tosh

en-noun

tosh (countable and uncountable, plural toshes)

From 19th-century British thieves' cant, of uncertain origin. Perhaps from *tarsh, a metathetic alteration of trash; or from toss.
Sense of nonsense possibly influenced by tush (“nonsense! tsk tsk!”) attested from 15th century.

The sewer-hunters were formerly, and indeed are still, called by the name of "Toshers," the articles which they pick up in the course of their wanderings along shore being known among themselves by the general term "tosh," a word more particularly applied by them to anything made of copper.

[1851, Henry Mayhew, “Of the Sewer-hunters”, in London Labour and the London Poor; […], volume II (The London Street-folk. Book the Second.), London: [Griffin, Bohn, and Company], →OCLC, page 150, column 2:

(uncountable, British, slang, obsolete) Copper; items made of copper.

I am present engaged in fishing for tosh in the sewers of Blastburn.

1974, Joan Aiken, Midnight is a Place, page 164:

(uncountable, chiefly British, slang, rare) Valuables retrieved from drains and sewers.

To think what I've gone through to hear that man! Frightful tosh it'll be, too.

1892 October 26, Oxford University Magazine, number 26/1:

Perhaps it helped a man into Parliament, Parliament still being a confused retrogressive corner in the world where lawyers and suchlike sheltered themselves from the onslaughts of common-sense behind a fog of Latin and Greek and twaddle and tosh.

1911, H[erbert] G[eorge] Wells, chapter 5, in The New Machiavelli, London: John Lane; The Bodley Head […], →OCLC:

‘Took yeh from the ruined house myself, on Dumbledore’s orders. Brought yeh ter this lot...’ ‘Load of old tosh,’ said Uncle Vernon.

1997 June 26, J. K. Rowling [pseudonym; Joanne Rowling], chapter 4, in Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (Harry Potter; 1), London: Bloomsbury Publishing, →ISBN:

(chiefly British, slang, uncountable) Rubbish, trash, (now especially) nonsense, bosh, balderdash

A ‘tosh’ pan... is also provided.

1881, Leathes in C.E. Pascoe, Everyday Life in our Public Schools, ii. 20

We call a tub a tosh.

(UK, archaic school slang, countable) A bath or foot pan

'Ere, tosh, you bin at Cha'ham?

1954, E. Hyams, Stories & Cream, section 175:

(UK, humorous slang, uncountable) Used as a form of address.


tosh

en-verb

tosh (third-person singular simple present toshes, present participle toshing, simple past and past participle toshed)

toshes (present singular third-person)
toshing (participle present)
toshed (participle past)
toshed (past)
tush (alternative)

Toshing, a cant word for stealing copper sheathing from vessels' bottoms, or from dock-yard stores.

(British, obsolete slang) To steal copper, particularly from ship hulls

You tend to the toshing, let Mester Hobday tend to the dealing.

1974, J. Aiken, Midnight is Place, vi. 180:

(chiefly British, uncommon slang) To search for valuables in sewers

‘Toshing’ was the name given to a punishment inflicted by the cadets on any one of their number who made himself obnoxious. The victim, dressed in full uniform, was forced to run the gauntlet of his brother cadets, who, as he passed, emptied the contents of their ‘tosh-cans’ (small baths holding about three gallons of water) over the wretched lad's head.

1883, J.P. Groves, From Cadet to Captain, iii. 227:

He toshed his house beak by mistake, and got three hundred.

1903, J. S. Farmer et al., Slang, VII. 171/1:

(UK, archaic school slang) To use a tosh-pan, either to wash, to splash, or to "bath"


tosh

From 19th-century British slang tosheroon, from or alongside tusheroon, of uncertain derivation from British slang caroon (“crown, a 5-shilling silver coin”), from Sabir and (originally) Italian corona (“crown”). The term was either derived from or influenced by madza caroon, the British slang for the Sabir and Italian mezzo corona (“half-crown”), possibly under influence from tosh (“copper items; valuables”) above or from the half-crown's value of two shillings & sixpence.

tush or tosh. Money: Cockney: late C.19–20. Ex: tusheroon... But H. errs, I believe: he should mean half-a-crown, for tusheroon and its C.20 variant tossaroon (2s. 6d.) are manifest corruptions of Lingua Franca MADZA CAROON.

1961, Eric Partridge, The Routledge Dictionary of Historical Slang:

Here's a tosh to buy yourself some beer.

1961, J. Maclaren-Ross, Doomsday Book, i. v. 63:

(British, obsolete slang, countable) A half-crown coin; its value

Half-a-crown is known as an alderman, half a bull, half a tusheroon, and a madza caroon; whilst a crown piece, or five shillings, may be called either a bull, or a caroon, or a cartwheel, or a coachwheel, or a thick-un, or a tusheroon.

1859, J.C. Hotten, A Dictionary of Modern Slang, Cant, and Vulgar Words:

‘Tush’, for money, would be an abbreviation of ‘tusheroon’, which in old cant, and also in tinker dialect, signified a crown.

1912, J.W. Horsley, I Remember, xii. 253:

(British, obsolete slang, countable) A crown coin; its value

(British, archaic slang, uncountable) Any money, particularly pre-decimalization British coinage


PPE

en-noun

PPE (countable and uncountable, plural PPEs)

With his sights on the astonishingly narrow educational formation of the government and opposition front benches, he says: ‘PPE has a lot to answer for.’

2011, David Runciman, “Socialism in One Country”, in London Review of Books, XXXIII.15:

philosophy, politics and economics
w:philosophy, politics and economics

(UK) Initialism of philosophy, politics and economics, a university degree course.


FTC

fixed-term contract
fixed-term contract#English


CR

(UK, rail transport) Initialism of Caledonian Railway.

(UK) Initialism of Charles Rex (“King Charles”).


NIP

(UK) Abbreviation of notice of intended prosecution.


ARV

(UK) Initialism of armed response vehicle: a police car that carries firearms.


PL

(soccer, UK) Initialism of Premier League.


HMO

(UK) Initialism of home/house in/of multiple occupation/occupancy: a rented house typically let as individual rooms, often to students or migrant workers.


smart arse

smart arses (plural)
smart-arse (alternative)
smartarse (alternative)

‘That Howard kid is a smart-arse little bugger!’

1982, Paul Radley, My Blue-Checker Corker and Me, Sydney: Fontana/Collins, page 51:

(idiomatic, UK, Ireland, Commonwealth) One who is particularly flippant or insolent or tends to make snide remarks or jokes.


Tail End Charlie

Tail End Charlie (plural Tail End Charlies)

Tail End Charlies (plural)
Tail-End Charlie (alternative)

(chiefly British, slang, in World War II) The last aircraft in a formation.

(chiefly British, slang, in World War II) The rear gunner in a bomber.


takeaway

Italian: takeaway

Swedish: takeaway

I couldn't be bothered to cook, so I bought a takeaway curry.

(chiefly UK, Ireland, Commonwealth, Hong Kong, sometimes Philippines) (Of food) intended to be eaten off the premises from which it was bought.


takeaway

takeaways (plural)
take-away (alternative)

If you're hungry, there's a takeaway just around the corner.

2005, Amsterdam, Time Out, page 129,
The wonderful, and deeply filling, world of Dutch broodjes (sandwiches) has its greatest champion in this takeaway, one of the very few that still features proper homemade meat and fish salads in your bun, rather than the almost ubiquitous factory prepared product that′s taken over the sandwich market.

Some of the cheapest places to eat in Kampala are the ubiquitous takeaways that dot the city centre.

2006, Mary Fitzpatrick, Tom Parkinson, Nick Ray, East Africa, Lonely Planet, page 479:

(chiefly UK, Australia, South Africa and New Zealand) A restaurant that sells food to be eaten elsewhere.

წასაღებად

restaurant selling food to be eaten elsewhere

restaurante de manducatoria para recoger

I fancy an Indian takeaway tonight.

Good Italian cuisine & friendly service. Also does takeaways, including pizza.

2008, Annalisa Rellie, Tricia Hayne, Turks & Caicos Islands, Bradt Travel Guides, page 99:

2008, The Complete Residents′ Guide: Los Angeles, Explorer Publishing, page 315,
Pizza and Thai food are popular delivery and takeaway choices, but there are a number of options.

(chiefly UK, Australia and New Zealand) A meal which has been purchased and has been carefully packaged as to be taken and consumed elsewhere.


music centre

music centres (plural)
music center (alternative)

(British) An integrated home audio system.


APACS

w:Association for Payment Clearing Services

(British) Acronym of Association for Payment Clearing Services.


hacking

hacking (usually uncountable, plural hackings)

From Middle English hackynge, hakkynge, hacckinge, equivalent to hack + -ing.

(UK, countable) A riding or journey on horseback.


FCO

The FCO also disputes Fernández's claim that Britain kicked out the island's original Argentinian inhabitants.

2013 January 3, Luke Harding, Uki Goni, The Guardian:

Foreign and Commonwealth Office
w:Foreign and Commonwealth Office

(British, UK politics) Initialism of Foreign and Commonwealth Office.


(British, Ireland, etc., historical) Abbreviation of two pence, tuppence (in pre-decimalisation currency, never used for 'two new pence').


BR

(UK, rail transport) Initialism of British Rail, formerly British Railways up to 1965.


MSA

MSA (countable and uncountable, plural MSAs)

motorway service area
w:motorway service area

(UK, Ireland) Initialism of motorway service area.


take-away

The small scale of Chinese take-aways is an important factor in making these businesses viable for families.

(chiefly UK, Australia and New Zealand) A takeout restaurant, or food from such restaurant.


takeoff

takeoff (countable and uncountable, plural takeoffs)

takeoffs (plural)
take-off (alternative)

(printing, UK, historical) The removal of sheets from the press.


DSS

Department of Social Security
w:Department of Social Security

(British) Initialism of Department of Social Security.


CSC

CSC (countable and uncountable, plural CSCs)

(UK) Initialism of close supervision centre, a type of prison.


poxy

en-adj

poxy (comparative poxier, superlative poxiest)

poxier (comparative)
poxiest (superlative)
poxie (alternative)

(UK, slang, derogatory) Unimportant, worthless.


lamping

(UK, Ireland) A form of hunting at night, during which bright lights or lamps are used to dazzle the hunted animal or to attract insects for capture.


league table

Imagine a country where children do nothing but play until they start compulsory schooling at age seven. Then, without exception, they attend comprehensives until the age of 16.[…]There are no inspectors, no exams until the age of 18, no school league tables, no private tuition industry, no school uniforms. […]

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

(chiefly British) Such a listing of hospitals, schools and other institutions showing their ranking according to various indicators of performance.


loved-up

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

more loved-up (comparative)
most loved-up (superlative)
loved up (alternative)

(UK, slang) Under the influence of ecstasy (the drug MDMA).


luvvy

luvvies (plural)
lovey (alternative)
lovie (alternative)
luvvie (alternative)

From a phonetic spelling of love + -y; in the second sense, because this (as a term for darling or sweetheart) is perceived as a common utterance of thespians.

The other reason, of course, is that the council are New Labour; a bunch of up-themselves show-offs who'd rather hang about with luvvies than deal with the problems of real people. That's why Princess Toni has spent and is spending obscene billions of public money on the dome, while the railways grind to a standstill and hospitals leave war heroes to die on trolleys in corridors. There's no business like showbusiness - and how the government/council chooses to spend your money is certainly no business of yours!

2002 January 19, Julie Burchill, “Falling flat on their arts”, in The Guardian:

[…] a hat-trick that he [Jonathan Glazer] describes as “genuinely bewildering”. It's the kind of thing that garlanded luvvies say all the time, but it's easier to believe in this case.

