shitey

shitey (comparative shitier, superlative shitiest)

shitier (comparative)
shitiest (superlative)
shity (alternative)

That's if the combined smell of minging socks, shitey trainers and a thousand farts clinging to the wallpaper doesn't put them off coming in here.

You know one of those wee shitey dogs that just yaps and yaps.

2008, John Richmond, The Birds Call Me Seb:

If you don't get your act together, I'm gonna drag you to Hogwarts, you'll get a wand, you'll get an owl that'll deliver your shitey mail, and that'll be that, and you'll enjoy it.

2012, Gurpage Productions, "Yer a wizard, Harry!" (video):

(chiefly UK, Ireland, vulgar, slang) Shitty, worthless.


rescue dog

(chiefly British) A homeless, lost or abandoned dog which has been, or will be, rehomed by an animal rescue centre or charity; a rescued dog.


two pennies' worth

two penn’orth (alternative)
twopenn’orth (alternative)
two pennorth (alternative)
tuppence worth (alternative)
tuppenceworth (alternative)
tuppenny's worth (alternative)

That's just my two pennies' worth; you can believe what you like.

(idiomatic, UK, colloquial) One's opinion or thoughts.


kiss my arse

And here, I believe, the wit is generally misunderstood. In reality, it lies in desiring another to kiss your a— for having just before threatened to kick his; for I have observed very accurately, that no one ever desires you to kick that which belongs to himself, nor offers to kiss this part in another.

1749, Henry Fielding, chapter IX, in The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, volume (please specify |volume=I to VI), London: A[ndrew] Millar, […], →OCLC, book VI:

(vulgar, UK, Ireland, Commonwealth) Alternative form of kiss my ass.


two penn'orth

twopenn'orth (alternative)
two pennorth (alternative)
tuppence worth (alternative)
tuppenceworth (alternative)
tuppennys' worth (alternative)

That's just my two penn’orth; you can believe what you like.

(UK, Ireland, idiomatic, colloquial) One's opinion or thoughts.


two pennorth

Here's my 'two pennorth'. Great British Railways (and NR meanwhile) should adopt the following policy: [...].

2021 November 17, Nigel Harris, “Comment: Salisbury: a media own goal”, in RAIL, number 944, page 3:

(UK, Ireland) Alternative spelling of two penn'orth.


tuppenceworth

(UK, Ireland) Alternative spelling of tuppence worth.


tuppence worth

tuppence worths (plural)
tuppence-worth (alternative Ireland UK)
tuppenceworth (alternative Ireland UK)
tuppenny’s worth (alternative Ireland UK)
two penn’orth (alternative Ireland UK)
twopenn’orth (alternative Ireland UK)
two pennorth (alternative Ireland UK)
tupp’orth (alternative Ireland UK rare)

I bought a tuppence worth of humbugs

(UK, Ireland, dated) Two pennies' worth; goods or services with a value of two pennies.

That's just my tuppenceworth; you can believe what you like.

He had only a tuppence worth of success.

(UK, Ireland, idiomatic, colloquial) A small amount.


who's 'she', the cat's mother

Who's 'she' (canonical)
the cat's mother (canonical)

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-who's 'she', the cat's mother.wav

"She's coming on the trip with us too!"

"Who's 'she', the cat's mother?"

Sorry, Gran is coming with us too.

(idiomatic, somewhat dated, British, Ireland, New England) A rebuke especially directed towards children for having referred to a woman in the nominative case as "she", instead of by her name or an appropriately respectful title.


keep one's hair on

en-verb

keep one's hair on (third-person singular simple present keeps one's hair on, present participle keeping one's hair on, simple past and past participle kept one's hair on)

keeps one's hair on (present singular third-person)
keeping one's hair on (participle present)
kept one's hair on (participle past)
kept one's hair on (past)

All right, all right, just keep your hair on, mate.

“Oh, nothing, nothing!”
“Yes, there’s something. I mean to know!”
“Keep your hair on; it’s nothing.”
“Out with it!” cried Addie, scarlet with rage.
And he flew at Jaap’s throat.

1901, Louis Couperus, translated by Alexander Teixeira de Mattos, Small Souls:

1965 [Chatto & Windus], Margery Allingham, The Mind Readers, 2016, Penguin Random House (Vintage), page 138,
‘Keep your hair on, I don't see any crime. […] ’

“Sorry old chap—keep your hair on—but surely you knew just about everyone was siphoning off the odd bit, here and there?”

2014, Melvin Rea, The Island They Towed Away, AuthorHouse, page 233:

(idiomatic, British, Ireland, colloquial) To stay calm; to be patient; to calm down.


chat shit

chat shit (third-person singular simple present chats shit, present participle chatting shit, simple past and past participle chatted shit)

chats shit (present singular third-person)
chatting shit (participle present)
chatted shit (participle past)
chatted shit (past)

I shagged David Beckham last week. – Stop chatting shit; that's a load of bollocks.

(slang, vulgar, UK, Ireland, Commonwealth) To talk nonsense or to lie.

My brother came round and we were chatting shit for hours.

(slang, vulgar, UK, Ireland, Commonwealth) To have a casual or meaningless conversation.

Chat shit, get banged.

(slang, vulgar, UK, Ireland, Commonwealth) To untruthfully speak of another in a belittling, deprecative, slighting manner, either in person or in absentia.


talk shite

talk shite (third-person singular simple present talks shite, present participle talking shite, simple past and past participle talked shite)

talks shite (present singular third-person)
talking shite (participle present)
talked shite (participle past)
talked shite (past)

(slang, vulgar, UK, Ireland, very uncommon) To talk badly about something.

(slang, vulgar, UK, Ireland, very uncommon) To talk nonsense or to lie.


obstropulous

en-adj

obstropulous (comparative more obstropulous, superlative most obstropulous)

more obstropulous (comparative)
most obstropulous (superlative)
obstropalous (alternative)
obstropolous (alternative)

Modification of obstreperous after words ending in -ulous.

And you know, Jack (as we told him, moreover), that it was a shame to manhood, for a man, who had served twenty and twenty women as bad or worse, let him have served Miss Harlowe never so bad, should give himself such obstropulous airs, because she would die […]

1748, Samuel Richardson, Clarissa Harlowe, volume IX:

He was thoroughly obstropulous to me last week!

1977, Goodbye Mr Grainger (Are You Being Served?), season 5, episode 6, spoken by Mrs Slocombe (Mollie Sugden):

(UK, obsolete, slang) Synonym of obstreperous.


rateable value

(British) An official estimate of the value of a property used as a basis of local taxation


fellmonger

(British) Someone who sells or works with animal hides and skins.


Maundy coin

(British) Any of the specially minted coins given out by the reigning monarch on Maundy Thursday. Face values are 1, 2, 3, and 4 pence.


fuckwitted

fuckwitted (comparative more fuckwitted, superlative most fuckwitted)

more fuckwitted (comparative)
most fuckwitted (superlative)

But this fuckwitted spastic is too immobilised and confused to work that out and by then I'm well away, bristling with excitement and satisfaction.

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

[…] jokes about stingy Jews, which make my blood boil and ensure lifelong hatred against the fuckwitted joker.

(UK, Ireland, Commonwealth, slang, vulgar, derogatory or offensive) Stupid; having the intelligence of a fuckwit.


I'm all right, Jack

From my vantage point at the large, shiny bar in the centre of the room, I could swear I spotted Harriet Harman with her trade unionist husband "I'm all right, Jack" Dromey.

2008 November 6, Bill Blanko, “Party politics”, in The Guardian:

(British) Indicates a selfish attitude, not worried about any problems one's friends and neighbours might have. Often associated with strikes and other trade union industrial actions.


wacker

Wackers are the inhabitants of the city of Liverpool – famed for their humour, football, dockers and judies. Wackers eat scouse and wet nellies. Wackers and Woollybacks are tough yet warm breeds. Although both are Northerners, they are different in many ways; culture and traditions and even language divides them.

1993, Anthony Griffiths, Scouse Wars, Bluecoat Press, →ISBN, page 6:

(UK, Liverpool) A Liverpudlian; a resident of Liverpool, England.


chapess

chapesses (plural)
chappess (alternative)

My friends are the undergraduates, chaps and chapesses, and as long as I can pour good wine down their gullets and listen into the small hours […]

1990, Samuel Gorley Putt, Wings of a Man's Life:

[…] so naturally, we simply couldn't afford to have chaps and chapesses tying the knot and then not having babies after all that fuss.

Those revered as saints are usually very peculiar chaps and chapesses who succeeded in refusing life just short of actually killing themselves […]

(British, informal) A female chap; a woman.


rheumatics

You ain't subject to the whatdyecallems - the rheumatics, are you?

a. 1857, Edward Bradley, Adventures of Mr. Verdant Green:


Maccy D's

Mum would kill me if she saw me in Maccy D's for breakfast.

We sat in Maccy D's for a little while before she started work in the afternoon.

2006, Jason Ellis, Banana Skins on the Table:

And anyway we went into the service station because he wanted a burger from Maccy D's and I wanted a Coke.

Tony H said: “Handy for something to eat simply .Great coffee. I like Macky Ds occasionally when I am out and about. It was clean and food was hot. So good!”

2019 December 21, Elle May Rice, “The best and worst McDonald's in Liverpool as rated by TripAdvisor”, in Liverpool Echo:


microneighbourhood

UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, and South Africa spelling of microneighborhood.


on your bike

"On your bike!" he shouted at the reporter.


Jap's eye

Japs' eyes (plural)
japseye (alternative)

From the supposedly slitlike eyes of the Japanese.

A catheter, right down the Jap's eye even — well maybe not that, not yet anyway.

2002, Julian Broadhead, Laura Kerr, Prison Writing:

(British, slang, vulgar, offensive) The urethral opening of the penis; the male urethral meatus.


sonny Jim

sonny Jims (plural)
Sonny Jim (alternative)

Don't get uppish with me, sonny Jim: you're as dead as he is.

1978, Hugh Leonard, Da: A Comedy in Two Acts:

(British, informal, dated) A familiar or patronising term of address for a male person, especially during a rebuke or correction.


laddishness

(British) Laddish attitudes and behaviour; laddism.


window licker

I bet his family are a bunch of window lickers.

2005, Rob Blonde, T-Shirt Theory: What Girls Have in Common with T-Shirts:

...because too much of this Far-Right-Racial-Purity malarkey and you'll end up as a nation of window-lickers.

2008, T Edward Devilish, Kingdom of the Burning Cow:

(British, slang, offensive) A mentally handicapped person.


rummily

en-adv

rummily (comparative more rummily, superlative most rummily)

more rummily (comparative)
most rummily (superlative)

Rather rummily, that's exactly what I was thinking just now myself.

(UK, colloquial, dated) In a rum fashion; oddly, strangely.


rag-and-bone shop

en-noun

rag-and-bone shop (plural rag-and-bone shops)

Derived from the Victorian practice of literally collecting rags and bones from households for resale.

(British) A dealership selling cheap unwanted second-hand goods, or bric-a-brac, that have been collected for nothing as disposable items.


linhay

linhays (plural)
linney (alternative)
linny (alternative)

Home-side of the linhay, and under the ashen hedge-row, where father taught me to catch blackbirds, all at once my heart went down, and all my breast was hollow.

1869, R. D. Blackmore, Lorna Doone, section III:

[S]he went to the linhay, or lean-to shed, which formed the root-store of their dwelling.

1878, Thomas Hardy, The Return of the Native, page 145:

While they stood there close to the old linhay a bird came flying round them in wide circles, uttering shrill cries.

(dialectal, south-west British) A shed or other outbuilding, originally open-fronted with a hay loft.


