annexure

annexure (countable and uncountable, plural annexures)

Avulsio is the increase in extent of land bounded by water, through the annexure of land disannexed elsewhere by violent natural causes.

1986, D. L. Carey Miller, The acquisition and protection of ownership, page 17:

Plundering, raiding and annexure of other weaker nations have become survival normality and we seem to accept these as part of life.

2009, Maduka E. Agbodike, Colonial Conspiracies in Africa, →ISBN, page 254:

I doubt if there'll be much opposition to my annexure of the throne!

2015, Derek Trevor Rowswell, The History of Gragorgix, →ISBN:

C. Rajagopan's The Greater Bombay: A Study in Suburban Ecology (Bombay: Popular Book depot, 1962) is one study, especially interesting as it was undertaken in the immediate aftermath of the annexure of Salsette to Bombay and thus offers a contemporary perspective.

2015, Dr Nicolas Kenny, Dr Rebecca Madgin, Cities Beyond Borders, →ISBN, page 134:

...other hand buildings without foundations,sheds, windmills, railway lines, and all fixtures or annexures to buildings, are movable unless their owner intended that they should be permanently annexed.

1961, George Wille, Principles of South African Law:

While determining the quantum of such return on the investments, the cost incurred for the building, as it is, with all the existing annexures intended for the better enjoyment of the premises themselves, shall have to be taken into account.

1980, The Bombay Law Reporter: Reports - Volume 82, page 184:

This implication is supported by other provisions of the Mortgage Law, such as the provision that makes the mortgage effective against all annexures to the mortgaged property (such as buildings, plants, services, constructions, and modifications), expressly including those coming into being subsequent to the mortgage deed, unless the mortgagor or and the mortgagee otherwise agree.

2011, Kabir Hassan, Michael Mahlknecht, Islamic Capital Markets: Products and Strategies, →ISBN:

The Saudi Arabian law regarding annexures is that a charge is effective against all annexures to the charged property (for example, buildings, plants, services, constructions and modifications), expressly including those that come into being subsequent to the rahn deed, unless the chargor and chargee otherwise agree.

2015, Frederique Dahan, Research Handbook on Secured Financing in Commercial Transactions, →ISBN:

This aspect of the publication appears in one of the annexures at the end of the lectures.

1989, Nagendra Singh, The Role and Record of the International Court of Justice, page xiv:

In addition a comprehensive set of annexures had to be submitted with each application that included the following […]

2001, Case Studies on the Allocation of Transferable Quota Rights in Fisheries, number 411, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations:

The reports of the seminars and their recommendations are included in the annexures of the book. The population data and other relevant information are also given in the annexures.

2006, Braja Bihārī Kumāra, Illegal Migration from Bangladesh, page xvii:

An affidavit may refer to and identify documents and other things which are part of the evidence-in-chief of a witness. These are referred to variously as annexures or exhibits. A neutral term used here for annexures and exhibits is 'attachment'.

2013, John Levingston, The Law of Affidavits, page 99:

(especially India and UK law, otherwise dated) An appendix or attachment to a document.


bluer

From blue + -er (“Oxford -er”). Used at Harrow School in London, United Kingdom.

Bluer buttons illustrate the principle of 'keeping under'. The Knoll rule book states: 'It is a one year priv. [privilege] to have the bottom button on one's bluer undone [and] a three summer priv. to have all the buttons of one's bluer undone.'

1981, James Anthony Mangan, Athleticism in the Victorian and Edwardian Public School, Psychology Press, published 2000, →ISBN, page 170:

He was alone in his room, in his bluer and his tie, seated on a chair, leaning over his bed like a desk—his preferred way to study—holding the stapled pages of the script, muttering the words.

2011, Justin Evans, “Voraciously”, in The White Devil:

(UK, school slang) A blue blazer, part of the school uniform at Harrow School.


stumer

(British) Something worthless or counterfeit.

[…] the agony of having put his little all on a stumer that hadn't finished in the first six.

1923, P. G. Wodehouse, The Inimitable Jeeves:

(UK, slang) A racehorse that is sure to lose.


HIP

Home Information Pack
Home Information Pack#English

(British) Acronym of Home Information Pack.


Home Information Pack

en-noun

Home Information Pack (plural Home Information Packs)

(British) A collection of documents relating to a property, which, under the law of England and Wales between June 2007 and 2010, had to be provided when the property was offered for sale. Abbreviation: HIP


Seller's Pack

Home Information Pack
Home Information Pack


sea fret

An extraordinary combination of mist and sea fret made the rails of the Scarborough-Whitby line so greasy on January 19 that the service came virtually to a standstill; [...]

1959 April, “Motive Power Miscellany: North Eastern Region”, in Trains Illustrated, page 224:

A sea-fret had blurred the far dunes and clouds of wood-smoke were piling up from the horizon, and as we watched, two thick, butter-coloured pillars of sunlight stepped slowly over the far, unmoving waves; sometimes even Dame Nature overdoes her effects.

When, finally, he left the pub, he discovered that a sea fret had blown in across the island, and the sand dunes were half hidden in drifting veils of vapour.

2007, Pat Barker, Border Crossing: A Novel:

There is a thing called sea fret and it's when the mist comes off the sea; it's the water that comes off the sea. And we used to have a lot of that.

2016, Would I Lie to You?, season 10, episode 5, Lee Mack (actor):

(British) A fog that comes from the sea.


nose to tail

(British, of traffic) Arranged in close formation, one behind the other.


nose to tail

(British, of traffic) Moving slowly in this manner.


cuckooing

cuckooing (countable and uncountable, plural cuckooings)

The UK sense is by analogy from the bird's practice of brood parasitism.

The specified criminal activity includes the types of criminal activity that cuckooing is typically used to facilitate, for example, drugs offences, sexual offences and offensive weapons offences.

2025 February 25, “Crime and Policing Bill: Child criminal exploitation and 'cuckooing' factsheet”, in Home Office, Ministry of Justice (United Kingdom):

(UK) A form of crime in which the home of a vulnerable person is taken over by a criminal gang and used as a base for their activities.


England and Wales

England & Wales (alternative)
E&W (alternative abbreviation)
E+W (alternative abbreviation)

constituent countries
constituent country

(UK, law) The jurisdiction covering England and Wales, two constituent countries of the United Kingdom, which share a single legal system and are treated as a single country for various purposes.


fair play

[S]he consolidated her position by purchasing the kennels, doing them up regardless of expense and buying two new horses, and, fair play to her, fair play, as they say in Wales, ...

1964, Charles Norman De Courcy-Parry, Here lies my story, page 248:

"Fair play to Jean, he has made it work for him."

1990 July 1, Joe Saward, quoting Martin Donnelly, “Interview: Martin Donnelly”, in The Business of Motorsport Newsletter, archived from the original on 2017-10-16:

The Gaelic Athletic Association, fair play to them, want absolutely nothing to do whatsoever with that thingumajig football tournament in America.

1994 June 21, Liam Hayes, “GAA's holding its own now, but could lose in the end”, in Irish Voice, archived from the original on 2016-04-21:

I wasn't expecting much of Ms Dynamite at the start of the night, but fair play to her, she's got a great voice on her.

2002 October 30, "Acquiesce", “Re: noel and chris at fair play gig”, in alt.music.oasis (Usenet):

Liam Watson: "Fair play to Southport, they were the best team on paper because they got the most points. We just want to prove we are as good as them".

2010 May 7, “Clayton sure buoyant Reds are up to the task of seeing off Fleetwood”, in Derby Evening Telegraph:

(colloquial, UK, Ireland) used to acknowledge or congratulate for something.


British Summer Time

daylight-saving time
daylight-saving time

(British) A form of daylight-saving time, one hour ahead of UTC, used in the United Kingdom. Abbreviation: BST


shagging

shagging (usually uncountable, plural shaggings)

Well, you'll do what you want,
but I'll tell you this:
one of the best shaggings I ever had
was with an overweight housepainter
who bought me a beer and a hamburger and,
the next week, painted my kitchen for free.

2007, Martina Reisz Newberry, Hunger (page 28): Insomnia (poem)

(UK, vulgar, slang) An act (or acts) of sexual intercourse.


shagging

I'm sick of this shagging job.

(UK, vulgar, slang) Used to express dislike of or annoyance towards the thing mentioned.


lun

He had no alternative to the slim chance of safety offered by the ‘lun’ of Cat Harbour, Northern Island.

1958, Michael Harrington, Sea Stories from Newfoundland:

(Newfoundland, UK regional) Alternative form of lown.


washing-up liquid

washing-up liquid (countable and uncountable, plural washing-up liquids)

I have to use a special washing-up liquid, because I have sensitive skin.

(UK, Ireland, Commonwealth) A form of liquid soap used to wash dishes by hand.


motorhead

(UK, slang) A heavy user of amphetamines.


work experience

(UK) A short unpaid period of time at a workplace, to gain experience of a working environment.

實習 /实习

short unpaid period of time at a workplace — see also internship


tetchy

en-adj

tetchy (comparative tetchier, superlative tetchiest)

tetchier (comparative)
tetchiest (superlative)
titchy (alternative)
techy (alternative)
techie (alternative)
teachy (alternative)
teachie (alternative)
teechy (alternative)
tetchie (alternative)
tecchy (alternative)
titchie (alternative)
tichy (alternative)
tertchy (alternative)
tatchy (alternative)
tachy (alternative)

Uncertain, first attested as teachie in the 1597 first quarto versions of Romeo and Juliet and Richard III. Perhaps coined by Shakespeare. Also variously derived from English tetch (“tantrum, fit of anger”); from Scots tache (“blotch, fault”); from Middle English tatch (“blemish”) &c. under influence from touchy, in turn derived from Old French tache, from proposed Vulgar Latin *tacca, from Gothic 𐍄𐌰𐌹𐌺𐌽𐍃 (taikns, “sign”), from proposed Proto-Indo-European *deyḱ-.

Nurce: ...But as I said, when it did tast the wormwood on the nipple of my dug, & felt it bitter, pretty foole to see it teachie and fall out with Dugge...

c. 1591–1595 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Romeo and Ivliet”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene iii]:

King. And came I not at last to comfort you?
Du. No by the holie roode thou knowst it well,
Thou camst on earth to make the earth my hell,
A greuous burthen was thy berth to me,
Techie and waiward was thy infancie,
Thy schoele-daies frightful, desperate, wild, and furious.

c. 1593 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedy of Richard the Third: […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene iv]:

Nurse: […]But as I said, when it did taste the worme-wood on the nipple of my dug, and felt it bitter, pretie foole, to see it teachie and fall out with the Dugge...

Our hart is so narrowly limited that (by euery little distaste) we are strangely altered, and being in this teasty tetchy way, presently we let flye foorth much vnseemelines.

1605, “Chapter 6”, in Anthony Munday, transl., The Dumbe Diuine Speaker, London: William Leake, translation of original by Giacomo Affinati d’Acuto Romano, page 58:

I warrant, sir, he is, as you say, a very precise acrimonious person—A tetchy repugnant kind of old gentleman.

1792, Thomas Holcroft, edited by J. Bragg, The Road to Ruin, Dublin, act 5, page 65:

They’re good boys, as I said afore; but they’re quick and tetchy—George, being the youngest, nat’rally is the tetchiest.

1887, Bret Harte, A Millionaire of Rough-and-Ready and Devil’s Ford, Devil’s Ford, page 238:

[…] the commonplace Communist simply loses his temper if you venture to doubt whether everything is being done in precisely the best and most intelligent way under the new régime. He is like a tetchy housewife who wants you to recognise that everything is in perfect order in the middle of an eviction.

