mog

en-verb

mog (third-person singular simple present mogs, present participle mogging, simple past and past participle mogged)

mogs (present singular third-person)
mogging (participle present)
mogged (participle past)
mogged (past)

Unknown; the Oxford English Dictionary tentatively suggests a connection to the Scottish dialect terms mudge (“to move oneself; to stir”) and muggins.

to mog about

to mog off

They marched, grumbling and threatening, but Sile never paid a bit of attention. He just mogged on behind, and every time one of them turned, he wiggled his gun, and that was enough.

1923, Clarence Budington Kelland, Catty Atkins, Financier, New York, N.Y., London: Harper & Brothers Publishers, page 128:

He was mogging around on the Muskrat Creek near Indian Lake when he shot and wounded a big buck with the finest head that he had ever seen, a set of horns that he would never forget.

1978, Harvey L. Dunham, Adirondack French Louie: Early Life in the North Woods, Sylvan Beach, N.Y.: North Country Books, page 102:

But mostly, that dark and rainy afternoon — as I mogged back and forth between boat and office, and then, all books and papers and twenty-seven boxes of Nick the Nose safely aboard, distributed the cargo here and there from stem to stanchion— I thought about Gaybee, her place in the ground, and how sorrowfully soon she had come to it.

1979, William Kelley, The Tyree Legend, New York: Simon and Schuster, →ISBN, page 350:

"Thirty pounds a day," Alex said. "Mogging about in the jungle is unhealthy—fever, tigers, and all that."

1986, Alvin S. Fick, “A Grave on the Indragiri”, in Cathleen Jordan, editor, Alfred Hitchcock's A Mystery by the Tale, London: Severn House, published 1990, →ISBN, page 191:

Two girls hugged her and they all put on boots and shoes and mogged away to the wagons.

1988, Glendon Swarthout, The Homesman, London, […]: Simon & Schuster, →ISBN, page 187:

I had to do everything on my own. But I made the best of it and mogged on.

2013, Kathryn R. Biel, Good Intentions, page 246:

We know that economist and ex-con Vicky Pryce went properly nuclear when her husband Chris Huhne mogged off with his aide, resulting in wrecked political careers, a family torn asunder and custodial sentences.

2013 October 10, Rebecca Armstrong, “Revenge is a dish best served... by a woman”, in The Independent, London: Independent News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2022-07-06:

They're loyal. And you're not one of us, so we want you out. We're taking over this business. And tha can mog off right now.

2016, Margaret Dickinson, The Buffer Girls, London: Pan Books, →ISBN, page 306:

(intransitive, US, UK, dialectal) To move or walk slowly; to trudge, amble; (more broadly) to go.

'Tell John to mog the cows i' in the mornin'—it's time as they wenten i' the Cote Leasnow.'

1879, Georgina F[rederica] Jackson, “MOG”, in Shropshire Word-Book, a Glossary of Archaic and Provincial Words, etc. Used in the County, London: Trübner & Co, page 285:

"I've been directed here to find Miss Susan Pike," the man outside explained, between fresh coughings. ¶ "Well, then, mog your boots out of this as quick as ever you can!" my Aunt replied, with great promptitude. "You won't find her here!"

1894, Harold Frederic, “My Aunt Susan”, in Marsena and Other Stories of the Wartime, New York, N.Y.: Charles Scribner's Sons, page 200:

(transitive, US, UK, dialectal, rare) To cause to move; to drive.


mog

Get that mog out of here!

The more I hear about Larry the Downing Street cat, the more his story becomes an allegory for our time. As previously reported, the reputation of this mog was trashed by Downing Street spin doctors after he was brought in to clear the Prime Minister’s workplace of mice in 2011.

2013 October 18, Andy McSmith, “Andy McSmith's Diary: Even Larry the cat is not safe from factions in Downing Street”, in The Independent, London: Independent Digital News & Media Ltd, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2022-10-15:

Ulysses the cat is the real breakout star of the Coen brothers' Inside Llewyn Davis. He's not the first feline scene-stealer, though - here are ten other great cats in film (animated mogs excluded)

2014 January 24, Fiona Wilson, The Times, London: News UK, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2021-07-09:

A few months before she died, Winefride had started setting food out for a brindled mog named Sally who lived in their neighborhood. She was always feeding local cats, but she especially loved this mog, and eventually, Sally grew enormous.

2016, Bill Broun, Night of the Animals, New York, N.Y.: Ecco, →ISBN, page 172:

They two gorgeous mogs even have their own teddy bear and blanket to make their snuggling.

2017 June 6, Luke Barnes, “Sleeping cuties! Adorable brother and sister kittens can't sleep unless they cosy up together in bed”, in The Daily Mail, London: DMG Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2017-12-21:

Many pet owners have taken up cat-walking in recent years, encouraged by others on social media and by the growing range of outdoorsy cat kit on offer. But for most mogs, the RSPCA suggests, "an indoor environment with plenty of opportunities to be active and mentally stimulated is likely to be more beneficial for the cat's welfare than walking them on a lead."

2017 August 14, Tim Walker, “Should you take your cat out on a lead?”, in The Guardian, London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2022-10-05:


frigging

friggings (plural)
friggin (alternative)


mell

mell (third-person singular simple present mells, present participle melling, simple past and past participle melled)

mells (present singular third-person)
melling (participle present)
melled (participle past)
melled (past)
mele (alternative)

From Middle English melen, mælen, from Old English mǣlan (“to speak, talk”), from mǣl (“speech, talk, conversation; dispute, contest, battle”) and māl (“suit, case, action, terms, agreement, covenanted pay”), both from Proto-Germanic *mahlą (“meeting, congress, speech”), alteration of *maþlą (“meeting, congress, speech”), perhaps from Proto-Indo-European *meh₂d- (“to meet, encounter”). Cognate with Scots mele (“to speak, converse, tell”), Danish mæle (“to speak, utter”), Icelandic mæla (“to speak, say”), Old High German mahalōn (“to charge, accuse, proscecute”), German vermählen (“to wed, marry”). More at blackmail.

cog

(British, dialectal, transitive) To say (something); to speak, to tell.


secondary school

en-noun

secondary school (countable and uncountable, plural secondary schools)

One of the key roles played by the Whitby line is the transport of children from rural spots along the branch to secondary school in the coastal town.

2019 October, James Abbott, “Esk Valley revival”, in Modern Railways, page 77:

(education, UK, Ireland, Hong Kong) A state school attended between the ages of 11 and 16 or 18 between primary school and university.


go the whole hog

en-verb

go the whole hog (third-person singular simple present goes the whole hog, present participle going the whole hog, simple past went the whole hog, past participle gone the whole hog)

goes the whole hog (present singular third-person)
going the whole hog (participle present)
went the whole hog (past)
gone the whole hog (participle past)
go whole hog (alternative US)

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Naomi Persephone Amethyst (NaomiAmethyst)-go the whole hog.wav

Likely a folk term from the practice of livestock and butchery; “whole hog” or (“snout to tail”) refers to letting no portion of the animal carcass go to waste. For example, skin is tanned for leather, sweetbreads are harvested, and commonly cast off pieces such as hooves are pickled. The phrase the whole hog appears in Cowper’s poem “The Love of the World Reproved” (1779), a poem teasing Muslims about suggested ambiguity over their religious prohibition on eating pork. By 1830 the phrase had become popular across America, being used in newspapers and political campaigns. At this time it migrated across to Britain, where the phrase was adopted.

If you can afford a new computer, you might as well go the whole hog and get it custom built.

"Just for a moment. We had a glimpse of a Swann tremendously agitated. In a state of nerves. You see, Odette had left." "You mean to say that she has gone the 'whole hog' with him; that she has 'burned her boats'?" inquired the Doctor cautiously, testing the meaning of his phrases.

1922, C. K. Scott Moncrieff, transl., Swann's Way (In Search of Lost Time), translation of Du Côté de Chez Swann by Marcel Proust:

And then, today, she went the whole hog, sacking her chancellor and abandoning even more of her plan.

2022 October 14, Tom McTague, “The Liz Truss Travesty Becomes Britain’s Humiliation”, in The Atlantic:

(chiefly UK) To do something as entirely or completely as possible; to reserve or hold back nothing.


IVA

en-noun

IVA (countable and uncountable, plural IVAs)

(British, countable) Initialism of individual voluntary arrangement.

(UK, countable) Initialism of individual vehicle approval.


gorget

/ˈɡoɹ.d͡ʒɪt/

/ˈɡoɹ.d͡ʒɛt/

/ˈɡoɹ.d͡ʒət/

From Middle English gorget, from Old French gorgete, from gorge (“throat”).

(UK, dialect, Cornwall) A hake caught in a net set for other fish.


AOC

'I stopped for one night to see Ur and the Chaldees and for three days in Baghdad with the A.O.C., who happens to be an old friend of mine.'.

1934, Agatha Christie, chapter 8, in Murder on the Orient Express, London: HarperCollins, published 2017, page 128:

Air Officer Commanding
Air Officer Commanding#English

(military, UK) Initialism of Air Officer Commanding, a title used to refer to RAF officers holding certain command appointments.


take the biscuit

en-verb

take the biscuit (third-person singular simple present takes the biscuit, present participle taking the biscuit, simple past took the biscuit, past participle taken the biscuit)

takes the biscuit (present singular third-person)
taking the biscuit (participle present)
took the biscuit (past)
taken the biscuit (participle past)

I've seen bad grammar, but this takes the biscuit.

(idiomatic, British) To be particularly bad, objectionable, or egregious.


coupé

en-noun

coupé (countable and uncountable, plural coupés)

Unadapted borrowing from French coupé (an elliptical form of carosse coupé (“cut carriage”)), the past participle of couper (“to cut”).

(British) A car with a fixed-roof body style that is shorter than a sedan or saloon of the same model.


quits

Here's the last of the money you lent me. We're quits now, right?

(colloquial, British) On equal monetary terms; neither owing or being owed.


trews

From Scottish Gaelic triubhas, from Middle Irish triubus.

(British) Trousers, especially if close-fitting and tartan.


wanhope

wanhope (usually uncountable, plural wanhopes)

From Middle English wanhope, equivalent to wan- + hope. Cognate with Scots wanhop, wanhope (“wanhope, despair”), West Frisian wanhope (“wanhope, despair”), Dutch wanhoop (“despair”).

cog

Wanhope: a fine English word, suggesting unhope of Langland's story of the cats and the mice, and described in Ipotis,[…]

1898, Georgiana Lea Morril, editor, Speculum Gy de Warewyke: An English Poem, page 57:

If[…]such good old English words as inwit and wanhope should be rehabilitated (and they have been pushing up their heads for thirty years), we should gain a great deal. (Collected essays, 1928, III.68)

1991, Vladimir Ivir, Damir Kalogjera, editors, Languages in Contact and Contrast, →ISBN, page 411:

Both despair and wanhope are generally defined as a complete loss or lack of hope and being overcome by sense of futility or defeat.

2007, Michael D. C. Drout, J.R.R. Tolkien encyclopedia: scholarship and critical assessment:

(UK dialectal or archaic) Lack of hope; hopelessness; despair.


sparrow-fart

en-noun

sparrow-fart (countable and uncountable, plural sparrow-farts)

sparrow-farts (plural)
sparrowfart (alternative)
sparrow fart (alternative)
sparrow's fart (alternative)

From sparrow + fart. In the dawn sense, apparently UK dialect (Yorkshire) from ante 1828.

“I was sick of working from sparrow fart as station cook and general dogs-body.”

1993, Patti Walkuski, No Bed of Roses: Memoirs of a Madam, page 111:

‘Took a girl to the flicks, had to get her back to Birkenhead, some goon in a tin hat and armband ordered us to take shelter in the Underground. No bloody option. So I didn′t get her home until sparrow-fart and her father didn′t believe us, turned quite nasty.’