Walkerism

(British, sports, journalism) A form of words spoken by motorsports commentator Murray Walker that, due to grammatical errors, malapropisms, etc. is characteristic of his broadcasting style.


kitchen garden

kitchen gardens (plural)
kitchen-garden (alternative)

vegetable garden
vegetable garden#English

(chiefly UK) Synonym of vegetable garden.


servery

(chiefly British) A place where food is served, either the surface itself or the room; a food counter or canteen/cafeteria service area.


quiet coach

On my way to PBO yesterday, having been ousted from the quiet coach by an announcement *specifically* banning laptop computers, I overheard more than I really wanted to about the BBC's arrangements for co-ordinating documentaries including special items about the war, and later the producer-lady's diary for the week and forthcoming hair appointments.

2001, Roland Perry, “GNER quiet coach includes laptops”, in uk.railway (Usenet):

...they may need to work on journeys so consider offering additional products and services, for example express check-in, quiet coach on a train journey...

2007, Gillian Dale, Helen Oliver, Travel and Tourism: Book 1:

(British) A rail coach on which unnecessary noise is discouraged.


Graeco-Roman wrestling

(UK) One of the two Olympic styles of wrestling, forbidding attacks below the waist.

kreikkalais-roomalainen paini

one of the two Olympic styles of wrestling, forbidding attacks below the waist


mosher

The witness, aged 14, wept as she begged for an ambulance, saying: "This mosher's just been banged because he's a mosher."

2008 March 13, Paul Byrne, “Sophie Lancaster goth murder”, in The Daily Mirror:

(British, slang) A member of an alternative subculture; a grebo or goth.


Chrimbo

The OED cites the first printed usage (of the variant spelling Crimbo) as being in 1928. They give John Lennon's 1963 usage in a Beatles' Fan Club Christmas single as the first recorded use of the variant form Crimble.

The thing is, The Montrose is cracker on a Thursday night, never mind that the Chrimbo lunacy season has kicked off good and proper.

"A Chrimbo pressie for me?" He peeped around the door.

2004, Amanda Boulter, Back Around the Houses:

(British, slang) Christmas, especially with regard to its more secular and commercial aspects.


bookable

The player was sent off for two bookable offences.

(British, sports) Warranting a booking (a yellow card).


sacculus

Unadapted borrowing from Latin sacculus (“a little sack or bag”), diminutive of saccus (“a sack, bag, purse”). Doublet of saccule.


harbourage

en-noun

harbourage (countable and uncountable, plural harbourages)

(British) Alternative form of harborage.


harbourmaster

(British, Canada) Alternative spelling of harbormaster.


righty

(UK, informal, politics) A right-wing person.


nother

From Old English nōhwæþer. Compare neither, nauther.

(obsolete outside UK and Caribbean dialects) Neither.


CPC

CPC (countable and uncountable, plural CPCs)

CPCs (plural)
C.P.C. (alternative)
C. P. C. (alternative)

electrical engineering
electrical engineering

circuit protective conductor
circuit protective conductor#English

(electrical engineering, UK) Initialism of circuit protective conductor.


lughole

That way, you got the perfect four-in-one gauge every time. If you were caught doing it any other way, you got a larrup round the lughole or a kick up the khyber.

2013, Ken Sears, The Boy From Treacle Bumstead:


Woolies

Running up through the crowds she looked at her watch and found she had still a half-hour to spare, saw her face as she whipped into Woolies[…]

1977, Lewis Grassic Gibbon, James Leslie Mitchell, A Scots Quair:

It's also possible to pop into Woolies and buy a pre-paid mobile phone for as little as $99 including a rechargeable SIM card[…]

Of course, the kids loved it, even toddlers were heard to garble "I'm a twisted firestarter" while dragging their hapless mums into Woolies to bag a copy.

2004, Martin C Strong, The Great Rock Discography:

(Australia, British, slang) Woolworths, a well-known chain of shops selling confectionery, stationery, etc.


gote

gotes (plural)
gout (alternative)
goat (alternative)
gott (alternative)

From Middle English gote (“a drain”), from Old English *gote (“drain, gutter”), from Proto-West Germanic [Term?], from Proto-Germanic *gutō (“gutter”), from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰewd- (“to pour”).
Cognate with Dutch goot (“a gutter, drain, gully”), German Gosse (“a gutter”). Related to Old English gutt (“gut, entrails”), Old English ġēotan (“to pour, pour forth, shed, gush, flow, flood, overwhelm, found, cast”). More at gut, yote.

cog

(UK dialectal, Northern England, Scotland) A deep miry place.


oestrous

(British) Alternative spelling of estrous.


sick pay

(British) Money paid to an employee on sick leave.

病假工資 /病假工资

money paid to an employee during his or her sick leave

dénežnoje posóbije po bolézni/netrudosposóbnosti

де́нежное посо́бие по боле́зни/нетрудоспосо́бности


filmgoer

(chiefly British) Person who regularly frequents movie theaters.


parlourmaid

parlourmaids (plural)
parlormaid (alternative)

(British) A maid who takes care of the parlour.


passivise

en-verb

passivise (third-person singular simple present passivises, present participle passivising, simple past and past participle passivised)

passivises (present singular third-person)
passivising (participle present)
passivised (participle past)
passivised (past)
passivize (alternative)

(British, grammar) To render into the passive form.

whakahāngū

To render or convert into the passive form


perisher

Get off my lawn, you little perisher!

(British, informal) An annoying child, a brat.

'So I've come down to Coltonslough, being, as I understand, the dullest hole upon the earth's crust, and I mean to go in a perisher.' A 'perisher' was his expression. 'And I mean to read like old boots; so you may let your servant light me a fire, ...'

1865, Only a Clod, in Three Volumes, page 184:

Then he most times went in an awful perisher — took a month to it, and was never sober day or night the whole time. When he'd spent all his money he'd crawl out of the township and get away into the country more dead than alive, ...

1888, Rolf Boldrewood, Robbery Under Arms: A Story of Life and Adventure in the Bush and in the Goldfields of Australia, page 314:

He went in a perisher last night, laying aginst Sir Tatton Sykes for the Derby with a half-a-dozen thousand pound notes in his hands, all of which he will lose.

(British, Australia, obsolete) An extreme.


playgroup

(UK, Hong Kong) An informal organised group providing care and activities for preschool children.


plughole

plugholes (plural)
plug hole (alternative)
plug-hole (alternative)

The plughole started to slurp loudly as the water went down it.

2004, Andrea Levy, chapter 28, in Small Island, London: Review, page 295:

He jabbed his fingers into his hair and worked the dirt from the follicles, watched it swirl away down the plughole, sandy granules, flakes of dust and ash.

2022, Liam McIlvanney, The Heretic, page 199:

(chiefly Australia, New Zealand, British) The hole at the bottom of a bath, sink or tub, which can be blocked using a plug; a drain (US)


press-up

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

(UK, Ireland, Commonwealth) Synonym of push-up (“exercise”).


pull-in

(British) A rest stop; a place at the side of a road where drivers can rest.


punchbag

/ˈpʌnt͡ʃbæɡ/

/ˈpʌnt͡ʃˌbæɡ/

A tough bag, usually cylindrical, filled with air, sand, or other material, and suspended so that swings freely, which is punched or kicked when practising sports such as boxing or martial arts.

(figuratively) A person serving as an object of abuse.

Synonym of punching bag.
A person serving as an object of abuse.


bog brush

And it doesn't work, does it? Your hair is too coarse to flop like a wild Tay salmon or a swatch of Savile Row suiting, your hair bristles, like a bog brush, like a suburban doormat.

2003, Stephen Fry, The Stars' Tennis Balls, page 19:


coalface

Works of this kind are necessarily parasitic upon the research of other scholars and I should like to express my gratitude to all those whose hard labour at the coalface has made my own endeavours possible.

2006, Alexandra Walsham, Charitable Hatred: Tolerance and Intolerance in England, 1500-1700, Manchester University Press, →ISBN:

Lizzie had paid her own dues at the coalface of teething babies and gave the young mother an understanding grin in return.

2007, Cathy Kelly, Best of Friends, Simon and Schuster, →ISBN, page 40:

However, my mother, who had been at the coalface of the marital collapse, felt the need to have an in-depth debrief.

2010, Emma Kennedy, The Tent, the Bucket and Me, Random House, →ISBN, page 105:

But we both know that all of this wonderful equilibrium comes at a cost: there is the tacit understanding that it's my turn to pursue my dreams whilst my husband slogs at the coalface.

2010, Alison Walsh, In My Mother's Shoes, Pan Macmillan, →ISBN:

(figurative, UK) A place where difficult or strenuous work is done.

While schools were seen to be at the coalface of administering arts education, teachers, artists and children were rarely consulted in relation to the development of arts education policy.

2006, Anne Bamford, The Wow Factor: Global research compendium on the impact of the arts in education, Waxmann Verlag, →ISBN, page 57:

By all means look at streamlining systems, look at changing the way that you produce public services for sure, but please do not cut at the coalface. That goes for a teacher, it goes for a policeman and it goes for a nurse.

2010, Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons. Business, Innovation and Skills Committee, Exporting out of recession: third report of session 2009-10. Oral and written evidence, The Stationery Office →ISBN, page 20

I wondered which next superstar I might have the privilege of seeing live at the coalface of stardom in Hollywood.

2011, Fiona O'Loughlin, Me of the Never Never: The chaotic life and times of Fiona O'Loughlin, Hachette UK, →ISBN:

It’s been terrific doing six shows a week, but what with all the prep work for the programmes and the ever-increasing volume of new music to listen to, there’s not been nearly enough time left over for my family. And to be honest, after nearly 40 years at the coalface of new music, I think I need a bit of breather.

2023 September 3, Steve Lamacq, (Please provide the book title or journal name):

A council of cardinals was established to tackle key areas, notably the perilous state of the Vatican’s finances. All of the nine Francis appointed had, like him, substantial experience at the coalface, as heads of large dioceses. Most were also outsiders in the overheated corridors of power at the Vatican.

2025 April 21, Peter Stanford, “Pope Francis obituary”, in The Guardian:

(figurative, UK) A place where more tangible, practical, or direct work of an activity is done, as opposed to theoretical or managerial work.


Jobcentre

The attack campaign depicted snaking queues outside a jobcentre.

(British) A government-funded agency that helps the unemployed to find work; a local office of this agency.


go-faster stripe

en-noun

go-faster stripe (plural go-faster stripes)

Dad was the owner of a gold Ford Cortina with a black go-faster stripe and a raunchy-sounding engine.

1996 April 13, “Novelist Raffaella Barker remembers her father, the poet”, in The Independent:

Later, on the motorway, a car with go-faster stripes and spoilers overtakes us, horn blaring.

Rather, when Mrs Lee orders a red GT model with electric windows, a heated driving seat and go-faster stripes...

2003, Clare Morris, Quantitative Approaches in Business Studies:

Even the dumbest criminal is likely to look in his rearview at some point, and think, I wonder is that the same '69 Mustang with go-faster stripes […]

(British, humorous) A decorative horizontal stripe on the bodywork of a vehicle, imitating those found on racing cars.


good on someone

good for someone (alternative)
onya (alternative)

You got married? Good on you!

And he had a big smile like he really liked us and our wall. Black old teeth. Fat stomach. Well good on you. Good on all of you and your wall. Hee, hee, hee, hee.

