tangfish

The coasts of Shetland swarm with the smaller seals, or Tangfish, so named from being supposed to live among the Tang, or larger fuci that grow near the shore.

1813-1831, Brewster, David (1781-1868), Second American Edition of the New Edinburgh Encyclopædia, New York: Samuel Whiting and John L. Tiffany [and others], page 128:

a noted retreat of seals or selkies, or tangfish, as they are vernacularly called in Zetland

1863, Sidney Hall, Guide to the Highlands and Western Islands of Scotland Including Orkney and Shetland, page 791:

On the rugged shores of Orkney there are two kinds of seal – the common seal or 'tangfish' (seaweed fish) of the Shetlands […] and the great grey seal

2015, Victoria Dickenson, Seal, page 95:

Phoca vitulina
Phoca vitulina#Translingual

(UK, dialect) A common or harbour seal (Phoca vitulina).


swanmark

None may have a Swanmark, unless it be by Grant of the King

(UK) A mark of ownership cut on the bill of a swan.


third penny

(UK, law, historical) A third part of the profits of fines and penalties imposed at the county court, which was among the perquisites enjoyed by the earl.


creeple

There is one creeping beast, or long creeple (as the name is in Devonshire), that hath a rattle at his tail that doth discover his age.

1632, Thomas Morton, New English Canaan:

(obsolete, UK, dialect) A creeping creature; a reptile.


tineman

Probably akin to tine (“to shut or enclose”).

(obsolete, UK, law) An officer of the forest who had the care of vert and venison by night.


reasty

en-adj

reasty (comparative more reasty, superlative most reasty)

more reasty (comparative)
most reasty (superlative)

Much bacon is reasty

1557 February 13 (Gregorian calendar), Thomas Tusser, A Hundreth Good Pointes of Husbandrie, London: […] Richard Tottel, →OCLC; republished London: […] Robert Triphook, […], and William Sancho, […], 1810, →OCLC:

So I could pluck a crow with Poet Martial for calling it puire halec, the scauld rotten herring; be he meant that of the fat, reasty Scottish herrings, which will endure no salt, and in one month (bestow what cost on them you will) wax rammish if they be kept.

1599, Thomas Nashe, Nashes Lenten Stuffe:

Moist and muggy weather will turn it reasty sooner than anything.

1908, Thomas B. Finney, Handy Guide: For the Use of Pork Butchers, Butchers, Bacon Curers, Sausage and Brawn Manufacturers, Provision Merchants, Etc.:

The on'y flesh meaat we 'ad fur the six on us i' the wik wer' 2 lbs. of what we termed Rang-tank baacon— a reasty article it wer' too — but to me then, even the salt and the reasty crust on it were delicious.

1914, Henry Boddington, “William Dover: A Buckinghamshire Worthy”, in The Manchester Quarterly, volume 33, page 6:

(UK, dialect) Rancid, "rusty" (applied to salt meat).

His nose led him to the top of the basement stairs and there almost dissuaded him. Jessica might have been tanning, the atmosphere was so remarkable. He went quietly down into the reasty dark.

1983, Margery Allingham, More Work For the Undertaker, page 67:

Now, I picture the Romanesque beauty of Vinohrady, the reasty—yes, reasty—squalor of Žižkov, with its endless graffiti and bohemian charm, and Jiřího z Poděbrad, with its sea of pink and yellow and blue apartment blocks of various mild hues: a storybook fantasy, an architect's dream.

2018, Ronan J O'Shea, Bad Bread, Good Blues:

That said, Sackville-West's 'mild' epic is more capacious than Lembke's line, since it can accommodate an elaboarate poem such as 'Nocturne' with which she closes 'Spring', a poem which celebrates the nightingale's song and the music of the spheres, alongside her efforts 'to document the age-old Kentish skills and processes and the Kentish landscape', such as castrating the male lambs ('He shall turn little rams to little tegs') and carting manure ('the dung-cart with its reasty load').

2019, Nicholas Freer, Bobby Xinyue, Reflections and New Perspectives on Virgil's Georgics:

There's a chap who used to come here used to work at our place we used to call him reasty Roy.

2021, Sebastian Groes, R. M. Francis, Smell, Memory, and Literature in the Black Country, page 93:

(by extension, UK, dialect) Rank and smelly.

The horse turned reasty and would not start for some time.

You'l lie downe shortly. Get you in, and worke! What, are you growne so reasty you want heates?

1906, Francis Beaumont, The Maids Tragedie:

"Methingks you Clithereare's nun hath a reasty look , forsooth!" "Reasty?", retorted that housewife, " Callest thou me a whipper-ginnie, thou hufty-tufty cumtwang?"

1978, Logophile - Volume 2, Issue 6, page 10:


white-pot

Old Violet was a worthy colored woman who kept a goody shop, where school children could buy journey or johnny cake, white pot, or poor man's custard, and candy

1905, Mrs. John King Van Rensselaer, Newport: Our Social Capital:

(UK, Devon, dialect) A kind of food made of milk or cream, eggs, sugar, bread, etc., baked in a pot.


poor knights of Windsor

en-noun

poor knights of Windsor pl (plural only)


drock

For quotations using this term, see Citations:drock.

(UK, dialect) A drainage ditch, sometimes covered; a small watercourse, especially one used for drainage or sewerage.


brickish

en-adj

brickish (comparative more brickish, superlative most brickish)

more brickish (comparative)
most brickish (superlative)

"It's awfully brickish of you, Worcester," said Acton, as Grim was heard trotting up the corridor "to stand down."

(slang, UK, dated) Like a brick, a helpful or reliable person.


turnwrest

(UK, historical, agriculture) A cumbersome kind of plough formerly used in England, especially in Kent.


clotbur

clotburs (plural)
clotebur (alternative)

a weed with large leaves and burs somewhat like those of the burdock or clotbur

1879, Richard Chandler Alexander Prior, On the popular names of British plants:


worldy

(UK, slang) Alternative form of worldie (“anything particularly excellent of its kind”).


weaky

weaky (comparative weakier, superlative weakiest)

tlb

(UK dialectal, Northern England, Scotland)

weakier (comparative)
weakiest (superlative)
weekey (alternative)
weeky (alternative)

From an unattested English dialectal word *weak (“moist; moisture”) + -y. Compare voky, woky.
*Weak is from Middle English *weke, *wak, *wok, from Old Norse vǫkr (“moist; damp; wet”) and Old Norse vǫkvi, vǫkva (“moisture; juice”), from Proto-Germanic *wakwaz (“moist”) and *wakwô, *wakwijô (“moisture; wetness; open water; icehole”), from Proto-Indo-European *wegʷ- (“wet”).
Cognates
Germanic cognates include Scots wak, wakke, waik (“moist; damp; wet", also "moisture; wetness”); Dutch wak (“icehole; blowhole”) and its earlier form, Middle Dutch wac (“flexible; liquid; moist; soft”); Middle Low German wake (“hole in the ice; open water in the ice”); Swedish vak (“hole in the ice”); Icelandic vökur (“moist”) and vökvi, vökva (“fluid”).
Indo-European cognates include Latin ūmeō (“to be wet, moist or damp”), whence English humid, humidity, and humidify; Ancient Greek ὑγρός (hugrós, “wet; moist; fluid”, adjective), whence English hygro-; Sanskrit उक्षति (ukṣáti, “to wet; moisten; sprinkle”).


weakiness

(UK dialectal, Northern England, Scotland) Moisture.


wacken

en-adj

wacken (comparative more wacken, superlative most wacken)

more wacken (comparative)
most wacken (superlative)

From Middle English waken, from Old English wacen, ġewacen, from Proto-Germanic *wakanaz, past participle of Proto-Germanic *wakaną (“to wake, be awake, arise”), equivalent to wake + -en (past participle ending).


more power to your elbow

/mɔː ˈpaʊə tʊ jə ˈɛlbəʊ/

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-more power to your elbow.wav

/mɔɹ ˈpaʊɚ tʊ jɚ ˈɛlboʊ/

Possibly an elaboration of more power to you, with the speaker expressing the wish that the person addressed will have more strength to achieve their goal.

Naturally the forms of traction occupy Mr. [Geoffrey] Freeman Allen much of his time and he sits on no fence here; he is an "electrifier", with good reasons advanced—more power to his elbow.

1959 May, G. F. Fiennes (reviewer), “New Reading on Railways: British Railways Today and Tomorrow. By G. Freeman Allen. Ian Allan. 25s.”, in Trains Illustrated, London: Ian Allan Publishing, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 271:

(British) Used to express admiration of a person coupled with wishes for their continued success in an endeavour of their own choosing: all the best; good luck.


Towie

(UK, slang) The Only Way Is Essex, a television reality show based in Essex, England.


light railway

Under a Light Railway Order of 1904, the line was extended to Appledore, and opened thence on May 1, 1908, bringing the route length up to a fraction over 7 miles. The whole system was worked under this Order as a light railway, but this caused some friction with the local authorities when, under the authority of the Board of Trade, the gates were removed at five level crossings in May, 1905.

1939 June, “Pertinent Paragraphs: The Bideford, Westward Ho! & Appledore Railway”, in Railway Magazine, page 459:

Although the line is officially a light railway, it is of standard gauge, and the traffic, particularly during and since the war years, is anything but light.

1948 September and October, G. E. C. Webb, “By Light Railway to Fawley”, in Railway Magazine, page 307:

(rail transport, UK) A railway built at a lower cost, with a lighter track and to a lower standard than a main-line railway.


railway vehicle

en-noun

railway vehicle (plural railway vehicles)


railway carriage

railway carriage (plural railway carriages)

(UK, rail transport) A railroad car (for passengers)


insense

en-verb

insense (third-person singular simple present insenses, present participle insensing, simple past and past participle insensed)

insenses (present singular third-person)
insensing (participle present)
insensed (participle past)
insensed (past)

From Old French ensenser (“to enlighten, to bring to sense”), from en- + sens (“sense”).

uder

eagle eyes upon the insensed yet fearful monarch

(UK, dialect) To make to understand; to instruct.


fausen

The wave-sprung entrails, about which fausens and other fish
Did shoal,

[1611?], Homer, “Book XXI”, in Geo[rge] Chapman, transl., The Iliads of Homer Prince of Poets. […], London: […] Nathaniell Butter, →OCLC; republished as The Iliads of Homer, Prince of Poets, […], new edition, volume I, London: Charles Knight and Co., […], 1843, →OCLC:


stuckle

stuckles of corn

(UK, obsolete) A number of sheaves set together in the field; a stook.


shug

en-verb

shug (third-person singular simple present shugs, present participle shugging, simple past and past participle shugged)

shugs (present singular third-person)
shugging (participle present)
shugged (participle past)
shugged (past)

From Middle English shuggen, shoggen, schoggen (“to shake, shake off, mix by shaking, tremble, shake loose from one's clothing”), probably a variant of Middle English schokken (“to move rapidly, shake, push”), from Middle Low German schocken (“to shake, tremble”). See schokken.

der

the Comtesse Leinsengen again shugged her shoulders , drew her shawl around her , and was preparing to depart

1830, Lady Charlotte Campbell Bury, The Exclusives:

(UK, dialect, obsolete) To writhe the body so as to produce friction against one's clothes, as do those who have the itch.

There I'll shug in and get a noble countenance.

1621, John Ford, Thomas Dekker, William Rowley, The Witch of Edmonton:

(UK, dialect, obsolete) To crawl; to sneak.


ill-favouredness

Those of Mexico […] so love to have great dugs, that they strive to have their children sucke over their shoulders. So would we set forth ilfavordnesse [translating laideur].

