Birmingham screwdriver

en-noun

Birmingham screwdriver (plural Birmingham screwdrivers)

Humorously suggesting that people from Birmingham rely on the use of force to solve problems.

I'll be watching the fucker like a hawk with a Birmingham screwdriver to the ready should I spot anything untoward.

2003, Alex Ferrier, “Insurance Payout?”, in uk.rec.motorcycles (Usenet):

Tinkering – the Midlands, especially, had a tradition, killed off by the introduction of the MoT test, of men who built cars called 'specials', bodged with a Birmingham screwdriver from components of other cars.

2012, Jonathan Meades, Museum Without Walls, Random House, →ISBN:

“I feel like I've been walloped with a Birmingham screwdriver!”

2014, RJ Smith, Cataclysm, Storyteller Entertainment, LLC, →ISBN:


shitly

en-adv

shitly (comparative more shitly, superlative most shitly)

more shitly (comparative)
most shitly (superlative)

(vulgar, rare, chiefly UK) Terribly; extremely poorly.


foresighty

en-adj

foresighty (comparative more foresighty, superlative most foresighty)

more foresighty (comparative)
most foresighty (superlative)

From foresight + -y. Cognate with Scots foresichtie, forsichty, Dutch voorzichtig, German vorsichtig.

Wi' thoughts like these hid in her breast, Awa flew the foresighty beast, [...]

1801, James Thomson, Poems, in the Scottish dialect:

Surely, my dear lady, you are, as they say in the north, 'fearfu' foresighty.'

1856, Anna Cabot Lowell, Seed-grain for thought and discussion:

(chiefly UK dialectal) Foresighted; provident; cautious; careful.


fireworks night

en-noun

fireworks night (plural fireworks nights)


overhope

From Middle English overhope, oferhope, equivalent to over- + hope.

(UK dialectal) Hopefulness; sanguineness.


overhope

en-verb

overhope (third-person singular simple present overhopes, present participle overhoping, simple past and past participle overhoped)

overhopes (present singular third-person)
overhoping (participle present)
overhoped (participle past)
overhoped (past)

(transitive, UK dialectal) To hope constantly.


overish

en-adj

overish (comparative more overish, superlative most overish)

more overish (comparative)
most overish (superlative)

(UK dialectal) Qualmish; weak; alarmed; nervous.


shup

- That shirt looks well bad.

- Shup mate!

Pronunciation spelling
pronunciation spelling

(UK, slang) Pronunciation spelling of shut up.


garden city

Coined in the 1890s by Ebenezer Howard (1850-1928).

(UK, urban studies) Any of several planned, self-contained communities, surrounded by "green belts", containing proportionate areas of residences, industry and agriculture.


under the cosh

Having been under the cosh Swansea were enjoying a promising spell and Begovic had to deny Graham having a free header before Swansea's record signing secured victory with five minutes remaining.

2011 October 2, Aled Williams, “Swansea 2 - 0 Stoke”, in BBC Sport Wales:

(UK, informal) subjected to (figurative) pressure; under the gun


radioflash

en-noun

radioflash (usually uncountable, plural radioflashes)

electromagnetic pulse
electromagnetic pulse


dead man

A crusty loaf at your service — but master gets over-crusty, 'cause last week's bill ar'nt paid. I'm no "snatcher," altho' now and then I make "a dead man." […] We all admit the baker's skill, / To charge a dead man in his bill; […]

1833, Francis West, Fun for winter evenings, page 27:

(UK, slang, obsolete) An extra loaf stolen from a bakery by a servant who smuggles it into the customer's basket (and sometimes fraudulently charges it to the customer).


drop a brick

en-verb

drop a brick (third-person singular simple present drops a brick, present participle dropping a brick, simple past and past participle dropped a brick)

drops a brick (present singular third-person)
dropping a brick (participle present)
dropped a brick (participle past)
dropped a brick (past)

It was on one of those Tuesdays that I dropped a brick, the memory of which still haunts me after more than forty years. A very loquacious lady, whom I had never seen before, appeared to be talking through her nose. “Don't you think,” I said to one of my neighbours, by way of starting conversation, “that lady would be well advised to sound her trumpet less often?”
“You bet I do! I've not been able to get used to it these thirty years.”
And as I stared at him, horror-struck:
“Yes. I'm her husband.”

1978, Ambroise Vollard, translated by Violet M. MacDonald, Recollections of a Picture Dealer, Dover Publications, published 2003, page 28:

I remember dropping a brick when I first met her. As she at once started calling me 'Harry' in the way Americans are apt to do, the surname becoming immediately superfluous. I ventured to ask her what her Christian name was.
‘I'm not a Christian, Harry.’

1998, Harry Brewster, A Cosmopolite's Journey: Episodes from a Life, page 216:

(UK, idiomatic) To commit a faux pas, especially in speech, such as by tactlessly speaking of a subject that should not be mentioned.


neeze

neeze (third-person singular simple present neezes, present participle neezing, simple past and past participle neezed)

neezes (present singular third-person)
neezing (participle present)
neezed (participle past)
neezed (past)
neese (alternative)

From Middle English nesen, from Old English *hnēosan (“to sneeze”), from Proto-West Germanic *hneusan, from Proto-Germanic *hneusaną (“to sneeze”), from a merger of Proto-Indo-European *(s)knus- (“to sneeze”) and Proto-Indo-European *pnew- (“to gasp, pant, breathe”). See sneeze. Compare Dutch niezen, German niesen, Swedish nysa

der

(intransitive, UK dialectal or archaic) To sneeze.


pinter

(in combinations, UK, slang) The drinking of a certain number of pints of beer

“Anyway, I'd best get a shuffle on. Got to pick some milk up, you see.” “I've just been too.” Sure enough he showed the hedgehog a four-pinter.

2006, Martyn J. Pass, Dani Pass, Waiting for Red, page 262:

(in combinations, UK, slang) A container that holds a certain number of pints.

She's so ugly, an eight-pinter, I'd say.

(in combinations, UK, slang) Something that takes a certain number of pints of beer to appreciate.


Mischief Night

(UK, Canada, US) A particular night during which young people play pranks and do mischief in their neighborhoods.

(dated, originally) The night before May Day.

(UK) Mostly practiced in the North West of England, Mischief night (“missie night” in Liverpool ) is the 30th of October (the night before Halloween).

Trick Night

around New York City, Connecticut, Rhode Island

Cabbage Night

upstate New York, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Vermont

especially in upstate New York, Vermont, and Bergen County, NJ

Devil's Night

Chicago, Michigan, Maryland, New Jersey, coastal New England

(US, Maryland, Delaware, Pennsylvania, New York, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, and especially New Jersey) The night of the 30th to the 31st of October (the night before Halloween).

Maryland; Delaware; Massachusetts; Rhode Island; Connecticut; Maryland; Delaware; Massachusetts; Rhode Island; Connecticut


glucose-fructose syrup

en-noun

glucose-fructose syrup (countable and uncountable, plural glucose-fructose syrups)

High fructose corn syrup
high fructose corn syrup


what-what

(UK, dated) Used to add emphasis to, and to seek agreement with, a previous statement.


Botany Bay fever

What!—me not know my * * * Testament! Why!—it's the only * * * book you get a word of when you're nursing for Botany Bay fever.

1914, William Frend De Morgan, When Ghost Meets Ghost, page 410:

(UK, euphemistic, obsolete) Penal servitude; transportation.


misanalyse

en-verb

misanalyse (third-person singular simple present misanalyses, present participle misanalysing, simple past and past participle misanalysed)

misanalyses (present singular third-person)
misanalysing (participle present)
misanalysed (participle past)
misanalysed (past)

(chiefly UK England) Alternative form of misanalyze.


queal

queal (third-person singular simple present queals, present participle quealing, simple past and past participle quealed)

queals (present singular third-person)
quealing (participle present)
quealed (participle past)
quealed (past)

From Middle English quelen, from Old English cwelan (“to die”), from Proto-West Germanic *kwelan, from Proto-Germanic *kwelaną (“to suffer”), from Proto-Indo-European *gʷelH- (“to sting, pierce”). Related to Middle Dutch quelen, queilen. Doublet of quail.

der

(intransitive, UK dialectal) To faint away.


pointsman

The signalman, as such, was unknown at first. At junctions, or for shunting, the pointsman was responsible both for setting the points and working the appropriate signals, the two being independent. As a result, accidents were comparatively frequent, and the pointsman's job was, at best, a hazardous one.

1955 April, R. H. Warring, “Some Early Railway Signals”, in Railway Magazine, page 231:

At their point of origin, constructing these boxes presented railway companies with an attractive proposition: to remove the need for pointsmen and flagmen operating at several ground-level locations around a railway site by housing one or two men in a signal structure.

2021 October 20, Dr Joseph Brennan, “A key part of our diverse railway heritage”, in RAIL, number 942, page 57:

(rail transport, chiefly British) A man in charge of railroad points (switches).

стрелочник

a man in charge of railroad points or switches


Botany Bay

The bay was named by explorer James Cook for the variety of plants observed near the shore.
(Worcester College): So called from its remote situation.

(UK, slang, obsolete) Worcester College, Oxford.


hold the ring

en-verb

hold the ring (third-person singular simple present holds the ring, present participle holding the ring, simple past and past participle held the ring)

holds the ring (present singular third-person)
holding the ring (participle present)
held the ring (participle past)
held the ring (past)

/ˈhəʊld ðə ˌɹɪŋ/

/ˈhɔʊld ðə ˌɹɪŋ/

/ˈhoʊld ðə ˌɹɪŋ/

Probably from keep the ring. In days past when spectators would encircle participants in a prizefight or a performance, people would be employed to maintain order among them and keep them from coming too near the participants.

Police held the ring during the protests.

In England a century earlier it had been a struggle between two warring houses, in France it was now a struggle between three: Guise, Montmorency and Bourbon, with the feeble government of Catherine de Medici vainly trying to hold the ring.

1968, J. Hurstfield, “Social Structure, Office-holding and Politics, Chiefly in Western Europe”, in R[ichard] B[ruce] Wernham, editor, The New Cambridge Modern History, volumes III (The Counter-Reformation and Price Revolution 1559–1610), Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, page 132:

While this debate was going on in Nature another was being conduct in Archaeometry. This was between Betancourt – and his old colleague Michael – and Warren, with the English archaeometrist M. J. Aitken holding the ring.

1991, Martin [Gardiner] Bernal, “The Thera Eruption: From the Aegean to China”, in Black Athena: The Afroasiatic Roots of Classical Civilization, volumes II (The Archaeological and Documentary Evidence), New Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers University Press, →ISBN, page 288:

It is the great powers that create international upheavals. In 1912–13 the Balkan powers fought two bitter wars among themselves, while the great powers held the ring.

2002, Martin Wight, “International Anarchy”, in Hedley Bull, Carsten Holbraad, editors, Power Politics, →ISBN, page 100:

Lieutenant-General Fry says that coalition forces will continue military operations "to separate the two sides of the sectarian conflict" but that such operations were meant to hold the ring until the politicians come up with a solution.

2006 August 31, “Holding the ring in the capital: Embedded with American troops in a volatile district, our correspondent asks how long they can prevent an all-out sectarian war”, in The Economist, archived from the original on 2016-03-06:

(chiefly British, idiomatic) To oversee a situation while attempting to remain uninvolved in it.


saught

From Middle English saughte, seihte, from Old English saht, seaht, seht (“settlement, arrangement, agreement, terms arranged between two parties by an umpire, a peace between two powers, friendship, peace”), from Proto-Germanic *sahtiz (“reproach, agreement, reconciliation”), from Proto-Indo-European *seh₂g- (“to seek, trace”). Cognate with Old Norse sátt, sætt (“covenant, agreement, settlement, reconciliation”).

der

(UK dialectal, archaic) Reconciliation; peace; ease.


saught

en-verb

saught (third-person singular simple present saughts, present participle saughting, simple past and past participle saughted)

saughts (present singular third-person)
saughting (participle present)
saughted (participle past)
saughted (past)
saucht (alternative)

(ambitransitive, UK dialectal) To reconcile; become reconciled.


saught

en-adj

saught (comparative more saught, superlative most saught)

more saught (comparative)
most saught (superlative)
saucht (alternative)

(UK dialectal) Reconciled; agreed; at one.


wretchock

From wretch + -ock (“diminutive suffix”).