2005, Alexander Fullerton, Non-Combatants, Hachette UK, unnumbered page:

2005, Edward Canfor-Dumas, The Buddha, Geoff and Me: A Modern Story, page 110:

It felt unnaturally early, sparrowfart time of day by the feel and sound of it.

2008, Kate Atkinson, When Will There Be Good News?, page 324:

‘Tomorrow. Sleep over, then off at sparrow-fart. And the car will have plates.’

2012, Gerald Seymour, The Outsiders, Hachette UK, unnumbered page:

(uncountable, UK, Australia, New Zealand, slang) A time very early in the day; dawn.


patent medicine

patent medicine (plural patent medicines)

(British) A medicine that is protected by a patent.


cushty

en-adj

cushty (comparative more cushty, superlative most cushty)

more cushty (comparative)
most cushty (superlative)
cushdy (alternative)
cushdie (alternative)
cushti (alternative)
kushti (alternative)

From Romani kushto, kushti (“good”). Perhaps influenced by cushy.

"That's right," said Tom. "You'll be all right, though. The old dame says as how she'll be able to do it cushty. She wouldn't be doing it otherwise. You see, if anything was to happen she'd get done fer murder."

1937, James Curtis, There Ain't No Justice, page 239:

I hadn't felt that cushty since the time I went down Our Lady of the Divine Rosary for confession. As I told Father O'Keith, I'd bought some gear off Sunglasses Ron and Paddy the Greek that wasn't entirely kosher.

1990, John Haselden, The Trotter Way to Millions, BBC Books, page 81:

A blackmailer who bragged on Facebook of his “cushty” life in prison has had time added to his sentence.

2015 December 9, Gareth Lightfoot, “Prisoner who boasted of 'cushty' life in jail on Facebook has sentence increased”, in The Daily Mirror:

Looking back at the season, it’s been a hell of a year for us. I’ve learned a hell of a lot, the team’s learned a hell of a lot and it’s only going to help us moving forwards into next season with a stronger car and a stronger driver. It’s going to be cushty!

2016 October 5, Ian Gallagher, quoting Tom Ingram, “Tom Ingram to stay with Speedworks Motorsport in 2017”, in Touring Car Times:

The Roodee feature has been a happy hunting ground for jump trainers in recent seasons and Alan King looks to have found a cushty opportunity for his five-year-old who was last seen running a blinder in the Coral Cup at the Cheltenham festival.

2017 May 9, Sam Turner, “Robin Goodfellow's racing tips: Best bets for Wednesday, May 10”, in The Daily Mail:

(British, Ireland, slang) Excellent, very good.


Rolls-Royce

Rolls-Royces (plural)
Rolls Royce (alternative)

The original company was established in 1904 by the partnership of Charles Rolls and Henry Royce.

the Rolls-Royce of chocolate

But for an aspiring animation cartoonist, getting a job at Walt Disney was like hitting the major leagues—the Rolls Royce of animation. Now here we were walking down Dopey Drive and making a right at Mickey Avenue.

(chiefly British, informal) Anything that is the best of its type; the best quality product possible.


snook

From the 19th century. Unknown origin, possibly related to snoot or snout.

(UK, derogatory, as a gesture) A disrespectful gesture, performed by placing the tip of a thumb on one's nose with the fingers spread, and typically while wiggling the fingers back and forth.


couper

From coup (“to exchange, barter”) + -er.

suffix

coup<id:to exchange, barter><t:to exchange, barter>

I think the Yorkshire story of the farmer who sold his old horse to a couper at a fair, then got very drunk on his good bargain, and bought him back at the end of the day with painted legs and filed teeth as a young horse, might have a kindred story among Daffodil-bulb buyers.

1893, Journal of the Royal Horticultural Society of London, page 95:

John Henderson, a cow couper in Swinton, Berwickshire, towards the close of the last century, was very fond of a dram.

1896, Proverbs, Proverbial Expressions, and Popular Rhymes of Scotland, page 421:

(UK, obsolete) A dealer in horses or other livestock.


tippler

From tipple + -er (“agent”). “Seller” sense from 1396; “drinker” sense from 1580.

Ackers was working as a tippler operator. His mate, L. Beveridge, saw that Ackers had tipped a full skip and Beveridge allowed another full skip to gravitate to Acker's tippler.

1955, New South Wales. Department of Mines, Report of the Department of Mines, New South Wales, page 44:

A shaft runround was made to conduct the empties from the tippler to the empty side of the shaft where they would rejoin the old circuit.

1960, The Iron and Coal Trades' Review - Volume 180, page 1411:

(UK, railroad) An open wagon with a tipping trough, unloaded by being inverted (used for bulk cargo, especially minerals). A minecart, a lorry.


cruet

cruets (plural)
crewet (alternative obsolete)

From Middle English, from Anglo-Norman cruet, diminutive of Old French crue (“an earthen pot”), from Old Saxon krūka.

He[…]even had a second slice of lamb, for he was hungry. During the meal, as was his custom, he read from a book propped up against the cruet.

1931, Francis Beeding, “1/1”, in Death Walks in Eastrepps:


lats

At Salisbury Plain and Camberley in 1909/10 I learnt a number of camping expressions like... lats (latrines).

1927, William Edward Collinson, Contemporary English, page 92:

Other synonyms [sc. for lavatories] are rears, lats... and dubs.

1940, M. Marples, Public School Slang, page 112:

(UK slang) Latrines: rudimentary or military facilities for urination and defecation.


give a sneck posset

en-verb

give a sneck posset (third-person singular simple present gives a sneck posset, present participle giving a sneck posset, simple past gave a sneck posset, past participle given a sneck posset)

gives a sneck posset (present singular third-person)
giving a sneck posset (participle present)
gave a sneck posset (past)
given a sneck posset (participle past)

From sneck (“latch”) + posset (“curdle, turn”).

She gave him a sneck posset.

(idiomatic, British) To give someone a cold reception; to close the door on someone; to reject them.


div

(UK, Eton College, school slang) A division; a lesson.

Eton College; school slang; Eton College; school slang

(UK, Winchester College) division; a subject with multidisciplinary scope.


div

(UK, Ireland, uncountable, slang) Divinity, as a school subject.


div

UK, 1980s. Clipping of divvy (“a foolish person”).

Too many commentators are quick to accuse their enemies of being evil. It's far, far more effective to point out that they're acting like divs instead.

2012, Caitlin Moran, Moranthology, Ebury Press, published 2012, page 13:

To put it bluntly – without wanting to attract the ire of mental-health charities – he was a div who went schizo.

2016, Steve Coogan, Neil Gibbons & Rob Gibbons, Alan Partridge: Nomad, page 145:

Zoe reads a lot and isn't a div like girls as pretty as her can be.

2017, Shappi Khorsandi, Nina Is Not OK, page 2:

(UK, Ireland, slang) A foolish person; an idiot.


sare

en-adj

sare (comparative sarer, superlative sarest)

sarer (comparative)
sarest (superlative)
sear (alternative)

Burn ash-wood green, 'tis a fire for a queen;

Burn ash-wood sare, 'twool make a man sware.


sare

From Middle English sare, northern variant of sore, from Old English sāre (“sorely”). Cognate with German sehr (“very”).

(UK, dialectal, Northern England, archaic) much, very much, greatly.


pyrosulphuric

(British) Alternative spelling of pyrosulfuric.


pyrosulphate

(inorganic chemistry, British) Alternative spelling of pyrosulfate.


pyrosulphuric acid

pyrosulfuric acid
pyrosulfuric acid#English

(inorganic chemistry, British) Alternative spelling of pyrosulfuric acid.


sulphur trioxide

(inorganic chemistry, British) Alternative spelling of sulfur trioxide.


stickle

stickle (comparative more stickle, superlative most stickle)

more stickle (comparative)
most stickle (superlative)

From Middle English stikel, from Old English sticel, sticol (“high, lofty, steep, reaching great heights, inaccessible”), from Proto-Germanic *stikulaz, *stikkulaz (“high, steep”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)teyg- (“to stick; peak”).

der

(UK, dialect) High, as the water of a river; swollen; sweeping; rapid.


health warning

The law requires a health warning on packets of cigarettes.

(UK) An official edict that a particular substance or activity is dangerous, or an expression of such an edict.

As I am a member of that political party, my views must come with a health warning.

(UK, colloquial) An indication or admission that an opinion, statistic, etc. is to be treated with doubt or scepticism.


oh my gosh

oh my gosh ! (canonical)
oh, my gosh (alternative)
ohmygosh (alternative)
omigosh (alternative)

(idiomatic, US, UK, euphemistic) oh my God!


bulldoze

en-verb

bulldoze (third-person singular simple present bulldozes, present participle bulldozing, simple past and past participle bulldozed)

bulldozes (present singular third-person)
bulldozing (participle present)
bulldozed (participle past)
bulldozed (past)

From earlier bulldose (noun, literally “bull-dose, a dose fit for a bull”), equivalent to bull + dose.

He just ran across the field bulldozing everyone over.

(UK) To push someone over by heading straight over them. Often used in conjunction with "over".

jyrätä

to push someone over by heading straight over them

That was a good suggestion, but you just bulldozed it.

(UK) To shoot down an idea immediately and forcefully.


stopcock

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

If you have a burst pipe, turn the water off at the stopcock.

(British) A main shutoff for water to a home from a municipal supply. Usually these valves exist in pairs, one outside the property boundary and one inside the property boundary.


cherries

(rail transport, British) A rail-gap indicator.


muller

muller (third-person singular simple present mullers, present participle mullering, simple past and past participle mullered)

mullers (present singular third-person)
mullering (participle present)
mullered (participle past)
mullered (past)

Probably from Angloromani mul-, the preterite stem of mer- (“to die”) (compare mullered, mullo (“dead”, adjective); ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *mer- (“to die; to disappear”)) + English -er (suffix forming frequentative verbs).

der

(often sports) To utterly defeat or outplay (a sportsperson, a team, etc.); to destroy, to thrash, to trounce.


clangour

en-noun

clangour (countable and uncountable, plural clangours)

clangours (plural)
clangor (alternative)

When every least commander’s will, best soldiers had obey’d, / And both the hosts were rang’d for fight, the Trojans would have fray’d / The Greeks with noises; crying out, in coming rudely on / At all parts, like the cranes that fill with harsh confusion / Of brutish clangour all the air; […]

[1611?], Homer, “Book III”, in Geo[rge] Chapman, transl., The Iliads of Homer Prince of Poets. […], London: […] Nathaniell Butter, →OCLC; republished as The Iliads of Homer, Prince of Poets, […], new edition, volume I, London: Charles Knight and Co., […], 1843, →OCLC, page 80:

1920, D. H. Lawrence, Women in Love, Chapter XXIV: Death and Love,
And always, as the dark, inchoate eyes turned to him, there passed through Gerald's bowels a burning stroke of revolt, that seemed to resound through his whole being, threatening to break his mind with its clangour, and making him mad.

(British, Canada) A loud, repeating clanging sound; a loud racket; a din.

geschal

a loud, repeating clanging sound; a loud racket; a din


clangour

en-verb

clangour (third-person singular simple present clangours, present participle clangouring, simple past and past participle clangoured)

clangours (present singular third-person)
clangouring (participle present)
clangoured (participle past)
clangoured (past)
clangor (alternative)

It clangoured through the house like a bell in a tomb.

1924, Jim Tully, Beggars of Life: A Hobo Autobiography, page 67:

(British, Canada) To make a clanging sound.


sticky-backed plastic

British television show Blue Peter invented the term due to its policy against using commercial terms on-air. The commercial term for the product was Fablon.

