the opportunity undoubted; to be pinched in the Bow Road merely might well imply loss of caste in the mob, but nobody need be ashamed to be pinched anywhere for a gold watch, after all.

(UK, obsolete, thieves' cant) A watch (timepiece).


clock

en-verb

clock (third-person singular simple present clocks, present participle clocking, simple past and past participle clocked)

clocks (present singular third-person)
clocking (participle present)
clocked (participle past)
clocked (past)
CLK (alternative)

onomatopoeic

onomatopoeic

I don't believe that car has done only 40,000 miles. It's been clocked.

(British, slang) To falsify the reading of the odometer of a vehicle.

Have you clocked that game yet?

(transitive, British, New Zealand, Australia, slang) To beat a video game.


OCR

(education, UK) Initialism of Oxford, Cambridge & RSA (examination board).


bit

From Middle English bitte, bite, from Old English bita (“bit; fragment; morsel”) and bite (“a bite; cut”), from Proto-Germanic *bitô and *bitiz; both from Proto-Indo-European *bʰeyd- (“to split”). More at bite.
Cognates
Cognate with West Frisian bit, Saterland Frisian Bit, Dutch bit, German Low German Beet, Biet, German Biss and Bissen, Danish bid, Swedish bit, Icelandic biti.

der

a threepenny bit

Applied to a various small units of currency and coins.

(dated, British) A coin of a specified value.


point

en-noun

point (countable and uncountable, plural points)

→ Cantonese: point

→ Indonesian: poin

→ Japanese: ポイント (pointo)

→ Korean: 포인트 (pointeu)

→ Malay: poin

From Middle English poynt, from Old French point m (“dot; minute amount”), from Latin pūnctum (“a hole punched in; a point, puncture”), substantive use of pūnctus m, perfect passive participle of pungō (“I prick, punch”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *pewǵ- (“prick, punch”)); alternatively, from Old French pointe f (“sharp tip”), from Latin pūncta f (past participle). Mostly displaced native Middle English ord (“point”), from Old English ord (“point”). Doublet of pointe, ponto, puncto, punctum, punt, and punto.

kärki

position at the front or vanguard of an advancing force

decimal point

not used when reading decimal fractions aloud

A small discrete division or individual feature of something.

(UK) A unit of measure for rain, equal to 0.254 mm or 0.01 of an inch.

(rail transport, UK, in the plural) A railroad switch.


are

From the phonetic similarity between our and are in many English dialects (both /ɑː(ɹ)/).


quality

en-noun

quality (countable and uncountable, plural qualities)

→ Japanese: クオリティ (kuoriti)

→ Korean: 퀄리티 (kwolliti)

→ Malay: kualiti

US, father-bother merger, weak vowel merger

From Middle English qualite, from Old French qualité, from Latin quālitās, quālitātem, from quālis (“of what kind”), from Proto-Indo-European *kʷo- (“who, how”). Cicero coined qualitas as a calque to translate the Ancient Greek word ποιότης (poiótēs, “quality”), coined by Plato from ποῖος (poîos, “of what nature, of what kind”).

It is argued that in the last ten years or so, quality broadsheet newspapers have become more like the tabloids. Anthony Sampson has argued that 'the frontier between the qualities and popular papers has virtually disappeared'.

1998, Bill Coxall, Lynton Robins, Robert Leach, Contemporary British Politics, page 164:

(countable, UK, journalism) A newspaper with relatively serious, high-quality content.


nigger

niggers (plural)
n****r (alternative)
n-word (alternative euphemistic)
nigga (alternative pronunciation-spelling)
niggah (alternative pronunciation-spelling)
nigguh (alternative pronunciation-spelling)

desctree

>? Sranan Tongo: nengre
Aukan: nengee
Saramaccan: në́ngë

→ Danish: nigger

→ Dutch: nikker

→ German: Nigger

→ Norwegian: nigger

→ Swedish: nigger

Probably immediately from Middle French nègre or Spanish and Portuguese negro (“a black person”); ultimately from Latin niger (“black”), thus a doublet of negro and noir. Compare Danish nigger, Swedish neger, German Nigger, Dutch nikker. First use appears c. 1577, in the writings of Edward Hellowes (fl. 1574–1601). The expected Modern English pronunciation would be with /iː/; compare neger. The modern pronunciation with /ɪ/ may be due to influence from the Latin etymon (compare the older Southern US pronunciation of negro with /ɪ/), but compare the dialectal American pronunciations of eagle and eager as /ˈɪɡəl/ and /ˈɪɡɚ/.

чёрный

note: негр m (negr) and негритя́нка f (negritjánka) are neutral terms

حبشی

offensive if intended otherwise 'Male Ethiopian/Abyssian'

حبشن

offensive if intended otherwise 'Female Ethiopian/Abyssinian'

(now offensive) Any of various dark animals:

(UK, Cornwall, fishing, archaic) A kind of sea cucumber, Holothuria forskali, the cotton-spinner.


cunt

en-noun

cunt (countable and uncountable, plural cunts)

cunts (plural)
c**t (alternative)
c*nt (alternative)
c-word (alternative euphemistic)
C-bomb (alternative euphemistic)

From Middle English cunte, queynt, queynte, from Old English *cunte, from Proto-West Germanic *kuntā, from Proto-Germanic *kuntǭ. Cognate with West Frisian kunte, Middle Dutch conte (Dutch kont (“butt”)), dialectal Swedish kunta, dialectal Danish kunte, and Icelandic kunta. A relationship to Latin cunnus has not been conclusively shown. Lexicographer Partridge suggests cuneus (“a wedge”).

Fix the car? I’ll sort the cunt out at the weekend.

(UK, Ireland, Commonwealth, countable, vulgar) An objectionable object or item.

The lines were up past the frozen food now; people had to cut through to get what they wanted and there was much excuse-me-ing and pardon-me-ing. “This is going to be a cunt,” Norton said morosely, and I frowned a little.

Certain situations just cry out for it – keys breaking in the lock, not being able to find the starting point in a roll of sticky-tape, running out of bin-bags. The kind of everyday annoyances that Alanis Morissette would define as irony are actually cunts as far as I’m concerned.

2016 July 11, Rachel Braier, The Guardian:

(Ireland, UK, Commonwealth, countable, vulgar) An unpleasant or difficult experience or incident.

Yes, I do remember Dave; he was one funny cunt.

Tom's a good cunt: he fixed my car and didn't even charge me for it!

—Happy New Year, ya wee cunt! Franco wrapped his arm around Stevie’s head.

1994 [1993], Irvine Welsh, Trainspotting, London: Minerva, →ISBN, page 41:

(Ireland, UK, Commonwealth, vulgar, positive, countable; with words funny, good) A person (mostly between male friends); compare bastard.


cod

From Middle English cod, codde, from Old English cod, codd (“bag, pouch”), from Proto-Germanic *kuddô, from Proto-Indo-European *gewt- (“pouch, sack”), from *gew- (“to bend, bow, arch, vault, curve”). Cognate with Scots cod, codd, coad, kod (“pillow, cushion”), Low German Koden, Kon (“belly, paunch”), Middle Dutch codde (“scrotum”), Danish kodde (“testicle”), Swedish kudde (“cushion”), Faroese koddi (“pillow”), Icelandic koddi (“pillow”).

der

And he wolde fayne have filled his bely with the coddes, that the swyne ate: and noo man gave hym.

1526, [William Tyndale, transl.], The Newe Testamẽt […] (Tyndale Bible), [Worms, Germany: Peter Schöffer], →OCLC, Luke:

and I remember the wooing of a peascod instead of her, from whom I tooke two cods, and giuing her them againe, said with weeping teares, weare these for my sake: wee that are true Louers, runne into strange capers; but as all is mortall in nature, so is all nature in loue, mortall in folly.

1603, William Shakespeare, As You Like It:

1. Colutæa vesicaria vulgaris sylvestris. Ordinary Bastard Sene with bladders.
 This greater Bastard Sene groweth in time to be a tree of a reasonable greatnesse, the stem or trunck being of the bignesse of a mans arme or greater, covered with a blackish greene ragged barke, the wood whereof is harder then of an Elder, but with a pith in the middle of the branches which are divided many wayes, having divers winged leaves composed of many small round pointed or rather flat pointed leaves, set at severall distances, and somewhat like unto Licoris, or the Hatchet fitch, among which come forth yellow flowers like unto Broome flowers and as large; after which come thinne swelling cods, like unto thinne transparent bladders; wherein are conteined blacke seede set upon a middle ribbe within the bladders, which being alittle crushed betweene the fingers, will give a cracke like a bladder full of winde: the roote groweth great and wooddy, branching forth divers wayes.