(British, dialectal) A stunted or abortive cock; the smallest of a brood of domestic birds; any puny or imperfect creature.


balter

en-verb

balter (third-person singular simple present balters, present participle baltering, simple past and past participle baltered)

balters (present singular third-person)
baltering (participle present)
baltered (participle past)
baltered (past)
baulter (alternative)
bolter (alternative)
bauter (alternative)

From Middle English balteren, of North Germanic origin, related to Danish baltre, boltre (“to roll, tumble, gambol, romp”).

(intransitive, UK dialectal) To become tangled or matted.

(transitive, UK dialectal) To tangle; clot; mat (as in the hair).


council house

The modern council house, with its bathroom and electric light, is smaller than the stockbroker's villa, but it is recognizably the same kind of house, which the farm labourer’s cottage is not.

1941, George Orwell, The Lion and the Unicorn:

She maintains that the internet should face similar curbs to TV because young people are increasingly living online. "It's totally different, someone at Google watching the video from the comfort of their office in San Francisco to someone from a council house in London, where this video is happening right outside their front door."

2012 April 19, Josh Halliday, “Free speech haven or lawless cesspool – can the internet be civilised?”, in the Guardian:

(UK, Ireland) A house built and operated by local town councils, usually of relatively low price and lived in by the working class and welfare recipients.

kunnan omistama vuokra-asunto

house built and operated by a local council


council-housed

(UK, Ireland) Living in a council house.


council tax

en-noun

council tax (countable and uncountable, plural council taxes)

In a war of words that has broken out between Khan and Secretary of State for Transport Grant Shapps, the Mayor was accused of sending revenue-raising proposals to Shapps some three weeks late, giving him little choice but to extend negotiations. Khan countered this by alleging that 'unfair' conditions, such as raising council tax, are being attached to any new funding deal that would "punish Londoners" for the effect the pandemic has had on passenger numbers. He added: "These short-term deals are trapping TfL on life support rather than putting it on the path to long-term sustainability."

2022 January 12, “Network News: Further extension to Transport for London emergency funding”, in RAIL, number 948, page 8:

(UK) The taxation paid towards the local government.


manœuver

en-verb

manœuver (third-person singular simple present manœuvers, present participle manœuvering, simple past and past participle manœuvered)

manœuvers (present singular third-person)
manœuvering (participle present)
manœuvered (participle past)
manœuvered (past)


whemmel

whemmel (third-person singular simple present whemmels, present participle whemmeling or whemmeling, simple past and past participle whemmeled or whemmeled)

whemmels (present singular third-person)
whemmeling (participle present)
whemmeled (participle past)
whemmeled (past)

A frequentative form of whelm equivalent to whelm + -le, or formed from that word by metathesis.

(British dialectal, Scotland, transitive) To engulf, to submerge.

(British dialectal, Scotland, transitive) To throw (something) over a thing so as to cover it.

(British dialectal, Scotland, transitive) To turn (something) upside down, to invert; to capsize, to overturn; (specifically) to drink a glass (of an alcoholic beverage) completely.

(British dialectal, Scotland, transitive, figuratively) To confound, to disrupt.

(British dialectal, Scotland, intransitive) To capsize; to walk clumsily; to fall over.


browsewood

(archaic, UK) Shrubs, trees, and bushes upon which animals browse.


gabel

From French gabelle, from Late Latin gabella, gabulum, gablum; of uncertain origin. Compare gavel (“tribute”).

He enables St. Peter to pay his gabel by the ministry of a fish.

1651, Jer[emy] Taylor, The Rule and Exercises of Holy Living. […], 2nd edition, London: […] Francis Ashe […], →OCLC:

(UK, law, obsolete) A rent, service, tribute, custom, tax, impost, or duty; an excise.


wetbird

From wet + bird; the chaffinch's cry was believed to foretell rain.


nonregent

(UK, universities, historical) A master of arts or other subjects whose regency has ceased, and therefore is no longer obliged to lecture.


noncontent

(UK, politics, dated or historical) Someone who gives a negative or opposing vote in the House of Lords.


nutjobber

From nut + jobber. Compare nuthacker, nutcracker.

(archaic, UK, dialect) A bird of family Sittidae; a nuthatch.


atto-metre

(British) Alternative spelling of atto-meter.


prad

Borrowed from Dutch paard (“horse”). Doublet of palfrey.

Horse Stealers, they go together always the Day before, to look over the Grounds for a good Prad or Prads […]

1754, John Poulter, The Discoveries of John Poulter, alias Baxter, Sherborne, page 39:

We had fixed our eye on a horse-dealer, and had some conversation with him about the purchase of a prad; but we could not agree, and parted, on account of a deeker, who was eyeing us closely, and I observed him speak to the jockey.

1821, David Haggart, The Life of David Haggart, written by himself while under sentence of death, London: W. and C. Tait, page 22:

'Just send somebody out to relieve my mate, will you, young man?' said the officer; 'he's in the gig, a-minding the prad. […]'

1838, Boz [pseudonym; Charles Dickens], “chapter XXXI”, in Oliver Twist; or, The Parish Boy’s Progress. […], volume (please specify |volume=I, II, or III), London: Richard Bentley, […], →OCLC:

1893, Ernest Favenc, "Bunthorp's Decease" in Tales of the Austral Tropics, London: Osgood, MacIlvaine & Co., 1894, http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks06/0600691h.html
"Not a bad sort of a prad that brown one," he remarked; "looks a little gone in the near fore-leg."

So smooth of face, so fine of eye, so much a beautiful part of his beautiful chestnut prad.

1938, Xavier Herbert, chapter XIII, in Capricornia, New York: D. Appleton-Century, published 1943, page 212:

(UK, Australia, New Zealand, informal, dated) A horse.


yottagramme

(rare, British) Alternative spelling of yottagram.


sixth-former

[T]hey were baffled by tears in moustached sixth-formers, by walls of impassivity in the Lower School, by silent conspiracies which nullified the rules.

1956, Anthony Burgess, Time for a Tiger (The Malayan Trilogy), published 1972, page 37:

(UK, Australia) A pupil in the sixth form.


snotter

en-noun

snotter (countable and uncountable, plural snotters)

We had our regular rendezvous, […] where we refreshed ourselves with meat and drink, sung obscene and abominable songs […], instructed the younger members systematically in prigging (stealing,) concerted robberies, washed and valued "snotters" (handkerchiefs,) and disposed of them, besides the other practices of a nefarious and abandoned fraternity.

1849, The Ragged School Union Magazine, volumes 1-2, page 175:

You're barely breaking even with the snotters stealing handkerchiefs in the square.

2020, Ellie Jacobs, The Last Orphan: A Victorian Romance:

(UK, slang, obsolete) A pickpocket who steals handkerchiefs.


tufthunter

The earl seeing the ecclesiastic abase himself before mere rank , clearly took him for a toady and a tufthunter

(UK, slang, archaic) A hanger-on to noblemen or persons of quality, especially in English universities; a toady.


knitster

Welch KNITSTERS curse the weaving company

1775, Charles Hutton, The Diarian Miscellany:

(UK, dialect, obsolete) A woman who knits.


jerquing

(UK, archaic) The searching of a ship for undocumented goods.


rine

en-verb

rine (third-person singular simple present rines, present participle rining, simple past and past participle rined)

rines (present singular third-person)
rining (participle present)
rined (participle past)
rined (past)

From Middle English rinen, from Old English hrīnan, from Proto-West Germanic *hrīnan, from Proto-Germanic *hrīnaną, from Proto-Indo-European *krey- (“to strip, touch”).

der

(transitive, UK dialectal) To concern; affect.

(transitive, UK dialectal) To pertain to; fall to.

(transitive, UK dialectal) To tend to a certain effect or outcome.


rine

rines (plural)
rhine (alternative)
rone (alternative)
rune (alternative)

From Middle English rune, from Old English ryne (“a course, run, running, orbit, a flow, flux, period of time, cycle, luster, expanse, extent”), from Proto-Germanic *runiz (“course”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₃er- (“to cause to move, grow”). Cognate with German Ronne (“a channel”), Icelandic ryne (“a flow, stream”). See runnel.


whisket

(obsolete, UK, dialect) A basket; especially, a straw provender basket.


dreave

en-verb

dreave (third-person singular simple present dreaves, present participle dreaving, simple past and past participle dreft or dreaved)

dreaves (present singular third-person)
dreaving (participle present)
dreft (participle past)
dreft (past)
dreaved (participle past)
dreaved (past)
dreve (alternative)

From Middle English dreven, from Old English drǣfan (“to drive, drive out, expel”), from Proto-Germanic *draibijaną (“to cause to drive”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰreybʰ- (“to drive, push”). Cognate with Icelandic dreifa (“to spread out, disperse”). More at drive.

cog

(transitive, UK dialectal) To drive; drive out; drive away; expel.


dreave

dreaves (plural)
drave (alternative)
draif (alternative)
dreef (alternative)

From Middle English draf, from Old English drāf (“a drove, herd”). More at drove.

(UK dialectal) A crowd or throng of people.

(UK dialectal, Scotland) The yearly herring fishing.

(UK dialectal, Scotland) A shoal of fish; a catch.


duddery

(archaic, UK) A place where cloth and rags are traded and kept for sale.


jemminess

its fort shall be either convenience or jemminess, or a proper mixture of both

1757, Fulke Greville, Maxims, characters, and reflections, critical, satirical:

(UK, slang, archaic) Alternative spelling of gemminess.


whewer

Century, Wright's English Dialect Dictionary and the 1933 OED take it to be from whew (“(to make) a shrill whistling sound like the cry of a plover”) + -er, and early cites also call the bird the "whistling widgeon".

Peckards 3—broadbills 5—whewers 2

1634, Althorp MS. in Simpkinson, Washingtons (1860), page xxiii

Boscas, aliis Anas Fistularis … the Whewer, or Whistling Widgeon.

With the Fish I have put up in a Box some Water Fowl, viz. a Pocker, a Smew, three Sheldins, a Widgeon, and a Whewer; which two last are Male and Female of the same kind.

1718 [1674], John Ray, Francis Willughby, Philosophical Letters Between the Late Learned Mr. Ray and Several of His Ingenious Correspondents, Natives and Foreigners: To which are Added Those of Francis Willughby Esq, page 21:

Widgeons are common in Cambridgeshire, the Isle of Ely, &c. where the male is called the widgeon, and the female, the whewer. They feed upon wild periwinkles, grass, weeds, &c. which grow at the bottom of rivers and lakes. Their flesh has a very delicious taste, not inferior to teal, or wild ducks.

1806, Thomas Smith, The Naturalist's Cabinet: Containing Interesting Sketches of Natural History; Illustrative of the Natures, Dispositions, Manners, and Habits of All the Most Remarkable Quadrupeds, Birds, Fishes, Amphibia, Reptiles, &c. in the Known World, page 217:

the choicer fowl of mallard and widgeon (locally "whewers"), both in the Humber and the Tees, the former species being, of course, resident in the county.

