slag

en-verb

slag (third-person singular simple present slags, present participle slagging, simple past and past participle slagged)

slags (present singular third-person)
slagging (participle present)
slagged (participle past)
slagged (past)

(transitive, Ireland, slang) To make fun of; to take the piss (tease, ridicule or mock).


slapper

From slap + -er. For senses 2 and 3, the OED tentatively quotes the Bloomsbury Dictionary of Contemporary Slang: "This working class term from East London and Essex is probably a corruption of shlepper or schlepper, a word of Yiddish origin, one of whose meanings is a slovenly or immoral woman."

A fella looking dapper / And he's sittin' with a slapper / Then I see it's a pimp / And his crack whore

2006, Lily Allen, Iyiola Babalola, Darren Lewis, Tommy McCook, “LDN”, in Alright, Still, performed by Lily Allen:

You've got a photo of the dead grandad, no pic of the blonde slapper?

2022, Liam McIlvanney, The Heretic, page 167:

(countable, UK, Ireland, Commonwealth, slang) A prostitute.

(countable, UK, Ireland, Commonwealth, slang) A woman of loose morals.


splay

splay (third-person singular simple present splays, present participle splaying, simple past and past participle splayed)

splays (present singular third-person)
splaying (participle present)
splayed (participle past)
splayed (past)

From Middle English splaien, splayen, a variant of spaien, spayen (“to remove the ovaries of (a female animal), spay; to stab or kill (an animal)”): see spay.

Sovves alſo are ſplaied as vvell as camels, but tvvo daies before, they be kept from meat; then hang they them by the forelegs for to make inciſion into their matrice [womb], and to take forth their ſtones: and by this means they vvill ſooner grovv to be fat.

1601, C[aius] Plinius Secundus [i.e., Pliny the Elder], “[Book VIII.] Of Swine and Their Natures.”, in Philemon Holland, transl., The Historie of the World. Commonly Called, The Naturall Historie of C. Plinius Secundus. […], 1st tome, London: […] Adam Islip, →OCLC, page 230:

Eſc[alus]. Hovv vvould you liue Pompey? by being a bavvd? […] the Lavv vvould not allovv it Pompey; nor it ſhall not be allovved in Vienna. / Clo[wne, i.e., Pompey Bum, a pimp]. Do's your VVorſhip meane to geld and ſplay all the youth of the City?

c. 1603–1604 (date written), William Shakespeare, “Measure for Measure”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene i], page 66, column 2:

[T]o ſay nothing of the knovvn practice of ſplaying Svvine and Bitches; […]

1663, Robert Boyle, “Essay V. Proposing Some Particulars wherein Natural Philosophy may be Useful to the Therapeutical Part of Physick.”, in Some Considerations Touching the Vsefulnesse of Experimental Naturall Philosophy, […], Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] Hen[ry] Hall printer to the University, for Ric[hard] Davis, →OCLC, part II, section I (Of It’s Usefulness to Physick), chapter XII, page 234:

(transitive, obsolete except Ireland, Lincolnshire, Shropshire) Synonym of spay (“to destroy or remove the ovaries and/or uterus (of a female animal) to prevent pregnancy”).


squirt

en-noun

squirt (countable and uncountable, plural squirts)

From Middle English squirten, squyrten, of uncertain origin; probably onomatopoeic. Akin to swirl. Compare Low German swirtjen (“to squirt”) and Swedish water onomatopoeias skvala, skvalp, skvimpa, and skvätta; Icelandic skvetta; and Norwegian skvette.

Hey squirt! Where you been?

1986, Alethea Helbig, Agnes Perkins, Cutlass Island, entry in Dictionary of American Children′s Fiction, 1960-1984: Recent Books of Recognized Merit, page 137,
Hurd returns with Mal, Mr. Eph, and Gumbo, the “town squirt” of twelve, and the boys′ activities come out.

2010, Karen Witemeyer, A Tailor-Made Bride, Bethany House Publishers, US, page 66,
How the child managed to converse and fold at the same time was a marvel, yet the shirt lay in a tidy rectangle by the time she came up for air.
“Thanks, squirt.” He winked at her and she giggled.

(UK, Ireland, US, Australia, New Zealand, Philippines, slang) A small child.


treacle

treacle (countable and uncountable, plural treacles)

From Middle English triacle, partly from Old French triacle, and partly from Old English tyriaca, both from Late Latin *triaca, *tiriaca, late form of theriaca, ultimately from Ancient Greek θηριακή (thēriakḗ, “antidote”), feminine form of θηριακός (thēriakós, “concerning venomous beasts”), from θήρ (thḗr, “beast”). Doublet of theriacle, equivalent to theriac + -le.

der

Didn’t you see how the cub was ashamed of the thick bread-and-butter? I dare say they’re going to have treacle if they are good.

1848 November – 1850 December, William Makepeace Thackeray, chapter 26, in The History of Pendennis. […], volume (please specify |volume=I or II), London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1849–1850, →OCLC:

(chiefly UK, Ireland) A syrupy byproduct of sugar refining; molasses or golden syrup.


wheeze

From Middle English whesen, perhaps from Old Norse hvæsa (“to hiss”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *ḱwes- (“to pant”).

Didn’t catch me napping that wheeze.

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

The main point of fuel duty, though, is as a fiscal wheeze: it made up 5% of the tax take in 2010.

2011 November 19, “Road rage; High petrol prices hurt, but will not throttle the economy”, in The Economist:

The Constitution cult in the US—deliberately stoked in the early twentieth century in a part as a bulwark against socialism—is a nastily brilliant wheeze by capitalism's apologists.

2022, China Miéville, chapter 4, in A Spectre, Haunting: On the Communist Manifesto, →OCLC:

(British, Ireland, informal) An ulterior scheme or plan.


long finger

From Middle English longe fyngyr, longue finguer.

(idiomatic, Ireland) A state of postponement or procrastination.

Jim tries to look flash, but he buys everything on the long finger.

(idiomatic, Ireland) Hire purchase or credit.


message

Tok Pisin: mesej

desc

→ Egyptian Arabic: ماسدچ (māsidž, “text message”)

→ Gulf Arabic: مسج (məsij, “text message”)

→ German: Message

→ Japanese: メッセージ (messēji)

→ Korean: 메시지 (mesiji)

→ Malay: mesej

→ Russian: ме́сседж (mɛ́ssɛdž)

From Middle English message, from Old French message, from Early Medieval Latin missāticum, derived from Latin mittere (“send”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *meyth₂- (“to exchange”). Partially displaced Old English ærende (whence errand).

der

I had been on a message for my father, and was walking home along the road, when I saw a tall, fine lassie coming over the bogland on the right hand side of the road.

1886, Peter Christen Asbjørnsen, translated by H.L. Brækstad, Folk and Fairy Tales, page 27:

(UK, Ireland, chiefly in the plural) An errand.

(Ireland, Scotland, Northern England) See messages (“groceries, shopping”).


cuppa

Contraction of cup of (with “tea” or sometimes “coffee” implied). See also a (“of”), pinta (“pint of milk”).

I’ve just put the kettle on – fancy a cuppa?

[…] we covered the hundred yards to the lawn where the tea table awaited us. […] Only Bobbie was present when we arrived at the trough. Wilbert and Phyllis were presumably still in the leafy glade, and Mrs Cream, Bobbie said, worked in her room every afternoon on her new spine-freezer and seldom knocked off for a cuppa.

1960, P. G. Wodehouse, Jeeves in the Offing, chapter III:

1992, Machine Knitting Monthly, Maidenhead: Machine Knitting Monthly Ltd.,
Back home safely, I made a cuppa and sat for a good hour revelling in my favourite magazine.

‘Here,’ said Clancy as he sat up and dangled his legs over the edge of the bed, ‘You sit down and take it easy. I′ll boil the billy for a cuppa’.

2007, Kevin Hallewell, Woop Woop, page 35:

2017 Mrs. S. "Guillotines Decide" Orphan Black
Get Kira up. I'll pour you a cuppa.

(UK, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, colloquial) A cup of tea (or sometimes any hot drink).

Similes were not my cuppa, anyway. My classmates tended to overload their writing with them (all-time record: six in one paragraph) and they stuck out like violins in a rock tune.

2001, Gabrielle Bauer, Waltzing the Tango: Confessions of an Out-of-step Boomer, page 210:

(UK, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, colloquial) Whatever interests or suits one; one's cup of tea.


gumption

en-noun

gumption (usually uncountable, plural gumptions)

Borrowed from Scots gumption (“common sense, shrewdness; drive, initiative”); further etymology unknown, possibly connected with Middle English gome (“attention, heed”), from Old Norse gaumr (“attention, heed”), from Proto-Germanic *gaumō. English cognates include gaum (“to comprehend, understand”) and goam (“to recognize, see”).

bor+

Gumption, or rum gumption, docility, comprehenſion, capacity.

[1785, [Francis Grose], “Gumption, or rum gumption”, in A Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue, London: […] S[amuel] Hooper, […], →OCLC:

When I see a man who has a good business, sufficient to support his family respectably, neglecting his affairs, and running into debt, in order to obtain a political office, I fancy that, whatever may be his talents, he is not burdened with gumption. […] When I see a man attending diligently to his own concerns, sending his children to school, paying his debts, and keeping clear of law suits, quarrels, and politics, I set him down as a man possessing a reasonable share of gumption.

1834 March 5, “Gumption”, in Thomas G[reen] Fessenden, editor, The New England Farmer, and Horticultural Journal; […], volume III (New Series; volume XII overall), number 34, Boston, Mass.: Geo[rge] C. Barrett, […], →OCLC, page 272, columns 1–2:

As a balance to genius, which is ideally creative, gumption is required to control, to direct. […] Gumption is the power to realize the poetical worth of common sense. Without that power no man was ever truly great.

1855 December, William T[urner] Coggeshall, “Genius and Gumption”, in D[avis] W[asgatt] Clark, editor, The Ladies’ Repository: A Monthly Periodical, Devoted to Literature and Religion, volume XV, Cincinnati, Oh.: L. Swormstedt and A. Poe; […], →OCLC, page 734:

Whatever the job turned out to be, if it went against her gumptions, she would make sure Gregory would have hell on his hands and make him eager to release her from the deal.

2013 April 29, C. A. McJack, “The Higher Path”, in The Unraveling (Fate’s Twisted Circle; 1), [Bloomington, Ind.]: Xlibris, →ISBN, page 313:

(UK, Ireland) Common sense, initiative, resourcefulness.


kerfuffle

en-verb

kerfuffle (third-person singular simple present kerfuffles, present participle kerfuffling, simple past and past participle kerfuffled)

kerfuffles (present singular third-person)
kerfuffling (participle present)
kerfuffled (participle past)
kerfuffled (past)
cufuffle (alternative)
cuffuffle (alternative)
curfuffle (alternative)
gefuffle (alternative)
kafuffle (alternative)
kerfluff (alternative)
kerfluffle (alternative)
kurfuffle (alternative)
fuffle (alternative)

Probably from Scots curfuffle, equivalent to ker- + fuffle, or related to Irish cíor thuathail (“confusion, bewilderment”). Similar to modern Welsh cythrwfl (“uproar, trouble, agitation”)

cog

(chiefly Ireland, UK, Commonwealth, informal) To make a disorderly outburst or commotion.


butty

Clipping of buttered sandwich or bun + -y. Compare Saterland Frisian Buutje (“buttered bread (sandwich)”).

Let's have a bacon butty!

(UK, chiefly Northern England, New Zealand, Ireland) A sandwich, usually with a hot or cold savoury filling buttered in a barmcake. The most common are chips, bacon, sausage and egg.


butty

en-adj

butty (comparative more butty, superlative most butty)

more butty (comparative)
most butty (superlative)

Shall it be a giggy thing, or a carty thing, or a butty thing?

(dated, Ireland and West Country) Resembling a heavy cart.


burger

Clipping of hamburger, rebracketing it as ham + burger. From around 1939. The "American" sense is likely a back-formation from Burgerland.

/ˈbɜː(ɹ)ɡə(ɹ)/

(Australia, Fiji, India, Ireland, New Zealand, South Africa, UK) Any sandwich that uses two bread rolls or buns (in North America it only refers to a sandwich with two buns or bread rolls and a meat patty).


tosser

From toss + -er. In the British slang senses, toss refers specifically to the masturbate meaning.