1640, John Parkinson, Theatrum Botanicum, London: Thomas Cotes, page 226:

its Cods are very crooked and ill ſhaped

1707, J[ohn] Mortimer, The Whole Art of Husbandry; or, The Way of Managing and Improving of Land. […], London: […] J[ohn] H[umphreys] for H[enry] Mortlock […], and J[onathan] Robinson […], →OCLC:

(UK, obsolete) A husk or integument; a pod.

Provost Maccalzean, with the silver keys in his hand, and the eldest bailie with the crimson-velvet cod, whereon they were to be delivered to her Majesty, following as fast as any member of a city corporation could be reasonably be expected to do.

1823, John Galt, Ringan Gilhaize; or, The Covenanters, page 295:

Item , ane long velvet cod or cusheon ;

1889, Sir William Fraser, Memorials of the Earls of Haddington - Volume 2, page 299:

Elizabeth Pitt, wife of Thomas Pitt of Haldon, clothier, Elizabeth Clerke of the same, spinster, and Jane Topliffe, wife of James Topliffe of the same, laborer, for stealing there on 1ˢᵗ Nov., 1640, a petticoat (parvacidam) value 4s., two children's coats value 2s., a feather bed cod value 2s., the property of Richard Bradley.

1915 [1642 July 10], Yorkshire Archæological Society, edited by John Lister, West Riding Sessions Records, fol. 148:

(obsolete or UK dialectal, Scotland) A pillow or cushion.


pissed

en-adj

pissed (comparative more pissed, superlative most pissed)

more pissed (comparative)
most pissed (superlative)

From Middle English pissed, pissede, pyssyd, pisside, equivalent to piss + -ed.

The waiters would send us up beer onstage as well as food, so now and again we'd end up getting pissed while we were playing.

1996, Hunter Davies, The Beatles, page 79:

We finished the bottle off and I was more pissed than ever, I was a fucking mess, and Johnny carried me to bed.

2006, Dean Riley, The Reveller: Every Lie Has Eighty Percent Truth, page 201:

We drank, getting more and more pissed, and as we did, these four birds were growing more and more attractive, so we all sat down with them, but none of them wanted to know us, just Peter, dirty fucking bastard he was.

(UK, Ireland, Australia, mildly vulgar, colloquial) Drunk.


jiffy

jiffies (plural)
giffy (alternative obsolete)

Origin unknown; said to have been thieves’ cant for “lightning”. Also formerly written "giffy", to which a connection with gliff has been proposed. As a kind of envelope, a genericization of Jiffy bag.

unk

unknown

(UK) Ellipsis of jiffy bag, a padded envelope.


bot

en-verb

bot (third-person singular simple present bots, present participle botting, simple past and past participle botted)

bots (present singular third-person)
botting (participle present)
botted (participle past)
botted (past)


railway

That the young Mr. Churchills liked—but they did not like him coming round of an evening and drinking weak whisky-and-water while he held forth on railway debentures and corporation loans. Mr. Barrett, however, by fawning and flattery, seemed to be able to make not only Mrs. Churchill but everyone else do what he desired.

1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter II, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:

(chiefly UK, Ireland and Commonwealth) A transport system using rails used to move passengers or goods.

His interest in railways is not the quality that marks Pearson out. Everyone was interested in railways. Over a thousand miles of them opened between 1837 and 1845, most of what would become the national network. [...] You needed an Act of Parliament to build a railway; but that wasn't very hard to obtain if you could give the appearance of adequately funded competence.

2012, Andrew Martin, Underground Overground: A passenger's history of the Tube, Profile Books, →ISBN, pages 14–15:

(chiefly UK, Ireland, Philippines and Commonwealth) A track, consisting of parallel rails, over which wheeled vehicles such as trains may travel.


trillion

→ Welsh: triliwn

Borrowed from French trillion, from French tri- (“three”) + -illion, equivalent to tri- + -illion.

biljoen

a million million, 1012 — see also billion

تِرِيلِْيُون

a million million million, 1018 — see also quintillion

Javik: Stand in the ashes of a trillion dead souls and ask the ghosts if honor matters. Their silence is your answer.

2012, BioWare, Mass Effect 3: From Ashes (Science Fiction), Redwood City: Electronic Arts, PC, scene: Normandy SR-2:

Data published by the Treasury Department showed that “total public debt outstanding” rose to $34.001 trillion on December 29.

2024 January 3, Hanna Ziady and Tami Luhby, “US national debt hits record $34 trillion”, in CNN:

As President Donald Trump prepares to order the dismantling of the Department of Education, the financial arm of the agency – which makes loans directly to borrowers and manages trillions of dollars in student debt – faces an uncertain future, with steep staff cuts and lack of communication exacerbating the uncertainty, according to interviews with more than a dozen current and former department employees.

2025 March 7, Kayla Tausche, “Dismantling of Education Department puts future of trillions of dollars in student loans in question”, in CNN:

(US, modern British, Australia, short scale) A million (times a) million: 1 followed by twelve zeros, 10¹².

(dated British, Australia, long scale) A million (times a) million (times a) million: 1 followed by eighteen zeros, 10¹⁸.


bumf

bumph (alternative)
bumpfh (alternative)
bumpf (alternative)

(British, Ireland, obsolete) Toilet paper.


weapon

From Middle English wepen, from Old English wǣpn, from Proto-West Germanic *wāpn, from Proto-Germanic *wēpną (“weapon”), of unknown origin, possibly from Proto-Indo-European *wēbnom. Cognate with Scots wapyn, wappen (“weapon”), West Frisian wapen (“weapon”), Dutch wapen (“weapon; coat of arms”), Low German wapen (“weapon”), German Waffe (“weapon”) and Wappen (“coat of arms”), Danish våben (“weapon; coat of arms”) Swedish vapen (“weapon; coat of arms”), Norwegian Bokmål våpen (“weapon”), Icelandic vopn (“weapon”).

(UK, Ireland, slang, derogatory) An idiot, an oaf, a fool, a tool; a contemptible or incompetent person.


stock

en-noun

stock (countable and uncountable, plural stocks or (obsolete) stocken)

stocks (plural)
stocken (obsolete plural)

→ Dutch: stock

desctree

→ French: stock
→ Romanian: stoc
→ Turkish: stok

→ Italian: stock

→ Portuguese: estoque

→ Spanish: stock

From Middle English stok, from Old English stocc, from Proto-West Germanic *stokk, from Proto-Germanic *stukkaz (“tree-trunk”), with modern senses mostly referring either to the trunk from which the tree grows (figuratively, its origin and/or support/foundation), or to a piece of wood, stick, or rod. The senses of "supply" and "raw material" arose from a probable conflation with steck (“an item of goods, merchandise”) or the use of split tally sticks consisting of foil or counterfoil and stock to capture paid taxes, debts or exchanges. Doublet of chock.

stark (non-rhotic, father-bother merger)

(UK, historical) The longest part of a split tally stick formerly struck in the exchequer, which was delivered to the person who had lent the king money on account, as the evidence of indebtedness.

(UK, in the plural) Red and grey bricks, used for the exterior of walls and the front of buildings.


BM

en-noun

BM (countable and uncountable, plural BMs)

(UK, medicine) Initialism of Boehringer-Mannheim, a test of blood glucose level using a glucosimeter.