1920, H. G. Wells, “Chapter 6”, in Russia in the Shadows:

(UK, Ireland, Commonwealth) Synonym of touchy: easily annoyed or irritated, peevish, testy, irascible; also (figurative) extremely sensitive, difficult to manage, use, or work.


bloody-minded

bloody-minded (comparative more bloody-minded, superlative most bloody-minded)

more bloody-minded (comparative)
most bloody-minded (superlative)

She felt like learning a few things more, and she felt just bloody-minded enough to go for it. "Are you seeing anyone?"

2023 September 24, HarryBlank, “Working Wonders”, in SCP Foundation, archived from the original on 2024-05-25:

(chiefly UK, informal) Obstinate; stubborn.


get the wind up

en-verb

get the wind up (third-person singular simple present gets the wind up, present participle getting the wind up, simple past got the wind up, past participle got the wind up or gotten the wind up)

gets the wind up (present singular third-person)
getting the wind up (participle present)
got the wind up (past)
got the wind up (participle past)
gotten the wind up (participle past)

(idiomatic, British) To become frightened or disturbed.


gingernut

gingernuts (plural)
ginger nut (alternative)

(UK) A hard biscuit, flavoured with powdered ginger, often dunked in tea.

(UK, slang) A redhead; a ginger-haired person.


headship

en-noun

headship (countable and uncountable, plural headships)

(British) The position of a headmaster or headmistress.


lounge suit

A little bald-headed man with huge horn-rimmed spectacles, and a very handsome and athletic youth in a blue lounge-suit completed the group.

1925 July – 1926 May, A[rthur] Conan Doyle, “(please specify the chapter number)”, in The Land of Mist (eBook no. 0601351h.html), Australia: Project Gutenberg Australia, published April 2019:


twibill

twibills (plural)
twibil (alternative)
trybill (alternative)
twilbil (alternative)
twybil (alternative)
twyvil (alternative)

From Middle English twibill, from Old English twibill, from twi- (“double”) + bill (“edge, blade”), see also billhook.

(dialectal, British) A mattock with one blade like an axe and the other like an adze.


holidayer

The Tippers were not natural holidayers.

2004, Alan Hollinghurst, The Line of Beauty […], London: Picador, →ISBN:

(UK, Ireland, Commonwealth) Someone who is taking a holiday (recreational trip away from home).


holidaymaker

holidaymakers (plural)
holiday-maker (alternative)

The beaches were crowded with holidaymakers.

The Northern coastal districts of Kent, from Whitstable to Ramsgate, are one of the distressed areas of England. Their main industry – in fact almost the only one – is the summer holidaymakers, both day-trippers and fortnightly boarders. In these changing times, the habits of holidaymakers are altering also.

1959 April, P. Ransome-Wallis, “The Southern in Trouble on the Kent Coast”, in Trains Illustrated, London: Ian Allan Publishing, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 212:

"With the number of holidaymakers back on the rise, upgrading critical infrastructure like Gatwick Airport station is key to improving the passenger experience," said Rail Minister Wendy Morton.

2022 February 23, “Network News: New escalators at Gatwick Airport”, in RAIL, number 951, page 15:

(UK, Ireland, Commonwealth) someone who is on holiday


holiday-maker

holiday-makers (plural)
holidaymaker (alternative)

A Saturday extra loaded with holiday-makers returning to the Midlands leaves Llandudno Junction on June 11, 1960, behind Stanier 2-6-0 No. 42976.

1961 April, “Focus on Llandudno Junction”, in Trains Illustrated, page 243, photo caption:


freesheet

A helpful assistant suggested a local newspaper for English-speaking residents, but after a taxi ride to La Napoule I found only the back-street office of a free-sheet listing properties for sale, swimming-pool constructors and dealers in used Mercedes.

2000, JG Ballard, Super-Cannes, Fourth Estate, published 2011, page 108:


winkle out

en-verb

winkle out (third-person singular simple present winkles out, present participle winkling out, simple past and past participle winkled out)

winkles out (present singular third-person)
winkling out (participle present)
winkled out (participle past)
winkled out (past)

From winkle (“to extract”), from periwinkle (“a mollusk”).

Tom managed to winkle the truth out of John eventually.

He watched her blink rapidly and choose a difference sort of release: “I mean, since you’re so good at winkling people out!”

(transitive, British) To acquire with difficulty, as by thorough scrutiny.


self-raising flour

en-noun

self-raising flour (usually uncountable, plural self-raising flours)

self-raising flours (plural)
self-rising flour (alternative)

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-self-raising flour.wav

(UK, Ireland, Commonwealth, cooking) A type of flour that contains an agent, such as baking powder, which makes baked goods expand and rise when cooked. Equivalent to American English "self-rising flour".

自發粉 /自发粉

a type of flour that contains an agent, such as baking powder, which makes baked goods expand and rise when cooked

önkelesztő / önmagától megkelő liszt (sütőporos)


unproved

en-adj

unproved (comparative more unproved, superlative most unproved)

more unproved (comparative)
most unproved (superlative)
unproven (alternative)


bootie

[…] and buried where he fell, was disinterred by a 'Bootie' who wanted to photograph him for his album.

(UK, military, slang, obsolete) A soldier.


built-up

built-up (comparative more built-up, superlative most built-up)

more built-up (comparative)
most built-up (superlative)
built up (alternative)
builtup (alternative)

(British) (of an area of land) Having street lights and therefore subject to a 30 mph speed limit.


skirting board

But these little tunnels, emerging into the open at Finchley Road (reached in 1879) were the start of something big. By the early twentieth century it would be possible to think of them as two mouseholes in the skirting board of a wall separating two great ballrooms.

2012, Andrew Martin, Underground Overground: A passenger's history of the Tube, Profile Books, →ISBN, page 51:

(UK, Ireland, Commonwealth, carpentry, interior decoration) A panel, normally made of wood, between the floor and the interior wall of a structure, or placed in a position that is subject to repeated knocks.


knobhead

tlb

(UK, Ireland, Commonwealth, vulgar, slang)

From knob + head. Compare dickhead, cockhead.

Luca was wary of Tav getting away with too much twattishness, because he had a lot of it floating around, and maybe some people liked that whole knobhead dominant guy thing, but not Luca.

2015, Matthew J. Metzger, The Italian Word for Kisses, page 193:

(synecdochically) A fool; an idiot; a contemptible person.


dumb insolence

(British, military) The offence of refusing to answer the questions of an officer.


in-service

To sensitize their staffs, ASOs can offer in-service trainings about incest and its impact on unsafe sex and other high-risk behavior, both to professionals and to peer-educators.

1991 December 8, Liz Galst, “Gay Male Incest Survivors, Safer Sex, and AIDS”, in Gay Community News, volume 19, number 21, page 10:

(chiefly British, of training etc.) Taking place when one is an employee.


in service

(chiefly British) Employed as a domestic servant.


worktop

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

The cupboards were oak and the worktop was granite.

(UK) A surface, usually resting on cupboards or drawers that can be used to work on. Usually in a kitchen.


Mrs Mop

From Mrs Mopp, a character played by Dorothy Summers in the wartime radio series It's That Man Again.


commissionaire

commissionaires (plural)
commissionnaire (alternative)

/kəˌmɪʃəˈnɛː/

/kəˌmɪʃəˈnɛɹ/

/kəˌmɪsjəˈnɛɹ/

Borrowed from French commissionaire, from Latin commissio. Doublet of commissioner.

When the day came Nick turned up early at the bank and waited under a palm tree in the atrium. People hurried in, nodding to the commissionaire, who still wore a tailcoat and a top hat.

2004, Alan Hollinghurst, chapter 8, in The Line of Beauty […], London: Picador, →ISBN:


flatlet

The flat, which he was ushered into by Terry, was no more than a flatlet, with kitchenette, bathroomette, and a bed-sitting-room with hideaway bed.

(British) A very small flat (apartment).


Big Smoke

The first man I spoke to was Whitechapel to the backbone, plainly to be spotted as such as if it had been tattooed on his forehead. Making myself at home with him, I desired to know what brought him so far from the "big smoke," and on board a whaler of all places in the world.

1898, Frank Thomas Bullen, The Cruise of the Cachalot:


life preserver

life preservers (plural)
life-preserver (alternative)
lifepreserver (alternative)

Here's your crowbar / And your centre-bit; / Your life-preserver— / You may want to hit!

1879, W[illiam] S[chwenck] Gilbert, Arthur Sullivan, composer, “With Cat-Like Tread”, in The Pirates of Penzance […], Philadelphia: J.M. Stoddart & Co., published 1880, →OCLC, page 34:

But when I gave him every particular that had occurred, he tried to bluster, and took down a life-preserver from the wall. I knew my man, however, and I clapped a pistol to his head before he could strike.

1892 [May], A[rthur] Conan Doyle, “Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. XI.—The Adventure of the Beryl Coronet.”, in Geo[rge] Newnes, editor, The Strand Magazine: An Illustrated Monthly, volume III (January to June), number [17], London: George Newnes, Limited, […], page 525, column 1:

(dated, UK) A short club with a weighted end.


front row

(British, rugby) The row of players who participate in a scrum with direct contact with the opposing scrum.


on about

What are you on about?

They were on about some kind of UFO conspiracy theory.

(chiefly UK, Australia, New Zealand, informal) Speaking about, talking of.


patten

From Middle English patyn, patin, pateyn, from Old French patin, from patte (“paw, hoof”), from Latin patta, of imitative origin.

onomatopoeic

imitative


propelling pencil

en-noun

propelling pencil (plural propelling pencils)


give the elbow

en-verb

give the elbow (third-person singular simple present gives the elbow, present participle giving the elbow, simple past gave the elbow, past participle given the elbow)

gives the elbow (present singular third-person)
giving the elbow (participle present)
gave the elbow (past)
given the elbow (participle past)

They said I couldn't do the job so they gave me the elbow. So, now I'm looking for work again.

When are you finally going to give your boyfriend the elbow?

(transitive, slang, British) To fire (an employee); to end a relationship with someone; to reject someone.


saveloy

saveloys (plural)
savaloy (alternative)
savoloy (alternative)

From a corruption of cervelat (“Swiss smoked beef or pork sausage”) or French cervelas (“type of thick, short sausage”) (perhaps influenced by Savoy (“historical region in western Europe now shared between modern France, Italy, and Switzerland”)), both from Old French cervelat, from Italian cervellata (compare Italian cervelletto (“cerebellum”), cervello (“brain”), probably from the fact that the sausage was originally made from pork brains), from Old Milanese Lombard zervelada, from Latin cerebellum (“brain; little brain”), from cerebrum (“brain”) (from Proto-Italic *kerazrom, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *ḱerh₂- (“head, top; horn”)) + -ellum (suffix forming diminutives).

der

Savoloys. TAKE ſix pounds of young pork, free it from bone and ſkin, and ſalt it with one ounce of ſalt-petre, and a pound of common ſalt, for two days; [...]

1788, [Hannah] Glasse, “Of Hogs-puddings, Sausages, &c.”, in The Art of Cookery, Made Plain and Easy; […], new edition, London: […] J[ohn] Rivington and Sons, […], →OCLC, page 257:

Savaloys, or Cervelas. [...] Fill the gut, and bake the savaloys for half an hour in a moderate oven.