(UK, now rare) The quality of being ill-favoured; ugliness.


esplees

From Latin expletia, Old French espleit. Compare exploit.

in a writ of Eſchete, in a writ of right ſur diſclaimer, and ſuch like, which are founded vpon the ſeigniory, and not vpon any ſeiſin of the land it ſelfe, no eſplees ſhall be alledged

1627, Henry Finch, Lavv: Or, A Discovrse Thereof, in Foure Bookes:

(law, UK, obsolete) The full profits or products yielded by land, such as hay, pasturage, grain, rents, services, and the like.


sharpling

From sharp + -ling. Compare German Schärfling (“stickleback”).


tibrie

(UK, dialect, dated) A fish, the pollock.


cheeser

From Middle English cheser; equivalent to cheese + -er. The smile is said to resemble the uniform white coloration of cheese, or possibly related to the phrase say cheese.

It had been the same in another bedroom, too high for pleasure in those days, with its ornate grate and bedside table of shining walnut, on which the loot of his boyhood days looked guiltily out-of-place—lead soldiers, squashed toffees, lengths of string, cheesers, marbles, odd catapult parts, one cowboy “sixgun".

1967, Geoffrey Atheling Wagner, The Sands of Valor, page 78:

There were sniggers from the Plummergen spectators as they saw that the conker dangling from the string in his hand was a cheeser, one of the awkward, wedge-shaped nuts produced when two or more horse chestnuts developed inside the same prickly husk.

1994, Hamilton Crane, Miss Seeton Undercover, page 214:

We would all collect the largest and hardest cheesers we could find.

2010, John Sidney Rickerby, The Other Belfast: An Irish Youth, page 95:

(UK, dialect) A conker, especially one with a flat side.


coloriser

(rare, UK) Non-Oxford British English spelling of colorizer.


dolly knot

(UK) a hitch knot used to tension ropes, often for the purpose of securing loads for transport.


shaffle

en-verb

shaffle (third-person singular simple present shaffles, present participle shaffling, simple past and past participle shaffled)

shaffles (present singular third-person)
shaffling (participle present)
shaffled (participle past)
shaffled (past)

(obsolete, UK, dialect) To hobble or limp; to shuffle.


bewist

From Middle English biwist, biwest, from Old English bīwist (“sustenance, food, provision, necessities”), equivalent to be- + wist (“being”), or by- + wist (“being”). More at be-, was.

inh

biwist (alternative)
bewiste (alternative)
biwiste (alternative)

(Now chiefly UK dialectal) Food; provision; victual; a living.

(Now chiefly UK dialectal) State or condition of life.

(Now chiefly UK dialectal) Abiding; dwelling; sojourn; living.

(Now chiefly UK dialectal) Dwelling-place; abode; habitation.


green-ink letter

en-noun

green-ink letter (plural green-ink letters)

/ˌɡɹiːn.ɪŋk ˈlɛtə/

/ˌɡɹin.ɪŋk ˈlɛtɚ/

(chiefly British) A letter written to a newspaper editor, politician, etc., expressing eccentric views; such a letter is often stereotyped as being handwritten in green ink, characterized by the frequent use of capital letters and underlining, and lengthy.


bewill

en-verb

bewill (third-person singular simple present bewills, present participle bewilling, simple past and past participle bewilled)

bewills (present singular third-person)
bewilling (participle present)
bewilled (participle past)
bewilled (past)

From be- + will (“wandering, stray, lost in error”). Cognate with Scots bewild (“to bewill”).

prefix

(UK dialectal, Scotland) To cause to go astray.


green-ink brigade

the green-ink brigade (canonical)
green ink brigade (alternative)

/ˌɡɹiːn.ɪŋk bɹɪˈɡeɪd/

/ˌɡɹin.ɪŋk bɹɪˈɡeɪd/

Origin unknown. Since formal letters are usually written in black or blue ink, perhaps there is a suggestion that only eccentric people use green ink.

For the moment, electoral reform is dead. This is comforting on balance, for the subject, along with fluoridation and a few others, is one which experienced journalists tend to avoid. It tends to bring out the green ink brigade. No electoral reform: no lengthy letters to the Editor from Miss Enid Lakeman. Good. We can all breathe again.

1980 January 13, Alan Watkins, “Gerrymandering for the aid of the party”, in Donald Trelford, editor, The Observer, number 9829, London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 9, column 3:

There is something perversely satisfying about the fact that, […] our elected legislature was taken over lock, stock and barrel by the green ink brigade. I should explain at once that the expression is the more-or-less-affectionate description given by journalists and politicians to the people who write them eccentric letters, often in block capitals and frequently underlined in multicoloured inks. For some reason I have never heard satisfactorily explained, the most obsessive of these correspondents seem to prefer green.

1985 March 8, Ian Aitken, “Tories who are fluoriding high before the fall”, in Peter Preston, editor, The Guardian, number 58719, London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 10, column 1:

Even before I began I had numerous warnings from colleagues to “beware of the green-ink brigade”, conjuring the spectre of obsessive correspondents who would write at great length and persistently, typically covering their copious sheets in longhand scrawled in green ink. I have seen one or two – and I mean just one or two – that more or less fit the description, Guardian readers all.

1998 November 7, Ian Mayes, “The Readers’ Editor on … his first year in the job: First aid for the injured”, in Alan Rusbridger, editor, The Guardian (Saturday Review), number 47,326, London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 2, column 5; republished in Victor Keegan, editor, The Guardian Year ’99, London: Fourth Estate, 1999, →ISBN, page 152:

In some broadcasting circles it has become fashionable to be cynical about the listener/viewer. It is tempting to go along with that, especially if you have been on the receiving end of those extraordinary letters from ‘the green ink brigade’, criticizing your programmes and often you personally.

2004, Jenni Mills, “Who are You Talking To?”, in The Broadcast Voice, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Focal Press, →ISBN, page 38:

At least the poor bastard who receives the letter will be able to bin it after reading the first couple of lines instead of having to sit through it to the bitter end like me. […] The green-ink brigade, they were known as there. Because invariably those with enough time on their hands to write and complain about stupid things did so in green ink.

2011, Linda Green, chapter 20, in And Then It Happened, London: Headline Review, Headline Publishing Group, →ISBN, page 225:

Devo-sceptics outside the Assembly were furious when we changed the working title of the executive branch to Welsh Assembly Government. They thought we were assuming airs and graces. The letters poured in from the green ink brigade to the local evening newspapers – they had never accepted the referendum result anyway.

2017, Rhodri Morgan, “Earning Respect: 2000–2003”, in Rhodri: A Political Life in Wales and Westminster, Cardiff: University of Wales Press, →ISBN, page 197:

Once my 'outrageous' private life was made public the green-ink brigade took it upon themselves to write to me with rather impressively detailed ways in which they were going to kill me and my family.

2019, Sandi Toksvig, “Peckham Road/Southampton Way”, in Between the Stops: The View of My Life from the Top of the Number 12 Bus, London: Virago Press, →ISBN:

(chiefly British) Collectively, those people who write letters to newspaper editors, politicians, etc., expressing eccentric views; the letters are often stereotyped as being lengthy, handwritten in green ink, and characterized by the frequent use of capital letters and underlining.


dahn

At the end o' the six paces yer cuts yer 'and away an' brings it smartly dahn ter yer side an' looks to yer front.

He's got a kind of a way with him an' he sits dahn with the like of huz, and he talks to us as if we was men in place o' bein' cattle, which is the way with most on 'em.

1904, David Christie Murray, VC -- A Chronicle of Castle Barfield and of the Crimea:

Pronunciation spelling
pronunciation spelling


dahn

“So, wot, people'd pay to throw you dahn the stairs? Dunno abaht that. People in these parts is used to throwing one another dahn stairs for free.

2007, Howard Whitehouse, Bill Slavin, The Faceless Fiend: The Faceless Fiend: Being the Tale of a Criminal Mastermind, His Masked Minions and a Princess with a Butter Knife, Involving Explosives and a Certain Amount of Pushing and Shoving, Book 2:

He's cool. Does triathlons dahn de Sahn.

2013 September 5, James Burton, The Bermuda Sun, archived from the original on 2022-12-12:

(UK, Bermuda) Pronunciation spelling of down.


piewipe

(UK, archaic, dialect, East Anglia, Lincolnshire, Nottinghamshire) A bird, the lapwing or peewit.


weet-weet

So called from its piping cry when disturbed.

(obsolete, UK, dialect) The common European sandpiper.


baldrib

Leg, bladebone, baldrib, griskin, chine, or chop
Profess myself a genuine Philopig

1828, Robert Southey, Epistle to Allan Cunningham:

(UK, dated) A piece of pork cut lower down than the sparerib, and destitute of fat.


patterer

(UK, slang, obsolete) Someone who patters, or talks glibly.

The running patterer cares less than other street-sellers for bad weather, for if he "work" on a wet and gloomy evening, and if the work be "a cock," which is a fictitious statement or even a pretended fictitious statement, there is the less chance of any one detecting the ruse.

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


hareld

Clangula hyemalis
Clangula hyemalis#Translingual

(UK, archaic) A long-tailed duck, of species Clangula hyemalis.


lance-jack

They made him a lance-jack; but it was only because they wanted somebody tall at the end of the front rank to fix bayonets by.

1974, GB Edwards, The Book of Ebenezer Le Page, New York, published 2007, page 44:

(UK, military slang) A lance-corporal or lance-bombadier.


gainand

en-adj

gainand (comparative more gainand, superlative most gainand)

more gainand (comparative)
most gainand (superlative)
ganand (alternative)

From Middle English gainand, present participle of Middle English gainen (“to gain, benefit”), equivalent to gain + -and.

der

(Now chiefly UK dialectal) Appropriate; becoming; fit; suitable; convenient.


withtake

en-verb

withtake (third-person singular simple present withtakes, present participle withtaking, simple past withtook, past participle withtaken)

withtakes (present singular third-person)
withtaking (participle present)
withtook (past)
withtaken (participle past)

From Middle English withtaken, partial calque of earlier Middle English withnimen; equivalent to with- + take.

(transitive, UK dialectal) To withhold; retain.


hillman

(UK, historical) A person employed to sift through a heap of dust and rubbish in search of any saleable items.


sweight

sweights (plural)
swecht (alternative Northern-England Scotland)
sweicht (alternative Scotland)
swelch (alternative Scotland)
swelth (alternative Scotland)

From Middle English sweyght, derivative of Middle English sweiȝen (“to sway”), equivalent to sway + -th (abstract nominal suffix).

main sweight

(UK dialectal, Northern England, Scotland) A portion or amount; the greatest amount or the greater part of anything; a multitude; a great number or quantity.

(UK dialectal, Northern England, Scotland) The force of a moving object or body in motion; violence.

(UK dialectal, Scotland) A rush; an impetus; a burden, weight, or force.


sweb

sweb (third-person singular simple present swebs, present participle swebbing, simple past and past participle swebbed)

swebs (present singular third-person)
swebbing (participle present)
swebbed (participle past)
swebbed (past)
swab (alternative)

From Middle English swebben (“to sleep, swoon”), from Old English swebban (“to put to sleep, lull, kill”), from
From Proto-West Germanic *swabbjan, from Proto-Germanic *swabjaną, *swēbijaną (“to lull, put to sleep”), from Proto-Indo-European *swep-, *sup- (“to sleep”). Cognate with Icelandic svefja (“to put to sleep, lull, soothe”), Latin sōpiō (“put to sleep, lull”, verb). Related to sweven.

cog

Hoo swebbed, all droked in sweat, frae the heat o' the desert sun.

She fainted, all drenched in sweat, from the heat of the desert sun.

