hot up

hot up (third-person singular simple present hots up, present participle hotting up, simple past and past participle hotted up)

hots up (present singular third-person)
hotting up (participle present)
hotted up (participle past)
hotted up (past)

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

Wait for the water to hot up before adding the salt.

I hotted up my scones.

(UK, Ireland) To increase in temperature.

The choice of a new leader hots up.

Bayern München hotted up the title race with a win.

(UK, Ireland, informal) To become more heated.

We move to Twankey's launderette, where the Aladdin/Bathroomdoor romance hots up.

1997, Theatre Record, volume 17, numbers 18-26, page 1644:

Arvind and Shiela's romance hotted up.

2001, Sayan Chatterjee, It all adds up to love, page 40:

(UK, Ireland, informal) To make or become more sexually appealing, enticing or exciting.


not on

It's just not on. We can't go breaking into another lawyer's office. I mean . . . it's just not something you can do.

1998, James P. Hogan, chapter 24, in Bug Park:

A feature of a situation may be influencing us although we do not realize it. From the agent's point of view the motivational power and direction of a consideration may not even be recognized. We often do not know why certain choices are just not on, and others so strangely attractive.

1998, Simon Blackburn, Ruling Passions: A Theory of Practical Reasoning, page 124:

2003, Dan Connell (author), Lionel Cliffe and Basil Davidson (introduction), Taking on the Superpowers: Collected Articles on the Eritrean Revolution, 1976-1982, page 325,
After a week or so, he and I determined that walking hundreds of miles behind guerrilla lines under these conditions was just not on for him, and he packed his equipment to return home.

(informal, British, Australia, Ireland) Unacceptable or impossible.


harvester

(Ireland) A finnock (a young sea trout).


scran

→ Welsh: sgram

Probably of North Germanic origin, from or cognate with Old Norse skran (“rubbish; marine stores”). Compare Icelandic skran (“junk”), Danish skrammel (“junk, lumber”). Doublet of scrawn.

der

Let wi gan and get some scran am starvin man!

I know there are many persons — some who are themselves poor — who 'never turn a beggar from their door,' but always give them a few browns (halfpence) or some scran (broken victuals).

1853, Charles John Chetwynd Talbot, Meliora, Or, Better Times to Come, page 247:

(UK, Ireland, slang) Food, especially that of an inferior quality; grub.


get one's knickers in a twist

en-verb

get one's knickers in a twist (third-person singular simple present gets one's knickers in a twist, present participle getting one's knickers in a twist, simple past and past participle got one's knickers in a twist)

gets one's knickers in a twist (present singular third-person)
getting one's knickers in a twist (participle present)
got one's knickers in a twist (participle past)
got one's knickers in a twist (past)

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-get one's knickers in a twist.wav

Swiss bank gets knickers in a twist over dress code guidelines [title]

2011 January 17, “Swiss bank gets knickers in a twist over dress code guidelines”, in The Guardian, sourced from Associated Press, →ISSN:

(idiomatic, British, Ireland, humorous, informal) To become overwrought or unnecessarily upset over a trivial matter.

vetää herne nenään

to become overwrought or unnecessarily upset over a trivial matter


aks

aks (third-person singular simple present aks or akses, present participle aksing, simple past and past participle aksed)

aks (present singular third-person)
akses (present singular third-person)
aksing (participle present)
aksed (participle past)
aksed (past)

From Old English acsian (“ask”); see ax for more.

AKS, ask.

1865, William Stott Banks, A List of Provincial Words in Use at Wakefield in Yorkshire, London: J.R.Smith, page 3:

Another thing, kid, don't aks me no more questions tonight.

2004, Larry Dean Hamilton, A Gathering of Angels, page 132:

(dialectal, now chiefly West Africa, African-American Vernacular, MLE, Bermuda, West Country, Maori English and Ireland) To ask.

African-American Vernacular; Bermuda; Maori English and Ireland; African-American Vernacular; Bermuda; Maori English and Ireland


OAP

Old-Age Pensioner
old-age pensioner#English

(UK, Ireland) Initialism of Old-Age Pensioner.


institutionalisation

en-noun

institutionalisation (countable and uncountable, plural institutionalisations)

Commonwealth and Ireland standard spelling of institutionalization.


black babies

Jim met his wife when she was collecting for the black babies.

(Ireland, UK, idiomatic, potentially offensive) Third-world charities, the missions.


vitamin G

In the literal vitamin sense, G is the initial of Joseph Goldberger, involved in its discovery. In later figurative senses, G is the initial of the referent.

With Krissy Harris (former head bartender at Gramercy Tavern) overseeing the bar program, drinkers may be tempted to set Guinness aside for cocktails ... Of course, Vitamin G loyalists can still find the stuff on tap

2011 December 11, “New York; Bars; The Wren”, in Time Out:

...a pint of Guinness at the Cheltenham Festival costs a mind-boggling £7.50. That makes it one of the most expensive pints of "Vitamin G", as it's dubbed, in the world.

2023 March 14, Anthony Chapman, “ALE STORM Cheltenham Festival punters forced to pay out staggering amount for pint of Guinness… one of most expensive in WORLD”, in The Sun, UK:


snapper

snappers (plural)
schnapper (alternative)

I've known him since he was a little snapper.

2004, Intelligent Systems, translated by Nintendo of America, Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, Nintendo, GameCube, level/area: Rogueport:


caid

From Irish caid (“stuffed ball; football”).


guv

Alternative phonetic spelling of gov, short for governor.

Spare two quid, guv? I 'aven't eaten since yesterday.

Right away, guv... I mean, sarge.

(UK, Ireland, chiefly London, informal) A form of address to a man, usually a stranger or a superior.


brown sauce

brown sauce (countable and uncountable, plural brown sauces)

HP Sauce is a popular variety of brown sauce.

(British, Ireland) Any of many brands of bottled sauce based on malt vinegar, fruit and spices.

sos brown

bottled sauce made of vinegar, fruit and spices


silverside

(Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Ireland, informal) corned beef made with this type of meat.


feis

(Ireland) An Irish festival, usually including folk music, dancing, and sports.

(Ireland) An Irish gathering at which new laws were decreed, as well as folk music, dancing, and sports.


suspender belt

(UK, Ireland) An item of women's underwear consisting of a belt to which are attached suspenders for holding up stockings.


auld

en-adj

auld (comparative aulder, superlative auldest)

aulder (comparative)
auldest (superlative)
aud (alternative)
aul (alternative)
oul (alternative)
oul' (alternative)
ould (alternative)

From Scots auld or from Northern Middle English auld, aulde, awld, awlde, ald, alde, from Northumbrian Old English ald, variant of Old English eald (“old, mature, venerable; antique, ancient, primeval”), from Proto-West Germanic *ald, from Proto-Germanic *aldaz (“grown up; old”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂eltós (“grown, nourished, matured”). Compare cognate Latin altus (“nourished, raised, grown; tall”). Doublet of old.

cog

(archaic, Northern England, Liverpool, Scotland, Ireland) Old.


joking

Twenty euros cover charge? You're joking me!