[1810], [Esther Copley], “Stuffings, Seasonings, Forcemeat, &c.”, in The Cook’s Complete Guide, on the Principles of Frugality, Comfort, and Elegance […], London: George Virtue, […], →OCLC, page 394:

When I dined regularly and handsomely, I had a saveloy and a penny-loaf, or a fourpenny plate of red beef from a cook's shop; [...]

1849 May – 1850 November, Charles Dickens, “I Begin Life on My Own Account, and Don’t Like It”, in The Personal History of David Copperfield, London: Bradbury & Evans, […], published 1850, →OCLC, page 115:

GEORGE PUCILL was indicted for stealing, on the 13th of April 15 savoloys, value 1s. 3d.; and ¾lb. tripe, value 2d., the goods of George Anderson, his master. George Anderson. [...] I saw some savoloys projecting from a hole in his smock-frock—I then found fifteen more round his body and over his arms— [...] Thomas Arnold (police constable H. 127) I took the prisoner, and found the tripe and savoloys—he said he was going to take them home for his supper. (The prisoner received a good character, and the prosecutor promised still to employ him.)

1839 May 16, Henry Buckler, “London and Middlesex Cases”, in Central Criminal Court. Minutes of Evidence, Taken in Shorthand, volume XII, London: George Hebert, […], →OCLC, paragraph 1540, page 63:

"She always has a savaloy for supper, and I'm going to fetch it, and the beer." [...] [H]e walked arm-in-arm with the golden-tressed creature who now carried the savaloy for her mother in a piece of old newspaper!

1855 May, “The Lamplighter: A Model Story for Young Authors”, in Harper’s New Monthly Magazine, volume X, number LX, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, […], →OCLC, chapter II, page 818:

Saveloys! After all, there's nothing like saveloys, is there? Talk about your partridge, your venison, and your 'are, why, I've tasted saveloys as 'ud give 'em all a start if it came to a question of game.

1882, Henry Arthur Jones, “The Silver King”, in Russell Jackson, editor, Plays by Henry Arthur Jones: The Silver King, The Case of the Rebellious Susan, The Liars (British and American Playwrights, 1750–1920), Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, New York, N.Y.: Cambridge University Press, published 1982, →ISBN, act III, scene ii, page 70:

My dinner consists in rotation of one third of a pound of bacon, cooked over the gas (twopence halfpenny), or two saveloys (twopence), or two pieces of fried fish (twopence), or a quarter of an eightpenny tin of Chicago beef (twopence). Any one of these, with a due allowance of bread and water, makes a most substantial meal.

1895, A[rthur] Conan Doyle, chapter XIII, in The Stark Munro Letters: […], London: Longmans, Green, and Co., →OCLC, page 274:

When a local butcher gave her a party savoloy (a highly "treated" sausage) she became so hyperactive for the next six hours, she threw tantrum after tantrum.

1987, Elizabeth Baker, Elton Baker, The Unmedical Book: How to Conquer Disease, Lose Weight, Avoid Suffering & Save Money, [Portland, Or.]: Drelwood Publications, →ISBN, page 103:

[...] I used to go in the early mornings to shoo the hens from their nests to get the brown eggs with the dark speckles that the cook would fry with saveloy sausages which my grandmother had ordered while the eggs were still warm [...]

1995, John Canter, Aran Song, Indreabhán, County Galway: Cló Iar-Chonnacht, →ISBN, page 42:

If you pushed a little further up through the crowd you would see, on the other side, an old bloke with gingery hair who wore a long, thin, ochre-coloured coat, sitting there all day on a high wooden stool shouting: ‘Savaloys! Savaloys! Savaloys!’

2004, Bryan Magee, chapter 5, in Clouds of Glory: A Hoxton Childhood, London: Pimlico, →ISBN, page 59:

He's free, you idiot, Sheephead Morton said, parting his own wet hair with his saveloy fingers and putting his slouch hat back on.

2013, Richard Flanagan, chapter 8, in The Narrow Road to the Deep North (A Borzoi Book), New York, N.Y.: Alfred A[braham] Knopf, published 2014, →ISBN, page 171:

(chiefly Australia, British, New Zealand) A seasoned and smoked pork sausage, normally purchased ready-cooked.


scrimshanker

“As good a boy as I want,” said Revere, the admiring skipper. “The best of the batch,” said the Adjutant to the Colonel. “Keep back that young skrimshanker Porkiss, sir, and let Revere make him sit up.”

1889, Rudyard Kipling, “Only A Subaltern”, in Under the Deodars, Boston: The Greenock Press, published 1899, page 142:

(UK, military, slang) A shirker; one who scrimshanks.


scrimshank

en-verb

scrimshank (third-person singular simple present scrimshanks, present participle scrimshanking, simple past and past participle scrimshanked)

scrimshanks (present singular third-person)
scrimshanking (participle present)
scrimshanked (participle past)
scrimshanked (past)

Unclear. One hypothesis is that it derives from (the noun scrimshanker, from) scrimp + swanker (old military slang for someone who works hard).


washhouse

washhouses (plural)
wash house (alternative)

From Old English wæsċhūs, equivalent to wash + house.

[…] the washhouses complied with the Factory and Workshops Act of 1907.

2000, Joseph R. Skoski, Public Baths and Washhouses in Victorian Britain, 1842-1914, page 124:

(UK, historical) A public facility where people could wash themselves and their clothes.


peise

From Middle English peysen, from Anglo-Norman peiser, peser and Middle French peser, from Latin pēnsāre (literally “weigh”). Doublet of poise.

To weigh pence with a peise.

c. 1370–1390, [William Langland], “(please specify the passus number)”, in The Vision of Pierce Plowman [...], London: […] Roberte Crowley, […], published 1550, →OCLC:

(obsolete, dialectal, UK) A weight; a poise.


cabbaging

(slang, UK) Being lazy or in a state of boredom.


beauty spot

From beauty (noun) + spot (noun). Some uses of sense 1 (“thing which is beautiful”) are figurative uses of sense 1.2 (“patch on the face to heighten beauty”).

kauneuspilkku

thing (especially an aspect of something) which is beautiful

Moreover they [mountains] bestow necessaries not in mere naked sufficiency, but in forms which make hill-streams and waterfalls rank among the beauty-spots of this beautiful world: […]

[1879], Christina G[eorgina] Rossetti, “Mountains and Hills”, in Seek and Find: A Double Series of Short Studies of the Benedicte. […], London: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge […]; New York, N.Y.: Pott, Young, & Co., →OCLC, 1st series (Creation), page 91:

The building of the railway in this notable beauty spot roused the great Victorian writer John Ruskin to fury.

1960 March, J. P. Wilson, E. N. C. Haywood, “The Route through the Peak – Derby to Manchester: Part One”, in Trains Illustrated, London: Ian Allan Publishing, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 155:

Another local beauty spot is Lustleigh Cleave, where the River Bovey flows through an avenue of trees.

1980, AA Book of British Villages, Drive Publications Ltd, page 270, about Lustleigh:

(chiefly British) A place noted for its beauty, especially its natural scenery.


Sunday roast

(British, Canada, Australia, New Zealand) A traditional roast dinner, eaten on a Sunday, consisting of roast meat and trimmings.


break one's duck

break one's duck (third-person singular simple present breaks one's duck, present participle breaking one's duck, simple past broke one's duck, past participle broken one's duck)

breaks one's duck (present singular third-person)
breaking one's duck (participle present)
broke one's duck (past)
broken one's duck (participle past)

From cricket, where duck means a score of zero.

Best had come on as a substitute in the 1-0 win at Wigan last weekend and wasted a goalscoring opportunity after stumbling as he was about to shoot, so many of the fans in black and white could have been forgiven for thinking that perhaps the burly forward was destined not to break his duck.

2011 January 5, Saj Chowdhury, “Newcastle 0 - 0 West Ham”, in BBC:

(idiomatic, British, by extension) To do something for the first time.


star jump

star jumps (plural)
starjump (alternative)

Referring to the star-like shape of the person jumping with limbs extended.

(UK, Ireland, Commonwealth) A form of exercise where one touches one's toes, then jumps up.


hogget

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

From Middle English hogget, from Anglo-Norman hoget and an Anglo-Latin hogettus.

They were kept in separate flocks; first there were the hoggets, then the oldest of the younger lambs and lastly the very young ones all kept apart from one another […]

1900, Samuel Butler, transl. The Odyssey, Book IX., page 113

(chiefly UK, New Zealand) A young colt or sheep of either gender from about 9 to 18 months of age (until it cuts 2 teeth).

Jungschaf

a young sheep from about 9 to 18 months of age

(chiefly UK, New Zealand) The meat of a young sheep.

(chiefly UK) A young boar of the second year.


equerry

From an alteration of earlier esquiry (through the influence of the unrelated Latin equus), from Middle French escuirie, escuerie, derivative of escuyer (“squire”), or alternatively from Medieval Latin scuria (“stable”), from Old High German scura (“barn”). Compare esquire.

A bedroom is provided for the equerry and one for the King's physician. […] The compartments for the doctor and equerry are panelled in West African betula and cherry mahogany.

1947 January and February, “South African Royal Train”, in Railway Magazine, pages 36, 47:

(British) A personal attendant to a head of state, a member of a royal family, or a national representative.


Brenda

Possibly from Old Norse brandr (“sword”); by folk etymology seen as a feminine form of Brendan. Its use as a nickname for Queen Elizabeth II originated in Private Eye in reaction to a perceived attempt by the royals to appear less distant and upper class.

There is a widespread belief that Brenda plays no part in politics. This is not entirely true. For instance, she has very strong feelings on Rhodesia.

1977, “Loyal News”, in Private Eye, numbers 393-418, page 23:

Windsor, I was always led to believe. But--as with license plates--they don't ever have to use it. Brenda just signs herself Elizabeth R (Regina).

1993 August 10, Jonathan Beasley Murray, “Re: Royal Family's last name?”, in soc.culture.british (Usenet):

That is something that can never be removed entirely from anyone, the cold aloofness that is seen in the royal family is something that has been bred into them, but it doesn't take away their humanity at all. You only had to see the pictures of Brenda visiting the homeless hostel to know that she was bottling back tears.

2002 February 13, Heretic, “Re: Old Gin Slugger is dead.”, in uk.current-events.n-ireland (Usenet):

The problem isn't just Brenda, it is that there will never be agreement on what to replace her with. viz. the House of Lords debacle, the Australian Republican referendum.

2002 November 6, Tom, “Re: "Be careful, Paul..."”, in uk.politics.misc (Usenet):


MR

(UK, rail transport) Initialism of Midland Railway.


clock up

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

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

My car has clocked up over 5,000 miles in the last month

(transitive, figuratively, British) To cover (a distance) over time.


totty

(UK, Ireland, slang) sexually attractive women considered collectively; usually connoting a connection with the upper class.

The mother screamed that Ali was a posh totty who held her nose up at ordinary folk with babies.

2005, Georgina Hunter-Jones, Peckham Diamonds, Fly Fizzi Publishing, →ISBN, page 19:

Some posh totty, who was more than a little bit of a babe, just walks up and makes Eddie pull her, against his will almost.

2006, Richard Taylor, Eddie Shore 4 Jo, Lulu Press, Inc., →ISBN, page 29:

The doctor attended a fancy dress ball dressed as Star Trek's Dr Spock but suddenly the costume split open and his phaser found its way into some totty.