(intransitive, UK dialectal, Northern England) To swoon; faint.


sweb

(UK dialectal, Northern England) A swoon.


swebby

en-adj

swebby (comparative swebbier or more swebby, superlative swebbiest or most swebby)

swebbier (comparative)
more swebby (comparative)
swebbiest (superlative)
most swebby (superlative)


broggle

en-verb

broggle (third-person singular simple present broggles, present participle broggling, simple past and past participle broggled)

broggles (present singular third-person)
broggling (participle present)
broggled (participle past)
broggled (past)
braggle (alternative)

A derivative of dialectal English brog (“sniggle, fish with a brog”), equivalent to brog + -le. Compare brog (noun).

And as this way of fishing is called Sniggling, so it is called Broggling for Eels

(UK, dialect) To sniggle, or fish with a brog.


expeditate

expeditate (third-person singular simple present expeditates, present participle expeditating, simple past and past participle expeditated)

expeditates (present singular third-person)
expeditating (participle present)
expeditated (participle past)
expeditated (past)

From Latin expeditatus, past participle of expeditare (“to expeditate”), from ex (“out”) + ped- (“foot”).

They expeditated the dogs, to stop them chasing deer.

(UK, obsolete, transitive, law, forest law) To deprive of the claws or the balls of the forefeet.


hiddle

hiddle (third-person singular simple present hiddles, present participle hiddling, simple past and past participle hiddled)

hiddles (present singular third-person)
hiddling (participle present)
hiddled (participle past)
hiddled (past)
hidel (alternative)
hidle (alternative)
hiddil (alternative)
heddle (alternative)
hydle (alternative)
hidels (alternative)
hydles (alternative)

From Middle English hidel, hydel, an alteration, due to final s mistaken for the plural ending, of Middle English hidils, hudels (“hiding-place, concealment”), from Old English hȳdels (“a place of concealment, hiding-place, cavern, cave”), equivalent to hide + -le. For loss of final s compare burial, riddle. More at hide, huddle.

inh

(transitive, UK dialectal, Scotland) To hide; conceal.

(intransitive, UK dialectal, Scotland) To nestle closely; take shelter.

(transitive, UK dialectal, Scotland) To shelter (in one's arms).


hidness

From Middle English hidnes, hudnesse, from Old English ġehȳdnes (“comfort, security”), equivalent to hide + -ness.

(UK dialectal Scotland) Secrecy; hiddenness.


lurt

Of North Germanic origin, related to Danish lort (“excrement”) and Norwegian lort (“filth, dirt, excrement”).

cog

(UK dialectal, Scotland) A lump of dirt or excrement; a turd.


sangar

sangars (plural)
sangah (alternative)
sanger (alternative)
sungah (alternative)
sungar (alternative)
sungha (alternative)

From Pashto سنګر (sangar) or from Persian سنگر (sangar).

At the summits of these the enemy sharpshooters waited for them in sangars, or rock-built entrenchments, each of which had to be taken before the advance could safely continue.

1990, Peter Hopkirk, The Great Game, Folio Society, published 2010, page 422:

A sangar is a breastwork in the form of stonewalls built without bounding material. If stones are unavailable at or near the picket site sandbags are brought in to build the sangar.

2002, Stephen Hughes, The Iraqi Threat and Saddam Hussein′s Weapons of Mass Destruction, page 140:

As the sun finally set, the rebels rushed the sangars, but were cut to pieces by the deadly accurate SAS fire.

2003, Mike Ryan, Secret Operations of the SAS, page 81:

The game′s up, thought Piet as the Burghers returned fire and moved forward to attack the sangar.

(military, UK) A stone breastwork; a fortified niche or look-out post.


fulham

So called because loaded dice were supposed to have been chiefly made at Fulham, originally in Middlesex, England.

“Cards may be more agreeable,” said Captain Colepepper; “and, for knowing your company, here is honest old Pillory will tell you Jack Colepepper plays as truly on the square as e’er a man that trowled a die–Men talk of high and low dice, Fulhams and bristles, topping, knapping, slurring, stabbing, and a hundred ways of rooking besides; but broil me like a rasher of bacon, if I could ever learn the trick on ‘em!”

1822, Sir Walter Scott, The Fortunes of Nigel:

(archaic, UK, slang) Alternative form of fullam (“loaded die”).

As one cut out to pass your tricks on, / With fulhams of poetic fiction

c. 1660–1680, Samuel Butler, Hudibras, part II, canto 1:

(archaic, UK, colloquial, by extension) Alternative form of fullam (“sham”).


scrouge

en-verb

scrouge (third-person singular simple present scrouges, present participle scrouging, simple past and past participle scrouged)

scrouges (present singular third-person)
scrouging (participle present)
scrouged (participle past)
scrouged (past)
scrooge (alternative)
scrowdge (alternative)
scrudge (alternative)

Well, pretty soon the whole town was there, squirming and scrouging and pushing and shoving to get at the window and have a look[…]

1884 December 10, Mark Twain [pseudonym; Samuel Langhorne Clemens], The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn: (Tom Sawyer’s Comrade) […], London: Chatto & Windus, […], →OCLC:

I look for veiled eyes or bodies scrouged into a seat in an alien world.

1983, Judson R. Landis, Sociology: concepts and characteristics:

We stayed up till eleven, sitting on the stairs, on the floor, and scrouged into the day room, surrounded by stacks of GI clothes.

2001, Aileen Kilgore Henderson, Stateside Soldier: Life in the Women's Army Corps, 1944-1945, page 12:

(UK, dialect and US, colloquial, transitive) To crowd; to squeeze.


Eastie

(UK, informal, television) EastEnders, a long-running British soap opera set in the East End of London.


shurely shome mishtake

Pronunciation spelling of surely some mistake; originally coined by Private Eye in imitation of the slurred speech of a drunken editor, or of the lisping Daily Telegraph editor Bill Deedes.

pronunciation spelling of

[They] were overwhelmed by the buffet, consisting of a "huge bowel [shurely shome mishtake?] of great pink shrimps balanced on their heads, guarded by a three foot ice swan"

1990, Congress for Cultural Freedom, Encounter, volume 74, page 40:

The letter in AI 2.10.97 re the Philips Pavilion makes me wonder again why that 'experience' (copyright PM Millennium Inc) was so easily hated - and panned again by your reviewer. Why, only a few weeks ago your 'Mayo' called it 'Corbusier's Swiss Pavilion'. Shurely shome mishtake?

1997, John McKean, “Hard to see what's in front of your eyes”, in The Architect's Journal, volume 206, page 27:

Surely this was worthy of comment, if not a headline: "UK drink-driving limit allows binge drinking - shurely shome mishtake?"

2004, Paul Blezard, “Binge and Drive”, in New Scientist, number 2464:

The Star also reports: "A public farewell is being planned next week in Brisbane's football stadium to accommodate all his millions of fans." The Wrap is not sure how big the stadium is, but thinks this might be a case of shurely shome mishtake?

2006 September 13, Mark Oliver, “The Wrap - No Love Lost”, in The Guardian:

(UK, informal) Highlights a mistake, actual or perceived, which the writer feels is ironic or humorous.


tath

en-noun

tath (countable and uncountable, plural taths)

taths (plural)
teathe (alternative)
tathe (alternative)

From Middle English tath, from Old Norse tað (“manure”), from Proto-Germanic *tadą (“manure”), from Proto-Indo-European *dāy- (“to divide, split, part, section”). Cognate with Icelandic tað (“manure, dung”), dialectal Swedish tad (“manure, dung”).

der

after the sheep have trod out a great quantity of stones, in feeding off turnips, to have them raked up clean, which I have known some farmers do, nor can the rake be used without taking some of the tathe, or dung, with them .

1804, Arthur Young, The Farmer's Calendar:

(UK, dialectal, agriculture, historical or archaic, Scotland) The dung of livestock left on a field to serve as manure or fertiliser.

(UK, dialectal, agriculture, histortical or archaic, Scotland) A piece of ground dunged by livestock.

(UK, dialectal, agriculture, historical or archaic, Scotland) Strong grass growing around the dung of kine.


tath

en-verb

tath (third-person singular simple present taths, present participle tathing, simple past and past participle tathed)

taths (present singular third-person)
tathing (participle present)
tathed (participle past)
tathed (past)
teathe (alternative)
tathe (alternative)

From Middle English tathen, from Old Norse teðja (“to manure”), from Proto-Germanic *tadjaną (“to strew, scatter”), from Proto-Indo-European *dāy- (“to divide, split, part, section”). Cognate with Icelandic teðja (“to dung, manure”), Norwegian tedja (“to dung”), German zetten (“to let fall in small pieces, let crumble”).

cog

I would have no more ploughed than has been tathed the preceding year

(UK, dialectal, agriculture, historical or archaic, Scotland) To manure (land) by pasturing cattle on it, or causing them to lie upon it.


grundel

From Middle English grundel, grundyl, perhaps from Old English gryndle (“herring”). Compare also Middle Dutch grondele, grondel, Middle Low German grundele, grundel (“groundling”). See groundling.

(UK, dialect, archaic) A kind of fish, the groundling.


Ugandan discussions

Now that Andy has dispensed with her services, Grovel can reveal that the former soft-porn star was enjoying Ugandan discussions in St Moritz last Christmas with Lome Thyssen, 20-year-old son of the multi-millionaire steel tycoon Baron Heini Thyssen.

1983, Private Eye, numbers 550-575, page 215:

A letter came back on Department of Education notepaper. "Very sorry I can't do lunch. I am usually engaged in Ugandan discussions at lunchtime. I will be happy to see you in the evening."

2009, Ion Trewin, Alan Clark: The Biography, →ISBN:

Boys make gay jokes about most other boys, without any implication that any genuine Ugandan discussions take place.

2010, Tom Bennett, The Behaviour Guru: Behaviour Management Solutions for Teachers, →ISBN, page 164:

(UK, euphemistic, humorous) Sexual intercourse.


discuss Uganda

en-verb

discuss Uganda (third-person singular simple present discusses Uganda, present participle discussing Uganda, simple past and past participle discussed Uganda)

discusses Uganda (present singular third-person)
discussing Uganda (participle present)
discussed Uganda (participle past)
discussed Uganda (past)

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

Coined by Private Eye in reference to an alleged tryst between journalist Mary Kenny and a politician, after which Kenny claimed she was merely "upstairs discussing Uganda".

IMHO she just devalues the rest of us who want to be judged by what we do and what we are, not how we look and who we discuss Uganda with.

1995 April 27, Helen Gerald, “Re: Liz Hurley”, in rec.arts.tv.uk (Usenet), message-ID <1bd766f1e95e31fd>:

If both [doors] are closed (leaving a small gap between them, that is) it means the occupant is away, studying hard and not wishing to be disturbed, discussing Uganda with a member of the opposite sex (or even, fwankly Wupert, the same one), or enduring a hangover from hell [...]

2007, Benedict Le Vay, Eccentric Cambridge, →ISBN, page 257:

The antipasto often features fettunta—thin slices of Tuscan bread toasted and salted (the bread itself is unsalted) and perhaps rubbed with garlic (you may prefer to rub it on for yourself, or not if you're due to discuss Uganda or have an interview with Silvio Berlusconi)

2009, Nicholas Belfrage, The Finest Wines of Tuscany and Central Italy, →ISBN, page 312:

(UK, informal, euphemistic) To have sex.


passman

As one reads history—not in the expurgated editions written for schoolboys and passmen, but in the original authorities of each time—one is absolutely sickened, not by the crimes that the wicked have committed, but by the punishments that the good have inflicted; […]

1891 March 15, Oscar Wilde, “The Soul of Man under Socialism”, in Oscar Wilde, William Morris, W[illiam] C[harles] Owen, The Soul of Man under Socialism, The Socialist Ideal—Art and The Coming Solidarity (The Humboldt Library of Science; no. 147), New York, N.Y.: The Humboldt Publishing Company, 28 Lafayette Place, →OCLC, pages 14–15:

(British, archaic) One who passes a university degree, but without honours.


snattock

you shall find many crucibles, (which we confide were snattocks of that very Crosse)

1654, Edmund Gayton, Pleasant Notes upon Don Quixote:

(UK, dialect) A chip; a slice or fragment.


tubfish

(UK, dialect) A fish of species Chelidonichthys lucerna.


spigurnel

From Saxon spicurran, to shut up or enclose.