1989, Patricia Grace, “Six by Six: Short Stories by New Zealand's Best Writers”, in Bill Manhire, editor, The Wall:

I have never forgotten his smile and the look in his eyes as he said, ‘Good on you, little brother.[…]’

2004, Willem Dijkstra, May You Live In Interesting Times, volume 1, page 301:

2009 October 27, House of Lords European Union Committee, Directive on Alternative Investment Fund Managers: 3rd Report of Session 2009-10, Volume II: Evidence, page 88,
Lord Renton of Mount Harry: […] I do not wish to be rude in saying this, but it is very easy for you as BlackRock because you are already a global, very big company and you are obviously hugely successful — good on you — but what about the alternative investment fund manager in one of the EU countries who wants to grow, wants to become more established in other countries, et cetera, surely for them there has to be some other international means, not just standing on national status and national passports.

(UK, Ireland, New England, Newfoundland, Australia, New Zealand) An exclamation of encouragement or congratulation: well done.


infantilisation

(chiefly British) Alternative spelling of infantilization.


individual voluntary arrangement

individual voluntary arrangement (plural individual voluntary arrangements)

individual voluntary arrangements (plural)

(British) A formal alternative to bankruptcy, involving a flexible contract with creditors.


unappetising

en-adj

unappetising (comparative more unappetising, superlative most unappetising)

more unappetising (comparative)
most unappetising (superlative)

Mrs. Michael turned out to be a ravenous, fast-fading woman in a slashed skirt and a low blouse over an unappetising chest. While her husband did things in his shed, where he appeared to live, Pym inexpertly mixed the Yorkshire pudding and fought off her embraces...

(chiefly British) Alternative spelling of unappetizing.


dicky bow

dicky bows (plural)
dickie bow (alternative)

(British, informal) A ready tied or elasticated bowtie.


dicky-bird

dicky-birds (plural)
dickey-bird (alternative)
dicky bird (alternative)
dickybird (alternative)
dickie bird (alternative)

We've not heard a dicky-bird about anything relating to his birthday.

(British, informal, from Cockney rhyming slang, used especially in negative constructions) A word; a brief chat.

I peeked into the cellar but there was nothing there. Not a dicky-bird.


traffic warden

(British, Hong Kong) A civilian employed by the police to regulate traffic and issue parking tickets.


unrecognisably

(chiefly British) Alternative spelling of unrecognizably.


bit of skirt

I never heard a word about a bit of skirt. Not like some blokes you meet — they're born out of one and they try to spend the rest of their lives getting back in.

2000, Roy Holland, Just a Bit Touched: Tales of Perspective, page 44:

Rosemary overheard him say that he did not usually grace such functions with his presence, but had been dragged along one January evening with the promise of a 'nice bit of skirt'.

2012, Jane Roberts, Triple Challenge: '69 to '70, page 24:

He slapped the visor back into place. “Tired?” Baldwin asked. “A bit. This case, you know. Been keeping me up all hours for weeks. Your bit of skirt is quite the woman, isn't she?” Memphis asked.

(UK slang, offensive) A woman, when regarded as a sexual object.


talent-spotter

talent-spotters (plural)
talent spotter (alternative)

(UK) An agent who seeks out potential talent for the entertainment industry.


jeweller's

jewellers' (plural)
jeweler's (alternative)

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-jeweller's.wav

(UK, Canada) A shop that sells jewellery.


vapour pressure

en-noun

vapour pressure (plural vapour pressures)

(British) Alternative spelling of vapor pressure.


randomisation

randomisation (countable and uncountable, plural randomisations)

(British) Alternative spelling of randomization.


barghest

barghests (plural)
bahgeeast (alternative)
bargas (alternative)
bargast (alternative)
bargeist (alternative)
bargest (alternative)
barghaist (alternative)
barghast (alternative)
bargheist (alternative)
barghist (alternative)
bargiss (alternative)
barguest (alternative)
bargus (alternative)
bargust (alternative)
bohghost (alternative)

The etymology of this word is disputed; it is perhaps from Old English burh-ghest (“town-ghost”), or from German Berg-geist (“mountain spirit”) or Bär-geist (“bear-spirit”).

In English folklore, a barghest is a monstrous dog with huge claws and teeth. This creature is said to roam around Yorkshire, and anyone who sees the dog will die soon after. There are barghests reported in Tennessee. On the grounds of Rotherwood Mansion in Kingsport, a monstrous black dog is said to roam, howling mournfully. Locally, he's called "Hound of Hell." Again, anyone who sees this creature is certain to suffer imminent death.

1999, Charles Edwin Price, Mysterious Knoxville: Ghost Stories, Monster Tales, and Bizarre Incidents from the “Gateway to the Smokies”, Johnson City, Tenn.: The Overmountain Press, →ISBN, page 58:

"Folklore often portrays barghests as guardians who lead lost travelers home," I said, not answering his question in the least, or mentioning that more often barghests were considered portents of death.

2012, Kalayna Price, chapter 20, in Grave Memory: An Alex Craft Novel, New York, N.Y.: Roc Books, New American Library, →ISBN:

(mythology, British) A legendary monstrous black dog, said to possess large teeth and claws, and (sometimes) to be capable of changing form.

Yet another possibility is that the headless man is a barghest, sometimes referred to and spelled as 'barguest', 'bahrgeist' or 'boguest'. These are creatures primarily associated with the north of England – Northumberland, Durham, Yorkshire and Lancashire. They assume at will the form of a headless man, a headless lady, a white cat, a rabbit, or dog, or a black dog. The barghest is a fiend that is attached to a particular place, more often than not an isolated piece of land, a wooded area, cloughs or wasteland. The barghest is known as a portent of disaster or death for those who see it; it is also said that death may not visit the person who sees the barghest but could kill a family member instead.

2016, Alexander L. Kaufman, “‘And Many Oþer Diuerse Tokens …’: Portents and Wonders in ‘Warkworth’s’ Chronicle”, in Jaclyn Rajsic, Erik Kooper, Dominique Hoche, editors, The Prose Brut and Other Late Medieval Chronicles: Books Have Their Histories. Essays in Honour of Lister M. Matheson, Woodbridge, Suffolk: York Medieval Press in association with The Boydell Press and the Centre for Medieval Studies, University of York, →ISBN, page 61:

(mythology, British) Any ghost, wraith, hobgoblin, elf, or spirit.


jammie

en-adj

jammie (comparative jammier, superlative jammiest)

jammier (comparative)
jammiest (superlative)

(UK, colloquial) Alternative spelling of jammy (“lucky; especially undeservedly so”).


jark

en-verb

jark (third-person singular simple present jarks, present participle jarking, simple past and past participle jarked)

jarks (present singular third-person)
jarking (participle present)
jarked (participle past)
jarked (past)

At the end of the day, it was inevitable that the IRA would discover that its weapons were being jarked.

1996, Andy McNab, Immediate Action, page 365:

'Anna' and 'Mary' were involved in operations that drew on a variety of intelligence data: ‘jarking’; information from agents;[…]One of the weapons, perhaps the Armalite, had been ‘jarked’ by the ‘Det’ and tracked for some time.

2001, Peter Taylor, Brits:the War Against the IRA, page 255:

An especially creative method was known as “jarking,” which involved “the placing of tiny tracking devices on weapons in arms caches so their movements can be followed.”⁸

2010, Christopher C. Harmon, Andrew N. Pratt, Sebastian Gorka, Toward a Grand Strategy Against Terrorism, page 197:

The homes and safe houses he provided were bugged; the weapons hidden in empty houses were ‘jarked’ so the security forces could keep track of them, and the vehicles used to ferry weapons put under close surveillance.

2010, Ed Moloney, Voices from the Grave: Two Men's War in Ireland, page 282:

(slang, military, British) To modify (weaponry) to disadvantage; especially, to attach a tracking device to and covertly monitor the location of (a weapon).


photofit

From photo + fit, from the British police force's Photofit system for constructing facial composites.

The witness was called in to create a photofit resembling her memory of the attacker.

(British) An image of a person constructed out of bits of photographs of other people; a facial composite.


normal for Norfolk

(medicine, slang, UK, derogatory) Peculiar or odd.

(medicine, slang, UK, derogatory) Of a patient, having lesser intellect.


piffy on a rock bun

Age and etymology are uncertain; it existed in the 1930s and possibly derives from a music hall catchphrase. Some commentators (e.g. World Wide Words) suggest that piffy may have originally been patience, and the rock bun was simply a type of cake.

I hate your work parties: you always talk shop with your mates and leave me sat like piffy on a rock bun.

(slang, British, idiomatic) A person ignored or sidelined from an activity


woolly back

woolly backs (plural)
wooley back (alternative)
woollyback (alternative)
woolyback (alternative)

The Liverpool Echo suggests two possible origins for the term, both dating back to the early 1900s:
* It may be a term for scab workers brought into the city from surrounding towns to manually load and unload ships in the Liverpool docks; unloading ships, the dockers would carry the woollen bales on their backs, leaving wool on their clothes.
* It may be a term for men who delivered coal into Liverpool from mines surrounding the city, who wore sheep fleece to protect their backs.
Another suggestion is that it could have originated in the Middle Ages from non-resident Welsh and English people trying to avoid the entry fee at the Chester city walls on market day by sneaking in the livestock entrance with a sheep on their back.

(British, slang) Any unsophisticated person from the countryside.

landepaukku

slang: unsophisticated person from the countryside


not much cop

'Cause I'm not much cop at punching other people's Dads

This one-dimensionality makes Germinal a formidable national monument, but not much cop as a film.

1997, Jonathan Romney, Short Orders: Film Writing:

"Not much cop, this place, but I have to keep an eye out for my train. Now, what can I get you, miss?"

"I'm not much cop at the decorating lark, am I, Floss?" "Never mind, Dad."

(British, slang) Not very good; unimpressive.


cop it

cop it (third-person singular simple present cops it, present participle copping it, simple past and past participle copped it)

cops it (present singular third-person)
copping it (participle present)
copped it (participle past)
copped it (past)

"Oh, you'll cop it," said the recruit. "The sergeant has been here twice looking for you."

1915, Lyman Abbott, Ernest Hamlin Abbott, Hamilton Wright Mabie, Francis Rufus Bellamy, The Outlook:

He shook his black, dishevelled hair ominously and said: "You'll cop it for this!"

1966, Maxim Gorky, Ronald Wilks, My Childhood:

I suppose he must have been all right, because you don't half cop it for killing a soldier.

1970, Alfred Edgar Coppard, Ninepenny Flute:

(British, slang) To get into trouble; to be punished.


wahey

People have this image of us. They think we're cock rock. It's time to rein it in a bit. We're not going, Wahey! and pouring champagne on girls' tits.

2004, Dave Black, The Darkness "Talking":

And he did, every day — rabbits, hares; he once leapt hugely after a pheasant we put up, and got it too. "Wahey, go for it, Bullet!"

(UK) Expressing exhilaration or delight.


breathalyse

breathalyse (third-person singular simple present breathalyses, present participle breathalysing, simple past and past participle breathalysed)

breathalyses (present singular third-person)
breathalysing (participle present)
breathalysed (participle past)
breathalysed (past)

(chiefly British) Alternative spelling of breathalyze.


byelection

byelections (plural)
by-election (alternative)
byeelection (alternative)

(Canada, New Zealand, often UK) Alternative form of by-election.


housebuyer

(British, Ireland, Malaysia) Someone who buys a house


minicab

(British, originally) A small car used as a taxi (rather than a traditional black cab).

(British) Synonym of gypsy cab, an unlicensed taxi.


hackney carriage

en-noun

hackney carriage (plural hackney carriages)

(British, chiefly historical) A horse-drawn carriage for public hire.

It is clear the Tory party is on an ideological crusade against my industry. Its interference in London’s recent private hire review shows just how far the government will go to deregulate the UK hackney carriage trade.