(UK, Commonwealth, Ireland, slang, derogatory, vulgar) A person who masturbates.

That bloke who ripped me off was a right tosser.

(UK, Commonwealth, Ireland, derogatory, offensive, slang) An objectionable person, often somewhat obnoxious in demeanour.


SF

(Ireland, UK politics) Initialism of Sinn Féin; an Irish political party.


honour

en-noun

honour (countable and uncountable, plural honours)

Honours are normally awarded twice a year: on The Queen's Birthday in June and at the New Year.

The lorde of the honour or manour

1523, Anthony Fitzherbert, Book of Surveying:

A prophet is not without honour, save in his own country.

1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Matthew 13:57:

And when the long-illumined cities flame, / Their ever-loyal iron leader's fame, / With honour, honour, honour, honour to him, / Eternal honour to his name.

1852, Alfred Tennyson, “Stanza X”, in Ode on the Death of the Duke of Wellington, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC, page 14:

Prosopochrysa lemannae is a tiny soldier fly from Judbarra National Park in the Northern Territory. It was named in honour of his colleague Cate Lemann, by Bry the Fly Guy (aka Dr Bryan Lessard), an entomologist at our insect collection.

2019 July 1, “A Game of Flies: naming 230 new species”, in CSIRO:

British, Canadian, Commonwealth, and Ireland standard spelling of honor.


honour

en-verb

honour (third-person singular simple present honours, present participle honouring, simple past and past participle honoured)

honours (present singular third-person)
honouring (participle present)
honoured (participle past)
honoured (past)


mineral

minerals (plural)
minerall (alternative obsolete)

From Middle English mineral, borrowed from Old French mineral, (French minéral), from Medieval Latin minerale, from minera (“ore”), probably ultimately derived from Latin mina (“ore, mine”).

(Ireland, South Africa, Nigeria, informal) A soft drink, particularly a single serve bottle or can.


international

internationals (plural)
int'l (alternative abbreviation)

[ˌɪɾ̃ɚˈnæʃ(ə)n(ə)ɫ]

From inter- + national. Introduced in modern English by Jeremy Bentham in his An Introduction to the Principles of Morals and Legislation, 1780.

The United team includes five England internationals.

"The young fellah meant no real harm. After all, he's an International, so if he takes half an hour to describe a game of football he has more right to do it than most folk."

1913, Arthur Conan Doyle, “(please specify the page)”, in The Poison Belt […], London; New York, N.Y.: Hodder and Stoughton, →OCLC:

(sports, chiefly British, Ireland, Australia) Someone who has represented their country in a particular sport.


gorblimey

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

Representing a Cockney pronunciation of God blind me!; traditionally, people would curse using contractions rather than breaking the third commandment (Do not use the Lord's name in vain oaths). Compare strewth, zounds, sblood.

blimey (alternative)
cor blimey (alternative)
gawblimey (alternative)
gawblimy (alternative)
gor blimey (alternative)
gorblimy (alternative)

(UK, Ireland, Commonwealth) Expressing surprise, anger, etc.


whilst

whilest (alternative)
whylst (alternative)
whylest (alternative)

From Late Middle English whilst, whilest, qwhilste (Northern England), quilest (Northwest Midlands) [and other forms], from whiles (“during the time that, while; only so long as; provided that; because, since; until”) + -t (excrescent suffix, perhaps due to a combination of -(e)s and the following word the, or influenced by the superlative suffix -est). Whiles is derived from whiles (“period of time, a while”, noun) (probably from the second element of adverbs and conjunctions like otherwhiles and somewhiles), from while (“period of time, a while”, noun) + -s (suffix forming adverbs of manner, space, and time); and while is from Old English hwīl (“period of time, a while”), ultimately from Proto-Germanic *hwīlō (“period of time, a while; period of rest, break, pause”), from Proto-Indo-European *kʷyeh₁- (“to rest; peace, rest”). The English word can be analysed as whiles + -t (excrescent suffix appended to words suffixed with -s).
cognates
* West Frisian wylst (“whilst”)

nb...

whylest, whylst, (Northwest Midlands) quilist, quylest, quylist

suffix

Drivers must switch off engines whilst on stand.

I ſaw a Smith ſtand with his hammer (thus) / The whilſt his Iron did on the Anuile coole.

c. 1596 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Life and Death of King Iohn”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene ii], page 16, column 1:

[…] Ile nere be drunk whilſt I liue againe, but in honeſt, ciuill, godly company for this tricke: if I be drunke, Ile be drunke with thoſe that haue the feare of God, and not with drunken knaues.

c. 1597 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merry Wiues of Windsor”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene i], page 40, column 2:

VVell, make your mirth, the whilſt I bear my miſery: / Honeſt minds vvould have better thoughts.

1633 May 21 (licensing date; Gregorian calendar), John Fletcher, [James Shirley], The Night-Walker, or The Little Thief. A Comedy, […], London: […] Andrew Crook[e], published 1661, →OCLC, Act I:

And thus with lame pretences they revive / Thoſe Lines when Dead, he bluſh'd at whilſt alive: / As if Mankind could not diſcern their Evil, / Without a naked Viſion of the Devil.

1703, [Daniel Defoe], More Reformation. A Satyr upon Himself. […], [London]: [s.n.], →OCLC, page 12:

Elizabeth, as she affectionately embraced her, whilst tears filled the eyes of both, lost not a moment in asking whether any thing had been heard of the fugitives.

1813 January 27, [Jane Austen], chapter V, in Pride and Prejudice: […], volume III, London: […] [George Sidney] for T[homas] Egerton, […], →OCLC, page 92:

“In the event of a parcel arriving for him whilst he was away, what would be done with it?”

1920, Agatha Christie, The Mysterious Affair at Styles, London: Pan Books, published 1954, page 155:

The locomotive [...] was quietly "blowing off" on one Ross "pop" valve, whilst the rhythmic clanging of the fireman's shovel, the black smoke pouring from her chimney, and the harsh sound of the blower told of the proximity of departure time.

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

(UK, Ireland, Commonwealth, literary or rare in North America) Synonym of while.

During the whole, or until the end, of the time that; as long as, at the same time.

[P]ray, step down to the cellar and fetch us a bottle of the Burgundy, 1678—it is the fourth bin from the right-hand turn—And I say, Craigie—you may fetch up half-a-dozen whilst you are about it—Egad, we'll make a night on't.

1819, Jedediah Cleishbotham [pseudonym; Walter Scott], chapter VII, in Tales of My Landlord, Third Series. […], volume II (The Bride of Lammermoor), Edinburgh: […] [James Ballantyne and Co.] for Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, […]; Hurst, Robinson, and Co. […], →OCLC, page 172:

Within, or before the end, of the time that.

His company must do his minions grace, / Whil'ſt I at home ſtarue for a merrie looke: / Hath homelie age th'alluring beauty tooke / From my poore cheeke?

c. 1594 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Comedie of Errors”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene i], page 88, column 1:

So then I am not lame, poore, nor diſpiſ'd, / VVhilſt that this ſhadow doth ſuch ſubſtance giue, / That I in thy abundance am ſuffic'd, / And by a part of all thy glory liue: […]

1609, William Shakespeare, “Sonnet 37”, in Shake-speares Sonnets. […], London: By G[eorge] Eld for T[homas] T[horpe] and are to be sold by William Aspley, →OCLC:

There is a place near St. Paul's in London, called in the old records "Diana's chamber," where, in the days of king Edward I. thousands of the heads of oxen were digged up; whereat the ignorant wondered, whilst the learned well understood them to be the proper sacrifices to Diana, whose great temple was built thereabout.

1655, Thomas Fuller, “Section I. The First Century.”, in The Church-history of Britain; […], London: […] Iohn Williams […], →OCLC, (please specify |book=I to XI), subsection 2 (Their Principal Idols), page 6:

Whilst her appearance was an utter failure (as her husband felt with a sort of rage), Mrs. Rawdon Crawley's début was, on the contrary, very brilliant.

1847 January – 1848 July, William Makepeace Thackeray, “Brussels”, in Vanity Fair […], London: Bradbury and Evans […], published 1848, →OCLC, page 253:

Synonym of while.
Although; in contrast; whereas.

Modern engine sheds of advanced design have also been built at Radyr, Abercynon, and elsewhere, whilst other depots have been remodelled and re-equipped.

1939 September, D. S. Barrie, “The Railways of South Wales”, in The Railway Magazine, London: Tothill Press, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 161:

The face which emerged was not reassuring. It was blunt and grey, the nose springing thick and flat from high on the frontal bone of the forehead, whilst his eyes were narrow slits of dark in a tight bandage of tissue.

1963, Margery Allingham, “The Boy in the Corner”, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC, page 214:

Synonym of while.
Only if; provided that; as long as.


notion

→ Irish: nóisean

→ Welsh: nosiwn

From Latin nōtiō (“a becoming acquainted, a taking cognizance, an examination, an investigation, a conception, idea, notion”), from nōscō (“to know”). Compare French notion. See know.

bor

(Ireland, colloquial, in the plural) Pretentiousness or overambition.


barrack

Borrowed from French baraque, from Spanish barraca or Catalan barraca, which is of uncertain origin. It is probably either a diminutive of Vulgar Latin *barra (“bar”), of unclear origin, or a diminutive of Vulgar Latin *barrum (“clay, mud”) from Celtiberian or Paleo-Hispanic.

(Ireland, colloquial, usually in the plural) A police station.


chav

Origin uncertain; probably of Angloromani origin. Compare Romani chavi (“male child”) or ćhavo, shavo (“female child”), chal (“boy”), chavvy (“mate, friend”), compare Swedish tjej; possibly cognate with Portuguese chavalo, Spanish chaval, German Chabo, Russian чувак (čuvak), Hungarian csávó. See also charva.
A derivation from "council-housed and violent" is widely regarded as a backronym and folk etymology.

Lyrical staff / Never could they ever take me for a chav / Scholar in the English, scholar in the Math / Dizzee ain't no riff raff

a. 2009, Dizzee Rascal, “Creeper (Freestyle)”:

His book concerns ‘chavs’, a supposed underclass of ill-educated, fast-breeding, violent and amoral poor people currently plaguing Britain.

2011 June 18, “Giving the poor a good kicking”, in The Economist:

(UK, MLE, Ireland, derogatory, offensive) A working-class youth, especially one associated with aggression, poor education, and a perceived "common" taste in clothing and lifestyle.

MK (em¹ kei¹)

relating to a youth from a working class background, aggressive with poor education


git

From Middle English get (“[illegitimate] offspring”). A southern variant of Scots get (“illegitimate child, brat”), related to beget.

inh

Although I'm so tired, I'll have another cigarette / And curse Sir Walter Raleigh, he was such a stupid git

1968, “I'm So Tired”, in John Lennon (lyrics), The Beatles, performed by the Beatles:

Bit of a flash git, don't you think?

1990, House of Cards, season 1, episode 1:

Parkinson: You made films before, but the part that really made your name was Zulu, wasn't it […] and there of course—against type—you played the toff, you played the officer.
Caine: I played the officer, yeah, and everybody thought I was like that. Everyone was so shocked when they met me, this like Cockney guy had played this toffee-nosed git.

2000 December 18, BBC and Bafta Tribute to Michael Caine, 16:43-17:05:

Eventually God gives the donkey a voice and it says, "why're you beating me you great stupid git? It's the angel with the sword that you gotta be careful of," or words to that effect.

2007, Greg Weston, The Man Upstairs, →ISBN, page 124:

Here we see the common domestic goose, Anser cygnoides domesticus. Found across the British countryside, it is known for its distinctive call; proud, majestic stature; and for being an all-round inconsiderate little git!

2019, The Stupendium, “What a Fowl Day”:

I'm not being a miserable old git here. I like a laugh as much as anyone, [...].

2020 December 16, Christian Wolmar, “Coverage of little-used stations does the railway no favours”, in RAIL, page 45:

(British, Ireland, slang, derogatory) A silly, incompetent, stupid, or annoying person (usually a man).

blbec

A silly, incompetent, stupid, annoying or childish person


tip

From Late Middle English tippen, possibly from North Germanic/Scandinavian (compare Swedish tippa (“to topple over”)), or a special use of Etymology 1.