For today's make, you'll need a good sheet of blue sticky-backed plastic, a pen and a washing-up bottle.

(UK, Ireland, Commonwealth) large sheet of thin, soft, coloured plastic that is sticky on one side


loo roll

en-noun

loo roll (countable and uncountable, plural loo rolls)

We need to buy some more loo rolls; we've run out.

(British, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, informal) toilet roll


commoner

From Middle English comoner, comyner, cumuner, equivalent to common + -er.

All below them [the peers], even their children, were commoners, and in the eye of the law equal to each other.

1827, Henry Hallam, The Constitutional History of England from the Accession of Henry VII. to the Death of George II. […], volume (please specify |volume=I or II), London: John Murray, […], →OCLC:

(British) Someone who is not of noble rank.

There are to this day fellow-commoners at Queens, and surely such a distinguished commoner as Fuller would have been allowed to remain on that foundation, in which he had spent seven years, in this new capacity. The expense would have been about the same, and the only way in which I can account for his migration is either pique at being passed over, or the friendship of so famed a theologian as Dr. Ward.

1886, Rev. Morris Joseph Fuller, “College Days (Sydney-Sussex). 1629-1631”, in The Life, Times and Writings of Thomas Fuller, D.D., 2nd edition, volume 1, London: S. Sonnenschein, Le Bas & Lowrey, pages 68–69:

(obsolete, UK, Oxford University) A student who is not dependent on any foundation for support, but pays all university charges.


bog roll

bog roll (countable and uncountable, plural bog rolls)

tlb

(Australia, British, Ireland, New Zealand, informal)

This week on The Amazing Prize Giveaway Show, the grand prize is 10,000 bog rolls!


tallat

tallats (plural)
tallet (alternative)
tallot (alternative)

Borrowed from Welsh taflod, from Middle Welsh taflawd, ultimately from Latin tabulātum; compare Old Irish taibled.

(UK, West Country) An attic or loft, notably over a shippen.


blake

en-adj

blake (comparative blaker or more blake, superlative blakest or most blake)

tlb

(UK dialectal, Northern England, poetic, uncommon)

blaker (comparative)
more blake (comparative)
blakest (superlative)
most blake (superlative)

From Middle English blak, blac (“pale”), from Old English blāc (“pale, pallid, wan, livid; bright, shining, glittering, flashing”) and Old Norse bleikr (“pale; yellow, pink; any non-red warm color”); both from Proto-Germanic *blaikaz (“pale; shining”). Compare Scots bleg (“light, drab”). More at bleak.

inh

White shows the rye, the big of big of blaker hue,[…]

1747, Josiah Relph, A Miscellany of Poems,: Consisting of Original Poems, Translations, Pastorals in the Cumberland Dialect, Familiar Epistles, Fables, Songs, and Epigrams, page 13:

[…] the E. blake (identical with AS. blac, G. bleich, pale) is provincially used in the sense of yellow. As blake as a paigle, as yellow as a cowslip.

1859, Hensleigh Wedgwood, A Dictionary of English Etymology: A - D, page 184:

Miss Lizzie's ower dark for my fancy. I mind nowt aboot your dark lasses - as blake as marygowds an' as black as corbies.

1876, Elizabeth Lynn Linton, Lizzie Lorton of Greyrigg: A Novel ..., page 271:

Noo, that's a bit o' neyce blake butter. Thoo nobbut leeaks blakeish.

1911, Richard Blakeborough, Wit, Character, Folklore & Customs of the North Riding of Yorkshire, page 340:


enforcer

(UK) A battering ram used by the emergency services for gaining access to locked premises.


sere

en-adj

sere (comparative more sere, superlative most sere)

more sere (comparative)
most sere (superlative)
seer (alternative)

From Middle English ser, sere, schere, seer, seere, seir, seyr, seyre (“different; diverse, various; distinct, individual; parted, separated; many, several”), from Old Norse sér (“for oneself; separately”, dative reflexive pronoun, literally “to oneself”), from sik (“oneself, myself, yourself, herself, himself; ourselves, yourselves, themselves”), from Proto-Germanic *sek (“oneself”), from Proto-Indo-European *swé (“self”). The English word is cognate with Danish sær (“singular”), især (“especially, particularly”), German sich (“oneself; herself, himself, itself; themselves”), Icelandic sig (“oneself; herself, himself, itself; themselves”), Latin sē (“herself, himself, itself; themselves”), Scots seir, Swedish sär (“particularly”).

cog

Therefore I have ſeene good ſhooters [archers] which would have for everye bowe a ſere caſe, made of wullen clothe, and then you maye putte three or four of them ſo caſed, into a lether caſe if you will.

1544 (date written; published 1571), Roger Ascham, Toxophilus, the Schole, or Partitions, of Shooting. […], London: […] Thomas Marshe, →OCLC; republished in The English Works of Roger Ascham, […], London: […] R[obert] and J[ames] Dodsley, […], and J[ohn] Newbery, […], 1761, →OCLC, book 2, page 137:

(obsolete or British, dialectal) Individual, separate, set apart.

Thou wert well-nee moidered [footnote: Distracted.] wi' me, I know, but it thou'd telled me, Mary, I mun do better or else we mun goo our sere-ways [footnote: Different ways.], belike I should a done better. I'm nobbut a mon, Mary, a lundy day-tale mon [footnote: Clumsy day-labourer.].

1910, James Prior, “Bishoped Porridge”, in Fortuna Chance, London: Constable & Co. Ltd., →OCLC, page 316:

(obsolete or British, dialectal) Different; diverse.


piss-take

tlb

(slang, vulgar, UK, Ireland, Commonwealth)

piss-takes (plural)
piss take (alternative)
pisstake (alternative)

You don't mind me saying this, but this is not a piss-take, is it? Because I know a few impressionists and you could be one of them.

2012, Roy Chubby Brown, Common As Muck!: The Autobiography of Roy 'Chubby' Brown, →ISBN:

this job is a piss take.

An unpleasant situation that is comparable to a parody.


piss-take

en-verb

piss-take (third-person singular simple present piss-takes, present participle piss-taking, simple past took the piss, past participle taken the piss)

piss-takes (present singular third-person)
piss-taking (participle present)
took the piss (past)
taken the piss (participle past)
piss take (alternative)
pisstake (alternative)

When someone tells a joke, the object or butt may not be present, or even a real person. Piss-taking is like the stand-up comic joke, in that both have a butt and an audience, in some cases these being one and the same.

2013, David Bennett, Firefighters of Cambridge, →ISBN:

Some of the piss-taking was more serious and bordered on bullying.

2015, Stan Osborne, Making The Grade, →ISBN:

The fact that I'm Jewish was used as an excuse to piss-take, but I am pretty certain that this was not in any way conscious anti-Semitism.

2015, Sam A Saxon, Flying Bras and…, →ISBN:


dog's

This room is the dog's.

(UK, mildly vulgar) shortened form of dog's bollocks.


Baltic

en-adj

Baltic (comparative more Baltic, superlative most Baltic)

more Baltic (comparative)
most Baltic (superlative)
baltic (alternative)

From Latin Balticus, from Latin Balthae (“dwellers near the Baltic sea”), equivalent to Balt + -ic. The ultimate origin is uncertain, but possibilities include:
* From North Germanic *baltaz (“strait”), in reference to the narrow entranceway of the sea. This word itself could be borrowed from Lithuanian baltas (“white”) or related to Proto-Germanic *baltijaz (“belt”) (see below).
* Related to Lithuanian baltas (“white”) and Proto-Slavic *bolto (“swamp, bog, mud”), which are from Proto-Indo-European *bʰel- (“white”).
* Related to Latin balteus (“belt”) (compare Proto-Germanic *baltijaz), referring to the Danish straits, "the Belts". This is suggested by Adam of Bremen, who in the 11th century first recorded the name (Balticus, eo quod in modum baltei longo tractu per Scithicas regiones tendatur usque in Greciam).
More at Baltic.

der

It's twenty-three degrees outside, freezing is thirty two and with the wind chill factor it's Baltic out there.

2010, Craig Moffat, Standing in the Dark, →ISBN, page 134:

Apart from anything else, it's absolutely Baltic outside. In the past 24 hours, a freeze has abruptly descended on the whole of Europe, and here in the northwest corner of France, the cold claws of the Atlantic are particularly sharp.

2012, Richard Moore, Slaying the Badger, →ISBN:


vag

Localities where vags were cut are sometimes so named: e.g. Vag(s) Hill (Row Brook, Double Dart); Vag Hill (Glaze Brook, Avon).

1983, Eric Hemery, High Dartmoor, Land and People, →ISBN, page 91:

They had not driven their ponies over the Unit Land; she had probably cut a vag from the Unit Land but this was done only in the presence of witnesses to determine whether those objecting were vigilant to stop any exercise of this right, and only on one occasion.

1984 October 5, A. A. (Commons Commissioner) Baden Fuller, “Course of proceedings”, in In the Matter of Gidleigh Common, Gidleigh, West Devon District, Devon, page 5:

I first grazed ponies on Padley in 1932 and my ponies are grazing there still. I take bracken for the garden, rushes to cover my potato clam, bean sticks for the garden and I expect I am one of the few who still cut vags (peat) on common land for fuel.

1985 January 21, A. A. (Commons Commissioner) Baden Fuller, quoting Thomas Hutchings, “4 Nattadon Road/28 Meldon Road”, in In the Matter of Chagford Common, Meldon Common, Nattadon Common, Padley Common, Weekbrook Down, Week Down, Steniel Down, and Jurston Green all in Chagford, West Devon District, Devon^(http://www.acraew.org.uk/sites/default/files/uploads/Devon/CHAGFORD%20COMMON%20MELDON%20COMMON%20NATTADON%20COMMON%20PADLEY%20COMMON%20WEEKBROOK%20DOWN%20WEEK%20DOWN%20STENIEL%20DOWN%20AND%20JURSTON%20GREEN%20-%20CHAGFORD%20-%20WEST%20DEVON%20DISTRICT%20NO.CL.173(2).pdf), page 14:

(UK, dated, dialect, Devon) Turf used as fuel.


vag

en-verb

vag (third-person singular simple present vags, present participle vagging, simple past and past participle vagged)

vags (present singular third-person)
vagging (participle present)
vagged (participle past)
vagged (past)

Düee 'old up yer frock, an' not let 'n vag along like that; tha bottom aw'n 'll be tiffled out, and covered wi' mucks.

1892, Sarah Hewett, The Peasant Speech of Devon, page 140:

(UK, archaic, dialect, Devon) To drag; to trail on the ground.

(UK, archaic, dialect, Devon) To bend; to give; to yield.

Smoke immediately vagged about in the parlour chimney.

(UK, dated, dialect, Devon) To flap; to blow in the wind.


hydrogen disulphide

hydrogen disulfide
hydrogen disulfide#English

(British) Alternative spelling of hydrogen disulfide.


searcher

/ˈsɜː(ɹ)t͡ʃə(ɹ)/

-ɜː(ɹ)tʃə(ɹ)

From Middle English serchour, sercher, from Old French cercheor; equivalent to search + -er.

The Searchers hereupon (who are ancient Matrons, sworn to their Office) repair to the place where the dead Corps lies

1662-1663, John Graunt, Natural and Political Observations Made Upon the Bills of Mortality:

(UK, historical) An officer in London appointed to examine the bodies of the dead, and report the cause of death.

(UK, historical) An officer who apprehended idlers on the street during church hours in Scotland.

62. Leather Searcher and Sealer, functions of. The offices of Leather Searcher and Sealer are united in one person. He examines and seals all hides and leather, receiving some small fees of the parties for so doing, but has no salary or perquisites from the corporation.