1908, Illustrated Sporting & Dramatic News, page 172:

Mareca penelope
Mareca penelope#Translingual

(UK, dialect) whew duck, Eurasian wigeon, wigeon (Mareca penelope).


kittlish

en-adj

kittlish (comparative more kittlish, superlative most kittlish)

more kittlish (comparative)
most kittlish (superlative)


waggie

(UK, dialect) The pied wagtail, a small passerine bird, Motacilla alba yarrellii, a subspecies of the white wagtail, found in Britain and Ireland.


jowter

en-verb

jowter (third-person singular simple present jowters, present participle jowtering, simple past and past participle jowtered)

jowters (present singular third-person)
jowtering (participle present)
jowtered (participle past)
jowtered (past)

(UK, dialectal) To grumble, growl, snarl.


wandy

en-adj

wandy (comparative more wandy, superlative most wandy)

more wandy (comparative)
most wandy (superlative)

His wandy circlet with his bladed bands

1880, Sidney Lanier, “On a Palmetto”, in Poems:

(UK, dialect) Long and flexible, like a wand; wandlike


wrongous

wrongous (comparative more wrongous, superlative most wrongous)

more wrongous (comparative)
most wrongous (superlative)
wrongeous (alternative)

From Middle English wrongous, for earlier wrongwis, wrangwis, from Old English wrangwīs (“wrongous, rough, uneven”), equivalent to wrong + -ous (see also wrongwise). Cognate with Swedish vrångvis (“wrong, iniquitous”). See wrong, and compare righteous.

inh

It’s my opinion that the creature Dougal will have a good action of wrongous imprisonment and damages again him, under the Act seventeen hundred and one, and I’ll see the creature righted.

1817 December 31 (indicated as 1818), [Walter Scott], chapter III, in Rob Roy. […], volume III, Edinburgh: […] James Ballantyne and Co. for Archibald Constable and Co. […]; London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, →OCLC, page 61:

If the prisoner is detained an unreasonable time, he would have an action for wrongous imprisonment.

1879, James Paterson, Reports of Scotch Appeals in the House of Lords:

(UK dialectal, Scotland, especially law) Wrongful; not right; unjust; illegal.


vinny

en-adj

vinny (comparative more vinny, superlative most vinny)

more vinny (comparative)
most vinny (superlative)

From Middle English *vinny, *finny, from Old English fyniġ (“mouldy”); related to vinew.

vinny cheese


arsehead

Blackadder: Meet the new Member of Parliament for Danny-on-the-Wold.
Prince George: But he's an absolute arsehead!

1987, Blackadder the Third: Dish and Dishonesty:

(UK, Ireland, Commonwealth, vulgar, derogatory, slang) An idiotic or undesirable person.


have a pop at

en-verb

have a pop at (third-person singular simple present has a pop at, present participle having a pop at, simple past and past participle had a pop at)

has a pop at (present singular third-person)
having a pop at (participle present)
had a pop at (participle past)
had a pop at (past)

I called this guy gay, and then he had a pop at me.

For quotations using this term, see Citations:have a pop at.

(UK, slang, transitive) To attack or start a fight with something or someone.


MCAT

(UK, slang, uncountable) the drug mephedrone.


bunny wunny

(UK, childish or endearing) A bunny; a rabbit.


fishy wishy

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


grinding frame

Any frame for supporting a grinding apparatus.

(UK, archaic) A machine for grinding the teeth of card clothing used on a carding machine


trender

(UK, dialect, obsolete) One who cleans the filth from wool.


knacky

en-adj

knacky (comparative more knacky, superlative most knacky)

more knacky (comparative)
most knacky (superlative)

I spak about to your highness, and a weel clinkit commodity it seems to me to be: he's a bit knacky clever body, that same Willie Dunbar

1830, Alexander Campbell, Perkin Warbeck:

(UK, dialect) Having a knack; cunning; crafty.


nunu

(childish, slang, UK) A vulva or vagina.


onstead

With loss of original w-, due to Scandinavian una (“to reside, dwell”), from *wonstead, from won (“to reside, dwell”) + stead. More at wone, stead.
Alternatively, possibly a corruption of homestead.

The farm onsteads on many properties are old, and afford too little accommodation

1737, Mr David Wilson, “on the Present State of the Upper Ward of Lanarkshire”, in Prize-essays and Transactions of the Highland and Agricultural Society of Scotland:

The onstead, which is nearly the same as when inhabited by the poet, lies about seven miles from the town, on the right hand side of the road, surrounded by a few trees.

1828, Robert Chambers, The Picture of Scotland, volume 1, page 232:

We then did a house at Mowhaugh, and a farm-house at Stodrig, and a part of an onstead. I did the wrightwork of a house at Bemersyde, and an onstead at Butchercote.

1875, Rev. John Thomson, Life and Times of William Thomson:

(UK, Scotland, dialect, archaic) A single farmhouse; a steading.


woolhall

(UK, historical) A trade market in the wool districts.


barth

unk

Etymology unknown.

In tempest[…]Warme barth, vnder hedge, is a sucker to beast.

1573, Thomas Tusser, Five Hundred Points of Good Husbandrie:

(UK, obsolete, dialect) A place of shelter for cattle.


twinter

(UK, agriculture, dialect, obsolete) A farm animal two winters old.


lofe

en-verb

lofe (third-person singular simple present lofes, present participle lofing, simple past and past participle lofed)

lofes (present singular third-person)
lofing (participle present)
lofed (participle past)
lofed (past)
loff (alternative)
loave (alternative)
love (alternative)

Inherited from Middle English loven (“to praise, set a price on”), from Old English lofian (“to praise, exalt, appraise, value, set a price on”), from Proto-West Germanic *lobōn, from Proto-Germanic *lubōną (“to praise, vow”), from Proto-Indo-European *lewbʰ- (“to love, like”).
Cognate with Scots loave (“to offer at a price”), North Frisian lowe (“to vow, swear”), Dutch loven (“to praise, bless, commend”), German loben (“to praise, laud, commend”), Icelandic lofa (“to promise, praise, allow”).

cog

(transitive, UK dialectal or obsolete) To praise; commend.


dulwilly

(UK, dialect, obsolete) The ringed plover.


maungy

en-adj

maungy (comparative more maungy, superlative most maungy)

more maungy (comparative)
most maungy (superlative)

Get thisen to bed, thee maungy little tyke, Aw've tell'd thee time an agean!

(British, Yorkshire, especially of a child) Sulky, bad-tempered, or peevish.


pigs in the parlour

Before 1968, what little coverage there was of Irish affairs was of the traditional 'pigs in the parlour' kind.

1986, Yonah Alexander, Alan O'Day, Ireland's terrorist dilemma, page 111:

(Ireland, UK) An allegory for a backward rural society.


swashy

swashy (comparative more swashy, superlative most swashy)

more swashy (comparative)
most swashy (superlative)


faddle

en-verb

faddle (third-person singular simple present faddles, present participle faddling, simple past and past participle faddled)

faddles (present singular third-person)
faddling (participle present)
faddled (participle past)
faddled (past)

Even then, when nurse is ready to take baby out for a walk, properly wrapped up, faddling Mamma comes to examine, if not a little corner remains to be closed to the air.

1893, Sebastian Kneipp, My Water-cure Tested for Than 35 Years and Published for the Cure of Diseases and the Preservation of Health, page 26:

“The last year she spent faddling at Aunt Mai's […] I am not sure this is necessary to her happiness, this faddling after other people. Now, to faddle after folk, who don't want you, is madness . . . but to faddle after those that do is very good employment. Now […] you are the very person for her, for she dotes on you […]”

1950, Cecil Woodham-Smith, quoting Mary Elizabeth Mohl, Florence Nightingale 1820-1910, page 435:

She was doing no good in church all put about and faddling after Blackie.

1974, Sydney John Watson, The Cottage Countess: An Historical Romance, page 44:


stonebrash

en-noun

stonebrash (countable and uncountable, plural stonebrashes)

(archaic, UK) A subsoil made up of small stones or finely broken rock.


daddock

Compare dialectal English dad (“large piece”), and see -ock.

We crushed the flowers to dust again, And leaped the daddock pile, And hunted, with a careless rein, The foe in savage style.

1866, Isaac B. Rich, Gazelle: A True Tale of the Great Rebellion, and Other Poems, page 137:

and you have not enough Of fairness left to tempt a truant hand To pluck you from the daddock in the clough, And give your spirit to the summer land

The partridge drums upon the hill, a daddock old and battered, While, now and then, an oriole lights up a scarlet gleam.

1890, Emma Rood Tuttle, From Soul to Soul, page 198:

Delicate sensitiveness will turn away in fear and disgust as some mouldering daddock is removed, and lizards, sloes, darting beetles, and plodding snails are dazed by the light.

1892, Hudson Tuttle, The Convent of the Sacred Heart, page 4:

Christendom's favouring renegades was of the greatest service to the Hebrew race, for it helped Judaism to despumate her ills and diseases; every tree has its daddock. The blackmailing Jewish apostates were the daddock of Israel.

1898, Gustav Pearlson, Twelve Centuries of Jewish Persecution, page 234:

(UK, dialect) The rotten body of a tree.


killigrew

(UK, Scotland, dialect, archaic) A bird, the red-billed chough.


fleetings

As soon as the whey is exhausted of its cream , about two quarts of butter-milk is poured into it , which again breaks into what are called fleetings or flit milk

1813, H. Holland, General View of the Agriculture of Cheshire:

(UK, dialect) A mixture of buttermilk and boiling whey; curds.


bushelage

bushelage (usually uncountable, plural bushelages)

Vessels entered of the port of Portsmoutir pay the bushelage only .

1835, Sir Alexander James Edmund Cockburn, The Corporations of England and Wales, page 133:

Bushelage consisted of a bushel taken from each cargo of dry goods, chiefly coal, salt, malt, barley, and wheat; though half a bushel of "peasen" appears to have sufficed.

1877, Plymouth athenaeum, Annual report and transactions - Volume 6, page 316:

Bushelage dues on landing at the village of Flushing, payable to Lord Clifton

1969, Irish University Press Series of British Parliamentary Papers, page 152:

(UK, archaic) A duty payable on goods by the bushel.


jaffle

en-verb

jaffle (third-person singular simple present jaffles, present participle jaffling, simple past and past participle jaffled)

jaffles (present singular third-person)
jaffling (participle present)
jaffled (participle past)
jaffled (past)

In Norfolk, "jaffle" is used in the sense of idle discourse, of an indecent or malicious character; and a prating busybody is said to be "always a snaffling and jafflin about what don't concern him."

1855, Notes and Queries, volume 11, page 391:

The goodwife may be 'haffling and jaffling' with a neighbour, and come in and tell you she thinks her very 'dis-improved,' as she is not 'jannock' now, and is tolerably sure to give her children either 'coshies' or 'loggetts' to quiet them if they make too much 'dullor,' […]

1885, Walter Rye, A History of Norfolk (page 307)

(UK, Norfolk, intransitive, archaic) To talk foolishly.


reverse ferret

The term originates from Kelvin MacKenzie's time at the The Sun. His preferred description of the role of journalists when it came to public figures was to "stick a ferret up their trousers". This meant making their lives uncomfortable, and was based on the northern sport of ferret-legging. However, when it became clear that the tide of public opinion had turned against the paper's line, MacKenzie would burst from his office shouting "Reverse Ferret!"

(UK media) A sudden volte-face in an organisation's editorial line on a certain issue, especially one without acknowledgment of the previous position.


scrubstone

(archaic, UK, dialect) A form of calciferous sandstone.


snape

snape (third-person singular simple present snapes, present participle snaping, simple past and past participle snaped)

snapes (present singular third-person)
snaping (participle present)
snaped (participle past)
snaped (past)

Origin obscure. Perhaps from snape, a dialectal variant of sneap (“to nip, bite, pinch”). More at sneap.

It had to be accurately cut and trimmed, and its upper edge scored to suit the snaping of every beam end.