There is much sad evidence, too, of the spoliation and dereliction of vanished industry: tips, slag-heaps and derelict colliery-screens among which the ubiquitous, nomad mountain sheep graze unconcernedly.

1955 July, D. S. Barrie, “Railways of the Bridgend District”, in Railway Magazine, page 449:

1972 May 18, Jon Tinker, Must we waste rubbish?, New Scientist, page 389,
As the tip slowly squashes under its own weight, bacteria rot away the organic matter, mainly anaerobically with the generation of methane.

2009, Donna Kelly, 'Don't dump on Hepburn's top tip', The Hepburn Advocate, Fairfax Digital
When I was a kid I used to love going to the tip.

There are two rubbish tips in Rother.

2009, Rother District Council, Rother District Council Website:

2009, Beck Vass, 'Computer collectibles saved from the tip' The New Zealand Herald, Technology section, APN Holdings NZ Ltd
Computer collectibles saved from the tip

(UK, Ireland, Commonwealth) An area or a place for dumping something, such as rubbish or refuse, as from a mine; a heap (see tipple); a dump.

отвал

area or place for dumping something, such as rubbish or refuse, as from a mine; a heap

(UK, Ireland, Commonwealth) Rubbish thrown from a quarry.

(UK, Ireland, Commonwealth, by extension) A recycling centre.


ironmonger

/ˈaɪə(ɹ)nˌmʌŋɡə(ɹ)/

From Middle English iremonger; equivalent to iron + monger.

(chiefly British, Ireland) A retailer in iron goods and hardware.


whoremonger

/ˈhɔːˌmʌŋ.ɡə/

/ˈhɔɹˌmɑŋ.ɡɚ/

/ˈhɔɹˌmʌŋ.ɡɚ/

(UK, Ireland, vulgar) A frequent customer of whores.


rogering

When I get you home I'm going to give you a good rogering.

(UK, Ireland, vulgar, slang) An act of sexual intercourse, especially one that is rough.


eh

Natural exclamation; first recorded mid-16th century. Perhaps an unstressed variant of aye (“yes, yeah”).
The Philippine sense is possibly influenced by Tagalog e and/or Spanish eh.

onomatopoeic

exclamation

ay (alternative)
ehh (alternative)
ehhh (alternative)

These hot dogs are pretty good, eh?

Well, what dost thou think then of seeing the world? Do ye wish to go round Cape Horn to see any more of it, eh? Can’t ye see the world where you stand?

(informal, chiefly Canada, Northern US, New Zealand, Australia, UK, Ireland, South Africa, India, Hong Kong, Singapore, Commonwealth) Used as a tag question, to emphasise what goes before or to request that the listener express an opinion about what has been said.


gat

Ruairí can tell you who goes to what bill, and I can spare a few minutes to show you how to pour a proper pint of gat.

(Ireland, slang) Guinness (type of beer).


manky

en-adj

manky (comparative mankier, superlative mankiest)

mankier (comparative)
mankiest (superlative)

"He don't want those," his father said, holding a bag of apples at the end of an outstretched arm as if they were a danger to his health, "they're all... manky."

2005, Justin Peter Beaney, Kasdeja's Children:

"Speaking of which—" Fionn starts foostering in the pocket of his manky old jacket—"I've probably got something for you."

2010, Marian Keyes, The Brightest Star in the Sky:

I bet your fanny's fucking minging / Sort out your manky Scouse brow

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

(UK, Ireland, Commonwealth, slang) Unpleasantly dirty and disgusting.


shift

en-noun

shift (countable and uncountable, plural shifts)

The noun is from Middle English schyft, shyffte. Cognate with German Schicht (“layer, shift”).
The verb is from Middle English schiften, from Old English sċiftan (“to divide, separate into shares; appoint, ordain; arrange, organise”), from Proto-Germanic *skiftijaną, *skiptijaną, from earlier *skipatjaną (“to organise, put in order”), from Proto-Indo-European *skeyb- (“to separate, divide, part”), from Proto-Indo-European *skey- (“to cut, divide, separate, part”). Cognate with Scots schift, skift (“to shift”), West Frisian skifte, skiftsje (“to sort”), Dutch schiften (“to sort, screen, winnow, part”), German schichten (“to stack, layer”), Swedish skifta (“to shift, change, exchange, vary”), Norwegian skifte (“to shift”), Icelandic skipta (“to switch”). See ship.

cog

She flicked her hair out of her eyes again and looked into yours as you put your hands on her waist. Then her tongue was in your mouth and yours was in hers. You were getting the shift. Ye were shifting.

[If] I went on dates with these two [alcohols], right, you're a deep meaningful conversation with this one, … but this one? A shift and a finger and maybe you'd go home, do you know what I mean?

2024 December 16, Dermot Ward, in "Irish People Try Cheap Vs Expensive Alcohol 3&t=16m" (c. 16 minutes in), The TRY Channel

(Ireland, crude slang, often with the definite article, usually uncountable) The act of kissing passionately.


shift

en-verb

shift (third-person singular simple present shifts, present participle shifting, simple past and past participle shifted)

shifts (present singular third-person)
shifting (participle present)
shifted (participle past)
shifted (past)

The question is what she's done to Waldron, said Eric. Look at him hiding in his locker there. Come on, spit it out. Did you shift her?

2018, Sally Rooney, “Two Days Later (April 2011)”, in Normal People:

(Ireland, vulgar, slang, transitive) To engage in sexual petting with.


biro

en-noun

biro (countable and uncountable, plural biros)

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

Genericized trademark of BIRO, named after László Bíró, the inventor of the ballpoint pen.

Massimo's finger was poised above red on his multi-coloured biro like a kangaroo frozen in headlights.

2007, Karen Foxlee, The Anatomy of Wings, page 250:

(by extension, UK, Commonwealth, Ireland) Any ballpoint pen.


IRA

Irish Republican Army
Irish Republican Army#English

(Ireland, UK, politics) Initialism of Irish Republican Army.


dobber

They were the biggest rosary beads I ever saw, the beads were the size of big marbles or dobbers or taws. Dobbers and taws we used to play with in the channels beside the footpaths, when we used to play the road games.

2004, Austin O'Donovan, O'Donovan from Garryowen, page 37:

(British, Ireland, chiefly dialect) A large marble.

He puts a hand around it, tries to mind what it means, the having of a penis. Nothing's doing but. His dobber's no sure about it either, and the two of them dither there for a while, waiting for something to happen, a connection.

2011 July 7, Ross Raisin, Waterline, Penguin UK, →ISBN:

"Yes, but to jump into bed with another woman right after being with you. That's just plain disgusting. He needs to keep his dobber in his bloody pants.' Caitlin huffed indignantly.

2021 July 8, Lisa Hobman, Under An Italian Sky: Escape to beautiful Italy with bestseller Lisa Hobman, Boldwood Books Ltd, →ISBN:

"You should ha'e cut his dobber off," Inan opined with disgust. "I can'y stand men like that. Tryin' to take what isna on offer."

2023 September 28, Lynsay Sands, Bad Luck Vampire: Book Thirty-Six, Hachette UK, →ISBN:

(Ireland, UK, especially Northern England and Scotland, slang) A penis, especially a relatively large one.


toff

Probably an alteration of tuft, referring to the gold tassel on the cap worn by titled undergraduates at English universities.

Now Freddy is young, practically twenty years younger than Higgins: he is a gentleman (or, as Eliza would qualify him, a toff), and speaks like one; […]

1912 (date written), [George] Bernard Shaw, “Pygmalion. Sequel: What Happened Afterwards.”, in Androcles and the Lion, Overruled, Pygmalion, London: Constable and Company, published 1916, →OCLC, page 194:

‘Well, I got Parkes for one, and I got Atkinson for two, and got Ward of Dawson Street. Fine old chap he is, too—regular old toff, old Conservative! “But isn’t your candidate a Nationalist?” said he.[…]’

1904–1907 (date written), James Joyce, “Ivy Day in the Committee Room”, in Dubliners, London: Grant Richards, published June 1914, →OCLC, page 160:

I came home first class—up the front end with the toffs—semi-anaesthetised throughout the trip by caviar and free champagne—and to hell with frugality and the conservation of resources.

1972, Donald Gould, “A Groundling's Notebook”, in New Scientist, volume 55, number 812, page 512:

George Martin always seemed to me to be a "toff" and a gentleman even though his roots, like many of us, were in the common people. George has a touch of class that is quite impressive.

1998 April 11, Paul McCartney, Billboard, page 34:

Parkinson: You made films before, but the part that really made your name was Zulu, wasn't it […] and there of course—against type—you played the toff, you played the officer.
Caine: I played the officer, yeah, and everybody thought I was like that. Everyone was so shocked when they met me, this like Cockney guy had played this toffee-nosed git.

2000 December 18, BBC and Bafta Tribute to Michael Caine, 16:43-17:05:

I like to see the toffs being toffs. The women all glammed up, the blokes in their tails and top 'ats, all braying and flinging their money around. Confirms all my prejudices. Just a reminder of who my enemies are.

2012, John Roberts, How the Dice Fell, page 186:

(UK, Ireland, derogatory) A person of the upper class or with pretensions to it, who usually communicates an air of superiority.

fijne mijnheer

2. (Britain, derogatory) A person of the upper class, or with pretensions to it


blimey

A minced oath derived from (God) blind me (either concurrent with or from a clipping of cor blimey or gorblimey), or blame me. Compare crivvens, drat, etc.

Blimey! I didn’t see that!

Blimey! Where did you come from?

I know the chap that started the lie. There ain't no Invisible Man whatsoever—Blimey.

1897, H[erbert] G[eorge] Wells, “At Port Stowe”, in The Invisible Man: A Grotesque Romance, New York, N.Y., London: Harper & Brothers Publishers, →OCLC, page 120:

'But, if there's room, aren't they bound to take me in?' / 'Course they are,—and, blimey, if I was you I'd make 'em. Blimey I would!'

1897 September, Richard Marsh [pseudonym; Richard Bernard Heldmann], “Outside”, in The Beetle: A Mystery, London: T[homas] Fisher Unwin […], published August 1907, →OCLC, book I (The House with the Open Window), page 4:

Blimy if I don't believe 'e's taking 'ome 'is washing up his back.

1908 September, Jerome K[lapka] Jerome, “Passing of the Third Floor Back”, in Passing of the Third Floor Back, New York, N.Y.: Dodd, Mead and Company, →OCLC, page 2:

If you're the O'Reilly, they speak of so highly, / Why blime me, O'Reilly, you're doing quite well.

1915, Harry S. Miller, “Blime Me, O’Reilly (You’re Doing Quite Well) [cover title: Blime Me Mr. O’Reilly but You’re Looking Mighty Well]”, New York, N.Y.: The Cadillac Music; Springfield, Mass.; Chicago, Ill.: A. H. Goetting, →OCLC, page 5:

"Blimey," he said, "this is a bit er orl roight! Never thought yer'd be ible to tork our lingo like a blinkin' nitive. Cahm orn—let's 'op it to the kerridge!"

1919, The Windsor Magazine: An Illustrated Monthly for Men and Women, volume IV, London: Ward, Lock and Bowden, →OCLC, page 99, column 1:

"Blimey!" he says in his rough, shepherd's voice, "blimey, but it's cruel 'ard to be chucked out of one's digs wivout a blarsted word! [...]"

1935, Kenneth [Lewis] Roberts, “For Authors Only”, in For Authors Only: And Other Gloomy Essays, Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, Doran & Company, →OCLC, page 11:

‘Blimy, Will,’ he said confidentially.

1988, Alan Hollinghurst, The Swimming-Pool Library, New York, N.Y.: Random House, published 2010, →ISBN:

‘Blimey,’ said Barnaby. ‘Come on, Jack, quick as you can.’ / ‘Blimey,’ said Jack. ‘Blimey blimey blimey.’

1996, Penny Vincenzi, The Dilemma, London: Headline Review, published 2007, →ISBN, page 311:

‘Blimey,’ said Laurie. ‘Is she serious? Was it something I said?’