On the 4th of October, being Sunday, the Bishop of Ely, chancellor, producing the new seal, declares the king's pleasure, that it should be from thenceforth used; the Monday after the old seal is broke, præcipiente rege and the pieces delivered to the Spigurnel.

1904, John Greene Henderson, Chancery Practice, page 103:

Several Spigurnels of the thirteenth century are, moreover, described indifferently as Serjeants of the King's Chapel and Serjeants of his Chancery

1926, Sir H. C. Maxwell Lyte, Historical Notes on the Use of the Great Seal of England:

However there is one item of expenditure which may have a direct link to the chancery; the purchase of wax. In 1224-5, for example, we find the bishop's bailiffs at Southwark buying ten pounds of wax 'for the spigurnel by the bishop's order'.

1980, David Michael Smith, Nicholas Vincent, B. R. Kemp, English Episcopal Acta: Winchester, 1205-1238, page xlvii:

Henry IV provided royal confirmations to several minor Chancery officials , including the spigurnel of Chancery, along with letters patent confirming the office of “chaufeire” within Chancery.

1999, Medieval Prosopography - Volume 20, page 203:

(UK, law, obsolete) The sealer of writs in chancery.


frank-fee

if the lord confirm to the tenant , to hold freely , by the services before due , this makes the land frank-fee

1834, John Scriven, A Treatise on Copyholds:

(UK, law) A species of tenure in fee simple, being the opposite of ancient demesne, or copyhold.


upgang

upgangs (plural)
upgaing (alternative)
upgeng (alternative)
uppgeng (alternative)

From Middle English upgang, from Old English upgang (“ascent”), equivalent to up- + gang. Cognate with Dutch opgang (“ascent”), German Aufgang (“rising, ascent”), Swedish uppgång (“a rise, a way up”), Icelandic uppgang (“expansion”).

(UK dialectal) The act of ascending a slope; ascent.

(UK dialectal) A sudden rising of wind and sea; a storm.


exotic cheroot

But some busybody got a whiff of an exotic cheroot and the place was closed down.

No sweet scent of the exotic cheroot taints the air, there are scarcely even any smokers, and no one seems to be employing the men's room either to take on fuel or to make a brisk exchange of spermatozoa.

1994, Christopher Hitchens, “Warhol in One Dimension”, in For the Sake of Argument: Essays and Minority Reports, →ISBN, page 283:

'This friend of yours must have been smoking exotic cheroots while writing to you,' reads the note and I laugh out loud, especially as the letter comes from Chuck Pfeifer.

1994, Taki, Nothing to Declare, →ISBN, page 188:

(UK, euphemistic) Cannabis, a joint of cannabis.


at daggers drawn

/æt ˌdæɡəz ˈdɹɔːn/

/æt ˌdæɡəɹz ˈdɹɔn/

Probably a reference to people preparing to fight by drawing their daggers from their sheaths. Compare French à couteaux tirés (literally “at daggers drawn”).

cog

And upon this point, vvere they at Daggers Dravvn vvith the Emperour.

1667, Francisco de Quevedo Villegas, “The Seventh Vision of Hell Reform’d”, in R[oger] L[’Estrange], transl., The Visions of Dom Francisco de Quevedo Villegas, […], London: […] H[enry] Herringman […], →OCLC, page 263:

The new duke of Orléans, son of the Regent, was a callow and shallow youth and worse still—for the house of Condé, collateral with the Bourbons, was perennially at daggers drawn with the rival Orléans dynasty—had just married and already made his wife pregnant.

2002, Colin Jones, “Negotiating Stormy Weather: The Regency and the Advent of Fleury (1715–26)”, in The Great Nation: France from Louis XV to Napoleon 1715–99, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Columbia University Press, →ISBN, page 80:

But [David] Cameron nevertheless feels confident, because he is pretty sure that he has got Labour where he wants it, still off the centre ground on economic credibility and increasingly at daggers drawn with the Liberal Democrats, not least over the pivotal electoral event of this parliament, the AV referendum.

2011 April 28, Martin Kettle, “Vote yes to AV if you want to see Tories feel the fear again”, in Alan Rusbridger, editor, The Guardian, London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2022-12-08:

(idiomatic, chiefly British) In a state of open hostility.

to daggers' drawing

at or to the point of fighting, quarrelling, or open hostility


sparhawk

(UK, dialect) Alternative form of sparrow hawk.


knottle

From Middle English knottil, cnottel (“little knot”), diminutive of knotte, cnotte (“knot”), equivalent to knot + -le. Cognate with Middle Dutch knuttel, Middle Low German knutel, Middle High German Knüttel (“little stick”). Compare also Old English cnyttels (“string, fiber, sinew”).


dretch

en-verb

dretch (third-person singular simple present dretches, present participle dretching, simple past and past participle dretched)

dretches (present singular third-person)
dretching (participle present)
dretched (participle past)
dretched (past)
draitch (alternative Scotland)
drich (alternative Scotland)

From Middle English dretchen, drecchen, drechen, from Old English *dreċċan (“to draw out, delay, linger”), from Proto-West Germanic *drakkjan, from Proto-Germanic *drakjaną (“to draw, pull”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰreǵ- (“to pull, drag, scratch”). Cognate with Scots dratch, dretch (“to dawdle”), Dutch trekken (“to draw, pull, tear, pluck, trek”), German trecken (“to draw, trek”), Danish trække (“to draw, pull”), Norwegian dråk (“stripe”), Swedish dialectal drakig (“striped, streaked”), Icelandic rák (“streak”).

cog

(intransitive, UK dialectal, Scotland) To move slowly and heavily; dawdle; loiter.


dretch

dretches (plural)
draitch (alternative Scotland)
drich (alternative Scotland)

(UK dialectal, Scotland) A person slow in the execution of a job; a dawdler.


deech

en-noun

deech (usually uncountable, plural deeches)

deeches (plural)
ditch (alternative dialectal)
deche (alternative obsolete)

From Middle English dechen, from Old English dēċan (“to smear, plaster, daub”), from Proto-West Germanic *dōkijan (“to apply with a rag or cloth, smear”), from *dōk (“cloth, rag”), from Proto-Germanic *dōkaz (“rag”); see duck (“canvas, cloth”). Cognate with Dutch doeken, German tuchen.

inh

(UK dialectal, Northern England) Dirt (or grime) ingrained on the hands, or in cracks, crevices, etc.


banting

Miss Clark, alarmed at her increasing stoutness, was doing a course of what is popularly known as banting.

1932, Agatha Christie, The Thirteen Problems:

(British, informal, archaic) A diet aimed at losing weight, mostly accomplished by avoiding carbohydrates and sweet foods.


flaysome

en-adj

flaysome (comparative more flaysome, superlative most flaysome)

more flaysome (comparative)
most flaysome (superlative)
fleysome (alternative)
fleesome (alternative)

(UK dialectal, Northern England, Scotland) Terrifying; frightful.


hoveller

hovellers (plural)
hoveler (alternative)

How it was that the fishermen, and hovellers, and smugglers got an inkling of what we were about, I don't know.

1839, George Payne Rainsford James, Charles Tyrrell: Or, The Bitter Blood:

(UK, dialect) One who assists in saving life and property from a wreck; a coast boatman.


tiger mum

"I was never a tiger mum!" Eu says with a laugh. "My kids started boarding school at nine, so they learnt to be independent from young. […]

2012 April 8, Chin Mui Yoon, “From homemaker to head honcho”, in The Star, Malaysia:


unkard

unkard (comparative more unkard, superlative most unkard)

more unkard (comparative)
most unkard (superlative)

(UK, dialect, obsolete) Alternative form of unked.


belam

en-verb

belam (third-person singular simple present belams, present participle belamming, simple past and past participle belammed)

belams (present singular third-person)
belamming (participle present)
belammed (participle past)
belammed (past)

he unjoynted the spondyles or knuckles of the neck , disfigured their chaps , gashed their faces , made their cheeks hang flapping on their chin , and so swinged and belammed them , that they fell down before him

1653, François Rabelais, “Pantagruel King of the Dipsodes”, in W. Heath Robinson, transl., The Works of Mr. Francis Rabelais, page 83:

(UK, dialect, dated, transitive) To beat or bang.


written statement of employment

en-noun

written statement of employment (plural written statements of employment)

written statements of employment (plural)

(law, UK) A legally binding document that puts the main terms of employment, such as pay, working hours, holidays, applicable collective agreement, sick leave and pension in writing, and which an employer is required to give to an employee.


discommon

en-verb

discommon (third-person singular simple present discommons, present participle discommoning, simple past and past participle discommoned)

discommons (present singular third-person)
discommoning (participle present)
discommoned (participle past)
discommoned (past)

From Middle English discomyned, discomynned, dyscomynyd (participle); equivalent to dis- + common.

But what punishment is laid vpon Recusants, by the rare clemencie of her Maiestie, any way comparable to those that Christian Emperours haue made against Recusants, or such as refused to communicate with the Church of Christ? They were discommoned from buying and selling, from bequeathing their goods or lands to others, or receiuing anie Legacies from others, yea they might not inioy their fathers inheritaunce, &c. What like thing is done to English Recusants? or rather what not vnlike? they buy, they sell, they bequeath their goods at their pleasure, they receiue legacies, and inioy inheritances.

1600, Francis Hastings, An apologie or defence of the watch-word, page 161:

Let us not leave our fellowship, and estrange our selves from Gods people[…]To be discommoned a Town, or for a Citizen to be banished a city, is a great evill: But to be an exile from Gods city, and discommoned [i.e. excommunicated] from the communion of Saints, this is lamentable indeed.

1647, Paul Bayne, An Entire Commentary upon the Whole Epistle of the Apostle Paul to the Ephesians, page 277:

And as a confirmation of the obligation of residence, which we have before insisted upon, it appears, the person, in strict conformity with the common law, was "discommoned," or disfranchised, because he had not inhabited within the city for the space of one year.

1835, Henry Alworth Merewether, The History of the Boroughs and Municipal Corporations of the United Kingdom, volume 2, page 1252:

(historical, UK) To deprive of the privilege of citizenship of a town or city.

[…] persons violating the above statute are liable to a fine for the first offence, and to be discommoned for the second.

1851, Oxford University Statutes: The University statutes, from 1767 to 1850:

It could 'discommon' any citizen (most of whom, the Laudian statutes grumbled, 'catch at every occasion of impugning the University privileges') or privileged person should they 'oppose the University privileges'; for a privileged person this meant a suspension of privileges and for a citizen an embargo on dealing with any member of the University.

2013, Ian Gadd, Ian Anders Gadd, Simon Eliot, History of Oxford University Press, page 559:

(transitive, UK, Oxford and Cambridge universities, historical) To deprive of the right to deal with undergraduates.


shovelard

From Middle English schovelerd, schulerde, schevelard, from schovel (“shovel”), perhaps influenced by malard (“mallard”), on model of Middle Dutch lepelaar (“spoonbill”), with Middle English -ard replacing -aar, but not completely certain.

(UK, dialect) A kind of dabbling duck; the shoveler.


flone

flones (plural)
flane (alternative)
flain (alternative)

From Middle English flon, flone, flan, from Old English flān (“barb, arrow, javelin, dart”), from Proto-Germanic *flainaz (“fork-point, prong, hook, spear-tip”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)plei- (“to divide, split, splice”). Cognate with Icelandic fleinn (“thorn, arrow, dart, pike, fluke”).