BBC

BBC (countable and uncountable, plural BBCs)

(UK) Initialism of British-born Chinese.


and

ands (plural)
aynd (alternative)
eind (alternative)
eynd (alternative)
yane (alternative)
end (alternative)

Inherited from Middle English ande, from Old English anda (“grudge, enmity, malice, envy, hatred, anger, zeal, annoyance, vexation; zeal; injury, mischief; fear, horror”) and Old Norse andi (“breath, wind, spirit”); both from Proto-Germanic *anadô (“breath, anger, zeal”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂enh₁- (“to breathe, blow”).
Cognate with German Ahnd, And (“woe, grief”), Danish ånde (“breath”), Swedish anda, ande (“spirit, breath, wind, ingenuity, intellect”), Icelandic andi (“spirit”), Albanian ëndë (“pleasure, delight”), Latin animus (“spirit, soul”). Related to onde.

cog

(unstressed form, also for some speakers stressed form) end


and

en-verb

and (third-person singular simple present ands, present participle anding, simple past and past participle anded)

ands (present singular third-person)
anding (participle present)
anded (participle past)
anded (past)
eind (alternative)
eynd (alternative)
ein (alternative)

Inherited from Middle English anden, from Old English andian (“to be envious or jealous, envy”) and Old Norse anda (“to breathe”); both from Proto-Germanic *anadōną (“to breathe, sputter”). Cognate with German ahnden (“to avenge, punish”), Danish ånde (“to breathe”), Swedish andas (“to breathe”), Icelandic anda (“to breathe”). See above.

der

(UK dialectal, intransitive) To breathe; whisper; devise; imagine.


country

en-noun

country (countable and uncountable, plural countries)

countries (plural)
contree (alternative archaic)
countrey (alternative archaic)
contrey (alternative obsolete)
countre (alternative obsolete)
countrie (alternative obsolete)
counterie (alternative obsolete)
counthry (alternative pronunciation-spelling)
cuntry (alternative derogatory pronunciation-spelling)

Jamaican Creole: konchri

Krio: kɔntri

Nigerian Pidgin: kontri

Sranan Tongo: kondre

Tok Pisin: kantri

desc

→ Arabic: كَانْتْرِي (kāntrī)

→ Arabic: كَانْتْرِي (kāntrī)

⇒ Chinese: 港腳 /港脚 (gǎngjiǎo)

→ Finnish: country, kantri

→ French: country

→ Italian: country

→ Japanese: カントリー (kantorī)

→ Korean: 컨트리 (keonteuri)

→ Norwegian Bokmål: køntri

→ Norwegian Nynorsk: køntri

→ Polish: country

→ Portuguese: country

→ Romanian: country

→ Russian: ка́нтри (kántri)

→ Kazakh: кантри (kantri)

→ Spanish: country

→ Swedish: country

→ Ukrainian: ка́нтрі (kántri)

[ˈkʰʌnt̠ɹ̠̊˔ʷi]

From Middle English contre, contree, contreie, from Old French contree, cuntrede, from Vulgar Latin *(terra) contrāta (“(land) lying opposite; (land) spread before one”) (also in Medieval Latin as "country, region"), from Latin contra (“against, opposite”) (whence contra-). Cognate with Scots kintra. Unrelated to county. Displaced native English land in some of its senses.
From around 1300 as "area surrounding a walled city or town; the open country." By early 16th century the sense was applied mostly to rural areas, as opposed to towns and cities.

a prophet has no honor in his own country

a prophet is not without honor save in his own country

Appendix:Countries and territories of the world

Appendix:Roget MICRA thesaurus/Class V § 737a. Government

We walk along flat, open country, red dirt and spinifex grass, a few short trees[…].

(especially British, uncountable, countable) An area of land of undefined extent; a region, a district.

Thomas Hardy country

Hikers love the wild country that lies northwest of this river confluence.

This is condor country – the only region this far east where you can see the magnificent vulture – and a small national park straddling the passes, El Condorito, is a good stopover for walkers and birders.

2007 February 17, Chris Moss, The Guardian:

en:region of land delimited by certain factors

(uncountable, countable) An area of land of indefinite extent or of more or less definite extent in relation to human occupation, especially characterized by its particular physical features, or its suitability for a particular activity or connected with its population (by race, dialect, culture, etc.) or a person, especially a writer, or their works.


hamper

From Middle English hamper, contracted from hanaper, hanypere, from Anglo-Norman hanaper, Old French hanapier, hanepier (“case for holding a large goblet or cup”), from hanap (“goblet, drinking cup”), from Frankish *hnapp (“cup, bowl, basin”), from Proto-Germanic *hnappaz (“cup, bowl”).
Cognate with Old High German hnapf (“cup, bowl, basin”) (German Napf (“bowl”)), Dutch nap (“cup”), Old English hnæpp (“bowl”). More at nap.


wage

en-verb

wage (third-person singular simple present wages, present participle waging, simple past and past participle waged)

wages (present singular third-person)
waging (participle present)
waged (participle past)
waged (past)

From Middle English wagen (“to pledge”), from Anglo-Norman, Old Northern French wagier, a northern variant of Old French guagier (whence modern French gager), itself either from guage or from a derivative of Frankish *waddī, possibly through a Vulgar Latin intermediate *wadiō from *wadium.

(obsolete, law, UK) To give security for the performance of.


bank

bank (third-person singular simple present banks, present participle banking, simple past and past participle banked)

banks (present singular third-person)
banking (participle present)
banked (participle past)
banked (past)
banck (alternative obsolete)
bancke (alternative obsolete)
banke (alternative obsolete)

From Middle English bank, banke, from Old English *banca (“bench”) (attested in Old English hōbanca (“couch”) and Old English banc (“bank, hillock, embankment”), from Proto-West Germanic *bankō, from Proto-Germanic *bankô. Akin to Old Norse bakki (“elevation, hill”), Norwegian bakke (“slope, hill”).

inh

Some interesting facts have recently been made known by the L.N.E.R. concerning the 178-ton Garratt 2-8-0 + 0-8-2 engine No. 2395, which since construction in 1925 has spent the whole of its working life banking coal trains up the 3 miles of 1 in 40 between Wentworth junction and West Silkstone, on the Worsborough branch, near Barnsley.

1942 March, “Notes and News: Locomotive Notes”, in Railway Magazine, page 93:

[...] the 4-4-0 unhappily stalled after a stop on Reading Old Bank with its eight-coach load and the Reading Up Line pilot, a "Hall", had to bank the train into Reading General.

1960 July, “Motive Power Miscellany: Western Region”, in Trains Illustrated, page 443:

Soon after leaving Bebra the line rises, mostly at 1 in 74, for 7 miles to Cornberg and all trains of over 400 tons are banked.

1960 September, P. Ransome-Wallis, “Modern motive power of the German Federal Railway: Part One”, in Trains Ilustrated, page 558:

(rail transport, UK) To provide additional power for a train ascending a bank (incline) by attaching another locomotive.


apple

en-verb

apple (third-person singular simple present apples, present participle appling, simple past and past participle appled)

apples (present singular third-person)
appling (participle present)
appled (participle past)
appled (past)

Book of Genesis
Frans Floris
Malmö Art Museum
The Fall of Man

Etymology tree
Proto-Indo-European *h₂ébōl
Proto-Germanic *aplaz
Proto-West Germanic *applu
Old English æppel
Middle English appel
English apple
The noun is derived from Middle English appel (“Malus domestica fruit or tree, apple; any type of fruit, nut, or tuber; tree bearing fruit; (figurative) ball, sphere; (Christianity) forbidden fruit in Eden”), from Old English æppel (“apple; any type of fruit; (figurative) ball, sphere; eyeball”), from Proto-West Germanic *applu (“apple; any type of fruit”), from Proto-Germanic *aplaz (“apple; any type of fruit”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂ébōl, *h₂ébl̥ (“apple”).
As regards sense 1.4 (“forbidden fruit”), the type of fruit eaten by Adam and Eve is not identified in the Book of Genesis in the Bible. It may have come to be identified with the apple because of the similarity between Latin mālum (“apple”) and malum (“evil; misery, torment; wrongdoing”).
The verb is derived from the noun.
Cognates
Cognate with Danish æble, Dutch appel, German Apfel, Irish úll, Lithuanian óbuolỹs, Russian я́блоко (jábloko), Scots aipple, Swedish äpple, Welsh afal, West Frisian apel, possibly Ancient Greek ἄμπελος (ámpelos, “vine”).

ref

From the collection of the Malmö Art Museum in Malmö, Scania, Sweden.

muuttaa omenan näköiseksi

(transitive) to make (something) appear like an apple; (intransitive) to become like an apple

(UK, dialectal, rare) To collect fir-cones.

As for Scolymus [possibly type of artichoke?], it differeth from the reſt of theſe Thiſtles herein, That the root, if it be ſodden, it is good to be eaten: beſides, it hath a ſtraunge nature, for all the ſort of them during the Summer throughout, never reſt and give over, but either they floure, or they apple, or els be readie to bring foorth fruit: […]

1601, C[aius] Plinius Secundus [i.e., Pliny the Elder], “[Book XXI.] Of Carduus, and Ixine: Of Tribulus and Anchusa.”, in Philemon Holland, transl., The Historie of the World. Commonly Called, The Naturall Historie of C. Plinius Secundus. […], 2nd tome, London: […] Adam Islip, →OCLC, page 98:

To Pome or Apple, is ſaid of the Heads of Artichokes vvhen they grovv round, and full ſhaped as an Apple. It is ſaid alſo of Lettuce, &c.