(British, US, Ireland, colloquial, transitive) Kidding, trying to fool.


Hilary

From Latin Hilarius (“cheerful, happy”), name of a fourth-century saint and from its feminine form Hilaria.

It was the first day of term, and one of the rare days in Oxford when the weather was deceitfully marvellous; when its warmth promised more sunshine and joy than the relentless rain and sleet Hilary inevitably brought.

2022, R. F. Kuang, Babel, HarperVoyager, page 447:

(UK, Ireland, law, education) Ellipsis of Hilary term.


sugar mama

sugar mamas (plural)
sugar mamma (alternative)
sugar momma (alternative)
sugar mummy (alternative)
sugar mommy (alternative)
sugar momma (alternative)

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

From slang sugar (“money”) and colloquial mama (“mother”).

(UK, Ireland, Commonwealth, informal) An older woman who spends money on a younger person, usually for romantic or sexual reasons.

vroetelmammie

Older woman who spends money on a younger person for romantic or sexual purposes.


squiz

(West Country, Commonwealth, Ireland) Alternative form of squizz.


squiz

en-verb

squiz (third-person singular simple present squizzes, present participle squizzing, simple past and past participle squizzed)

squizzes (present singular third-person)
squizzing (participle present)
squizzed (participle past)
squizzed (past)


holidays

Where are you going for your holidays this year?

We're on our holidays.

(informal, Ireland) (usually after possessive) holiday, vacation; time off work, especially if spent travelling away from home


flesh and blood

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(UK, Ireland, slang, obsolete) A mixture of brandy and port in equal quantities.


dumbarse

(UK, Ireland, Commonwealth, sometimes considered vulgar, slang, mildly derogatory) A stupid person.


haugh

From Northern English dialectal and Scots haugh, from Northern Middle English *halgh, from Old English healh (“corner, nook”), from Proto-West Germanic *halh. Doublet of hale.

The sheriff of the county of Lanark was holding the wappen-schaw of a wild district, called the Upper Ward of Clydesdale, on a haugh, or level plain, near to a royal borough, […]

1816, Jedadiah Cleishbotham [pseudonym; Walter Scott], chapter II, in Tales of My Landlord, […], volume I (The Black Dwarf), Edinburgh: […] [James Ballantyne and Co.] for William Blackwood, […]; London: John Murray, […], →OCLC, pages 35–36:

The position of the playfield is here identified as lying north of this open space between it and the burn, and occupying the haugh which extended west […]

1884, Alexander Maxwell, The History of Old Dundee:

The cattle had […] loved their life in the haughs of Echt, south there across the uncouthy hills was a world cold and unchancy.

1932, Lewis Grassic Gibbon, Sunset Song (A Scots Quair), Polygon, published 2006, page 46:

It was sung from the top of the oldest house in the burgh every June at the Common riding, which served both for a perambulation of the bounds of the common pastures or Haughs and to commemorate the young men of Harwick[.]

1977, K.M. Elizabeth Murray, Caught in the Web of Words, Oxford: Oxford University Press, page 27:

(Scotland, Northern England, Ireland) A low-lying meadow by the side of a river.


congest

For quotations using this term, see Citations:congest.

(Ireland, Scotland, agriculture, history) A farmer whose lands do not support him adequately.


arsewipe

en-noun

arsewipe (countable and uncountable, plural arsewipes)

(UK, Ireland, Commonwealth, slang, mildly vulgar) Toilet paper.

(countable, Commonwealth, UK, Ireland, slang, derogatory or offensive, mildly vulgar) A useless or annoying person.


begorra

A minced oath from alteration of by God.

begorrah (alternative)
begorry (alternative)
bigorra (alternative)
bigorrah (alternative)

But, begorra, whin they seen it was raly Bill Malowney himself that was in it, it was only who'd be foremost out agin, tumblin' backways, one over another, and his raverence roarin' an' cursin' them like mad for not waitin' for him.

January - June 1850, “Bill Malowney's Taste of Love and Glory”, in The Dublin University Magazine: A Literary and Political Journal, volume 35, page 698:

Begorra, an' 'twas th' foinest sight yez niver saw to' see th' refor-rumed naughty-twos mate their dear lovin' home-definder, Carrie Nation.

1902, University of Michigan, The Wolverine, volume 2, number 12, page 18:

But it's absolute balderdash, Bertie. I mean, listen to this: "Sure and begorra, I don't know what's after being the matter with you, Michael." I mean, what on earth is this "what's after being" stuff mean?
B.W. Wooster: My dear old Gussie, that is how people think Irish people talk.

1992 April 26, “Hot Off the Press”, in Jeeves and Wooster, season 3, episode 5, spoken by A. Fink-Nottle (Richard Garnett):

Sure and begorra, 'twas the second time I lost me balance and fell into yer drink.

2009, Patti B. Pruitt, Spring Break with Paddy O'Rourke, book II, page 28:

(dated, Ireland, now literary) Alternative form of by God.


begorrah

(Ireland) Alternative spelling of begorra.


ashplant

The colonnade above him made him think vaguely of an ancient temple and the ashplant on which he leaned wearily of the curved stick of an augur. / He began to beat the frayed end of his ashplant against the base of a pillar.

1922, James Joyce, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, page 264:

She look her hat, and ashplant, and left them.

1928, Mary Butts, Armed With Madness, page 8:

"She'll do," said Kelly and tapped his ash-plant / Across her hindquarters.

1969, Seamus Heaney, The Outlaw, line 20-21

Unconscious of their bulging eyes, he pounded on the door of the mayor's house with the knob of his ashplant.

2001, Carol Kendall, Erik Blegvad, The Gammage Cup: A Novel of the Minnipins, page 221:


get stuffed

Get stuffed! I don't want to talk to you again!

Eventually, she heard him say something in his deliberate, gruff voice: just two words:
“Get stuffed!”

1992, Émile Zola, translated by Douglas Parmée, Nana, published 1998, page 243:

“You could wear them at fancy dress parties,” I suggested.
“Get stuffed!” he growled.

2007, James Hosier, “Getting Stuffed”, in John Patrick, editor, Dreamboys: A New Collection of Erotic Tales, page 130:

“And what, pray tell, is that? Money? Well, you can get stuffed!” he said sitting down in the chair.

2010, Jeff Wright, Sage, Dead Gorgeous, page 593:

don't let the door hit you on the way out

Entries in :Category:English dismissals.

(UK, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, colloquial, dismissal, euphemistic) Used to tell somebody to go away or to leave one alone.


tailback

The idea of a British warship supposedly menacing Spain is ludicrous. Is it meant to bomb Cadiz? Will its guns lift a rush-hour tailback in a colony that most Britons regard as awash with tax dodgers, drug dealers and right-wing whingers? The Gibraltarians have rights, but why British taxpayers should send warships to enforce them, even if just "on exercise", is a mystery.