2000, William L. Crothers, The American-built Clipper Ship, 1850-1856, International Marine, page 265:

(nautical, shipbuilding) To bevel the end of a timber to fit against an inclined surface.


formedon

From Old French [Term?], from Latin [Term?], so called because the plaintiff claimed “by the form of the gift”: per formam doni.

So, if Lands be given to Father and Son, and to the heirs of their two bodies begotten, the remainder over in fee, and afterwards the Father dieth without any Iſſue but the Son, and afterwards the Son dieth without Iſſue, and a Stranger abateth, he in the remainder ſhall have one Formedon in the remainder, although the Eſtate tails were ſeveral, […]

1680, Edward Coke, “Mich. 7 Jacobi. In the Common Pleas. Buckmere’s Case.”, in The Reports of Sir Edward Coke, Kt. […], 2nd edition, London: […] H. Twyford, […], →OCLC, part VI, pages 570–571:

(British, law, historical) A writ of right for a tenant in tail in case of a discontinuance of the estate tail.


killesse

killesses (plural)
killese (alternative)


ingross

ingross (third-person singular simple present ingrosses, present participle ingrossing, simple past and past participle ingrossed)

ingrosses (present singular third-person)
ingrossing (participle present)
ingrossed (participle past)
ingrossed (past)

(UK, historical, law) Prior to the abolition of inrollment in 1849, to engross a Parliamentary bill prior to royal assent by preparing it on a roll, incorporating any amendments.


fightwite

(UK, historical, law) In Medieval Britain, a fine imposed on someone for disturbing the peace with a fight or quarrel.


dolly shop

(pawn shop): After the 19th-century practice of using a black doll to mark out their shops.

(UK, obsolete) An unlicensed pawnshop where rags, old junk, and like items are bought and sold.

(UK, obsolete) A sweetshop furnished with the gambling device called a dolly.


gound

From Middle English gounde, gownde, from Old English gund (“matter, pus, poison”), from Proto-West Germanic *gund, from Proto-Germanic *gundaz (“sore, boil”), from Proto-Indo-European *gʰendʰ- (“ulcer, sore, abscess, boil”). Cognate with Old High German gunt (“purulent matter”), dialectal Norwegian gund (“the scab of an ulcer”).

cog

Typical terms invented to fill this vacuum include sleepies, eye-snot, and bed-boogers. The correct word, however, is gound. "Collin was never one to dillydally in the morning: by the time he had rubbed the gound out of his eyes he was usually on his third Manhattan."

2002, Peter Novobatzky, Ammon Shea, Depraved and Insulting English:

Your eyes get dried mucus in them while you sleep. The stuff is sometimes called bed-boogers or eye-snot, but to be accurate, it is "gound".

2004, Bart King, Chris Sabatino, The Big Book of Boy Stuff:

Your eyes have their own goo, too. You know that crud in the corners of your eyes when you first wake up? It's a type of rheum called gound. When you're awake, you blink away the gound.

2016, Darla Duhaime, Gross Body Stuff, page 16:

While you sleep, however, your rheum bundles detritus such as dust, blood cells, skin cells, and mucus into gound, the gummy yellow-y stuff sometimes known as “sleep” […]

2017, Carol Ann Rinzler, Spare Parts: In Praise of Your Appendix and Other Unappreciated Organs:

(UK dialectal) Mucus produced by the eyes during sleep.

(UK dialectal) Gummy matter in sore eyes.


goundy

en-adj

goundy (comparative goundier or more goundy, superlative goundiest or most goundy)

goundier (comparative)
more goundy (comparative)
goundiest (superlative)
most goundy (superlative)
gundy (alternative)
gunny (alternative)

From Middle English goundy, gundy, from Old English gundiġ (“goundy, mattery”), equivalent to gound + -y. More at gound.

(UK dialectal) Gummy or mattery, as in sore eyes.


mackly

mackly (comparative more mackly, superlative most mackly)

more mackly (comparative)
most mackly (superlative)

From Middle English makli, from make (“easy”, adjective), from Old Norse makr (“easy”), from Proto-Germanic *makaz (“comfortable, suitable”), from Proto-Indo-European *mag- (“to knead, press”), equivalent to make + -ly. Cognate with Old English macalīc (“convenient”), Scots makly, Middle Low German gemaclīch, Middle High German gemechlīche (“easily”) (German gemächlich (“gently”)), Dutch makkelijk (“easy”).

cog

(UK dialectal) Seemly; comely; good-looking.


in a pig's arse

"My wife and I have asked a crowd of craps
To come and waste their time and ours: perhaps You'd care to join us?"
"In a pig's arse, friend."

(idiomatic, vulgar, UK) Absolutely not; under no circumstances.


eathly

en-adv

eathly (comparative more eathly, superlative most eathly)

more eathly (comparative)
most eathly (superlative)

From Middle English eaðelice, eaþelic, eðeliche, eþeliche, from Old English ēaþelīce, īþelīċe, īeþelīce; equivalent to eath + -ly.

Herewith the golden book gan open fair,
And eathly! I might read their names, that next
Went to the King […]

1829, originally 1593, George Peele, Alexander Dyce, The Works of George Peele: The Honour of the Garter:

(UK dialectal) In an eath or easy manner; easily; readily.


eathful

en-adj

eathful (comparative more eathful, superlative most eathful)

more eathful (comparative)
most eathful (superlative)


eathy

eathy (comparative eathier or more eathy, superlative eathiest or most eathy)

eathier (comparative)
more eathy (comparative)
eathiest (superlative)
most eathy (superlative)


eathlins

en-adv

eathlins (comparative more eathlins, superlative most eathlins)

more eathlins (comparative)
most eathlins (superlative)


onding

(UK dialectal) A heavy, continuous fall of rain or snow; a downpour.


liss

From Middle English lis, lisse, lysse, from Old English liss, līs, līþs (“grace, favor, love, kindness, mercy, joy, peace, rest, remission, forgiveness, alleviation, salvation”), from Proto-Germanic *linþisjō (“rest”), from Proto-Indo-European *lent- (“bendsome, resilient”). Cognate with Danish lise (“solace, relief”), Swedish lisa (“solace, relief”). Related to Old English līþe (“lithe, soft, gentle, meek, mild, serene, benign, gracious, pleasant, sweet”). See lithe.

cog

(obsolete, UK dialectal) A respite from pain.


liss

en-verb

liss (third-person singular simple present lisses, present participle lissing, simple past and past participle lissed)

lisses (present singular third-person)
lissing (participle present)
lissed (participle past)
lissed (past)

From Middle English lissen, lyssen, from Old English lissan (“to subdue”), from Old English liss. Cognate with Swedish lisa (“to soften, weaken”). See above.

(obsolete, UK dialectal) To cease; stop.


portmote

From Middle English portemot, portemote, portmot, portmote; equivalent to port + mote; compare Anglo-Latin portimōtus.

And in England it hath always been held, that the king is lord of the whole shore, and particularly is the guardian of the ports and havens, which are the inlets and gates of the realm: and therefore, so early as the reign of king John, we find ships seised by the king's officers for putting in at a place that was not a legal port. These legal ports were undoubtedly at first assigned by the crown; since to each of them a court of portmote is incident, the jurisdiction of which must flow from the royal authority: the great ports of the sea are also referred to, as well known and established, by statute 4 Hen. IV. c. 20. which prohibits the landing elsewhere under pain of confiscation: and the statute 1 Eliz. c. 11. recites that the franchise of landing and discharging had been frequently granted by the crown.

1771, William, Sir Blackstone, “Of the King's Prerogative”, in Commentaries on the Laws of England, volume 1, page 264:

(law, obsolete, UK) A court, or mote, held in a port town.


socager

(law, historical, UK) A tenant by socage.


vicontiel

From Anglo-Norman vicontiel, from Middle French visconte (“viscount”) + -iel. Equivalent to viscount + -ial.

Vicontiel writs were those that were triable in the sheriff, or county, court.

It is in the election of the party injured by a trespass, to sue out a writ of trespass that is returnable, or one that is not. The latter writ is called a vicontiel writ; because the matter therein complained of is to be determined before the sheriff ...

1798, Henry Gwillim, A New Abridgment of the Law in Seven Volumes: 6: 5th edition, page 554:

(law, UK, obsolete) Of or pertaining to the viscount or sheriff of a county.


firetail

(UK, dialect, dated) The common redstart.


gemmy

en-adj

gemmy (comparative gemmier, superlative gemmiest)

gemmier (comparative)
gemmiest (superlative)

(UK, informal, dated) Spruce; smart; jemmy.


thrusher

(UK, obsolete, dialect) The song thrush.


double first

(UK, Ireland) A first-class degree in both classics and mathematics.

Chess-playing requires complete abstraction, and Nigel, though he was a double-first, occasionally lost a game from a lapse in that condensed attention that secures triumph

1880, [Benjamin Disraeli], Endymion […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), London: Longmans, Green, and Co., →OCLC:

(UK, Ireland) One who achieves such a degree.


virger

(UK, Ireland) Alternative form of verger.


open-arse

From Middle English open-ers, from Old English openears, corresponding to open + arse, ‘with allusion to the large cavity at the end of the fruit between the persistent calyx lobes’ – OED3.

In several of our counties the same fruit is called an open arse; another of those unluckily belotted travesties of a very properly-expressed original phrase [...].

1837, John Bellenden Kerr, An Essay on the Archaeology of our Popular Phrases and Nursery Rhymes, vol II.1:

On a second reading, prompted by the reproaches of several friends and scholars, I conclude that the pun on medlar, slangily known as ‘an open-arse’, and poperin pear, shape-resembling penis and scrotum, is so forcibly obvious that ‘an open et-caetera’ must here mean ‘an open arse’.

1968, Eric Partridge, Shakespeare's Bawdy, Routledge, published 2002, page 129:


foundationer

(UK) One who derives support from the funds or foundation of a college or school.


nanpie

An' twea 'r three Nanpies chatt'rin' owre her head.

1800, Thomas Browne, Poems on Several Occasions, page 160:

T'jerney wer lead'd forrard teah wi' an immense amount o' pleazure; in fakt, ivvery number i' t' nine gat theresense run up ta t' heeist pitch o' joyful expecktashun, fer all yan o' t' lot had a soart o' misgivin', becos he sed hede seen fer three da's hand runnin' nine Nanpies, whitch wer a bad sine, he sed—

1874, Nattie Nydds, T'Nidderdill Olminac, an'ivverybody's Kalinder fer 1875, page 172:

The unusual appearance of nanpies in a place is said to be ominous.

1901, Eliza Gutch, Examples of Printed Folk-lore Concerning the North Riding:

You see, he kept all nations o' wild birds an' wild animals down at his house; he'd linnets an' nanpies i' cages, and an ark full o' pricky-back urchins.

2022, F. W. Moorman, More Tales of the Ridings:


knight marshal

ye must understand, that sir Adrian Poinings, being knight marshall vpon his returne into England, was otherwise emploied

1577, Raphaell Holinshed, The Firste Volume of the Chronicles of England, Scotlande, and Irelande […], volume I, London: […] [Henry Bynneman] for Iohn Harrison, →OCLC:

(UK, historical) An officer in the royal household, responsible for maintaining order in the royal court.


moonwort

(now US, UK regional) Lunaria annua (greater moonwort); also known as honesty and annual honesty.


vicontiels

(UK, law, obsolete) Things belonging to the sheriff, especially farms (also called "vicontiel rents") for which the sheriff used to pay rent to the king.


fuffy

fuffy (comparative more fuffy, superlative most fuffy)

more fuffy (comparative)
most fuffy (superlative)


ungive

en-verb

ungive (third-person singular simple present ungives, present participle ungiving, simple past ungave, past participle ungiven)

ungives (present singular third-person)
ungiving (participle present)
ungave (past)
ungiven (participle past)

(intransitive, UK dialectal) To melt; thaw.


wheen

wheens (plural)
whean (alternative)
whin (alternative)

From Middle English *wheen, quhein (also hwan, hwon, quhon), from Old English hwēne, hwǣne (“somewhat, a little”), instrumental form of hwōn (“little, few, a little, trifle, somewhat, a little while”).