[1693, John Evelyn, “The Dictionary. An Explication of the Terms of Gard’ning, in an Alphabetical Order. To Pome or Apple.”, in De La Quintinye [i.e., Jean-Baptiste de La Quintinie], translated by John Evelyn, The Compleat Gard’ner; or, Directions for Cultivating and Right Ordering of Fruit-gardens; […], London: […] Matthew Gillyflower, […], and James Partridge, […], →OCLC, column 1:

You may novv ſovv upon moderate hot-beds, a fevv of the ſmall ſalad ſeeds, ſuch as VVhite Muſtard, Rape, Creſſes, and Cabbage Lettuces, and you may also ſovv upon other hot-beds, not to be drawn until they are pretty large and vvell appled, Radiſhes and Turnips, obſerving to ſovv them very thin, that the plants may have room to ſvvell and grovv; […]

1759, James Justice, “November”, in The British Gardener’s Calendar, […], Edinburgh: […] R. Fleming, →OCLC, page 307:

The cabbage turnep is of tvvo kinds; one apples above ground, and the other in it.

1798, Charles Marshall, “Section XV. Of Esculents.”, in An Introduction to the Knowledge and Practice of Gardening, […], 2nd edition, London: […] John Rider, for F[rancis] and C[harles] Rivington, […], →OCLC, page 251:

Some, however, recommend that the seed collected from a few turnips thus transplanted, should be preserved and sown in drills, in order to raise plants for see for the general crop, drawing out all such as are weak and improper, leaving only those that are strong and which take the lead; and that when these have appled or formed bulbs, to again take out such as do not appear good and perfect, as by this means turnip seed may be procured, not only of a more vigorous nature, but which is capable of vegetating with less moisture and which produces stronger and more hardy plants.

1807, Thomas Potts, “TURNIPS”, in The British Farmer’s Cyclopædia; or, Complete Agricultural Dictionary; […], London: […] W. Flint, […], for Scatcherd and Letterman, […], and M. Jones, […], →OCLC, column 2:

(obsolete except UK, dialectal) Of a flower bud or vegetable (especially a root vegetable): to grow into the shape of an apple.

kasvaa omenan muotoiseksi

of a flower bud or vegetable: to grow into the shape of an apple


urban

en-adj

urban (comparative more urban, superlative most urban)

more urban (comparative)
most urban (superlative)
urbane (alternative)

Borrowed from Middle French urbain (“belonging to a city, urban; courteous, refined, urbane”) (modern French urbain), or from its etymon Latin urbānus (“of or belonging to a city, urban; of manners or style: like those of city dwellers: cultivated, polished, refined, sophisticated”) + English -an (suffix meaning ‘of or pertaining to’ forming adjectives). Urbānus is derived from urbs (“city; walled town; Rome”) (further etymology uncertain, possibly from Proto-Indo-European *gʰerdʰ- (“to encircle, enclose; a belt; an enclosure, fence”) or *werbʰ- (“to enclose”)) + -ānus (suffix meaning ‘of or pertaining to’ forming adjectives).
For the euphemistic or proscribed term, it was coined by New York radio DJ Frankie Crocker in the early to mid-1970s as a synonym for Black music.

der

(US, UK, euphemistic, offensive) (of inhabitants or residents) Black; African American.


AA

en-noun

AA (countable and uncountable, plural AAs)

annual allowance
annual allowance#English

(UK, pensions) Initialism of annual allowance.


AA

en:Alcoholics Anonymous
en:Anna's Archive
en:The AA

As we have said before, never accept an AA increase – if you phone up and threaten to leave they will, in our experience, drop it back to the previous price. Or better still, just keep switching provider each year. LV’s cover is a good alternative.

2020 January 1, Miles Brignall, “Sit back, do nothing and the AA will double your bill”, in The Guardian:

(UK, automotive) Initialism of The Automobile Association: a British motoring association founded in 1905.


husband

⇒ Chinese: 黑漆板凳 (hēiqī bǎndèng) (obsolete)

→ Japanese: ハズバンド (hazubando)

⇒ English: husbando

From Middle English husbonde, from Old English hūsbonda (“head of household”), from Old Norse húsbóndi, from hús + bóndi, corresponding to Proto-Germanic *hūsą (“house”) and *būandz (“dwelling, residing”, present participle). Compare English house and bond³.

inh

(UK) A manager of property; one who has the care of another's belongings, owndom, or interests; a steward; an economist.

(UK dialectal) A polled tree; a pollard.


big

en-verb

big (third-person singular simple present bigs, present participle bigging, simple past and past participle bigged)

bigs (present singular third-person)
bigging (participle present)
bigged (participle past)
bigged (past)

From Middle English biggen, byggen, from Old Norse byggja, byggva (“to build, dwell in, inhabit”), a secondary form of Old Norse búa (“to dwell”), related to Old English būan (“to dwell”). Cognate with Danish bygge, Swedish bygga.

(transitive, archaic, UK dialectal, Northern England, Scotland) To inhabit; occupy.

(reflexive, archaic, UK dialectal, Northern England, Scotland) To locate oneself.

(transitive, archaic, UK dialectal, Northern England, Scotland) To build; erect; fashion.

(intransitive, archaic, UK dialectal, Northern England, Scotland) To dwell; have a dwelling.


send

send (third-person singular simple present sends, present participle sending, simple past sent, past participle sent or (nonstandard) sended)

sends (present singular third-person)
sending (participle present)
sent (past)
sent (participle past)
sended (nonstandard participle past)
send (infinitive)
send (first-person present singular)
sent (first-person past singular)
send (present second-person singular)
sendest (archaic present second-person singular)
sent (past second-person singular)
sentest (archaic past second-person singular)
sends (present singular third-person)
sendeth (archaic present singular third-person)
sent (past singular third-person)
send (plural present)
sent (past plural)
send (present subjunctive)
sent (past subjunctive)
send (imperative present)
sending (participle present)
sent (participle past)

From Middle English senden, from Old English sendan (“to send, cause to go”), from Proto-West Germanic *sandijan, from Proto-Germanic *sandijaną, from Proto-Indo-European *sont-eye- (“to cause to go”), causative of *sent- (“to walk, travel”). The noun derives from the verb.
Cognates
Cognate with Saterland Frisian seende (“to send”), Dutch zenden (“to send”), German senden (“to send”), Danish and Norwegian sende (“to send”), Swedish sända (“to send”), Icelandic senda (“to send”). Related also to Old English sand, sond (“a sending, mission, message”). See also sith.

inh

send it up the flagpole and see who salutes

But if you want beef, it's war. I'll rip you to shreds and send once more[…]And you think you can send for Aspin? Sort it, stop gassing.

2017 November 7, “Courtney Jade Reply (Freestyle)”performed by Soph Aspin:

(UK, slang) To call out or diss a specific person in a diss track.


send

Why you're another bird that's fat again. No competition that's, that's the send.

(UK, slang) A callout or diss usually aimed at a specific person, often in the form of a diss track.


accommodation

en-noun

accommodation (countable and uncountable, plural accommodations)

accommodations (plural)
accomodation (alternative misspelling)

/əˌkɔm.əˈdæɪ.ʃən/

From French accommodation, from Latin accommodātiō (“adjustment, accommodation, compliance”), from accommodō (“adapt, put in order”). Superficially accommodate + -ion. The sense of "lodging" was first attested in 1600.

der

The accommodations at that hotel were quite luxurious.

(chiefly British, usually a mass noun) Lodging in a dwelling or similar living quarters afforded to travellers in hotels or on cruise ships, or prisoners, etc.


bollocks

en-noun

bollocks pl (normally plural, singular bollock)

bollock (singular)
ballocks (alternative)
ballicks (alternative Northern-Ireland)
ballix (alternative Northern-Ireland)
bullocks (alternative)
b******s (alternative)
b****cks (alternative)

From Middle English ballokes (plural of ballok), from Old English beallucas (nominative plural of bealluc). By surface analysis, bollock + -s. Compare cullion.

inh

plural of <i class="Latn mention" lang="enm">ballok</i>

nominative plural of <i class="Latn mention" lang="ang">bealluc</i>

(UK, Ireland, Commonwealth, vulgar) The testicles (sometimes used in the singular)

That's a load of bollocks, mate!

All the dealers would steam into his cabin for a few sherbets after work, and to listen to his bollocks.