2024 February 24, Raphael Abraham, “I'm suspicious of people making Holocaust films”, in FT Weekend, Life & Arts, page 3:

(chiefly British, humorous, sometimes derogatory) An actor or actress, especially a narcissistic and pretentious one.


CBA

And I've seen many examples of abysmal wordwrapping... Me, I CBA changing it, and you really need initials to be used all the time to work properly, else stuff gets mis-attributed.

1996 April 21, Kieron, “Re: olrs and message form”, in alt.fan.douglas-adams (Usenet), retrieved 2016-07-02, message-ID <Dq8E6q.JwB@spuddy.mew.co.uk>:

Each to their own eh Paul? Personally I like WS-FTP TEST version with just the two windows, and more importantly I CBA transferring over all the sites to anything new :o)

1996 April 23, Derek James, “Re: Internet Software”, in demon.ip.support.win95 (Usenet), retrieved 2016-07-02, message-ID <317d2ceb.4692859@news.demon.co.uk>:

(UK, vulgar, slang) Initialism of can't be arsed.

(UK, slang) Initialism of can't be asked.


ETD

en-noun

ETD (countable and uncountable, plural ETDs)

(UK) Initialism of emergency travel document.


PACE

Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984
w:Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984

(UK, law) Acronym of Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984.


marketeer

(UK) One who promotes and sells products or services; called a marketer in US English.


marzipan layer

By analogy with the layer of marzipan below the icing on a Christmas cake.

(British, slang, finance) The stockbroking executives immediately below the partners in a firm.


hammered

en-adj

hammered (comparative more hammered, superlative most hammered)

more hammered (comparative)
most hammered (superlative)

‘Yeah, sorry about that, I was hammered.’

2019, Candice Carty-Williams, Queenie, Trapeze, page 243:


soc

Are you part of any socs this year?

(UK, university slang) A society (circle, club, interest group).


soc

From Middle English soke, sok, soc, from Old English sōcn. More at soke.

As proprietors of the soc, the lords claimed a great number of fees and perquisites, payable by all classes of people, whether free or servile, who negotiated any affairs within the soc, and which no doubt formed in themselves a considerable source of revenue.

1869, George Norton, Commentaries on the History, Constitution, and Chartered Franchises of the City of London, page 96:

Doubts have recently been cast upon Maitland's view that the Anglo-Saxon "sac and soc" included the right to hold a petty court, to compel tenants to attend it, and to take profits from it.

2001, Theodore Frank Thomas Plucknett, A Concise History of the Common Law, page 96:

(UK, law, historical) The lord's power or privilege of holding a court in a district, as in manor or lordship; jurisdiction of causes, and the limits of that jurisdiction.

(UK, obsolete) An exclusive privilege formerly claimed by millers of grinding all the corn used within the manor or township in which the mill stands.


tallyho

1772, UK, probably alteration of French taïaut (interjection used in deer-hunting), from Middle French tahou, tayo, from Old French taho, ta ho, tielau (interjection given to hounds to return) (second half of 13th century), composed of ta (particle used to prod animals) + ho ! (“halt!, hold!”). More at ho.

uder

There he is! Coming out of that coppice! Tallyho tallyho tallyho!

(UK) Used to urge on a fox hunt, especially when the fox is sighted.


sanitary towel

(UK) Standard form of sanitary napkin (“a pad of absorbent material used to absorb menstrual flow”).


personal video recorder

en-noun

personal video recorder (plural personal video recorders)

(television, Canada, UK, Ireland) A device that can record broadcast television programmes, or the images from a video camera, for subsequent playback through a television set


crim

We were the happiest, cheeriest bunch of crims in the whole prison.

2012, Ian McTavish, A Prisoner's Wisdom: Transcending the Ego, page 128:

Are the crims running Wentworth? Woman found murdered in Wentworth Correctional Centre.


OC

OC (countable and uncountable, plural OCs)

out of character
out of character#English

(UK, roleplaying games) Initialism of out of character.


milk pudding

milk pudding (countable and uncountable, plural milk puddings)

(chiefly British) Any of several simple cooked desserts made from sweetened milk and some starchy ingredient.


tariff

From French tarif, from Italian tariffa, from Ottoman Turkish تعرفه (ta'rife), from Classical Persian تَعْرِفَه (ta'rifa), from Arabic تَعْرِفَة (taʕrifa, “tariff, rate”), from the root ع ر ف (ʕ r f).

ar-root

ع ر ف (ʕ r f)

(British) A sentence determined according to a scale of standard penalties for certain categories of crime.


Premium Bond

(UK, finance) A method of financial investment available to British citizens where, instead of interest payments, investors have the chance to win tax-free prizes, or get their money back.


presently

en-adv

presently (comparative more presently, superlative most presently)

more presently (comparative)
most presently (superlative)
præsently (alternative)

From Middle English presently; equivalent to present + -ly.

Polonius: My lord, the queen would speak with you, and presently.

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

And presently the fig tree withered away.

1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Matthew 21:19:

the butler supposing the Wine had beene so carefully commended unto him for the goodnesse of it, imediately presented some unto the Pope, who whilest he was drinking, his sonne came in and never imagining his bottles had beene toucht, tooke the cup and pledged his father, so that the Pope died presently; and the sonne, after he had long time beene tormented with sicknesse, recovered to another worse fortune.

(British, now rare) Immediately, at once; quickly.


sickle-cell anaemia

sickle-cell anemia
sickle-cell anemia#English

(British) Alternative form of sickle-cell anemia.


flex

en-noun

flex (countable and uncountable, plural flexes)

From Latin flexus, past participle of flecto (“to bend”).

(uncountable, chiefly UK, Ireland) Any flexible insulated electrical wiring.


sweetie

desc

→ Kashubian: switus (Canada, United States)

Can I have a box of sweeties for being a good boy?


lib

Inherited from Middle English libbe, from Old English lybb, lyb (“medicine, drug, potion, poison, charm”), from Proto-West Germanic *lubi, from Proto-Germanic *lubją (“wort, herb, drug, poison”), from Proto-Indo-European *lewbʰ-, *lewb- (“to peel, break, damage”), from Proto-Indo-European *lew- (“to cut, remove, prune, separate”). Cognate with German Luppe, Lüppe (“salve, ointment, plant juice, medicine, magic”), Icelandic lyf (“medicine, drug”).

der

(UK dialectal, Scotland) A potion; magic potion; charm; concoction.


lib

en-verb

lib (third-person singular simple present libs, present participle libbing, simple past and past participle libbed)

libs (present singular third-person)
libbing (participle present)
libbed (participle past)
libbed (past)

From Middle English *libben (suggested by libbyng (“gelding”), lybbere (“gelder”)), related to Dutch lubben (“to castrate, emasculate”), Dutch libbe (“a steer”), lubbert (“a eunuch”). Further relation uncertain. Possibly related to Old English *lybban (“to doctor”), from Proto-West Germanic *lubbjan; or perhaps related to Old English lappa, læppa (“lappet, piece, section, lobe, portion, district”). More at lop.

(transitive, UK dialectal, Northern England, Scotland) To geld; castrate; emasculate (usually said of animals).


precept

precepts (plural)
præcept (alternative archaic)

Borrowed from Late Latin praeceptum, form of praecipiō (“to teach”), from Latin prae (“pre-”) + capiō (“take”).

(UK) An order issued by one local authority to another specifying the rate of tax to be charged on its behalf.

The Parish Council is financed by raising a small levy - the precept - on all residential properties within the parish. http://www.medsteadpc.org/community/medstead-parish-council-12575/home


pitcher

To discover […] how the honest poor are compelled to hob-and-nob with the “shoful pitcher” and the “gun,” it is necessary to visit the vast nursery-grounds of crime.

1863, Blanchard Jerrold, Signals of Distress in Refuges and Homes of Charity (etc.), page 2:

(obsolete, UK, slang) One who puts counterfeit money into circulation.

(obsolete, UK, slang) A person who sells anything in the streets.


potter

potter (third-person singular simple present potters, present participle pottering, simple past and past participle pottered)

potters (present singular third-person)
pottering (participle present)
pottered (participle past)
pottered (past)
putter (alternative)
pouter (alternative)
pudder (alternative)
pother (alternative)

Frequentative of pote, equivalent to pote + -er. Cognate with Dutch poteren, peuteren (“to poke, pry, search”).

(British) To act in a vague or unmotivated way; to fuss about with unimportant things.

He’s so dreamy and absent-minded. He potters about the garden all the time.

1923, P. G. Wodehouse, chapter II, in Leave It to Psmith:

(British) To move slowly or aimlessly. (Often potter about, potter around.)


tearaway

She opened her heart / To a tearaway (sheepskin tearaway) / Was covered with scars / And full of heroin

2009, Peter Doherty, “Sheepskin Tearaway”, in Grace/Wastelands:

(informal, chiefly British, derogatory) An impetuous and reckless person who is difficult to control; a hothead.


teatime

en-noun

teatime (countable and uncountable, plural teatimes)

teatimes (plural)
tea-time (alternative)

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

From tea + time. Compare Saterland Frisian Teetied (“teatime”), West Frisian teetiid (“teatime”), Dutch theetijd (“teatime”), German Teezeit (“teatime”), Danish tetid (“teatime”), Swedish tetid (“teatime”), Icelandic tetími (“teatime”).

In the end, it was the Sunday afternoons he couldn't cope with, and that terrible listlessness which starts to set in at about 2:55, when you know that you've had all the baths you can usefully have that day, that however hard you stare at any given paragraph in the papers you will never actually read it, or use the revolutionary new pruning technique it describes, and that as you stare at the clock the hands will move relentlessly on to four o'clock, and you will enter the long dark teatime of the soul.

1988, Douglas Adams, The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul:

(chiefly British) The traditional time, in the late afternoon, for serving tea (the meal).

teetyd

a time specifically for the serving of tea


floss

floss (countable and uncountable, plural flosses)

Unclear:
* Possibly from French floche (“tuft of wool”), from floc, from Old French flosche (“down, velvet”), from Latin floccus (“piece of wool”), probably from Frankish *flokkō (“down, wool, flock”), from Proto-Germanic *flukkô (“down, piece of wool, flock”), from Proto-Indo-European *plewk- (“hair, fibres, tuft”).
* Or, from Middle English *flos (attested in Middle English Flosmonger (a surname)), from Proto-West Germanic *fleus, related to English fleece.
Cognate with Old High German flocko (“down”), Middle Dutch vlocke (“flock”), Norwegian dialectal flugsa (“snowflake”), Dutch flos (“plush”) (tr=17c.).

unc

Unclear

der

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

(British) Spun sugar or cotton candy, especially in the phrase "candy floss".


floss

From dialectal flosh (“a flush, stream of water, sluice”), from Middle English flosche, flusche, flasche, flaske (“a watery or marshy place, swamp”), perhaps from Old French flache, from Middle Dutch vlacke (“a flat area, plain”), ultimately related to Proto-West Germanic *fleutan. Compare also German Floss (“a float”).

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


VOA

Valuation Office Agency
w:Valuation Office Agency

(UK) Initialism of Valuation Office Agency.


HMT

HMTs (plural)
H.M.T. (alternative)
H. M. T. (alternative)

(UK, military, nautical) Initialism of His/Her Majesty's Trawler.


apple cider

en-noun

apple cider (countable and uncountable, plural apple ciders)

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

(UK, Canada) Cider; fermented apple juice; hard cider.


tuppence

tuppence (countable and uncountable, plural tuppences)

By surface analysis, two + pence, collective plural of penny.
Same for the definition: "Ellipsis of tuppence worth (“one’s opinion”)" however, this idiom is derived from this fact; in Britain it used to cost two pence ("tuppence") to post a letter, usually holding one's opinion.

ellipsis of

Milk has gone up to tuppence ha’penny a pint.