2016 February 9, Trevor Merralls, “Uber is no better than an old-fashioned gangmaster – so London’s cabbies are striking”, in The Guardian:

(British, formal) Synonym of black cab, an officially licensed taxi, a motorized vehicle for public hire.


winnet

(British, regional) A small piece of faeces stuck to the hairs around the anus of a mammal.


transport café

eating establishment
eating establishment

(UK, Ireland) A roadside eating establishment used especially by lorry-drivers; a truck stop


howk

en-verb

howk (third-person singular simple present howks, present participle howking, simple past and past participle howked)

howks (present singular third-person)
howking (participle present)
howked (participle past)
howked (past)

But Tom […] he pecked and howked the poor water-things about sadly, till they were all afraid of him, and got out of his way, or crept into their shells; so he had no one to speak to or play with.

1863, Charles Kingsley, The Water Babies: A Fairy Tale for a Land Baby:

(UK, dialect, transitive) To disturb by digging.


leam

leam (third-person singular simple present leams, present participle leaming, simple past and past participle leamed)

leams (present singular third-person)
leaming (participle present)
leamed (participle past)
leamed (past)
leem (alternative)
leme (alternative)

From Middle English lemen, from Old English lȳman, from Proto-West Germanic *liuhmijan, from Proto-Indo-European *lewk- (“light, bright”).

der

(intransitive, UK, dialectal) To gleam; shine; glow.


leam

leams (plural)
leem (alternative)
leme (alternative)

From Middle English leme, from Old English lēoma (“ray of light, beam, radiance, gleam, glare, lightning”), from Proto-Germanic *leuhmô (“light, shine”), from Proto-Indo-European *leuk- (“light, bright”). Cognate with Icelandic ljómi (“gleam, ray, beam, flash of light”), Latin lumen (“light”).

cog

The Leams of the morning sun streamed through the half-closed shutters

1816, [Walter Scott], The Antiquary. […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), Edinburgh: […] James Ballantyne and Co. for Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, →OCLC:

(UK, dialectal) A gleam or flash of light; a glow or glowing.


round bracket

(UK) Each of the signs ( and ); parenthesis, bracket (in a strict sense).


cruiserweight

(boxing, British, obsolete) light heavyweight


Guardianista

And so the Guardianista is prepared for a tragic story of injustice and retribution, brought about by the evil that stalks the dark corners of cyberspace.

2005, Tim Worstall, 2005: Dispatches from the Blogosphere:

[…] the shrieking 'Guardianista' class and poor old Trevor Norris, because Trevor Norris was a local pain in the arse who'd once opposed a Heath development […]

But if councils were still run part-time by engine drivers — not self-regarding, pious Guardianistas — at the very least we'd get our dustbins emptied once a week.

2007 December 10, “Better an engine driver than a Guardianista!”, in Daily Mail:

(British, slang, derogatory) A reader of the Guardian newspaper, regarded as middle-class, excessively liberal and politically correct, etc.


wibbly

en-adj

wibbly (comparative wibblier, superlative wibbliest)

wibblier (comparative)
wibbliest (superlative)

'We'll find some long branches and pull them out,' said Grace-Ella, trying her best to stay calm and confident even though she felt like a great big wibbly jelly.

2019, Sharon Marie Jones, Grace Ella: Witch Camp:


fuckwittery

I've got a degree in total fuckwittery, but why is that a material fact, Richard? Nobody has denied that Lady Draycott was Joseph Pilgrim's mistress.

2001, Andy McSmith, Innocent in the House:

...the 'sameness argument' — 'challenge this whole fuckwittery about "I treat everybody the same'".

2002, Adrian Coyle, Celia Kitzinger, Lesbian and Gay Psychology: New Perspectives:

...and 'Three Lions' jingoistic fuckwittery that went on to lay karmic waste to record labels, live venues and rock mag institutions alike.

2004, Garry Mulholland, This Is Uncool: The 500 Greatest Singles Since Punk and Disco:

"How the hell are we supposed to help them when they've got gold medals in fuckwittery — answer that, Sherlock!" She slammed her briefcase down...

That claim summed up the utter fuckwittery of horoscopes. It implied that either (i) all horoscopes prior to that were totally wrong...

(UK, Ireland, Commonwealth, slang, vulgar, derogatory or offensive) Behaviour of a fuckwit; irksome foolishness.


blackback

great black-backed gull
great black-backed gull


ged

From Middle English gedde, from Old Norse gedda (“pike”), cognate with Icelandic gedda (“pike”), Danish gedde (“pike”).

(UK, dialect or heraldry) The pike or luce.


lovely jubbly

Based on the 1950s slogan “lubbly Jubbly” advertising Jubbly, an orange-flavoured soft drink. The modified version was coined by the English television scriptwriter John Sullivan (1946–2011) as an expression generally used by the character Derek “Del Boy” Trotter, a market trader from London, in the BBC television comedy Only Fools and Horses (first broadcast 1981–1991, with Christmas specials in 1996 and 2001–2003).

‘Yeah?’ says Adam, who doubtless expected me to put up a fight. ‘Lovely jubbly! It's a date!’ / ‘No, it isn’t,’ I say.

2000, Anna Maxted, chapter 35, in Getting Over It, London: Arrow Books, Random House, →ISBN, page 287:

Press gently all the way around to seal the edges and keep the chocolate in. Bake for 10 minutes and eat hot or cold. Easy peasy, lovely jubbly!

2004, Beatrice Hollyer, Let’s Eat: What Children Eat around the World, New York, N.Y.: Holt, →ISBN:

(British, informal) Often used as a response to some (anticipated) success: lovely; fantastic, great.


lovely jubbly

lovely jubbly (comparative more lovely jubbly, superlative most lovely jubbly)

more lovely jubbly (comparative)
most lovely jubbly (superlative)

Duane bumped his elbow. They were on the Christmas pudding. 'Fucking lovely jubbly this, innit?' Duane said.

1999, Roger Granelli, Status Zero, Bridgend, Mid Glamorgan: Seren, →ISBN, page 169:

(British, informal) Lovely; fantastic, great.


Sally Army

"The screw that put them in the cells was in the Sally Army."

1982, Brendan Behan, Borstal Boy, David R. Godine Publisher, →ISBN, page 179:


I should cocoa

Rhyming slang, possibly using cocoa drink for think. Another possibility is that it is taken as a rhyme with say so.

Cockney rhyming slang
Cockney rhyming slang

(Cockney rhyming slang, British, dated, humorous) I should say so; I should concur; I strongly agree (almost always used ironically or sarcastically).


ratcatcher

ratcatchers (plural)
rat-catcher (alternative)

William Shakespeare
w:William Shakespeare

(British) An insult, not widely used nowadays but made popular by William Shakespeare in Romeo and Juliet.


shitehawk

Possibly one of the most highly protected birds today is the kite, known by the British Army throughout the world as a shite-hawk.

1999 April 28, Lord Burton, “Capercaillie”, in parliamentary debates (House of Lords), column 423:

Shite-hawks..are more properly known as black kites,..gaining their unlovely nickname from British troops who used to get the meat stolen from their plates by these bold and skilful birds.

2006 March 11, Simon Barnes, “At deep mid-wicket I can see a face like a gargoyle – but wings like an angel”, in The Times, page 23:

(chiefly UK, Ireland, informal) A large scavenging or predatory bird; especially (originally in military use in South Asia) the black kite.

European herring gull
European herring gull

(chiefly UK, Ireland, informal) The European herring gull.

"Watch yer language, ye shitehawk." His da had heard the din from the kitchen and had decided to have his say in the matter.

1997, Valerie Maher, Sarah's Gate: Tales from Ballyhornet:

What must it be like, to be such a fucking gimp, and see perfection, and know you're too much of a shitehawk to ever have it?

2001, Gary Owen, Crazy Gary's Mobile Disco:

When I win, Liam still suggests on the eighteenth green that I'm a nine-fingered shitehawk.

2005, Andrew M Greeley, The Priestly Sins:

...any analyst who puts out a book with the word "ethics" in the title is invariably an incorrigible shitehawk.

(chiefly UK, Ireland, informal) An objectionable person; a twat or wanker.


pushbike

pushbikes (plural)
push bike (alternative)
push-bike (alternative)
pushie (alternative)

The noun is derived from push + bike. The verb is derived from the noun.

In England I learned to ride what the Australians call a push-bike, and spent many week-end leaves, and one four days' leave, riding in the South of England and Wales. [...] Today, I wished the push-bike was in its old place—especially when three boys sailed past on push-bikes and offered to give me some "gas."

1919, The Motorcycle Illustrated, volume 15, New York, N.Y.: Motorcycle Publishing Company, →OCLC, page 15:

[W]e find that the police have only got a pushbike in the place of the horse. We are, therefore, retrogressing. A pushbike cannot be used very well on our roads, and it is practically useless. The hon. member for Prieska expressed the view that it would cost much more to provide motor vehicles in the place of horses, but I doubt it.

1937, Union of South Africa: Debates of House of Assembly (House of Assembly of South Africa), volume 30, Cape Town: Cape Times, →OCLC, column 5911:

I ask the Minister for Transport whether his attention has been drawn to the fact that last year 120 pushbike riders were killed and more than 4,000 injured? Is it a fact that about 100,000 more pushbikes are coming on to the roads each year, increasing even further the possibility of accidents? Has it been estimated that there are over 2,000,000 pushbike riders in Australia, thousands of whom are under 12 years of age?

1970, Clarence Joseph Earl, “Bicycles”, in New South Wales Parliamentary Debates (New South Wales Legislative Assembly), Sydney, N.S.W.: W. & F. Pascoe, →OCLC, column 5610:

It was just like an old novel: an ornate iron gate was opened by a liveried janitor, looking askance at my rather derelict pushbike.

1984, Tad Sobolewski, Crossing the Bridges, Adelaide, S.A.: Dezsery Ethnic Publications, →ISBN, page 3:

Section One of the Railway Trail is 1¾ miles long and is suitable for walking, push bikes (as bicycles are called), or mopeds. [...] Section Two is 2¼ mile in length and is suitable for push bikes and mopeds.

1995 July–August, Anne Sterling, “Bermuda Railway Trail: Exploring this ‘Linear Park’ Offers an In-depth Look at Island Life”, in Robert Meyers, editor, Cruise Travel, volume 17, number 1, Evanston, Ill.: World Publishing Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 48:

The town being so small, everybody rode pushbikes and there were pushbikes propped up everywhere. I've never seen anything like it! Next thing you know there were pushbikes going in all directions and blokes climbing up the verandah posts!

1996, Australian Farm Journal, volume 6, Melbourne, Vic.: Rural Press Limited, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 12, column 2:

He looked around for a push bike. There was a red one hanging on the wall that looked like it might go.

2005, J[ason] T[revor] Wilson, “Way Down Below”, in Behind the Lines: Stories, Auckland: Exisle Publishing, →ISBN, page 56:

[O]ne night, when my brother and I went to bed, he told me he was leaving that night, but he needed my pushbike because his one was old, ugly and broken. [...] In return for giving him my pushbike he promised to give me his miniature railway set.

2018, Hans Meyer, “10 Years at School”, in 72 Years ont the Slippery, Sloppery Gangway Called “Life”: The Ups and Downs of Working 45 Years in the Shipping Industry, Kibworth Beauchamp, Leicestershire: Matador, Troubador Publishing, →ISBN, pages 13–14:

(UK, Ireland, Commonwealth, informal) A pedal bicycle, as distinguished from a motorized bicycle.


pushbike

en-verb

pushbike (third-person singular simple present pushbikes, present participle pushbiking, simple past and past participle pushbiked)

pushbikes (present singular third-person)
pushbiking (participle present)
pushbiked (participle past)
pushbiked (past)
push bike (alternative)
push-bike (alternative)

It makes me miserable when I think of the number of poor surveyors still push-biking their daily round.