2014, Peter Smith, Confessions of a Dice Dealer, page 105:

(UK, Ireland, Commonwealth, vulgar) Nonsense or information deliberately intended to mislead.

放屁

slang: complete nonsense or worthless misinformation deliberately intended to mislead

Don't mind him; he's only an oul' bollocks!

(UK, Ireland, Commonwealth, vulgar, used as singular) An idiot, an ignorant or disagreeable person.

the dog's bollocks
dog's bollocks#English

(UK, Ireland, Commonwealth, vulgar) Ellipsis of the dog's bollocks.


bollocks

en-verb

bollocks (third-person singular simple present bollockses, present participle bollocksing, simple past and past participle bollocksed)

bollockses (present singular third-person)
bollocksing (participle present)
bollocksed (participle past)
bollocksed (past)
b******s (alternative)
b****cks (alternative)

The telly's bollocksed.

(transitive, UK, Ireland, Commonwealth, vulgar, slang) To break.

I bollocksed that exam.

(transitive, UK, Ireland, Commonwealth, vulgar, slang) (also bollocks up) To fail (a task); to make a mess of.


bollocks

b******s (alternative)
b****cks (alternative)

Oh bollocks, I'm late for work!

(UK, Ireland, Commonwealth, vulgar, slang) An expression of anger, frustration, etc.

Bollocks! That never happened!

(UK, Ireland, Commonwealth, vulgar, slang) An expression of incredulity.


mobile

→ Japanese: モバイル (mobairu)

→ Kurtöp: མོ་བ་འིལ (mobail)

→ Persian: موبایل (mobâil)

From Middle English, from Old French, from Latin mōbilis (“easy to be moved, moveable”), from moveō (“move”).

der

Mobiles squerking, mobiles chirping / Take the money and run

2000, “Idioteque”, in Kid A, performed by Radiohead:

(telephony, UK, Ireland) Ellipsis of mobile phone.


wireless

en-noun

wireless (usually uncountable, plural (dated) wirelesses)

Let's switch on the wireless and listen to the news.

I heard you on my wireless back in '52

1979, Trevor Horn, Geoff Downes, Bruce Woolley, “Video Killed the Radio Star”:

In the corner of that dark back room stood a black and white television—their one nod to modernity—and beside it, two old wirelesses and a headset that had not seen action since the TV arrived.

2021, Otto English, Fake History, page 2:


first

first (countable and uncountable, plural firsts)

firsts (plural)
Ist (alternative)
I (alternative)
I. (alternative)
firste (alternative archaic)
fyrst (alternative obsolete)
fyrste (alternative obsolete)

From Middle English first, furst, ferst, fyrst, from Old English fyrest, from Proto-West Germanic *furist, from Proto-Germanic *furistaz (“foremost, first”), superlative of Proto-Germanic *fur, *fura, *furi (“before”), from Proto-Indo-European *per-, *pero- (“forward, beyond, around”), equivalent to fore + -est.
Cognate with North Frisian foarste (“first”), Dutch voorste (“foremost, first”), German Fürst (“chief, prince”, literally “first (born)”), Swedish först (“first”), Norwegian Nynorsk fyrst (“first”), Icelandic fyrstur (“first”).
Other cognates include Sanskrit पूर्व (pūrva, “first”) and Russian первый (pervyj).

cog

[Stephen Hawking] […] would go to Cambridge, he said, if they gave him a first, and stay at Oxford if they gave him a second. He got a first.

2004, William H. Cropper, Great Physicists, page 454:

(countable, British, colloquial) A first-class honours degree.

เกียรตินิยมอันดับหนึ่ง

UK colloquial: first-class honours degree


Asian

From Latin āsiānus. The popular American definition referring to East and Southeast Asians collectively seems to be a shortened form of "Asian American", a term whose origins activists and academics trace back to 1968 and University of California, Berkeley (UCLA) students Yuji Ichioka and Emma Gee, who, inspired by the Black Power Movement and the protests against the Vietnam War, founded the "Asian American Political Alliance" as a way to unite Japanese, Chinese, and Filipino American students on campus. It replaced the term "Mongoloid", but still continued the racial grouping of "Mongoloid". South Asians are also sometimes called "Asian" in the English settler colonies (US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand) but rarely (if ever) Near Easterners and Central Asians. The British term exclusively referring to South Asians was due to South Asians forming a majority of immigrants from the continent of Asia in the United Kingdom.

Asiër

person from or descended from people from the Indian sub-continent

One of a supernational region within Asia

One of a transcontinental nation partially within Asia

One of a partially-recognized or unrecognized country or nation within Asia

One of a former country or nation within Asia

If radio and television programmes are anything to go by, Asians in Britain get up early on a Sunday.

1987 May, Paul Oliver, “Movie Mahal: Indian cinema on ITV Channel 4”, in Popular Music, →DOI, page 215:

Were there Taliban beheading people? I didn't tell my parents, but I flinched if an Asian-looking man came close.

A person from the continent of Asia, or a descendant thereof - especially:

(UK, Ireland, South Africa) A person from or with ancestry in South Asia.


time

en-noun

time (countable and uncountable, plural times)

Bislama: taem

Sranan Tongo: ten

→ Punjabi: ṭāim, ṭaim, ṭāīm

Gurmukhi script: ਟਾਇਮ, ਟੈਮ, ਟਾਈਮ

Shahmukhi script: ٹائم, ٹیم, ٹائیم

From Middle English tyme, time, from Old English tīma (“time, period, space of time, season, lifetime, fixed time, favorable time, opportunity”), from Proto-West Germanic *tīmō, from Proto-Germanic *tīmô (“time”), from Proto-Indo-European *deh₂imō, from Proto-Indo-European *deh₂y- (“to divide”). Related to tide. Not related to Latin tempus.
Cognates
*Scots tym, tyme (“time”)
*Alemannic German Zimen, Zīmmän (“time, time of the year, opportune time, opportunity”)
*Danish time (“hour, lesson”)
*Swedish timme (“hour”)
*Norwegian time (“lesson, hour”)
*Faroese tími (“hour, lesson, time”)
*Icelandic tími (“time, season”).

عَصْر

extended period of time, defined or undefined: age, era, etc.

কাল

major division of the year: month, season, etc.

ժամ

numerical indication of a particular moment in time

at church every time the doors swing open

desperate times call for desperate measures

desperate times require desperate measures

serial time-encoded amplified microscopy

there is a place and time for everything

there is a time and a place for everything

there is a time and place for everything

there's a time and a place for everything

time spent laughing is time spent with the gods

time stretch analog-to-digital converter

Appendix:Roget MICRA thesaurus/Class I § 106. Time

Last call: it's almost time.

An instant of time.
(UK, in public houses) Closing time.


blood

en-noun

blood (countable and uncountable, plural bloods)

bloods (plural)
bloud (alternative obsolete)
bloode (alternative obsolete)

Belizean Creole: blod

Torres Strait Creole: blad

→ Greek: μπλάντι (blánti)

Etymology tree
Proto-Indo-European *bʰleh₃-?
Proto-Germanic *blōþą
Proto-West Germanic *blōd
Old English blōd
Middle English blood
English blood
From Middle English blood, from Old English blōd, from Proto-West Germanic *blōd, from Proto-Germanic *blōþą, possibly from Proto-Indo-European *bʰel- ("to swell") + -ó- (thematic vowel) + -to (nominalizer), i.e. "that which bursts out". Cognate with Saterland Frisian Bloud, West Frisian bloed, Dutch bloed, German Blut, Danish, Swedish and Norwegian blod, Icelandic and Faroese blóð.

etymon

Blood I swear she just gave man extra chicken? Two fat pieces of chicken.

2017, Joseph Barnes Phillips, Big Foot ...and Tiny Little Heartstrings:

(UK, MLE, slang) Alternative form of blud (“Informal address to a male.”).


full stop

(UK, Ireland, Commonwealth) The punctuation mark "." (indicating the end of a sentence or marking an abbreviation).


new

en-noun

new (countable and uncountable, plural news)

From Middle English newe, from Old English nīewe, from Proto-West Germanic *niwi, from Proto-Germanic *niwjaz, from Proto-Indo-European *néwyos (“new”), from *néwos.
Cognates
Cognate with Scots new (“new”), West Frisian nij (“new”), Dutch nieuw (“new”), Low German nee (“new”), German neu (“new”), Danish, Norwegian and Swedish ny (“new”), Icelandic nýr (“new”), Faroese nýggjur (“new”), Latin novus (“new”), Ancient Greek νέος (néos, “new”), Welsh newydd (“new”), Russian но́вый (nóvyj, “new”), Armenian նոր (nor, “new”), Persian نو (now, “new”),Northern Kurdish nû (“new”), Hindi नया (nayā, “new”), Tocharian B ñuwe (“new”).
Compare also Old English nū (“now”). More at now. Doublet of nuevo and novuss.