CLU

(UK, healthcare) Initialism of consultant-led unit.


forloppin

From for- + loppin, past participle of loup (“to run, leap”).

(UK dialectal, Scotland) Being a runaway, vagabond, or renegade.


clerk-ale

That ALE is festival, appears from its sense in composition; as, amongst others, in the words Lecet-ale, Lamb-ale, Whitson-ale, Clerk-ale, and Church-ale

1774-1781, Thomas Warton, History of English Poetry:

(UK, obsolete) A feast for the benefit of the parish clerk.


REME

w:Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers

(UK) Initialism of Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers.


subsizar

Bid my subsiser carry my hackney to the buttery, and give him his bever; it is a civil and sober beast, and will drink moderately.

1625, John Fletcher, Philip Massinger, “The Elder Brother. A Comedy.”, in Comedies and Tragedies […], London: […] Humphrey Robinson, […], and for Humphrey Moseley […], published 1679, →OCLC, (please specify the act number in uppercase Roman numerals, and the scene number in lowercase Roman numerals):

(UK, Cambridge University, historical) An under-sizar; a student of lower rank than a sizar.


coal-meter

(obsolete, UK) A licensed or official coal supervisor. A coal-meter would supervise the loading and loading of coal at a port.


omnishambles

From omni- + shambles. Introduced by the television show The Thick of It in 2009.

Between the car accident, the food poisoning and the lost keys, the holiday was an omnishambles.

Rail unions also rounded on ministers to intervene in the energy "omnishambles", with ASLEF General Secretary Mick Whelan calling on the Government to "do the right thing for people, the right thing for business, and the right thing for our rail network. Because it is also the right thing for our planet."

2021 October 20, Paul Stephens, “Network News: Electricity prices force Freightliner to revert to diesel”, in RAIL, number 942, page 7:

(UK, informal, chiefly politics) A situation that is bad or mismanaged in every way.


slackcom

"Slackcom," confesses Cheryl Taylor, commissioner for entertainment at Channel 4, "is a term we started bandying around because of the nature of a lot of the sitcoms we started receiving; proposals revolving around twenty- or thirtysomething non-professionals."

1999 September 6, Janine Gibson, “Spaced out”, in The Guardian:

(UK) A sitcom which revolves around a slacker or slackers.


kaylied

en-adj

kaylied (comparative more kaylied, superlative most kaylied)

more kaylied (comparative)
most kaylied (superlative)
kalied (alternative)

Uncertain; possibly from kali (“type of candy”); see sherbet (sense 4).

He got completely kaylied last night.

So come and wave your 'ons from side to side and we'll drink loads of beer till we're more kaylied.

2020, “Black Country Mon”performed by Johnny Cole:


Crown prosecutor

en-noun

Crown prosecutor (plural Crown prosecutors)

Crown prosecutors (plural)
crown prosecutor (alternative)

(British, Canada, Australia) The state prosecutor; the legal party responsible for presenting the case against an individual in a criminal trial.


unked

en-adj

unked (comparative more unked, superlative most unked)

more unked (comparative)
most unked (superlative)

From Middle English unked, past participle of unkythen, equivalent to un- + ked (an old past participle form of kithe).

af

an old past participle form of <i class="Latn mention" lang="en">kithe</i>

On Tuesday afternoon Molly returned home, to the home which was already strange, and what Warwickshire people would call 'unked,' to her. New paint, new paper, new colours; grim servants dressed in their best, and objecting to every change

1864 August – 1866 January, [Elizabeth] Gaskell, Wives and Daughters. An Every-day Story. […], volume (please specify |volume=I or II), London: Smith, Elder and Co., […], published 1866, →OCLC:

Forsooth he misdoubted him that the bow was somewhat unked, and that the lad had had some new dealings with the Dwarf-kin or other strange wights.

1898, William Morris, The Sundering Flood, p. 41:

And there the little stalk of each, which might have been a pear, God willing, had a ring around its base, and sought a chance to drop and die. The others which had not opened comb, but only prepared to do it, were a little better off, but still very brown and unked, and shrivelling in doubt of health, and neither peart nor lusty.

1869, Richard Doddridge Blackmore, Lorna Doone, Chapter 17:

March 21, 1790, William Cowper, letter to Mrs. Throckmorton
Weston is sadly unked without you.


scove

(UK, dialect, Cornwall, mining) Rich, pure tin ore.


scratchback

(UK, dated) A toy which imitates the sound of tearing cloth, used by drawing it across the back of unsuspecting persons.


kitchen roll

en-noun

kitchen roll (countable and uncountable, plural kitchen rolls)

Nigella suggests draining the grated carrot in kitchen roll before using it, to absorb the excess liquid – but in a more conventional recipe, this doesn't seem necessary.

2012 March 15, Felicity Cloake, The Guardian:

(UK, Ireland, Commonwealth) (a roll of) thick absorbent paper used especially in kitchens for wiping up spills etc.


tummal

Sich powerful tummals of beastes was there, / One cud gist e'ne scrouge room for to stond in the fere.

1846, Jan Treenoodle, Specimens of Cornish provincial dialect, page 27:

"It's pure gowld," said Betty, " and wuth tummals of money."

1863, John Tillotson, The boy's yearly book, page 73:

[…] it's a good thing for she to get a husbind that can give her a goulden coach to ride in, if she's got a mind to it. But there, her pretty face is wuth a tummal of money[…]

1878, Frances Eliza Millett Notley, Love's crosses:

(UK, Cornwall, dialect, obsolete) A great quantity or heap.


farlie

From Middle English farli, ferly, ferlich, feorlich (“a wonderful thing, a marvel, a wonder”), from Middle English farli, ferly, verlich, ferlik, ferlic, feorlic (“terrible, marvellous, wonderful”), from Old English fǣrlīċ (“sudden, unexpected, quick, horrible”), equivalent to fear + -ly. Cognate with Scots ferlie (“farlie”), Old Norse ferlíki, ferlíkan (“a monster, abnormality, monstrosity”), Old Norse ferligr (“monstrous”).

der

(Whilst thus himselfe to please, the mightie Mountaine tells
Such farlies of his Cluyd, and of his wondrous Wells)

1612, Michael Drayton, Poly-Olbion, song 10 p. 161:

I saw, in passing, many a farlie and fine things, such as St Paul's and the Tower

(obsolete, UK) An unusual or unexpected thing; a wonder.


prisage

en-noun

prisage (countable and uncountable, plural prisages)

/ˈpɹaɪzɪd͡ʒ/

From Old French prisage (“a praising, valuing, taxing”) (compare Latin prisagium (“prisage”)) or from French prise (“a taking, capture, prize”). See prize.

der

There is also another very ancient hereditary duty belonging to the crown, called the prisage, or butlerage of wines

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

(law, UK, obsolete) A right belonging to the crown of England, of taking two tuns of wine from every ship importing twenty tuns or more: one before and one behind the mast.


polewig

polewigs (plural)
polliwig (alternative)
polliwog (alternative)

(UK, dialect, obsolete) sand goby (Pomatoschistus minutus).


Q-car

(UK, slang) A high-performance car with an unassuming exterior.


pickmire

From pick + mire, so called from its picking its food from the mire.

(UK, dialect, dated) The peewit, or black-headed gull.


court-leet

en-noun

court-leet (plural court-leets or courts-leet)

court-leets (plural)
courts-leet (plural)

This oath must be taken by all persons in any office, trust, or employment; and may be tendered by two justices of the peace to any person, whom they shall suspect of disaffection. And the oath of allegiance may be tendered to all persons above the age of twelve years, whether natives, denizens, or aliens, either in the court-leet of the manor, or in the sheriff's tourn, which is the court-leet of the county.

1771, William, Sir Blackstone, “Of the People, Whether Aliens, Denizens, or Natives”, in Commentaries on the Laws of England, volume 1, page 368:

(UK, law, historical) A court of record held once a year, in a particular hundred, lordship, or manor, before the steward of the leet.


hognut

(UK) A tuberous plant of family Apiaceae (Conopodium majus).


manswear

en-verb

manswear (third-person singular simple present manswears, present participle manswearing, simple past manswore, past participle mansworn)

manswears (present singular third-person)
manswearing (participle present)
manswore (past)
mansworn (participle past)
mainswear (alternative Northern-England)
manswere (alternative Scotland)
maneswere (alternative Scotland)
maneswere (alternative Scotland)
mansweir (alternative Scotland)

From Middle English mansweren, from Old English mānswerian (“to forswear, perjure oneself”), from mān (“bad, criminal, false”) + swerian (“to swear”).

inh

I require of thee, as a man of thy word, on pain of being held faithless, man-sworn, and nidering [footnote: Infamous], to forgive and to receive to thy paternal affection the good knight, Wilfrid of Ivanhoe.

1819 December 20 (indicated as 1820), Walter Scott, chapter XII, in Ivanhoe; a Romance. […], volume III, Edinburgh: […] Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Hurst, Robinson, and Co. […], →OCLC, page 302:

There are doomed to wade the weltering streams / Men that are mansworn, and they that murderers are.

1916, The Prose Edda (translation), page 82

(transitive, chiefly British, dialectal) To swear falsely; perjure oneself.


thible

(UK, dialect, obsolete) A stick for stirring food.


scranny

en-adj

scranny (comparative scrannier, superlative scranniest)

scrannier (comparative)
scranniest (superlative)

Rat.
I’ll slily seize and
Let blood from her weasand,—
Creeping through crevice, and chink, and cranny,
With my snaky tail, and my sides so scranny.

1820, Percy Bysshe Shelley, Oedipus Tyrannus; Or, Swellfoot The Tyrant: A Tragedy in Two Acts:

Observe in the whole lot, from the magnificent lord of the herd down to the scranniest runt, the superlative of self-reliance, the air of puffy arrogance and solid disregard of public or private opinion such as few of us attain.

1901, New England Magazine: An Illustrated Monthly - Volume 24, page 177:

“Well, in the first place," I explained the little lady, "they've got three of the scranniest kids, and the mother herself don't look very strong."

Among the affairs of men their voices, single or united, amounted to no more than a scranny interruption easily put aside;

2001, Margaret Mead, Geoffrey Gorer, John Rickman, Russian Culture, →ISBN, page 38:

'Look at him, said Ada, pursing her lips. 'Is he fighting material? If Hitler's crack Panzer divisions see a scranny feller like him coming towards them, will they panic?"

2007, David Nobbs, The Complete Pratt, →ISBN, page 31:


plough stop

en-verb

plough stop (third-person singular simple present plough stops, present participle plough stopping, simple past and past participle plough stopped)

plough stops (present singular third-person)
plough stopping (participle present)
plough stopped (participle past)
plough stopped (past)


job centre

She put it all down last time she was at the job centre and they stopped her benefits for the hundredth time because of an error in the system that will take twelve weeks for them to reassess.

2021, Jenni Fagan, Luckenbooth, William Heinemann, page 260:

British standard spelling of job center.


swaip

swaip (third-person singular simple present swaips, present participle swaiping, simple past and past participle swaiped)

swaips (present singular third-person)
swaiping (participle present)
swaiped (participle past)
swaiped (past)

From Middle English swaipen (“to strike, scourge”), from Old Norse sveipa (“to sweep, stroke”) and/or Old English swāpan (“to sweep”); both ultimately from Proto-Germanic *swaipaną (“to sweep, swing, hurl, fling”). Doublet of swoop.

inh

Och, for his swaiping! That was a lucky job for him, —the ill-favored, foul-mouthed blackguard, heretic and villain thief!