2009, Duncan Campbell, chapter 5, in If It Bleeds, London: Headline Publishing Group, published 2011, →ISBN:

According to an Australian gunner, 'a nostalgic little new-arrival' among the Tommies asked: 'Is it true all you Aussies are volunteers?' When told that it was, '… he hesitated a moment. Then he blurted out: "Blime, choom, y' must 've 'ad a fair ——— of a 'ome-life!"'

2013, Mark Johnston, “Introduction”, in Anzacs in the Middle East: Australian Soldiers, Their Allies and the Local People in World War II, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, Port Melbourne, Vic.: Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, page 1:

(UK, Commonwealth, Ireland) Used to express anger, excitement, surprise, etc.

ostres

used to express anger, excitement, surprise, etc.


langer

Uncertain. Suggestions include:
* from langur monkeys, via the Munster Fusiliers regiment stationed in India
* from languor
* from lang, variant of long
* from "on the lang", supposed variant of on the lam
* from leangaire, a word in Cnósach Focal ó Bhaile Bhúirne, a dictionary of the Muskerry Gaeltacht. It means an unusually long slender salmon.

(slang, Ireland, derogatory) Fool; idiot; annoying or contemptible person (usually male).

"Give it up will ya! get a job, ja langer!"

1996, Enda Walsh, Disco Pigs, →ISBN, page 8:

And central to it all is wind-up, making a langer out of people, to use that now unfortunate word that can still only be used correctly and said correctly by Cork people, even though the rest of the country has taken to it with gusto, embarrassing themselves like white people trying to talk black slang to be "street".

2006, September 3, Brendan O'Connor Roy: the discreet object of our desire, Irish Independent

Langers boy, every wan of ‘em. Golfers are only langers. They’re only golfing cos they can’t hurl. Anyone that golfs in Cork is only a failed hurler and a langer, boy.

2006 November 22, Hurling abuse when there’s no team in sight, Irish Independent

(slang, Ireland, derogatory, offensive, used in Cork) An annoying person.

Mike opened his knees wide, so that his langer would be framed by the gap between his legs. For first impressions a boner would have been good, but not likely.

2006, Eoin Colfer, “Taking on PJ”, in Ken Bruen, editor, Dublin Noir: The Celtic Tiger Vs. the Ugly American, →ISBN, page 23:

He showed me a photograph. There was a woman and a man doing something, but I wasn't sure what. The man was standing over the woman holding his langer (the Cork word) and she was looking up at him smiling. I felt ill and started to walk backwards.

2005, Fergal Keane, All of These People: A Memoir, →ISBN, page 88:


dressing gown

dressing gowns (plural)
dressing-gown (alternative)

/ˈdɹɛsɪŋ ɡaʊn/

After about ten minutes he got up, and, throwing on an elaborate dressing-gown of silk-embroidered cashmere wool, passed into the onyx-paved bathroom.

1891, Oscar Wilde, chapter VIII, in The Picture of Dorian Gray, London, New York, N.Y., Melbourne, Vic.: Ward Lock & Co., →OCLC, page 138:

I was feeling just as I had felt in the old Malvern House epoch when I used to sneak down to [the headmaster]'s study at dead of night in quest of the biscuits he kept there in a tin on his desk, and there came back to me the memory of the occasion when, not letting a twig snap beneath my feet, I had entered his sanctum in pyjamas and a dressing-gown, to find him seated in his chair, tucking into the biscuits himself. [...] She was looking more like Sherlock Holmes than ever. Slap a dressing-gown on her and give her a violin, and she could have walked straight into Baker Street and no questions asked.

1960, P[elham] G[renville] Wodehouse, “VII AND XX”, in Jeeves in the Offing, London: Herbert Jenkins, →OCLC:

(UK, Ireland) An item of clothing often made from cotton or another absorbent material, in the form of a long open robe with a belt to tie it around the middle and fasten it securely; often worn over pyjamas.


flatmate

huisgenoot

a person with whom one shares a rental property

It had been weeks since all the flatmates had sat down together for a meal. Communication was breaking down. Written notes had begun to appear all over the house; please don′t touch this food, I bought it especially for Hermione[…].

1993, Beryl Fletcher, The Iron Mouth, page 190:

One night, one of the flatmates (the one who owned the house) was ranting and raving all night about her girlfriend.

2003, Jen Birch, Congratulations! It′s Asperger Syndrome, page 51:

The position may have been different when your client was living in the house with the flatmates.

2007, CCH New Zealand, Top 100 Questions and Answers on Taxing Land Transactions, page 97:

(UK, Ireland, New Zealand) A person with whom one shares any rental dwelling, not necessarily a flat.


pikey

Possibly from obsolete pike (“depart or travel”), or possibly from turnpike. The verb is derived from the stereotype that the Romani people or other travellers are thieves.

“They must be the pikeys who live up there. They're a nasty bunch. Shouldn't get mixed up with them.” “Well, we told them to fuck off, they didn't seem that nasty to me! What are pikeys anyway?” “Well, they're like vagabonds.”

2012, Pat Coppard, In Spite of Everything: a Life-story, →ISBN, page 15:

Gipsies and the pikey race generally were a class outside Lord Sandbar's previous experience, and he listened greedily.

(UK, Ireland, ethnic slur, offensive) An itinerant person, especially one of Romani or Irish Traveller heritage.

But if there's one thing he hates more than pikeys, it's posh people.

(UK, Ireland, derogatory, offensive) A working-class (often underclass) person with negative connotations of benefit fraud, theft and living on rundown estates.


pikey

en-adj

pikey (comparative more pikey, superlative most pikey)

more pikey (comparative)
most pikey (superlative)

Blimey. The least pikey place on the planet.

2006 September 9, Huge, “Re: Oh for FU--S sake!”, in uk.rec.driving (Usenet):

> You could try moving somewhere less pikey?

2007 October 18, PC Paul, “Re: Exhaust security bolts help”, in uk.rec.cars.maintenance (Usenet):

>> > No, you're more pikey than a traffic warden.
>> >> Nothing is more pikey than a traffic warden, even an immigrant.
>> >> > Not even a Glaswegian?

2012 March 11, "Lieutenant Scott", Re: Definition of "loading" in a parking space, in uk.rec.driving, Usenet, quoting another user

(UK, Ireland, slang, derogatory) Associated with pikeys.


pikey

en-verb

pikey (third-person singular simple present pikeys, present participle pikeying, simple past and past participle pikeyed)

pikeys (present singular third-person)
pikeying (participle present)
pikeyed (participle past)
pikeyed (past)

>It's getting hold of a copy that isn't pikeyed that I'm having >difficulty with :-(

2004 October 25, Lister, “Re: Monday, Monday, Play, Want, Bin”, in uk.games.video.misc (Usenet):

Agree with Adrian about it being Pikeyed. At least you've a cheque to go buy something else.

2006 September 29, Conor, “Re: Car legally removed or stolen?”, in uk.rec.cars.misc (Usenet):

Rumour has it that you once posting something interesting that was pikeyed straight from scrotexes lame troll book.

2007 August 9, Diablos Rojos, “Re: Special offer to all Scummers”, in alt.sports.soccer.manchester.united (Usenet):

(UK, Ireland, slang, derogatory) To steal.


cheerio

/ˈtʃɪəɹ.i.əʊ/

/ˈt͡ʃɪəɹ.i.oʊ/

嗨

translations to be checked: exclamation used when greeting as well as when parting

"In that case," said Archie, relieved, "cheerio, good luck, pip-pip, toodle-oo, and good-bye-ee! I'll be shifting!"

1921, P. G. Wodehouse, Indiscretions of Archie, ch. XIII. Rallying Round Percy:

But we all knew it wasn't the final end of the HST. This wasn't "goodbye", more like a "cheerio, see you someplace soon".

2019 October 23, Pip Dunn, “The next king of Scotland”, in Rail, page 50:

(UK, Ireland, Commonwealth, informal) Goodbye, an interjection said upon parting.


nationalism

en-noun

nationalism (countable and uncountable, plural nationalisms)

From French nationalisme. By surface analysis, national + -ism.

sectionalism

any geopolitical group pursuing its own interest

(UK, Ireland) Support for the union of Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.


bulge

From Middle English bulge (“leather bag; hump”), from Old Northern French boulge (“leather bag”), from Late Latin bulga (“leather sack”), from Gaulish *bulga, *bulgos, from Proto-Celtic *bolgos (“sack, bag, stomach”). Cognate with bilge, belly, bellows, budget, French bouge, German Balg, etc. Doublet of budge, and from the same root as belly and bellows. See also budget.

der

(UK, Ireland, Commonwealth) A rounded fleshy mass, such as on a camel or zebu.


you what

(idiomatic, Commonwealth, UK, Ireland, colloquial) An intensified version of what or huh.

come again?

polite expression to get someone to repeat


get off with

en-verb

get off with (third-person singular simple present gets off with, present participle getting off with, simple past and past participle got off with)

gets off with (present singular third-person)
getting off with (participle present)
got off with (participle past)
got off with (past)

He got off with my sister at the party.

"Hero, obviously, has been getting off with a number of young Basques. I hope her parents won't let it go too far."

1934, Rose Macaulay, Going Abroad, London: Collins, page 222:

(UK, Ireland, Commonwealth, slang) To have a sexual encounter with.


dosh

Unknown. Possibly a combination of dough and cash.

I'd like to buy a new car, but I'm short on dosh.

So all that remains is for me to sell this to Eve for as much extra dosh as I can guilt-trip out of her.

2020, Charles Stross, Dead Lies Dreaming: Book 1 of the New Management, A new adventure begins in the world of the Laundry Files, Hachette UK, →ISBN, page 154:

(UK, Ireland, Commonwealth, slang) Money.


social

en-noun

social (countable and uncountable, plural socials)

From Middle French social, from Latin sociālis (“of or belonging to a companion or companionship or association, social”), from socius (“a companion, fellow, partner, associate, ally”), from sequor (“follow”). Cognate with English seg (“man, companion, fellow”). More at seg.

der

(dated, Ireland) A dinner dance event, usually held annually by a company or sporting club.


bloke

blokes (plural)
bloak (alternative archaic)

LL-Q1860 (eng)-I learned some phrases-bloke.wav

Origin unknown; the following borrowings have been hypothesized:
* From a modern Celtic language, such as Irish bloc (“block”) or Scottish Gaelic ploc (“large, stubborn person”, literally “block of wood”), themselves borrowings from English block
* From Hindustani لوک (lok) / लोक (lok, “people, folk”) or Shelta loke (“man”).

bor

He accordingly opened it [a letter], and read as follows:–
 "Tim put on the tats yesterday and went out a durry-nakin on the shadows, gadding a hoof. He buzzed a bloak and a shakester of a yack and a skin. […]"
 […] we will lay before our readers a translation of the slang document:–
 "Tim dressed himself in rags yesterday, and went out disguised as a beggar half-naked and without shoes or stockings. He robbed a gentleman and a lady of a watch and a purse. […]"

1847, George W[illiam] M[acArthur] Reynolds, “Old Death”, in The Mysteries of London, volume III (volume I, Second Series), London: G. Vickers, […], →OCLC, page 66, column 1:

Now I tell yer straight, I don't call it square for two big bloaks like us to tackle [i.e., steal from] one poor woman, and she a widder, and p'raps as 'ard up as us; it isn't English.

1892, John Pennington Marsden, “A Professional Secret”, in Job Lot: Sketches and Stories, Philadelphia, Pa.: Hallowell & Co., […], →OCLC, page 177:

Half-sheepishly, the mechanic had eased round to nudge his mate to look also at the comical-looking bloke. And the bloke caught them both. They wiped the grin off their faces. Because the little bloke looked at them quite straight, so observant, and so indifferent.

1923, D[avid] H[erbert] Lawrence, “Torestin”, in Kangaroo, London: Martin Secker […], →OCLC, page 1:

The door flew open, and there was a bloke with spectacles on his face and all round the spectacles an expression of strained anguish. A bloke with a secret sorrow.

1930 February, P[elham] G[renville] Wodehouse, “Jeeves and the Old School Chum”, in Very Good, Jeeves!, London: Herbert Jenkins Limited […], published 20 June 1930, →OCLC, pages 247–248:

Now, she messed around with a bloke named Smoky,
 She loved him though he was cokie, […]

1930 December 23 (recording date), Cab Calloway, Irving Mills, Clarence Gaskill, “Minnie the Moocher”, performed by Cab Calloway and His Orchestra:

No use, with a bloke like this, cracking up your own merits. Stick to the truth.