In the Britannia "news" were worms, to be trodden on […]

1956, Naval Review (London), volume 44, page 286:

(UK, naval slang, countable) A naval cadet who has just embarked on training.


standard

From Middle English standard, from Old French estandart (“gathering place, battle flag”), from Frankish *standahard (literally “stand firm, stand hard”), equivalent to stand + -ard. Alternative etymology derives the second element from Frankish *oʀd (“point, spot, place”) (compare Old French ordé (“pointed”), Old English ord (“point, source, vanguard”), German Standort (“location, place, site, position, base”, literally “standing-point”)). Merged with Middle English standar, stander, standere (“flag, banner”, literally “stander”), equivalent to stand + -er. More at stand, hard, ord. As a hill-naming term possibly a calque from Cumbric; equivalent to Welsh lluman (“standard”), arising with confusion with the hill-naming element llumon (“chimney”).


Chad

From Middle English Chadde, from Old English Ċeadda, of obscure meaning; name of a seventh-century Anglo-Saxon saint, revived in the 20th century.
The sense of “alpha male” originates from an apparent stereotype that men with such a name tend to bear that temperament, first attested in c. late 1990s in Chicago, Illinois (specifically "successful white man, yuppie"), but in common usage only as of the late 2010s via 4chan slang.

etydate

(British) The British version of the "Kilroy was here" graffiti.


skill

en-adj

skill (comparative skiller, superlative skillest)

skiller (comparative)
skillest (superlative)
skil (alternative obsolete)

From Middle English skill, skille (also schil, schile), from Old English scille and Old Norse skil (“a distinction, discernment, knowledge”), from Proto-Germanic *skilją (“separation, limit”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)kelH- (“to split, cut”). Cognate with Danish skel (“a separation, boundary, divide”), Swedish skäl (“reason”), Dutch verschil (“difference”) and schillen (“to separate the outer layer (schil) from the product”, verb).

cog

l-vocalizing: UK, General Australian, New Zealand

Well, unfortunately for you, my dearest Waggipoos, I'm much more skill than you!

1987 June, Teresa Maughan, “Letters”, in Your Sinclair, number 18:

This game is skill. Remember that because it's going to sound really complicated.

1991, Wreckers (video game review in Crash issue 88, May 1991)

And I am skiller than you.

1999, Andy Smith, “I am well skill”, in alt.digitiser (Usenet):


current account

en-noun

current account (plural current accounts)

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

(UK, Ireland, Commonwealth, banking) An account at a bank which is used for daily transactions.


Spanish

Spanish (countable and uncountable, plural Spanish or Spanishes)

From Middle English Spainish, Spanish, equivalent to Spain + -ish.

Jack Ar. […] I must come back to father — and what then? — he won't give me the Spanish.
Project. The Spanish! — now what the devil's that?
Jack Ar. Why, ready money, not credit or paper.

1797, Frederic Reynolds, Reynolds' Plays, page 13:

(UK, slang, obsolete, uncountable) Money.


abridgement

abridgement (countable and uncountable, plural abridgements)

CHEMINS DE FER. Edited by Jean Herbert. Elsevier Publishing Co. [...] 30s. [...] The work of abridgement has been skilfully done by excluding financial, administrative and general engineering terms.

1960 August, “New Reading on Railways”, in Trains Illustrated, page 512:

(chiefly UK) Alternative form of abridgment.


academy

From French académie, from Latin acadēmīa, from Ancient Greek Ἀκαδημία (Akadēmía), a grove of trees and gymnasium outside of Athens where Plato taught; from the name of the supposed former owner of that estate, the Attic hero Akademos. Doublet of academia and Akademeia; compare academe.

(UK, education) A school directly funded by central government, independent of local control; a charter school.


accountancy

accountancy (countable and uncountable, plural accountancies)

(uncountable, British, New Zealand, often Philippines, accounting) The function of compiling and providing financial information primarily by reports referred to as financial statements, including bookkeeping, systems design, analysis and interpretation of accounting information.


accumulation

accumulation (countable and uncountable, plural accumulations)

From Middle English acumulacyon, from Middle French accumulation and its etymon, Latin accumulātiō, accumulātiōnis. By surface analysis, accumulate + -ion. First attested in the late 15th century. Doublet of accumulatio.

натрупване

act of accumulating, the state of being accumulated

(UK, education, historical, uncountable) The practice of taking two higher degrees simultaneously, to reduce the length of study.


accumulator

From Latin accumulātor, agent noun of accumulō (“pile up”), accumulate + -or.

Looks like it's time to recharge the accumulator again.

1691–92, Anthony Wood (antiquary), Athenæ Oxonienses
The first of these two was a compounder, the other who was an accumulator, was lately made provost of Trin. coll. near Dublin, and on the 31st of March 1692 was nominated bish. of Kilmore.

(UK, education, historical) One who takes two higher degrees simultaneously, to reduce their length of study.


ace

en-adj

ace (comparative more ace, superlative most ace)

more ace (comparative)
most ace (superlative)

Inherited from Middle English as, from Old French as, from Latin as, assis (“unity, copper coin, the unit of coinage”). Doublet of as. Likely related or deriving ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₁éǵʰs, or otherwise taking from Proto-Indo-European *h₂eḱ- (“sharp, pointed”) in the sense of "singular".
Alternatively, it could be derived from Etruscan.


map

→ Irish: mapa

Shortening or back-formation of Middle English mappemounde, mapemounde (“world map”), from Old French mapamonde, from Medieval Latin mappa mundī, compound of Latin mappa (“napkin, cloth”) and mundus (“world”). See mop for more on the first component. Doublet of mop, nape, and nappe.

And as the eye rested on him, he too filled me with pity and terror, for his map was flushed and his manner distraught. He looked like Jack Dempsey at the conclusion of his first conference with Gene Tunney, the occasion, if you remember, when he forgot to duck.

1960, P. G. Wodehouse, Jeeves in the Offing, chapter X:


Afghan

/ˈæf(ˌ)ɡɑːn/

Borrowed from Classical Persian افغان (afġān, “Afghan”), from Bactrian αβαγανο (abagano), first attested in the fourth century CE, most likely a compound of *apāka- (“distant, faraway”), from Proto-Iranian *Hápa, from Proto-Indo-Iranian *Hápa (“away”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂epó + *-āna (“ethnic group”), from Proto-Indo-European *-nós, thus: "people from a distant land". Various scholars have proposed Sanskrit etymologies since the nineteenth century (especially prior to the 2007 publication of earlier Bactrian attestations for the word), but linguist Johnny Cheung notes that these are "extremely difficult to reconcile" with recent evidence pointing to a Bactrian source.

bor+

He will be in Afghan for another six months.

(UK, military slang) Clipping of Afghanistan.


storm

en-verb

storm (third-person singular simple present storms, present participle storming, simple past and past participle stormed)

storms (present singular third-person)
storming (participle present)
stormed (participle past)
stormed (past)
storm (infinitive)
storm (first-person present singular)
stormed (first-person past singular)
storm (present second-person singular)
stormest (archaic present second-person singular)
stormed (past second-person singular)
stormedst (archaic past second-person singular)
storms (present singular third-person)
stormeth (archaic present singular third-person)
stormed (past singular third-person)
storm (plural present)
stormed (past plural)
storm (present subjunctive)
stormed (past subjunctive)
storm (imperative present)
storming (participle present)
stormed (participle past)

The verb is derived from Middle English stormen (“of the wind: to blow violently; to cause to roll or toss”), from storm (noun) (see etymology 1) + -en (suffix forming the infinitives of verbs).
Compare Middle English sturmen (“to attack (someone) with great force”), from Old English styrman (“to rage, storm; to make a great noise, cry aloud, shout, storm”), from Proto-West Germanic *sturmijan (“to storm”), from Proto-Germanic *sturmijaną (“to storm”), from *sturmaz (“a storm”) (see etymology 1) + *-janą (suffix forming causatives from strong verbs, with a sense of ‘to cause to do [the action of the verb]’). The Middle English word did not survive into modern English.
The noun is derived from verb sense 2.3 (“to violently assault (a fortified position or stronghold, a building, etc.) with the aim of gaining control of it”).
Cognates
* Dutch stormen (“to bluster, storm”)
* German stürmen (“to rage, storm; to assault, attack”)
* Icelandic storma (“to storm”)
* Low German stormen (“to storm”)
* Swedish storma (“to bluster, storm”)

ŝtormi

to have strong winds and usually lightning and thunder, and/or hail, rain, or snow

щурмува́м

(British, dialectal, agriculture) To protect (seed-hay) from stormy weather by putting sheaves of them into small stacks.

suojella myrskyltä

to protect (seed-hay) from stormy weather by putting sheaves of them into small stacks


ask

asks (plural)
asker (alternative)
ascar (alternative)
askerd (alternative)
askard (alternative)
aks (alternative)
ax (alternative)
aske (alternative)

From Middle English aske, arske, ascre, from Old English āþexe (“lizard, newt”), from Proto-West Germanic *agiþahsijā (“lizard”), a compound of *agiz (“snake, lizard”) + *þahsuz (“badger”). Cognate of German Echse (“lizard”).

inh

African-American Vernacular, Cajun, Nigeria, proscribed

He looked at the beast. It was not an eel. It was very like an ask.