1842, Anthony Ganilh, Ambrosio de Letinez, page 143:

But Ayas swaiped aside among the crowd, Aflush with hate and burning discontent: And many murmured at him: for, said they, “Hamil at least doth surely mean us well!“

1883, Welbore St. Clair Baddeley, Bedoueen Legends: And Other Poems, page 40:

It is in good manners to swaip / But only when just celebrating / Without malice and arrogance / To show accomplishment once

(UK, dialect, obsolete) To walk proudly; to sweep along.


croodle

en-verb

croodle (third-person singular simple present croodles, present participle croodling, simple past and past participle croodled)

croodles (present singular third-person)
croodling (participle present)
croodled (participle past)
croodled (past)

Far ben thy dark green plantin's shade
The cushat croodles am'rously

a. 1810, Robert Tannahill, The Wood O' Craigie Lea:

Oh! that I had wings-not as a dove , to fly home to its nest and croodle there

1858 January, Charles Kingsley, “My Winter-Garden”, in Frasers Magazine:

Mrs. Dootson bridged the other half, and, croodling down to Meg's height, she somewhat forced the friendship

1898, William Edwards Tirebuck, Meg of the Scarlet Fool:

(UK, dialect, obsolete) To cower or cuddle together, as from fear or cold; to lie close and snug together, as pigs in straw.

(UK, dialect, obsolete) To fawn or coax.


brew up

brew up (third-person singular simple present brews up, present participle brewing up, simple past and past participle brewed up)

brews up (present singular third-person)
brewing up (participle present)
brewed up (participle past)
brewed up (past)

(British) Make a fire in order to make tea.


forjudge

forjudge (third-person singular simple present forjudges, present participle forjudging, simple past and past participle forjudged)

forjudges (present singular third-person)
forjudging (participle present)
forjudged (participle past)
forjudged (past)
forjuge (alternative)
forejudge (alternative)

From Middle English forjugen; in sense 1, from Old French fourjugier (“to judge illegally, dispossess”); in sense 2, from Middle English for- + jugen (“to judge”), equivalent to for- + judge. Compare fordeem.

der

(transitive, dialectal in British) To condemn judicially (to a penalty).


withsaw

From Middle English withsawe, withsahe, withsau, from Old English *wiþsagu (“renunciation, contradiction”); equivalent to with- + saw (“saying”).


Black English

Multicultural London English
Multicultural London English#English

Any of several varieties of English spoken by or associated with Black people, especially people of African origin or in Africa.

(UK) Synonym of Multicultural London English (“MLE”).


knock into a cocked hat

en-verb

knock into a cocked hat (third-person singular simple present knocks into a cocked hat, present participle knocking into a cocked hat, simple past and past participle knocked into a cocked hat)

knocks into a cocked hat (present singular third-person)
knocking into a cocked hat (participle present)
knocked into a cocked hat (participle past)
knocked into a cocked hat (past)

A cocked hat is one with the brim turned up to form two or three points (a bicorn or tricorn). The verb may refer:
* to someone or something being knocked or hit out of shape like such a hat, or a person having a cocked hat forced on to their head; or
* to a person knocking down all but three pins in a game of ninepins, or to the similar game called “cocked hat” in which only three pins are set up in a triangle, although these may simply be allusions to the shape of a tricorn. It has been pointed out that evidence linking these games to the verb is lacking.

All the original ideas we had were knocked into a cocked hat by the latest survey.

"That's a fact," said the Kentuckian, "and knocks all his fine arguments into a cocked hat. Jist a minute ago I tho't slavery wall all right, and now I see it's all wrong, and has no kinder sort o' foundation.["]

1853, Vidi [pseudonym], chapter XII, in Mr. Frank, the Underground Mail-agent, Philadelphia, Pa.: Lippincott, Grambo & Co., →OCLC, page 146:

"The fact is," said Jim Keene, the great New York rival to Jay Gould, "that no matter how clever and thorough a man's system of stock operating may be, there is always occurring some little unforeseen and apparently insignificant circumstance that is forever knocking the best laid-out plans into a cocked hat."

1884 October 25, “Never Write on Your Cuffs”, in Tid-bits: From All Sources […], volume I, number 10, New York, N.Y.: John W. Lovell Company, →OCLC, page 146, column 2:

A frigate of the modern type would knock a fort armed with obsolete guns into a cocked hat.

1888 January 26, “Lord Brassey on imperial defence”, in The Pall Mall Gazette: An Evening Newspaper and Review, volume XLVII, number 7133, London: […] Richard Lambert, […], →OCLC, page 9, column 1:

And you guess the end of the world will probably look like that, […] with all things at last in equilibrium, the winds quiet, the sea frozen, the sky composed, and the earth in glacial quietude. Or so you fancy. Then along comes a walloping blizzard and knocks such night dreaming into a cocked hat.

1935, Richard Evelyn Byrd Jr., “The Lunatic Fringe”, in Discovery: The Story of the Second Byrd Antarctic Expedition, paperback edition, Lanham, Md., London: Rowman & Littlefield, published 2015, →ISBN, page 195:

In its early forms it [English] was a highly inflected tongue – indeed, it was more inflected than modern German, and almost as much so as Russian. […] The impact of the [Norman] Conquest knocked this elaborate grammatical structure into a cocked hat.

1936 April, H[enry] L[ouis] Mencken, “The Future of the Language”, in The American Language: An Inquiry into the Development of English in the United States, 4th edition, New York, N.Y.: Alfred A[braham] Knopf, →OCLC, page 607:

Unlike the supporters of metric adoption, the opponents did not have to wage a campaign to accomplish their goal. All they had to do was knock into a cocked hat the claims advanced by the "reformers."

1971 August, Charles F. Treat, “The Great Metric Crusade (1914–1933)”, in A History of the Metric System Controversy in the United States: U.S. Metric Study Interim Report […] (National Bureau of Standards Special Publication; 345-10), Washington, D.C.: National Bureau of Standards, United States Department of Commerce, →OCLC, page 195:

I thought I knew what to do about it, and had figured to sit down with Giselle after the conference to get her on board. But that idea had been knocked into a cocked hat along with the conference.

2011, Larry Karp, chapter 1, in A Perilous Conception, Scottsdale, Ariz.: Poisoned Pen Press, →ISBN, page 4:

If every particle has a corresponding anti-particle, as the Standard Model asserts, the question arises, Where has all the antimatter gone? Saying that's just the way it happens to be, doesn't satisfy many scientists. And it knocks into a cocked hat the whole Standard Model, which to this point, he [Martin Beech] assures us, has been "highly successful in describing the observed particle zoo."

2012, W. Brewster Willcox, “A Two-horse Horserace”, in The Power of Paradox, [Bloomington, Ind.]: Xlibris, →ISBN, part II (The Search for the Higgs and Why It Matters), pages 27–28:

(transitive, chiefly British, colloquial, figuratively) To completely demolish, nullify, overthrow, or otherwise defeat (a person; an argument, idea, or proposition; or a thing).

gettare alle ortiche

to completely demolish, nullify, overthrow, or otherwise defeat


admass

From ad + mass, coined by British novelist J. B. Priestley.

(dated, British) That part of society that is influenced by mass media advertising.


raggie

He is concerned for his pal, his raggie, […]

1918, Edward Noble, The Naval Side, page 54:

Able-seaman Jenvey, his "raggie" Lofty Smith and Venus the honey-bear were ensconced in their usual billet under the fo'c'sle awning of His Majesty's cruiser Empire enjoying the peace of a make-and-mend afternoon.

1943, Gilbert Hackforth-Jones, Torpedo!: Stories of the Royal Navy, page 100:

(UK, naval slang, dated) A close friend; chum.


long drop

(UK, historical) A technique for execution by hanging, according to which the individual's height and weight were used to determine how much slack would be provided in the rope, to ensure breaking of the neck without decapitation.


scath

en-noun

scath (countable and uncountable, plural scaths)

scaths (plural)
scathe (alternative Scotland)
scaith (alternative Scotland)
schath (alternative Scotland)
schathe (alternative Scotland)
schaith (alternative Scotland)

Wherein Rome hath done you any scath,
 Let him make treble satisfaction.

c. 1588–1593 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Lamentable Tragedy of Titus Andronicus”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene i]:

Great mercy, sure, for to enlarge a thrall, / Whose freedome shall thee turne to greatest scath.

1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book II, Canto V”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 18:

Scath and loss / That man can ne'er repair.

c. 1847, Lydia H. Sigourney, Advertisement of a Lost Day:

He buried in his heart all sense of scath.

1827, Mary Howitt, The Desolation of Eyam:

(UK dialectal, archaic) Alternative form of scathe (“harm; damage”).


YEP

Yorkshire Evening Post
w:Yorkshire Evening Post

(UK) Initialism of Yorkshire Evening Post.


tunding

When all were thus assembled, and before the singers commenced, the culprit who had been sentenced to a tunding stepped out, pulled off his gown, and received from the hands of one deputed by the "prefect of hall," and armed with a tough, pliant ground-ash stick, a severe beating. I never had a tunding; but I have no doubt that the punishment was severe, though I never heard of any boy disabled by it from pursuing his usual work or his usual amusements. It was judiciously ordered by the "prefect of hall" for offences deemed unbecoming the character of a Wykehamist and a gentleman, and only for such.

1887, Thomas Adolphus Trollope, “At Winchester”, in What I Remember […], volume I, London: Richard Bentley and Son […], →OCLC, page 112:

(British, school slang, archaic) A caning.


vesses

(UK, obsolete) A kind of worsted, or the cloth made from it.


Blairista

(chiefly British, informal, derogatory) A supporter of Tony Blair, British prime minister 1997-2007, or his policies.


gobstruck

en-adj

gobstruck (comparative more gobstruck, superlative most gobstruck)

more gobstruck (comparative)
most gobstruck (superlative)

(slang, chiefly UK, Ireland) gobsmacked; astonished; astounded


OPRAF

Office of Passenger Rail Franchising
w:Office of Passenger Rail Franchising

(UK, railways, historical) Initialism of Office of Passenger Rail Franchising.


pindown

solitary confinement
solitary confinement

(UK) solitary confinement, formerly used as a method of punishment in children's homes


access course

(UK) An academic course intended to equip students with the skills they need in order to take further courses.


gooden

en-verb

gooden (third-person singular simple present goodens, present participle goodening, simple past and past participle goodened)

goodens (present singular third-person)
goodening (participle present)
goodened (participle past)
goodened (past)

From good + -en. Compare Middle English goden, godien (“to make good, become good, endow with goods”), from Old English gōdian (“to improve, get better; make better; endow, enrich”). More at good.

cog

(intransitive, UK dialectal) To grow; improve; prosper.


ongang

From Middle English *ongang, *ongong, from Old English ongang (“entrance, incursion, irruption, assault, attack; worship”), equivalent to on- + gang.

inh

(UK dialectal, obsolete) A start-up; beginning; commencement (of activity, work, machinery, etc.); a setting in motion.

(UK dialectal, obsolete) Rowdy or unrestrained behaviour; antics.


rowt

en-verb

rowt (third-person singular simple present rowts, present participle rowting, simple past and past participle rowted)

rowts (present singular third-person)
rowting (participle present)
rowted (participle past)
rowted (past)

(chiefly UK) Alternative form of rout To make a loud noise.


rowt

(chiefly UK) Alternative form of rout A loud noise.