1939 June, George Orwell [pseudonym; Eric Arthur Blair], chapter IX, in Coming Up for Air, London: Martin Secker & Warburg, published 1948 (April 1959 printing), →OCLC, part II, page 132:

It was a Cockney bloke who had never seen a cow till he came inside. Cragg said it took some blokes like that, and city fellows are the worse.

1958, Brendan Behan, Borstal Boy, London: Hutchinson, →OCLC, page 281:

[L]ots of blokes have impeccable music taste but don't read, lots of blokes read but are really fat, lots of blokes are sympathetic to feminism but have stupid beards, lots of blokes have a Woody Allen sense of humor but look like Woody Allen. Lots of blokes drink too much, lots of blokes behave stupidly when they drive cars, lots of blokes get into fights, or show off about money, or take drugs. I don't do any of these things, really; if I do OK with women, it's not because of the virtues I have, but because of the shadows I don't have.

1995, Nick Hornby, “Sarah Kendrew (1984–1986)”, in High Fidelity, London: Victor Gollancz, →ISBN, page 30:

As her current bloke was turning out better than expected, I didn't see much of her lately.

2000, Liz Young [i.e., Elizabeth Young], chapter 1, in Asking for Trouble, London: Arrow Books, Random House, published 2004, →ISBN, page 16:

It was a concert of some sort. Five or so blokes were on stage in a TV studio; […] The blokes didn't look like any pop group as I knew them. They were multiracial, knotted of brow, their garb was distinctive, involving a lot of what I later found out to be cheesecloth and kaftans along with ripped, faded denims.

2003, Stuart Maconie, “Hocus Pocus”, in Cider with Roadies, London: Ebury Press, →ISBN, page 43:

(UK, Ireland, Commonwealth, informal) A fellow, a man; especially an ordinary man, a man on the street.

Even now he's like this weird guy who comes into my life occasionally and asks me bloke questions. Sport, girls, your future. Even superannuation. Once he even started telling me how important superannuation was. What a dickhead.

1996, Nick Earls, chapter 31, in After January (UQP Young Adult Fiction), St. Lucia, Qld.: University of Queensland Press, published 2006, →ISBN, page 127:

[…] Pakeha, and colonial, masculinity is situated in a homosocial environment. This homosociality is both gendered and ethnicized. The kiwi bloke is a Pakeha working man, at home on the football field, in the sands of North Africa, at the pub (but in the public bar). He is a loner, hard, resolute, tall, strong but comradely and supports other men in their toils.

1999, Malcolm MacLean, “Of Warriors and Blokes: The Problem of Maori Rugby for Pakeha Masculinity in New Zealand”, in Timothy J[ohn] L[indsay] Chandler, John Nauright, editors, Making the Rugby World: Race, Gender, Commerce (Sport in the Global Society; no. 10), London, Portland, Or.: Frank Cass, published 2005, →ISBN, page 2:

[H]e is a ‘blokes bloke’. A proper bloke, rather than something feminine or obviously dysfunctional.

2004, Mickey Elias, Ed Seeker, “Jack-off Buddies”, in Men Speak the Unspeakable, London: Michael Elias Networks, →ISBN, page 62:

One week I ask everyone I meet what defines a "bloke." Some of the answers are: Blokes drink beer, not wine. They wear black wool singlets (sleeveless shirts) and dark green shirt-jackets, gum boots, and rugby jerseys with sleeves cut off. They eat stews made with carrots and onions and potatoes and dumplings.

2001, Rita Golden Gelman, “New Zealand via Bali”, in Tales of a Female Nomad: Living at Large in the World, 1st paperback edition, New York, N.Y.: Three Rivers Press, →ISBN, page 273:

It [a television advertisement] opens with a young man lounging on a sofa watching television. The television soundtrack suggests he is watching sport (of course). He wears the standard checked shirt of the Kiwi bloke over a T-shirt and jeans, his hair is longish and unkempt, and he is generally a bit scruffy.

2012, Sue Abel, “Postfeminism Meets Hegemonic Masculinities: Young People Read the ‘Knowing Wink’ in Advertising”, in Karen Ross, editor, The Handbook of Gender, Sex, and Media (Handbooks in Communication and Media), paperback edition, Chichester, West Sussex: Wiley-Blackwell, published 2014, →ISBN, part III (Queering the Pitch), page 405:

Now we don't want you thinking I'm someone who isn't a chef pretending to be a chef. That'll just end in a train wreck. No, we want you to trust your bloke DNA and start thinking the way a bloke naturally thinks, and that is like a bloke!

2012, Jim O’Connor, “Brilliant Cooking”, in The Bloke’s Guide to Brilliant Cooking: And How to Impress Women, [Bloomington, Ind.]: Xlibris, published 29 September 2018, →ISBN, page 22:

The ‘kiwi bloke’ is often represented as a stubbie-wearing, beer-drinking, sheep-shearing, ‘do-it-yourself’ heteronormative masculinity […] This hypermasculinisation is well-recognised in New Zealand culture. The ‘kiwi bloke’ is celebrated by the nation which leaves little room for the emergence and acceptance of alternative gender identities […].

2014, Jessica Jean Keppel, “Masculinities and Mental Health: Geographies of Hope ‘Down Under’”, in Andrew Gorman-Murray, Peter Hopkins, editors, Masculinities and Place (Gender, Space and Society), Farnham, Surrey, Burlington, Vt.: Ashgate Publishing, →ISBN, page 367:

(Commonwealth, especially UK and Ireland, informal) A man who behaves in a particularly laddish or overtly heterosexual manner.

macho

A second green chit and then you get your hat for a talk with the bloke.

1989, Rick Jolly, Trugg Willson, Jackspeak: The Pusser’s Rum: Guide to Royal Navy Slanguage […], Torpoint, Cornwall: Palamanando Publ., →ISBN:

(UK, Ireland, Commonwealth, naval slang) (A lower deck term for) the captain or executive officer of a warship, especially one regarded as tough on discipline and punishment.


s-word

(euphemistic, UK, Ireland) The word spastic, regarded as an offensive word.


childer

From Middle English childer, childre, from Old English ċildra, ċildru.

As yo ma be quoit shure where there's agret family a childer, a wumman's loik tubbe varra throng ina monin

1839, Abel BYWATER, The Sheffield Dialect. [A Series of Papers in that Dialect, with a Glossary.], page 223:

Aye has he, Dan'l Drax, so do ee larn him what cums to they as lets off rebels. He be safter nor turnips, nor boiled turnips, so he be. Was blubberin' while back over yon rebel an'a childer !

1894, Emily Lawless, Maelcho: A Sixteenth Century Narrative:

Ay, a childer's class, tha' knows — a Katty — Katty — Aw dunna know wot they caw'n it.

1899, Frederick R. Smith, Doxie Dent: A Clog-shop Chronicle:

Yebbut...she ain't a childer any more...she's stuck in no-mans-land for the next few years.

2003 September 13, Guy King, “Re: Hi from Kran”, in uk.rec.sheds (Usenet):


itinerant

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

From Late Latin itinerantem, present active participle of itineror (“travel”). See also itinerate, itinerary.

Travelling Community
Travelling Community

(Ireland) A member of the Travelling Community, whether settled or not.


feck

en-verb

feck (third-person singular simple present fecks, present participle fecking, simple past and past participle fecked)

fecks (present singular third-person)
fecking (participle present)
fecked (participle past)
fecked (past)

Borrowed from Scots, aphetic form of effect.

—But why did they run away, tell us?
 —I know why, Cecil Thunder said. Because they had fecked cash out of the rector's room.
 —Who fecked it?
 —Kickham's brother. And they all went shares in it. But that was stealing. How could they have done that?

1916, James Joyce, Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man:

And isn't it pure gangsters run the car parks, the price of them, and security cameras my arse, begging your pardon, sure it's watching videos they'd be, while some scut of a ten-year-old's fecking your tape machine and maybe going back to break off the aerial if they don't approve of your taste in music.

2009, Julian Gough, Juno & Juliet: A Novel:


feck

Earlier there was a dispute between the Chair and Proinsias de Rossa concerning the words used when a wife is getting rid of her husband. In the case of Deserted Wives' Allowance, Mr de Rossa said, it had to be proved that the wife didn't tell her husband to "feck off". Mr Tunney suggested that "get lost" might be a more appropriate expression for Mr de Rossa to use.

1987 April 3, Deaglán Bréadún, “Ruairi shows the grey-suits how to break moulds”, in The Irish Times:

"Why are you fecking around with this Family Planning Bill when people are dying?" - Senator David Norris to the Minister for Health, Dr O'Connell, on the Bill which does not allow condoms to be sold from vending machines.

1992 July 18, “This Week They Said”, in The Irish Times:

Father Jack Hackett: Tea? Feck! […] Mrs. Doyle: I'll tell you what, Father. I'll pour a cup for ye anyway and y' can have it if ya want. Now... And what do you say to a cup?
Father Jack Hackett: Feck off, cup!

1995, Graham Linehan & al., "Good Luck, Father Ted", Father Ted Series 1, Episode 1, Channel Four

As Charlie Murphy put it to me, 'When the bishops called down fire and brimstone not a man stirred but when Joe Christle fecked off half the shagging IRA followed him!'

It didn't stop him turning to a reporter, saying "feck it" and nipping out anyway to talk to friends.

2004 May 29, “A real thorn in the side; Profile: Diarmuid Gavin”, in The Herald:

"My family were Irish," she says, "and the use of the word 'feck' was normal but, of course, as a child, I thought it was a swear word. My first day at Holycross I heard the nuns saying feckin' this and feckin' that and I thought, 'Oh my God, they're all swearing'["]

2010 October 28, Erwin James, “Britain's queen of crime: Martina Cole”, in The Guardian:

the year gets off to a flying start when the words 'Oh feck' are uttered collectively by two million as the January wage sheets are handed out and the true realisation of the Budget kicks in

2011 January 6, “A year to look forward to”, in Galway Advertiser:

And though she had no qualms of submitting to this bubbling desire coiling within her, for she was no prim virgin, she sensed far more than her body was going to get fecked.

2012, Delilah Marvelle, Forever and a Day, Don Mills, O.N.: HQN, →ISBN, page 117:

“I never thought the problem would be of this magnitude. I really didn’t think I’d be waking up this morning to this type of news,” an emotional Ms Phelan said, adding that “they fecked with the wrong women.”

2018 April 30, Conor Gallagher, “Vicky Phelan: ‘I’m here to tell the tale. And by God I’m going to take these guys on’”, in The Irish Times:

2022 August 23, Jen Hogan, “Terry Prone on motherhood: ‘I did my best all of the time. I just fecking got it wrong!’”, in The Irish Times:

But if you’re not going to set your own trends, and work to your own team, you’re fecked.

2023 February 4, Denis Walsh, “After a battle with leukaemia, Pat Ryan is comfortable carrying Cork’s great expectations”, in The Irish Times:

(minced oath, chiefly Ireland) Used in place of fuck.


garda

A garda was ambling towards us.

2004, Ken Bruen, The Guards, →ISBN, page 38:

A trainee garda who was sent home from Templemore Garda College after he was told the tattoo on his hand id not comply with the force's dress and uniform code said he has been “treated very unfairly”.

2023 August 15, Ken Foy, “Garda trainee sent home from Templemore over tattoo says he has been treated ‘very unfairly‘”, in Irish Independent, page 6:

(Ireland) Alternative letter-case form of Garda.


gombeen

en-noun

gombeen (countable and uncountable, plural gombeens)

From Irish gaimbín (“monetary interest”).

It was said by some that he had been a moneylender back in Ireland; a ‘gombeen’ in their slang: a hated figure.

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

(historical, Ireland) A moneylender during the Great Famine.

"Could you give me two ounces of butter?"
"Well, I don't know. We sell butter usually by the weight half pound or a pound."
"Do you sell quarter pounds?"
"Well, I think so."
"Could you give me half a quarter pound?"
"Yes."
"Half a quarter pound then."
Sebastian watching him. O you sly gombeen man. The backs of these stores, most sordid places in the world. You stupid, intolerable oaf.