In less than four days twenty-three men had paid their tuppences to Henery, who ’ad been made the seckitary.

1909, W. W. Jacobs, “Prize Money,”, in Sailor's Knots:

‘Miss Brindle rich?’ said Aunt Maggie. ‘Bless you, she hasn’t tuppence to rub together.’

1967, Barbara Sleigh, Jessamy, Sevenoaks, Kent: Bloomsbury, published 1993, →ISBN, page 11:

(UK, Ireland, informal, dated) Two pence (in pre- or post-decimalisation currency).

(UK, Ireland, idiomatic) Ellipsis of tuppence worth (“one’s opinion”).

"Fucksticks!" When some smart-arse bastard gives me my comeuppance / "Fucksticks!" When it’s ages since I’ve seen a lady’s tuppence

2011, Kunt and the Gang, Fucksticks (song)

The lady confided to the nurse helping her up off the examination couch, and told her “He put his hand up me funnel and made me tuppence bleed!”

2012, Richard Johns, Diagnosis of the Soul: The Long Road to the Beginning:

(UK, Ireland, slang, euphemistic, usually childish) The vulva or vagina.


telephone box

(British and Ireland) A small enclosure housing a public telephone (usually a payphone).


police box

(chiefly British, dated) A telephone kiosk where members of the public may telephone the police.


revision

en-noun

revision (countable and uncountable, plural revisions)

Borrowed from French révision, from Latin revīsiō.

All that last minute revision really paid off in the exam! I got top marks!

2008, Philip A. Kalra, editor, Essential Revision Notes in Medicine for Students, volume 1:

(UK, Australia, New Zealand) The action or process of reviewing something previously learned, especially one′s notes in preparation for a test or examination.

review

New Zealand: reviewing something previously learned


tinker

(US)

From Middle English tynkere, perhaps from Old English *tincere, from tin (“tin”) + *cere, as in bēocere (“beekeeper”).

if ifs and ands were pots and pans, there'd be no work for tinkers' hands

(dated, chiefly British and Ireland, offensive) A member of the Irish Traveller community or of other itinerant groups; a gypsy.


co-pilot

en-verb

co-pilot (third-person singular simple present co-pilots, present participle co-piloting, simple past and past participle co-piloted)

co-pilots (present singular third-person)
co-piloting (participle present)
co-piloted (participle past)
co-piloted (past)


mute e

(grammar, British) an unpronounced letter e at the end of a word; such as excite or glue.


mockney

en-noun

mockney (countable and uncountable, plural mockneys)

Blend of mock + Cockney.
First published use in 1967, according to the Oxford English Dictionary.

(UK, uncountable) An inauthentic imitation of Cockney accent and vocabulary.

(UK, countable) A person who speaks in this way.


wotcher

“Wotcher, me old cock sparrow, how's the sleuthing business?” bellowed Sandy, pausing and balancing his saddle on one knee while he looped up the girth.

1962, Dick Francis, chapter 19, in Dead Cert, published 2004, page 266:

(slang, chiefly British) A friendly greeting.


wotcher

Representing an abbreviated pronunciation of various phrases.

Wotcher think?

(informal, chiefly British) Contraction of what do you.

Listen, do wotcher gotta do!

(informal, chiefly British) Contraction of what you.

Wotcher doing?

(informal, chiefly British) Contraction of what are you.

Wotcher been up to?

(informal, chiefly British) Contraction of what have you.


parkway

Bristol Parkway railway station
M32 motorway
Stoke Park, Bristol

By surface analysis, a blend of car park + railway. However, it is possible that the term originally derived from Bristol Parkway railway station built in the early 1970s, which appears to have been named after the M32 motorway, also called Parkway because it runs through Stoke Park.

(rail transport, British, Australia) A railway station built on the edge of a town, typically with a large car park to function as a park and ride interchange.


SAP

SAP (countable and uncountable, plural SAPs)

(British) Initialism of statutory adoption pay, payments made by an employer to an employee who is absent from work after the adoption of a child.


fanny fart

(UK, vulgar, slang) An emission of air from the vagina, especially when audible.


The total number of counties in the island of Ireland.

a 32-county tour

32-county republic

(Ireland, British) Covering the whole of the island of Ireland, including both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland.


DPA

Data Protection Act
w:Data Protection Act

(British) Initialism of Data Protection Act.


PP

PP (countable and uncountable, plural PPs)

planning permission
planning permission#English

(British, Ireland) Initialism of planning permission.


ECGD

Export Credits Guarantee Department
w:Export Credits Guarantee Department

(British) Initialism of Export Credits Guarantee Department.


elevenses

elevenses (usually uncountable, plural elevenses)

From dialectal elevens (“the eleven-o'clock meal”).

The harvestmen who board in the farm-houses fare sumptuously during the month of harvest.— […] at eleven o'clock in the morning, and four in the afternoon, they have each a large light plum-bun, with a pint of ale a piece, carried into the field, to encourage them to work cheerfully. These extra refreshments they call, in their provincial language, their "elevenses" and "fourses." I could not at first imagine what the servants meant by talking of carrying the harvestmen their elevenses and fourses, till Mrs. Henley explained that it was a vulgar abbreviation of the four-o'clock and eleven o'clock meals.

1837 February, Anna Lee, “The Pinch of Salt”, in The Ladies’ Companion: A Monthly Magazine, Embracing Literature and the Arts, […], volume VI, New York, N.Y.: Published by William W. Snowdon, →OCLC, page 162, column 2:

"In Europe," said Ghosh Babu who read a great deal, "they all stop work at eleven to have tea or coffee or cocoa, or some stronger beverage; they call it elevenses." / […] ["]Ghosh Babu, how long time they get for elevenses?" / "About half-an-hour," replied Ghosh with authority. […] / "We get no time off for elevenses," complained Sambamurthy. "We should bring it up before the Clerks' Association."

1989, Khushwant Singh, “Man, How the Government of India Run!”, in The Collected Short Stories of Khushwant Singh, New Delhi: Ravi Dayal Publisher, →ISBN, page 96; republished as “Book Extract: They also Serve …”, in Sunday, volume 18, number 4, Calcutta: Ananda Bazar Patrika, 2 January – 2 February 1991, →OCLC, pages 75–76:

Even in these tough economic times when many employers seem hell-bent on sucking any and all vestiges of pleasure out of the daily existence of the average working stiff, some things remain sacrosanct. Chief among them is the partaking of elevenses. Even if we spend the majority of our lives glued to a desk, staring at a computer screen or in meetings pretending we care about the interpretation of a spreadsheet, the break for a hot drink and a little snackette between breakfast and lunch is a covenant between Britain and God.

2010, Simon Majumdar, “Elevenses”, in Eating for Britain: A Journey into the Heart (and Belly) of the Nation, London: John Murray, →ISBN:

Betjeman, who was a bit of a gricer, wrote: "I know of no greater pleasure for elevenses in London than to sit in this tea place and watch the trains arrive and depart."

2021 January 13, Christian Wolmar, “Read all about London's Cathedrals of Steam”, in RAIL, issue 922, page 63:

(British, informal) A short mid-morning break taken around eleven o'clock for a drink or light snack.


grill

grill (plural grills or (jewelry) grillz)

grills (plural)
grillz (plural)
grille (alternative)

1655, from French gril, from Middle French gril, from Old French greïl, graïl (“gridiron”), from graïlle (“grate, grating”), from Latin crātīcula (“gridiron”), diminutive of crātis (“hurdle, wickerwork”), q.v. Related to griddle, hurdle.

(UK) A cooking device comprising a source of radiative heat and a means of holding food under it; a broiler in US English


grill

en-verb

grill (third-person singular simple present grills, present participle grilling, simple past and past participle grilled)

grills (present singular third-person)
grilling (participle present)
grilled (participle past)
grilled (past)
grille (alternative)

Bradly hung the fowl in a sugar-bag for to-morrow's dinner and set about grilling chops, with tomatoes stuffed with cheese and breadcrumbs in the pan.

1938, Norman Lindsay, Age of Consent, 1st Australian edition, Sydney, N.S.W.: Ure Smith, published 1962, →OCLC, page 139:

(transitive, Australia, New Zealand, UK) To cook food under the element of a stove or only under the top element of an oven – (US) broil, (cooking) salamander.


scrote

(chiefly UK, slang, derogatory) A worthless or contemptible person; a gobshite or toerag.


swishy

en-adj

swishy (comparative swishier, superlative swishiest)

swishier (comparative)
swishiest (superlative)

(British) Swish; fancy, posh, impressive.


fadge

"Here's a fadge (farthing) or a button," I said, taking my pocket knife and cutting a few of the stitches holding the cloth and lining together, […]

1868, Thomas Wright, Johnny Robinson, page 173:

(UK, slang, archaic) A farthing (old coin).


toerag

"I know James Potter's an arrogant toerag," she said, cutting across Snape.

2007, J. K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, USA: Arthur A. Levine Books, page 674:

“I’m not racist; I don’t mind people coming in if they respect Irish people. But the likes of the toerags coming into this country – they’re not vetted and are causing havoc.”

2023 November 24, Rory Carroll, “‘Government is not listening’: anger over immigration spills into riot on Dublin’s streets”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:

(derogatory, British, Ireland) A worthless or despicable person.


on the bench

(historical, UK military, of a captain) Waiting to command his first vessel and assume the position of post-captain, ensuring further promotion will remain a matter of seniority rather than merit or ability.


trooper

From troop + -er, from French troupe. The sense of “one who endures adversity” comes from trouper (“member of an acting troupe”) but through assimilation with the sense of “soldier” has come to be usually spelled “trooper”.

She was built by William Denny & Bros. Ltd., and launched in 1939, but went immediately on active service as a trooper.

1947 January and February, “Notes and News: New Southern Channel Steamer”, in Railway Magazine, page 49:

(British, nautical, military) A troopship.


mizzle

en-verb

mizzle (third-person singular simple present mizzles, present participle mizzling, simple past and past participle mizzled)

mizzles (present singular third-person)
mizzling (participle present)
mizzled (participle past)
mizzled (past)

From Late Middle English misellen (“to drizzle”), cognate with Low German miseln, musseln (“to mizzle”), Dutch miezelen (“to drizzle, rain gently”). Of obscure origin, possibly a frequentative related to the base of mist; or, related to Middle Low German mes (“urine”), Middle Dutch mes, mis (“urine”), both from Old Saxon mehs (“urine”), from Proto-Germanic *mihstuz, *mihstaz, *mihsk- (“urine”), from *mīganą (“to urinate”), from Proto-Indo-European *meiǵʰ-, *omeiǵʰ- (“to urinate”). Compare also English micturate (“to urinate”), Old Frisian mese (“urine”), Low German miegen (“to urinate”), Dutch mijgen (“to urinate”), Danish mige (“to urinate”).

cog

(intransitive, British, Canada, US, chiefly dialectal) To rain in very fine drops.


mizzle

(British, chiefly dialectal) Misty rain; drizzle.


mizzle

Unknown. Perhaps from Shelta mi(e)sli (“go”).

As long as George IV could reign, he reigned, and then he mizzled.

19th c. Epigram quoted by Thomas Wright (1810 - 1877), reproduced in Webster 1902-1913

“Now you may mizzle, Jemmy (as we say at Court), and if Mr. Copperfield will take the chair I’ll operate on him.”