2006, Tonto Greenberg, J Bannister, The Blue Book : V. 1, Banland Publishing Ltd, →ISBN, page 32:

(UK, Ireland, slang) an individual sexually attractive woman


totty

en-adj

totty (comparative more totty, superlative most totty)

more totty (comparative)
most totty (superlative)

Then came October full of merry glee: / For yet his noule [head] was totty of the must, / Which he was treading in the wine-fats see, […]

c. 1600, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, Book VII (Two Cantos of Mutabilitie), Canto VII:

I tell thee, fellow, I was somewhat totty when I received the good knight's blow, or I had kept my ground under it.

1820, Walter Scott, chapter 32, in Ivanhoe:

I ate, drank, and was invigorated; when, to add to my good luck, the Sacristan, too totty to discharge his duty of turnkey fitly, locked the door beside the staple, so that it fell ajar.

1820, Walter Scott, chapter 42, in Ivanhoe:

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

(UK, obsolete, dialect) unsteady; dizzy, tottery, or rickety


bundook

From Hindi बन्दूक़ (bandūq, “gun”), from Arabic بُنْدُقِيَّة (bunduqiyya, “gun”), from بُنْدُق (bunduq, “hazelnut, pebble, bullet”) + ية (ya, “-y”), from Middle Persian 𐭐𐭍𐭃𐭊 (pondik, “hazelnut”), from Ancient Greek Ποντικόν κάρυον (Pontikón káruon, “Pontic nut”). Doublet of bonduc.

der

بُنْدُقِيَّة

Ποντικόν κάρυον


battle bus

[Photo shows Steel sitting on a coach emblazoned with "DAVID STEEL'S LIBERAL BATTLE BUS". Photo caption reads:] STEEL'S ON WHEELS: Setting off from the National Liberal Club in his battle bus.

1979 April 10, Ian Aitken, “PM smites the Tories with his crusading zeal”, in The Guardian, London: Guardian News & Media Limited, retrieved 2017-05-13, page 1:

Painted blue, the Battle Bus bore the slogan 'Moving Forward with Maggie'.

1995, Margaret Thatcher, The Downing Street years:

Word comes from Edinburgh that our colleagues are rebelling against the LibDems' charge of £1300 for a seat on their battle bus which today, we hear, had only one passenger.

2000, Murray Ritchie, Scotland Reclaimed: The inside story of Scotland's first democratic parliamentary election:

I remember in 1997 the BBC gave the Green Party five minutes to say whatever it wanted (within reason) and it chose to fill its slot with images of its activists on a battle bus, whizzing into a petrol station, leaping out and hurling abuse at people for filling their tanks.

2006 October, ThirdWay, volume 29, number 8:

(British, informal) A bus that is used as a mobile office and publicity centre by a politician or party during the run-up to an election


(British) Abbreviation of Channel 4 (“the British television channel”).


lock-in

He was a lunatic drunk and started sing songs that lasted into the early hours of the morning and resulted in many weekend lock-ins in the village pub.

2009, Annette J. Dunlea, Always and Forever, page 53:

(UK, Ireland) An illegal but widely-tolerated invitation-only gathering in a British pub, after the end of licensing hours, to allow regular customers the opportunity to enjoy further drinking time.


seg

segs (plural)
segge (alternative obsolete)

From Middle English segge, from Old English seċġ (“man, warrior, hero”), from Proto-West Germanic *sagi, from Proto-Germanic *sagjaz (“follower, retainer, warrior”), from Proto-Indo-European *sekʷ- (“to follow, accompany”). Cognate with Norwegian segg, Icelandic seggur (“bully”).


seg

Probably from the root of Latin secāre (“to cut”).

(UK, Scotland, dialect, obsolete) A castrated farm animal.


phizog

phizogs (plural)
fizzog (alternative)
fizzogg (alternative)
phisog (alternative)
phizzog (alternative)
physog (alternative)
phyzog (alternative)


Frenchie

I dreamt that Ruairi Quinn was smokin' marijuana in the Dail. Barry Desmond handing Frenchies out to scuts in Fianna Fail.

1985, “Delerium Tremens” (track 2), in Ordinary Man, performed by Christy Moore:

Gone are the terms we used in our youth the frenchies, frangers, rubbers, joes, french letters, gumboots, rubbers, johnnies, parachutes and plastic fantastics — these days they're just condoms.

2002 February 7, Janine Burgess, “Armour against pleasure?”, in The Timaru Herald:

The poster was designed by Aboriginal health workers in northern Queensland for use in remote Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities, where the slogan was sometimes modified to ‘Use Frenchies’ because the word ‘condom’ was not in common use.

2004, Paul Sendziuk, Learning to Trust: Australian Responses to AIDS:

(UK, Ireland, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, slang) A condom; abbreviated form of French letter.


clicket

From Old French cliquet (“the latch of a door”). See click.


oxtercog

en-verb

oxtercog (third-person singular simple present oxtercogs, present participle oxtercogging, simple past and past participle oxtercogged)

oxtercogs (present singular third-person)
oxtercogging (participle present)
oxtercogged (participle past)
oxtercogged (past)

(UK, Ireland, rare, transitive) To carry (a person) by supporting them under the armpits


green belt

green belts (plural)
greenbelt (alternative)

From green (adjective) + belt (“band worn around the waist; thing resembling a belt, a strip or stripe”).

compound

The LCC [London County Council] would initiate the campaign for the Green Belt, which the men at the top of London Transport would support.

2012, Andrew Martin, “Enter Yerkes”, in Underground Overground: A Passenger’s History of the Tube, London: Profile Books, →ISBN, page 149:

Senses relating to an area of land with plants on it.

(chiefly British) An area of agricultural land around an urban area that is protected from large-scale building.


cling film

en-noun

cling film (countable and uncountable, plural cling films)

cling films (plural)
clingfilm (alternative)

polyvinylidene chloride
polyvinylidene chloride

(British, rarely Philippines) A plastic film (originally polyvinylidene chloride but now polyethylene) that is so light and thin that it clings to any object about which it is wrapped; used to cover and preserve foodstuffs etc.


smasher

smasher (countable and uncountable, plural smashers)

The price of a case (five shillings piece bad) from the smasher is about one shilling; an alderman (two and sixpence) about sixpence; a peg (shilling) about threepence; a downer or sprat (sixpence) about twopence.

1859, Snowden's magistrates assistant, page 90:

(UK, slang, obsolete) One who passes counterfeit money.

(UK, slang, obsolete) The counterfeit money itself.


all cats are grey in the dark

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-all cats are grey in the dark.wav

Calque of French la nuit, tous les chats sont gris (“at night, all cats are grey”), sometimes understood with vulgar reference to secondary senses of cat and pussy.

calque

all cats are gray in the dark (alternative)
all cats are gray at night (alternative)
all cats are grey at night (alternative)
all cats are grey by night (alternative)

[Of a widow:] And to make carnall appetite content,
To take lacke of beautie but as an eye ſore.
The fayre and the foule, by darke are lyke ſtore.
When all candels be out, all cats be grey,
All thingis are then of one colour, as who ſey.
And this prouerbe ſaith, for quenching hot deſyre,
Foule water as ſoone as fayre, will quenche hot fyre.

1562, John Heywood, A Dialogue Conteynyng the Number of the Effectuall Proverbes in the Englishe Tounge..., page 10:

‘When all candles be out all catts be gray:’
This none but careless leachers will say.

1611, John Davies, "Vpon Englishe Prouerbs", Scourge of Folly, §387

There's as good Bread bak'd here as in France, and Joan’s as good as my Lady in the Dark. In the Night all Cats are grey. Unhappy's he that wants his Breakfaſt at Two in the Afternoon... Sancho’s proverbial aphoriſms, and the ſimple Waiting-Woman's Comment upon the Text, were no ſmall Diverſion to the Dutcheſs.

1719, Peter Motteux & al. translating Miguel de Cervantes as The History of the Renowed Don Quixote de la Mancha, Vol. III, p. 307

The Face first grows lank and wrinkled; then the Neck; then the Breast and Arms; the lower Parts continuing to the last as plump as ever: So that covering all above with a Basket, and regarding only what is below the Girdle, it is impossible of two Women to know an old from a young one. And as in the dark all Cats are grey, the Pleasure of corporal Enjoyment with an old Woman is at least equal, and frequently superior, every Knack being by Practice capable of Improvement.

1745 June 25, Benjamin Franklin, "Advice to a Friend on Choosing a Mistress"

... at laft [King Croquignolet] gained intelligence of a famous wizard in the land of Gotham, a very prodigy of ſcience, to whom the world is indebted for old Robin's Almanack, the Court Calendar, the Attorney's Vade-Mecum, the Lady's Diary, and the Gentleman's Magazine... He firſt made known to mankind that after a ſtorm comes a calm; that it is day when the ſun is riſen; that dead men tell no tales; that ſhops ſhut are a ſure ſign of Sunday; that all cats are grey in the dark; that as ſoon as the ſun is ſet, there are many beaſts in the ſhade.

1796, "R.C." translating Marguerite de Lubert as Princess Coquedoeuf and Prince Bonbon: A History..., p. 8

However—the Frenchman's a practical man... He's trained to spot the redeeming graces as adroitly as a highly bred pig sniffs truffles. And faced with the homeliest dame he'll work over her until he can say, "Yes—she's certainly homely, but she has 'delightful ears'"; or "and exciting back to her neck"; or "provocative biceps." And the worst he cares to admit about any woman is "Yes, she is very ugly, but she has 'something' (Elle a quelque chose)." And if you get him in a cynical but wholesome mood he'll indicate that after all, "All cats are grey at night!"

1937, "They Order It Better in France", Esquire, Vol. 8, No. 3, p. 209

In one poem, unjustly attributed to Voltaire, the regent was accused of conducting an affaire with his eldest daughter, the Duchesse de Berry, which seems to have been true. The libertine regent loved women, but none more than his remarkable mother Liselotte, and it was to her that he uttered the famous rebuke when she complained he chose such ugly mistresses: "Bah! Mama, all cats look gray in the dark!"

1991, Marie-Christine Anna Agnes Hedwig Ida von Reibnitz, Cupid and the King, p. 56

"All Japanese look alike" is the racist counterpart to the sexist "In the dark, all cats are gray."

2011, Wendy Doniger, The Uninvited Spider, page 31:

(UK, sometimes vulgar and offensive) Sex is enjoyable regardless of the physical attractiveness or social station of one's partner.

dans la nuit, tous les chats sont gris (Cajun)

en tiempos de guerra cualquier agujero es trinchera

นารีงามสรรพเมื่อดับเทียน (naa-ree ngaam sàp mêua dàp tian, literally “women are beautiful when candles are extinguished”)


all cats are grey at night

No matter how capable and cultivated the mind, how subtle and sensitive the spirit, the individual Negro is still not free. "All cats are grey at night," and it is still long hours to go before dawn, over much of America. They order these things better in France. Double the honor, then, when a Negro succeeds, for half the strength of his genius must be spent in raising himself to the level of his inferiors, in overcoming the handicap of color.

1937, Arnold Gingrich, “Another Salute to the Living”, in Esquire, volume 8, number 3, page 5:

all cats are grey in the dark
all cats are grey in the dark#English

(UK) Alternative form of all cats are grey in the dark.


give someone the boot

en-verb

give someone the boot (third-person singular simple present gives someone the boot, present participle giving someone the boot, simple past gave someone the boot, past participle given someone the boot)

gives someone the boot (present singular third-person)
giving someone the boot (participle present)
gave someone the boot (past)
given someone the boot (participle past)

I am sorry for your husband and children, but I have to give you the boot.

They said I couldn't do the job and gave me the boot. So, now I'm looking for work again.