(UK dialectal) A little; a small number.

I have six terriers at hame, forbye twa couple of slow-hunds, five grews, and a wheen other dogs.

1815 February 24, [Walter Scott], Guy Mannering; or, The Astrologer. […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), Edinburgh: […] James Ballantyne and Co. for Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, […]; and Archibald Constable and Co., […], →OCLC:

She never seemed to want for siller; the house was as bright as a new preen, the yaird better delved than the manse garden; and there was routh of fowls and doos about the small steading, forbye a wheen sheep and milk-kye in the fields.

1902, John Buchan, The Outgoing of the Tide:

(UK dialectal, Scotland, Northern Ireland, Mid-Ulster) A quantity; a goodly number.


folkland

en-noun

folkland (countable and uncountable, plural folklands)

From Old English folcland. Equivalent to folk + land.

The folkland, the national fund, was administered and conveyed conjointly by the king and the witan.

1889, Hannis Taylor, The Origin and Growth of the English Constitution:

(law, historical, UK) Land held in villeinage, being distributed among the folk, or people, at the pleasure of the lord of the manor, and taken back at his discretion.


loanland

loanland (usually uncountable, plural loanlands)

(law, UK, obsolete) Land that has been granted temporarily, without any loss of ownership.


belirt

en-verb

belirt (third-person singular simple present belirts, present participle belirting, simple past and past participle belirted)

belirts (present singular third-person)
belirting (participle present)
belirted (participle past)
belirted (past)

From Middle English belirten, bilurten, from Old English belyrtan (“to deceive”), equivalent to be- + lirt. Cognate with Scots belirt (“to jilt, beguile, deceive”).

cog

(transitive, UK dialectal, obsolete) To deceive; beguile.

(transitive, UK dialectal, obsolete) To cheat; befool.


lirt

en-verb

lirt (third-person singular simple present lirts, present participle lirting, simple past and past participle lirted)

lirts (present singular third-person)
lirting (participle present)
lirted (participle past)
lirted (past)
lirte (alternative obsolete)

From Middle English lirten, lurten (“to cheat”), from Old English *lyrtan (found only in belyrtan (“to deceive”)), from Proto-West Germanic *lurtijan (“to deceive”), from Proto-Indo-European *lerd- (“to bend, crook”). Cognate with Scots lirt (“to cheat, deceive, delude”), Middle High German lürzen (“to deceive”), Middle High German lerz, lurz, lorz (“left, left-handed”), Old English lort, lyrt (“crooked”).

cog

(transitive, UK dialectal) To deceive; beguile.

(transitive, UK dialectal) To cheat; befool.


lirt

lirts (plural)
lirte (alternative obsolete)


lirt

lirts (present singular third-person)
lirting (participle present)
lirted (participle past)
lirted (past)

Origin obscure. Perhaps alteration of lirk (“to jerk”).

(intransitive, UK dialectal) To walk or move in a quick, lively, or pert manner.

(intransitive, UK dialectal) To gambol; frisk.


lirk

en-verb

lirk (third-person singular simple present lirks, present participle lirking, simple past and past participle lirked)

lirks (present singular third-person)
lirking (participle present)
lirked (participle past)
lirked (past)
lurk (alternative)
lerk (alternative)
lairk (alternative)
lark (alternative)

From Middle English lyrken, from Old Norse lerka (“to plait, fold, bind, lace up tightly, chastise”), related to Old Norse lurkr (“cudgel, club”) (see Proto-Celtic *lorgā).

der

(transitive, UK dialectal) To crease; rumple; cause to hang in loose folds.

(intransitive, UK dialectal, Scotland) To become creased or wrinkled.


lirk

lirks (plural)
lurk (alternative)
lerk (alternative)
lairk (alternative)
lark (alternative)

From Middle English lerke, from the verb. See above.

(transitive, UK dialectal) A crease; rumple; fold.

(transitive, UK dialectal, Scotland) A fold in the skin; a wrinkle.


mainor

From Anglo-Norman meinoure, Old French manuevre. See maneuver and French main (“hand”).

(law, UK, obsolete) The act or fact, especially of theft.

for the future one credible Witness proveing the Fact, and supported by probable Circumstances, or the Mainor being upon Search or otherwise found with or upon the Malefactor[…]

1821, Anthony Mills, The Ancient Ordinances and Statute Laws of the Isle of Man:

(law, UK, obsolete) A stolen article found on the person of the thief.


sell someone a pup

en-verb

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

sells someone a pup (present singular third-person)
selling someone a pup (participle present)
sold someone a pup (participle past)
sold someone a pup (past)

From an old swindle, where one would be sold a bag purportedly containing a piglet, but actually containing a puppy. Compare pig in a poke.

“Yes,” I agreed, “you undoubtedly sold him a pup. Precious mug he must have been to let you. But I suppose, as it was Saturday night, he was pretty busy.”

1931, R. Austin Freeman, Pontifax, Son and Thorndyke, published 2003, page 31:

I don't know who sold him the gold prospectus, but whoever did, sold him a pup.

2004, Henry De Vere Stacpoole, “Glued”, in The Slayer and Other Tales from the Pulps, page 99:

The document[…] reveals how Churchill complained that Duff had “sold him a pup” and let him think that “this place is a real bomb-proof shelter”.

2009 July 20, Arifa Akbar, “Churchill felt he was ‘sold a pup’ of a bomb shelter, letter reveals”, in The Independent:

Online dog lovers sold a pup [title]

2009 July 31, “Online dog lovers sold a pup”, in Sydney Morning Herald:

It hurt Henrietta to think that there was any area in which her husband did not excel, but if he had been anyone else she would have concluded that the dealer had sold him a pup.

2011, Cynthia Harrod-Eagles, Dynasty 22: The Mirage:

(UK) To sell something of little worth, pretending that it is something else of greater value.


wilsome

en-adj

wilsome (comparative more wilsome, superlative most wilsome)

more wilsome (comparative)
most wilsome (superlative)

From Middle English wilsom, equivalent to will (“desire”) + -some.

(UK dialectal) Willful; obstinate; stubborn.

(UK dialectal) Loved; desirable; amiable.


wilsome

From Middle English wilsum, wilsom, wildsom, probably after Old Norse villusamr (“erroneous, false”), equivalent to will (“wild”) + -some. Cognate with Scots wilsum (“treacherous, wandering”).


gurt

From Middle English girt, gert, a metathetic variant of gret (“great”). More at great.

Then I opens the cupboard door and I sees a gurt big spider looking up at me.

Zo ′e bought a slap-up rod and tackle, and, ev coose, a darn gurt book vull o′ vlies — talk′d about ketchin′ whackin′ trout, and me — ap a salmon the fust time.

1842, The Sportsman, Volume VI: January to June, page 103:

“That was the word,” said Farmer Forder. “Hav′n pocketed the tuppunce, the chap as show′d off the clock opened the case, and let me zee the works of ′un, and wonderful works they was : wheels within wheels, and all sorts o′ crinkum-crankums, like a gurt puzzle.[…]”

1845, Douglas Jerrold, editor, Shilling Magazine, Volume II: July to December, page 416:

“Well, Tom, where did those birds settle?”
“Down there, sir, under that gurt oak-tree.”
Not a bird, however, was to be found.

1884, John Coker Egerton, Sussex Folk and Sussex Ways: Stray Studies in the Wealden Formation of Human Nature, page 27:

(UK dialect, West Country) Pronunciation spelling of great.


gurts

(UK, dialect, West Country, Devon, dated) groats; hulled grain


ullet

Compare Old French hullote, English howlet.

(archaic, UK) The tawny owl, Strix aluco.


social landlord

en-noun

social landlord (plural social landlords)

(chiefly UK) An agent or agency that provides social housing.


ary

A modification of e'er a, for ever a. Compare nary.


tosspiece

From toss + piece; perhaps in reference to tosser and ringpiece?

Shut up, you tosspiece!

Indeed, during April 2008, a rumour that Glazer had died was discussed on the messageboard, and most fans seemed to celebrate this idea. For instance, F.C. United fan stated, 'Fuck the capitalist tosspiece, DIE IN PAIN!!!!' (24 April 2008) which served to illustrate some of the anger felt toward Glazer.

2011, P. Millward, The Global Football League: Transnational Networks, Social Movements and Sport in the New Media Age:

(UK, vulgar, slang, rare) An undesirable person; used as an insult.


subreader

When his lordship was reader, he made him his subreader, which shewed him to the society, and to men of his profession

1819, Roger North, The Life of the Right Honourable Francis North:

(law, UK, archaic) An under reader in the inns of court, who reads the texts of law the reader is to discourse upon.


go potty

en-verb

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

goes potty (present singular third-person)
going potty (participle present)
went potty (past)
gone potty (participle past)

From British use of potty as slang for insane, probably under influence from petty.

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


gesling

"This here's t'furst year uz geese's hed geslins sin we gate em."


eldning

From Middle English elning, elnung, from Old English ellnung, elnung (“encouragement, comfort, consolation, emulation, hot emulation, zeal, envy”), from elnian (“to emulate, endeavor to be equal, be zealous, strive with zeal after another, make strong, strengthen, comfort oneself, gain strength”) (compare Old English ellen (“zeal, strength, power, vigor, valor, courage, fortitude, strife, contention”)), equivalent to elne + -ing. Cognate with Scots eldning (“jealousy”).

cog

eldnyng (alternative)
elduring (alternative)
eldling (alternative)

(rare, obsolete, UK, Scotland, dialectal) Envy; jealousy; suspicion.


velverd

(UK, dialect, archaic, rare, West Country, Wiltshire) A bird, the fieldfare.


head

EN-AU ck1 couldn't organise a piss-up in a brewery.ogg

En-au-couldn't organise a piss-up in a brewery.ogg

Presents an example of a minimally simple project that the person or group described is presumed unable to accomplish.

“Deladrieux should have stayed an accountant,” Murphy sighed. “He's got three people working for him but they're just administrative clerks, pencil-pushers, they couldn't organise a piss-up in a brewery. That's what you get when you assign engineering jobs to non-engineers.[…]”

2006, G. C. Lemans, Chantier: A tribute to the world's engineers and their partners in life, page 60:

'It'll be a sad day when the British leave. You lot couldn't organise a piss-up in a brewery without the Queen, God bless her'.

2023 January 28, Martin Thiebaut, The Nomad Letters, Troubador Publishing Ltd, →ISBN:

But, a tip for everyone reading this, don't use Visa Machine, as it couldn't organise a piss-up in a brewery! And I should know, as I have had three breweries and I can!

2018 December 11, Ian Rogers, London to Magadan, Troubador Publishing Ltd, →ISBN, page 47:

(UK, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, vulgar, slang, idiomatic) Is unable even to organise a project that requires no planning; is incompetent; used to describe someone as greatly incompetent.

couldn't organise a bun fight in a bakery


unketh

en-adj

unketh (comparative more unketh, superlative most unketh)

more unketh (comparative)
most unketh (superlative)


bejape

en-verb

bejape (third-person singular simple present bejapes, present participle bejaping, simple past and past participle bejaped)

bejapes (present singular third-person)
bejaping (participle present)
bejaped (participle past)
bejaped (past)

From Middle English bejapen, bijapen, equivalent to be- + jape. Cognate with Scots bejaip (“to befool”).

(transitive, rare, UK dialectal) To play a trick on; trick or befool.


fouth

Variant of fulth, from Middle English fulthe; equivalent to full + -th (abstract nominal suffix).