LPI

en-noun

LPI (countable and uncountable, plural LPIs)

limited price indexation
limited price indexation#English

(UK, finance) Initialism of limited price indexation.


laugh up one's sleeve

en-verb

laugh up one's sleeve (third-person singular simple present laughs up one's sleeve, present participle laughing up one's sleeve, simple past and past participle laughed up one's sleeve)

laughs up one's sleeve (present singular third-person)
laughing up one's sleeve (participle present)
laughed up one's sleeve (participle past)
laughed up one's sleeve (past)

laugh in one's sleeve
laugh in one's sleeve#English

(UK, Canada, idiomatic) Alternative form of laugh in one's sleeve.


bezzy

Value your bezzies

2002, Imelda Pilgrim, quoting Sugar Magazine, Basic Skills in Neab GCSE English, page 76:

Sandy, my bezzy, we've held each other up for almost ten years.

2010, Cara Aikin, Family Experiences of Bipolar Disorder, page 10:

I'll miss the times when I paint Mum's toenails for her before she goes somewhere special like Goodmayes Social, 'cos it's not like we get on that well usually, but just for those five minutes we're like bezzies and Mum always fiddles about with my hair and I always call her feet 'hooves' and she laughs her head off.

2011, Grace Dent, Diary of a Chav 3 - Too Cool for School:


bezzy

You great big humans might not notice me if you come to my house, but you'd notice my mate all right. My chum, my pal, my bezzy mate, he'd eat you in one gulp, if you were rude to me.

2003, Arabella McIntyre-Brown, The Dragon that Squeaked:

I went to the bommie party with my bezzy friend, and we watched the fireworks together.

2008, Letts Educational, KS2 Success SATs English, page 73:

Mohimbo is there for five minutes and he's already bezzy mates with the most successful producer on the planet, the man who helped make Lady Gaga what she is today

2010, Paul Lester, “New band of the day - No 845: Mohombi”, in The Guardian:


hickwall

hickwalls (plural)
hickway (alternative)

From Middle English hyghwhele; also highwale (1500s) or highawe (1600s). Rarely attested before the sixteenth century, making the original form difficult to trace. Probably imitative of the bird's cry; compare yaffle (“green woodpecker”). Possibly influenced by witwall, woodwall.

lesser spotted woodpecker
lesser spotted woodpecker

Dryobates minor
Dryobates minor#Translingual

(UK, regional) A lesser spotted woodpecker (Dryobates minor).

[…]at Shenington for example, the churchwardens paid 4d for each Hickwall (green woodpecker) killed, but there is no record of any payment for weasels, which were worth 3d at Bodicote. One would like to know if Hickwalls were rare at Bodicote and weasels at Shenington, or if in fact they were not considered to be vermin in these parishes.

1975, Banbury Historical Society, Cake & Cockhorse, volume 6, page 126:

European green woodpecker
European green woodpecker

Picus viridis
Picus viridis#Translingual

(UK, regional) A European green woodpecker (Picus viridis).

Tomtit, Blue Tomtit, Nun, Blue-cap, Blue-bonnet, Billy-biter, Hickwall, Blue Mope. One of the most impudent of an impudent lot.

1861, John Christopher Atkinson, British Birds' Eggs and Nests, Popularly Described, page 43:

Cyanistes caeruleus
Cyanistes caeruleus#Translingual

(UK, regional, archaic) A blue tit, Cyanistes caeruleus.


no through road

en-noun

no through road (plural no through roads)

(UK, Australia) A cul-de-sac; a dead end road.


forfight

en-verb

forfight (third-person singular simple present forfights, present participle forfighting, simple past forfought, past participle forfought or forfoughten)

forfights (present singular third-person)
forfighting (participle present)
forfought (past)
forfought (participle past)
forfoughten (participle past)
forefight (alternative)
forfecht (alternative)

From Middle English forfighten, forfehten (“to fight for, defend; exhaust with fighting”), equivalent to for- + fight.

(transitive, UK dialectal) To exhaust or overfatigue (oneself) with fighting.


above stairs

above-stairs (alternative)
abovestairs (alternative)

(British, historical) In or pertaining to the part of a large house, typically the above-ground rooms, in which the owning family lives, contrasted with below stairs where the servants are accommodated.


town and gown

[H]owls, curses, flights of brickbats, stones shivering windows, groans of wounded men, cries of frightened females, cheers of either contending party as it charged the enemy from Carfax to Trumpington Street, proclaimed that the battle was at its height. In Berlin they would have said it was a revolution, and the cuirassiers would have been charging, sabre in hand, amidst that infuriate mob. In France they would have brought down artillery, and played on it with twenty-four pounders. In Cambridge nobody heeded the disturbance—it was a Town and Gown row.

1856, William Makepeace Thackeray, “Codlingsby”, in Burlesques:

Everybody was quiet now, both town and gown; the students were at their dinners and so were the burghers.

1919, Booth Tarkington, chapter 14, in Ramsey Milholland:

[T]he first archives of this University were burned in the ‘Town and Gown’ riots of 1381 by the Townsmen.

1920, Arthur Quiller-Couch, On The Art of Reading, Lecture V—"On Reading for Examinations"

(chiefly UK, idiomatic, sometimes capitalized) On the one hand, the members of the city, borough, or similar community near a university and, on the other hand, the students and faculty of the university itself, especially when understood as rivals in a state of tension or conflict.


chinless wonder

en-noun

chinless wonder (plural chinless wonders)

The term is derived from the characteristic recessive chin of some aristocrats, popularly thought to be caused by inbreeding and associated with limited intelligence, and from the idea of a robust chin being an indication of masculinity. The use of wonder is ironic.

This was probably the most insufferable social event of a very dull season. The bride blushingly gave her age as forty-two, but the old battle-axe could have been an eye-witness to the San Francisco Fire. At long last, little Dagmar's folks have got her married off to Morty, the chinless wonder. He couldn't hold down a job as grocery clerk, and will be manager of father-in-law's wholesale grocery firm.

1948, Saturday Review of Literature, volume 31, page 18:

She is thin, starved to near perfection […] He, a chinless wonder, a credit to Carnaby Street; they stand hand in hand before the enquiry desk

1967, The Assistant Librarian, volumes 60–61, page 24:

[Actor] John Harding personified the idle spirit of the times as a tennis-possessed chinless wonder.

1979, The Spectator, volume 243, number 1, page 25:

(UK, slang, derogatory) An ineffectual upper-class man, typically dim-witted and of a weak or indecisive character, frequently one who gained his position through nepotism or social connections.


lorks

[...] immediately upon his entrance, they straightway rose, to a woman, and each, with alarm in her countenance, ejaculated, " Oh lorks!"

1849, E. P. Roswell, “A Story about an Execution”, in Ainsworth's Magazine, volume 16, page 31:

(UK, euphemistic, dated) oh dear, oh my God.


accommodation on arrival

(travel, UK, Ireland) Hotel accommodation provided as part of the price of a package holiday, with the passenger not being advised of the hotel's name or location until arrival at the resort.


top-hole

en-adj

top-hole (comparative more top-hole, superlative most top-hole)

more top-hole (comparative)
most top-hole (superlative)
top hole (alternative)

"I say, this is a top-hole omelette," said Ronnie.

1914, H. H. Munro, chapter 5, in When William Came:

"But Carol's different—she's square, she is; she's just top-hole—if you know what I mean—she's the finest ever," finished Miss Sartoris.

1916, Kathleen Norris, chapter 1, in The Heart of Rachael:

"My word, old chap, that is top-hole tennis," said the Englishman, warmly congratulating him.

1921, Ralph Connor, chapter 1, in To Him That Hath:

He was top-hole in his line, he would soon put it right.

1927, chapter 6, in Helen Tracy Lowe-Porter, transl., The Magic Mountain, translation of Der Zauberberg by Thomas Mann, page 528:

‘Out at Randolph Park, near the outstanding El Con Marriott,’ C.T. inserts, ‘a venue the whole contingent’s been vocal about finding absolutely top-hole thus far, which —’

1996, David Foster Wallace, Infinite Jest […], Boston, Mass., New York, N.Y.: Little, Brown and Company, →ISBN, page 4:

(chiefly UK, informal) Of very high quality, tip-top.


'ullo

At that moment Freddie Jones rolled up with two overloaded plates of Pavlova. ‘’ullo my darlings; brought you some sweet.’

1988, Jilly Cooper, chapter 11, in Rivals, London: Bantam Press, →ISBN, page 106:


groop

groops (plural)
grupe (alternative)
groap (alternative)
grube (alternative)

From Middle English grope, grupe, groupe, from Old English grōp (“ditch”), from Proto-West Germanic *grōpu, from Proto-Germanic *grōpō (“furrow, ditch, trench”), from Proto-Indo-European *gʰreb-, *gʰrebʰ- (“to dig, furrow, scratch”). Cognate with Scots gruip (“gutter, drain, ditch, trench”), North Frisian groop (“pit”), Dutch groep (“a trench, moat”), Swedish grop (“a pit, ditch, hole, hollow”), Old English grēp, grēpe (“land-drain, ditch; furrow; burrow; privy”). More at grip, groove.

cog

(obsolete or UK dialectal, Northern England, Scotland) A trench or small ditch.

The groop is one foot six inches wide, six and one-half inches deep at one end … to carry off the urine into a reservoir under the Cowhouse, …

1816, James Cleland, Annals of Glasgow, Digitized edition, published 2007, page 373:

Cleaning the byre involved barrowing out the contents of the groop, sluicing it down and rebedding it with clean straw.

2008, Dennis O'Driscoll, Seamus Heaney, Stepping stones:

(obsolete or UK dialectal, Northern England, Scotland) A trench or drain; particularly, a trench or hollow behind the stalls of cows or horses for receiving their dung and urine.

(obsolete or UK dialectal, Northern England, Scotland) A pen for cattle; a byre.


seat only

(travel, UK, Ireland, dated) A package holiday rate without confirmed accommodation reservations, or using a dummy reservation, enabling the tour operator to sell charter airline seats in competition with the airlines.


back to back ticket

en-noun

back to back ticket (plural back to back tickets)

(travel, UK, Ireland) Any of a series of airline tickets, issued with overlapping travel dates, used to circumvent airfare minimum stay requirements.


absolute state

From state as used in phrases such as look at the state of you, with the intensifier absolute.

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

The absolute state of the West

When he came in from the rain he was in an absolute state.

The absolute state of you, Downey, you utter twonk. Like you have anything to do with the outcome of the bloody match! You need to confine this superstition malarkey to a flaming skip.

2015 February 11, Trev Downey, “Reasons to Believe”, in The Liverpool Offside:

Just like mum used to make – without the lecture at the absolute state of you!

2016 December 30, Meher Mirza, “The Essential Guide To Combating A Hangover In Mumbai”, in The City Story, archived from the original on 2017-06-24:

The absolute state of you! How did you get that dirty that quickly?

2017 August 3, Oliver Astley, “The beautiful baby snow leopards which are now at Twycross Zoo”, in DerbyshireLive, the online edition of the Derby Telegraph:

(Internet slang, originally UK, Ireland) A particularly dishevelled, sorry or contemptible condition.


summary offence

summary offence (plural summary offences)

(law, British, Australia, Canada, Hong Kong) A crime in some common law jurisdictions that can be proceeded against summarily, without the right to a jury trial and/or indictment, as required for an indictable offence.

簡易罪 /简易罪

crime that can be proceeded against summarily


jettage

(UK, nautical) Certain charges levied upon incoming vessels at a port.


roolie

en-adj

roolie (comparative roolier or more roolie, superlative rooliest or most roolie)

roolier (comparative)
more roolie (comparative)
rooliest (superlative)
most roolie (superlative)

From Middle English rouly, roly, equivalent to roo + -ly. Cognate with Danish rolig (“calm”), Icelandic rólegur (“calm”).

(UK dialectal, Scotland) Peaceful; still.


gobsmack

en-verb

gobsmack (third-person singular simple present gobsmacks, present participle gobsmacking, simple past and past participle gobsmacked)

gobsmacks (present singular third-person)
gobsmacking (participle present)
gobsmacked (participle past)
gobsmacked (past)

Back-formation from gobsmacked and gobsmacking.