(idiomatic, British, informal) To fire, sack, or eject someone. [with to]


Yankee land

Yankeeland (alternative)
Yankee-land (alternative)

A mad world this, my friends, a world in its lunes[…] ever since when this rampant androgynous Bloomerism first came over from Yankee land.

1851 July–December, Thomas Snarlyle, “Bloomerism: A Latter-Day Fragment”, in Punch, volume XXI, page 217:


disorientate

disorientate (third-person singular simple present disorientates, present participle disorientating, simple past and past participle disorientated)

disorientates (present singular third-person)
disorientating (participle present)
disorientated (participle past)
disorientated (past)

From dis- + orientate. Not a back-formation from disorientation, which is attested much later and is perhaps from disorientate.

Ideas often disorientate a system which has been formed on a particular pattern and make it inapplicable; so ideas may lead to the readjustment of groups and sometimes of political boundaries.

1941, Frederic William Eggleston, Search for a Social Philosophy, page 254:

(sometimes proscribed, chiefly British) Alternative form of disorient.


threes

(UK, prison slang) The cells located on the second floor.


warmed-up

en-adj

warmed-up (comparative more warmed-up, superlative most warmed-up)

more warmed-up (comparative)
most warmed-up (superlative)


bosser

[…] the ultimate winner is the man with the greatest number of marbles when play comes to an end. The games at Battle at the present time are played with glass marbles and locally made “bossers” of concrete.

1953, Arthur Beckett, The Sussex County Magazine, volume 27, page 60:

Modern children, having only machine-made glass marbles, are restricted to names describing their size, or the names under which they are sold, or fanciful names of their own inventing. Thus big marbles are big 'uns, bossers, bulls or bullies[…]

1997, Iona Archibald Opie, Peter Opie, Children's games with things, page 54:

(UK, dialect) A large marble in children's games.


flypast

An impromptu flypast by the Red Arrows finished off the special event in style.

2021 September 22, “News in pictures: Red Arrows add to gala success”, in RAIL, number 940, page 29:

(UK, Ireland) A low-level flight of a ceremonial nature; a flyover (US)


flyover

flyovers (plural)
fly-over (alternative)

They form part of the vast electrification and reconstruction schemes which have been in hand for a number of years at Liverpool Street, and in suburban Essex, and include the rearrangement of tracks, of which the Ilford flyover forms part; the modern signal boxes, now needed only at key points; the electric control or sub-stations; and a large electric car shed.

1951 January, R. A. H. Weight, “A Railway Recorder in Essex and Hertfordshire”, in Railway Magazine, page 44:

As our train to Paris dashed through the labyrynthine flyovers at Porchefontaine, barely a mile from Versailles, the 75 m.p.h. limit was already almost attained.

1961 November, H. G. Ellison, P. G. Barlow, “Journey through France: Part One”, in Trains Illustrated, page 670:

The sales of toy motor-cars were enormous, and not only are there cars, there are all the accessories to go with them. In 1960 there were road sections with flyovers and banked corners on which sports and saloons could whizz along at a speed of 250 m.p.h, which apparently was a real speed of from six to seven miles per hour.

1971, Gwen White, Antique Toys And Their Background, page 89:

(UK, Ireland, Commonwealth, Philippines) A road or railway that passes over another, allowing routes to cross without interruption.


bag for life

(British, Ireland) A reusable shopping bag, especially one that the retailer commits to replacing when it wears out.


finny

I passed a good many in drapers’ shops, also at tailors’ shops. I never tried jewellers, they’re reckoned too good judges. The notes were all finnies, (5l. notes), and a good imitation.

1851, Henry Mayhew, London Labour and the London Poor, published 1861:

(UK, slang) A five-pound (£5) note; the sum of five pounds.


first-rate

(UK, military, nautical, historical) Of a Royal Navy ship of the line in the Napoleonic Era: having at least 100 guns across three gun decks, a complement of 850–875, and weighing approximately 2,500 tons burthen.


first-rate

first-rates (plural)
first rate (alternative)

(UK, military, nautical, historical) A first-rate ship of the line.


good as gold

In the sense of high and enduring value, with literal origins in trade (currency exchange and barter), where any given currency or commodity may be worth as much as gold or hyperbolically described as such.

But to be sure baby was as good as gold, a perfect little dote in his new fancy bib.

1922 February, James Joyce, “[Episode 13]”, in Ulysses, Paris: Shakespeare and Company, […], →OCLC:

(especially UK, of a person, simile) Very well-behaved (especially of a child); very good-hearted (especially of an adult).


simples

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

See simple. As an interjection, “Simples!”, a humorous alteration of “Simple!”, was popularised as the broken-English catchphrase of a meerkat character in an advertising campaign for price comparison website comparethemarket.com.

There is no potential for takeover of the state of Pakistan by a rag-tag bunch of trumped-up nobodies with battered guns, and therefore no threat to the west. simples!

2009 April 14, jamie powell, “Re: Satellite dish acquires wrong 'bird'”, in uk.tech.digital-tv (Usenet):

So you claim. So, put whatcha got on the table, or STFU. ¶ Simples.

2010 March 25, Mike Jones, "Re: And Jeremiah The Prophet Said:", in alt.talk.creationism and other newsgroups, Usenet

Look, the vast majority of F1 viewers don't have HD TV. There for the numbers don't add up. When they do, you will have your HD TV. Simples.

2010 August 10, AC, “Re: HD coverage of the Nascar Race and Indy car races makes the F1 coverage look like Crap”, in rec.autos.sport.f1 (Usenet):

Controversial plans to replace appointed peers with elected senators, longed for by the Lib Dems, were seemingly given a new berth among the leftovers of Sam Cam's veg box. Simples!

2013 August 4, Matthew Bell, “It's a very good 17 days to bury bad news”, in The Independent, London:

Most things will go through on the nod. Simples. Everything will be fixed by Christmas.

2016 July 4, John Crace, “Up really is down on Mummy Leadsom's amazing journey”, in The Guardian, London:

Finally, the right hon. Gentleman talked about uncertainty: the uncertainty of not having the arrangements in place. If he wants to end uncertainty and if he wants to deal with the issues he raised in his response to my statement, then he should vote for a deal—simples.

2019 February 26, Theresa May, “Leaving the European Union”, in parliamentary debates (House of Commons), column 173:

So, here's a bit of advice that I am sure she will not take: simply redeploy the lot of them, merge Network Rail with the train operators, call it British Railways, give it a set budget, and then let Andrew Haines and his colleagues get on with it. Simples.

2022 September 21, Christian Wolmar, “Trevelyan must 'give a damn' and engage with the railway”, in RAIL, number 966, page 45:

(UK, slang, humorous) Indicating that something is easy to do or to understand.


glebe-house

After mature consideration he made up his mind that the parson should be his ambassador. . . . [H]e mounted his nag, and rode off to Ballindine glebe. The glebe-house was about a couple of miles from Kelly's Court, and it was about half-past four when Lord Ballindine got there.

1848, Anthony Trollope, chapter 26, in The Kellys and the O'Kellys:

(chiefly British) A rectory, built for the parish priest, vicar, pastor, or rector, usually at church expense.


milord

From French milord, from English my Lord. Compare milady.

Not since the year 17—, when milord Castlebrilliant's curricle was whirled to sea with her ladyship within, had there been such vehement weather.

1919, Ronald Firbank, Valmouth, Duckworth, section 49:

(British, obsolete, humorous) An English nobleman, especially one traveling Europe in grand style; a wealthy British gentleman.


swings and roundabouts

If, in order to save money, you never buy a parking ticket, you are more likely to get fined, so it's all swings and roundabouts really.

Whether we pick up Mary first and then John or John first and then Mary is a matter of swings and roundabouts.

(UK, Ireland, Australia) Gains and losses that offset each other.

what you gain on the swings you lose on the roundabouts

what you lose on the swings you gain on the roundabouts


flavourful

flavourful (comparative more flavourful, superlative most flavourful)

more flavourful (comparative)
most flavourful (superlative)


flavoursome

flavoursome (comparative more flavoursome, superlative most flavoursome)

more flavoursome (comparative)
most flavoursome (superlative)

British standard spelling of flavorsome.


ragged robin

ragged robins (plural)
ragged robbin (alternative)
ragged-robin (alternative)

From ragged + robin, probably because of the untidy appearance of its petals.

Paul came back and threaded daisies in her jet black hair, big spangles of white and yellow, and just a pink touch of ragged robbin.

1913, D[avid] H[erbert] Lawrence, “chapter 6”, in Sons and Lovers, London: Duckworth & Co. […], →OCLC:

He had a suit of summer mufti, and a broad-brimmed blue beaver hat looped with leaves broken from the hedgerows in the lanes, and a Leander scarf tucked full of flowers: loosestrife, meadowrue, orchis, ragged-robin.

1919,Ronald Firbank, Valmouth, Duckworth, hardback edition, page 91

(UK) A type of wild campion (Silene flos-cuculi, syn. Lychnis flos-cuculi), in the family Caryophyllaceae, which grows across Europe and has pink flowers.


blues and twos

Originally 1960s police slang, from the blue colour of the lights and the two-tone sound of the siren. Publicised by Blues and Twos, a documentary series broadcast on ITV from 1993.

Five minutes later, Bella, efficient as ever, radioed him back with an address near Hove station, about ten minutes drive away, going soberly, or ninety seconds with the blues and twos on.

2006, Peter James, Looking Good Dead, New York: Pan, →ISBN, page 142:

The new directive says risks associated with the use of so-called ‘blues and twos’ by coastguard vehicles “need to be mitigated”.

2019 February 20, MacDara Conroy, “No More Blue Lights & Sirens For Irish Coast Guard Road Vehicles Under New Directive”, in Afloat.ie:

“The hospital rang home and said somebody needs to get here quickly,” Coffey told the paper. “So my mum, who must have been in her eighties by then, came up and we did the flashing blues and twos down to King’s [College hospital] and I was operated on that night.”

2023 December 2, Hayden Vernon, “Thérèse Coffey says she ‘came close to dying’ from brain abscess”, in The Guardian, London:

(chiefly UK, Ireland, informal) The flashing lights and loud siren of an emergency vehicle.


blues and twos

He glanced at his watch. “Blues and twos,” he said. “I want to get there before the train.” [...] They pulled out of the forecourt at the rear of the police office and drove straight across into Vauxhall Bridge Road, ignoring the one-way circuit, their siren and blue light carving a priority passage through the afternoon traffic.

1990, Graham Ison, A Damned Serious Business, Ulverscroft Large Print, →ISBN, pages 351-352:

If Mondo was alive, he'd be long gone, the ambulance hurtling blues and twos to the nearest hospital.

2003, Val McDermid, The Distant Echo, HarperCollins, →ISBN, page 304:

(chiefly UK, Ireland, informal) [of an emergency vehicle] with the blues and twos switched on


multi-coloured

multi-coloured (comparative more multi-coloured, superlative most multi-coloured)

more multi-coloured (comparative)
most multi-coloured (superlative)

British standard spelling of multi-colored.


laugh like a drain

en-verb

laugh like a drain (third-person singular simple present laughs like a drain, present participle laughing like a drain, simple past and past participle laughed like a drain)

laughs like a drain (present singular third-person)
laughing like a drain (participle present)
laughed like a drain (participle past)
laughed like a drain (past)

Charles laughs like a drain and empties his champagne glass. “How about some fruit juice and muesli, pumpkin?”

2007, William Brandt, The Book of the Film of the Story of My Life:

(British, simile) To laugh with a loud, coarse sound


gonk

A proprietary name of arbitrary formation.