2013 August 14, Simon Jenkins, The Guardian:

(UK, Ireland, Commonwealth) A line of motor vehicles causing or the result of traffic congestion or a traffic jam.


ginch

She probably up there getting her ginch plowed right this minute by some drummer out of Richmond.

(British, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, slang, vulgar) vagina, pussy.


backslider

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(Ireland) One who will not do his work or shoulder his responsiblities.


afters

What are we having for afters, Mum? I really want ice cream.

(British, Ireland, informal, uncountable) Dessert.

42-2: From the other end Strauss has a bit of afters with Morne Morkel after yet another bouncer raps him on the gloves.

2010 David Lewis South Africa v England - as it happened: Proteas rip into top order as tourists flounder Daily Mail (16 January 2010)

Clarke was dismissed in the sixty-seventh minute ... for overly enthusiastic afters with one of the Wexford players.

2012 May 12, Nine-man Harps crushed in Wexford, Donegal News:

(British, Ireland, informal, sports) Fighting or arguing off the ball or when play has stopped.

The lights flashed when the landlord shouted, “Last round of drinks before bar closes. Here^([sic]) me folks, no 'Afters' tonight mates!”

2013, Hopeton Gray, Mystic Journeys: Madagascar:

It was an afters pub, which meant it closed at 11 p.m., doors bolted, but with us all inside.

2017, Chris Difford, Some Fantastic Place: My Life In and Out of Squeeze:

(UK, Ireland) An after-hours drinking session in a public house.


fairing

→ Irish: féirín (“gift box”)

→ Welsh: fferins (“sweets, candy”)

From fair (“community gathering, market”). In the sense of food, because cakes and sweets were sold at fairs.

(Scotland, Ireland, now rare) Something that is deserved; one's deserts.


bugger off

Derived from bugger (idiomatic, obsolete, UK, Ireland, Commonwealth) “sodomite”, (idiomatic, vulgar, UK, Ireland, Commonwealth) “man”, especially in the colloquialism (idiomatic, dismissal, UK, Ireland, Commonwealth) old bugger for “an old man”.

lb

(idiomatic, vulgar, UK, Commonwealth, Ireland, emphatic, colloquial, dismissal) Go away.

Bugger off! You are joking, aren't you?

(idiomatic, vulgar, UK, Commonwealth, Ireland, emphatic, colloquial) An expression of disagreement or disbelief.


skite

From Middle English skyt, skytte, skytt, from Old Norse skítr (“dung, faeces”), from Proto-Germanic *skītaz, *skitiz. Cognate with Old English sċite (“dung”). Doublet of shit and shite.

I needed alcohol to stop my nerves rattling. This felt like the longest period I'd been without my drug of choice for at least three years. I needed to go on a skite.

2008, Tony Black, Paying for It, London: Preface, →ISBN, page 214:

[T]he Rooster was one of those fine, upstanding, bumptious skites who love to talk all day, in the heartiest manner, to total strangers while their wives do the washing.

1918, Norman Lindsay, The Magic Pudding, page 74:

(Australia, Ireland, New Zealand) One who skites; a boaster.

We're going on a skite to Dublin.

(Ireland) A whimsical or leisurely trip.


skite

en-verb

skite (third-person singular simple present skites, present participle skiting, simple past and past participle skited)

skites (present singular third-person)
skiting (participle present)
skited (participle past)
skited (past)
skyte (alternative)

You boast and skite from morn to night / And think you're very brave, / But the men who really did the job / Are dead and in their graves.

a. 1918, “The Ragtime Army” [World War I Australian Army song], cited in Graham Seal, “The Singing Soldiers”, in Inventing Anzac: The Digger and National Mythology (UQP Australian Studies), St. Lucia, Qld.: University of Queensland Press in association with the API Network, Australia Research Institute, Curtin University of Technology, 2004, ISBN 978-0-7022-3447-7, page 53

He still had bumfluff on his cheeks, he was that young. About once a month he used to shave it off, and come skiting about it. I smiled at the memory of him all lathered up, grinning at me through the mirror as he went to work on the bumfluff.

1983, John Carroll, Token Soldiers, Boronia, Vic.: Wildgrass Books, →ISBN, page 247:

That Smasher, he said, and forced laugh. My word he can spin a yarn! She glanced towards him, her face halved by the lamplight. Just skiting, you reckon?

2005, Kate Grenville, The Secret River, Melbourne, Vic.: Text Publishing, →ISBN, page 159:

"England is mine," Henry says over a pint[…]. "I hope that's not skiting." / "That's not skiting, sport. Edward Garnett reckons you're the best new thing in the Empire, and so do I. Good on you, mate, nothing on earth can stop you now! Here's mud in your eye."

2006, Pip Wilson, Faces in the Street: Louisa and Henry Lawson and the Castlereagh Street Push, 2nd edition, Coffs Harbour, N.S.W.: Pip Wilson, →ISBN, page 405:

Without wishing to skite, the only other accurate prediction on 2015 was penned here by your columnist last January when we accurately forecast that all the forecasts would be inaccurate.

2016 January 4, Ian Verrender, “The crystal ball gazers got it all wrong in 2015 – don't expect better this year”, in Australian Broadcasting Corporation, archived from the original on 2016-06-20:

(Australia, Ireland, New Zealand) To boast.


Mother's Day

Mother's Days (plural)
Mothers' Day (alternative)
Mothers Day (alternative)

From Anna Jarvis's campaign in the early 20th century, which insisted on using a singular spelling in order to associate the day with observants' particular mothers.

Mothering Sunday
Mothering Sunday#English

(UK and Ireland, informal) Synonym of Mothering Sunday, the fourth Sunday of Lent, a moveable feast three weeks before Easter, used as a day in honor of mothers in some Commonwealth countries.


bevvy

Clipping of beverage + -y (diminutive suffix)

Well, she schlumphed her Vera down the screech at a rate of knots, zhooshed up the riah, checked the slap in the mirror behind the bar, straightened up one ogle fake riah that had come adrift, and bold as brass orderlied over as fast as she could manage in those bats and, in her best lips, asked, if she could parker the omi a bevvy.

1997, James Gardiner, Who's a Pretty Boy Then?, page 123:

'Want some Lou Reed?' asked Spam.
'Nah. I'll stick to the bevvy.'

1998, Toni Davidson, Intoxication: An Anthology of Stimulant-based Writing, page 44:

(British, Ireland, slang) Alcoholic beverage.


bevvy

bevvy (third-person singular simple present bevvies, present participle bevvying, simple past and past participle bevvied)

bevvies (present singular third-person)
bevvying (participle present)
bevvied (participle past)
bevvied (past)

Anthony and I bevvied together a few nights, but the truth is I couldn't keep up.

2019, Craig Ferguson, Riding the Elephant:

(British, Ireland, slang, intransitive) To get drunk.


dust bin

(British, Ireland) Alternative spelling of dustbin.


runners

(Canadian Prairies, British Columbia, Australia, Ireland) running shoes, sneakers, trainers


pain in the bum

en-noun

pain in the bum (plural pains in the bum)

2000, Max Allen, Crush: The New Australian Wine Book
This is fine and dandy for the wineries and the consumer […] but it’s a pain in the bum for people like me who have to pigeonhole everybody to make them fit nicely in a book.