1835 March 30, Commissioners on Municipal Corporations in England and Wales, “Report on the Borough of Scarborough, (Yorkshire.)”, in Municipal Corporations, (England and Wales.): Appendix to the First Report of the Commissioners., Part III. Northern and North-Midland Circuits., London: House of Commons, page 1719:

Means adopted by tanners to evade the searcher's and sealer's inspection

1837, Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons, Parliamentary Papers: 1780-1849 (volume 52, part 2, page 136)

THE OATH OF SEARCHERS AND SEALERS OF LETHER ^([sic]). You & eu'y of you shall well & truly view & search all & eu'y tanned hide skinne or Leather which shall be brought to any faire or m'kett within the p'cincts of the towne of Louth […]

1891, Louth: Old Corporation Records, page 52:

In 1362 William Drydale was the elected ale-taster, a manorial office like that of the leather searcher or pinder.

2011, George Redmonds, Turi King, David Hey, Surnames, DNA, and Family History, page 31:


hydrogen sulphide

hydrogen sulfide
hydrogen sulfide#English

(inorganic chemistry, chiefly British) Alternative spelling of hydrogen sulfide.


wobbler

(slang, UK, Ireland, Commonwealth) A sudden unexpected outburst of anger or rage; a tantrum.

(slang, British, Ireland, Islam, derogatory) a Salafi.


Jack the lad

Named after English thief, shoplifter, burglar, highwayman and gaol-breaker Jack Sheppard (1702–1724).

named-after

You seem to think you’re a bit of a Jack the lad, don’t you?

(British, slang) An irresponsible young man, seeking personal pleasure and gratification without any regard to responsibilities. A rogue.

Jani

irresponsible young man, seeking personal pleasure and gratification without any regard to responsibilities; a rogue


brusk

en-adj

brusk (comparative brusker or more brusk, superlative bruskest or most brusk)

brusker (comparative)
more brusk (comparative)
bruskest (superlative)
most brusk (superlative)

Whether it were the absence of Theodora or some other cause, he was brusk, ungracious, scowling, and silent, only nodding to the Bishop who benignly saluted him, […]

1870, B[enjamin] Disraeli, chapter XV, in Lothair. […], volume II, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., →OCLC, pages 161–162:

(British, obsolete or US) Alternative spelling of brusque.


quarter-day

quarter-days (plural)
quarter day (alternative)

1908, It is late in March, so quarter-day is at hand. — Arthur Conan Doyle, ‘The Adventure of Wisteria Lodge’ (Norton 2005, p. 1239)

(British) Each of the four days customarily regarded as starting a new quarter year, on which rents etc are often due.

사시가절

each of the four days starting a new quarter year


hydrosulphide

(British) Alternative spelling of hydrosulfide.


lockup

Joe keeps his other car in a lockup downtown.

(UK, chiefly) A storage unit with a door secured by a padlock or deadbolt; a garage.


postcode lottery

en-noun

postcode lottery (plural postcode lotteries)

From postcode (“sequence of letters and numbers added to a postal address to aid the sorting and delivery of post or mail; region denoted by a postcode”) + lottery (“something decided by chance”), referring to the fact that whether one is in a locality which receives adequate services is a matter of chance.

compound

There is a National Institute for Clinical Excellence which is working its way through examining drugs and treatments and dictating what treatment and drugs should be used across the country to prevent the postcode lottery of previous years.

1998, Talking Politics, London: The Politics Association, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 138, column 3:

The Audit Commission has described the situation facing householders as a ‘postcode lottery’ but there is a discernible trend. You are more likely to receive poorer environmental services living in an urban authority than you are living in a shire district.

1999, “Managing the Urban Environment”, in Towards an Urban Renaissance: Final Report of the Urban Task Force Chaired by Lord Rogers of Riverside (Taylor & Francis e-Library), London: Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, published 2005, →ISBN, part 2 (Making Towns and Cities Work), page 75:

People were angry about the postcode lottery in the NHS [National Health Service], or that this school is better than that school and I can't get into the good school. Of all inequalities, these things make people far angrier than anything else, even angrier than financial inequalities.

2001, Polly Toynbee (discussant), “A Roundtable Discussion on the Prospects for a Progressive Century”, in Neal Lawson, Neil Sherlock, editors, The Progressive Century: The Future of the Centre-Left in Britain, Basingstoke, Hampshire: Palgrave, →DOI, →ISBN, part 4 (Discussion and Endpiece), page 216:

Yet, at the start of the twenty-first century, access to health care is not equitable; ‘postcode’ lotteries exist; and certain groups are favoured over others, who are equally deserving but who live in an inner-city area, are unemployed or do not have English as a first language, with the result that they cannot claim the services that were intended precisely for them.

2002, Peter Nolan, Frances Badger, “Preface”, in Peter Nolan, Frances Badger, editors, Promoting Collaboration in Primary Mental Health Care, Cheltenham, Gloucestershire: Nelson Thornes, →ISBN, page xi:

A Briton's chance of finding a good school, or effective treatment for a medical condition, or any kind of NHS dentist, may depend on the ‘postcode lottery’. Thus not just the management of the economy but specific policies on public services create winners and losers[…].

2003, Bill Coxall, Lynton Robins, Robert Leach, “Politics, Democracy and Power”, in Contemporary British Politics, 4th edition, Basingstoke, Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan, →DOI, →ISBN, part I (The Context of British Politics), page 13, column 2:

[T]he developing argument is that localism requires postcode lotteries; this is something that politicians need to become accustomed to if the local variations result from decisions at the local level by empowered citizens. However, there is some evidence which suggests that the public remain in favour of the equity argument over postcode lotteries.

2015, Lee Gregory, “Repositioning Time Bank Theory”, in Trading Time: Can Exchange Lead to Social Change?, Bristol: Policy Press, →ISBN, page 109:

What has mainly concerned patients has been the regional variations in treatments available (the postcode lottery), the pressure on A & E [accident and emergency] departments, the lack of resources for post-hospital care and the provision of a seven-day hospital service (which has involved a bitter contractual dispute with junior doctors).

2017, Derek Fraser, “The Welfare State in Modern Britain”, in The Evolution of the British Welfare State, 5th edition, London: Palgrave, →DOI, →ISBN, page 308:

The discussion of 'street-level bureaucrats' in Chapter 2 set out a strong theoretical basis for scepticism about whether it is possible to avoid a postcode lottery, even in situations where services are controlled centrally. The potential points of variation and the ways in which culture in different front-line delivery institutions can affect results persist despite control mechanisms being imposed. So there is good reason to believe that the postcode lottery will continue even in situations of ostensible central control.

2020, Stephen Muers, “Doing More Locally”, in Culture and Values at the Heart of Policy Making: An Insider’s Guide, Bristol: Policy Press, →ISBN, part 3 (How Policy Makers Can Take Culture Seriously), page 120:

A postcode lottery in cancer care means more than one-fifth of patients with cancerous tumours wait longer than two months to have them removed in some parts of England, Labour has claimed.

2023 August 27, Caroline Davies, “Labour blames postcode lottery in cancer care in England for delays”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:

A list of the 20 costliest climate disasters of 2023 has revealed a “global postcode lottery stacked against the poor”, according to an analysis.

2023 December 27, Helena Horton, “2023’s costliest climate disasters show poor lose out in ‘global postcode lottery’”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:

(British) The unequal availability or quality of services, especially public services such as healthcare or education, in different parts of the country.

лотере́я за поштовим індексом

unequal availability of services in different parts of the country


postcode

poskode

The Environment Agency says it is mainly the most deprived postcodes that are the most flood-prone.

2007 July 3, Polly Toynbee, “If Chelsea were under water, it would be taken seriously”, in The Guardian:

(UK, Ireland) A sequence of letters and numbers added to a postal address to aid the sorting and delivery of post or mail.

(by extension) The region denoted by such a sequence.


postcode

en-verb

postcode (third-person singular simple present postcodes, present participle postcoding, simple past and past participle postcoded)

postcodes (present singular third-person)
postcoding (participle present)
postcoded (participle past)
postcoded (past)

(UK) To give a postcode to; to mark with a postcode.


Queen Anne's Bounty

(British, historical) A fund, set up in the early 18th century, to financially assist the poor members of the clergy.


PPP

en-noun

PPP (countable and uncountable, plural PPPs)

personal pension scheme
w:personal pension scheme

(UK, pensions) Initialism of personal pension scheme.


RAP

retirement annuity plan
retirement annuity plan#English

(UK, pensions) Initialism of retirement annuity plan.


chaperone

/ˈʃæ.pəˌɹoʊn/

/ˈʃæ.pəˌɹəʊn/

(UK, business) An employee sent by a British company to the European Union to work with a client there, to circumvent restrictions imposed after Brexit.


chaperone

en-verb

chaperone (third-person singular simple present chaperones, present participle chaperoning, simple past and past participle chaperoned)

chaperones (present singular third-person)
chaperoning (participle present)
chaperoned (participle past)
chaperoned (past)

/ˈʃæ.pəˌɹoʊn/

/ˈʃæ.pəˌɹəʊn/


cheesed off

en-adj

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

more cheesed off (comparative)
most cheesed off (superlative)

I'm really cheesed off about the lack of hand dryers in this washroom!

You have no reason to be mad at me. I mean, you know, you broke my heart. I should be royally ticked off at you, you know. I should be really cheesed off. I shouldn’t wanna talk to you anymore.

2007, Diablo Cody, Juno, spoken by Paulie Bleeker (Michael Cera):

(idiomatic, British, slang) Annoyed, upset, angry.


slunk

Compare slank (“low place, especially one which fills with water”), dialectal slonk (“depression, hollow, slough”).

Amang the harbour's sludge and mud; They row'd thegither in the slunk; Their heads were up, their bodies sunk; What wi' the slusch they ate and drunk, […]

1827, William Tennant, Papistry Storm'd: Or, The Dingin' Down O' the Cathedral : Ane Poem, in Sax Sangs, page 88:

He made the road, and since it was made there was never anything done to it except when men were carting turf and then they would fill in a "slunk." You might say now it is no road.

1907, Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons, Sessional Papers, page 202:

[…] a 'slunk' is a 'slonk' (depression) with mud; […]

, Gordon Kendal, Gavin Douglas's Translation of 'The Aeneid' (1513), page 580

(UK, dialectal) A slough, a low, wet, miry place. (Compare slank.)


jel

jel (comparative more jel, superlative most jel)

more jel (comparative)
most jel (superlative)
jeal (alternative)

2012 May 12, Kate Middleton looked amaze at London Olympic Gala concert, totally jel of the dress!, OK! Magazine

What more could a girl want? Everyone that I knew was either so happy for me, or completely well jel of me.

2015, Dani K., Footballers and Louboutins, Sly Fox / Ravenswood Publishing, →ISBN:

We can't figure out if we're more jel of her insane bod or luxurious lifestyle.

2016 January 6, “Check out the bod that launched a bikini empire”, in Daily Star:


scratching

en-noun

scratching (countable and uncountable, plural scratchings)

/ˈskɹæt͡ʃɪŋ/

We all had a portion of chips and one fish was shared between all of us. Sometimes the lady serving would give us a free bag of scratchings (the bits of batter).

2002, Kathleen Hann, Tell It As It Was, →ISBN, page 48:

The crispy bits of batter and small crispy chips that were left at the end of the night were given away to whoever needed them. If he could, Cesidio would throw in a free 'haddie' or a haggis with the scratchings, offering a helping hand discreetly, with no thanks asked for.

2006, Mary Contini, Dear Olivia: An Italian Journey of Love and Courage, →ISBN, page 185:

The best thing is, you pay for the chips and you get the pea wet and scratchings for free. It's lovely. You should try it.