1913, Surveyor, volume 43, London: [Taylor & Francis?], →OCLC, page 1001, column 2:

Recently two of us had to go into Makeni to collect copper for the men's December pay, and as walking would have taken at least two days, and for any degree of comfort four, we push biked along the bush track from camp to Kamabai, about six miles, and covered the remaining twenty odd miles by railway trolley (West African pump-car).

1930s, “Homo” [pseudonym; Harold James Holmes], Behind Mount Lion: Treks and Tours in Sierra Leone: Compiled from the Letters of “Homo”, Andover, Hampshire: Published at the “Advertiser” Printing Works, →OCLC, page 50:

Dr. Smith is making a tour of the world "push-biking" from place to place, forwarding whatever he finds interesting along his travels.

1932, Herbert N. Smith, “English Personalities”, in Year Book of Optometry, New York, N.Y.: New York State Optometric Association, →OCLC, page 249:

First of all it was very early in the morning—it was about by this time between 4 and 6 a.m. everybody still asleep—so I went on and start push biking around the house till I decide that its not too early.

1964, Jerzy Zubrzycki, Settlers of the Latrobe Valley: A Sociological Study of Immigrants in the Brown Coal Industry in Australia, Canberra, A.C.T.: Australian National University, →OCLC, page 205:

In South East Nigeria I knew him only slightly between 1923 and 1948; a self-effacing but self-sufficient figure pushbiking about the country in khaki shorts, white shirt and plimsolls, always purposeful, seldom interested in the whisky, gin, and bridge sessions that passed for evening society in bush stations.

1971, African Arts: A Quarterly Journal Devoted to the Graphic, Plastic, Literary and Performing Arts of Africa, Los Angeles, Calif.: African Studies Center, University of California, Los Angeles, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 93, column 1:

Apart from a wireless-repair van parked a few yards off and a vicar's-wife type, energetically push-biking past in bright yellow oilskins, the streets were deserted.

1994, Kingsley Amis, You Can’t Do Both, London: Hutchinson, →ISBN; republished London: Vintage Books, 2004, →ISBN, page 318:

It was cloudy, cool and misty as he [Thomas Edward Lawrence] push-biked up the long hill into Elsfield village.

1996, Paul [J.] Marriott, Yvonne Argent, The Last Days of T. E. Lawrence: A Leaf in the Wind, Brighton, East Sussex, Portland, Or.: Alpha Press, →ISBN, page 64:

The other thing about the time he pushbiked from Hereford back home was that when he stripped off, his body underneath was black.

1998, Gordon Burn, Happy Like Murderers, London: Faber and Faber, →ISBN; republished London: Faber and Faber, 2011, →ISBN, page 167:

(intransitive, Australia, New Zealand, UK, informal) To travel by pushbike.


stickman

stickmen (plural)
stick man (alternative)

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

In some cases, when the property is taken from the drunken man, one of the women on some pretext steps to the door and passes it to the “stickman” standing outside, who then makes off with it.

1861, Henry Mayhew, London Labour and the London Poor; […], volume IV (Those that Will Not Work), London: Griffin, Bohn, and Company, […], →OCLC, page 282:

It is doubtful if the Victorian Londoner needed any warning, for the artful mobsmen, toolers, whizzers and dippers, together with their stickman accomplices, were everywhere in the crowds, in the underground, on railway trains […]

1976, Michael Harrison, Beyond Baker Street: A Sherlockian Anthology, page 117:

(UK, slang, archaic) A pickpocket's accomplice who takes the stolen goods in case the pickpocket is searched.


wankery

The core band, meanwhile, had clearly honed their chops well on stage; Ashton's lead guitar work avoids both wankery and simplicity […]

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

Their visas entailed bribes and a certain amount of bureaucratic wankery, but were approved quickly enough.

There are moments of static beauty, haunting sparseness, and pointless wankery, sometimes all in the same tune.

2003, Jim DeRogatis, Turn on Your Mind: Four Decades of Great Psychedelic Rock:

Sub Pop was different, they were arty and more into darker, weirder stuff like Big Black. K was pretty much the opposite of that kind of macho wankery.

2007, Everett True, Nirvana: The Biography:

(UK, Ireland, Commonwealth, slang, vulgar) Unnecessary or pretentious noodling (messing around).


chief petty officer

en-noun

chief petty officer (plural chief petty officers)

non-commissioned officer
non-commissioned officer

warrant officer class 2
warrant officer class 2

(UK, Navy) A non-commissioned officer in the Royal Navy, ranking above petty officer and below warrant officer class 2.


fuckwittedness

It's a war against terror and it's a war against ignorance, and it's a war against prejudice and pure dumb-arsed fuckwittedness, and we've got to win that […]

2003, Stephen Sewell, Myth, Propaganda and Disaster in Nazi Germany and Contemporary America:

At any rate, this particular incidence of fuckwittedness had me arrive at Southampton Parkway ready to alight, struggling to the exit door in the corridor […]

2006, Stephen Francis, Reconstructing Stephen:

He should have stayed away from the war wound fuckwittedness, the being cute.

2008, James Meek, We Are Now Beginning Our Descent:

(UK, Ireland, Commonwealth, slang, vulgar) Extreme stupidity.


whiskery

en-adj

whiskery (comparative more whiskery, superlative most whiskery)

more whiskery (comparative)
most whiskery (superlative)

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

It is, of course, the most whiskery old cliché, but clichés usually have their basis in fact, and this one certainly does: Historically, the French have paid extraordinary—some would say excessive—attention to what they eat and how they eat it.

2001, Peter Mayle, “The Inner Frenchman”, in French Lessons: Adventures with Knife, Fork, and Corkscrew, New York: Knopf, page 8:

I checked it out, and there were some good—if whiskery—stories.

2009 January 14, Simon Hoggart, “Simon Hoggart’s Sketch: Short-selling sermons as God takes on Mammon”, in The Guardian:


NCT

We smile at the despairing mother whose children are bouncing off the walls and tell her that she deserves a large glass of wine after the kids have gone to bed, and that we would do the same. Or we “jokingly” bring a bottle of wine to the NCT picnic.

2018 June 10, Amelia Hill, “The secret shame of being a sober mother”, in The Observer:

National Childbirth Trust
w:National Childbirth Trust

(UK) Initialism of National Childbirth Trust.


liftshaft

liftshafts (plural)
lift shaft (alternative)

From lift (“vertical transport, elevator”) + shaft, from Old English sceaft, from Proto-Germanic *skaftaz.

(UK) The vertical shaft in a building which contains a lift (elevator) platform or cab, and through which it is moved from floor to floor.


curtain twitcher

en-noun

curtain twitcher (plural curtain twitchers)

...but these self-invited guests made her feel like a curtain-twitcher of the worst kind and she resented them for it.

...the reader is also accepting the role of curtain twitcher or peeping Tom.

2004, Harold Love, English Clandestine Satire, 1660-1702:

The curtain twitcher who saw the incident exclaimed in detail what had happened and it was pretty obvious that Burnett did not mean to kill him.

(British, slang) A nosy person who watches his or her neighbours, typically from a curtained window.


mudlark

Anthus petrosus
Anthus petrosus#Translingual

Alauda arvensis
Alauda arvensis#Translingual

(UK, regional) Any of various birds that are found in muddy places or build their nests with mud, especially Anthus petrosus and Alauda arvensis.


reading week

From reading + week.
From every class period of the school day during the school week being a reading period, where students read their notes and self-revised class material in preparation for assessments.

(UK, Canada) A week during a university's term where no teaching takes place, generally so that students may prepare for tests.


bolden

en-verb

bolden (third-person singular simple present boldens, present participle boldening, simple past and past participle boldened)

boldens (present singular third-person)
boldening (participle present)
boldened (participle past)
boldened (past)

(transitive, obsolete except UK, dialectal) Synonym of embolden (“To render (someone) bolder or more courageous”).


bluecoat

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

This was a bluecoat school in my day.

(British, often attributive) A pupil attending any of certain prestigious British schools having a traditional dress code.


gingerism

/ˈd͡ʒɪnd͡ʒɚɪzm̩/

Gingerism is popular with comedians and audiences, and just as addicts take methadone instead of heroin, ginger gags are a safe, controlled substitute for ....

1997, Oliver Double, Stand Up!: On Being a Comedian, page 219:

A young girl asked the website: "What is the difference between racism, gingerism and sexism? "Nothing, that's what.

2004 July 22, “Red alert over an annoying prejudice.”, in Huddersfield Daily Examiner:

Gingerism in the workplace could form the basis of formal grievances or constructive dismissal cases, an employment lawyer has warned.

2007 June 14, “Red hair bullying cases could end up in court”, in The Register:

(British, Australia, New Zealand) Prejudice or discrimination against people with red hair.


cotton wool bud

en-noun

cotton wool bud (plural cotton wool buds)

cotton wool buds (plural)
cotton-wool bud (alternative)
cottonwool bud (alternative)

(British) A short, thin and flexible rod with a small wad of cotton wool at each end.


lairiness

The old songs spool out, reaffirming once again everything that is great about the Streets. "Brace yourself, 'cause this goes deep," runs a line from Turn the Page, pointing up [Mike] Skinner's ability to grapple with existential dread as well as the cinematic, blow-by-blow accounts of everyday lairiness.

2019 January 26, Kitty Empire [pseudonym], “The Streets review – the agony and ecstasy of a great everyman”, in Katharine Viner, editor, The Guardian, London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2019-04-08:

(British) The property of being lairy (“grumpy or touchy”).


borstal training

The court could sentence them to 'Borstal training', which meant that they were detained in a Borstal institution for an indeterminate period of between six months and two years.

1989, Richard Meredith Jackson, J. R. Spencer, Jackson's Machinery of Justice, page 277:

(British, law, historical) The sentencing of young offenders to a special prison.


compère

It was Moscow’s best known compère, George Bengalsky.

1967, Michael Glenny, chapter 12, in The Master and Margarita, translation of Мастер и Маргарита by Mikhail Bulgakov, published 1938, →ISBN, page 142:

The fact that compères routinely wait no more and no less than eight seconds before interrupting means that they decide at just that point that an audience has been clapping long enough, [...]

1984, Max Atkinson, Our Masters' Voices, page 27:

Suddenly compères were sipping coffee in the middle of their shows, …

2004-2005, Paul Ginsborg, Silvio Berlusconi, page 48

(chiefly British) Alternative form of compere.


muggen

en-adj

muggen (comparative more muggen, superlative most muggen)

more muggen (comparative)
most muggen (superlative)

From mug + -en (“made of, consisting of”).

a muggen teapot

(UK dialectal, Northern England) Made of earthenware in contradistinction to china, metal, wood, etc.


Tony crony

From Tony + crony, chosen for the rhyme.

...including such folk as Peter Mandelson, a Labour spin doctor-turned-minister, and Lord Alli, an ennobled Asian Tony-crony with a television company.

Falconer is basically a good egg but his reputation as a "Tony crony" and his involvement with the Millennium Dome do him no favours.

2001, Royal Town Planning Institute, Planning: For the Natural and Built Environment:

She said the Tony crony thing was a real problem.

2007, Alastair Campbell, The Blair Years:

(British, informal, humorous, derogatory) An ingratiating political associate of the former British prime minister Tony Blair.


buer

“What about that polony he was with?” ¶ “She doesn't matter”, the Boy said, “She's just a buer—he gave her a half. I saw him hand it out.”