2003, Alan Grayson, Mile End
“Yes, she’s a pain in the bum, coming over all the time.”

2004, Sandy Row, Surviving the Special Needs System
I know I became a royal pain in the bum to the LEA.

(chiefly UK, Ireland, Commonwealth, slang) Someone or something very annoying.


strip off

en-verb

strip off (third-person singular simple present strips off, present participle stripping off, simple past and past participle stripped off)

strips off (present singular third-person)
stripping off (participle present)
stripped off (participle past)
stripped off (past)

Your trees of Pine Hill, which persevere in being green the year round, do not please so much as those which strip off in November,and put on their green and flowery robes in April.

1847, John Sanderson, The American in Paris:

A night when you strip off and sit down to gasp and pant for a breath of air; such a night is never experienced in Kansas.

1871, Clinton Carter Hutchinson, Resources of Kansas: Fifteen Years Experience:

I cannot remember whose idea it was that we should strip off to our underclothing and go into the coolness of the stream.

2006, Ernest Millington, Was That Really Me?:

The other recruits started to undress where they stood but Ledanseur was too embarrassed to strip off in front of his new comrades. He went into the shower block and undressed there.

(intransitive, British, Ireland, idiomatic) To remove all of one's clothes (or sometimes to remove all except underclothes, or figuratively).


ettle

ettle (third-person singular simple present ettles, present participle ettling, simple past and past participle ettled)

ettles (present singular third-person)
ettling (participle present)
ettled (participle past)
ettled (past)

From Middle English etlien, atlien, from Old Norse ætla (“to think, mean, suppose, intend, purpose”), from Proto-Germanic *ahtalōną (“to strive, think”), from Proto-Indo-European *ok- (“to think, intend, purpose”). Cognate with regional Swedish ättla (“to count, reckon”). Some Middle English forms perhaps remodelled after Old English eaht.

der

(transitive, now Scotland, Ireland, Northern England) To propose, intend.

The Siloam nosed and ettled into the grey sprawl of waves and sent up arcs of swift stinging spray.

1972, George Mackay Brown, Greenvoe, Polygon, published 2019, page 39:

(intransitive, now Scotland, Ireland, Northern England, now rare) To direct one's course, to head.

(intransitive, now Scotland, Ireland, Northern England) To direct (something) to or at someone or something; to aim at.

(intransitive, now Scotland, Ireland, Northern England) To strive, to try.


pucks

My younger brother, Brendan, mentioned that she loved her garden, spent pucks of time mucking around in it, even read books on the matter.

2013, Larry Kirwan, Green Suede Shoes: An Irish-American Odyssey:

We have a gorgeous flat in Rathmines and his people send us pucks of money.

2016, Elaine Crowley, A Man Made to Measure:

(Ireland, informal) Plenty; an abundance (of something).


steamboats

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

Perhaps from Steamboat Willie, rhyming slang for silly, or perhaps from a stereotype of steamboat passengers getting drunk.

Joe and The Tongue especially are absolutely steamboats by the time we reach the Niccy, and the 'bouncers' – furtive damp chemistry teachers on an ego trip – turn us all sneeringly away in their clean-spitting accents:

2006, Kevin MacNeil, The Stornoway Way, Penguin UK, →ISBN:

Somebody absolutely steamboats he says on
sweet warm wine
swigged plaincover from a paper bag
squats in a puddle with nothing to sell […]

2010, MacCaig Morgan Lochhead, Three Scottish Poets, Canongate Books, →ISBN, page 96:

The truth is that nobody remembered; they had all been absolutely steamboats.

2011, D. D. Johnston, Peace, Love and Petrol Bombs, AK Press, →ISBN, page 57:

After getting steamboats in the pub we would all head to the local fish-and-chip shop, where I would order a fish supper and a steak pie wrapped together. I would then place it on a wall and bash it with my fist so that pie, fish and chips all ...

2011, Colin MacFarlane, No Mean Glasgow: Revelations of a Gorbals Guy, Random House, →ISBN:

By the weekend we were off it and out on the lash, living it up in the VIP section of Annabelle's nightclub and getting absolutely steamboats. There's only one thing better than a glass of Champagne – a bottle!

2016, Jules Coll, Flabyrinth: A Journey from Losing Nine Stone to Finding Myself, Gill & Macmillan Ltd, →ISBN:

(UK, Ireland, slang) Drunk; intoxicated.


hallan

Nails had been driven into the boards in every spot where a nail could possibly be inserted, and on these were hung the various articles of this curious museum. Exactly opposite the door there had been originally cut in the hallan an opening […]

1881, Chambers's Journal, volume 58, number 1, page 343:

Having successfully negotiated the threshwood, the visitor found himself in the hallan, which was about four feet wide. The hallan formed a convenient storage place for sacks of corn on the eve of market day and here, too, pigs were hung up […]

1981, William Rollinson, Life & Tradition in the Lake District, page 22:I:

(dialectal, Ireland, Scotland, Northumbria, Cumbria, Lancashire) The passage or space between the outer and inner door of a cottage; the partition between the passage and the room.


cacks

From earlier kicks (“breeches”). Cognate with English kecks.

'Timothy,' pronounced the gargoyliest, 'Cavendish, I presume. Caught with your cacks down.'

They then leap out of the grass, still in their gear, with their helmets on, drag the youngfella inside, rip off his cacks, play with his mickey , and then speed off again on their motorbikes . Saidhbh says that the lads are going to wait for them to come and then kick the living shit out of their queer arses, especially Heno, coz his younger brother, Basho, came home three weeks ago with no cacks on and wouldn't say anything to anyone about how he lost them.

"A bunch of grotty wigs, a copy of Death on the Nile I hadn't finished rereading, and a pair of dirty cacks by the washing machine," she lists .


macushla

ma'cushla (alternative)
ma cushla (alternative)


bollocked

I woke at 17:05 and felt totally bollocked. After a shower, I went to the NAAFI for some sarnies and orange juice.

(British, Ireland, Commonwealth, vulgar, slang) Exhausted.


goatskin

en-noun

goatskin (countable and uncountable, plural goatskins)

From Middle English geet skin; equivalent to goat + skin.


piet

piets (plural)
piot (alternative)
pyet (alternative)
pyot (alternative)

From pie + -ot, with later forms remodelled after -et.

We teach Blacke-birds, Starlins, Ravens, Piots, and Parots to chat[…].

1603, Michel de Montaigne, chapter 12, in John Florio, transl., The Essayes […], book II, London: […] Val[entine] Simmes for Edward Blount […], →OCLC:

Some of the domestick Ducks are all white, others all black, others like Piets, partly white, partly black; and others subcineritious, as all wilde ones are.