1955, J P Donleavy, The Ginger Man, France, published 1955 (France), page 108:

(Ireland, slang) A mean, underhanded, corrupt person. Usually applied to politicians.


gombeen

They were talking gombeen politics.


on the nail

Allegedly from the tradition of striking bargains by placing cash on the nails in Bristol, Limerick and Liverpool. The Oxford English Dictionary, however, cites an Anglo-Norman phrase from c. 1360, "payer sur le ungle" to pay on the (finger)nail meaning "to pay immediately and in full", and the Latin "ad unguem", exactly. It quotes parallel usages from 17th century French, Dutch and German sources and adds that "N.E.D. (1906) notes that: ‘the explanations associating it with certain pillars at the Exchange of Limerick or Bristol are too late to be of any authority in deciding the question’."

Tell me, have you a mind to anything in the Doctor's book? Speak the word, and I will help you to it upon the nail.

1596, Thomas Nashe, Have With You To Saffron Walden:

You shall have ten thousand pounds on the nail, and I will take you back to London with me besides and teach you what is fortune.

1845, Benjamin Disraeli, Sybil, Or, The Two Nations:

(British, Ireland) immediately, without delay

Six o'clock on the nail. She wasn't going to be late.


spa

What the fuck was she talking about, he must think she's such a spa.

['...] We'll say it was just the two of us sitting in the shed having a chat.'
'Don't be such a spa. Nobody will believe we were sitting in the shed having a chat.[...']

2018, Rachael English, The Night of the Party:

— Hit it.
He missed.
— You're a big spa, I told him.

1993, Roddy Doyle, Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha, →ISBN, page 17:

(Ireland, slang) A clumsy person (see spastic)


culchie

Possibly from Kiltimagh, a town in County Mayo, Ireland, or from Irish coillte (“woods”). Possibly a corruption of the shortening of agricultural to culch + -ie.

Only culchies shop in Clery's but, said Billy.

1987, Roddy Doyle, The Commitments, Dublin: King Farouk:

For most of his quarter-century in Ireland's parliament, he was regarded as the archetypal "culchie", Dublin slang for an unpolished, reactionary rural type.

1991, Management Centre Europe, Industrial relations Europe, volume 19, number 264:

A dismissive attitude towards rural accents was all too prevalent: accents outside Dublin being described as 'culchie, bogger, mucker' accents.

2005, Raymond Hickey, Dublin English: evolution and change, John Benjamins Publishing Company:

And I'm from some place so much littler than this. That redneck culchie.

2013, Eimear McBride, A Girl is a Half-formed Thing, Faber & Faber, published 2014, page 35:

Am I really? he said. I'm not offended but honestly, I thought I was kind of cool.
You're such a culchie, though.

2018, Sally Rooney, “Six Months Later (July 2013)”, in Normal People:

She was from a town considered even more small-time and hokey than my own by the confident Dublin people, who considered everyone from outside their own hopelessly provincial suburbs to be ‘culchies’, farmers, inbred and unsophisticated.

2021, Megan Nolan, Acts of Desperation, Random House, →ISBN:

(Ireland, slang, derogatory) An unsophisticated rural person; a rustic or provincial.


poteen

poteen (countable and uncountable, plural poteens)

poteens (plural)
poitin (alternative)
potcheen (alternative)
potheen (alternative)
potteen (alternative)

From Irish poitín (“little pot; poteen”), from pota (“pot”) (from Middle English potte, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *budn- (“type of vessel”)) + -ín (diminutive suffix).

der

The Irish peasantry practice the distillation of that illicit spirituous liquor, so well known by the name of poteen whiskey, with a most unaccountable infatuation.

1835 September 13, J. L. L., “The Poteen Still. A Tale Founded on Fact.”, in Philip Dixon Hardy, editor, The Dublin Penny Journal, volume III, number 115, Dublin: Printed and published by P. D. Hardy, 3, Cecilia Street, →OCLC, page 85, column 1:

[A] detachment, consisting of a subaltern’s party, was on its road to Head Quarters, from a still hunting in the mountains, or hostile excursion after contrabandists, or distillers of that delicious fluid, Potheen whiskey, […] It is related that when he [George IV of the United Kingdom] had drained the first glass that was presented to him, he declared that he could now understand why the Irish peasantry were willing to risk life and liberty in its illegal production—it was the real elixir vitæ—the only stuff fit to fuddle a prince with—royal in its flavor, royal in its odor, and super-royal in its effects! That Poteen!

1843 May 6, “a New Orleans Irishman”, “An Irish Race Course”, in Brother Jonathan, volume V, number 1, New York, N.Y.: Wilson & Company, publishers; office 162 Nassau Street, →OCLC, page 26, column 1:

Last night he had put down too much Potheen / (A vulgar blend of Methyl and Benzene) / That, at some Wake, he might the better keen. / (Keen—meaning ‘brisk’? Nay, here the Language warps: / ’Tis singing bawdy Ballads to a Corpse.)

20th century, Stuart Howard-Jones (1904–1974), “Hibernia”, in Kingsley Amis, comp., The New Oxford Book of English Light Verse, New York, N.Y.: Oxford University Press, 1978, page 243

“Make haste now and go up and tell your mother to hide the poteen”—his mother used to sell poteen—“for I’m after seeing the biggest party of peelers and yeomanry passing by on the rocks was ever seen on the island.”

1907, J[ohn] M[illington] Synge, “Part IV”, in The Aran Islands, Dublin: Maunsel & Co., Ltd; London: Elkin Mathews, →OCLC, page 152:

Past the split tree three-quarters of the way in, where a man has tucked a small bottle of Rot under the bark for his workmate to collect as he passes. Such narcotics and poteens are illegal in the encampment, and cannot be risked passing within the huts.

2002, Sarah Hall, Haweswater, London: Faber and Faber, →ISBN; paperback edition, London: Faber and Faber, 2003, →ISBN, page 240:

He began to rove the country at night, trudging out to shebeens or crossroads dances, to the ceilidhs and poteen sessions that sometimes followed Fair Days in the small towns of Connemara.

2002, Joseph O'Connor, “The Ballad-maker”, in Star of the Sea: Farewell to Old Ireland, London: Secker & Warburg, →ISBN; Star of the Sea (Harvest Book), 1st U.S. edition, Orlando, Fla.: Harcourt, 2003, →ISBN, page 88:

(Ireland, countable, uncountable) Illegally produced Irish whiskey; moonshine.

Kildrumferton … Pop. 9,687 […] There are nine licensed public houses; poteens many more. Illicit distillation prevails to a very great extent, the district being rarely visited by the revenue police, not indeed for years past; the presence of the excise officer in a neighbouring town is the only check.

1836, “Supplement to Appendix (E.): Answers to Questions Circulated by the Commissioners Relative to the Condition of Agricultural Labourers in Ireland”, in Poor Inquiry (Ireland). Appendix (E.) Containing Baronial Examinations Relative to Food, Cottages and Cabins, Clothing and Furniture, Pawnbroking and Savings’ Banks, Drinking; and Supplement, Containing Answers to Questions 13 to 22 Circulated by the Commissioners. Presented to Both Houses of Parliament by Command of His Majesty (Reports from Commissioners: Fifteen Volumes; 11 (Poor Laws (Ireland): Appendix (E.): Session 4 February – 20 August 1836)), volume XXXII, London: Printed by W[illiam] Clowes and Sons, Stamford Street, for His Majesty’s Stationery Office, →OCLC, ULSTER—County Cavan—Baronies Castleraghan, Loughtee Upper [table], page 294:

The whisky shops and poteens of Scotland and Ireland, the gin-palaces and beer-shops of England, are an incubus that is dwarfing the good in every section of the community, and forcing out the evil.

[1875], M[ary] A[nna] Paull, “The Tenpenny Nail”, in St. Mungo’s Curse; or, The Crippled Singer of the Saltmarket, Manchester: Tubbs and Brook, 11, Market Street; London: Simpkin, Marshall & Co.; F. Pitman, →OCLC, page 11:

(Ireland, countable, by extension) An unlicensed drinking establishment selling illegally produced Irish whiskey.


drisheen

Mr Dedalus had ordered drisheens for breakfast and during the meal he crossexamined the waiter for local news.

1916, James Joyce, Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, Macmillan Press Ltd, paperback, section 86:

(Ireland) A type of Irish sausage made from pigs' blood, suet, and salt; an Irish version of black pudding.


draughts

(board games, UK, Ireland, Commonwealth, uncountable) A board game for two players in which the players each have a set number of pieces (typically 12 or 20, depending on the rule set), known as men, and the object is to capture each of the opponent's pieces by jumping one's own pieces over the opponent's pieces.


funny

en-adj

funny (comparative funnier, superlative funniest)

funnier (comparative)
funniest (superlative)

'Moved in where?' Sam asked Brona in confusion. 'What boyfriend?'
'Glen,' Brona said quietly. 'You met him a while ago, remember? He only moved in last week. I was going to tell you but […] I thought you might be funny about it, that's all.'

Ash would have been happy to sit and stare at Viv all day, but when he saw the other guys staring at his sister, too, he got funny about it.

2012, Jade Varden, The Tower (Deck of Lies, #2):

(UK, Ireland, informal) Showing unexpected resentment.


funny

Perhaps a jocular use of funny. See above.

I myself recollect the funnies at Eton, which were certain little boats, capable of containing one person only, who, like an Indian in his canoe, was constantly obliged to balance himself, with such critical nicety, that the least mistake was certain of producing a ducking.

1810, Letters from a Nobleman to His Son, During the Period of His Education at Eton and Oxford, volume 1, pages 63–64:

As I do not belong to the boat-club, I always row by myself in a funny […] or at least go in a two-oared boat, with some friend with whom I should otherwise be walking.

1841 December 12, William Thomson, “[Letter to father]”, in Silvanus P. Thompson, The Life of William Thomson, Baron Kelvin of Largs, volume 1, published 1910, page 33:

We were going to have a go in one of the double scull ‘funnies’ that could be had from the Rowing Club in the harbour, but he is off up the line tomorrow to rejoin his old Battery.

1971, Julian Tyndale-Biscoe, Gunner Subaltern, page 144:

There was a great market for leisure boats, too: no wherries any longer, but whole fleets of punts, rowing gigs, funnies, skiffs, whiffs and randans […]

1999, Patrick Wright, The River: The Thames in Our Time, →ISBN, page 145:

(UK, Ireland, nautical, dated) A narrow, clinker-built double-ender for sculling.


halt

LL-Q1860 (eng)-I learned some phrases-halt.wav

Halts were normally unstaffed, tickets being sold on the train.

2024 June 10, Wikipedia contributors, “Train station”, in English Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation:

(British, Ireland) A small railroad station, usually unstaffed or with very few staff, and with few or no facilities.


spliff

spliffs (plural)
spiff (alternative)
spleef (alternative)
splif (alternative)

From Jamaican Creole, possibly a blend of split, referring to the ready-made wrap, + whiff, referring to the smell of the smoke.

smoke a spliff

Pablo switched off the wipers and struck a match to light the spliff he had just finished building.

1992, Victor Headley, Yardie, New York: Atlantic Monthly Press, published 1993, page 167:

Danny takes another toke on the spliff and then passes it over to Griff, who accepts it and draws deep on it and then points with the lit end across the room at Gwenno like some strange weatherman indicating a pocket of high pressure.

2001, Niall Griffiths, Sheepshagger, New York: Thomas Dunne, published 2002, page 104:

“Well, well, well,” Ma Taffy says, sitting back and returning the spliff to her mouth. She exhales a cloud of ganja that envelops herself and the boy.