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

1986, Joan Aiken, Dido and Pa http://books.google.com/books?ie=UTF-8&hl=en&vid=ISBN0618196234&id=MNEhgMsgaIMC&pg=PA232&lpg=PA232&sig=JAfeh2dResB-FcNOuZRJBiu0ISA
“Now you better mizzle,” Dido told him. “Get back to your own quarters, fast.”

(chiefly British) To abscond, scram, flee.


HGV

The unnamed driver appeared before the South East Traffic Commissioner in late November, to receive a six-month HGV driving ban. It followed an earlier court appearance when he was fined a means-tested £715 and given six points on his driving licence for driving without due care and attention.

2022 December 14, “Network News: HGV driver banned after Coulsdon bridge bash”, in RAIL, number 972, page 7:

I'm a writer first, but I do have my HGV licence, and I use it every now and then.

2024 March 6, Pip Dunn, “Freight's future is in ISO containers”, in RAIL, number 1004, page 36:

heavy goods vehicle
heavy goods vehicle#English

(UK, automotive, transport) Initialism of heavy goods vehicle (“a lorry/truck weighing more than 3.5 tons”).


pantechnicon

en-noun

pantechnicon (plural pantechnicons or pantechnica)

pantechnicons (plural)
pantechnica (plural)

From Pantechnicon, a 19th-century firm which owned a building with a Greek-style facade of Doric columns in Motcomb Street, Belgrave Square, London, UK, with a picture gallery, a furniture shop, a shop selling carriages, and a warehouse for storing customers’ furniture and other items. The firm used large horse-drawn vans to collect and deliver their customers' property, which came to be known as Pantechnicon vans.
The word was coined by the firm from pan- (“all”) (from Ancient Greek πᾶν (pân), neuter form of πᾶς (pâs, “all, every”)) + τεχνικόν (tekhnikón), neuter singular of τεχνικός (tekhnikós, “technical”).

It is plain, that such writers do not rise to the very idea of a University. They consider it a sort of bazaar, or pantechnicon, in which wares of all kinds are heaped together for sale in stalls independent of each other; and that, to save the purchasers the trouble of running about from shop to shop; or an hotel or lodging house, where all professions and classes are at liberty to congregate, varying, however, according to the season, each of them strange to each, and about its own work or pleasure; […]

1852, John Henry Newman, “Discourse V. General Knowledge Viewed as One Philosophy.”, in Discourses on the Scope and Nature of University Education. Addressed to the Catholics of Dublin, Dublin: James Duffy, 7 Wellington Quay, publisher to His Grace the Catholic Archbishop of Dublin, →OCLC, page 139:

To-day will the mighty cobweb-dome receive its last survey, previous to the contractors for the building handing it over to the painters and decorators. When these have accomplished their task, then will the walls and counters begin to receive their varied and valuable stores of natural and artificial productions. Waggon-loads upon waggon-loads must, we know, be exhausted, and pantechnica emptied, before the vast area, so delicately covered, shall cry “Enough, enough;” […]

1854, “The New Crystal Palace”, in The Practical Mechanic’s Journal, volume VI, London: […] [F]or the Proprietors by George Hebert, […], pages 225–226:

We have a few economic museums, it is true; but they lack the notoriety which results from national support; and, if not carefully watched by their philanthropic promoters, these otherwise excellent places are apt to degenerate into mere advertising pantechnica.

1873 February 22, William Eassie, “Reports on Sanitary Engineering in Houses, Hospitals, and Public Institutions. […] V.—Warming and Ventilation of Houses.”, in Ernest Hart, editor, The British Medical Journal: Being the Journal of the British Medical Association, volume II for 1873, London: […] [F]or the Association by Thomas Richards, […], page 208, column 1:

Noticeably few of their buildings appear in the great eighteenth-century architectural pantechnica: Francis Smith’s prime came perhaps a little late for Vitruvius Britannicus, and in any case his houses were not of a kind to supply ammunition for Campbell’s palladianizing campaigns; by the time of Wolfe and Gandon they were very old-fashioned.

2000, Andor Gomme, Smith of Warwick: Francis Smith, Architect and Master-Builder, Shaun Tyas, →ISBN, page viii:

The Hyams extended their operations to London in 1845, when Lawrence Hyam became manager of the family’s pantechnica in Gracechurch Street, leaving his Bury St Edmunds shop in the management of one Joel Gale.

2001, Proceedings of the Suffolk Institute of Archaeology and Natural History, volume 40, page 156:

(chiefly British) A building or place housing shops or stalls where all sorts of (especially exotic) manufactured articles are collected for sale.

For we do not employ battleships as convoys, nor even as pantechnica conveying landing parties.

1899 October 28, The Outlook: A Weekly Review of Politics, Art, Literature and Finance, page 400:

The pantechnicon was running away. It had perceived the wrath to come and was fleeing. Its guardians had evidently left it imperfectly scotched or braked, and it had got loose. […] [T]he onrush of the pantechnicon constituted a clear crisis. Lower down the gradient of Brougham Street was more dangerous, and it was within the possibilities that people inhabiting the depths of the street might find themselves pitched out of bed by the sharp corner of a pantechnicon that was determined to be a pantechnicon.

1911, Arnold Bennett, The Card: A Story of Adventure in the Five Towns, London: Methuen Publishing, OCLC 492063506; republished Toronto, Ont.: William Briggs, 1910s, OCLC 225424669, page 69

Not a day passes but some great pantechnica drive up to the door or drive down past my other window on the delivery road and drop off either £100,000 worth of Buddha or an early printed book, or a piece of furniture from a West African village.

1971, New Directions in Librarianship: Papers Read at the Week-end Conference of the London and Home Counties Branch of the Library Association, Held at Eastbourne, 30th April-2nd May, 1971, Under the Chairmanship of Derek Jones, Library Association, →ISBN, page 6:

In the Christian life we have a handicap. If we are encircled by the greatness of the past, we are also encircled by the handicap of our own sin. No man would seek to climb Mount Everest with a pantechnicon of lumber weighing him down. If we would travel far, we must travel light.

1972, William Barclay, “The Race and the Goal”, in The Letter to the Hebrews (The Daily Study Bible Series), rev. edition, Louisville, Ky.: Westminster John Knox Press, →ISBN, page 172:

On the 3rd of September 1939 I made my will, and since then I have discovered how happy is the state of having made a will. No pantechnica will now follow my hearse, I have taken leave of all the junk in time, perhaps only just in time.

a. 1977, E. C. Large, edited by Stuart Bailey and Robin Kinross, God’s Amateur: The Writing of E. C. Large, Hyphen Press, published 2008, →ISBN, page 69:

In fact, as they later found, the auxiliary vehicle was a very large removers' van – the kind known as a pantechnicon.

1978, Lawrence Durrell, Livia: Or Buried Alive: A Novel, London: Faber and Faber; republished in The Avignon Quintet: Monsieur, Livia, Constance, Sebastian, Quinx, London: Faber and Faber, 1992, page 426

I later established that the R12 [Renault 12] and pantechnicon had both been driving in the direction of the roadblock, the R12 behind the pantechnicon.

2008, Anthony Trethowan, “Wendy Atkinson”, in Delta Scout: Ground Coverage Operator, Johannesburg: 30° South Publishers, →ISBN, page 30:

[…] Bulstrode v Lambert [1953] 1 WLR 1064 […] [T]he plaintiff made use of the route with furniture vans and pantechnicons for bringing goods to the mart. The defendant objected on the ground that the parked pantechnicons interfered with his business as a cafe and car hire proprietor, but Upjohn J held that the plaintiff could use the way with pantechnicons which could park as long as was necessary for loading and unloading, this being an incident of a right of way.

2009, E[dward] H[ector] Burn, J[ohn] Cartwright, “Adverse Possession and Limitation of Actions”, in Maudsley and Burn's Land Law: Cases & Materials, 9th edition, Oxford, New York, N.Y.: Oxford University Press, →ISBN, pages 291–292:

Shinkfield's had at one time belonged to a firm called Hutchison's which did furniture removals. They stabled their horses and pantechnicon in the yard which runs behind the Lord Palmerston and the adjoining shops, with access from North Cross Road.

2010, John D. Beasley, “What a Lot of Shops and Stalls!”, in East Dulwich Remembered, Stroud, Gloucestershire: Amberley Publishing, →ISBN:

(chiefly British) Originally pantechnicon van: a van, especially a large moving or removal van.


beezer

Borrowed from Scots beezer, beeser, of unknown origin. First attested in the 1910s. The adjective is from the noun.


beezer

en-adjective

beezer (comparative more beezer, superlative most beezer)

more beezer (comparative)
most beezer (superlative)

We had a beezer time at the party.


bing

en-noun

bing (countable and uncountable, plural bings)

From Middle English bing, binge, benge (also as Middle English byngger, bengere (“grain bin, hopper”)), from Old Norse bingr (“heap of corn; bed; bolster”), cognate with Scots bing, Swedish binge (“heap”), Danish bing (“bin; box; compartment”).
Compare also Scottish Gaelic binnean meaning a small hill or slag heap.

der

(British, chiefly Scotland) A heap or pile, especially of metallic ore


dishwasher

From Middle English dysche wescheare, equivalent to dish + washer.

The country-people say that the "tinner," that is the "dishwasher" or water-wagtail, is scarcer than it was before the blizzard, which must have caused the death of tens of thousands of birds. They call it the tinner, because it builds its nest in the mouth of the old mine-shafts.

2022, John Coulson Tregarthen, Wild Life at the Land's End:

(UK, dialect, Wiltshire, Cornwall) A European bird, the wagtail.


vitreous humour

en-noun

vitreous humour (plural vitreous humours)

vitreous humours (plural)
vitreous humor (alternative)

(ophthalmology, British, Canada) The clear gel that fills the eyeball between the lens and the retina.


ransom

ransom (usually uncountable, plural ransoms)

⇒ Cantonese: 參 /参 (sam¹, “hostage”)

From the Middle English ransoun, from the Old French raençon, from stem of Latin redemptio. Entered English ca. the 13th century. Doublet of redemption.

punished with imprisonment and ransom at the King's will

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

(historical, law, UK) A sum paid for the pardon of some great offence and the discharge of the offender; also, a fine paid in lieu of corporal punishment.


charwoman

charwomen (plural)
char-woman (alternative)

The cloth was laid by an occasional charwoman, who officiated in the capacity of Mr. Bob Sawyer’s housekeeper; […]

1836 March – 1837 October, Charles Dickens, chapter XXXVIII, in The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club, London: Chapman and Hall, […], published 1837, →OCLC:

Through a partly-opened door the noise of a scrubbing-brush led up to the charwoman, Maryann Money, a person who for a face had a circular disc, furrowed less by age than by long gazes of perplexity at distant objects.

1874, Thomas Hardy, chapter IX, in Far from the Madding Crowd. […], volume I, London: Smith, Elder & Co., […], →OCLC:

This time was most dreadful for Lilian. Thrown on her own resources and almost penniless, she maintained herself and paid the rent of a wretched room near the hospital by working as a charwoman, sempstress, anything.

1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter XVII, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:

But there was nobody at Kig and Kadgit's except the charwoman wiping over the “lino” in the passage.

1919, Katherine Mansfield [pseudonym; Kathleen Mansfield Murry], “Pictures”, in Bliss and Other Stories, London: Constable & Company, published 1920, →OCLC, page 163:

[H]e described the speech of the charwoman washing the hotel stairs and gave lists of words collected from the bathmen.