1657, Jean de Renou, A Medicinal Dispensatory, page 446:

piet-my-vrou

etymologically unrelated, but coincidentally also a bird


my arse

Does this circuitous process of misinformation display the ‘liquid clearness of an Ionian sky’? My arse it does.

2015, Colin Burrow, “The Empty Bath”, in London Review of Books, volume 37, number 12:

Denise: Dad! Your fly hole's all undone.
Jim: Ah, the cage might be open, but the beast is asleep.
Barbara: Beast my arse.

1999 September 30, Caroline Aherne, Craig Cash, Carmel Morgan, The Royle Family, season 2, episode 1, spoken by Denise Royle, Jim Royle, and Barbara Royle (Caroline Aherne, Ricky Tomlinson, and Sue Johnston):

(slang, UK, Ireland, Commonwealth, sometimes vulgar) Indicates incredulous disapproval, contradiction or disbelief.

個屁 /个屁

Indicates disapproval, disregard or disbelief


angel dust

First use appears c. 1969, in Rolling Stone magazine.

(Ireland, slang) Clenbuterol, a banned growth hormone formerly used in animal feedlots.


Travelling Community

(Ireland) A nomadic ethnic minority, the Irish Travellers.


pound shop

(UK, Ireland) A shop selling household groceries, toys, gimmicks etc, that are typically priced at a pound each.


digestive biscuit

digestive biscuit (plural digestive biscuits)

The baking soda in the recipe was thought to have antacid properties and thus to aid digestion.

(British, Ireland) A semisweet biscuit; sometimes dunked in tea, or crushed as the base of a cheesecake


holy hour

(Ireland, informal) the hour between 2.30 pm and 3.30 pm that pubs formerly had to shut to comply with licencing laws.


bollix

He put his arm around me, eyes half-closed from alcohol, and smiled blearily: “You're a bollix.” And then, for emphasis: “You're a right fuckin’ bollix.” I'm not entirely sure, but I'd like to think that this was a friendly greeting; […]

1995, David A. Wilson, Ireland, a Bicycle and a Tin Whistle, McGill-Queen's Press, →ISBN, page 69:

Just at this moment a mad, hard-faced pensioner in black zip-up flying jacket, flared jeans and trainers hovers into view, spitting expletives. He sees me watching him and shouts across the cobbled street ‘Ye bollix!’ […] I look up at him and say ‘Sorry?’

2000, Tim Bradford, Is Shane MacGowan Still Alive?: Travels in Irishry, HarperCollins, →ISBN, page 74:


caravan park

(Commonwealth, UK, Ireland) An area containing caravans either for holiday rental, or for holiday use by their owners.


parer

A: 'yea like I used to have all these little parers and little fancy girly parers but then I was like I'd probably get into trouble ... people would be like 'why do you have that'... so I went for a plain pencil parer'.

2013 December 6, Russell W. Belk, Linda Price, Lisa Penaloza, Consumer Culture Theory, Emerald Group Publishing, →ISBN, page 84:


cagoule

cagoules (plural)
cagoul (alternative)
kagoul (alternative)
kagoule (alternative)

Borrowed from French cagoule. Doublet of cowl.

(UK, Ireland) A lightweight waterproof parka.


twirly

Blend of too + early from the question "Am I too early [to use my pass]?" frequently asked of bus drivers, etc. by holders of OAP/senior citizen or similar travel passes that are not valid before a certain time (usually 9:30am).

Some passengers do try to use passes fraudulently and the time restriction on OAP passes can sometimes lead to arguments (the so-called "twirlies" — "Am I too early?") but seldom to assaults.

1986, Working Group on Violence to Road Passenger Transport Staff, Assaults on bus staff and measures to prevent such assaults, HMSO, page 51:

These are a great hit with "Twirlies" (senior citizens, infamous for using their bus passes "too-early" before rush hour fades).

1986, Rick Steves, Great Britain in 22 days: a step-by-step guide and travel itinerary, →ISBN, page 52:

I once had a twirly get on my bus, well I have had several hundred actually but that's beside the point!

2007 May 14, Daisy Dart, “Re: Passengers say the stupidest things”, in Bus drivers canteen (Usenet), message-ID <1179173999.213616.59880@n59g2000hsh.googlegroups.com>:

He'd been so desperate to go to the toilet that he'd parked the bus, locked the twirlies on it and run through the gully home!

2008, Maureen Harvey, “5 The Breakthrough”, in Pure Evil - How Tracie Andrews murdered my son, deceived the nation and sentenced me to a life of pain and misery, →ISBN:

(British, Ireland, slang, sometimes derogatory) an old age pensioner or other elderly person, especially one using public transport.


twopence

twopence (countable and uncountable, plural twopences)

twopences (plural)
tuppence (alternative)

(British, Ireland) A British or Irish coin worth two (old or new) pence.

(British, Ireland) A cost or value of two pence.

(British, Ireland, by extension) A small amount or value.


ha'penny

ha'penny (plural ha'pennies or ha'pence)

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

The more a shop looks as though it trades in farthings and ha’pennies, the more tenners and twenties you can expect to hand over at the till.

2020 September 1, Tom Lamont, “The butcher's shop that lasted 300 years (give or take)”, in The Guardian:

(historical, Ireland, UK) A halfpenny; a former British and Irish coin.


tallyman

(Ireland, politics) A counting agent; typically one who is a man.


nearly never bulled a cow

(Ireland) Near enough is not good enough.


car boot

(UK, Ireland, Commonwealth) the boot (trunk) of a car

(UK, Ireland, Commonwealth) a car boot sale


lollipop lady

Because the signs they carry resemble giant lollipops.

school crossing attendant
school crossing attendant

(UK, Ireland, Commonwealth) A female school crossing attendant.

gangbrautarvörður

a female school crossing attendant — see also lollipop man, crossing guard, school crossing attendant


up the walls

We were up the walls last week and I got ten hours overtime.

We didn't go to the restaurant as it was up the walls.

(idiomatic, UK, Ireland, regarding a workplace, etc.) Very busy, swamped.


centred

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


news agency

(Ireland, Australia) Alternative form of newsagency.


icing sugar

icing sugar (countable and uncountable, plural icing sugars)

The half-dozen pieces […] were painted white and carved with festoons of flowers, birds and cupids. […] The bed was the most extravagant piece. Its graceful cane halftester rose high towards the cornice and was so festooned in carved white wood that the effect was positively insecure, as if the great couch were trimmed with icing sugar.

1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 1, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC:

(UK, Ireland, Commonwealth) Powdered sugar.


end of terrace

(chiefly UK, Ireland) The houses at each end of a line of rowhouses or terraced houses.


Tippex

→ Hebrew: טיפקס (típeks)

Tipp-Ex is originally a trademark, owned since 1997 by Société Bic. Its use in the general sense is an example of trademark erosion. The first component is from the German verb tippen (“to type”), and the second from Latin ex.

Tipp-Ex (alternative)
tippex (alternative)

If an application form is completed incorrectly or there's Tippex on it or the spelling is incorrect, then frankly I do not have the time or the patience to think that we will recruit that person...