2016, Kei Miller, “Chapter 1”, in Augustown, New York: Pantheon, pages 14–15:

(slang, UK, Ireland, Commonwealth, Jamaica) A cannabis cigarette.


lorry

lorries (plural)
larry (alternative)
lorrie (alternative)

→ Central Dusun: luri

→ Chichewa: lore

→ Hausa: lori

→ Iban: lori

→ Juba Arabic: lori

→ Malay: lori (“heavy truck”)

→ Tausug: lūri

→ Chinese: 羅里 (luólǐ), 羅厘 /罗厘 (luólí)

→ Chichewa: lore

→ Farefare: loore

→ German: Lore

→ Irish: leoraí

→ Malay: lori

→ Moore: lore

→ Scottish Gaelic: làraidh

→ Swahili: lori

→ Telugu: లారీ (lārī)

→ Welsh: lorri, lori

→ Zulu: iloli

Uncertain; perhaps from dialectal English lurry (“to lug or pull about, drag”), or from the forename Laurie. First attested in early to middle 19th century.

cog

But whenever one of the motor-trucks lumbering by bore a big U.S. on its rear panel Troy pushed his light ambulance ahead and skimmed past, just for the joy of seeing the fresh young heads rising pyramid-wise about the sides of the lorry, hearing the snatches of familiar songs—"Hail, hail, the gang's all here!" and "We won't come back till it's over over here!"—and shouting back in reply to a stentorian "Hi, kid, beat it!", "Bet your life I will, old man!"

1918, Edith Wharton, chapter IX, in The Marne, New York, N.Y.: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC, pages 87–88:

The railway is still vital to Jordan's export trade, but in spite of the poor quality of the road, diesel lorries are gradually robbing it of freight traffic, and anyone who can afford to fly does so rather than face the long desert journey by rail.

1956 March, R. C. Blaker, “The Hedjaz Railway”, in Railway Magazine, page 167:

The most frequent age for starting in the actual occupation of lorry driving is 17 years. Trampers tend to start later, the mode amongst them being 19 years. The mean average age for beginning in lorry driving in the sample is between 21 and 23 years. The mean average number of years spent in lorry driving varies according to the type of driver.

1968, Peter G. Hollowell, “The Lorry Driver’s Career”, in The Lorry Driver (The International Library of Sociology; 154), London: Routledge and Kegan Paul; New York, N.Y.: Humanities Press, →OCLC; republished Abingdon, Oxfordshire: Routledge, 1998 (2007 printing), →ISBN, page 61:

Until the main road from Hatfield to Hertford was diverted a few years ago, heavy lorries trundling through the village sometimes knocked chunks off corner buildings, but now the village has regained much of its former tranquillity.

1980, AA Book of British Villages, Drive Publications Ltd, page 224, about Hertingfordbury:

Our journey through the streets of Singapore awoke strange emotions. Very little of the structural damage seemed to have been repaired beyond make-shift patchwork. The streets had a dingy and forlorn look. We arrived outside the British American Tobacco building and had our first experience of the shouting and hustlings that accompanied all Japanese supervision of our movements. We were shouted at to get out of the lorry with our baggage and make out way into the building.

1987, Richard Pool, “Prisoner of War”, in Course for Disaster: From Scapa Flow to the River Kwai, London: Leo Cooper, Heinemann, →ISBN, page 164:

The plantain lorry caught up with them in a blind curve. Jeff caught a glimpse of the driver's face in the mirror as he fought to swing the old truck out around the car. At that moment Jeff heard the sound of the horn of a vehicle coming up the road. Out of the corner of his eye he could see the old lorry beside him; its driver desperately trying to avoid the passenger lorry coming up the scarp.

2003, John C. Kennedy, “The Child”, in Last Lorry to Mbordo: Misadventures in Nation Building: A Novel, Victoria, B.C.: Trafford Publishing, →ISBN, page 176:

At the platform in Pathankot, they must have overheard me asking the porter handling my luggage that I wanted to go to the lorry stand for Kashmir. [...] There were no buses then, some primitive contraptions called lorries. A far cry from the spacious and comfortable buses of the present day. They were not only rudimentary and crude, they also travelled very slow.

2005, Nagindra Mohan Kachroo, “Nostalgic Home Fires”, in Moments of Melancholy: (A Basket of Short Stories), New Delhi: S. B. Nangia, A. P. H. Publishing Corporation, →ISBN, page 129:

I know I swing me Volvo all around you market square. I know you think that lorry drivers, we just don't care. But the streets are so narrow, built so many years ago. They were built for horses' carts, not juggernauts you know.

2019, “I love my juggernaut”, in The Pothole Song Album, performed by Richie Kavanagh:

There was also the influx of a third of a million road lorries, sold at giveaway prices after their war roles ceased and used by competing one-man businesses to skim off sundry agricultural freight.

2023 March 8, Howard Johnston, “Was Marples the real railway wrecker?”, in RAIL, number 978, page 51:

(British, Ireland, South Asia, Africa) A large and heavy motor vehicle designed to carry goods or soldiers; a truck


stroppy

en-adj

stroppy (comparative stroppier, superlative stroppiest)

stroppier (comparative)
stroppiest (superlative)

From obstropulous, obsolete slang form of obstreperous, + -y.

In this case, the application of the famous method was a little shaky. To be fair, the director was dealing with a pretty stroppy cast.

1989, Kenneth Branagh, Beginning, London: Chatto & Windus, →ISBN, page 64:

Her shape and posture shadowed her daughter′s, though Kerry carried herself with more attitude, a stroppier jutting of the hips than her mother.

2004, Simon Brett, The Hanging in the Hotel, Pan Macmillan UK:

Even today, women who show signs of anger and who express themselves in some assertive way may be labelled stroppy for doing so.

2010, Gillian Bloxham, W. Doyle Gentry, Anger Management For Dummies, UK edition:

The people who actually produced the paper, mainly the printers, were a stroppier lot, with a more aggressive union.

2010, Alexandra Bell, Rising to the Deadline, Trafford Publishing, Canada, page 140:

Davina told me earlier that Luke was the stroppiest patient she'd ever had and that he'd given her a lecture on how inefficient and time-wasting her medical was.

2010, Sophie Kinsella [pseudonym; Madeleine Wickham], Mini Shopaholic, page 341:

(UK, Ireland, Commonwealth, slang) Ornery, fractious, belligerent, or obstreperous, and hence difficult to deal with.


mum

mums (plural)
mam (alternative)
mom (alternative)
Mom (alternative)
Mum (alternative)

Alternative form of mam, or an abbreviation of mummy. Compare mom, mama.

From the Marvel Mixmaster to the Miracle Microwave, every time a new-fangled gadget has lobbed into the Aussie kitchen, Aussie mums have changed their cooking styles accordingly.

1987, Kerry Cue, Hang On To Your Horses Doovers, page 5:

'Ooh Mum, Auntie don′t allow smokin’ - Pat′s eyes were round with awe as Mum struck a match.

1993, Hilda Hollingsworth, Places of Greater Safety, Zenobia Press edition, page 278:

Her mum says that she is deaf and only partially sighted, so I need to go and stand in front of her, so she can see the gift.

2004, Jack Canfield, Mark Victor Hansen, Patty Hansen, Irene Dunlap, Chicken Soup for the Preteen Soul 2, page 336:

“Mum! Mum!” he shouted out. The laughter stopped. Two bright, sparkling yellow eyes peeped from the hollow. Atop her head were the fluffy ear tufts that his mum was so proud of because they were fuller and lovelier than those of most Great Horned Owls. It was indeed his mum!

2006, Kathryn Lasky, Guardians of Ga'Hoole, Book 11: To Be a King, page 88

2011, Chyna, FAM: Rolling in a London Girl Gang, unnumbered page,
He′s looking at my mum, at her swollen eyes, busted nose and bloodied lips. She′s mashed up something chronic, and the man who did this to her is my dad.

(Commonwealth, Ireland, informal) Mother.


taking

en-noun

taking (countable and uncountable, plural takings)

Fred was concerned because the takings from his sweetshop had fallen again for the third week.

Count the shop's takings.

[...] the woman who keeps the greengrocer’s shop was adding up the day’s takings with her hands in red mittens.

1929, Virginia Woolf, chapter 2, in A Room of One’s Own, London: The Hogarth Press, published 1931, page 60:

According to T. B. Sands in his history of the M.S.W.J.R. (Oakwood Press: 8s 6d) Fay at first had to await cash takings from stations before he could pay his staff; [...].

1961 October, “Talking of Trains: Last of the M.S.W.J.R.”, in Trains Illustrated, page 586:

The child was not returned to the mother. [...] strangers giving him suck found it easier to display the utter despair in their faces that made for successful begging, whereas if [the mother] had had the pleasure of clasping her little son to her bosom all day, it would have been impossible to keep a spark of joy, however tiny, out of her eyes, which would have adversely affected the takings.

1995, Rohinton Mistry, chapter 12, in A Fine Balance, Toronto: McClelland & Stewart, pages 554–555:

(in the plural, Commonwealth, UK, Ireland) Cash or money received (by a shop or other business, for example).


fierce

en-adj

fierce (comparative fiercer or more fierce, superlative fiercest or most fierce)

fiercer (comparative)
more fierce (comparative)
fiercest (superlative)
most fierce (superlative)

From Middle English fers, fiers, borrowed from Old French fers (“wild", "ferocious”), nominative of fer, from Latin ferus (“wild", "untamed”).

Q: "How was the party last night?" A: "Fierce!"

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


fierce

It was fierce cold last night.

(slang, Ireland, rustic) Extremely; very.


coriander

en-noun

coriander (usually uncountable, plural corianders)

→ Japanese: コリアンダー (koriandā)

/ˌkɒɹiˈændə/

/ˈkɔɹiˌændɚ/

/ˌkɔɹiˈændɚ/

From Middle English coriandre, from Anglo-Norman coriandre, from Old French corïandre, from Latin coriandrum, from Ancient Greek κορίανδρον (koríandron), of uncertain origin. Doublet of cilantro.
cognates, etc.
Compare Ancient Greek κορίαννον (koríannon), κορίαμβλον (koríamblon), Mycenaean Greek 𐀒𐀪𐁀𐀅𐀙 (ko-ri-a2-da-na), 𐀒𐀪𐀊𐀅𐀙 (ko-ri-ja-da-na), 𐀒𐀪𐀊𐀈𐀜 (ko-ri-ja-do-no), 𐀒𐀪𐀍𐀅𐀙 (ko-ri-jo-da-na), Akkadian 𒌑𒄷𒌷𒌝 (^úḫurium) Aramaic כסברה (kusbara, “coriander”), Classical Syriac ܟܽܘܣܒܰܪܬܳܐ (kūsbartā, “coriander”) and Arabic كُزْبَرَة (kuzbara).
Beekes supposes that cluster -dn- implies a Pre-Greek word, and hypothesizes that *koriaⁿdro- may have dissimilated to *koriaⁿdno-.

cog

Vietnamese coriander (Persicaria odorata

The life of one plant would be affected by another. Rue was definitely hostile to basil, rosemary to hyssop, but coriander, dill and chervil lived on the friendliest of terms[.]

1940, Rosetta E. Clarkson, Green Enchantments: The Magic Spell of Gardens, The Macmillan Company, page 253:

Tobacco and the plant valerian are also considered to be anaphrodisiac in their effects, diminishing sexual inclination. Also vinegar, dried coriander, potassium bromide, cocaine, vervain, acid drinks, lemonade.

1961, Harry E. Wedeck, Dictionary of Aphrodisiacs, New York: The Citadel Press, page 11:

Coriandrum sativum
Coriandrum sativum#Translingual

(UK, Ireland) The annual herb Coriandrum sativum, used in many cuisines.


liquorice

en-noun

liquorice (countable and uncountable, plural liquorices)

From licorice by association with liquor.

UK, Ireland, India, and South Africa standard spelling of licorice.


valet

en-verb

valet (third-person singular simple present valets, present participle valeting, simple past and past participle valeted)

valets (present singular third-person)
valeting (participle present)
valeted (participle past)
valeted (past)

Borrowed from Middle French valet, from Old French vaslet, from Medieval Latin *vassellittus, diminutive of Late Latin vassallus (“manservant, domestic, retainer”), from vassus (“servant”), from Gaulish *wassos (“young man, squire”), from Proto-Celtic *wastos (“servant”) (compare Old Irish foss and Welsh gwas). Doublet of varlet.

der

He revealed: “We had been through a lot and I decided the car needed to be cleaned out after Georgina had to deliver the baby in the car.
“You can imagine the scene when I left the car in for valeting. I got some funny looks and I had to explain to the guy that I wasn’t up to anything illegal because it did look a bit like a crime scene.”