1977, K.M. Elizabeth Murray, Caught in the Web of Words, Oxford: Oxford University Press, page 75:

(chiefly British) A woman employed to do housework, traditionally coming and going on a daily basis and paid weekly wages.


flimsy

flimsy (countable and uncountable, plural flimsies)

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

British Army
Crusader tank
Monadhliath Mountains
North African Campaign

The origin of the adjective is uncertain; it is possibly from flim(-flam) (“(noun) false information presented as true, misinformation, nonsense; poor attempt at deception, confidence trick, pretence; (adjective) frivolous, nonsensical; deceptive; fictitious”) or a metathesis of film (“thin layer of a substance; slender thread”) + -sy (suffix forming adjectives and nouns).
The noun and verb are derived from the noun. Noun sense 4 (“metal container”) refers to the fact that the containers often split along their seams and leaked.

affix

But the Q[uartermaster] has ballsed-up T3 patrol's fuel ration; instead of jerry cans we get "flimsies," the notorious four-gallon containers made of metal so thin you can practically puncture it with a fingernail. Flimsies come two to a case, packed in cardboard. Of seventy-six that Collier's crew take down from the Mack, twenty-one are leaking at the seams; eleven have drained half to nil.

2008, Steven Pressfield, chapter 10, in Killing Rommel […], New York, N.Y.: Doubleday, →ISBN, page 98:

(UK, military slang) A hexahedral metal container with a capacity of four imperial gallons (about 18 litres) used by the British Army during World War II to hold fuel.

kanisteri

metal container used by the British Army during World War II to hold fuel


headmaster

(chiefly UK, Ireland) A male headteacher.

مُدِير

the most senior master in a school (male)


bonce

Bonce (various), the head, called also "crust, chump." From bonce, a marble of larger size than ordinary, used by boys.

1889, Barrère and Leland, A Dictionary of Slang, Jargon & Cant, page 158:

To see Nina herself Nick had to crane round the big white bonce of Norman Kent, who was as sensitive to music as he was to conservatives, and kept shifting in his seat.

2004, Alan Hollinghurst, chapter 9, in The Line of Beauty […], London: Picador, →ISBN:

2010, Skins, Season 4 Episode 8, "Everyone".
Cook: I don't think you know what I am, mate. ... I'm a fucking waste of space. I'm just a stupid kid. I got no sense. A criminal. I'm no fucking use, me. I am nothing. So, please... please... get it into, you know, into your bonce... that you killed my friend. And... I'm Cook. I'M COOK!

(UK, Ireland, Commonwealth, slang) The human head.


Of-

(British) A regulatory body for a specified industry.


opt-out

en-noun

opt-out (countable and uncountable, plural opt-outs)

(British, countable) A school or hospital that has withdrawn from local control.


brawn

brawn (countable and uncountable, plural brawns)

From Middle English brawne, from Old French braon (“slice of meat, fleshy part, buttock”), from Frankish *brādon, *brādan, accusative form of *brādō (“roasted meat, ham”), from Proto-Germanic *brēdô (“meat, roast”), of uncertain further origin, but possibly from Proto-Indo-European *bʰreh₁- (“to burn, heat”).
Akin to Old High German brāto (“tender meat”) (German Braten (“roast”)), Old English brǣde, brǣd (“flesh, meat”), Old Norse bráð (“raw meat”).

der

Now if your Majesty would have our bristles
To bind your mortar with, or fill our colons
With rich blood, or make brawn out of our gristles,
In policy—ask else your royal Solons—
You ought to give us hog-wash and clean straw,
And sties well thatched; besides it is the law!

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

It was brawn and shape for high tea.

1978, Jane Gardam, God on the Rocks, Abacus, published 2014, page 111:

(chiefly British) Head cheese; a terrine made from the head of a pig or calf; originally boar's meat.

And loud as brawns wer [they] snoring,

1821, John Stagg, The Cumbrian Minstrel: Being a Poetical Miscellany:

THE village of Brancepath, pleasantly situated at the distance of four miles and three- quarters south-west by west of Durham, is said to have derived its name (a corruption of Brawn's-path) from a brawn of vast size, [...]

1842, Moses Aaron Richardson, The Borderer's Table Book: Or, Gatherings of the Local History:


landlord

From Middle English londlord, landlorde, from Old English landhlāford, equivalent to land + lord. Cognate with Scots landlaird, Middle Low German lantlord (“homeowner, landlord”).

cog

When asked to explain why he became a landlord, he told the Archbishop of York it was so he could close the pub on Sundays, and suppress the profane language and singing that came through the bar windows.

1980, AA Book of British Villages, Drive Publications Ltd, page 102:

(chiefly British) The owner or manager of a public house.


convenor

(UK, Australia, New Zealand) A lecturer who takes on the mantle of managing a specific course.


grot

From grotto, by shortening, or French grotte.

She took me to her elfin grot, / And there she wept, and sigh'd full sore, / And there I shut her wild wild eyes / With kisses four.

1819, John Keats, La Belle Dame sans Merci:


grot

en-noun

grot (countable and uncountable, plural grots)

(slang, uncountable) Any unpleasant substance or material.


wind up

en-verb

wind up (third-person singular simple present winds up, present participle winding up, simple past and past participle wound up)

winds up (present singular third-person)
winding up (participle present)
wound up (participle past)
wound up (past)

snitches get stitches and wind up in ditches

Twenty quid? Are you winding me up?

(British, transitive) To play a prank (on); to take the mickey (out of) or mock.

vedättää

to play a prank, to take the mickey or mock


bagman

(British, dated) A staff assistant to a senior police officer (such as a Detective Sergeant for a Detective Inspector).

(British) A secretary of (and keeper of equipment for) a Morris dancing side.

(UK, dated, slang) A travelling salesman.


sneaker

From sneak + -er. The shoes sense is a reference to the quietness of the shoes.

Spectator
I have just left the right worshipful and his myrmidons about a sneaker of five gallons!

(UK, dialect, archaic) A vessel of drink.


buttonhole

buttonholes (plural)
button-hole (alternative)
button hole (alternative)

Originally buttonhold (“a loop of string to hold a button down”), but changed by folk etymology by influence of hole, By surface analysis, button + hole.

петлица

flower worn in the buttonhole for decoration

(chiefly British) A flower worn in a buttonhole for decoration.

(attributive) So shaped that it can be worn on a buttonhole or it is similar to a buttonhole.


grotty

en-adj

grotty (comparative grottier, superlative grottiest)

grottier (comparative)
grottiest (superlative)

Clipping of grotesque + -y. Piecewise doublet of grody, the American equivalent. Compare Middle English groti, grooti (“slimy, muddy”), from Old English grotiġ (“earthy, dirty”) (modern dialectal English groaty, Scots grotty), which is equivalent to groat + -y. Compare also Scottish Gaelic grod (“rotten, lousy, terrible”), Middle Irish grot (“bitter, sour”).
Originated or popularised by the 1964 film A Hard Day's Night, starring the Beatles and written by Alun Owen.

ncog

George: I wouldn't be seen dead in them. They're dead grotty.
Simon: Grotty?
George: Yeah, grotesque.

(slang, UK, Ireland, Commonwealth) Unpleasant, dirty, slovenly or offensive.


freshers' week

(British) The week before the academic aspects of a university start, when students may socialize and undergo induction.


Threadneedle Street

Corruption of "three needle", from the arms of the Needle-makers' Company. Influenced by threading a needle.

George, known as Steady Eddie during his 10 years in charge at Threadneedle Street, said critics who attacked the Financial Services Authority were also wide of the mark.

2008 March 6, “Eddie George defends role of FSA in Northern Rock crisis”, in The Guardian:

Monetary policy may not be perfect, but it has been far better handled since the responsibility for it moved from 11 Downing Street to Threadneedle Street.

2007 December 11, Patrick Hosking, “Gieve’s head will not be enough to appease critics”, in The Times:

The Bank of England cut 0.25 per cent at each meeting - the same decision, spread over two months. Strip out that and Frankfurt and Threadneedle Street have been running the same policy for a year and a half.

2002 November 10, Faisal Islam, “Doing the Continental”, in The Observer:

(British, economics, banking, finance) The Bank of England.


fruiterer

From Late Middle English fruiterē̆r (“fruit grower; fruit dealer”), from fruitē̆r (“fruit dealer; household official having charge of fruit”) + -er (it is unclear why the second suffix was added). Fruitē̆r is derived from Anglo-Norman fruitier or French fruitier (“fruit-seller”), from fruit (“fruit”) (from Latin frū̆ctus (“produce, product, fruit; enjoyment, satisfaction”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *bʰruHg- (“to have enjoyment of; make use of”)) + -ier (suffix forming names of jobs).

der

[T]he very ſame day did I fight with one Samſon Stockefiſh a Fruiterer behinde Greyes Inne: Ieſu, Ieſu, the mad dayes that I haue ſpent!

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

And Knight laughed, and drew her close and kissed her the second time, which operations he performed with the carefulness of a fruiterer touching a bunch of grapes so as not to disturb their bloom.

1872 September – 1873 July, Thomas Hardy, “‘I Lull a Fancy, Trouble-Tost’”, in A Pair of Blue Eyes. […], volume III, London: Tinsley Brothers, […], published 1873, →OCLC, page 24:

A good few Indian fruiterers who were right in the centre of Johannesburg never made the 'mistake' of serving a black man, or even another Indian, before a white customer, no matter who had come first.

1962, Ezekiel Mphahlele, “The Nationalist”, in The African Image, New York, N.Y.: Frederick A. Praeger, →OCLC, page 70:


sorted

Sorted for E's & Wizz (song by UK band Pulp)

(British, slang) In possession of a sufficient supply, especially of narcotics.


sorted

A: Did you book the train tickets?
B: Yep, sorted!

(British slang) A general expression of approval or completion


geez

Hi geez, you alright?

(UK, Ireland, slang) Informal address to a male.


mun

tha wut spudlee out the Yemors, and screedle over mun

1746, Exmoor Courtship, published 1879, page 50:

The English Dialect Dictionary
w:The English Dialect Dictionary

(UK, dialect, Devon, Somerset, obsolete) them


hey presto

(British) Used by stage magicians, when performing a magic trick.

If you take the next left, you’ll see a big shop and hey presto, you’re there.

They stick a couple of old potshards together, search for one or two adjacent cultures, stick a label on the restored find and—hey, presto!—once again everything fits splendidly into the approved pattern of thought.

1968, Erich von Däniken, Chariots of the Gods?, Putnam:

(British, colloquial) Indicates a sudden desirable conclusion or change, as if by magic


Frenchman

From Middle English Frenshman; equivalent to French + -man.

red-legged partridge
red-legged partridge


knees-up

UK 20th century. From the song "Knees Up Mother Brown" (from at least 1918; published 1938). Suggesting the motions of dancing.

Let's have a bit of a knees-up, Arp.

1956, Wolf Mankowitz, My Old Man's a Dustman:

However, having heard all the mutinous chants Taxpayer FC’s fans sang about Gollivan at Vicarage Road, Moyes has realised it’s probably part of his remit to spread some love and urge everyone in east London to have a good old Cockney knees-up before Friday’s visit from Leicester City.

2017 November 24, Jacob Steinberg, “There’s no pleasing some people”, in The Guardian:

William Hill today cut the price of a Scottish knees-up from an original 25/1 into 9/1 favourite.

2017 December 1, Mary McCool, “Prince Harry set to spend his stag do in Scotland as bookies slash odds – but Vancouver, Barcelona and Berlin are also in the running”, in The Scottish Sun:


Bourbon biscuit

en-noun

Bourbon biscuit (plural Bourbon biscuits)

Bourbon biscuits (plural)
bourbon biscuit (alternative)

(British) An oblong chocolate-flavoured biscuit with a chocolate cream filling.


terrace

Borrowed from French terrasse, from Old Occitan terrassa, from terra (“land”). Doublet of terrasse.