1996, Tamara Goriely, Tom Williams, The Impact of the New Training Scheme: Report on a Qualitative Study:

Perhaps we can manufacture special bottles of Tippex For Unwanted Tummies. Perhaps we can manufacture special bottles of Tippex For Use on Burnt Toast.

1996, Pat Ingoldsby, Laugh without prejudice, →ISBN, page 164:

Overlap between chapters is a difficult issue and while we have exercised the editorial Tippex to the best of our ability, some duplication remains.

2010, David Ames, Alistair Burns, John T. O'Brien, Dementia, 4th Edition, →ISBN, page xxiii:

And all without a safety net, second take, a stroke of Tippex, an editor or producer who knows all the knobs to press, and when, to keep one's shortcomings from wider exposure.

2014, Rob Steen, Floodlights and Touchlines: A History of Spectator Sport, →ISBN, page 238:

(UK, Ireland, Commonwealth) A particular brand of correction fluid, or correction fluid in general.

(UK, Ireland, Commonwealth) A particular brand of correction tape, or correction tape in general.


sale of work

(Ireland) A fundraising event with raffles, cake sales, bingo etc; usually run by churches and schools.


bodge

en-verb

bodge (third-person singular simple present bodges, present participle bodging, simple past and past participle bodged)

bodges (present singular third-person)
bodging (participle present)
bodged (participle past)
bodged (past)

Oxford English Dictionary#Second supplement

Inherited from Middle English bocchen (“to mend, patch up, repair”), of uncertain origin. Perhaps from Middle Dutch botsen, butsen, boetsen (“to repair, patch”) (Dutch botsen (“to strike, beat, knock together”)), related to Old High German bōzan (“to beat”), See beat; or perhaps from Old English bōtettan (“to improve, repair”), Old English bōtian (“to get better”). Compare botch. More at boot.
Perhaps from boggle.
Perhaps from botch (“patch, or a measurement of capacity equivalent to half a peck”). There is a hypothesis that bodges, defined as rough sacks of corn, closely resembled packages of finished goods the bodgers carried when they left the forest or workshop. Another hypothesis (dating from 1879) is that bodger was a corruption of badger, as similarly to the behaviour of a badger, the bodger dwelt in the woods and seldom emerged until evenings.
Other hypotheses include German Böttcher (“cooper (profession)”), a trade that uses similar tools), and similar Scandinavian words, such the Danish bødker. These words have similar origins to butt, as in water butt (“rain barrel”). Or possibly it may have been a derogatory term used by workers in furniture factories, referring to the men who worked in the woods that produced the “incomplete” chair parts. The factory workers would then take the output of that "bodged job" and turn it into a finished product.
The Oxford English Dictionary Supplement of 1972 has two definitions for bodger. One is a local dialect word from Buckinghamshire, for a chair leg turner. The other is Australian slang for bad workmanship. The etymology of the bodger and botcher (poor workmanship) are well recorded from Shakespeare onwards, and now the two terms are synonymous.

inh

We bodged again; as I have seen a swan

c. 1591–1592 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Third Part of Henry the Sixt, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene iv], page 153, column 1:

All the actions of his life are like so many things bodged in without any natural cadence or connexion at all.

1865, A book of characters, selected from the writings of Overbury, Earle, and Butler, Thomas Overbury and John Earle:

Some cars were neglected, others bodged to keep them running with inevitable consequences

2003, Laurence Meredith, Original Porsche 356: The Restorer's Guide:

Do not be satisfied with a bodged job, set yourself professional goals and standards

2007, Enric Roselló, The Restoration Handbook:

(UK, Ireland) To do a clumsy or inelegant job, usually as a temporary repair; mend, patch up, repair.


comely maidens

Incorrectly attributed to a speech by Irish statesman Éamon de Valera. A longer version is often misquoted as "comely maidens, dancing at the crossroads". The actual phrase, delivered in a radio broadcast on St. Patrick's Day 1943, mentions "the laughter of happy maidens, whose firesides would be forums for the wisdom of serene old age." See Wikipedia article.

He was surprised to see so many women workers. What did he expect, comely maidens?

(plural only, Ireland) An outdated stereotype of Irish women; used as a reference to misogynistic opinions.


Y-fronts

Setting a spatted foot on the bench that ran down the middle of the changing-room with elegant distain, Adrian began to flip through a pile of Y-fronts and rugger shorts with his cane.

1991 September, Stephen Fry, chapter 1, in The Liar, London: Heinemann, →ISBN, section I, page 6:

I did the latter, so in writing this I have put it on record that I am one of the few men who has spent Christmas Eve running across a Kentish marsh in his Y-fronts with two horses trotting after him in close company.

2013, Mike Peyton, Mike Peyton’s Floating Assets, page 4:

(plural only, UK, Ireland, Commonwealth, informal) Men's or boys' briefs that have a fly as part of an inverted Y formed by the seams.


MABS

(Ireland) Initialism of Money Advice and Budgeting Service a service run by the Irish government to assist low income families with budgeting, debt control, and saving schemes.


Santy

They’re all wound up with Santy coming this morning. Mattie Dillon got a copy of Dolly Parton’s new CD and Dec Hannigan went into a sulk because he only got one of Charlie Landsborough’s and he can’t stand him.

2013, Margaret Hawkins, chapter 7, in Deny Me Not, [County Wexford]: Bushel Press, →ISBN, page 250:

(colloquial, especially Ireland, Northumbria) A diminutive name for Santa Claus.


garfish

garfishes (plural)
garfish (plural)
gar-fish (alternative)

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

From Middle English garfysche (“garfish”, literally “spear-fish”), from gor (“spear”) + fisch (“fish”). Cognate with Scots gairfish (“garfish”).

Belone belone
Belone belone#Translingual

(especially UK, Ireland) Any fish of the needlefish family Belonidae, with a long narrow body and needle-shaped jaws, especially the European species Belone belone.


gutty

Perhaps from gutter, or guttersnipe. Or possibly from Irish gaotaire (“a windbag, someone who talks too much”).

der

(dialect, Ireland) An urchin or delinquent.

(dialect, Ireland) An unpleasant person.


hames

Uncertain. Possibly from the hame(s) (harness elements) put on a horse, which are difficult to put on right.

You've made a right hames of it, you eejit!


shillelagh

shillelaghs (plural)
shillala (alternative)
shillalah (alternative)
shillelah (alternative)
shillalagh (alternative)
shillaly (alternative)
shillely (alternative)

From Irish sail éille (“shillelagh”, literally “cudgel of a thong”), altered to match the name of the village of Shillelagh (from Irish Síol Éalaigh (literally “descendants of Éalach”), because the forest near it provided wood from which such clubs could be made.

der

[T]he stem of a stout young oak or ash tree, into the end of which, where the roots had been rounded off, a quantity of molten lead was poured, making the shillelagh more formidable in such hands than a sword would have been – much harder to parry, and impossible to break.