1938, Graham Greene, Brighton Rock, London: Heinemann (1947), page 28:

(UK, archaic, slang, often derogatory) A woman, especially a sexually promiscuous one.


foretop

From Middle English fore-top, for-top, equivalent to fore- + top.


nappy rash

en-noun

nappy rash (countable and uncountable, plural nappy rashes)

(British) Any of various skin rashes in the diaper area.


commercial traveller

commercial traveller (plural commercial travellers)


stark bollock naked

(British, vulgar, emphatic) Not wearing clothes.


hoppet

Hoppets. Hand-baskets. These were used for holding seed. In March 1590, two seed-hoppets and a wisket cost 18d.; April 1592, a wisket at Tingreve and a third hoppet there cost 9d.

1857, John Harland, The House and Farm Accounts of the Shuttleworths of Gawthorpe Hall, in the County of Lancaster, at Smithils and Gawthorpe, from Sept. 1582 to Oct. 1621, page 707:

(UK, dialect) A handbasket for holding seeds while sowing.

The sinkers were raised and lowered in a hoppet attached to the rope.

1904, Great Britain. Home Office, Mines and Quarries, page 81:

A sinker must be appointed as hanger-on to give signals to the bank; he must also steady the hoppet whenever it has been lifted off the bottom, and must see that it has ceased to swing before he gives the signal to wind up.

1904, Arnold Lupton, Mining: An Elementary Treatise on the Getting of Minerals, page 113:

The hoppet is thus steadied and guided, and may be raised with safety at a greater speed than was formerly possible.

1906, James Tonge, The Principles and Practice of Coal Mining, page 69:

(UK, dialect) A dish used by miners to measure ore.

The bowling green can be seen in the hoppet, but the windmill has been removed.

1926, Edward Arthur Fitch, William Herbert Dalton, Charlotte Fell-Smith, The Essex Review, page 139:

To Charles my tenements and lands in Rettendon , i.e. my tenement called Hadds with a little hoppet of a rood of land lying to the same , my tenement with 15 acres of customary land and 15 acres of silver land

1982, Frederick George Emmison, Essex Wills (England): 1558-1565, page 149:

Grant, captain ... affirmeth that he holdeth no such land, nor is there any land appertaining to the said chapel other than the ground whereupon the blockhouse is builded ... and a little hoppet in the occupation of the ferryman Grey, worth by the year 2s. 4d.

1987, Essex Society for Archaeological and History, Essex Archaeology and History, page 157:

This I took out of the rools the 24 of Aprill 1610 , Mr Thomas Hobbes Esquyer being then lord of the mannor ; nor can I tell whether the rent of 8d lys only on that hoppet or that it be also for the 2 cow leases ( which perhaps are coppyhold, because mentioned in the rolls). The hoppet, though it were never great nor profitable, is, since the New River (which cutt cross over it) less of value.

1989, Thomas Hassall, Stephen G. Doree, The Parish Register and Tithing Book of Thomas Hassall of Amwell, page 217:


diarrhoeagenic

en-adj

diarrhoeagenic (comparative more diarrhoeagenic, superlative most diarrhoeagenic)

more diarrhoeagenic (comparative)
most diarrhoeagenic (superlative)

British standard spelling of diarrheagenic.


arse-licker

(UK, Ireland, Commonwealth) Alternative form of ass-licker.


sweatbox

They shoved me in the back of a police van and started driving to the cop shop. I was sitting in the sweatbox, wondering how the Dibble had got onto me so quickly, when I heard a voice from another section of the van say, 'Are you P from Macclesfield?'

2013, Colin Blaney, Hotshot: The Story of a Little Red Devil:

[…] she was finally hustled into a sweatbox, as prisoners and prison staff called it, and was off to meet her new home for the foreseeable future.

(UK, slang) A compartment in a police van to hold a prisoner being transported.


dangerman

dangermen (plural)
danger man (alternative)

Only James Hopes could halt the pair's dominance, the all-rounder snaring both dangermen to finish with figures of 3-44.

2009 January 30, AAP, “Proteas snatch No. 1 ranking”, in Herald Sun, archived from the original on 2009-02-02:

Sergej Milinkovic-Savic, the dangerman midfielder, was given greater license to get closer to the strikers.

2024 June 16, David Hytner, “Jude Bellingham gives England winning start but Serbia make Southgate sweat”, in Guardian:

(sports, British) A player on an opposing side who poses a significant threat


onsell

en-verb

onsell (third-person singular simple present onsells, present participle onselling, simple past and past participle onsold)

onsells (present singular third-person)
onselling (participle present)
onsold (participle past)
onsold (past)

"That property is then taken in by a receiver who then onsells it, we'll be alleging to markets or other retail stores."

2009 January 30, “Shoplifting haul worth 'several millions'”, in Herald Sun:

(British, business, transitive) To sell (a purchased item) to a second buyer.


panda car

/ˌpændə ˈkɑː/

/ˌpændə ˈkɑɹ/

From the original black and white colouring of the automobiles, like that of a giant panda.

(UK, Ireland, law enforcement, informal) A police car; specifically (historical), one with a broad white stripe painted around its middle on a darker-coloured or, originally, black background.


Stanley knife

From a brand name owned by the US tool manufacturer formerly known as Stanley Works; from Stanley (“surname”) + knife.

Hotels expect to lose ashtrays, coat hangers and towels, for me it was Stanley knives. I didn′t mind a bit! If anyone bought a ₤35 a carpet, they were more than welcome to a 50 pence knife.

1988, Dennis Sloan, The Twenty-Third Little Varmint, published 2005, page 126:

[…]the trams floating slowly down Swanston Street, paper-sellers cutting open bundles with Stanley knives, the smell of ground coffee from the downstairs cafe,[…].

2002, Guy Rundle, “Up from the Dead”, in Peter Craven, editor, The Best Australian Essays 2002, page 187:

He gripped his Stanley knife and swung open the door almost detaching it from its hinges.

2003, Anthony Hulse, Insanity Never Sleeps, Mediaworld, UK, page 30:

Manchester′s ‘golden boys’, Joy Division, had recently been devastated by the death of their singer, Ian Curtis: that good-looking, sad young man had made a spectacular exit by carving a smile on his face with a Stanley knife before hanging himself.

2004, David Bret, Morrissey: Scandal & Passion, page 34:

(UK, Australia, New Zealand) A type of retractable utility knife with a replaceable blade.


drawcard

I remember once in the professional theatre in Addis Ababa a certain actor had become a popular drawcard.

1997, Robert Kavanagh, Making People′s Theatre, page 182:

1998, The Bulletin, Issues 6138-6146, page 62,
Falconry is another big drawcard at Hever and at other historical sites.

The drawcard was a two-act comic revue written for the occasion, “Quatsch” (German, “Nonsense”).

1993, Brian Boyd, Vladimir Nabokov: The Russian Years, page 273:

A single trip might not seem particularly environmentally significant, but Norway′s environment remains one of its main drawcards and one that millions of travellers who visit Norway every year have a responsibility to protect.

2008, Anthony Ham, Miles Roddis, Kari Lundgren, Norway, Lonely Planet, page 19:

He was the defending champion, a proven drawcard and a player of the future.

2009 January 28, Todd Woodbridge, “Australian tennis great says heat simply part of game”, in Herald Sun, archived from the original on 2009-08-04:

(UK) Something that attracts customers, visitors, spectators, etc. to a place or an event.

vetonaula

attraction to attend a place or an event


hit-out

hit-outs (plural)
hitout (alternative)
hit out (alternative)

“There were some of the dives that could have been performed better but it was good to have a hit-out.”

2009 February 6, Bill Marshall, quoting Helen Galashan, “Shock victory for twins”, in Telegraph and Argus, Bradford, England:

There was a second prong to Bill′s in-the-dark equine hit-outs. He believed nocturnal track work produced great times on race day.

2011, H. G. Nelson, My Life in Shorts, Pan Macmillan Australia, unnumbered page:

(UK, sports) A match or session, particularly for practice.


homeware

en-noun

homeware (countable and uncountable, plural homewares)

[…] selling homewares has become the toughest job on the high street.

2009 January 23, Zoe Wood, “War on the home front as Ikea chief tempts flatpack-phobic”, in The Guardian:

(British, Ireland) Furnishings for the home, such as furniture and cushions.


blokeish

en-adj

blokeish (comparative more blokeish, superlative most blokeish)

more blokeish (comparative)
most blokeish (superlative)
blokish (alternative)

2002 December, Cole Moreton, review of Sinead O'Connor, Sean-nós nua, in Third Way, page 31,
The blokeish bar-room ballad ‘Peggy Gordon’ is performed as a tender love song for another woman.

He's stuck his hand in his pocket as if he wanted to look more like an ordinary man, or more blokeish.

2003, Bernard-Henri Lévy, translated by Andrew Brown, Sartre, page 443:

Hailed by a host of younger guitar bands such as Ocean Colour Scene and Oasis, Weller dropped the jazzy noodlings of his previous couple of sets in favour of a raw, blokeish sound.

2003, Peter Buckley, The Rough Guide to Rock, page 1161:

After we say goodbye, I walk past [Jeremy] Clarkson's table, steaming with carefree, blokeish energy.

2025 May 17, Henry Mance, “Lunch with the FT: Trinny Woodall”, in FT Weekend, Life & Arts, page 3:

(UK, Australia, informal) Characteristic or typical of a bloke.


sket

Don't be too upset if they call you a sket / 'Cause like the news, every day, you get pressed

2004, Amy Winehouse, Salaam Remi, “Fuck Me Pumps”, in Frank, performed by Amy Winehouse:

Love for the G's in the ends / But we don't love no girls in the ends / Last time I fell in love with a sket / But trust me, I will never do that again

2014, Skepta, Jme, “That's Not Me” (track 10), in Konnichiwa, performed by Skepta featuring Jme:

You shagged bare lads, you're a little sket / Have you heard your bars? They're fucking pept

2016 December 3, Millie B, “Soph Aspin Send”, performed by Millie B:

NB: All terms are usually pejorative unless stated otherwise.

(MLE, UK, Ireland, derogatory, slang) A sexually promiscuous woman.


gobsmacking

gobsmacking (comparative more gobsmacking, superlative most gobsmacking)

more gobsmacking (comparative)
most gobsmacking (superlative)

(slang, UK, Ireland, Commonwealth) Causing one to be gobsmacked; astounding, flabbergasting.


awayday

awaydays (plural)
away day (alternative)

Originally a railway day-return ticket at a special price.

Unlike one location of the 2019 comedy series Down from London, in which Kingsman and Graham Dickson starred as an odd couple trying to fix their relationship with awaydays, her home is not by the sea.

2022 November 27, Claire Armitstead, “Liz Kingsman: ‘Who is this woman who feels she can go on stage and make people laugh?’”, in The Observer, →ISSN:

(British) A business event, such as a team-building exercise, training course or internal meeting, that takes place away from the office without the usual distractions.


tiddler

(British, informal) A small fish, especially a stickleback.


mountain ash

en-noun

mountain ash (usually uncountable, plural mountain ashes)

On the verdant slope and down by the edge of the water, the bird-cherry and the mountain ash displayed their flowery garb of summer.

1886, Peter Christen Asbjørnsen, translated by H.L. Brækstad, Folk and Fairy Tales, page 280:

Various measures were taken to avoid it, most popular being the suspension of certain herbs and tree branches over the doorways of dwellings and stables. Commonly used greenery were tansy, honesty, garlic, St. John's Wort, mountain ash, roadside verbena.

1940, Rosetta E. Clarkson, Green Enchantments: The Magic Spell of Gardens, The Macmillan Company, page 271:

2007, Tyler Guthrie, Mountain Ash: Formally Rowan Tree, Trinity College, Academic Dissertation.