The cameraman's pace slowed down as he approached what his mind said was where Sian lived. Like all the other houses in the street, it was a Victorian terrace with a postage stamp of an overgrown garden between its front wall and the street.

2016, Jane Killick, Mind Power: Perceivers #4:

(UK, informal) A single house in such a group.

(in the plural, chiefly British) The standing area of a sports stadium.


tester

For testern, teston, from French teston, from Old French teste (“the head, the head of the king being impressed upon the coin”). See tester (“a covering”), and compare testone, testoon.

der

When after their beaſtly ſport and pleaſure Mounſieur Libid[inoſo] heat of luſt was ſomewhat aſſwaged, and ready to goe, féeling his pocket for a venereall remuneration [i.e., a copper coin] finds nothing but a Teſter, or at leaſt ſo little, that it was not ſufficient to pleaſe dame Pleaſure for her hire. [...] My Ladie would not beléeue Monſ. Libid. a great while, but ſearched and féeled for more coine, [...]

1602, S[amuel] R[owlands], “How a Citizen was Serued by a Curtizan”, in Greenes Ghost Havnting Conie-catchers. […], London: Printed [by Peter Short?] for R[oger] Iackson, and I. North, […], →OCLC; republished in The Complete Works of Samuel Rowlands: 1598–1628: Now First Collected, volume I, [Glasgow]: Printed [by R. Anderson] for the Hunterian Club, 1880, →OCLC, page 42:


spend a penny

en-verb

spend a penny (third-person singular simple present spends a penny, present participle spending a penny, simple past and past participle spent a penny)

spends a penny (present singular third-person)
spending a penny (participle present)
spent a penny (participle past)
spent a penny (past)

From the act of putting a (pre-decimal) penny in the slot of a pay-toilet cubicle.

I put on a lick of paint, slip over and spend a penny in Costing…I should technically use the one in Records but I've told them, that lavatory seat is a death trap.

1982, Alan Bennett, “A Woman of No Importance”, in The Complete Talking Heads, Picador, published 2010, →ISBN, page 14:

(UK, Ireland, Commonwealth, dated, euphemistic) To use the toilet.


corporation pop

From corporation (“a local authority”) + pop (“a carbonated drink”). Used in sarcastic humor, as tap water is not an affluent beverage.

com

(idiomatic, UK) Water, specifically drinking water supplied by a public utility company.


bonk

en-verb

bonk (third-person singular simple present bonks, present participle bonking, simple past and past participle bonked)

bonks (present singular third-person)
bonking (participle present)
bonked (participle past)
bonked (past)

Of imitative origin. Compare English bang, bounce, bump.

onomatopoeic

imitative

Sophie (Katrin Cartlidge) What is a proper relationship?
Louise (Lesley Sharp): Living with someone who talks to you after they've bonked ya.

Because most of the blokes I fancy think l'm stupid and pointless—and, so, they just bonk me and then leave me. And the kind of blokes that do fancy me, I think are drips. I can't even be bothered to bonk them. Which does sort of leave me a bit nowhere.

1994, Richard Curtis, Four Weddings and a Funeral, spoken by Scarlett (Charlotte Coleman):

But let’s not kid ourselves about bonking for Britain: this is just “the great replacement theory” with a tax code.

2022 October 10, Zoe Williams, “The Tory minister’s ‘bonking for Britain’ idea is a vile vision lurking behind cheeky Carry On imagery”, in The Guardian:

(informal, chiefly UK, ambitransitive) To have sexual intercourse (with).


bonk

en-noun

bonk (countable and uncountable, plural bonks)

onomatopoeic

imitative

“[…] It’s not like I’m just looking for a bonk, is it? This is something a bit different.” ¶ “Quite,” said Nick—though bonk was a troublingly casual way of referring to something which preoccupied him so much.

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

(informal, countable, chiefly UK) An act of sexual intercourse.


snaffle

en-verb

snaffle (third-person singular simple present snaffles, present participle snaffling, simple past and past participle snaffled)

snaffles (present singular third-person)
snaffling (participle present)
snaffled (participle past)
snaffled (past)

Apparently from Dutch snavel, from Middle Dutch snavel, snabel (“snout”), diminutive of Middle Dutch snabbe, snebbe (“bird's bill, neb”). Akin to Old Frisian snavel (“mouth”), Middle Low German snabbe (“neb, beak”), Old English nebb (“beak, bill, nose, face”). More at neb.

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:

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


batty rider

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

(Jamaica, US, Canada, British) extremely short shorts worn by women, so as to expose part of the buttocks


LV

As we have said before, never accept an AA increase – if you phone up and threaten to leave they will, in our experience, drop it back to the previous price. Or better still, just keep switching provider each year. LV’s cover is a good alternative.

2020 January 1, Miles Brignall, “Sit back, do nothing and the AA will double your bill”, in The Guardian:

(UK) Initialism of Liverpool Victoria: a British insurance company; also LV=.


slump

Probably of North Germanic origin: compare Danish slumpe (“to stumble upon by chance”), Norwegian slumpe (“happen by chance”), Swedish slumpa (“to sell off”). Compare also German schlumpen (“to trail; draggle; be sloppy”), dialectal Dutch slompen (“to walk clumsily”).

cog

The road was all slumps of holes.

1880, William Hugh Patterson, A Glossary of Words in Use in the Counties of Antrim and Down:

It was neither seemly nor befitting that so great an occasion should have its solemnity defaced by leaping-poles or four hands crossed cradlewise to convey the bridal finery over “slump” or “quakkin'-qua[g]”!

1911, Samuel Rutherford Crockett, Rose of the Wilderness, page 165:


pernickety

en-adj

pernickety (comparative more pernickety, superlative most pernickety)

more pernickety (comparative)
most pernickety (superlative)
persnickety (alternative)

From Scots pernickety, persnickety, apparently from per- + nick (“a notch, mark, cutting retort”) + -et (“-ed”) + -y; equivalent to English per- + nick + -ety; literally, “marked up”, then “overly precise”. The alternative form persnickety, with s, may be due to substitution of Scots sneck (“a cut, notch”) for nick.
Compare also Scots variants pernicked, pernicket, pirnicky, and pernicky.

‘You must forgive me,’ he said. ‘I take a ridiculous pleasure in what I eat and drink. It comes partly from being a bachelor, but mostly from a habit of taking a lot of trouble over details. It’s very pernickety and old-maidish really, but then when I’m working I generally have to eat my meals alone and it makes them more interesting when one takes trouble.’

1953, Ian Fleming, chapter 8, in Casino Royale, page 48:

(chiefly UK, Ireland, Commonwealth) Fussy; paying undue attention to minor details; fastidious.


carer

General American, Mary–marry–merry merger

Have you thought of a job as a carer for disabled people?

They retired early to be a full-time carer for their partner.

He said Robins had not been in trouble with the law before and had no previous convictions. Jail would have an adverse effect on her and her three children as she was the main carer.

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

Her business was a one-woman outfit that offered accredited first-aid training courses for teachers, carers, sports coaches, antenatal classes, workplace groups, and the police; the classes ranged from basic defibrillator training to what was now called psychological first aid.

2023, Eleanor Catton, Birnam Wood, page 211:

(UK, Ireland, Commonwealth) Someone who regularly looks after another person, either as a job or often through family responsibilities.

مُقَدِّم الرِّعايَة

someone who regularly looks after another person


kie

From Middle English ky, from Old English cȳ (“cows”), plural of cū (“cow”).

kee (alternative)
kine (alternative)
ky (alternative)
kye (alternative)

And if thou zawest any kie come royling through this grounde,
Or driven away, tell what he was and where they may be vownde.

1567, Ovid, “The Seconde Booke”, in Arthur Golding, transl., The XV. Bookes of P. Ouidius Naso, Entytuled Metamorphosis, […], London: […] Willyam Seres […], →OCLC:

(UK, dialect, obsolete) Alternative spelling of kye, plural of cow


solidus

From Middle English solidus, from classical Latin solidus (“solid”), see below. Doublet of sol, sold, soldo, solid, sou, and xu.
In numismatic and weight senses, via medieval Latin solidus (“various coins”), from Late Latin solidus (“a gold coin of the Roman Empire”). In chemical sense, via German Solidus, coined by H.W.B. Roozeboom in his 1899 Zeitschrift für Physikalische Chemie, Stöchiometrie, und Verwandtschaftslehre (XXX, page 387).
In typography, from the shilling mark originally being an abbreviation (a long s ⟨ſ⟩), of Medieval Latin solidus meaning shilling.

der

slash (typography)
solidus (coin)
solidus (disambiguation)

(typography) Synonym of slash ⟨/⟩, originally (UK) in its use as the shilling mark and now its formal designation by the ISO and Unicode.


curses

Fisherman: '1 PLAY COIN FOR 100 GOLD, A BOUNTIFUL TRADE, IF I'D BE SO BOLD!' / Shovel Knight: 'NOT NOW' / FISHERMAN: 'CURSES! THE THOUGHT OF THIS BURDEN UPSETS ME, BUT THAT'S WHAT A LIFE OF ADVENTURING GETS ME!'

2014, Yacht Club Games, Shovel Knight: Shovel of Hope, Nintendo 3DS, level/area: Armor Outpost:

(UK, dated or humorous in the US) Expression of annoyance or frustration.


screaming abdabs

...not noticing the sud smells anymore or belts over my head that gave me the screaming ab-dabs when I first came in the factory at fifteen...

1959, Alan Sillitoe, Saturday Night and Sunday Morning, page 34:

1971, New Scientist, page 80, by the EBSCO Publishing Firm,
Meanwhile, down the road a piece, another British firm has had an attack of the abdabs.

... Robert played all the time on his dummy keyboard and it drove Edna near mad, gave her the screaming abdabs as she put it.

1986, Anthony Burgess, The Pianoplayers, page 201:

‘This place doesn't ‘aif give me the screaming ‘abdabs.’ ‘And how!’ I agreed. All those small creatures that had once vibrated with life, now frozen ...

2003, Marian Babson, The Cat Who Wasn't a Dog:

It's a nice night, and I’da darned sight rather take a walk out than see you work yourself into a fit of the screaming abdabs. I don't blame you, ...

(British, slang) A state of extreme nervousness.


anti-devolutionist

(British) Opposed to the devolution of central powers to the individual nations and regions of the United Kingdom.


ming

en-verb

ming (third-person singular simple present mings, present participle minging, simple past and past participle minged or meint or ment or meynt)

mings (present singular third-person)
minging (participle present)
minged (participle past)
minged (past)
meint (participle past)
meint (past)
ment (participle past)
ment (past)
meynt (participle past)
meynt (past)
minge (alternative)
meng (alternative)

From Middle English mingen, mengen, from Old English mengan (“to mix, combine, unite, associate with, consort, cohabit with, disturb, converse”), from Proto-West Germanic *mangijan (“to mix, knead”), from Proto-Indo-European *menk- (“to rumple, knead”). Cognate with Dutch mengen (“to mix, blend, mingle”), German mengen (“to mix”), Danish mænge (“to rub”), Old English ġemang (“mixture, union, troop, crowd, multitude, congregation, assembly, business, cohabitation”). More at among.

cog

(UK, Ireland, dialectal) To produce through mixing; especially, to knead.


ming

mings (plural)
minge (alternative)
meng (alternative)

17 September 1811, [Description of] Counterpart of Demise from John Thorold to John Wilson of Grantham, Lincolnshire Archives, Ref. Thor 1/2/ZA25/4 Published by The National Archives, Accessed 19 June 2022.
Property: 1. 6 acres of land in ming with a meadow of Glebe land of the rectory of Grayingham.