1842, Charlotte Elizabeth, “Letter IX. The Dumb Boy.”, in Personal Recollections. … From the London Edition, New York, N.Y.: John S. Taylor & Co. No. 145 Nassau-Street, Brick Church Chapel, →OCLC, pages 151–152:

It beats all your guns and your rifles, / For it goes off whene'er you desire, / And it's sure to hit just what it aims at, / For shillelaghs they never miss fire.

[1864], T. Maclagan, “The Twig of the Shannon”, in Maclagan's Musical Age Songster, Containing All the Most Popular Songs Sung by T. Maclagan, London: The Music-Publishing Company, 19 Peter's Hill, St. Paul's, E.C., →OCLC, page 27:

"My sorrow!" cried Toirdealbhach. "What do I want to be a saint for at all, is my puzzle! If I could fetch one crack at somebody with me ould shillelagh"—here he produced a frightful-looking weapon from under his gown—"wouldn't it be better than all the saints in Ireland?"

1958, Terence Hanbury White, The Once and Future King, London: William Collins, Sons, →OCLC:

The precise size and shape of a shillelagh can be hard to agree upon, but most of those who have an interest in Irish culture will readily acknowledge that a knobbed stick, made of oak or blackthorn, are the distinguishing characteristics of a shillelagh.

2007, John W. Hurley, “Irish Martial Arts”, in Shillelagh: The Irish Fighting Stick, Pipersville, Pa.: Caravat Press, →ISBN, page 15:

(Ireland) A wooden (traditionally blackthorn (sloe) wood) club ending with a large knob.


compulsory purchase

(law, UK, Ireland) The power of a state to expropriate private land within its jurisdiction for public use.

onteigening

government's right to expropriate private land

expropriation pour cause d'utilité publique


common-or-garden

An extension of the practice of naming domestic – and therefore non-exotic – plants as common or garden, such as common lavender/garden lavender (Lavandula angustifolia).

It's just a common-or-garden fridge but it works fine.

It is to do away entirely with both the magicians and their magic and run our civilization according to practical and comprehensible rules, dedicated to non-legal justice, to common-or-garden fairness that the ordinary man can understand, in the regulation of human affairs.

1939, Fred Rodell, Woe to You Lawyers, Form #11.402, page 74:

Comparing Quantum Mechanics to Common-or-Garden Mechanics.

2010, Martin Cohen, Philosophy For Dummies, →ISBN, page 354:

For what was objective existence in the long run but a series of common-or-garden situations?

2012, Wilson Harris, Black Marsden, →ISBN:

(chiefly British, Ireland) ordinary, standard.


land bridge

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

His reference to waves of lorries on the A55 that match ferry schedules may become dated. Until very recently, the A55 formed part of a land bridge between Ireland and continental Europe. However, when Britain left the European Union, ferries started to ply a direct sea link from Ireland, [...].

2021 December 29, Philip Haigh, “Rail's role in unifying Great Britain and Northern Ireland”, in RAIL, number 947, page 25:

(Ireland, British, travel) Travel by ferry from one country, via another country by road, then by another ferry crossing to a third country. An example is from Ireland by ferry to the UK, by road to the opposite coast, then ferry to France.


demeanour

By some paradoxical evolution rancour and intolerance have been established in the vanguard of primitive Christianity. Mrs. Spoker, in common with many of the stricter disciples of righteousness, was as inclement in demeanour as she was cadaverous in aspect.

1921, Ben Travers, chapter 4, in A Cuckoo in the Nest, Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, Page & Company, published 1925, →OCLC:

At Paisley, a station staff member politely but firmly asks why RAIL is taking so many photographs. The reply - that it's a magnificent station worthy of pictures - changes his demeanour and he's then very apologetic and says he "has to ask".

2025 March 5, “Ayr miles with a 'Spirit of Scotland'”, in RAIL, number 1030, page 43:

UK, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, and Commonwealth spelling of demeanor.


creach

(regional, Ireland, Scotland) an incursion for plunder, raid, forray


fuck-off

en-adj

fuck-off (comparative more fuck-off, superlative most fuck-off)

more fuck-off (comparative)
most fuck-off (superlative)
fuckoff (alternative)

He was a fuck-off brute.

(UK, Commonwealth, Ireland, vulgar, slang) Vicious, aggressive, intimidating.

My dog got scared by a fuck-off rat in my basement.

(UK, Ireland, Commonwealth, vulgar, slang) Dissuasively or intimidatingly large; massive.


fuck-off

He was fuck-off smashing it out of the park.

(UK, Ireland, Commonwealth, vulgar, slang) An intensifier.


corner boy

corner boys (plural)
cornerboy (alternative)

Got no time for the corner boys / Down in the street making all that noise.

(Ireland, US) A young man who hangs around on street corners.

безделник

someone who hangs around on street corners


call box

(UK, Ireland) Synonym of telephone box (enclosure)


Little Christmas

(Ireland) January 6th, the Feast of the Epiphany.


Women's Christmas

(Ireland) January 6th, the Feast of the Epiphany, and traditionally a day for men to do the housework.


singlet

Winston wrenched his body out of bed — naked, for a member of the Outer Party received only 3,000 clothing coupons annually, and a suit of pyjamas was 600 — and seized a dingy singlet and a pair of shorts that were lying across a chair.

1949, George Orwell, Nineteen Eighty-Four, page 28:

2000, Nicole Matthews, Kitsch on the Fringe: Suburbia in Recent Australian Comedy Film, Roger Webster, Expanding Suburbia: Reviewing Suburban Narratives, page 176,
The semiotics of the singlet - immediately identifiable in Australia, especially in its usual shade of blue, with male manual labourers¹⁶ - underlines the contrast between the effete fakery of ballroom costumes and real masculinity to be found underneath or in the world of folk dancing.

However, even in the latter he wears a blue singlet to help remind the audience of his working-class roots.

2006, Albert Moran, Errol Vieth, Film in Australia: An Introduction, page 85:

2009, Deborah Penrith, Live & Work in: Australia, Crimson Publishing, UK, page 192,
Women wear dresses, cropped trousers and vests with lightweight linen jackets and you will find men in anything from a business suit to a pair of stubbies (very short shorts) and a singlet top (white vest) or knee-length cargo trousers.

A single piece of clothing, particularly:

(UK, Australia, Ireland, Nigeria, New Zealand, Singapore) A sleeveless buttonless shirt with a low-cut neck.

singlet

vest; sleeveless garment with a low-cut neck, often worn underneath a shirt


bedsit

bedsits (plural)
bed-sitter (alternative)
bed-sitting room (alternative)

(British, Ireland) A form of rented accommodation consisting of a single room for use as both sitting room and bedroom; there may also be a small kitchen area and washing and toilet facilities, but these amenities are more commonly outside the room and shared by several tenants.


gear lever

(especially UK, Ireland, Commonwealth) The lever used to change gears in a motor vehicle.


rag-and-bone man

en-noun

rag-and-bone man (plural rag-and-bone men)

Horses and carts are never seen now and the rag and bone man is no more. In the fifties there were still those who made a living from old clothes, especially those made from natural fibres and suitable for felting.