2017, David M. Barnett, Calling Major Tom, →ISBN:

(UK, in the plural) A piece of deep-fried batter left over from frying fish, sometimes sold with chips.


hank

en-verb

hank (third-person singular simple present hanks, present participle hanking, simple past and past participle hanked)

hanks (present singular third-person)
hanking (participle present)
hanked (participle past)
hanked (past)

From Middle English hank, of Scandinavian/North Germanic origin; akin to Old Norse hǫnk (compare haki (“something bent”)), related to Proto-Germanic *hakô (“hook”). Akin to Old English hangian (“to hang”). First known use: 14th century.

where stood a fyne howse newly built and vaulted, over wheron her armes was sett and hanked with tapestrye

1573, Richard Dering, “Accounts Book”, in The Progresses and Public Processions of Queen Elizabeth, John Nichols, published 1823:

(transitive, UK, dialect) To fasten with a rope, as a gate.


great northern diver

en-noun

great northern diver (plural great northern divers)

From the fact that the species is a diver, the largest or greatest of those regularly found off the British Isles, which has a very northerly range (no further south than the British Isles).

(UK, Ireland) A large member of the diver family, Gavia immer, commonly breeding in North America, where it is known as the as common loon.


shonky

en-adj

shonky (comparative shonkier, superlative shonkiest)

shonkier (comparative)
shonkiest (superlative)

From 1970s; possibly from dialectal English shonk (“smart”).

1986, Sociological Association of Australia and New Zealand, ANZJS: The Australian & New Zealand Journal of Sociology, Volume 22, page 475,
The argument gets even shonkier when they claim that the boundary between clerical and administrative work is difficult to define anyway, and that routinisation and fragmentation have affected lower and middle management too (pp. 95–6).

The committee heard much evidence that this is a farce, yet this government have continued to try to pretend that their forecast, based on the shonkiest of assumptions—their model, with the shonkiest of assumptions—is really what is going to happen.

2000, Australian Senate, Parliamentary Debates (Hansard), page 13548:

He might be a dole-bludger, a gambler and have the shonkiest tattoo in the world on his arm, but he'll agree to almost anything.

2002, Markus Zusak, The Messenger, page 158:

From no-brow beginnings, when BSG [Battlestar Galactica] still had to prove it had outwitted the shonky source material, the show gained cult respect and a few more viewers by the second year.

2008 April 15, Daniel Martin, “How will Battlestar Galactica end?”, in The Guardian:

That′s why it is infuriating that there are still so many sharks out there who are determined to rip men off with shonky treatments that simply don′t work.

2009, Bettina Arndt, The Sex Diaries, page 242:

Marred by shonky direction and factual errors, the film did nothing to enhance Kathner′s already poor reputation.

2010, Stephen Gaunson, “The Glenrowan Affair”, in Ben Goldsmith, Geoff Lealand, editors, Directory of World Cinema: Australia and New Zealand, page 98:

(Australia, New Zealand, UK, informal) Of poor or dubious quality, shoddy, unreliable; deviously dishonest, fraudulent.


munter

Late 1990s, presumably from munt (“to vomit”) and munted (“inebriated; disgusting”) + -er, perhaps with influence from Turkish mantar (“mushroom”).

I'm never going to date her; she's a right munter.

(UK, Ireland, slang, derogatory) An ugly person.


tind

From Middle English tind, tynd, from Old English tind (“tine, prong, tooth”), from Proto-West Germanic *tind, from Proto-Germanic *tindaz (“prong, pinnacle”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₃dénts (“tooth, projection”). Cognate with Dutch tinne (“battlement”), German Zinne (“pinnacle, battlement”), Danish tinde (“pinnacle, battlement”), Dutch tinne (“tooth of a rake”), Icelandic tindur (“spike, tooth of a rake or harrow, pinnacle, peak, battlement”). Cf. the related tine. Also more distantly related to Dutch tand (“tooth, tine”), English tooth.

cog

(UK dialectal, Scotland) A branch of a deer's antler; the horn of a unicorn; a tooth of a harrow; a spike.


lud

(UK, pronunciation spelling) lord (used in addressing a judge)


dree one's weird

en-verb

dree one's weird (third-person singular simple present drees one's weird, present participle dreeing one's weird, simple past and past participle dreed one's weird)

drees one's weird (present singular third-person)
dreeing one's weird (participle present)
dreed one's weird (participle past)
dreed one's weird (past)

he must dree his weird;
Renounce all blessings for that imprecation,
Steal forth and haunt that builded desolation,

1874, James Thomson, The City of Dreadful Night, section V:

Where she waits, there must I go, surrendering all else, forgetting all else, to dree my weird and hers.

1898, G Firth Scott, The Last Lemurian, Ayer, published 1978, page 81:

Her eyes were dry and bright as she replied: ‘I must dree my weird, as we say in the north.’

1925, L. Adams Beck, Glorious Apollo, Dodd, Mead & Co, page 299:

(UK dialectal, Scotland, Northern England) To submit to one's fate.


the Rock

* (Gibraltar): From the Rock of Gibraltar

(UK) Nickname of Gibraltar: A dependent territory of the United Kingdom, at the southern tip of the Iberian Peninsula.


trev

New Zealand slang sense: from characters named Trev in a television comedy of the 1970s. See Fred Dagg.

(British, slang) An urban lower-class youth.


liquidizer

liquidizers (plural)
liquidiser (alternative)

[…] tissue was disrupted using a Moulinex liquidizer and 0-5% bovine serum albumin was added to the isolating and resuspending media.

1976, Australian Journal of Plant Physiology, volume 3, issues 1-3, page 154

She bought herself a second-hand Mini and in no time at all was busy as a bee, driving herself around London with pots and pans, cooking knives and liquidizers all piled up on the back seat.

2013, Rosamunde Pilcher, Flowers In the Rain & Other Stories, →ISBN:

Place a cupful of the soaked beans in a liquidizer, add a cupful of cold water and blend.

2013, Leah Leneman, The Tofu Cookbook: Over 150 quick and easy recipes, →ISBN:

(Australia, India, UK) A machine to chop or puree food; a blender.


rural sanitary district

en-noun

rural sanitary district (plural rural sanitary districts)

(British, historical) A sanitary district established in an area not having a town government.


urban sanitary district

urban sanitary district (plural urban sanitary districts)

(British, historical) A sanitary district that was established in a municipal borough.


municipal borough

municipal borough (plural municipal boroughs)

The increase in the number may perhaps in a great degree be attributed to the increased proportion of apprehensions consequent upon the extensive establishment of an efficient Police in the municipal boroughs, and to the greater facilities in criminal proceedings afforded by the extended grants of local sessions.

1838, Journal of the Royal Statistical Society, volume 1, London: Charles Knight, page 231:

(British) A city or town in England and Wales with an elected town council consisting of a mayor, aldermen and councillors.


instalment

(Australia, British, Canada) Alternative spelling of installment.


four by two

four by twos (plural)
four-by-two (alternative)

She would sit here sometimes, perched on a bag of concrete looking at the big lumps of four by two and imagining what she might do with them if she had a chance.

1994, Peter Carey, Collected Stories, page 206:

He eyed Norman, who was lifting one end of a four-by-two and sighting down it, as his Bendigo uncle had taught him to sight new beams, seeking out the bow.

2009, Joy Dettman, Pearl in a Cage, page 110:

I found myself in overalls, work boots, gloves and protective glasses splitting planks of four-by-two and stacking them on pallets.[…]From rock star to Rajah of the Radio (Paul Keating′s line) to the ARIA Hall of Fame to being John Farnham′s manager for twenty-five years to a convicted criminal splitting four-by-twos.

2010, Glenn Wheatley, Glenn Wheatley: Facing the Music, page 109:

(Australia, UK, New Zealand) A length of sawn wood of cross section 4 inches by 2 inches, most often employed as structural framing lumber / timber.

(UK, Australia, military) A cotton cloth 4 inches wide with lines two inches apart, conveniently torn into two inch lengths for cleaning a rifle barrel using a pull through.


caravan

→ Dutch: caravan

→ Turkish: karavan

→ Japanese: キャラバン

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

From Middle French caravane, from Old French carvane, from Persian کاروان (kârvân), from Middle Persian kʾlwʾn' (kārawān), from Old Persian 𐎣𐎠𐎼 (k-a-r), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *ker- (“army”) (whence Old English here).
The word was used to designate a group of people who were travelling by camel or horse on the Silk Road. Doublet of Kairouan.

An Italian woman, twenty years of age, […] was travelling in a caravan with the baggage of the Duke of Wellington's army, in the middle of the night, in a violent storm, while she was fast asleep, a small monkey with a long chain upon the roof of the caravan took refuge in it […]

1825, Royal Society, Philosophical transactions of the Royal society of London : giving some accompt of the present undertakings, studies, and labours of the ingenious in many considerable parts of the world., volume 115, page 76:

The caravans were the demarcation between the non-radioactive areas and the radioactive areas. There were two main caravans, one for people going into the forward area, and the other caravan was for people returning.

2006, Roger Cross, Avon Hudson, Beyond Belief: The British Bomb Tests: Australia's Veterans Speak Out, page 92:

The best thing about caravans is that they're always exactly the same, said Terence Butcher. You can tow your caravan to Brighton or Bournemouth or Bognor. Doesn′t make the blindest bit of difference. When you close the door behind you at the end of the day you′re home.

2009, Chris Cleave, Incendiary, unnumbered page:

(Australia, British, New Zealand, South Africa) A furnished vehicle towed behind a car, etc., and used as a dwelling when stationary.


caravan

en-verb

caravan (third-person singular simple present caravans, present participle caravaning or caravanning, simple past and past participle caravaned or caravanned)

caravans (present singular third-person)
caravaning (participle present)
caravanning (participle present)
caravaned (participle past)
caravaned (past)
caravanned (participle past)
caravanned (past)

When my parents retired they really got back into caravanning.

1932, Walter Meade, Caravanning, Cecil Charles Windsor Aldin, The Cecil Aldin Book, page 55,
It has to be remembered that, however enchanting the idea of caravanning may be, it is unlikely that it will consist entirely of watching sunsets and other people working — two of the most fascinating sights I know — but there are, regrettably enough, other and less romantic elements.

British interest in camping and caravaning has recently increased considerably — so much so that today, camp parks are available in all parts of the country.

1986, James Wilson Brown, Shirley N. Brown, Before You Go To Great Britain: A Resource Directory and Planning Guide, page 94:

Norm writes, ‘My wife and I did a lot of caravaning and it certainly didn′t pull the car out of shape, although lots of people thought it would!’

2002, Don Loffler, The FJ Holden: A Favourite Australian Car, page 181:

The world, in turn, watched, clicked, cried, danced, sang along, swooned, caravanned to stadiums and movie theaters, let her work soundtrack their lives.

2023 December 6, Sam Lansky, “Person of Year 2023 : Taylor Swift”, in Time:

(UK, Australia) To travel and/or live in a caravan (vehicle).


end of

End of, stop sulking / Get out, you're walkin' / Too bad, I've spoken / But when I look at you you're forgiven

1997, “Drop Dead Gorgeous”, performed by Republica:

‘I came round here to try and help you.’
‘But no one in here is looking for your help, Keisha! This is it! I ain't looking for you, end of.’

2012, Zadie Smith, NW, London: Penguin Books, published 2013, →ISBN, page 261:

Boris Johnson, never one to fuss about detail, does not realise that without a deal there will be no implementation period. No withdrawal agreement means just that—no agreement. Just out. End of. But as both contenders now consider no deal a serious option, we need to be 100% honest about the implications[.]

2019 July 3, Baroness Smith of Basildon,, “Brexit: Appointment of Joint Committee”, in parliamentary debates (House of Lords), volume 798, column 1445:

But if you search up a list of news stories on the subject over the years you find, as with the climate crisis, an overwhelming consensus: alcohol is really quite bad for you, end of.