(UK dialectal and Scotland) An eft; newt.

We hear of Adder dens, but detailed accounts of the discovery of one are very rare. Service (1902) records that a peatman, when levelling on an estate by the Solway, found in a hole in the ground, some 8 inches below the surface, 40 adders, 10 toads and a large number of asks (lizards).

1951, Malcolm Arthur Smith, The British Amphibians & Reptiles, page 258:


cow

en-noun

cow (countable and uncountable, plural cows or cattle or (archaic or dialectal) kine)

cows (plural)
cattle (plural)
kine (archaic dialectal plural)

bull

antonym(s) of “female domesticated ox or other bovine”

Sranan Tongo: kaw

Tok Pisin: kau

q

from <i class="Latn mention" lang="en">cows</i>

→ Abenaki: kaoz (from cows)

→ Maori: kau

Etymology tree
Proto-Indo-European *gʷṓws
Proto-Germanic *kōz
Proto-West Germanic *kō
Old English cū
Middle English cou
English cow
Inherited from Middle English cou, cu, from Old English cū (“cow”), from Proto-West Germanic *kō, from Proto-Germanic *kōz (“cow”), from Proto-Indo-European *gʷṓws (“cow”).
Cognate with Sanskrit गो (go), Ancient Greek βοῦς (boûs), Persian گاو (gâv)), Latvian govs (“cow”), Proto-Slavic *govędo (Serbo-Croatian govedo, Russian говядина (govjadina, “beef”), Scots coo (“cow”), North Frisian ko, kø (“cow”), West Frisian ko (“cow”), Dutch koe (“cow”), Low German Koh, Koo, Kau (“cow”), German Kuh (“cow”), Swedish ko (“cow”), Norwegian ku (“cow”), Icelandic kýr (“cow”), Latin bōs (“ox, bull, cow”) (whence English beef), Armenian կով (kov, “cow”). Doublet of beef.
The plural kine is from Middle English kyne, kyn, kuin, kiin, kien (“cows”), either a double plural of Middle English ky, kye (“cows”), equivalent to modern kye + -en, or inherited from Old English cūna (“cows', of cows”), genitive plural of cū (“cow”).

etymon

the cow knows not the worth of its tail till it loses it

why buy the cow when you can get the milk for free

[…] the worst insult to a woman, either in London or Paris, is "cow"; a name which might even be a compliment, for cows are among the most likeable of animals.

1933 January 9, George Orwell [pseudonym; Eric Arthur Blair], chapter XXXII, in Down and Out in Paris and London, London: Victor Gollancz […], →OCLC:

Greville Preston: You've been set up, you silly cow. Now, don't let me hear any more about this unless you have absolute stand-up-in-court proof it's kosher...
Mattie Storin: Pig.

1990, House of Cards, Season 1, Episode 2:

By the time of my third, five months ago, I was a right bossy cow about what I wanted because I knew the drill. For reasons I shan’t bore you with, I got them to induce me at 39 weeks, at 10am, with the epidural going in first, and it was all a dream.

2014 December 5, Marina Hyde, “Childbirth is as awful as it is magical, thanks to our postnatal ‘care’”, in The Guardian:

(derogatory, UK, Ireland, informal) A woman considered unpleasant in some way, particularly one considered nasty, stupid, fat, lazy, or difficult.


cow

Who could live to gaze from day to day on bricks and slates, who had once felt the influence of a scene like this? Who could continue to exist, where there are no cows but the cows on the chimneypots; nothing redolent of Pan but pan-tiles; […]

1836, Charles Dickens, The Pickwick Papers:


stand

en-verb

stand (third-person singular simple present stands, present participle standing, simple past stood, past participle stood or (obsolete) standen or (nonstandard) stand)

stands (present singular third-person)
standing (participle present)
stood (past)
stood (participle past)
standen (obsolete participle past)
stand (nonstandard participle past)
stand (infinitive)
stand (first-person present singular)
stood (first-person past singular)
stand (present second-person singular)
standest (archaic present second-person singular)
stood (past second-person singular)
stoodst (archaic past second-person singular)
stoodest (archaic past second-person singular)
stands (present singular third-person)
standeth (archaic present singular third-person)
stood (past singular third-person)
stand (plural present)
stood (past plural)
stand (present subjunctive)
stood (past subjunctive)
stand (imperative present)
standing (participle present)
stood (participle past)
stand (dialectal participle past)
stooden (dialectal participle past)
standen (archaic participle past)

→ Ido: standar

→ Norman: stanner, sténer

Sranan Tongo: tan

From Middle English stonden, standen (verb) and stand, stond (noun, from the verb), from Old English standan (“to stand, occupy a place”), from Proto-West Germanic *standan, from Proto-Germanic *standaną (“to stand”), from Pre-Germanic *sth₂-n-t-´, an innovative extended n-infixed form of Proto-Indo-European *steh₂-.
Cognates
Cognate with Scots stand (“to stand”), Saterland Frisian stounde (“to stand”), West Frisian stean (“to stand”), dialectal German standen (“to stand”), Danish stande (“to stand”), Swedish stånda (“to stand”), Norwegian standa (“to stand”), Faroese standa (“to stand”), Icelandic standa (“to stand”), Gothic 𐍃𐍄𐌰𐌽𐌳𐌰𐌽 (standan), Russian стоя́ть (stojátʹ, “to stand”). Also from *steh₂-: Irish seas, Latin stare, Lithuanian stóti, Old Church Slavonic стояти (stojati), Albanian shtoj (“to increase”), Ancient Greek ἵστημι (hístēmi, “to put”), Avestan 𐬵𐬌𐬱𐬙𐬀𐬌𐬙𐬌 (hištaⁱti), Sanskrit तिष्ठति (tiṣṭhati). From the related Proto-Germanic *stāną (“to stand”): West Frisian stean, Dutch staan, German stehen, Danish stå.

cog

a house divided against itself cannot stand

behind every successful man there stands a woman

dwarf standing on the shoulders of giants

where you stand depends on where you sit

He is standing for election to the local council.

He stood to be elected one of the proctors of the university.

1678, Izaak Walton, The Life of Robert Sanderson:

(intransitive, British) To be a candidate (in an election).

To position or be positioned socially:
To be a candidate (in an election).


bunk

en-verb

bunk (third-person singular simple present bunks, present participle bunking, simple past and past participle bunked)

bunks (present singular third-person)
bunking (participle present)
bunked (participle past)
bunked (past)

19th century, of uncertain origin; perhaps from previous "to occupy a bunk" meaning, with connotations of a hurried departure, as if on a ship.

The naughty boys decided to bunk school and visit the comic shop.

(British, India) To fail to attend school or work without permission; to play truant (usually as in 'to bunk off').

бягам от училище

to fail to attend school without permission


it

its (plural)
hit (alternative)
i' (alternative)
itt (alternative)

From Middle English it, hit ( > dialectal English hit (“it”)), from Old English hit (“it”), from Proto-West Germanic *hit, from Proto-Germanic *hit (“this, this one”), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱe-, *ḱey- (“this, here”). Cognate with West Frisian it (“it”), Saterland Frisian et, 't (“it”), Dutch het (“it”), Low German it (“it”), German es (“it”). Compare also Gothic 𐌹𐍄𐌰 (ita, “it”), Latin cis (“on this”), hic (“this”). More at he.