Sorbus aucuparia
Sorbus aucuparia#Translingual

(British) A European tree, rowan or, more specifically, European rowan, of species Sorbus aucuparia.


washbag

washbags (plural)
wash bag (alternative)

(UK) A small bag used to hold toiletries and personal washing items


need not

en-verb

need not (third-person singular simple present need not, no present participle, simple past needed not, no past participle)

need not (present singular third-person)
needed not (past)

You look quite ill. Maybe you got the flu? ~ It needn’t be. - today I feel overtired.

My example illustrates how circularity can arise in arguments that appeal to experiment. But the very same example serves to show that this need not be the case.

2013, Alan Chalmers, What is this thing called Science?, University of Queensland Press, page 36:

(chiefly UK, auxiliary, indicating absence of necessity) do not have to, do not need to.


casualize

casualize (third-person singular simple present casualizes, present participle casualizing, simple past and past participle casualized)

casualizes (present singular third-person)
casualizing (participle present)
casualized (participle past)
casualized (past)
casualise (alternative)

Many of the workers have been casualized during the recent downturn.

(economics, chiefly British) To convert from regular to casual labor


bonkersness

He's like the Michelle Gomez character in Green Wing (the one who used to stalk Julian Rhind-Tutt along the hospital corridors) - living proof that an unhealthy interest in filth and a bit of bonkersness is actually funnier than jokes.

2009 February 14, Sam Wollaston, “Last night's TV”, in The Guardian:

(chiefly British, informal) The quality or state of being bonkers


moral fibre

en-noun

moral fibre (usually uncountable, plural moral fibres)

moral fibres (plural)
moral fiber (alternative)

He lacked the moral fibre to be a leader.

(UK) The inner strength to do what one believes to be right; often an ability to make difficult decisions.


filthy dirty

en-adj

filthy dirty (comparative more filthy dirty, superlative most filthy dirty)

more filthy dirty (comparative)
most filthy dirty (superlative)


Sally Ann

Amenities for the Canadian army in the battle zone were few and far between, but the prime one of them all was the Salvation Army, the Sally Ann, a religious organization back home that served all ranks and religions.

2005, Robert E. Rogge, Fearsome Battle: With the Canadian Army in World War II Europe, →ISBN, page 50:

'Then she must be a member of the Sally Ann.' / That's what some people called the Salvation Army, whether with affection or not I don't know.

2006, Thomas Healy, I Have Heard You Calling in the Night, →ISBN, page 97:

(informal, Canada, British) The Salvation Army.


balls up

en-verb

balls up (third-person singular simple present ballses up, present participle ballsing up, simple past and past participle ballsed up)

ballses up (present singular third-person)
ballsing up (participle present)
ballsed up (participle past)
ballsed up (past)

He was putting everything he had into it, but he kept ballsing up.

2009, Jan Kjaerstad, The Discoverer, →ISBN:

'We just have to get through without ballsing up

2011, Lesley Thomson, A Kind of Vanishing, →ISBN:

(UK, Commonwealth, Ireland, vulgar, intransitive) To make a mess of a situation.

He really ballsed up that paint work. It'll have to be redone!

It has got to the ludicrous stage that whenever Snedden makes a speech without actually ballsing something up irrevocably, they tell him he's the greatest thing since Winston Churchill;

1977, Mungo MacCallum, Mungo's Canberra, page 142:

Bearing in mind that if you're teasing but you have to explain it, then you're not teasing, you're just ballsing things up and being a fucking thug.

2010, A.L. Kennedy, Everything You Need, →ISBN:

We’re humans, we’re fallible, there is no medal for being right all the time; admitting we ballsed it up is not a weakness, it’s a superpower.

2023 January 28, Justin Myers, “62 dating green flags that shout ‘this one’s a keeper’”, in The Guardian:

(UK, Commonwealth, Ireland, vulgar, transitive) To do something badly. To ruin a job.


nighthawker

(British) A metal detectorist who works illegally at night to remove artefacts from archaeological sites.


nighthawking

/ˈnʌɪthɔːkɪŋ/

(British) The action of a nighthawker; the practice of metal-detecting late at night to illegally remove artifacts from restricted sites.


knucker

From Old English nicor (“water monster; hippopotamus”).

inh

(UK, dialect) A kind of water dragon, said to live in knuckerholes in Sussex, England.


groover

/ˈɡɹuːvə(ɹ)/

It [ore] is generally cloathed with a substance which the groovers call Crootes, and is a soft, mealy, white stone

(UK, dialect, Derbyshire, archaic) A miner.


worklessness

The majority come from circumstances where worklessness is embedded, and placements need to incorporate some element of mentoring if these individuals are to develop the life skills necessary to sustain a career.

2009 January 16, Libby Brooks, “Generation Crunch need more than just McJobs”, in The Guardian:

(British) Unemployment; the state of being without paid work


land girl

(British, historical) A member of the Women's Land Army.


cag

(British, informal) Clipping of cagoule.


palaeomagnetic

(UK, geology) Of or pertaining to palaeomagnetism


Elastoplast

From the trademarked name of one brand of sticking plasters, presumably from elastic and plaster.

Tension on the skin edges is prevented by the use of several one-half inch strips of elastoplast applied directly across the wound at right angle to the suture line.

1951 February, Charles E. Gurney, Verner V. Lindgren, “Early Care of Traumatic Wounds of the Face”, in Northwest Medicine, volume 50, number 2, Portland, Ore.: Northwest Medical Publishing Association, page 93:

(UK, Ireland, Commonwealth) A sticking plaster (adhesive bandage) or medical dressing; a band-aid.


opencast

Britain's leading green commentator, George Monbiot, gives the head of the Campaign to Protect Rural England an unforgettable grilling, asking why the countryside watchdog opposes windfarms - but not opencast coal mines

2009 January 7, Ian Traynor, “Europe's plan for alternative pipeline faces big problems”, in The Guardian:

(chiefly British) Of or pertaining to strip mining, in which material is removed from a surface that has been exposed


shallow-fry

en-verb

shallow-fry (third-person singular simple present shallow-fries, present participle shallow-frying, simple past and past participle shallow-fried)

shallow-fries (present singular third-person)
shallow-frying (participle present)
shallow-fried (participle past)
shallow-fried (past)
shallow fry (alternative)

(British) To fry in a frying pan with only a thin layer of oil; to pan-fry.


grasser

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


dischuffed

en-adj

dischuffed (comparative more dischuffed, superlative most dischuffed)

more dischuffed (comparative)
most dischuffed (superlative)

Lafayette was dischuffed but unsurprised, and left the building in what I would describe as a quality huff.

2007, Christopher Brookmyre, Attack of the Unsinkable Rubber Ducks, →ISBN, page 217:

(New Zealand, British, informal) Very displeased or unsatisfied.


sell down

en-verb

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

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

Don't order any potato cakes for 3 days while what we have sells down.

(intransitive, British, business) To become less by being sold.

Don't order any potato cakes for 3 days while we sell down our stocks., or

Don't order any potato cakes for 3 days while we sell our stocks down.

(transitive, British, business) To reduce by selling.


WDC

woman detective constable
woman detective constable#English

(UK, law enforcement, historical) Initialism of woman detective constable, a former police rank.


carrot cruncher

en-noun

carrot cruncher (plural carrot crunchers)

carrot crunchers (plural)
carrot-cruncher (alternative)

[H]e called Bill a turnip-headed old carrot-cruncher, and other insulting names.

1918, Norman Lindsay, The Magic Pudding, page 130:

Symun Devush, the carrot-cruncher, the hick from the sticks, who, when he'd arrived at the gaol, had no more conception of the city he found himself in than a worm does of the apple ...

'Me having an up to date style even though I've turned into a carrot cruncher. A country bumpkin.' Nathan giggled. 'Country bumpkin? I don't think so.'

2008, Sally Worboyes, Handbags And Gladrags:

At least I come from a part of the world that has got a football team; you're a friggn'^([sic]) carrot cruncher and you support the bloody scally's^([sic]).

2010, Cameron Addicott, The Interceptor:

(chiefly UK, slang, derogatory) Someone from a rural background; a bumpkin.


bugger factor

(slang, British) Sod's law or Murphy's law: "Anything that can go wrong will go wrong."


stram

en-verb

stram (third-person singular simple present strams, present participle stramming, simple past and past participle strammed)

strams (present singular third-person)
stramming (participle present)
strammed (participle past)
strammed (past)

(UK, dialect, West Country, obsolete) To dash down; to beat.


Royal

(UK, historical) A member of the first regiment of foot in the British army.


white van man

At the same time, the unregulated 'white van man' with low overheads has found a niche that no large company can possibly compete with.

2024 July 24, “Comment: Can Labour allow rail mail to fail?”, in RAIL, number 1014, page 3:

(British, informal) A stereotypical tradesman or handyman who drives a white van, especially one who drives carelessly.


lauk

Lauk a mercy on me....

1861, H.B. Ashmead, Mother Goose's Chimes, Rhymes & Melodies, Philadelphia, page 77:

(British, dialectal, obsolete) Alternative form of lawks.


I'll be blowed

Probably a hyperbole expressing that the speaker is so surprised it is as if they have been blown over by a gust of wind: compare blow me down and blow me over, and also knock someone over with a feather, which have the same sense. Used as a euphemism for I'll be damned; compare also blasted.

Well, I’ll be blowed if it isn’t my old school friend, John!

‘[…] Luke at that there homnibus; why, darn me—’ and now, in his eloquence at this peculiar point, my friend became more loud and powerful than ever—‘why, darn me, if maister harns enough with that there buss to put hiron on them osses feet, I’ll—be—blowed!’

1858, Anthony Trollope, chapter XV, in Doctor Thorne. […], volume II, London: Chapman & Hall, […], →OCLC, page 5:

The sound of his voice quickened the other’s memory, his face expanded to its fullest capacity, and he also broke into a laugh. “Why, Newman—I’ll be blowed! Where in the world—I declare—who would have thought? You know you have changed.”

1876 June, Henry James, Jr., chapter II, in The American, Boston, Mass.: James R[ipley] Osgood and Company, […], published 5 May 1877, →OCLC, page 20:

“I’ll be blowed if it isn’t the kid,” ejaculated Wheeler.

1893, Horatio Alger Jr., chapter XXX, in Cast Upon the Breakers:

(British, euphemistic, informal, dated) Used to express amazement and surprise.


harbourfront

harbourfronts (plural)
harborfront (alternative)

Jones' Boathouse beside James’ Bay Bridge rented out boats and canoes; many people living along the harbour front had boathouses and boats of their own, for regattas and water sports were one of Victoria's chief attractions.

1942, Emily Carr, “Regatta”, in The Book of Small, Toronto, Ont.: Oxford University Press, →OCLC:

Construction of new wave deck near harbourfront well underway.

2009 February 27, Vanessa Lu, “Chirpy Miller joins Twitter craze”, in Toronto Star:

(British, Canada) The area that fronts on a harbor


binliner

* (train): Blend of bin + Freightliner. The train sense is a pun on the name of the rail freight company Freightliner.
* (rubbish bag): bin + liner

Freightliner class '66' locomotive No. 66562 approaches the site of Launton station with the 10.55 a.m. Calvert to Bristol Avon binliner empties on 15August 2008.

2013, Stanley C. Jenkins, Martin Loader, Oxford, Bletchley & Bedford Line Through Time, Amberley Publishing Limited, →ISBN:

Freightliner Class 66 No. 66514 eases the 6M07 Roxby–Pendleton empty binliner through Agbrigg, Wakefield.

2014, Paul Manley, British Freight Trains, Amberley Publishing Limited, →ISBN:

Freightliner Green Team No. 66565 is seen passing the now electrified Manchester Victoria while working the 6J44 Brindle Heath–Dean Lane binliner refuse train.