(transitive, slang, UK, Ireland, Commonwealth) To astonish, to render temporarily stuck for words.


seave

From Old Norse sef, whence also Danish siv, Icelandic sef and Swedish säv (“club-rush”).

(Can we date this quote?), (Please provide the book title or journal name):

(UK, dialect) A wick made from this plant.


earl marshal

en-noun

earl marshal (plural earl marshals or earls marshal)

earl marshals (plural)
earls marshal (plural)

(UK) A hereditary royal officeholder and chivalric title under the sovereign of the United Kingdom, responsible for state funerals and coronations.


scraffle

en-verb

scraffle (third-person singular simple present scraffles, present participle scraffling, simple past and past participle scraffled)

scraffles (present singular third-person)
scraffling (participle present)
scraffled (participle past)
scraffled (past)

See scramble. Compare Middle Dutch schraeffelen (“to scrape; sweep; put together”).

cog

he told how he had visited their cousin Margaret in Yorkshire , who was sadly off, scraffling on with a drunken husband and large family

1812, Author of the two brothers, Scotch Lawsuits:

(UK, dialect) To scramble or struggle; to wrangle.


nail varnish

en-noun

nail varnish (countable and uncountable, plural nail varnishes)

(UK, Ireland) A cosmetic lacquer applied to the fingernails or toenails.


quadpot

(UK) A bet in which the bettor must correctly pick a placed horse from the third, fourth, fifth and sixth race from any British race meeting.


placepot

(UK) A bet in which the bettor must correctly pick a placed horse from each of the first six races from any British race meeting.


Canfield

Named after US gambler Richard Albert Canfield (1855-1914).

Camfield (alternative)
Campfield (alternative)
Cansfield (alternative)

I went over by the card table and looked down at the game. It was Canfield.

1943, Raymond Chandler, The High Window, Penguin, published 2005, page 238:

(UK) A type of solitaire card game; in the UK typically referring to Klondike, and in the US to Demon.


cakes and ale

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-cakes and ale.wav

From William Shakespeare’s play Twelfth Night (written c. 1601–1602), Act II, scene iii: see the quotation.

Doſt thou thinke becauſe thou art vertuous, there ſhall be no more Cakes and Ale?

c. 1601–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “Twelfe Night, or What You Will”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene iii], page 261, column 2:


arseholed

en-adj

arseholed (comparative more arseholed, superlative most arseholed)

more arseholed (comparative)
most arseholed (superlative)

By the time the doors opened he was arseholed on rum and got progressively more arseholed until he could take no more and fell over at about twelve o'clock.

(UK, Ireland, Commonwealth, rare, vulgar, slang) drunk


Johnny onions

(UK, historical) A Breton agricultural labourer who travelled through English cities selling onions from a bicycle.


mini-roundabout

mini-roundabouts (plural)
mini roundabout (alternative)

Williton has a mini-roundabout for a town centre. At this mini-roundabout the traffic coming from Taunton turns left and heads straight out of town towards Minehead, passing between displays of agricultural machinery on a bank up on the left and a red stone police station recessed on the right.

2002, Sam Smith, Porlock Counterpoint, page 108:

2008, Driving Standards Agency (Great Britain), The Official DSA Guide to Driving Buses and Coaches, page 296,
Although traffic is advised not to carry out U-turn manoeuvres at a mini-roundabout, be alert for any oncoming traffic doing so.

At double mini-roundabouts and multiple roundabouts, follow the normal rules of priority and treat each roundabout separately.

2008, John Wells, Margaret Stacey, Learn to Drive: In 10 Easy Stages, page 131:

(UK) A small roundabout that is either flush to the road surface (painted on) or slightly raised.


peasweep

peasweeps (plural)
peaseweep (alternative)
peeseweep (alternative)

(UK, dialect, archaic) The peewit, or lapwing.


bonkable

bonkable (comparative more bonkable, superlative most bonkable)

more bonkable (comparative)
most bonkable (superlative)

(British, slang) Worthy of bonking, or having sex with; fuckable.


birler

(UK, obsolete) The master of the revels at a Cumberland feast, whose duty it is to see that the guests have plenty to drink.


just the ticket

Mark Corrigan: Yeah, so my new idea is urine. Loads and loads of urine. Flooding your drawers. What do you think about that? Don't you think that would be just the ticket?

2003, “Dream Job”, episode 5 of series 1 of Peep Show

(UK) A most appropriate or suitable action or object in a given situation.


teetan

(UK, dialect) A pipit (Anthus spp. etc.).


shore lark

(UK) A horned lark (Eremophila alpestris).


feelth

From feel + -th (abstract nominal suffix).

(UK dialectal, Northern England) Feeling; sensation.


windlestraw

en-noun

windlestraw (countable and uncountable, plural windlestraws)

windlestraws (plural)
windlestrae (alternative)

Grey rocks did peep from the square moss, and stemmed / The struggling brook: tall spires of windlestrae / Threw their thin shadows down the rugged slope, / And nought but gnarlèd roots of ancient pines, / Branchless and blasted, clenched with grasping roots / The unwilling soil.

(UK, Scotland, dialect) A grass used for making ropes or for plaiting, especially Apera spica-venti.


no-mark

My favourite bit – bar the attempt to enforce a ruthless caste system in the no-mark community – is the prissy way Danny asterisks the word fuck …

Danny Dyer v Dane Bowers: two no-marks at war, Marina Hyde, The Guardian, 5 February 2010

If you had a daughter, and I want you to think about this seriously, would you honestly want her wasting herself on a no mark like that?

She's said to be 'in pieces' after reading nasty comments calling her a 'no mark Brit' on American websites just as she's mentally girding her loins for her big move to Los Angeles.

Google boo-boo: Cheryl Cole 'upset' after seeing slurs about herself on internet ahead of her X Factor USA appointment, Daily Mail, 30 April 2011

(British, slang) An insignificant person; one who fails to make a mark.


LPT

LPT (countable and uncountable, plural LPTs)


stick plaster

[…], blood vessel bandages, plaster bandages, sanitary pads and bandages, washable gauze bandages, silk stick plasters, bandage papers, etc.

1929, The Melliand, volume 1, number 6, page 897:

Attach catheter onto two circular double stick plasters, one at the site of catheter entry to the skin and the other 5 cm away.

2001, Graham Arthurs, Anaesthesia: A Concise Handbook, page 93:

For the past four years, government and regulators have been trying to treat the wounds exposed by the financial crisis with stick plasters.

2012, Ben Wilson, quoted in "Banking IT cowboys 'need whipping into shape by watchdog'", The Register

sticking plaster
sticking plaster#English

(UK) Alternative form of sticking plaster.


sacralisation

sacralisation (countable and uncountable, plural sacralisations)

British standard spelling of sacralization.


CPN

community psychiatric nurse
community psychiatric nurse#English

(UK) Initialism of community psychiatric nurse.


friborg

friborgs (plural)
friborgh (alternative)
fribourg (alternative)
friburgh (alternative)

From Old English friborh, from fri (“peace”) + borh, borg (“pledge”), akin to English borrow. The first part of the word was confused with free and the last part with borough.

(historical, law, UK) The pledge and tithing, afterwards called by the Normans frankpledge


tommy

tommy (countable and uncountable, plural tommies)

Generally agreed to have come from appellativization of Tommy in most senses, but the historical details are apparently largely unknown, including whether such an evolution happened several times (with one sense being independent of another).

(UK, slang, obsolete) Bread or breadlike foodstuff, generally a penny roll.

(UK, slang, obsolete) The supply of food carried by workmen as their daily allowance.

No. 84. April 6. * * * * * *, aged 13: Works at gimlets and centre-bits, &c.; works from six in the morning till seven at night; has worked here about two years; gets 4s. 6d. a week. Works for one of the men; every man pays his own boy; is paid in tommy; the man he works for gives him a note to the office, Mr. Parsons', for the money; Mr. James Parsons gives him the money, and he gives it to the man, who gives him the tommy for the money. It is John Parsons's Tommy-shop; doesn't know if his name is over the door, can't read. The man he works for behaves well to him; does not beat him; likes his work, has nothing to complain of. Went to a day-school about three years ago, but for a very little time. His father could not afford to pay for it; it was only 2d. a week, but they could hardly get bread enough at that time. Never goes to a Sunday-school; his clothes is ript so bad his father's ashamed on him going. Not badly grown; meagre, not unhealthy; dirty, and in rags.

1842, Commissioners for Inquiring into the Employment and Condition of Children in Mines and Manufactories, “Evidence of the Employment of Children”, in Appendix to the Second Report of the Commissioners: Trades and Manufactures, Reports and Evidence from Sub-Commissioners, Part 2. Presented to both Houses of Parliament by Command of Her Majesty, London: William Clowes and Sons, page 19:

(UK, slang, obsolete) A truck, or barter; the exchange of labour for goods instead of money; the scrip by which such exchange occurs.


tommy

en-verb

tommy (third-person singular simple present tommies, present participle tommying, simple past and past participle tommied)

tommies (present singular third-person)
tommying (participle present)
tommied (participle past)
tommied (past)

(UK, slang, obsolete, transitive) To pay (employees) according to the truck system, with goods instead of money.


ewery

(historical, UK) An office or place of household service where the ewers and table linen were kept.


dog

dog (third-person singular simple present dogs, present participle dogging, simple past and past participle dogged)

dogs (present singular third-person)
dogging (participle present)
dogged (participle past)
dogged (past)
darg (alternative dialectal)
dawg (alternative dialectal)
dug (alternative dialectal)
doggie (alternative childish)
doggy (alternative childish)
doggy woggy (alternative childish)
doggo (alternative childish)

Inherited from Middle English dogge (akin to Scots dug), from Old English dogga, docga, of uncertain origin.
The original meaning seems to have been a common dog, as opposed to a well-bred one, or something like 'cur', and perhaps later came to be used for stocky dogs. Possibly a pet-form diminutive with suffix -ga (compare frocga (“frog”), *picga (“pig”)), appended to a base *dog-, *doc- of unclear origin and meaning. One possibility is Old English dox (“dark, swarthy”) (compare frocga from frox). Another proposal is that it derives from Proto-West Germanic *dugan (“to be suitable”), the origin of Old English dugan (“to be good, worthy, useful”), English dow, Dutch deugen, German taugen. The theory goes that it could have been an epithet for dogs, commonly used by children, meaning "good/useful animal". Another is that it is related to *docce (“stock, muscle”), from Proto-West Germanic *dokkā (“round mass, ball, muscle, doll”), whence English dock (“stumpy tail”).
In 14th-century England, hound (from Old English hund) was the general word for all domestic canines, and dog referred to a subtype resembling the modern mastiff and bulldog. By the 16th century, dog had become the general word, and hound had begun to refer only to breeds used for hunting. In the 16th century, the word dog was adopted by several continental European languages as their word for mastiff.
Despite similarities in forms and meaning, not related to Mbabaram dog.

m+

I admit that I like to dog at my local country park.

Lightning [is a] burst of charged particles that lights up the sky and allows onlookers to see who's dogging in the bushes without using a flashlight.

2012, The Onion Book of Known Knowledge, page 118:

(intransitive, emerging usage in British) To watch, or participate, in sexual activity in a public place.


castle-guard

(UK, law, obsolete) A tax or imposition on a dwelling within a certain distance of a castle, for the purpose of maintaining watch and ward in it; castleward.


gainage

From Old French gaignage (“pasturage, crop”), French gaignage (“pasturage”). See gain (verb).

(UK, law, obsolete) The horses, oxen, ploughs, wains or wagons and implements for carrying on tillage.