Let's play it at breaktime.


fuck

fuck (third-person singular simple present fucks, present participle fucking, simple past and past participle fucked)

fucks (present singular third-person)
fucking (participle present)
fucked (participle past)
fucked (past)
fuck (infinitive)
fuck (first-person present singular)
fucked (first-person past singular)
fuck (present second-person singular)
fuckest (archaic present second-person singular)
fucked (past second-person singular)
fuckedst (archaic past second-person singular)
fucks (present singular third-person)
fucketh (archaic present singular third-person)
fucked (past singular third-person)
fuck (plural present)
fucked (past plural)
fuck (present subjunctive)
fucked (past subjunctive)
fuck (imperative present)
fucking (participle present)
fucked (participle past)
f##k (alternative)
f#$k (alternative)
f#%k (alternative)
f#*k (alternative)
f*** (alternative)
f**k (alternative)
f*ck (alternative)
f--k (alternative)
fck (alternative)
fk (alternative)
fsck (alternative)
fu#k (alternative)
fu$k (alternative)
fu*k (alternative)
fu-k (alternative)
fu...k (alternative)
fu©k (alternative)
fvck (alternative)
f—k (alternative)
f&!k (alternative)
f...k (alternative)
f…k (alternative)
fu…k (alternative)
fuxk (alternative)
F-bomb (alternative euphemistic)
F-word (alternative euphemistic)
fuk (alternative)
fuq (alternative)
phuck (alternative)
uckfay (alternative)

Flen flyys
Slate.com
University of Minnesota Press

Etymology tree
Proto-Indo-European *pewǵ-
Proto-Germanic *fukkōną
Old English *fuccian
Middle English *fukken
English fuck
From Middle English *fukken, probably of Germanic origin: either from Old English *fuccian or Old Norse *fukka, both from Proto-Germanic *fukkōną, from Proto-Indo-European *pewǵ- (“to strike, punch, stab”). Compare windfucker and its debated etymology.
Possibly attested in a 772 C.E. charter that mentions a place called Fuccerham, which may mean "ham (“home”) of the fucker" or "hamm (“pasture”) of the fucker"; a John le Fucker in a record from 1278 may just be a variant of Fulcher; compare Fucher, Foker, etc. The earliest unambiguous use of the word in a clearly sexual context, in any stage of English, appears to be in court documents from Cheshire, England, which mention a man called Roger Fuckebythenavele (possibly tongue-in-cheek or directly suggestive of a depraved sexual act) on 8 December 1310. It was first listed in a dictionary in 1598. Scots fuk or fuck is attested slightly earlier, probably reinforcing the Northern Germanic/Scandinavian origin theory. From 1500 onward, the word has been in continual use, superseding jape and sard and largely displacing swive. See windfucker and fuckwind for more information.
A range of folk-etymological backronyms, such as "fornication under consent of the king" and "for unlawful carnal knowledge", are all demonstrably false.
Sense 10 from related sense feck.

der

He fucked the dirty cloth out the window.

She fucked her mobile at his head in anger.

(transitive, Ireland, UK) To throw, to lob something. (angrily)


fuck

f##k (alternative)
f#$k (alternative)
f#%k (alternative)
f#*k (alternative)
f*** (alternative)
f**k (alternative)
f*ck (alternative)
f--k (alternative)
fck (alternative)
fk (alternative)
fsck (alternative)
fu#k (alternative)
fu$k (alternative)
fu*k (alternative)
fu-k (alternative)
fu...k (alternative)
fu©k (alternative)
fvck (alternative)
f—k (alternative)
f&!k (alternative)
f...k (alternative)
f…k (alternative)
fu…k (alternative)
fuxk (alternative)
F-bomb (alternative euphemistic)
F-word (alternative euphemistic)
fuk (alternative)
fuq (alternative)
phuck (alternative)
uckfay (alternative)

Do I want to? Do I fuck!

They're your friends, aren't they? – Are they fuck my friends.

(UK, Ireland) Used after an inverted subject pronoun and auxiliary verb or copula to emphatically negate the verb.


ground

en-noun

ground (countable and uncountable, plural grounds)

Etymology tree
Proto-Indo-European *gʰrem-der.
Proto-Germanic *grunduz
Old English grund
Middle English ground
English ground
From Middle English ground, from Old English grund, from Proto-West Germanic *grundu, from Proto-Germanic *grunduz. Cognate with West Frisian grûn, Dutch grond and German Grund.

etymon

cut the ground from under someone's feet

know one's ass from a hole in the ground

know one's head from a hole in the ground

know the difference between one's ass and a hole in the ground

Manchester United's ground is known as Old Trafford.


close

en-adj

close (comparative closer, superlative closest)

closer (comparative)
closest (superlative)

open

antonym(s) of “articulated with the tongue body relatively close to the hard palate”

Borrowed from French clos, from Latin clausum, participle of claudō.

close only counts in horseshoes and darts

close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades

Compressed, restricted, constrained, etc.

(Ireland, UK, weather) Hot, humid, with no wind.


close

→ Irish: clós

→ Welsh: clos

(chiefly British) A street that ends in a dead end.


Indian

en-noun

Indian (countable and uncountable, plural Indians)

From Anglo-Norman indien, Middle French indien, corresponding to Ind + -ian or India + -an. Applied to inhabitants of the Americas due to an early misconception that the Americas were the eastern end of Asia / the Indies (hence also the designation of Caribbean islands as the West Indies).

We're going out tonight for an Indian.

(UK, countable, colloquial) Ellipsis of Indian meal (“meal consisting of Indian cuisine”).

We're going down to the Indian for a curry—wanna join us?

(UK, countable, colloquial) Ellipsis of Indian restaurant (“restaurant serving Indian cuisine”).


create

en-verb

create (third-person singular simple present creates, present participle creating, simple past and past participle created)

creates (present singular third-person)
creating (participle present)
created (participle past)
created (past)
create (infinitive)
create (first-person present singular)
created (first-person past singular)
create (present second-person singular)
createst (archaic present second-person singular)
created (past second-person singular)
createdst (archaic past second-person singular)
creates (present singular third-person)
createth (archaic present singular third-person)
created (past singular third-person)
create (plural present)
created (past plural)
create (present subjunctive)
created (past subjunctive)
create (imperative present)
creating (participle present)
created (participle past)
creäte (alternative archaic)

From Middle English createn, from Latin creātus, the perfect passive participle of creō, see -ate (verb-forming suffix). In this sense, mostly displaced Old English wyrċan (whence Modern English work) and ġesċieppan (whence Modern English shape).

create daylight between oneself and someone

'What's the time?' she said. 'I must fly. Miss'll start creating.'

1972, H. E. Bates, The Song of the Wren:

(UK, intransitive, colloquial) To make a fuss, complain; to shout.


here

From Middle English her, from Old English hēr (“at this place”), from Proto-West Germanic *hēr, from Proto-Germanic *hē₂r, from *hiz + *-r, from Proto-Indo-European *kís, from *ḱe + *ís.
Cognates
Cognate with Saterland Frisian hier, West Frisian hjir, Dutch hier, German Low German hier, German hier, Danish her, Swedish här, Norwegian her, Faroese her, Icelandic hér. Also related to the English pronoun he (“this/that person”), and the words hither (“to this place”) and hence (“from this place”).

Here, I'm tired and I want a drink.

(Ireland, British, slang) Used for emphasis at the beginning of a sentence when expressing an opinion or want.


plant

→ Punjabi: ਪਲਾਂਟ (palāṇṭ)

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

From Middle English plante, from Old English plante (“young tree or shrub, herb newly planted”), from Proto-West Germanic *plantu, from Latin planta (“sprout, shoot, cutting”). Broader sense of "any vegetable life, vegetation generally" is from Old French plante. Doublet of clan (borrowed through Celtic languages) and planta (directly from Latin).
The verb is from Middle English planten, from Old English plantian (“to plant”), from Latin plantāre, later influenced by Old French planter. Compare also Dutch planten (“to plant”), German pflanzen (“to plant”), Swedish plantera (“to plant”), Icelandic planta (“to plant”).
The factory and machinery senses comes from the Latin sense of "any vegetable production that serves to propagate the species," which refers to something that produces.

inh

(UK, slang, obsolete) A position in the street to sell from; a pitch.


dar

Besides these peculiarities, our river abounds with the usual fresh water fish, such as the roach, dar, flounders, carp, chub, trout, &c.

1829, A Concise History and Description of the City and Cathedral of Worcester, page 100:

(UK, dialect) A fish found in the Severn River; a dart or dace.