(UK, crime, slang) A prostitute's client.


teetotalling

British standard spelling of teetotaling.


ickle

en-adj

ickle (comparative ickler, superlative icklest)

ickler (comparative)
icklest (superlative)

Izzum's ickle heart a-beatin' so floppity! Um's own mumsy make ums all right, um's p'eshus Flopit!

Wasums and didums, then? Was it a ickle birdie, then?

Did she try to hit her ickle bruzzer on his nosie-posie wiz a mug?

A Peke, the ickle angel pet, wiv his gweat big soulful eyes and his ickle black nosie — oh so ducky-duck!

1936, George Orwell, Keep the Aspidistra Flying:


mild ale

en-noun

mild ale (countable and uncountable, plural mild ales)

(British) A relatively low-gravity beer, often with a dark colour.

(British, historical) Young (newly brewed) ale, not yet having developed a tangy flavour.


stamp duty

stamp duty (countable and uncountable, plural stamp duties)

stamp duty land tax
w:stamp duty land tax

(UK) Ellipsis of stamp duty land tax, a tax on land transactions in England and Northern Ireland.


spare tyre well

spare tyre well (plural spare tyre wells)

spare tyre wells (plural)
spare tire well (alternative)

(British) A depression in the boot of a motor car where the spare tyre is stowed.


pea-souper

pea-soupers (plural)
peasouper (alternative)
pea souper (alternative)

From pea soup + -er (suffix meaning ‘person or thing connected with’);
* (dense, yellowish fog”): from the appearance of the fog
* (French-Canadian person): may be from the prevalence of pea soup in French cuisine: compare pea soup (“(slang, derogatory) French person”).

suffix

A man bumped into a lamp post during a pea-souper; he immediately apologised to it, not realising what it was.

I can hear the bell on the buoy, but I can’t see anything in this pea-souper.

The dust surrounded us like a London pea-souper.

2004, Andrea Levy, chapter 35, in Small Island, London: Review, page 346:

(British, Canada, informal) A dense, yellowish fog, often mixed with smoke; a pea-soup fog, a smog.


haemorrhagic fever

en-noun

haemorrhagic fever (countable and uncountable, plural haemorrhagic fevers)

haemorrhagic fevers (plural)
hemorrhagic fever (alternative)

viral haemorrhagic fever
viral haemorrhagic fever

(chiefly British, pathology) viral haemorrhagic fever


unskilful

en-adj

unskilful (comparative more unskilful, superlative most unskilful)

more unskilful (comparative)
most unskilful (superlative)

(British) Alternative spelling of unskillful.


all mouth and trousers

From mouth, meaning "talk" rather than action, and trousers, presumably at the time of origin, a reference to masculinity, either as trousers as a male item of clothing, or a reference to the genitals.

(British, idiomatic) Superficial, engaging in empty, boastful talk, but not of real substance.


all mouth and no trousers

all mouth and no trousers (not comparable)

A possible corruption of all mouth and trousers, but consistent with phrases of the form all hat and no cattle and all bark and no bite. The implication of this phrase is that the person boasts, but is a laughing stock.

all mouth and trousers
all mouth and trousers#English

(British, idiomatic) Alternative form of all mouth and trousers.


coppe

From Middle English attercoppe, from Old English ātorcoppe (“spider”), corresponding to atter (poison, venom) + cop (“spider”) (the latter is still to be found in the English word cobweb), ultimately from Proto-West Germanic *kopp, from Proto-Germanic *kuppaz (“vault, round vessel, head”), from Proto-Indo-European *gew- (“to bend, curve”).
Primarily occurs in the northeast Midlands region of England. Compare Danish edderkop, Norwegian edderkopp, Low German kobbe.
Originating from the Dutch invaders who populated this area, the same word coppe, pronounced 'kab', existed in Middle Dutch up until the 14th century. The word kobbe, meaning spider, still exists in West-Flemish, a Dutch dialect spoken in the West of Flanders.


Marilyn

Named after Marilyn Monroe, as a pun on Munro (“any Scottish mountain taller than 3,000 feet”).

(UK) A mountain or hill with a relative height of at least 150 metres.


RCS

Royal Corps of Signals
w:Royal Corps of Signals

(UK, military) Initialism of Royal Corps of Signals.


earwigging

(British, Ireland, colloquial, dated) A telling-off or reprimand.


LU

(UK, rail transport) Initialism of London Underground.


Tattersalls

From the name of a famous horse market in London, established in 1766 by Richard Tattersall, also used as the headquarters of credit betting on English horse races.

[…] the professional betting-man, who has no other occupation, and never misses a race-meeting, or a Tattersall's […]

1857, The Irish metropolitan magazine, page 328:

Tattersalls, adjacent to the County Stand, has no seating but stepped terracing and a large tarmac area down to the rails.

In Manchester the Post Office Hotel was its equivalent to Tattersalls, with entry likewise by subscription but a distinct absence of gentry and aristocratic members […]

2006, J. A. Mangan, A sport-loving society: Victorian and Edwardian middle-class England at play:

For three pounds you get a badge — a brown, green, yellow and white shield — that admits you to the grand stand, Tattersalls and the paddock, […]

2006, Robert Lynd, The Sporting Life And Other Trifles:

(British) A rendezvous at most British racecourses, provided by a company of auctioneers


bijou problemette

en-noun

bijou problemette (plural bijou problemettes or bijoux problemettes)

bijou problemettes (plural)
bijoux problemettes (plural)

bijou (“small, little”) + problem + -ette

A bijou problemette then arose. The conference finished too late for me to catch the northbound Eurostar Connection Waterloo-Edinburgh train.

1995 November 29, Nick Thompson, “Re: Eurostar”, in misc.transport.rail.europe (Usenet):

There is also the "bijou problemette" (as my old chemistry teacher would say) that members of this consortium can't legitimately enter the quiz, since they wrote some of the questions.

1999 February 11, Simon Nickerson, “Re: Trivia Quiz -- an announcement”, in alt.fan.eddings (Usenet):

I have a 'bijou problemette' with my PC. It only works after a period of being switched off.

2001 April 6, Peter Bartley, “The PC that runs once a day...”, in uk.comp.peripherals.misc (Usenet):

So Italy had a couple of bijoux problemettes; Mussolini had more, once he’d been dismissed as leader of the Fascist Party, and from leading the government of the country, he was arrested and gaoled by the Italians…

2013 October 2nd, “ppint. at pplay” (username), “Re: the balfour declaration” in alt.fan.pratchett, Usenet

(UK, originally Polari, informal, humorous) A little fault or problem.


humourist

Humorologists study humour and humourists, smile therapists believe in the therapeutic value of cheer and humoropathists promote a 'cacchination (guffawing) cure' for serious illness ('Vitamin C and Laurel and Hardy').

2002 January 12, “What's the word?”, in The Guardian:

I only met the late and much-missed humourist once, but he had an impact on my life that hasn't been mentioned in the other fond tributes.

2007 October 30, Ali Catterall, “Alan Coren launched my criminal career”, in The Guardian:

(British) Alternative spelling of humorist.


B road

The term "B road", or "B-Road", in British road classification refers to secondary roads, typically narrower and less important than A-roads (primary roads) but more significant than minor roads (C-roads or unclassified roads).
Prefix "B-" [which likely stands for "British" or "Branch" in the context of roads. These roads were originally classified as secondary roads in the UK road network] + "Road".

(British) Any of many secondary roads in Britain, typically branching off of A roads, leading to C roads, and travelling to smaller towns and villages.


Great North Road

Upon the very same night when Nancy, having lulled Mr. Sikes to sleep, hurried on her self-imposed mission to Rose Maylie, there advanced towards London by the Great North Road two persons, upon whom it is expedient that this history should bestow some attention.

(British) The A1 (partially the A1(M)) road from London to Edinburgh


probationer

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

(UK, music) A chorister in their training period before full admission to a choir, whether or not that period is probationary.


quitch

en-verb

quitch (third-person singular simple present quitches, present participle quitching, simple past and past participle quitched)

quitches (present singular third-person)
quitching (participle present)
quitched (participle past)
quitched (past)
quich (alternative)
queach (alternative)
queatch (alternative)
quinch (alternative)
quetch (alternative)
queck (alternative)

From Middle English quicchen, quytchen, quecchen, from Old English cweċċan (“to shake, swing, move, vibrate, shake off, give up”), from Proto-West Germanic *kwakkjan, from Proto-Germanic *kwakjaną (“to shake, swing”), from Proto-Indo-European *gʷog- (“to shake, swing”). Related to Old English cwacian (“to quake”). More at quake.

inh

With a strong yron chaine and coller bound, / That once he could not move, nor quich at all […].

1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book V, Canto IX”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:

(intransitive, now UK, regional) To stir; to move.


cowie

(British, Northumbria) A pill, especially of the drug ecstasy.

(British, Northumbria) A left-handed person.


balonie

(Polari and British, slang) Alternative form of baloney (nonsense).


muckraker

John Bunyan
The Pilgrim's Progress
Theodore Roosevelt
muckraker

From muck + raker. Believed to have been coined following a 1906 speech by United States President Theodore Roosevelt, in which he likened the investigative journalist to ‘the Man with the Muck-rake’, a character in John Bunyan's The Pilgrim's Progress.

en:unprincipled scandalmongering type of investigative journalist

(British, derogatory) A sensationalist, scandalmongering journalist, one who is not driven by any social principles.

fouille-merde

A scandal-mongering person who is not driven by any social principle


keeve

en-verb

keeve (third-person singular simple present keeves, present participle keeving, simple past and past participle keeved)

keeves (present singular third-person)
keeving (participle present)
keeved (participle past)
keeved (past)
kieve (alternative)
kive (alternative)

From Middle English kive, from Old English cȳf (“vat”), from Proto-West Germanic *kūbiju, a diminutive of Proto-Germanic *kūbaz, perhaps from Latin cūpa. Related to French cuve. Doublet of coupe, cup, and hive.

(UK, dialect) To heave; to tilt, as a cart.


felt-tip pen

(UK) A pen that holds quick-drying ink conveyed to a writing surface by means of a felt nib.

ֆլոմաստեր

pen that holds ink conveyed to a writing surface by a felt nib


crowner

From Middle English crouner, variant of coroner.

I tell thee ſhe is, and therefore make her Grave ſtraight, the Crowner hath ſate on her, and finds it Chriſtian buriall.

c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene i], page 276, column 2:


squidgy

en-adj

squidgy (comparative squidgier, superlative squidgiest)

squidgier (comparative)
squidgiest (superlative)

He was one of those dangerous people who are soft, squidgy and cowlike provided they have what they want. And because he had always had what he wanted, and had seemed easily pleased with it, it had never occurred to anybody that he was anything other than soft, squidgy and cowlike.

1987, Douglas Adams, Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency, Simon & Schuster, page 102:

It consists of two layers of ground cashew nuts, mixed with breadcrumbs, onions, nutmeg and vegetable stock, and separated by a vibrant green herb stuffing, the main ingredient of which is also bread. Although surprisingly moist, thanks to the stock (indeed, the contrast between the crisp exterior and the squidgy middle is horribly moreish), the combination of parsley, garlic and breadcrumbs reminds me of a very fancy loaf of garlic bread – and all but overpowers the sweet flavour of the cashews.