(UK dialectal, Northern England, Scotland) Abundance; plenty.


fouth

en-adj

fouth (comparative more fouth, superlative most fouth)

more fouth (comparative)
most fouth (superlative)
fowth (alternative)
foulth (alternative)

(UK dialectal, Northern England, Scotland) Abundant; copious; plenteous.


behope

en-verb

behope (third-person singular simple present behopes, present participle behoping, simple past and past participle behoped)

behopes (present singular third-person)
behoping (participle present)
behoped (participle past)
behoped (past)


beglammer

beglammer (third-person singular simple present beglammers, present participle beglammering, simple past and past participle beglammered)

beglammers (present singular third-person)
beglammering (participle present)
beglammered (participle past)
beglammered (past)

From be- + glammer, Scottish variant of glamour (“to bewitch”), equivalent to be- + glamour.

(transitive, UK dialectal, Scotland) To bewitch; deceive; hoodwink.


befangled

en-adj

befangled (comparative more befangled, superlative most befangled)

more befangled (comparative)
most befangled (superlative)

(UK dialectal) Smartly dressed or decorated; bedizened.


bedone

bedone (comparative more bedone, superlative most bedone)

more bedone (comparative)
most bedone (superlative)


bedrip

bedrips (plural)
bederup (alternative)
bederepe (alternative)
bidrepe (alternative)

From Middle English bedrip, from Old English bedrīp (“compulsory service rendered to a landowner at harvest time, the reaping of corn on request”), from a compound of bed (“prayer, supplication, religious ordinance, service”) + rīp (“reaping, harvest”). More at bead, reap.


bedole

en-verb

bedole (third-person singular simple present bedoles, present participle bedoling, simple past and past participle bedoled)

bedoles (present singular third-person)
bedoling (participle present)
bedoled (participle past)
bedoled (past)

From be- + dole, from Middle English dollen, variant of dullen (“to make dull”), equivalent to be- + dull.

(transitive, UK dialectal) To stupefy with pain or grief.


dizen

dizen (third-person singular simple present dizens, present participle dizening, simple past and past participle dizened)

dizens (present singular third-person)
dizening (participle present)
dizened (participle past)
dizened (past)
disen (alternative)
dysyn (alternative)
dizzen (alternative)

From dialectal dize (“to put tow on a distaff”), from Middle English *disen, from Old English *disan, *disian, from *dise, *disen (“bunch of flax on a distaff”), from Proto-Germanic *disanō (“distaff”), of unknown origin, equivalent to dize + -en. Cognate with Saterland Frisian Diezene (“bundle of flax, distaff”), Middle Low German dise, disene (“distaff”).

cog

I tell you, these Englishwomen have either no life at all in them, or they're nothing but animal life. 'Gad, how they dizen themselves! They've no other use for their fingers. The wealth of this country's frightful!'

1871, George Meredith, chapter XXXIX, in The Adventures of Harry Richmond:

(transitive, UK dialectal) To dress showily; adorn; dress out.


bedaff

en-verb

bedaff (third-person singular simple present bedaffs, present participle bedaffing, simple past bedaffed, past participle bedaffed or bedaft)

bedaffs (present singular third-person)
bedaffing (participle present)
bedaffed (past)
bedaffed (participle past)
bedaft (participle past)

From Middle English bedaffen, bidaffen, equivalent to be- + daff.

(transitive, UK dialectal) To confound or stupefy.


candroy

(UK, dialect) A machine for spreading out cotton cloths to prepare them for printing.


use a sledgehammer to crack a nut

use a sledgehammer to crack a nut (third-person singular simple present uses a sledgehammer to crack a nut, present participle using a sledgehammer to crack a nut, simple past and past participle used a sledgehammer to crack a nut)

uses a sledgehammer to crack a nut (present singular third-person)
using a sledgehammer to crack a nut (participle present)
used a sledgehammer to crack a nut (participle past)
used a sledgehammer to crack a nut (past)

/ˌjuːz‿ə ˈslɛd͡ʒhæmə tə ˌkɹæk‿ə ˈnʌt/

/ˌjuz‿ə ˈslɛd͡ʒhæmɚ tə ˌkɹæk‿ə ˈnʌt/

En-au-use a sledgehammer to crack a nut.ogg

The analogy dates back to at least the middle of the 19th century: see, for example, this quotation from Levi Carroll Judson’s work Sages and Heroes of the American Revolution (1851): “He at once became the nucleus around which a band of patriots gathered and formed a nut too hard to be cracked by the sledgehammer of monarchy.”

nb...

In Two Parts: Including the Signers of the Declaration of Independence. Two Hundred and Forty Three of the Sages and Heroes are Presented in Due Form: And Many Others are Named Incidentally.

This last mentioned consideration involves the concept in Community law (derived principally from German law) called "proportionality". In plain English it means "You must not use a steam hammer to crack a nut, if a nutcracker would do."

[1983 January 20, Lord Diplock [i.e., Kenneth Diplock, Baron Diplock], Lord of Appeal in Ordinary, House of Lords, “Regina, respondent, and Goldstein, appellant [[1983] 1 W.L.R. 151]”, in The Weekly Law Reports, volume 1, London: Incorporated Council of Law Reporting for England and Wales, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 155:

Today, Mr [Anthony] Worthington, an engineer, said: 'Sending three officers over simply to give a warning about kids playing football in the street is like using a sledgehammer to crack a nut.[…]'

2010 September 21, “‘A sledgehammer to crack a nut’: Three police officers and a patrol car rush to … children playing football in the street”, in Daily Mail, London: DMG Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2023-03-06:

In our view the Public Order Bill is an attempt by the Government to use a sledgehammer to crack a nut. At a time when we should be focusing on rebuilding trust in the police, this Bill risks stoking further mistrust and undermining their vital role in protecting the public.

2022 December 17, Martin Evans, quoting Mike Barton et al., “Law to curb Just Stop Oil protests ‘a sledgehammer to crack a nut’, say ex-police chiefs”, in Chris Evans, editor, The Daily Telegraph, London: Telegraph Media Group, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2023-02-18:

(intransitive, Australia, British, New Zealand, idiomatic, informal) To use disproportionate or significantly excessive force to carry out an action; to do something overzealously.

to use disproportionate or significantly excessive force to carry out an action

高射炮打蚊子 (gāoshèpào dǎ wénzi, literally “to use an anti-aircraft gun to hit a mosquito”)

割雞焉用牛刀 /割鸡焉用牛刀 (gējī yān yòng niúdāo, literally “when killing a chicken, why use an ox cleaver?”)

牛鼎烹雞 /牛鼎烹鸡 (niúdǐngpēngjī, literally “to use a cauldron for a cow to cook a chicken”)

ಗುಬ್ಬಿ ಮೇಲೆ ಬ್ರಹ್ಮಾಸ್ತ್ರ (gubbi mēle brahmāstra, literally “to strike a sparrow with the brahmāstra”)

пали́ть из пу́шки по воробья́м impf (palítʹ iz púški po vorobʹjám, literally “to fire a cannon at sparrows”)

పిచ్చుక మీద బ్రహ్మాస్త్రము (piccuka mīda brahmāstramu, literally “to strike a sparrow with the brahmāstra”)

ขี่ช้างจับตั๊กแตน (kìi-cháang-jàp-dták-gà-dtɛɛn, literally “to ride an elephant to catch a grasshopper”)

when your only tool is a hammer, every problem looks like a nail


treddle

From Middle English tridel, tyrdel, from Old English tyrdel (“dropping, small piece of excrement”), diminutive of Old English tord (“piece of excrement, dung”), equivalent to turd + -le.

der

(UK dialectal) The dung of sheep or hares.


guttler

Here it was the generosity of men of property contributing to the means of giving pleasure to meritorious labourers; and there it is a set of impudent guzzlers and guttlers, swallowing the earnings of working people, which they have no more right to swallow then they have to take the skins off our bodies.

1832 July 8, William Cobbett, Political Register:

(British, dialect) One who guttles; a greedy eater; a glutton.


lungie

a kittywake's and lungie's nest

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

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


radiophonics

(UK, dated) radiophonic sounds and music, or the techniques used to produce them


elsin

From Middle English aslen, elsen (“an awl or some other pointed instrument or tool”), either from Middle Dutch elsene, alsene, from Old High German alansa, from Proto-Germanic *alasnō, or from an unrecorded Old English form.

(UK, dialect, obsolete) A shoemaker's awl.


intercommonage

(law, UK, obsolete) The right or privilege of intercommoning (sharing grazing land).


nash

en-adj

nash (comparative more nash, superlative most nash)

more nash (comparative)
most nash (superlative)

(UK, dialect) Alternative spelling of nesh.


twilt

en-verb

twilt (third-person singular simple present twilts, present participle twilting, simple past and past participle twilted)

twilts (present singular third-person)
twilting (participle present)
twilted (participle past)
twilted (past)

(UK, dialect, obsolete) To cross-stitch in quincunx fashion so as to connect two thicknesses together.


nall

Either from Icelandic nál (“needle”), or from an awl, like newt, from ewt.

, And apron, and scissars for head and for tail,
Whole bridle and saddle, whitleather, and nall,
With collars and harness, for thiller and all[…]

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


gemminess

An infinite gemminess of flowers scintillates .along its course

1859, Theodore Winthrop, A Companion to the Heart of the Andes, page 41:

(UK, slang, archaic) The state or quality of being gemmy; spruceness; smartness.


whinnock

From whine + -ock or from whin, wheen (“small amount or number”) + -ock.

(UK, dialect) The smallest pig in a litter; the runt.


shagged out

en-adj

shagged out (comparative more shagged out, superlative most shagged out)

more shagged out (comparative)
most shagged out (superlative)

(UK, slang) exhausted (as if with sexual activity)


laitand

laitand (comparative more laitand, superlative most laitand)

more laitand (comparative)
most laitand (superlative)

From Middle English laitande, present participle of laiten (“to seek, look for”), equivalent to lait + -and.


burghal

In Scotland, parishes are either burghal, i.e. those comprised wholly within a burgh royal; landward, those forming a rural district; or mixed, i.e. a burgh with a rural district attached.

1867, John Guthrie Smith, A Digest of the Law of Scotland Relating to the Poor, the Public Health, and Other Matters Managed by Parochial Boards, 2nd edition, Edinburgh: T&T Clark, Introduction, p. 2:

There is a pleasant smell of cooking about, and a hum of compact and contented life. Add the excitement of an election, and you have that busy burghal hive which is the basis of all human society—a snug little commune intent on its own affairs, a world which for the moment owes allegiance to no other.

1930 July, John Buchan, “Portaway—Red Davie”, in Castle Gay, Boston, Mass.; New York, N.Y.: Houghton Mifflin Company; Cambridge, Mass.: The Riverside Press, →OCLC, page 202:

It is true that Frome is not called a borough, nor are burgesses recorded for it, but the payment of the ‘third penny’ suggests burghal status […]

1986, H. C. Darby, chapter 10, in Domesday England, Cambridge University Press, page 290:


tied oil

(UK, law) Any oil that is either a light oil, or a heavy oil that falls into the excise definition of gas oil, fuel oil or kerosene.


do me a lemon

"Do me a favour" (rhyming with "lemon flavour") in Cockney rhyming slang.

(UK, idiomatic, humorous) Expresses disbelief.


witts

the clean witts contain native oxide of tin, black or rosin-tin, and wolfram[…]

1852, Charles Tomlinson, Cyclopædia of Useful Arts, Mechanical and Chemical:

(mining, UK, dialect, Cornwall) Tin ore freed from earthy matter by stamping.


sus law

(UK, informal) A law that permitted a police officer to stop, search and potentially arrest people on suspicion of being in breach of section 4 of the Vagrancy Act 1824.


mortling

en-noun

mortling (countable and uncountable, plural mortlings)

(UK, dialect, archaic) An animal, such as a sheep, that has died of disease or privation.