2023 June 14, Adrian Chiles, “Drinking alcohol is bad for you – end of. Ignore the headlines that claim otherwise”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:

(UK, colloquial, idiomatic) Ellipsis of end of story.


Althing

Borrowed from Icelandic Alþingi, from Old Norse alþingi, from allr (“all”) + þing (“Thing”). Compare Thing, thing.

(British, dialect) An autonomous assembly, for example, as advocated in the Shetland Movement.


Scotland Yard

From the address, originally at Great Scotland Yard off Whitehall, then at New Scotland Yard on the Embankment, and (currently) at New Scotland Yard in Westminster.

I, for my part, drew up as full a précis of the case as I deemed advisable, and as time permitted, which I despatched by one of the company’s police to Scotland Yard.

(UK) The headquarters of the Criminal Investigation Department of the London Metropolitan Police Force.


blackbirding

From blackbird + -ing, perhaps from the putative slang blackbird (“indigenous Pacific islander”).

Burns Philp was to incur public odium in the most notorious case in Queensland concerning blackbirding.

1995, John Gunn, Taking Risks, QBE 1886-1994: A History of the QBE Insurance Group, page 9:

Douglas Oliver, in Black Islanders, tells the story of a blackbirding party which, in 1871, captured a group of eighty-five unsuspecting Bougainvilleans who had taken their twenty-man canoes to the blackbirding ship out of curiosity or a desire to trade.

2004, Lawrence McCane, Marist Brothers, Melanesian stories: Marist Brothers in Solomon Islands and Papua New Guinea 1845–2003, page 120:

Blackbirding was the euphemism given to the slave-trading that occurred in the Pacific from the mid-1800s through to the early-1900s. According to one study, blackbirding, [as] “the practice of luring Melanesians and Polynesians to toil for next to nothing was called”, involved upwards of 60,000 people between 1863 and 1904 (Horne, 2007, p. 2).

2008, Andrew David Grainger, The Browning of the All Blacks: Pacific Peoples, Rugby, and the Cultural Politics of Identity in New Zealand, page 326:

(UK, Australia) The practice of kidnapping Pacific Islanders, or kanakas, for sale as cheap labour.


how do you do

how do you dos (plural)
how-do-you-do (alternative)
how-d'ye-do (alternative)
how-de-do (alternative)

Well, this is a fine how do you do isn't it, Gromit?

1993, Nick Park, Wallace and Gromit: The Wrong Trousers:

On the winding road to Petropolis, they did not speak, not about modernism or the construction of houses or antique bird jails or fine how-do-you-dos.

2010, Michael Sledge, The More I Owe You: A Novel, Counterpoint Press, →ISBN, page 78:

"Vienna!" Mr. B. went on. "This is a bit of a how-do-you-do, is it not?"

2013, Chris Raschka, Seriously, Norman!, Scholastic Inc., →ISBN, page 115:


stog

stog (third-person singular simple present stog, present participle stogging, simple past and past participle stogged)

stog (present singular third-person)
stogging (participle present)
stogged (participle past)
stogged (past)

Early 19th century, perhaps of expressive origin and influenced by stick and bog. Compare stodge.

sound-symbolic

expressive

(UK, dialect) To probe a pool with a pole.


level crossing

The aim is to secure up to £140 million for the combined road and rail improvements, including a new road bridge to replace a level crossing at Totton.

2020 December 16, “Network News: "Robust case" for Fawley branch reopening”, in Rail, page 14:

(chiefly British) An at-grade crossing between a railway line and an ordinary road, with rails and road at the same level.


carrier bag

carrier bags (plural)
carrierbag (alternative)

“Something for everybody!” Gerald Fedden said, striding into the kitchen with a rattling brown-paper carrier bag.

2004, Alan Hollinghurst, chapter 2, in The Line of Beauty […], London: Picador, →ISBN:

(UK) A bag made of thin polythene or paper, generally used for carrying groceries or other purchased items.


ta ta

→ Burmese: တာ့တာ (ta.ta), တာတား (tata:)

desc

→ Malayalam: റ്റാറ്റാ (ṟṟāṟṟā)

→ Malayalam: റ്റാറ്റാ (ṟṟāṟṟā)

ta-ta (alternative)
tata (alternative)
ta tah (alternative)
ta-tah (alternative)
tah tah (alternative)
tah-tah (alternative)

“[…]Well, ta-ta, sweetheart! Don′t expect me back to lunch.”

1917, Henry Handel Richardson, Australia Felix, The Echo Library, published 2007, page 229:

1923 (recorded 1900), Ed Smith (Cranbrook Courier), Reminiscences of Kootenay Pioneers, recalling an event claimed to be the origin of the place name Ta Ta Creek; viewed in British Columbia archives),
Red put the spurs to his horse and galloped away: “Ta ta, friends, I′ve business up the trail.”

‘No more questions? Then I′ll be off. Ta-ta.’

1967, Joan Lindsay, Picnic at Hanging Rock, page 55:

(chiefly Commonwealth, UK, Ireland, informal, colloquial) Goodbye.


streaming

en-noun

streaming (usually uncountable, plural streamings)

→ French: streaming

→ German: Streaming

→ Japanese: ストリーミング (sutorīmingu)

→ Korean: 스트리밍 (seuteuriming)

→ Portuguese: streaming

→ Spanish: streaming

From Middle English stremynge, equivalent to stream + -ing.

Imagine a country where children do nothing but play until they start compulsory schooling at age seven. Then, without exception, they attend comprehensives until the age of 16. Charging school fees is illegal, and so is sorting pupils into ability groups by streaming or setting.

2013 July 19, Peter Wilby, “Finland spreads word on schools”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 6, page 30:

(UK, education) Division of classes into academic streams.


jemmy

(archaic, UK, Ireland, slang) A sheep's head used as food.


sav

1982, Ronald Hugh Morrieson, NZ, Predicament, The Dunmore Press, page 68,
“Well, I don′t know what you′ll think. I′m only saying this to show what you′ve all done for me, but last Christmas dinner I had cold savs.”
There was silence and then Mervyn added with a break in his voice, “Saveloys. […] ”

‘Your turn today, Lil,’ he said. ‘Fish and chips for me. No, wait, I′ll have savs, faggots and pease pudding.’

2007, Gilda O'Neill, Rough Justice, UK: William Heinemann, page 397:

The menu of the average fish and chip shop will also offer[…]battered savs/Pluto pups (these are basically saveloy sausages with a fried batter on a stick, dipped in tomato ketchup) as well as a choice of homemade marinated pickles.

2008, Deborah Penrith, Live & Work in Australia, UK: Crimson Publishing, page 176:

(UK, Australia, New Zealand, informal) A saveloy.


sav

en-adj

sav (comparative more sav, superlative most sav)

more sav (comparative)
most sav (superlative)

(UK, slang) Clipping of savage (“unpleasant or unfair”).


hot pot

en-noun

hot pot (usually uncountable, plural hot pots)

hot pots (plural)
hotpot (alternative)
hot-pot (alternative)

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

Surface analysis hot + pot. For sense of stewed meat and potatoes, compare French pot-au-feu. For the sense of a communal meal cooked at the table, Calque of Chinese 火鍋 /火锅.

(chiefly UK) A stew of beef or lamb and potatoes.


throw a sickie

en-verb

throw a sickie (third-person singular simple present throws a sickie, present participle throwing a sickie, simple past threw a sickie, past participle thrown a sickie)

throws a sickie (present singular third-person)
throwing a sickie (participle present)
threw a sickie (past)
thrown a sickie (participle past)
chuck a sickie (alternative)

Hogie said, “Listen, I′m throwing a sickie. I don′t need to be there until opening day tomorrow. The staff don′t arrive till then anyway so as long as I'm in early I can′t see a problem.”

1997, Nicholas Blincoe, Jello Salad, page 49:

2005, Callum G. Brown, The Unconverted and the Conversion, Jan N. Bremmer, Wout J. van Bekkum, Arie L. Molendijk (editors), Paradigms, Poetics, and Politics of Conversion: Gender Relations in the Salvation Narrative in Britain: 1800-1960, page 190,
It is like throwing a ‘sickie’ in Britain today — you can sign-off work on your own say-so for sick benefit for up to five days.

Do not ‘throw a sickie’ just because things get tough. Experience shows that running away from your problems will not solve anything.

2011, Gererd Dixie, The Ultimate Teaching Manual: A Route to Success for Beginning Teachers, page 187:

(slang, UK, Australia, New Zealand) To take a day off from work for ill health (either real or feigned).

whakangehengehe

to feign illness so to take time off work


jiggered

en-adj

jiggered (comparative more jiggered, superlative most jiggered)

more jiggered (comparative)
most jiggered (superlative)

"Well then," said he, "I'm jiggered if I don't see you home!"

1860 December – 1861 August, Charles Dickens, Great Expectations […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), London: Chapman and Hall, […], published October 1861, →OCLC:

"Well, I'm—I'm jiggered," said Peter, and his voice also sounded queer.

1951, C. S. Lewis, Prince Caspian: The Return to Narnia:


no worries

From no + plural of worry (“concern, cause for anxiety”), but used flexibly.

Sorry if my music's bothering you. — No worries. I really like classical.

(especially UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Malaysia, colloquial) A general injunction not to be concerned further with a subject.

It does not bother me; I am not concerned.

Thanks for the lovely bowl of fruit. — No worries, my sister runs a stall at the market.

It was no problem; not at all; you're welcome.

I need this done by closing time. — No worries, I'll have it sorted.


big picture

From a figurative sense of picture meaning "situation." First attested in 1904.

(British, Ireland, dated) The main film in a double feature.


ta everso

c. 2003: "Alan Ontario" (poster on BBC: Devon: Have your say messageboard, read at https://web.archive.org/web/20041214193412/http://www.bbc.co.uk/devon/have_your_say/devon_expats2.shtml on 13 May 2006), Devon expats: news from abroad - Now that the links have been fixed I am able to bring up all the previous messages ... ta everso.


ta muchly

(colloquial, British) thank you very much


halls

He was chatting to a couple of girls so I went over and introduced myself, said, "Hello, I er... I’m in the same halls as you." He just looked at me and said, "And?"

2004, K. Woodley, quoting an anonymous student, “Let the data sing: representing discourse in poetic form”, in Oral History, volumes 31-32, page 49:

'I had a massive argument with my parents about moving into halls and they even tried to bribe me a bit and said, "You know, if you don't go into halls we'll give you the money that you would have paid in halls as a gift."

2008, Anshuman Ahmed Mondal, Young British Muslim Voices, page 15:

Once B started University he did really well; the structured environment provided by his university suited him well and he loved it so much that by the end of the first term he decided he did want to live in halls after all.

2009, an anonymous Disability Advisor, quotee, Supporting people with autism through adulthood, National Audit Office, page 30:

'Yes. The first year he was in halls but was glad to leave for digs after that.'

2010, Julius Falconer, Tempt Not the Stars, page 127:


envigorate

en-verb

envigorate (third-person singular simple present envigorates, present participle envigorating, simple past and past participle envigorated)

envigorates (present singular third-person)
envigorating (participle present)
envigorated (participle past)
envigorated (past)


backing band

(British) A group of musicians who accompany an artist at a live performance or on a recording. This can either be an established group, or else an ad hoc group assembled for the purpose.


shut up shop

shut up shop (third-person singular simple present shuts up shop, present participle shutting up shop, simple past and past participle shut up shop)

shuts up shop (present singular third-person)
shutting up shop (participle present)
shut up shop (participle past)
shut up shop (past)

The company decided to shut up shop in this country and move to America, where corporate taxes are lower.