(UK, Lincolnshire, obsolete, land) The state of being under mixed ownership; land under mixed ownership, particularly without physical demarcations designating ownership.


ming

en-verb

ming (third-person singular simple present mings, present participle minging, simple past and past participle minged)

mings (present singular third-person)
minging (participle present)
minged (participle past)
minged (past)

(UK, Ireland, slang) To be unattractive (person or object).

(UK, Ireland, slang) To be foul-smelling.


minging

en-adj

minging (comparative more minging, superlative most minging)

more minging (comparative)
most minging (superlative)

From Scots mingin (“stinking”), present participle of ming (“to stink”), from Middle English mengen (“to mix”), from Old English mengan (“to mix”).

Once, Cookie even tried to get me to give it a go with Jez – can you believe the nerve of that? 'Why would I want to do that? He's minging.' 'Why not? It won't hurt. He never gets a shag.' 'No, Cookie. Bloody hell.' He hasn't got a clue. 'Wouldn't you be jealous?' 'No.' 'You're an idiot. Why do you think he never gets a shag?' 'Why?' 'Because he's minging!' 'So? I'm minging. We're all minging. None of us are exactly page three, are we, Billie?'

2011, Melvin Burgess, Kill All Enemies, Penguin UK, →ISBN:

(UK, Ireland, Commonwealth, slang) Very unattractive; ugly.

Cleaners are always prime suspects for office thefts but in my long experience it's nearly all employees, with a tiny remainder down to traditional burglary. My advice is to presume the Nike-clad cleaner innocent and take personal stuff home, especially minging sportswear.

2011, Lucy Kellaway, The Answers: All the office questions you never dared to ask, Profile Books, →ISBN, page 82:

How can you shag bare lads? / Is your fanny not stinging? / I bet your fanny's fucking minging

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

(UK, Ireland, Commonwealth, slang) Unclean or dirty; disgusting and foul-smelling.


like the back end of a bus

Not really fighting over her (puns aside). When you get a current beau and an ex, full of booze and testosterone, meeting up, their common interest isn't much of an issue in the subsequent display of machismo. I think she looks like the back end of a bus but, to them, she was a 'possession'.

2001, "Richard", "A sign of our times...", demon.local http://groups.google.com/group/demon.local/browse_thread/thread/3e3e39af204c46cb/06729fc6d595ef98?lnk=st&q=%22the+back+end+of+a+bus%22&rnum=21#06729fc6d595ef98

Must admit, I like the *original* 911s - the original, late-1960s ones back before they fitted bulgey wheelarches and silly tea-tray rear spoilers. They look much more like delicate, precision instruments compared with the later 'sledgehammer" versions [which IMHO are about as attractive as the back end of a bus].

2002, Tanuki the Raccoon-dog, “I drove a...”, in uk.rec.cars.modifications (Usenet):

You surely can't be comparing Alicia Witt with Sarah Fergusson? Alicia Witt looks stunning, while the duchess of Pork looks like the back end of a bus.

2004, David Platt, “DUCHESS OF YORK NUDE”, in uk.politics.misc (Usenet):

‘You’ve got a face like the back end of a bus,’ he spat, his eyes raw and burning. Then he grinned, his yellow-stained teeth spreading across his mush [...]

2005, Will Hadcroft, Anne Droyd And Century Lodge:

As I once told him, being British, looking like the back end of a bus or weighing 30 stone, was utterly irrelevant to the posting i made

2006, "sheelagh", "Bookie: Did you adopt the blind cat?", rec.pats.cats.health+behav http://groups.google.com/group/rec.pets.cats.health+behav/browse_thread/thread/d6ce604519cdefbb/a5f305d13e68a960?lnk=st&q=%22the+back+end+of+a+bus%22&rnum=10#a5f305d13e68a960

(simile, colloquial, British, derogatory) Very unattractive.


post mortem

post mortems (plural)
postmortem (alternative)
post-mortem (alternative)

From Latin post (“afterwards”) + mortem, from mors (“death”).

(British, university slang, obsolete) At Cambridge, a second examination for those who were "plucked" or failed in the first.


neighbourly

neighbourly (comparative more neighbourly, superlative most neighbourly)

more neighbourly (comparative)
most neighbourly (superlative)
neighborly (alternative US)

She's so neighbourly that she always holds a welcoming party for new residents.

I got the impression you were looking for something, and it crossed my mind to ask you what that might be. Just being friendly, sir, just being neighbourly.

2001, Salman Rushdie, Fury: A Novel, London: Jonathan Cape, →ISBN, pages 4–5:

(British, Canada) Showing the qualities of a friendly and helpful neighbour.


NGA

National Graphical Association
w:National Graphical Association

(UK, historical) Initialism of National Graphical Association.


ruck

en-verb

ruck (third-person singular simple present rucks, present participle rucking, simple past and past participle rucked)

rucks (present singular third-person)
rucking (participle present)
rucked (participle past)
rucked (past)

Compare Danish ruge (“to brood, to hatch”), itself related to Proto-Germanic *hraukaz (“heap, stack”).

Bot now thei rucken in here nest
And resten as hem liketh best.

c. 1386–1390, John Gower, edited by Reinhold Pauli, Confessio Amantis of John Gower: Edited and Collated with the Best Manuscripts, volume (please specify |volume=I, II, or III), London: Bell and Daldy […], published 1857, →OCLC:

The Rauen rook'd her on the Chimnies top,
And chatt'ring Pies in dismall Discords sung.

c. 1591–1592 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Third Part of Henry the Sixt, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene vi]:

(UK, dialect, obsolete) To cower or huddle together; to squat; to sit, as a hen on eggs.


bonnet

→ Scottish Gaelic: bonaid

From Middle English bonet, from Middle French bonet (Modern French bonnet), from Old French bonet (“material from which hats are made”), from Frankish *bunni (“that which is bound”), from Proto-Germanic *bundiją (“bundle”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰendʰ- (“to tie”).
Compare also Late Latin abbonis, obbonis (“ribbon of a headdress”), also of Germanic origin, from Frankish *obbunni, from *ob- (“above, over”) + *bunni.
Cognate with Old High German gibunt (“band, ribbon”), Middle Dutch bont (“bundle, truss”), Gothic 𐌲𐌰𐌱𐌿𐌽𐌳𐌹 (gabundi, “bond”). More at over, bundle.

der

The car is burgundy red, wide and elegant, ten years old but still the boys are impressed and they run to touch it, pressing sticky handprints against the polished bodywork and trying to climb up onto the bonnet.

2003, Jon McGregor, If Nobody Speaks of Remarkable Things, page 189:

People were reluctant to slam a bonnet shut in those days. One just did not slam bonnets and doors.

2004, David Spencer, quoted in Don Loffler, The FJ Holden: A Favourite Australian Car, page 217:

By about 20 ms, there is contact between the bonnet leading edge and the pedestrian upper leg/pelvis on the struck side, the severity of which depends on the vehicle shape.

2009, Ciaran Simms, Denis Wood, Pedestrian and Cyclist Impact: A Biomechanical Perspective, page 38:

Stoll was still standing on the car bonnet with the catch of his large-calibre repeating rifle off.

2009, Stefan Aust, Anthea Bell, Baader-Meinhof: the inside story of the R.A.F., page 308:

(Australia, British, New Zealand, South Africa, Commonwealth, automotive) The hinged cover over the engine of a motor car; a hood.


instal

en-verb

instal (third-person singular simple present instals, present participle installing, simple past and past participle installed)

instals (present singular third-person)
installing (participle present)
installed (participle past)
installed (past)


steaming

en-noun

steaming (countable and uncountable, plural steamings)

(UK, informal) A form of robbery in which a large gang moves swiftly and violently through a bus or train.


steaming

en-adj

steaming (comparative more steaming, superlative most steaming)

more steaming (comparative)
most steaming (superlative)

‘Will it help or hinder if I tell you I was steaming that evening and remember nothing, full stop?’

2021, Caleb Azumah Nelson, Open Water, Viking, page 6:


sozzled

sozzled (comparative more sozzled, superlative most sozzled)

more sozzled (comparative)
most sozzled (superlative)


crocked

crocked (comparative more crocked, superlative most crocked)

more crocked (comparative)
most crocked (superlative)

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

St Johnstone boss Derek McInnes had made two changes, with Callum Davidson, who has now recovered from injury, the replacement for crocked fellow defender David McCracken and David Robertson taking the place of Chris Millar in midfield.

2011 October 1, Clive Lindsay, “Kilmarnock 1 - 2 St Johnstone”, in BBC Sport:


pay-as-you-go

From pay + as you go (“while one progresses”).

com

From January 2, passengers will be able to use contactless pay-as-you-go between London and Reading.

2020 January 2, “First official Transport for London trains operate to Reading”, in RAIL, page 10:

(British) A payment method where the charge of a service is taken automatically, usually in small amounts, after the usage, in contrast of paying before usage. Used especially of mobile phones and transport ticketing.


tweedle

en-verb

tweedle (third-person singular simple present tweedles, present participle tweedling, simple past and past participle tweedled)

tweedles (present singular third-person)
tweedling (participle present)
tweedled (participle past)
tweedled (past)
twidle (alternative)

said to be imitative, probably influenced by wheedle. Compare teedle, toodle, twiddle

onom

imitative

I am afraid that the knowing author of the “cracking a-crib” book would be flummoxed by tweedling.

1925, Eustace Jervis, Twenty-five Years in Six Prisons, page 17:

Girls, smokes, bit of smack, mossing, tweedling; a very democratic villain, Mr Salvatore.

(UK, slang) To sell fake jewellery as genuine.


tweedle

imitative

Reggie had a way with him. People trusted him, and he could always pick up a few pounds when he needed them from the jargoons and the tweedle.

2013, John Pearson, The Profession of Violence: The Rise and Fall of the Kray Twins:

(UK, slang) A confidence trick in which fake jewellery is sold as genuine.


ASTMS

(British, historical, trade union) Initialism of Association of Scientific, Technical and Managerial Staffs, a trade union.


AScW

Association of Scientific Workers
w:Association of Scientific Workers

(British, labor union) Abbreviation of Association of Scientific Workers.


UNISON

(British, labor union) A public-sector trade union in the United Kingdom.


geezer

From guiser. Compare also German Low German Kieser (“an obstinate person; brute; savage”).

cog

You are a silly young geezer.

1922, P. G. Wodehouse, chapter 19, in Right Ho, Jeeves:

See the hoverboard-riding geezer? This close to payin' a G for a shot of my cousin Calvin's molars.

2023, Nathan Bryon, Tom Melia, directed by Raine Allen-Miller, Rye Lane, spoken by Nathan (Simon Manyonda):

(informal, chiefly UK, Ireland, Commonwealth, dated in the US) A male person.

Geezers need excitement / If their lives don't provide 'em this, they incite violence / Common sense, simple common sense

2002, “Geezers need excitement”, in Original Pirate Material, performed by The Streets:

He turned out to be a proper geezer who was willing to listen to my proposition that if he took the door at the Ministry, I would pay him £400 a month to mark my cards.

2003, Carlton Leach, Muscle, John Blake Publishing, →ISBN:

He was a bit of a geezer. Used to box with the Krays when he was a young 'un.

2009, Dreda Say Mitchell, Geezer Girls, Hachette UK, →ISBN:

When I'd first met Adam, at work when we were both 23, the fact that he seemed a little rough around the edges appealed to me. He was a bit of a geezer, a joker, one of the lads.

2013, Charlotte Ward, Why Am I Always the One Before 'The One'?, Hachette UK, →ISBN:

(UK, Ireland, Commonwealth, chiefly Cockney, slang) Someone affable but morally dubious; a wide boy.