2015, Ross Taylor, General Motors Type 5: Class 66 Locomotives, Amberley Publishing Limited, →ISBN:

(UK, rail transport) A freight train carrying household rubbish.


bin liner

bin liners (plural)
binliner (alternative)
bin-liner (alternative)

(British) A disposable plastic bag used inside a permanent container to hold waste/garbage.


fellwalker

James never cared much for the sea-side, but developed a passionate love for the Westmoreland mountains, getting to know most of them as an energetic fell walker, preferring this to rock climbing.

1977, K.M. Elizabeth Murray, Caught in the Web of Words, Oxford: Oxford University Press, page 128:

(British) A person who takes part in fellwalking.


fellwalking

(British) walking in the fells as a pastime or sport


hyperuricaemia

en-noun

hyperuricaemia (usually uncountable, plural hyperuricaemias)

(British) Alternative spelling of hyperuricemia.


hypouricaemia

hypouricaemia (usually uncountable, plural hypouricaemias)

(British) Alternative spelling of hypouricemia.


kitemark

(UK) A certification symbol placed on products by the British Standards Institute, based on the letters B, S, and V.


kitemark

en-verb

kitemark (third-person singular simple present kitemarks, present participle kitemarking, simple past and past participle kitemarked)

kitemarks (present singular third-person)
kitemarking (participle present)
kitemarked (participle past)
kitemarked (past)

(British, transitive) To approve or certify by awarding the kitemark.


grice

grice (third-person singular simple present grices, present participle gricing, simple past and past participle griced)

grices (present singular third-person)
gricing (participle present)
griced (participle past)
griced (past)

Unknown, possibly from Richard Grice, the first champion trainspotterhttp://books.google.co.uk/books?id=rdU1xtIWJz0C&q=grice+trainspotter&dq=grice+trainspotter&hl=en&sa=X&ei=afhsT5ChFe-R0QWF8K3HBg&redir_esc=y, alternatively perhaps a humorous representation of an upper-class pronunciation of grouser (“grouse-shooter”)https://web.archive.org/web/20120313071637/http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/gricer. In either case the derivation could be direct or a back-formation from gricer.

Many people joined the railways because the 'carrot' of a staff pass was a considerable attraction, whether for family travel or to grice at extremely low cost.

1999 March 29, Tony Polson, “Re: Do all UK rail staff get free unlimited Eurostar travel?”, in uk.railway (Usenet):

We can also roganise photo charters, large group footplate courses and gricing holidays [...]

2005 August, The Railway Magazine, volume 151, number 1252, IPC Business Press, page 55:

Trainspotters may be mocked by the outside world, but they don't take criticism lying down: the language of gricing is notable for its acidic descriptions of outsiders.

2010, Adam Jacot de Boinod, “Gricer's Daughter”, in I Never Knew There Was a Word For It, →ISBN:

(UK, rail transport, slang) to act as a trainspotter; to partake in the activity or hobby of trainspotting.


on-slip

This situation is most acute at the eastbound on-slip of Junction 16 (Figure 1).

1974, by National Research Council (U.S.). Transportation Research Board, Transportation Research Record, page 101:

(British) A slip road by which traffic joins a major road such as a motorway.


off-slip

There are five all-purpose road entries in addition to the northbound Motorway off-slip road, which, because of extreme congestion,[…]

1973, Institution of Highway Engineers, The Highway Engineer, page 6:

(British) A slip road by which traffic leaves a major road such as a motorway.


Co-op

(British, informal) Any of very many shops belonging to the Co-operative Group and its predecessors


stocktake

Of all GE's journals, this diary most closely documents her processes of composition, and the list of 'Order of Writings' in the front of the book (evidently written in 1876 or'7) provides a stocktake of her career.

2000, George Eliot, Margaret Harris, Judith Johnston, The Journals of George Eliot, page 91:

Ben closed his eyes tightly for a quick stocktake of the situation as his heart and mind.

2009, Brendon Lancaster, Hoodie, page 32:

Bordering practices that are seemingly at odds with the modern geopolitical imaginary, such as those explored in Chapter 1, demand a stocktake of what critical resources might be available for new ways of thinking about what borders are, where they come from, and what they do in contemporary political life.

2012, Nick Vaughan-Williams, Border Politics, page 38:

She did a quick stocktake of the man who was standing there, half-hidden behind the door, glowering at her.

2014, Victoria Purman, Someone Like You:

(British) The act or process of taking stock of something, or the result of that assessment.


bridewell

From Bridewell (named after a well dedicated to St Bride), an area of London that once had a "house of correction".

Others in the Bridewell heard him screaming. Even prison doctors could see. His injuries were not self-inflicted. Those who tipped the scales did not agree.

1983, “The Wicklow Boy”, in The Time Has Come, performed by Christy Moore, produced by Dónal Lunny:

Two Fermanagh girls who never laughed were certain that he must have served time in a bridewell, so cold was his expression and so calloused his small hands.

2002, Joseph O'Conner, Star of the Sea, Vintage, published 2003, page xix:

(sometimes capitalised, dated in British, Ireland, rare elsewhere) A small prison, or a police station that has cells.


set down

set down (third-person singular simple present sets down, present participle setting down, simple past and past participle set down)

sets down (present singular third-person)
setting down (participle present)
set down (participle past)
set down (past)

They rowed about a League; and then ſet me down on a Strand.

1726 October 28, [Jonathan Swift], “The Author Sets out as Captain of a Ship. […]”, in Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World. […] [Gulliver’s Travels], volume II, London: […] Benj[amin] Motte, […], →OCLC, part IV (A Voyage to the Houyhnhnms), page 159:

(transitive, especially British) To place, especially on the ground or a surface; to cease carrying; to deposit; to allow passengers to alight.


by gum

“You mean all’s lost?” I asked.
“Aye, by gum, I do!” he answered.

1881–1882, Robert Louis Stevenson, Treasure Island, London; Paris: Cassell & Company, published 14 November 1883, →OCLC:

Couldn't hear the brass / Couldn't hear the drum / He was in a class by himself, by gum!

1937, Rodgers and Hart, “Johnny One Note”:


nevah

(African-American Vernacular, Yankee dialect, UK) never

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


scrappage

en-noun

scrappage (usually uncountable, plural scrappages)

Motorists will receive £2,000 if they sell their old car and buy a new model, after the chancellor bowed to pressure from the automotive sector and announced a car scrappage scheme this afternoon.

2009 April 22, Dan Milmo, Tim Webb, “Budget 2009: car industry welcomes scrappage scheme”, in The Guardian:

A London-wide Ultra Low Emissions Zone will be in operation from August 29 2023, supported by new bus services and a £110m car scrappage scheme for Londoners who are disabled and/or on low incomes.

2022 December 14, Paul Stephen, “Network News: New DLR trains part of £8.1bn TfL transport plans”, in RAIL, number 972, page 21:

(UK) An amount of money paid by the government to a person trading in an old car (to be scrapped) for a more environmentally-friendly new one.

Abwrackprämie

amount of money paid to trade in an old car


in a cleft stick

From the metaphor of being caught in a tight position, unable to move.

Ha! I see. You have got me in a cleft stick.

1901–1903, [George] Bernard Shaw, Man and Superman. A Comedy and a Philosophy, Westminster [London]: Archibald Constable & Co., published 1903, →OCLC, Act I, page 11:

Such a solution only puts the humanist in a cleft stick by trading the problem of malnutrition for that of over-population.

1964 September 3, H. Fullerton, Letters: Survival of the wild, New Scientist, Volume 23, No. 407, page 579

But considerations in drafting Sonia Gandhi apart, the Congress leadership is clearly caught in a cleft stick, with or without the services of Rajiv Gandhi′s widow.

1991, Attar Chand, Rajiv Gandhi: His Mind and Ideology, page 214:

damned if one does and damned if one doesn't

(Australia, British, dated) In a difficult situation, unable to choose between unfavourable options; in a dilemma.


taig

From the Irish first name Tadhg, and thus probably cognate to Teagan and Tegan.

(British, especially Scotland and Northern Ireland, derogatory) An Irish Catholic.

Orangey

an Irish Protestant, especially a Unionist


dook

dook (countable and uncountable, plural dooks)

From Dutch doek (“cloth, fabric, canvas”), from Middle Dutch doec, from Old Dutch *dōc, from Proto-West Germanic *dōk, from Proto-Germanic *dōkaz (“cloth”), from Proto-Indo-European *dwōg-, *dwōk- (“cloth”). See also duck (cloth).

(UK dialectal) A strong, untwilled linen or cotton.


subeditor

subeditors (plural)
sub-editor (alternative)

Sub-editors. Bastards. What about all that copy of his they'd cut? Fifteen years of research he'd filed from one planet alone and they'd cut it to two words. ‘Mostly harmless.’

1992, Douglas Adams, Mostly Harmless (The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy), page 96:

(UK) A copy editor at a newspaper or magazine.


village hall

(UK) A public building in a village provided for the benefit of the local community and used for various purposes.

bygdegård

a public building in a village for the benefit of the local community and used for various purposes


thinking man's crumpet

thinking man's crumpet (plural thinking man's crumpets)

Coined 1960s by Frank Muir to describe Joan Bakewell, following the latter’s appearances in high-brow television discussion programmes such as BBC2's Late Night Line-Up.
From crumpet (“sexually desirable woman (UK slang)”).

Joan Bakewell was famously described as "the thinking man's crumpet".

(British, slang) An intelligent and good-looking woman, particularly one who has a high profile in the broadcast media.

Frank Muir
Joan Bakewell
Late Night Line-Up
The Daily Telegraph
thinking man's crumpet


dolly bird

(British) An attractive young woman, especially one whose intellect is rather less in evidence than her good looks.


bovvered

en-adj

bovvered (comparative more bovvered, superlative most bovvered)

more bovvered (comparative)
most bovvered (superlative)

Imitating a working-class or uneducated pronunciation with th-fronting. Popularised as the catchphrase of the fictional Lauren Cooper in The Catherine Tate Show in the mid-2000s.

(informal, British) bothered; caring about something


cabbing

(British) The profession of a cabbie, especially one who drives a black cab.


charidee

From the Mid-Atlantic English pronunciation of charity. First popularized by Harry Enfield and Paul Whitehouse in their "Smashie and Nicey" sketches from the BBC sketch show Harry Enfield's Television Programme.

(informal, humorous, UK) Conspicuous charity, seen as being driven by a non-altruistic (especially self-promotional) motive.


NCA

The NCA is worth listening to. It has chalked up some eye-catching successes in the battle against cyber crime.

2025 June 7, Misha Glenny, “Code Red”, in FT Weekend, Life & Arts, page 1:

National Crime Agency
w:National Crime Agency

(UK) Initialism of National Crime Agency.


roop

en-verb

roop (third-person singular simple present roops, present participle rooping, simple past and past participle rooped)

roops (present singular third-person)
rooping (participle present)
rooped (participle past)
rooped (past)
roup (alternative Scotland)

From Middle English ropen (“to cry out”), from Old English hrōpan (“to shout, proclaim; cry out, scream, howl”), from Proto-Germanic *hrōpaną (“to call, shout, cry”), from Proto-Indo-European *ker-, *kor- (“to caw, crow”). Cognate with Scots roup (“to shout, roar, cry out loudly”), Saterland Frisian roupe (“to call, shout”), Dutch roepen (“to shout, cry out”), German rufen (“to call, cry, shout”), Swedish ropa (“to call, cry out, shout”), Icelandic hrópa (“to cry out”).

cog

(intransitive, UK dialectal, Northern England, Scotland) To roar; make a great noise.