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

(UK, Ireland, Commonwealth, informal) Moist and pliant; soggy.


prin

(northern UK, dialectal) Alternative spelling of preen.


prin

en-verb

prin (third-person singular simple present prins, present participle prinning, simple past and past participle prinned)

prins (present singular third-person)
prinning (participle present)
prinned (participle past)
prinned (past)


vicinage

From Old French visnage, respelled to more closer match its Latin source vīcīnus (“neighbor”).

(British, US, law) The area where a crime was committed, a trial is being held, or the community from which jurors are drawn.


first floor

(British) The floor of a building one above the ground floor


chemist's

Clipping of chemist's shop, in the British use of chemist as a synonym for pharmacist.

(British, Australia, New Zealand) Synonym of pharmacy, especially when run as a small standalone general store.


head down, bum up

From an assumed position of strenuous work. Compare nose to the grindstone.

head down, ass up (alternative)
head down, arse up (alternative)

Hadn't heard a thing. Hard at work, head down, bum up.

2007 April 6, Gold Coast Bulletin, "Call of Sea Sirens"

(UK, slang) Hard at work; preparing oneself to work hard.


slowcoach

Hey, you slowcoaches at the back! Get a move on!

They were both very quiet, respectable people; one of them paid the bill and went out; the other, who seemed a slower coach altogether, was some minutes longer getting his things together.

1911, Chesterton, The Innocence of Father Brown, The Blue Cross

(informal, UK, Ireland) A person, especially a child, who moves slowly.

(informal, UK, Ireland) A person who is slow on the uptake; one who does not comprehend new ideas quickly.


co-exist

co-exist (third-person singular simple present co-exists, present participle co-existing, simple past and past participle co-existed)

co-exists (present singular third-person)
co-existing (participle present)
co-existed (participle past)
co-existed (past)

Learning to co-exist with this new virus, and then to eventually defeat it, is sorely testing the character and determination of humanity as a whole.

2020 November 18, Mike Brown tells Paul Stephen, “I wasn't going to let the Mayor down”, in Rail, page 42:


continuando

(UK, law, obsolete) The situation where a plaintiff recovered damages for several trespasses in the same action.


craphat

From crap + hat; a reference to the different colour of the beret.

(slang, derogatory, UK) A member of a non-elite regiment, not in the British army's parachute regiment or the SAS.


slogger

(UK, Cambridge University slang) An inferior racing boat.


mim

en-adj

mim (comparative mimmer, superlative mimmest)

mimmer (comparative)
mimmest (superlative)


JCB

From the initials of the company founder, Joseph Cyril Bamford.

(UK, Commonwealth, Ireland) An earthmoving machine made by the J. C. Bamford (JCB) company.


bang to rights

en-adv

bang to rights (not generally comparable, comparative more bang to rights, superlative most bang to rights)

more bang to rights (comparative)
most bang to rights (superlative)
banged to rights (alternative)

From bang (“completely”) + to rights (“properly”). Originally US; attested from the start of the 20th century.

compound

We had a man once who got caught with a bundle of railroad stocks.
They got him bang to rights and would have shoved him, only[…] when he swore he’d found them, they couldn’t prove he hadn’t.

1910 December, George Allan England, “The Steeled Conscience”, in The Railroad Man’s Magazine, New York: Frank A. Munsey Co., page 188:

The silk! Hide it! Throw it away! If they get us with that—we’re bang to rights.

1919 December 2, Charles W. Tyler, “Raw Silk”, in Detective Stories Magazine, volume XXVIII, New York: Street & Smith, page 29:

Looking at the evidence, I’d assumed that the hapless pair was bang to rights and that we’d have little trouble placing him on remand and giving the law-abiding residents of Surrey a brief respite.

2012, Officer ‘A’, The Crime Factory: The Shocking True Story of a Front Line CID Detective, Edinburgh: Mainstream, page 218:

(now chiefly British, idiomatic) Red-handed, (caught) in the act.


bang to rights

en-verb

bang to rights (third-person singular simple present bangs to rights, present participle banging to rights, simple past and past participle banged to rights)

bangs to rights (present singular third-person)
banging to rights (participle present)
banged to rights (participle past)
banged to rights (past)
banged to rights (alternative)

From reinterpretation of bang (“completely”) as bang (“to handle noisily or violently”).

I am as intent on banging them all to rights as the next bleeding heart middle-class liberal, but take a look at the record so far.

2006, Planning, numbers 1650–1666, page 8:

Good week for: Cyclists, after Britain's most prolific bicycle thief was banged to rights.

His alter-ego Batman utters nothing more provocative than the occasional “holy smoke” as he bangs adversaries to rights

2009 February 4, “Batman turns air blue in Terminator tantrum”, in Belfast Telegraph:

He'd been untouchable for the past decade, but now Roy Grace had finally banged him to rights.

(rare, British, idiomatic) To have sufficient, indisputable evidence that a person's actions are generally perceived to be wrong; to catch red-handed.


green diesel

(British, Ireland) Diesel fuel that has been dyed green to indicate that it is only permitted to be used off-road due to lower road taxes.

red diesel

Environmentally friendly
environmentally friendly

(British) Environmentally friendly diesel fuel.


shufti

shuftis (plural)
shufty (alternative)
shoofti (alternative)

UK 1940s, originally military slang. From Egyptian Arabic شُفْتِ، شُفْتِي (šufti, “have you seen?”, literally “you saw”), a conjugation of شَاف (šāf, “to see”).

uder

شُفْتِ، شُفْتِي

"Perkins, we are asking you to be that one man. I want you to lay down your life, Perkins. We need a futile gesture at this stage. It will raise the whole tone of the war. Get up in a crate, Perkins, pop over to Bremen, take a shufti, don't come back. Goodbye, Perkins. God, I wish I was going too."

1961, Peter Cook, Beyond the Fringe (AfterMyth of War):

"Caucasus mountains," said the driver. "I think. Let's have a shufti at the map."

1992, Tom Holt, Tall Stories, Orbit, published 2004, page 276:

2005, J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Raincoast Books ; Bloomsbury, page 431,
"When we come face to face with [a ghost] down a dark alley we're going to be having a shufti to see if it's solid, aren't we, we're not going to be asking, 'Excuse me, are you the imprint of a departed soul?'"


man flu

(British, colloquial) A cold, influenza, or similar minor ailment as suffered by a male seen as wildly exaggerating the severity of his symptoms.


clingfilm

en-noun

clingfilm (countable and uncountable, plural clingfilms)

clingfilms (plural)
cling film (alternative)

(UK, Ireland) Light, transparent plastic film used as a wrapping for food etc.


building society

building society (plural building societies)

(UK, Ireland, Commonwealth, banking) A type of financial institution which traditionally was based on lending money (as mortgages) to society members to buy houses, from other members' pooled savings and/or money borrowed wholesale.

住宅金融組合

じゅうたくきんゆうくみあい


OM

(Commonwealth, UK) Initialism of Order of Merit, a dynastic order of the Royal House of Windsor.


cunting

We went out for drinks last night and had a jolly good cunting.

(UK, Australia, vulgar, slang) The act of getting cunted.


intendant

Originally and usually from French intendant, but translating Spanish or Chinese equivalents in some contexts.

(UK) The administrator of an opera house or theater.


carriageway

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

(UK, Ireland, Hong Kong) The part of a road that carries traffic.

(UK, Ireland, Hong Kong) One side of a dual carriageway that carries traffic in a single direction.


accident blackspot

accident blackspot (plural accident blackspots)

(UK) A region of a highway where there has been several accidents in the past; especially one with signage to make drivers aware.


rollie

“It was great vibes, people were coming out of the pub offering me rollies. They really did get it. It’s a stupid pun,” said Gaze who moved to the area about 15 years ago.

2016 March 15, Mark Tran, “Broccoli in Brockley: sand sculptor in 'fat cat' gentrification protest”, in The Guardian:

(slang, chiefly UK) A cigarette rolled by hand.


oversea

/ˌəʊ.vəˈsiː/

[ˌəʊ̯.vəˈsiː]

/ˌɐʉ.vəˈsiː/

[ˌɐʉ̯.vɐˈsiː]

From Middle English over-se, over see, ouer sea, from Old English ofer sǣ (literally “over/across (the) sea”); equivalent to over + sea. Compare West Frisian oerseesk, Dutch overzee, German Übersee, Danish oversøisk.

inh

It was the biggest thing in the town, and everybody I met was full of it. They were going to run an over-sea empire, and make no end of coin by trade.

1899 February, Joseph Conrad, “The Heart of Darkness”, in Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine, volume CLXV, number M, New York, N.Y.: The Leonard Scott Publishing Company, […], →OCLC, part I, page 199:

(chiefly British) Alternative form of overseas.


oversea

/ˌəʊ.vəˈsiː/

[ˌəʊ̯.vəˈsiː]

/ˌɐʉ.vəˈsiː/

[ˌɐʉ̯.vɐˈsiː]


storm in a teacup

en-noun

storm in a teacup (plural storms in teacups)

tempest in a teapot
tempest in a teapot#English


detector van

(British) A vehicle equipped with electronic instrumentation that can detect the oscillator of a domestic television, used by the licensing authority to check that a household with no TV licence does not have a television receiver


neva

Pronunciation spelling
pronunciation spelling

(African-American Vernacular, Yankee dialect, UK) Pronunciation spelling of never.

African-American Vernacular; Yankee dialect; African-American Vernacular; Yankee dialect


fuddle

fuddle (countable and uncountable, plural fuddles)

Compare Dutch vod (“soft”), German dialect fuddeln (“to swindle”).

Yesterday we were invited to a fuddle. This is a new word & was a new experience for us. Very pleasant it was too.

2007 December 21, Dave Hatfield, “Fuddle?”, in eGullet Forums:

When I was I work I loved the time when we had a fuddle. Everybody decided what they were going to bring so we had an even balance of grub. We had sandwiches or cobs of ham, cheese and pate, crisps, sausage rolls, pickled onions cocktail sausages, vol au vonts, swiss roll, and mince pies. We weren’t allowed booze on the premises but we made do with alcohol free drink. We were as stuffed as pigs and had a job to work for the rest of the day.

2009, thornbird [username], “Do you have a Christmas fuddle at your workplace?”, in Toluna, archived from the original on 2021-09-28:

My husband has to take some food into his work for a Christmas fuddle.¶ I suggested he make Christmas pudding cupcakes, but he wasn't impressed.¶ What would you make and take?

2012 December 12, llamapup [username], “What to make for a Christmas fuddle?”, in BabyCentre Community:

2013 December 16, nedluddsmother [username], “My work insists on having a Christmas fuddle, but it sounds like a sexual offence to me.”, in Reddit, r/BritishProblems:

(UK, dialect, Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire, Bedfordshire) A party or picnic where attendees bring food and wine; a kind of potluck.


fusilier

fusiliers (plural)
fusileer (alternative)

Borrowed from French fusilier, from fusil.

(British) A soldier in any of several regiments that once fought with such weapons.


bost

en-verb

bost (third-person singular simple present bosts, present participle bosting, simple past and past participle bosted)

bosts (present singular third-person)
bosting (participle present)
bosted (participle past)
bosted (past)

(UK dialect, Black Country, East Midlands) to break


arvy

‘Glad you like it,’ Johnny said. Then we′ll go tomorrer. Awright wi′ you? So this arvy we've gorra get our stuff together.’

1994, Katie Flynn, The Girl From Penny Lane, page 152:

‘Howzit going?’ Tracey repeated. Before I could answer she rushed on, ‘I′ve got a nine-thirty. I won't be back before lunch, but maybe first thing this arvy. By the way,’ she flung over her shoulder, ‘It′s got to be read, hey! Make sure you get Belinda to type it, Tambu.’