Hi, geezer, you alright?

(UK, Ireland, Commonwealth, slang) Term of address for a male.

He'd flirt and boat, but never wrote / A note to his old geezer.

1882, J. F. Mitchell, Jimmy Johnson's Holiday:

This frizzle-headed old geezer had a chin on her as rough well, as rough as her family, and they're rough 'uns.

(archaic, UK, Ireland, Commonwealth, slang) Wife; old woman.


scarlet fever

en-noun

scarlet fever (countable and uncountable, plural scarlet fevers)

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

(attraction to soldiers): In allusion to the red coats they used to wear.

Soldiers are notorious for hunting up these women, especially nurse-maids and those that in the execution of their duty walk in the Parks, when they may easily be accosted. Nurse-maids feel flattered by the attention that is lavished upon them, and are always ready to succumb to the “scarlet fever.” A red coat is all powerful with this class, who prefer a soldier to a servant, or any other description of man they come in contact with.

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

According to Henry Mayhew, it was here that housemaids and nursemaids walking in the park to and from their place of work often first encountered “the all powerful red coat” and “succumbed to Scarlet Fever.” Soldiers were by no means unaware of the impact their dashing uniforms and well-groomed military air could have on young women, and deployed these features to their advantage.

2019, Hallie Rubenhold, The Five, page 79:

(UK, slang, obsolete, uncountable) Romantic attraction to soldiers in preference to other people.


goon

→ Portuguese: guna

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

Alice the Goon
Peter Sellers
Popeye
Spike Milligan
The Goon Show

Etymology tree
Proto-Indo-European *dʰeǵʰ-
Proto-Indo-European *-ōm
Proto-Indo-European *dʰéǵʰōm
Proto-Indo-European *-ō
Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰmṓ
Proto-Germanic *gumô
Proto-West Germanic *gumō
Old English guma
Middle English gone?
English gooney
English goon
Shortened from gooney, from obsolete gony (“simpleton”), used circa 1580, of unknown origin. Perhaps a familiar term derived from Middle English gone, a variant of gome (“man, person”). Gony was applied by sailors to the albatross and similar big, clumsy birds (circa 1839). The term goon first carried the meaning "stupid person" (circa 1921). Compare Scots goni, guni (“a bogey, bugbear, hobgoblin”), dialectal Swedish gonnar (“elves, goblins”, plural).
* Sense 1 ("hired thug"; circa 1938) is largely influenced by the comic strip character Alice the Goon from the Popeye series.
* Sense 3 ("fool") was reinforced by the popular radio program, The Goon Show, starring Spike Milligan and Peter Sellers.
* Sense 5 ("guard") was influenced by both sense 1 and sense 3, though not by The Goon Show reference, which arose about 10 years after WWII.

unk

unknown

cog

(UK, World War II, PoW slang) A German guard in a prisoner-of-war camp.

World War II; PoW slang; World War II; PoW slang


ROC

Translingual: ROC

(UK, military) The Royal Observer Corps, a United Kingdom defence organization (1925 to 1992).


exhibitioner

(British) A student at secondary school or university who has been awarded an exhibition. The exhibition usually involves a financial prize and may include the right to wear a distinctive gown, especially at the University of Oxford.


honourable

en-adj

honourable (comparative more honourable, superlative most honourable)

more honourable (comparative)
most honourable (superlative)

From Middle English honourable, from Old French honorable, honurable, from Latin honōrābilis, from honōrō (“I honour”); cognate with Italian onorabile, Spanish honorable. By surface analysis, honour + -able. In this sense, largely displaced Old English ārfæst.

It was aptly said by Newton that "whatever is not deduced from facts must be regarded as hypothesis," but hypothesis appears to us a title too honourable for the crude guessings to which we allude.

1846, George Luxford, Edward Newman, The Phytologist: a popular botanical miscellany: Volume 2, Part 2, page 474:


honourable

So she invites her father and sister to a second day's dinner (if those sides, or ontrys, as she calls 'em, weren't served yesterday, I'm d—d), and to meet City folks and littery men, and keeps the Earls and the Ladies, and the Honourables to herself.

1847 January – 1848 July, William Makepeace Thackeray, Vanity Fair […], London: Bradbury and Evans […], published 1848, →OCLC:


hade

Probably a dialectal or variant form of head.

… certeine arable landes some of them havinge hades of meadow and grasse grounde lieinge in the Southe fielde of Einsham.

1615, in a Map in Corpus Christi College, Oxon, quoted in Wright's English Dialect Dictionary

6 rodes with hades at both ends. 2 Landes 4 ro. with hades.

1635, Terrier, quoted in Wright's English Dialect Dictionary

And oxen wyl plowe in tough cley … And whereas is now suerall pastures, there the horse plowe is better, for the horses may be teddered, or tyed upon leys, balkes, or hades, whereas oxen may not be kept: and it is used to tedder them, but in fewe places.

1534 [original], Anthony Fitzherbert, Husbandry, republished as Ancient Tracts concerning the Management of landed Property, republished, in The Monthly Review, or Journal (1767), page 270

[Item] . . . . . [w]th hades at both endes in the furlong called longe Furlonge of Thomas Vades on the north side and the aforesaide Mr [Bury] [so]wth side.

1955, Ecclesiastical Terriers of Warwickshire Parishes, volume 22, page 36:

(British, dialects, obsolete) A headland; a strip of land at the side of a field upon which a plough may be turned.


discretise

en-verb

discretise (third-person singular simple present discretises, present participle discretising, simple past and past participle discretised)

discretises (present singular third-person)
discretising (participle present)
discretised (participle past)
discretised (past)

(transitive, British) Alternative form of discretize.


Hon

Members of Parliament
Member of Parliament

(British, politics) Honourable (in the titles of Members of Parliament)


lambast

lambast (third-person singular simple present lambasts, present participle lambasting, simple past and past participle lambasted)

lambasts (present singular third-person)
lambasting (participle present)
lambasted (participle past)
lambasted (past)

Labour frontbencher Louise Haigh (Shadow Transport Secretary for heaven's sake!) initially lambasted TOCs before the handful of specialist rail commentators fell on her tweets and she changed her tune, refocusing her fire on Government.

2023 August 9, Nigel Harris, “Comment: Disinterested and dishonest”, in RAIL, number 989, page 3:


colourise

colourise (third-person singular simple present colourises, present participle colourising, simple past and past participle colourised)

colourises (present singular third-person)
colourising (participle present)
colourised (participle past)
colourised (past)

(British spelling) British standard spelling of colorize.


brook trout

en-noun

brook trout (plural brook trout or brook trouts)

brook trout (plural)
brook trouts (plural)

(British) A fish of the subspecies Salmo trutta fario, the brown trout.


rug

Uncertain; probably of North Germanic origin; perhaps inherited via Middle English *rugge (suggested by Middle English ruggy (“hairy, shaggy, bristly”) and rugged (“hairy, shaggy, rugged”)), from Old Norse rǫgg (“shagginess, tuft”), from Proto-Germanic *rawwō (“long wool”), probably related to *rūhaz (“rough”), related to English rag and rough.
Cognate with dialectal Norwegian rugga (“coarse coverlet”), Swedish rugg (“rough entangled hair”), related to English rag and rough. Compare also Old English rȳhe (“rug, rough covering, blanket”).

cog

They then cut down a quantity of gum-tree leaves for a bed, and threw their rugs upon them ready for bed-time.

1855, William Howitt, A Boy′s Adventures in the Wilds of Australia: or, Herbert′s Note-Book, page 254:

Furnish every sleeping apartment with a sufficient number of toilet utensils and bedsteads, and sufficient bedding so that each bed shall be provided with a mattress, two sheets, a rug, and, in winter time, not less than one additional rug.

1906 July 27, Government Gazette of Western Australia, page 2297:

1950 April, Dental Journal of Australia, Volume 22, page 181,
My own son had a bunny rug of which he was very fond and on being put to bed he would always demand his “bunny rug to suck his finger with.″

1958, Arthur Hailey, John Castle. Runway Zero-Eight. Bantham Books
She tucked in a rug round the woman. “How’s that?” The woman nodded gratefully.

He brought with him a rug and a sheet, and lay down by the fire.

1997, Alan Sharpe, Vivien Encel, Murder!: 25 True Australian Crimes, page 22:

(UK, Australia) A (usually thick) piece of fabric used for warmth (especially on a bed); a blanket.


twos

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


kate

Fringilla montifringilla
Fringilla montifringilla#Translingual

(UK, dialect, Kent) The brambling finch, Fringilla montifringilla.


ey

Inherited from Middle English ei, i, ie, from Old English ēġ, īġ, īeġ, from Proto-West Germanic *auwju, from Proto-Germanic *awjō (“watery land, floodplain, island”), earlier *agwjō ~ *ahwjō (literally “(that which is) of the water”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂ékʷeh₂ (“flowing water”) + *-yeh₂.

der

Now it will be seen that each of the three small streamlets named forms, at its junction with the larger river into which it flows, an ey, or island, of this latter kind — Crip's-ey, Dom's-ey, and Pin's-ey, respectively; and I suggest that, from these three eys, each of the three streams indicated derived the final element of its name.

Runnymede Bridge is situated on an 'ey' – a small gravel islet close to the river bank.

2009, Julie Wileman, War and Rumours of War, page 81:

(UK) A small island formed by the buildup of silt or gravel at the confluence of two rivers or streams.


clump

en-verb

clump (third-person singular simple present clumps, present participle clumping, simple past and past participle clumped)

clumps (present singular third-person)
clumping (participle present)
clumped (participle past)
clumped (past)

From Middle English clompe, from Old English clymppe, a variant of clympre (“a lump or mass of metal”), from Proto-Germanic *klumpô (“mass, lump, clump; clasp”), from Proto-Indo-European *glembʰ- (“lump, clamp”).
Alternatively, possibly from Middle Dutch clompe or Middle Low German klumpe (compare German Klumpen). Doublet of klomp.
Cognates include Danish klump (probably from Low German as well). Compare Norwegian Bokmål klump.

der

There is his poor little cap hanging up on the door; and there on the table is the knife he chipped a piece out of through not minding the mark on the knife machine, and I clumped his head for him, poor lamb!

1912, Mrs. Coulson Kernahan, The Go-Between, page 79:

(transitive, UK, regional) To strike; to beat.


forestall

en-verb

forestall (third-person singular simple present forestalls, present participle forestalling, simple past and past participle forestalled)

forestalls (present singular third-person)
forestalling (participle present)
forestalled (participle past)
forestalled (past)

From Middle English forestallen (“to forestall, intercept, ambush, way-lay”), from forestalle (“a forestalling, interception”), from Old English foresteall (“intervention, hindrance of justice, ambush”), from fore- (“ahead of, before”) + steall (“position”), equivalent to fore- + stall.

inh

(UK, law) To obstruct or stop up, as a road; to stop the passage of a highway; to intercept on the road, as goods on the way to market.


be mother

en-verb

be mother (no third-person singular simple present, present participle being mother, no simple past, past participle been mother)

being mother (participle present)
been mother (participle past)
be mum (alternative)

Pouring tea is traditionally the mother's role in a family setting.

Ah, here are the cakes and tea; shall I be mother?

They went to a cafe and had afternoon tea.
'Shall l be mother?' Marcus said, lifting a utilitarian brown teapot, all cosied up in something that looked like a bobble hat.

2009, Kate Atkinson, When Will There Be Good News?, page 277:

'Be mother, will you, Charity? Teile and Letizia have a watered-down version.'
So they had a pleasant tea, although Charity kept an anxious eye on the clock, keen not to outstay her welcome.

(idiomatic, British) To pour out tea for others.