(UK, archaic) Wool taken from a dead sheep.


fen cricket

(UK, dialect, archaic) The mole cricket.


gibfish

When a gib fish has found a stream that he likes , he makes a hole as a swine works in the ground with his nose , his mouth being nailed with the gib in its socket

1834, Thomas Medwin, The Angler in Wales: Or, Days and Nights of Sportsmen:

In Northumberland the male [salmon] is called a summercock, or gibfish

1885, Edward Hamilton, Recollections of Fly Fishing for Salmon, Trout, and Grayling:


bearherd

/ˈbɛəɹˌhɜɹd/

From bear + herd, probably a variant of bearard, itself a variant of bearward, the second element being treated as herd (“keeper of a number of domestic animals assembled together”) as in shepherd.

(chiefly UK, archaic, historical) Synonym of bearward (“someone who handles and keeps bears (and sometimes other animals such as apes and bulls), especially for use in public entertainments such as baiting or dancing displays”).


twagger

And I have brought a twagger for the nones,
 A bunting lamb; nay, pray, you feel no bones.

1581, George Peele, The Arraignment of Paris:


elsen

From Middle English elsen, elsyn, alsene (“an awl or some other pointed instrument or tool”), either from Middle Dutch elsene, alsene, from Old Dutch *elisna, *alasna, from Proto-West Germanic *alisnu, *alasnu, from Proto-Germanic *alasnō, or from an unrecorded Old English form.

piercing with an elsen


grindery

grindery (countable and uncountable, plural grinderies)

(UK, dialect, uncountable) The materials used by leatherworkers.


bite in the arse

en-verb

bite in the arse (third-person singular simple present bites in the arse, present participle biting in the arse, simple past bit in the arse, past participle bitten in the arse)

bites in the arse (present singular third-person)
biting in the arse (participle present)
bit in the arse (past)
bitten in the arse (participle past)
bite in the ass (alternative)

After the kitten had died, Robins sent a text message to Knutton saying: "Remember the saying: 'What goes around comes around?' It has started already to bite you in the arse. The cat? Karma."

2011 December 14, Steven Morris, “Devon woman jailed for 168 days for killing kitten in microwave”, in The Guardian:

come back to bite
come back to bite#English

(transitive, slang, vulgar, UK) Synonym of come back to bite.


shruff

(obsolete, UK, dialect) Light, dry wood, or material used for fuel.


slipboard

Despite having transferred from Plumstead to the 25 on 15 January 2005, here is 23032 (LX03 HDZ) in October 2007 making a return visit south of the river, albeit in the Pall Mall view having to carry a slipboard.

2016, Matthew Wharmby, The London Bendy Bus: The Bus We Hated:

Bristol LD6G 1432, en route to Lymington, carries a slipboard on its radiator stating 'Not on service for Bournemouth Corporation passengers'.

2019, Malcolm Batten, Wessex Buses 1970-1985: Mainland National Bus Company Fleets:

The large slipboard under its canopy tells that minimum fares apply on this trunk route within the Kingston area, to protect it from 'short riders'.

2022, Jim Blake, London Transport Buses in the 1960s:

(UK, historical) A sign that slides into a frame on the front of a bus for displaying special messages.


bobbish

en-adj

bobbish (comparative more bobbish, superlative most bobbish)

more bobbish (comparative)
most bobbish (superlative)

"The pigs is well," said Mr. Squeers, "the cows is well, and the boys is bobbish. Young Sprouter has been a-winking, has he? I'll wink him when I get back."

1852 March – 1853 September, Charles Dickens, Bleak House, London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1853, →OCLC:

“How do you do, Mr. Huxter,” the Prince of Fairoaks said in his most princely manner—“I hope you are very well.”
“Pretty bobbish, thanky.”

1848 November – 1850 December, William Makepeace Thackeray, chapter 47, in The History of Pendennis. […], volume (please specify |volume=I or II), London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1849–1850, →OCLC:

(UK, slang, dated) Hearty; in good spirits.


hedgebote

From Middle English hege botte; equivalent to hedge + bote.


seasoner

(UK) A conker that has been stored for a whole year and allowed to harden.


essoin

en-verb

essoin (third-person singular simple present essoins, present participle essoining, simple past and past participle essoined)

essoins (present singular third-person)
essoining (participle present)
essoined (participle past)
essoined (past)
essoign (alternative)

Inherited from Middle English essoyne, from Old French essoignier, from Medieval Latin exoniō, essoniō (“excuse oneself; accept an excuse”), from ex- + sonium + -ō, sonium being from Proto-West Germanic *sunnju (“care, need”).

der

I'll not essoin thee.

(UK, law, transitive) To excuse for failure to appear in court.


essoin

[W]ith Rejoinders and Replies, / Long Bills, and Anſvvers, ſtuft vvith Lies, / Demurr, Imparlance, and Eſſoign, / The Parties ne'er could Iſſue join: / For Sixteen Years the Cauſe vvas ſpun, / And then ſtood vvhere it firſt begun.

1726, [Jonathan Swift], Cadenus and Vanessa. A Poem, London: […] J. Roberts […], →OCLC, page 9:

(UK, law, obsolete) An excuse for not appearing in court at the return of process; the allegation of an excuse to the court.


deed poll

I changed my name by deed poll.

(law, UK, Ireland) A deed that effects a change of an individual's name.


water witch

water witches (plural)
water-witch (alternative)
waterwitch (alternative)

Grebes are so called due to their ability to evade hunters and predators by disappearing underwater. Storm petrels are so called due to the folk belief that their arrival foretells approaching storms. Both birds also sometimes walk on water.

Ten or fifteen dark little birds […] these are "Mother Carey's chickens," the "water-witches," Stormy Petrels, which are so familiar to the eye of the sailor, and the sight of which he dreads so much; […]

1874, Alfred Edmund Brehm, Bird-life, tr. by H.M. Labouchere and W. Jesse, page 866:

[see chapter title, viz.:] Song of the Water-Witch (The Stormy-Petrel)

1915, Herbert Randall, “Song of the Water-Witch (The Stormy-Petrel)”, in Cape Cod Magazine: A Monthly Magazine Devoted to Cape Cod Interests, page 8:

There is no doubt that the stormy petrel has learned to imitate the motion of the waves, flying with motions not unlike those of certain fish. […] These strange little "water-witches" or Mother Carey's chickens are familiar to all sea-travellers.

c. 1917, Royal Dixon, The human side of birds, page 215


newing

en-noun

newing (countable and uncountable, plural newings)


tufthunting

(UK, slang, archaic) The practice of seeking after, and hanging on, noblemen, or persons of quality, especially in English universities.


geason

en-adj

geason (comparative more geason, superlative most geason)

more geason (comparative)
most geason (superlative)
geazon (alternative)
gaison (alternative)
gessen (alternative)

From Middle English geson, gesene (“rare, scarce”), from Old English gǣsne (“deprived of, wanting, destitute, barren, sterile, dead”), from Proto-West Germanic *gaisnī (“barren, poor”), from Proto-Indo-European *gʰē- (“to be gaping, yawn”). Cognate with North Frisian gast (“barren”), Low German güst (“barren”), Old High German geisini, keisini (“lack”).

der

(UK dialectal) Difficult to procure; scant; sparing.


buckhound

buckhounds (plural)
buck hound (alternative)
buck-hound (alternative)


gozzard

(UK, dialectal) Archaic form of gooseherd.


stull

Related to German Stollen (“stull”), ultimately from Proto-Germanic *stullô (“support, post, beam”), but its route into English is uncertain. Perhaps borrowed from Middle High German stolle. Doublet of stollen. Compare also stum.

(UK, dialect, mining) A framework of timber covered with boards to support rubbish or to protect miners from falling stones.


pinnock

Unknown. Perhaps from a base pin, of unknown origin + -ock (diminutive suffix).


escambio

From Latin escambium, excambium. See excamb.

(UK, law, obsolete) A licence formerly required for the making over a bill of exchange to another person overseas.


sea pudding

(UK, archaic) Any of various sea cucumbers.


tupman

(UK, obsolete) A man who breeds, or deals in, tups (rams)


fouter

From French foutre (“to lecher”), Latin futuere. Compare fouty.

The astonish'd tailor
[…]swearing he was better stuff
Than sick a fouter.


preaudience

From pre- + audience, i.e. the right to be heard before another.

A patent of precedence is sometimes granted cedence to barristers , which entitles them to such rank and preaudience as are assigned in their respective patents

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

(historical, UK, law) Precedence of rank at the bar among lawyers.


wharp

(UK, archaic) Alternative spelling of warp (“sediment which subsides from turbid water, especially from the River Trent”).


blates

Clipping of blatantly + -s (hypocoristic suffix). Compare obvs (“obviously”).

LOST IS WELL CRAP. GO WATCH RAVEN ON BBC1 FOR PROP ENTERTAINMENT.blates.xx.

2006, daniel.g.read@googlemail.com, “LOST IS 4 LOSERS!”, in alt.tv.lost (Usenet):

>There have been far more abominations than great games based on popular
>films, but what are your 5 favourites?
5) Er.
4) Um.
3) Erm.
2) Batman the Movie (Spectrum)
1) Goldeneye (N64). Blates, innit.

2008, deKay, “Tuesday Top 5: Movie Licences”, in uk.games.video.misc (Usenet):

(UK, slang) Blatantly; certainly, obviously.


costning

From Middle English costning, costnunge, from Old English costnung (“temptation, testing, trial, tribulation”), from Old English costnian, variant of Old English costian (“to tempt, try, prove, examine”), from Proto-Germanic *kustōną (“to try, taste”), from Proto-Indo-European *ǵews- (“to enjoy, taste”), equivalent to cost + -ing. Cognate with German kosten (“to taste”). Related to choose.


coath

en-noun

coath (countable and uncountable, plural coaths)

From Middle English cothe, from Old English coþu (“disease, sickness, pestilence”), from Proto-Germanic *kuþō.

inh

(UK dialectal) Sickness; disease; pestilence.

(UK dialectal) An attack of illness, such as swooning, pangs of childbirth, etc.

(UK dialectal) A disease affecting sheep or cattle.


Gary Glitter

Rhyming slang for shitter, referring to Gary Glitter, British glam rock singer.

Just because we like to take it up the Gary Glitter, darling, it doesn't mean we have to grow fat to satisfy the fears of our friends

"...and I bet she's dirty, and all. She's bound to take it up the Gary Glitter.”
“I'm sure that Mel's a nice church-going lass,” I countered, almost managing a straight face, “who has never been kissed, let alone done up the arse.”

(UK, vulgar, slang, idiomatic) The anus, especially in the context of anal sex.


scooterist

(UK) A member of a scooter-riding subculture, associated especially with the 1960s Mod movement and its various revivals.


bent as a nine-bob note

In pre-decimal English money, a nine-bob (nine-shilling) note would obviously be fraudulent, since there was no such denomination.

(simile, UK, slang) Extremely dishonest or criminally-minded.

(simile, UK, slang) Ostentatiously homosexual.


fit as a butcher's dog

Based on the assumption that a butcher's dog is likely to be well fed because of the ready supply of its master's meat.

This time not only is Gooch as fit as a butcher's dog but England, through their efforts at Headingley and Lord's, are mentally attuned to the process of both winning and, crucially in the second match, not losing.

1991 July 4, Mike Selvey, The Guardian, "Cricket: England out to make it seventh time lucky"

In my eyes, Nick Nairn is still in his early 20s, invincible and as fit as a butcher's dog.

2000 April 16, Nick Nairn, “Sunday Herald”, in Food for Thought:

"I had my midlife crisis at 31 but here I am at 48 and as fit as a butcher's dog," he said.