2006, Tsitsi Dangarembga, The Book of Not: A Sequel to Nervous Conditions, page 215:

‘Leave it. No point rinsing off when there's more cars coming this arvy.’

2007, James Moloney, A Bridge to Wiseman's Cove, page 95:

“Well, you haven't explained to me why you were wasted already by 5 o'clock in the arvy,” I retorted.

2009, Faye Sakura Rentoule, Angel Service, page 39:


VATman

(informal, British) The embodiment of the VAT taxation department


in hospital

(chiefly UK) In a hospital as a patient.


stump up

stump up (third-person singular simple present stumps up, present participle stumping up, simple past and past participle stumped up)

stumps up (present singular third-person)
stumping up (participle present)
stumped up (participle past)
stumped up (past)

Jim stumped up for the cinema tickets, but I paid for the coffees afterwards.

Not least because last spring, Chancellor Rishi Sunak announced that HM Treasury's new northern base would be in Darlington. If that doesn't encourage the Treasury to stump up cash to upgrade the town's station, then I fear nothing will.

2021 June 30, Philip Haigh, “Regional trains squeezed as ECML congestion heads north”, in RAIL, number 934, page 53:

(British, informal) To pay for something, often with reluctance.


broad church

The Liberal party in Australia is often described as being a broad church, encompassing conservatives and radicals, wets and dries.

If representation and recruitment is an objective, self-styled mavericks like Kelly and his Queensland sidekick George Christensen have some utility. This duo operates like an extended wink and a nudge; they tell voters the Coalition is a broad enough church to be a home for fringe views.

2021 February 2, Katharine Murphy, The Guardian:

(UK, New Zealand and Australia, politics) A wide scope of political or religious philosophies and ideas.


renter

It was Sweet Alice who introduced me to the various renter types, and explained to me their costumes, and their habits, and their skills.

1998, Sarah Waters, Tipping the Velvet, Virago (2018), page 205:

(UK, slang) (Synonym of rent boy) Male prostitute.


revalue

revalue (third-person singular simple present revalues, present participle revaluing, simple past and past participle revalued)

revalues (present singular third-person)
revaluing (participle present)
revalued (participle past)
revalued (past)

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

(UK, pensions) To apply revaluation to a pension benefit.


intervarsity

Oxford stands for intra-varsity in addition to intervarsity sport.

1914 (Apr), L. C. Hull, "Athletics at Oxford: The New Rules", The American Oxonian 1(1): 23

Yet, while its Lillie Bridge ground staged the inter-varsity match and the national amateur championships ...

2004, Mike Huggins, The Victorians and sport:

This intervarsity meet was held in the South China Athletic Association's new Caroline Hill Stadium ...

2006, S. F. Lam, Julian W. Chang, The quest for gold: fifty years of amateur sports in Hong Kong:

The fencers lunged and parried their way to a Western Canadian Intervarsity Athletic Union championship.

2006, James M. Pitsula, As one who serves: the making of the University of Regina:

(British) taking place between universities


teasy

en-adj

teasy (comparative more teasy, superlative most teasy)

more teasy (comparative)
most teasy (superlative)

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

(colloquial, UK, Cornwall) Irritable or angry.


extractor hood

(UK) An electrical kitchen device fitted over a cooker and connected to a flue designed to suck off any vapours from cooking.


coaching

en-noun

coaching (countable and uncountable, plural coachings)

O thou all-pervading essence of Tom Arnold's birch and the Rugby Coaching-room! (unde derivatur "coaching-room" deponent sayeth not; but oh! most unflogged and non-Rugbyen reader! it signifieth neither more nor less than the flogging shop) […]

1848, John William Carleton, The Sporting Review, volume 19, page 193:

(UK, obsolete, slang, Rugby School) A flogging.


number plate

Japanese: ナンバープレート (nanbāpurēto)

(UK, Ireland, Commonwealth) Either of a pair of rectangular metal plates bearing an alphanumeric code, fixed to the front and rear of a motor car to show its identity as registered with the DVLA.


lost property

lost property (usually uncountable, plural lost properties)

lost and found
lost, mislaid, and abandoned property

Lockwood is the junction for the picturesque branch to Meltham, where an old lost-property book recorded the finding of a "bow with two arrows" in a train, in 1873.

1951 October, William B. Stocks, “A Few Miles from Huddersfield”, in Railway Magazine, page 701:

So far this year, SWR's lost property team has been looking after 19 soft toys (and counting) at London Waterloo station. The operator shared images and details of the toys on social media.

2021 September 22, “Stop & Examine”, in RAIL, number 940, page 94:

(British) A help desk or department in a store, mall, or other such facility where customers who have lost an item can inquire as to whether it has been found and turned in; a lost and found.


knock back

en-verb

knock back (third-person singular simple present knocks back, present participle knocking back, simple past and past participle knocked back)

knocks back (present singular third-person)
knocking back (participle present)
knocked back (participle past)
knocked back (past)

How many job seekers did you knock back today?

(transitive, UK, Australia) To reject; to refuse.


High Street

From Middle English Highestrete. More at high street.

This is a result of a switch from High Street to online retailing, requiring consumer goods to be delivered to the door from large-scale distribution parks that have sufficient traffic to justify a rail terminal.

2024 January 10, 'Industry Insider', “Success built on liberalisation and market freedom”, in RAIL, number 1000, page 69:

(British) Alternative letter-case form of high street.


sodding

Open the sodding door!

(UK, Ireland, Commonwealth, mildly vulgar) An intensifier.


cabbaged

…you were trying to tell me the other night, but I was cabbaged.

1998, Irvine Welsh, Filth, London: Jonathan Cape, →ISBN, page 286:

'Bastards, Jake, eh,' he nudges, knowing that his pal would do the same for him if he was cabbaged up.

2001, Hugh Collins, No Smoke, →ISBN, page 48:


gacked

en-adj

gacked (comparative more gacked, superlative most gacked)

more gacked (comparative)
most gacked (superlative)
gakked (alternative)

Immediately after the show, Tyler looks spooked. Shivering, his hair spiky with sweat, he needs a few minutes to regain composure. I'm impressed, especially considering that, at 51, his lithe, aerobic workout was performed by a man who confesses to having spent "25 years gacked to the nines".

1999 June 18, “Rock and a hard place”, in Alan Rusbridger, editor, The Guardian, London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2015-09-12:


swizz

Possible alteration of swindle, early 20th c.

That packet only had ten sweets in it; what a swizz.


swizz

en-verb

swizz (third-person singular simple present swizzes, present participle swizzing, simple past and past participle swizzed)

swizzes (present singular third-person)
swizzing (participle present)
swizzed (participle past)
swizzed (past)
swiz (alternative)

(UK, informal, transitive, intransitive) To swindle.


French stick

So what makes a brill baguette? For Mr Paluel-Marmont and Mr de Rovira, a star French stick can usually be identified merely by its appearance. "Its regular overall form stems from careful manufacture; its harmonious volume is the sign of a dough kneaded slowly," they write.

2004 April 22, Jon Henley, “Guides show Parisians where their best bread is buttered”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:

‘It's true that there are more of us here than you can shake a French stick at,’ says one humorous adolescent, sitting outside a pavement cafe and doing his best to maintain an insouciant expression despite the gusts of English wind.

2008 March 23, Elizabeth Day, “The great French love affair with la vie anglaise”, in The Observer, →ISSN:

(UK) A baguette, a long thin loaf of bread.


Digibox

Digiboxes (plural)
Digi-box (alternative)

(UK) A digital set-top box, marketed in the UK.

digiboksi

set-top box for receiving digital signal


Imogen

First used by William Shakespeare in Cymbeline, a misprint for Innogen, from Gaelic inghean (“girl, maiden”)

Ile write to my lord ſhe's dead: O Imogen! / Safe mayſt thou wander, ſafe returne agen.

1611 April (first recorded performance), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Cymbeline”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene v], page 385, column 1:

She would have to change her own name as well, she'd never liked Tracy. Imogen or Isabel, something feminine and romantic. She supposed she didn't look like an Imogen. Imogens were middle-class Home Counties girls with long blonde hair and vaguely Bohemian mothers.

2010, Kate Atkinson, Started Early, Took My Dog, Doubleday, →ISBN, pages 83–84:

(chiefly British) A female given name from the Celtic languages.


FIOA

(British) Initialism of Fellow of the Institute of Acoustics.


behaviourist

British standard spelling of behaviorist.


biodefence

(British) Alternative spelling of biodefense.


knacked

en-adj

knacked (comparative more knacked, superlative most knacked)

more knacked (comparative)
most knacked (superlative)

Bert walked in. 'I'm knacked,' he said as he sat down on the end of the bed.'

2001, D. T. Blakeley, At the Precipice of Poverty: A Croydon Chronicle, page 198:

'Sorry, love, I just put her to bed. She was knacked.'

2010, Karen Campbell, The Twilight Time:

(UK, Ireland, slang) Very tired; knackered.


stenting

stentings (plural)
stenton (alternative)

It is usual , in such case , to drive two parallel headways , which communicate with one another by cross - cuts , called stentings, through which the air being conducted , a circulation is immediately established

1844, David Thomas Ansted, Geology, Introductory, Descriptive and Practical:

(UK, dialect) An opening in a wall in a coal mine.


nolo

nolo (comparative more nolo, superlative most nolo)

more nolo (comparative)
most nolo (superlative)
NoLo (alternative)
NOLO (alternative)

NoLo (no alcohol, low alcohol) is one of the hottest trends in the drinks industry.

2019 February 9, Bridget Arsenault, “Why Bacardi's Employees Are Visiting More Than 1,000 Bars In 130 Cities This Year”, in Forbes:

The UK drinks industry has embarked on a detox that extends beyond January with companies racing to bring out “nolo” (no- or low-alcohol) beers, spirits and cocktails to satisfy a thirst for hangover-free drinking.

2020 January 20, Zoe Wood, “UK brewers invest in low-alcohol drinks trend”, in The Guardian:

No and low (nicknamed 'nolo') alcoholic beverages are set to be the UK’s biggest alcohol trend for 2020, according to a new study.

2020 March 11, Lynn Rusk, “‘Nolo' drinks are the next big thing - but what are they?”, in Harborough Mail:

"Nolo" alcohol is set to be one of the driving trends of 2020, according to the craft brewers' trade organisation.

2020 March 12, “'Nolo beer' sales rocket thanks to young teetotallers”, in BBC:

Encouragingly, sales of no or low-alcohol beer are up 30% since 2016 and “nolo” alcohol is set to be one of the driving trends of 2020, although I am sure trends are being reviewed in the light of the pandemic.

2020 March 17, Helen Whately, “Alcohol Harm”, in UK Parliament:

(British, of drinks) Having no or low alcohol content; being low-alcohol or alcohol-free


near the knuckle

So near the knuckle, I wonder they got past the censor.

1972, Nikolái Vasílievich Gógol, Diary of a Madman and Other Stories:

“But . . . Laser Lass is just . . . banging!”
Stifling a giggle and deciding this must be some masculine epithet she hadn't come across before, Evey gave the handcart a shove and went on her way. After all, "banging" wasn't anything that was shown on TV these days, even if some of Gordon Deitrich's shows did get pretty near the knuckle sometimes.

It's raw, this kind of work, and near the knuckle: unsupported by music, lighting, video screen, it's just you and them, you and them and the dead, […]

(British, informal) Risqué, sexual, suggestive of impropriety.