2017 March 7, Stephen Maguire, “Hero Irish dad reveals he had to tell car valet he ‘wasn’t up to anything illegal’ after wife gave birth on back seat on Donegal road”, in The Irish Sun:

(transitive, chiefly UK, Ireland) To clean and service (a car), as a valet does.


plimsoll

plimsolls (plural)
plimsol (alternative)
plimsole (alternative)

From Samuel Plimsoll, a Bristol merchant who created a system of marks and symbols for the waterline of ships. The shoe was possibly named because the line of its sole resembled the Plimsoll line of ship.

“Yes, there are two distinct sets of footprints, both wearing rubber shoes—one I think ordinary plimsolls, the other goloshes,” replied the sergeant.

1928, Lawrence R. Bourne, chapter 13, in Well Tackled!:

While here, now, a large boy, a famous bully, swaggered to the front to bend, leering, and offer his satirical backside to be ineffectually beaten with a plimsoll by the gentle Scot.

(UK, Ireland) A rubber-soled lace-up canvas shoe for sports or onboard ships; a precursor of trainers.


touch cloth

en-verb

touch cloth (third-person singular simple present touches cloth, present participle touching cloth, simple past and past participle touched cloth)

tlb

(chiefly UK, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand)

touches cloth (present singular third-person)
touching cloth (participle present)
touched cloth (participle past)
touched cloth (past)

(intransitive, slang) To be just on the point of soiling oneself.


sheugh

(Ireland, Scotland) A ditch, especially a field boundary ditch usually used to drain fields and mark their boundaries.

The Irish Sea is the little sheugh, the Atlantic is the big sheugh.

(Ireland, colloquial) The Atlantic Ocean; the sea.


wagon

wagons (plural)
wagan (alternative)
waghen (alternative)
waggon (alternative British dated)

→ Dutch: wagon

→ French: wagon (see there for further descendants)

→ German: Waggon

→ Japanese: わごん, ワゴン (wagon)

→ Polish: wagon

→ Spanish: vagón

Borrowed from Middle Dutch wagen, from Old Dutch *wagan, from Proto-West Germanic *wagn, from Proto-Germanic *wagnaz (“wagon”), from Proto-Indo-European *woǵʰnos (“wagon, primitive carriage”), from *weǵʰ- (“to transport”). Doublet of wain. Related also to way, weigh.
Sense 8 (“woman of loose morals; obnoxious woman”) is probably a derogatory and jocular reference to a woman being “ridden”, that is, mounted for the purpose of sexual intercourse.
The verb is derived from the noun.

wa

four-wheeled cart for hauling loads — see also cart

[…] I was in a field last week with Ursula Brogan behind the football pitch. We followed Cissy Caffery there and two boys from the secondary. She’s a wagon. She did it with them one after the other, and we watched.

1985, Eugene McCabe, “Roma”, in Heaven Lies about Us: Stories, 1st U.S. edition, New York, N.Y., London: Bloomsbury, published 2004, →ISBN, page 57:

(Ireland, slang, derogatory) Term of abuse.

(dated) A woman of loose morals, a promiscuous woman, a slapper.

NB: All terms are usually pejorative unless stated otherwise.

—Don’t know. —She hates us. It’s prob’ly cos Daddy called her a wagon at tha’ meetin’. / Sharon laughed. She got out of bed. / —He didn’t really call Miss O’Keefe a wagon, she told Tracy. —He was only messin’ with yeh.

1990, Roddy Doyle, The Snapper, London: Secker and Warburg, →ISBN; republished New York, N.Y.: Penguin Books, 1992, →ISBN, pages 30–31:

Well fuck yeh, yeh stuck-up little wagon.

1998, Neville Thompson, Two Birds/One Stoned, Dublin: Poolbeg, →ISBN, page 8:

(by extension) An obnoxious woman; a bitch; a cow.

Term of abuse.
An obnoxious woman; a bitch; a cow.


cloakroom

cloakrooms (plural)
cloak room (alternative)

(British, Ireland, India) A room intended for holding luggage, as at an airport.

(British, Ireland, euphemistic) A lavatory, now particularly a small secondary lavatory or a men's room.


postman

The total of their members amounts to 342,723 for 1875. Among these number … 6,968 male and sixty-three female postmen, imperial railway, telegraph, and post officials, railway workmen, dependent boatmen, waiters, &c.; …

1876–1877, Benjamin Homans (ed.), The Banker's Magazine and Statistical Register. Volume thirty-first, or, Volume eleventh of the third Series. From July, 1876, to June, 1877, inclusive, p. 283

A single narrow iron-clamped door formed the only means of entrance. On this our guide knocked with a peculiar postman-like rat-tat.

1890 February, A[rthur] Conan Doyle, “The Tragedy of Pondicherry Lodge”, in The Sign of Four (Standard Library), London: Spencer Blackett […], →OCLC, page 72:

The headmistress entered and told the girls "I want you to do everything you can to help the war effort—you are old enough to do it now." The girls changed into women postmen, head waiters, soldiers, landgirls, butchers and carpenters.

1971, J. P. Gallagher, Fred Karno: Master of Mirth and Tears, page 119:

Postmen, binmen, dock workers, even barristers are now on strike. Where will all this end?

2022 September 7, Philip Haigh, “Comment: More strikes and poor morale”, in RAIL, number 965, page 3:

(chiefly UK, Ireland, Commonwealth) someone who delivers the post (mail) to, and/or collects the post from, residential or commercial addresses, or from public mailboxes.


cooker

→ Welsh: cwcer

From cook + -er (agent noun suffix) or + -er (patient suffix) (apple; one who is cooked).

(chiefly UK, Ireland, except in compounds) An appliance or utensil for cooking food.


biscuit

en-noun

biscuit (countable and uncountable, plural biscuits)

Tok Pisin: bisket

→ Bengali: বিস্কুট (biskuṭ)

→ Burmese: ဘီစကွတ် (bhica.kwat)

→ Cebuano: biskuwít, biskwit

→ Fiji Hindi: biskut

→ Gujarati: બિસ્કિટ (biskiṭ)

→ Hausa: bìskît

desc

ביסקוויט//בִּיסְקְוִיט

→ Hebrew: ביסקוויט /בִּיסְקְוִיט (bískvit)

→ Hiligaynon: biskwit

desctree

→ Hindi: बिस्कुट (biskuṭ)
→ Jarawa: biskuʈ (“biscuit”)

→ Indonesian: beskit, biskit

→ Japanese: ビスケット (bisuketto)

→ Korean: 비스켓 (biseuket)

→ Malay: biskut

→ Marshallese: petkōj

→ Punjabi: ਬਿਸਕੁਟ (biskuṭ)

→⇒ Scottish Gaelic: briosgaid

→ Spanish: bísquet, bísquete

→ Swahili: biskuti

→ Sylheti: ꠛꠤꠍꠇꠥꠐ (bisókuṭ)

→ Tagalog: biskuwit

→ Thai: บิสกิต (bís-gìt)

→ Urdu: بسکٹ (biskiṭ)
→ Ushojo: بسکٹ (biskiṭ)

→ Yoruba: bisikíìtì

→ Zulu: bhisikidi

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

PIE word
 *dwóh₁
From earlier bisket, from Middle English bisquyte, from Old French bescuit (French biscuit); doublet of biscotto.

Weighed myself at the gym and have hit 10st 8lb, a sure sign of things getting out of control—so I can’t even console myself with a chocolate biscuit.

(UK, Australia, Ireland, New Zealand, sometimes Canada, rare in the US and the Philippines) A small, flat, baked good which is either hard and crisp or else soft but firm; a cookie.

koekie

small, flat baked good — see also cookie, cracker


artillery

en-noun

artillery (countable and uncountable, plural artilleries)

From Middle English artillerie, from Old French artillerie (“collection of military engines, crossbows, lances etc.”), from artillier (“to equip, provide with contraptions”), alteration of atiller (“to arrange, adjust, put on clothes or, especially, pieces of armour”) (influenced by art), itself from Vulgar Latin *apticlō < **apticulō, from Latin aptō (“to make capable”).

der

(UK, Ireland, slang) A gun, or multiple.


lamp

en-verb

lamp (third-person singular simple present lamps, present participle lamping, simple past and past participle lamped)

lamps (present singular third-person)
lamping (participle present)
lamped (participle past)
lamped (past)

From Middle English laumpe, lampe, from Old French lampe (“lamp, light”), from Latin lampas (“torch, lamp, light”), from Ancient Greek λαμπάς (lampás, “torch, lamp, beacon, light, meteor”), from Proto-Indo-European *leh₂p- (“to shine”). Cognate with Lithuanian lópė (“light”), Welsh llachar (“bright”). Displaced native Old English lēohtfæt (literally “light-vat”).

cog

(UK, Ireland) To hunt at night using a lamp, during which bright lights are used to dazzle the hunted animal or to attract insects for capture.


boreen

boreens (plural)
bohereen (alternative)
bohireen (alternative)

Borrowed from Irish bóithrín, diminutive of bóthar (“road”), see Irish -ín (diminutive suffix).

Down a boreen green came a sweet colleen \ And she smiled as she passed me by.

c. 1900, “Star of the County Down (traditional folk song)”:

A boy in a disguise nobody believed in, an actor playing a part he didn't understand, he would trudge every rocky field and quaking bog, every pot-holed road and tortuous boreen, each of the thirteen villages on his father's estate, speaking the Irish he had learned from his father's servants.

2002, Joseph O'Connor, Star of the Sea, Vintage, published 2003, page 63:

(Ireland) A narrow, frequently unpaved, rural road in Ireland, often characterised by a ridge of grass growing in the middle.


smashing

en-adj

smashing (comparative more smashing, superlative most smashing)

more smashing (comparative)
most smashing (superlative)

From smash + -ing. As a synonym for wonderful, the term first appeared in the United States in the early twentieth century, and possibly derives from the sense of smash used in smash hit and similar terms. Popular folk etymology connects the term to the broadly homophonous Irish is maith sin or Scottish Gaelic 's math sin ("that is good"), but this has been described as "improbable", and does not appear in the etymological dictionaries.

We had a smashing time at the zoo.

Um, the reason for this call is because I haven’t told you for seven hours that I love you, which is a scandal! And even if we weren’t getting married tomorrow, I’d ask you to marry me anyway. Yes I would, because you are smashing!

2010, Toby Whithouse, “The Vampires of Venice”, in Doctor Who, season 5, episode 6, spoken by Rory Williams (Arthur Darvill):

(originally US, now British and Ireland) Wonderful, very good or impressive.


tilly

Myles: "Indeed your Honour may safely say so : Iwas ploughing away […] when I bethought how I forgot to tell little Jem, when he'd be buying my pen'orth of snuff, to be sure to get it in two separate ha'porths, the way he'd have the two tillies. So what could Ido but run home, to […] go myself for the snuff, and be sure to get my tillies.

1855, Legends of mount Leinster, by Harry Whitney:

He watched her pour into the measure and thence into the jug rich white milk, not hers. […] She poured again a measureful and a tilly.

1922 February, James Joyce, “[Episode 1]”, in Ulysses, Paris: Shakespeare and Company, […], →OCLC:

A bakereen's dusind with tithe tillies to boot.

1939 May 4, James Joyce, Finnegans Wake, London: Faber and Faber Limited, →OCLC; republished London: Faber & Faber Limited, 1960, →OCLC:

At each door he poured from the can into a pint measure and into the house-wife's jug, always with a tilly for the cat, whether there was a cat or not, sometimes splashing the step with milk to the annoyance of the housewife.

2007, Patrick Semple, The Rector who Wouldn't Pray for Rain:

(Ireland) An extra product given to a customer at no additional charge; a lagniappe.


och

Compare Early Modern English och, Scottish Gaelic och, Irish och. Compare also Scots ach, Scots ouch.

(chiefly Scotland, Ireland) general interjection of confirmation, affirmation, and often disapproval.

“Och, ooh, it’s so confusing, it hurts my wee head! I’m just a woman, you know, just a pair of ovaries and some bangs! How do I have the mental capacity to pick from one of two options? Put me down for a no, and never trust me with an important decision again!”

2014 September 14, “Scottish Independence”, in Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, season 1, episode 17, John Oliver (actor), via HBO:

(chiefly Scotland, Ireland) an expression of anger, frustration, surprise


points

(rail transport, UK, Ireland, Commonwealth) Movable rails which can be used to switch a train from one railway track to another.

výhybka

movable rails used to switch a train from one track to another