2010 July 12, “Runner launches Nottinghamshire's first ultra marathon”, in BBC News:

(chiefly British) Very fit; in good shape.


fario

From Latin fario (“salmon trout”), possibly from late Proto-Indo-European *sr̥Hyón-, akin to English sturgeon.

As you walk along the main street which runs parallel with the river, an angler is busy "swishing" his rod violently in the air to "dry" the fly, ere he essays to drop it over the nose of one of the speckled fario which abound; so be careful to step down off the path which runs alongside the stream, in case you should put the fish "down" and spoil the sport.

1918, J. Arthur Gibbs, A Cotswold Village:

A collection of Scotch red deer and fallow deer heads testified to the magnificent hunting that is obtained among the virgin forests of New Zealand, and specimens of trout--rainbow, salmon, fario, and fontinalis--taken from the mountain-fed streams that intersect the country from one end to the other appealed to the fishing enthusiast.

1906, Louisiana Purchase Exposition Commission, Final Report of the Louisiana Purchase Exposition Commission:


fieldsman

The batsmen took an easy single as the ball approached the fieldsman but Gambhir called for a second on the throw and Franklin uprooted the non-striker's stumps.

2009 March 19, AAP, “India 4-278 at stumps”, in Herald Sun:

Radley pulled it, as a great laugh went up, to the very spot from which the fieldsman had been removed.

I timed it successfully, and had no doubt of having added four to my score, when, to my astonishment, I saw a fieldsman running from the direction of the hedge.

1920, Various, Punch, or the London Charivari, Vol. 159, July 14th, 1920:

Watch the flying fieldsman, Keen to save the fourer, Gallop past the wooden box Sacred to the scorer!

William Grey, 1; Samuel Long, 2; James Brown, 3; George and John Simmons, one capital, the other so-so--an uncertain hitter, but a good fieldsman, 5; Joel Brent, excellent, 6; Ben Appleton--here was a little pause, for Ben's abilities at cricket were not completely ascertained, but then he was a good fellow, so full of fun and waggery!

1873, Various, The World's Greatest Books, Vol VI.:

(cricket, chiefly Australia, dated in UK) fielder


spotted dog

en-noun

spotted dog (countable and uncountable, plural spotted dogs)

" Are there any raisins in the store-cupboard ? " I next asked weakly. " I noticed there were not many in the spotted dog pudding we had the other day."

1905, Mabel Barnes-Grundy, The Vacillations of Hazel, page 173:

Fine—I've got a spotted dog about baked done in the oven, now.

1906, The Pacific Monthly: A Magazine of Education and Progress:

If you don't know what spotted dog is, it's one of those beastly steamed pudding things with an occasional raisin in it that boarding schools feed their inmates on because it's cheap, not in the least nourishing, and nearly guaranteed to keep them contented until tea time.

1962, Denis Glover, Hot Water Sailor, page 31:

The source of the trouble was the spotted dog. Spotted dog is a sort of pudding, made from dough with currants embedded.

(UK) A steamed pudding with embedded currants or raisins


jackarse

Blend of American English jackass with British English arse.

(UK, Ireland, Commonwealth) A jackass (foolish or obnoxious person).


bump supper

‘I once got clap after a bump supper,’ said Blanford gloomily, ‘and it wasn't gay at all. It took ages to get itself cured.’

1978, Lawrence Durrell, Livia (Avignon Quintet), Faber & Faber, published 1992, page 442:

(UK) A supper given in celebration of the making of a ‘bump’ by a college boat.


matie

maties (plural)
mattie (alternative)
matty (alternative)

(UK and Scotland, archaic) A fat herring with undeveloped roe.


teagle

(UK, archaic, dialect) A hoisting apparatus such as an elevator, crane, or lift.


teagle

en-verb

teagle (third-person singular simple present teagles, present participle teagling, simple past and past participle teagled)

teagles (present singular third-person)
teagling (participle present)
teagled (participle past)
teagled (past)

(UK, archaic, dialect, transitive) To hoist or raise by means of a teagle, or as if with one.


wheelbird

From wheel + bird, from the sound of its cry?

(UK, dialect, dated) The European goatsucker.


frabbit

en-adj

frabbit (comparative more frabbit, superlative most frabbit)

more frabbit (comparative)
most frabbit (superlative)

When last I went she was so frabbit with me, that I really thought she wished I'd keep away.


horsemint

en-noun

horsemint (countable and uncountable, plural horsemints)

horsemints (plural)
horse mint (alternative)

From Middle English horsmynte, from Old English horsminte, equivalent to horse + mint.

(UK) Wild mint (Mentha sylvestris, now Mentha longifolia).


disbench

en-verb

disbench (third-person singular simple present disbenches, present participle disbenching, simple past and past participle disbenched)

disbenches (present singular third-person)
disbenching (participle present)
disbenched (participle past)
disbenched (past)

The benchers also have the power to disbench and disbar for misconduct.

1991, John H. Baker, The Inner Temple: A Brief Historical Description:

(transitive, UK, law) To deprive (a bencher) of his privileges.


no duff

From the RAF slang expression "duff gen" meaning bad information; no duff, by extension means accurate, also: stop operations until ordered otherwise.
No Duff comes from the term "No Direction Finding" in the British Army in regards to radio/signals procedure. It was used when in training or on exercise to pass a message true in nature but not related to the aims of the exercise. This could be an accident, change of exercise requirements etc. This means the message to be sent should not be subject to radio direction finding to locate the transmitting station by either the blue or red side. ie
"Hello zero this is two one alpha, NO DUFF message over".
"NO DUFF two one alpha this is zero, roger out to you, hello all stations this is zero stand by for NO DUFF message out, two one alpha send NO DUFF over".
"NO DUFF hello zero this is two one alpha, two one bravo has rolled their rover over, over".
Normally followed by laughter or expletives from the zero's CP.

“Sunray, No Duff, No Duff, No Duff. We need a medic, we’ve got a man down. Wound to the upper arm, and major blood loss. Over.” ¶ All the other chatter on all the radios went dead with the ‘No Duff.’ It was the signal for a medical emergency.

2001, Ska Child, David Harris, Skavoovee, Victoria, B.C.: Trafford Publishing, page 152:

“Someone grabbed me from behind and said ‘No duff,’ which means this is real,” said LCdr. Wong. “That’s what everybody heard, ‘Plane crash, 737,’ and all of us started running to our posts,” he told reporters after Prime Minister Stephen Harper arrived here to commend those who raced to the scene.

2011 August 24, Gloria Galloway, “When troops heard ‘no duff,’ they knew Resolute Bay rescue wasn’t an exercise”, in The Globe and Mail:

(UK, Ireland, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, military slang, radio voice procedure) Indicating that this is not a drill or training exercise.


no duff

“Get him in here, and radio a ‘no duff’ [casualty] to HQ.”

1999, Scott Taylor, Canada at War and Peace: A Millennium of Military Heritage, volume 3, Ottawa: Esprit de Corps Books, page 140:

[p 224] I called on the radio and — this was the most horrifying part of this — I couldn’t reach my observation post where my guys were. But I did get the command post in the middle of Srebrenica. I told them, “This is a no duff situation. You’ve got two men down and we’re on the trail.’
[p 236, glossary] No duff The radio code words used to get people off the air because a serious incident has occurred.

2003, “Jordie Yeo: Master Corporal” in John Wood ed., The Chance of War: Canadian Soldiers in the Balkans, 1992–1995, Dundurn Press

(UK, Ireland, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, military slang, radio voice procedure) An incident that is not a drill or training exercise; an emergency. Also end of exercise. Stop drill immediately. As a ‘tap out’ called by during physical training. Sim munitions training in Australian Swat ‘end ex’.


frab

frab (third-person singular simple present frabs, present participle frabbing, simple past and past participle frabbed)

frabs (present singular third-person)
frabbing (participle present)
frabbed (participle past)
frabbed (past)

Dunna think we'll sit siking and frabbing, because hur's took up with that dainty doll

"I did not make him as happy as I might ha' done," murmured she, in a low, sad voice of self-reproach. "Th' accident gave a jar to my temper it's never got the better of; and now he's gone where he can never know how I grieve for having frabbed him as I did."

1848, [Elizabeth Gaskell], Mary Barton: A Tale of Manchester Life. […] (Chapman and Hall’s Series of Original Works of Fiction, Biography, and General Literature), volume (please specify |volume=I or II), London: Chapman and Hall, […], →OCLC:

Oh! I can nearly say it all off by heart, for many a time when I am frabbed by bad debts, or Osborne's bills, or moidered with accounts, I turn the ledger wrong way up, and smoke a pipe over it, while I read those pieces out of the review which speak about you, lad!'

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

(UK, dialect, archaic) To scold, nag, or harass.


tallwood

(UK, obsolete) Firewood cut into billets of a certain length.


forlagen

en-adj

forlagen (comparative more forlagen, superlative most forlagen)

more forlagen (comparative)
most forlagen (superlative)

Origin obscure, but apparently akin to Scots forlegen, forlagen (“utterly worn out, completely exhausted”), Danish and Norwegian forlegen (“embarrassed, perplexed”), Dutch verlagen (“abashed, degraded, soiled, abased”), equivalent to for- + lain. The sense development may be due to Scandinavian influence, compare Faroese leggjask firi (“to become exhausted”), Old Norse leggjask fyrir (“to give up hope”).


kick the tyres

en-verb

kick the tyres (third-person singular simple present kicks the tyres, present participle kicking the tyres, simple past and past participle kicked the tyres)

kicks the tyres (present singular third-person)
kicking the tyres (participle present)
kicked the tyres (participle past)
kicked the tyres (past)

The tests give the market the chance to kick the tyres of some of Europe's weaker financial institutions, so you might expect the City to be enthusiastic about them.

2011 July 15, Harry Wilson, “Stress tests are a chance for market to kick the tyres of Europe's banks”, in The Telegraph:

(Australia, New Zealand, UK, idiomatic) Alternative form of kick the tires.


fike

fikes (plural)
fick (alternative)
fyke (alternative)

From Middle English fiken, fyken (“to fidget, move about restlessly, hasten away”), from Old Norse fíkjast (“to be eager or restless”), from fíka (“to climb, move”). Cognate with Scots fyke (“to move about restlessly, fidget, itch”), Norwegian fika (“to strive, take trouble”), Icelandic fikinn (“eager, greedy”). Related to fig and fidget.

cog

(UK dialectal) Any trifling peculiarity in regard to work which causes unnecessary trouble; teasing exactness of operation.


fike

From Middle English fike, from Old English fīc (“fig, fig-tree, fig-disease, venereal ulcer, hemorrhoids”), from Proto-Germanic *fīkaz, *fīgō (“fig”), from Latin fīcus, fīca (“fig, fig-tree”). Cognate with Dutch vijg (“fig”), German Feige (“fig”), Swedish fikon (“fig”), Icelandic fikja (“ficus”). More at fig.

inh

(UK dialectal) A sore place on the foot.


yepsen

yepsens (plural)
eapns (alternative)
espin (alternative)
ipson (alternative)
yaspen (alternative)
yeepsen (alternative)
yepsintle (alternative)
yespen (alternative)
yespfull (alternative)
yestmus (alternative)

From Middle English yespon, yepson, ȝespon, ȝespen, ȝispon (“a measure of volume equivalent to that contained in a person’s hands cupped together”), probably from Old English *ġēapsponn, *ġēapspann, from Old English *ġēap (“bent, curved”) + spann (“measure of the palm or hand”), equivalent to gap + span. Compare West Frisian gasp (“buckle, clasp”), Dutch gesp (“buckle, clasp”), Middle Low German gespe (“the cavity between the hands when held together”), Old Norse gaupn (“hollow made by cupped hands”). Doublet of gowpen.

cog

(obsolete, UK, dialect) Amount that can be held in two hands cupped together.

(obsolete, UK, dialect) Two hands cupped together.