Well, he then decided to manufacture everything as in the human body. I'll show you in the museum the bungling attempt it took him ten years to produce. It was to have been a man, but it lived for three days only. Then up came young Rossum, an engineer. He was a wonderful fellow, Miss Glory. When he saw what a mess of it the old man was making, he said: "It's absurd to spend ten years making a man. If you can't make him quicker than nature, you might as well shut up shop."

c. 1921 (date written), Karel Čapek, translated by Paul Selver, R.U.R. (Rossum’s Universal Robots): A Fantastic Melodrama […], Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, Page & Company, published 1923, →OCLC, Act 1:

Instead of shutting up shop, Ghouneim relocated to humdrum Wittenau, a suburb of Berlin, and got some tape artists to decorate the facade of the new building.

2019 April 29, Philip Oltermann, “Are the hyper-specialist shops of Berlin the future of retail?”, in The Guardian, retrieved 2021-07-26:

But like almost every other business sector, the Coronavirus outbreak in March has forced every single heritage railway to shut up shop for several months... at a time when they would normally be at their busiest.

2020 July 1, Daniel Puddicombe, “How can heritage lines recover from enforced closures?”, in Rail, page 30:

After months of bitter disagreements and legal back-and-forth, he had finally given up and struck out on his own, but he'd met with a string of bad luck—a client who refused to pay, a flood, a false insurance claim—and he'd had to shut up shop; now he was working for a big construction firm as a gun for hire and telling anybody who would listen what a rotten hand he had been dealt.

2023, Eleanor Catton, Birnam Wood, page 128:

(intransitive, British, colloquial) To close up shop; to end a business activity.


costermonger

costermongers (plural)
costardmonger (alternative)
coster-monger (alternative)

From costard (“cooking apple”) + monger.

I cannot tell, vertue is of ſo little regard in theſe coſtar-mongers times, that true valour is turnd berod […]

c. 1596–1599 (date written), William Shakespeare, The Second Part of Henrie the Fourth, […], quarto edition, London: […] V[alentine] S[immes] for Andrew Wise, and William Aspley, published 1600, →OCLC, [Act I, scene ii]:

The Saint Monday Gemmen held their diversions on the 18th, near Clay-hill, which consisted of a pugilistic exhibition between G. Wilkie, a coster-monger, and Jeffery Smith, a professor, but little calculated to astonish the spectators at his professional skill. The battle was for ten guineas; and, after a contest of about forty minutes, in which the combatants were decently feaked, and the head of Jeffery was a good deal disfigured, he resigned the contest, and the coster-monger was carried to Westminster in triumph, [...]

1808 January 18, “Sporting Intelligence”, in The Sporting Magazine, or Monthly Calendar, of the Transactions of the Turf, the Chase, and Every Other Diversion Interesting to the Man of Pleasure, Enterprize, & Spirit, volume XXXI, number 184, London: Printed for J. Wheble, 18, Warwick Square, →OCLC, page 208:

We arrived at Lincoln’s Inn Fields without any new adventures, except encountering an unlucky donkey in a costermonger’s cart, who suggested painful associations to my aunt.

1849 May – 1850 November, Charles Dickens, chapter 23, in The Personal History of David Copperfield, London: Bradbury & Evans, […], published 1850, →OCLC:

1889, Oscar Wilde, “The Portrait of Mr. W. H.” Chapter 1, in Lord Arthur Savile’s Crime and Other Stories,
He was an extraordinary old aristocrat, who swore like a costermonger, and had the manners of a farmer.

He had loved too well to imagine himself a glorious racehorse, and now he was condemned to toil without honour like a costermonger’s donkey.

1899 September – 1900 July, Joseph Conrad, chapter XIII, in Lord Jim: A Tale, Edinburgh, London: William Blackwood and Sons, published 1900, →OCLC, pages 160–161:

The twilight was still in the dusky skies; the walking took her nearly always over pieces of wrapping paper and banana peels, and the sawdust and detritus that fell from the costermongers’ stalls, lining all the roadways.

1913, Ford Madox Ford, chapter 7, in Mr. Fleight, London: Howard Latimer, page 93:

(UK, Ireland) A trader who sells fruit and vegetables from a cart or barrow in the street.

(UK, Ireland, originally) An apple-seller, usually itinerant and selling from a cart.


costard

costards (plural)
coster (alternative obsolete)

From Middle English costard, perhaps from Old French coste (“rib”) + -ard, in reference to its ribbed appearance.


duffel bag

duffel bags (plural)
duffle bag (alternative)

After the Belgian town of Duffel, which produced the thick cloth from which early duffel bags were made.

(UK) A smaller, cylindrical, cloth bag fashionable in the 1950s and 1960s.


listed

The trams are fitted with lithium batteries, which has meant no requirement to fit infrastructure to listed buildings, including Birmingham Town Hall.

2020 January 2, Richard Clinnick, “Midlands Metro welcomes new catenary-free trams”, in Rail, page 16:

It’s a great hub for shopping: the high street is pedestrianised and many of the town’s 600-odd listed buildings house fabulous independents – speciality food stores, cafes, antique shops, clothing boutiques.

2022 November 25, Sarah Baxter et al., “Britain's 15 best high streets – where Christmas shopping is a pleasure”, in The Telegraph:

(British, of a building or other structure) Designated as of special architectural or historical interest and protected from demolition or alteration.


fitter

(UK, dated) A coal broker who conducts the sales between the owner of a coal pit and the shipper.


horses for courses

/ˈhɔɹsəz fɚ ˈkɔɹsəz/

An allusion to the fact that a racehorse performs best on a racecourse to which it is specifically suited.

Not long ago, a group of Thames-side penthouses went up for sale with giveaway Ducati motorbikes worth £13,000 apiece. […] "In many cases giveaways are horses for courses, the inducements matching the styles of properties being marketed," he [David Hollingworth of London and Country Mortgages] adds.

2003 May 14, Christopher Browne, “Bonanza time for home buyers”, in The Independent, London, archived from the original on 2017-11-21:

Far be it from me to judge what anyone else finds attractive – each to their own, horses for courses, beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and any number of similar well-meaning platitudes – but no one's going to start arguing forcefully that Mick [Hucknall]'s ever been 'classically handsome'.

2014 November 10, Helen Coffey, “What does Mick Hucknall have that other men lack?”, in The Daily Telegraph, London, archived from the original on 2015-03-11:

Emailed greeting cards and digital photos may be more acceptable now, but are not a substitute for the post on every occasion. "People will still want to pour their heart out in letter or want that special photo of a grandchild. It's horses for courses," he [Alki Manias of NetValue] said.

2002 March 13, Sarah Left, “Email beats snail mail for residential use”, in The Guardian, London, archived from the original on 2016-03-05:

However intense music becomes, there's always a limit to how far it can go. And that limit is marked out by its genre or style. […] It's an age-old rule, this insistence on "horses for courses", but in the modern era many musicians have become impatient with it. They dream of a music that knows no limits, which can do everything, all at once.

2013 January 12, Ivan Hewett, “John Zorn: Master of all styles and none”, in The Daily Telegraph, London, archived from the original on 2016-03-15:

We must note, too, the good position (third) gained by Esmond as an undeniable instance of the "horses for courses" theory, for Esmond won the Peverill of the Peek Plate on this course two years in succession—1892–3.

1894 December, Baily’s Magazine of Sports and Pastimes, volume 62, London: Baily Brothers, →OCLC, page 417:

Almost immediately he went on to press for stricter standardisation in the future, saying that "horses for courses" was a luxury B.R. could not afford and that manufacturers must expect more detailed specifications from railway engineers in the future.

1961 July, “Editorial: Sir Brian begs the questions”, in Trains Illustrated, page 385:

(chiefly British, idiomatic) Different people are suited for different jobs or situations; what is fitting in one case may not be fitting in another.

適材適所 class yojijukugo

different people are suited for different jobs or situations


iron-sulphur cluster

en-noun

iron-sulphur cluster (plural iron-sulphur clusters)

iron-sulfur cluster
iron-sulfur cluster#English

(British) Alternative spelling of iron-sulfur cluster.


iron-sulphur protein

iron-sulphur protein (plural iron-sulphur proteins)

iron-sulfur protein
iron-sulfur protein#English

(British) Alternative spelling of iron-sulfur protein.


Macca

2003, Ian McNamara, On the Road with Macca:

‘It was just Macca being Macca: thumbs up Macca or prodding Macca.’ As he poked Measles in the chest, Paul asked: ‘What the fuck do you know? I fucking brought you down from Liverpool.’

2010, Howard Sounes, Fab: An Intimate Life of Paul McCartney, unnumbered page:

(UK, Australia) A diminutive of any surname beginning with Mac or Mc.


pedlar

From Middle English pedlare, variant of Middle English pedare. More at peddler.

After a time she touched the bell, with great caution; the cook appeared, to whom she gave a slip of paper, on which the woman vanished, leaving the little pedlar of small wares standing on the steps, where she had already placed her basket,...

1842, [anonymous collaborator of Letitia Elizabeth Landon], chapter XXXVI, in Lady Anne Granard; or, Keeping up Appearances. […], volume II, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, page 162:

I had strolled along the platform where the native pedlars called their wares as passengers leaned from the wide carriage windows.

1942 July-August, Philip Spencer, “On the Footplate in Egypt”, in Railway Magazine, page 208:

(chiefly British, otherwise dated) Alternative spelling of peddler.


thumper

thumper (countable and uncountable, plural thumpers)

(UK, rail transport, slang) A kind of slam-door train introduced in the late 1950s.


jazz mag

From jazz + mag, from the otherwise largely obsolete senses of jazz meaning "semen" or "sexual activity" — possibly via a euphemistic alteration of jizz.

(slang, British) A pornographic magazine.


colouring

colouring (countable and uncountable, plural colourings)

The seven hampers for four boys and three girls were personalised to each patient, including overnight hotel stays, colouring books and self care items.

2024 December 23, “Cancer survivor makes hampers for young patients”, in BBC:

In 2008, British health ministers agreed to phase out six artificial food colourings by 2009, while the European Union bans some colourings and requires warning labels on others.

2025 April 22, Madeline Halpert, “Kennedy announces ban on artificial dyes in food and drinks”, in BBC:

(British, Canada) Alternative spelling of coloring.


waits

(British) A group of singers or musicians performing in the streets, especially around Christmas.


barney

Etymology unknown. Often incorrectly thought to be Cockney rhyming slang from Barney Rubble (“trouble”, from the character Barney Rubble on The Flintstones), it actually dates back to the 19th century and its origin is unknown.

unk

Etymology unknown

(obsolete, UK, slang) A lark, a romp, some fun.

"Just keep it i' thy mind," entreated the other, as a sort of parting remembrance, "ut I won thee i' fair powell—one toss an' no barney.[…]"

1865, Benjamin Brierley, Irkdale, volume 2, page 19:

Blackguardly barneys called boxing competitions.

1882 September 2, Evening News, column 6, page 1:

Who would believe that Mr. Gladstone shammed being ill, and that Sir Andrew Clark issued false bulletins, and that the whole thing was a barney from beginning to end.

1884 April 13, The Referee, column 4, page 7:

(obsolete, UK, slang) A hoax, a humbug, something that is not genuine, a rigged or unfair sporting contest.

Gary and Mum went mental, and Gary phoned them up and had a right Barney with them.

2007, Dave Brooks, For Nil Consideration, page 230:

‘They had a right barney,’ Dexter said with glee, between mouthfuls. ‘Bloke wouldn′t go. Said he′d write to his MP.’

2009, Neville Conway, An Ornament to His Profession, page 45:

‘[…]I bet there was a right barney over her wearing a dress that exposed the rose tattoo!’ Turner concluded with a laugh.

2010, Michael White, The Art of Murder, unnumbered page:

(UK, Australia, slang) A noisy argument.

I got stuck in the middle of a real barney between a couple of tough coppers and a handful of hairy protesters, and I didn't enjoy it one single bit.

1982, Ruth Dudley Edwards, Corridors of Death, page 157:

But he doesn't seem to be so — so angry all the time, and it's ages since he and Aunt Annie had a real barney, with flying fists and screechings, that sort of thing.

2010, Katie Flynn, The Liverpool Rose, page 200:

‘I heard this crash, like the door was being kicked in, and then a load of shoutin′ an′ crashin′ about, like someone was havin' a real barney.’

2011, Cynthia Harrod-Eagles, Killing Time:

(UK, Australia, slang) A minor physical fight.


barney

en-adjective

barney (comparative more barney, superlative most barney)

more barney (comparative)
most barney (superlative)

unk

Etymology unknown

(obsolete, UK, slang) insane crazy, loony.


barney

en-verb

barney (third-person singular simple present barneys, present participle barneying, simple past and past participle barneyed)

barneys (present singular third-person)
barneying (participle present)
barneyed (participle past)
barneyed (past)

unk

Etymology unknown


coeliac disease

(UK) An auto-immune disease characterised by sensitivity of the lining of the small intestine to gluten, causing a failure to digest food properly.


pillock

In the middle of the 16th century, the meaning was "penis". Probably from pillicock (“penis; boy, man”), presumably akin to the slang term dickhead (“inept fool”). Alternatively, from the same basis as pillicock (compare regional Norwegian pill (“penis”)) + the diminutive suffix -ock.

What is it now, you great pillock?

1970 October 27, Monty Python's Flying Circus, The Butcher Who is Alternately Rude and Polite:

Take your Typhoon up there and swat the annoying mosquito out of the sky by challenging the infantile pillock to a classic World-War-II-era dogfight like a real man, to show them who the real king of European airspace is.

2021 March 19, Bosnian Ape Society, 3:55 from the start, in Is Your Car Safe From Supermaneuverable Air-Defense Fighter Aircraft?, archived from the original on 2022-08-07:

(UK, Ireland, Commonwealth, derogatory, slang) A stupid or annoying person; a simpleton; a fool.


SPP

(British) Initialism of statutory paternity pay - payments made by an employer to a father who is absent from work after the birth of a child.


ageing

en-noun

ageing (countable and uncountable, plural ageings)

ageings (plural)
aging (alternative Canada US)

UK, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa standard spelling of aging.


ageing

"The Tees Valley has ageing diesel trains that predate any form of emission control.

2020 May 20, Paul Clifton, “A hydrogen solution to decarbonisation?”, in RAIL, page 54:

These two events have exposed the road haulage industry as being reliant on a poorly paid and ageing workforce, dependent on employees recruited from low-wage countries in Europe.

2021 October 20, Industry Insider, “The wheels turn slowly”, in RAIL, number 942, page 68:


downy

en-adj

downy (comparative downier, superlative downiest)

downier (comparative)
downiest (superlative)

(UK, Norfolk) Low-spirited; down in the mouth.


chump chop

(British) A type of lamb chop equivalent to rump steak.


Green Goddess

(British, informal) A fire engine used by the army, the Bedford RLHZ Self-Propelled Pump.


long arms

(slang, UK) A person who steals things or borrows them without asking.


SSP

(British) Initialism of Statutory Sick Pay.


SMP

en-noun

SMP (countable and uncountable, plural SMPs)

(British) Initialism of statutory maternity pay (“payments made by an employer to an employee who is absent from work due to their pregnancy”).


platinise

en-verb

platinise (third-person singular simple present platinises, present participle platinising, simple past and past participle platinised)

platinises (present singular third-person)
platinising (participle present)
platinised (participle past)
platinised (past)

(chiefly UK) Alternative form of platinize.


mossie

mossies (plural)
mozzie (alternative)
mozzy (alternative)
mossy (alternative)

Diminutive formed from mosquito. Compare Dutch meuzie (“mosquito”).

She came out, standing a head taller than him, tugging a loose cotton shift into place, and made for a rough brick fireplace beside a pile of rusting pots and pans.
‘Come inside,’ Willi said. ‘The mossies will eat you alive out here.’

1996, Patricia Shaw, The Opal Seekers, unnumbered page:

Tip 1 : Make sure there is clearance between your body and the net. If the net touches your skin, the mossie will be able to bite you through it.

2003, Jack Lagan, A B Sea: A Loose-Footed Lexicon, page 211:

He had becoms full of Bay intelligence about mosquito repellent measures. Apart from the obvious—mossie coils, citronella candles, zappers, fine nets suspended over beds and Rid roll-on or spray—he decided to invest in bush gear from an army disposal store. The mossies, who know a city slicker when they bite one, had been stinging clear through his Calvin Clone T-shirts from the Hong Kong markets and feasting on his bare arms as if presented with a juicy buffet.

2012, Susan Kurosawa, Coasting: A Year by the Bay, unnumbered page:

(UK, Australia, New Zealand, colloquial) A mosquito.


hern

From Middle English hiren, hirne, from the same source as her. The -n was added (especially in the speech of the Midlands and Southern England, starting in the 1300s) by analogy with mine and thine. (Compare ourn.) Displaced in standard speech by the -s form, hers, which see for more. Cognate with West Flemish heurn (“hern”).

(obsolete outside British and US dialects, especially Appalachia) Hers; her own.


binder

From Middle English byndere; equivalent to bind + -er.

(UK, slang) One who whines or complains.


organigramme

(British, management) An organization chart.


yellowbelly

* From yellow + belly.
* (someone from Lincolnshire or Isle of Ely): An allusion to the frogs and yellow-bellied eels caught there.

sense

(UK, slang) Someone from Lincolnshire, or from the Isle of Ely.


drinking fountain

en-noun

drinking fountain (plural drinking fountains)

(UK, Upper Midwestern US, Western US, Philippines) A device in a public place that provides water to drink.

飲水機 /饮水机

device that is used to provide water to drink


wanka

Pronunciation spelling
pronunciation spelling

(UK, Australia) Pronunciation spelling of wanker.


platinisation

(chiefly UK) Alternative form of platinization.


set out

en-verb

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

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

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

Following the acquisition of Di María, a winger, there was almost as much interest in the manner in which Van Gaal would set out his team as there was in the personnel. It was probably as well, considering only the goalkeeper David De Gea was retained from the XI who started Sunday’s draw at Sunderland.

26 August 2014, Richard Rae, “Manchester United humbled by MK Dons after Will Grigg hits double”, in The Guardian:

(UK, transitive) To position, to put in a position


and all

an all (alternative informal regional)
n'all (alternative informal regional)
anaw (alternative informal regional)

I'll have some of the red ones, some green ones, and them yellow ones and all.

“You leave my son alone!”
The woman turned her head slowly towards him. When her eyes met his, she said, “Gilbert, you are forgetting something. Frank is my son and all.”

2017, David Walliams [pseudonym; David Edward Williams], Bad Dad, London: HarperCollins Children’s Books, →ISBN:

(British, informal) As well; in addition.


montem

Mr. Surface—it seems, had come home the Night before late from Salt-Hill where He had been to see the Montem with a Friend, who has a Son at Eton—

1777, Richard Brinsley Sheridan, The School for Scandal, V.ii:

(UK, historical) A former custom of Eton schoolboys to go to a hill on the Bath road every third Whit Tuesday to demand 'salt-money' from passers-by, for the university expenses of the senior scholar or school captain.


hard done by

en-adj

hard done by (comparative more hard done by, superlative most hard done by)

more hard done by (comparative)
most hard done by (superlative)

King should feel a bit hard done by after being replaced in the team.

United could have made it 3-0 with further chances, but Norwich's Andrew Crofts also had a shot saved and his side can come away from this encounter with some reason to feel hard done by.

2011 October 1, Alistair Magowan, “Man Utd 2 - 0 Norwich”, in BBC Sport:

(UK, idiomatic) used, cheated, or exploited by


crock

From Middle English crok, crokke (“earthenware jar, pot, or other container; cauldron; belly, stomach”) [and other forms], from Old English crocc, crocca (“crock, pot, vessel”) [and other forms], from Proto-Germanic *krukkō, *krukkô (“vessel”), from Proto-Indo-European *growg- (“vessel”).
The English word is cognate with Danish and Norwegian krukke (“jar”), Dutch kruik (“jar, jug”), regional German Kruke (“crock”), Icelandic krukka (“pot, jar”), Old English crōg, crōh (“crock, pitcher, vessel”). See also cruse.

old crocks’ home

He was getting very proud of the way he had learned to manage his game leg, and it occurred to him that here was a chance of testing his balance. […] “Not so bad that, for a crock,” he told himself, as he lay full length in the sun watching the faint line of the Haripol hills overtopping the ridge of Crask.

1925, John Buchan, John Macnab, Gutenberg Australia eBook #0300621:

He was in love with a girl, whose full name he did not tell me, and whom he had not seen for two years. She was a Lady Diana Someone, so much I knew, very lovely, a sort of relation, and he believed he had a chance if only the doctors could do something to help his asthma. “Can′t ask a girl to marry a crock.”

1932, Helen Simpson, Boomerang, Gutenberg Australia eBook #0800611:

Girl: "Will you always be a bit of a crock?"
Man: "According to my doctor, no."
Girl: "I was afraid you looked bad-tempered because you were crocked up for life."

2006, The Moving Finger, part one (Miss Marple, 15 min, 20 year old bicycling tomboy to injured walker)

(UK) A person who is physically limited by age, illness or injury.

old crocks race

(UK) An old or broken-down vehicle (and formerly a horse or ewe).

кранта

old or broken-down vehicle (and formerly a horse)


REMF

Back at the PXs, the REMFs (rear-echelon motherfuckers) […] were indulging in black-market schemes and pleasures while Stone and his buddies out humping the boonies did the fighting, putting their lives on the line.

2004, Martin Torgoff, “Next Stop is Vietnam”, in Can’t Find My Way Home: America in the Great Stoned Age, 1945–2000, New York, N.Y.: Simon & Schuster, →ISBN, page 175:

(slang, US, UK, military) Initialism of rear-echelon motherfucker, a soldier assigned or stationed far from the front line, especially during the Vietnam War.


lobbies

(UK, dialect) A stew resembling scouse, using corned beef or tinned stewing steak.


sixpence

en-noun

sixpence (countable and uncountable, plural sixpences)

look as if one had lost a shilling and found sixpence

look as if one has lost a shilling and found sixpence

Finest apples, sixpence each.

When the ferry-boat with her wild freight pushed into the stream, nobody cared sixpence for the wasted time but the captain of the craft.

1876, Mark Twain [pseudonym; Samuel Langhorne Clemens], chapter XXIX, in The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Hartford, Conn.: The American Publishing Company, →OCLC, page 221:

(obsolete, British, uncountable) The value of six old pence; half of a shilling; or one-fortieth of a pound sterling.


on a sixpence

This motorboat can turn on a sixpence.

This car has excellent brakes that will stop it on a sixpence.


starkers

* "naked": British slang, from 1923, combining (like a popular etymology) two meanings of stark (“strong, utterly; barren”) with stark naked, which is from Old English steort (“tail”), referring to the tail-end (as in butt-naked).
* "crazy": stark (“shortening of stark raving mad”) + -ers

suffix

Entering the bathroom, I found Bill there, still starkers after his bath.

(chiefly British, slang) Completely nude.


discretisation

(British) Alternative spelling of discretization.


Camberwell beauty

en-noun

Camberwell beauty (plural Camberwell beauties)

(British) A large butterfly, Nymphalis antiopa, native to Eurasia and North America.