2009 November 24, David Fowler, NATIONAL SERVICE, ELVIS and ME!, Lulu.com, →ISBN, page 98:

(UK, Ireland) A man who deals in scrap metal and recycled junk (originally including rags and bones, in earlier centuries).


pan

→? Irish: panna

→ Japanese: パン

From Middle English panne, from Old English panne, from Proto-West Germanic *pannā, from Proto-Germanic *pannǭ, from Late Latin panna, from Latin patina (“broad, shallow dish, pan, stewpan”), from Ancient Greek πατάνη (patánē, “kind of flat dish”), which is probably from Pre-Greek.
Cognate with West Frisian panne, Saterland Frisian Ponne, Dutch pan, German Low German Panne, Pann, German Pfanne, Danish pande, Swedish panna, Icelandic panna.

der

(Ireland) A deep plastic receptacle, used for washing or food preparation; a basin.

pan

geography: type of lake, natural depression or basin

w:Oxford English Dictionary#Electronic versions

Oxford University Press
w:Oxford University Press

(chiefly Ireland) A loaf of bread; a pan-loaf.


squireen

From squire + anglicized form of Irish -ín, diminutive suffix.

Probably no other country could produce such a degraded type as the squireen or buckeen, the drunken, gambling, profligate descendant of the Cromwellian or Williamite settler.

1917, William Francis Thomas Butler, Confiscation in Irish history, page 248:

About 1730 the poet and squireen Huw Hughes wrote to the great scholar Lewis Morris that all the defenders of the old language had gone to sleep.

1983, Prys Morgan, “From a Death to a View”, in The Invention of Tradition:

By blending entertainment and instruction, the Spectator taught ease and affability to squireens and tradesmen with time on their hands, money in their pockets but little breeding.

1990, Roy Porter, English Society in the 18th Century, Penguin, published 1991, page 234:

(originally Ireland) A minor squire; a small landowner.


pavee

(Ireland) A traveller, a member of Ireland's nomadic ethnic minority.


soother

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

Customs earlier received a referral from a related organisation that suspected unsafe soother holders were being supplied on the market.

2024 April 9, Hong Kong Government Press Release, Hong Kong Customs alerts public on two unsafe soother holders:

(Canada, Ireland) A pacifier; a plastic device that goes into a baby’s mouth, used to calm and quiet the baby.


berk

Cockney rhyming slang, an ellipsis and clipping of Berkeley Hunt, a prominent hunt at Berkeley Castle in Gloucestershire, to mean cunt.

His chat-up techniques have to be read to be imagined—they make the crudest of Loaded-style berks seem classy—and he earns far, far too much money.

2003 July 12, Nicholas Lezard, “Ad execs quoting Gramsci? Only in France”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:

I don't know why they couldn't just keep it as it was! How hard is it to remember 911?
You mean 999...
I mean 999!
That's the American one!
Yeah!
You berk.

2006 February 3, Graham Linehan, The IT Crowd, season 1, episode 2:

(UK, Ireland, Commonwealth, slang, derogatory, vulgar) a fool, a prat, a twit, etc.


Bob's your uncle

Unknown. Several unsupported theories exist about its origin. A common explanation, involving Arthur Balfour gaining a promotion through the supposed intercession of his uncle, Prime Minister Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, is doubted because the expression did not appear in print until 1924.

Insert the plug, press the switch, and Bob's your uncle.

You want to go to the stadium? Go straight on until you reach the park, take the first left and Bob's your uncle!

And you're not going to give me that stuff about just shoving over the lever and bob's your uncle. You forget the times the fellow gets caught and has to be kicked off the edge of the trap hole.

1954, Brendan Behan, The Quare Fellow, act 3; republished in Cóilín Owens, Joan Newlon Radner, editors, Irish Drama, 1900–1980, 1990, page 591:

Click the Import Contacts button and—Bob's your uncle (that's "Tada!" for my readers)—you should see a confirmation that all went according to plan, and your contacts have been imported into your Gmail address book.

2007, Preston Gralla, Big Book of Windows Hacks, O'Reilly Media, page 314:

Simply type in a description of your item and Bob's your uncle: someone, somewhere in the eBay virtual universe will be selling something similar.

2008, Julian Knight, Wills, Probate, & Inheritance Tax For Dummies, UK, unnumbered page:

All you need to do is learn to make these little loops and Bob's your uncle, you're a real live knitter.

2011, Lauren O'Farrel, Stitch London: 20 Kooky Ways to Knit the City and More, page 112:

(UK, Commonwealth, Ireland, idiomatic) No problem, the solution is simple, there you have it, it's that easy, you have what you want, all will be well: indicates a desirable conclusion has been reached with ease.

Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury

[и] де́ло в шля́пе ([i] délo v šljápe, literally “[and] the business is in the hat”)


county family

Walford's County Families (title)

1880, Edward Walford, Walford's County Families, Chatto & Windus

(British, Ireland) In Britain and Ireland, a family of the landed gentry.


craythur

From Irish créatúr (“creature”). Doublet of creature. For semantic development, compare creature comfort, and subsequent influence in the early modern era by the Bible

[...] why, at home, if a craythur hasn't a hat to pull, he'll pull the hair off his head, sooner than not make a bow.
Shut ye'r mouth, do, and go on, ye little ill-reared winkle; [...]

1857, Anna Maria Hall, A woman's story, page 215:

Then he answered thickly, "Och, sure, and it's far enough from well it is, yer honour, and it's far enough from well yer honour would be if he'd seen the soights that Pathrick Moriarty, as harmless a craythur as ever was born, has seen thi noight."

1901, “Water-Kelpies”, in Country Life, page 471:


stirabout

en-noun

stirabout (countable and uncountable, plural stirabouts)

/ˈstɜːɹəˌbaʊt/

He's really an awful bother, what with green shades for Tom's eyes at night and making him do the dumb-bells, and forcing Eva to eat the stirabout.

1904–1907 (date written), James Joyce, “The Dead”, in Dubliners, London: Grant Richards, published June 1914, →OCLC, page 222:


sea grape

sea grape (countable and uncountable, plural sea grapes)

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

(UK, Ireland) Any plant in the genus Ephedra, especially those native to Europe and neighboring parts of Africa and Asia.


bagsie

I bagsie the front seat in the car!

Bagsie being policeman!

(UK, Ireland, informal, childish) To declare or stake one's claim on an object or concept.


mahogany gaspipe

A nonsense phrase, to describe what the Irish language sounds like to Anglophones.

It is completely false to suggest that Irish was ever the natural or the native language of this city of Dublin, or of any of our other cities. I always think that Dubliners' attitude to the Irish language is summed up in four words: “Tá sé mahogany gas-pipe”.

1962 June 5, Patrick Byrne, “Committee on Finance. - Vóta 30-Oifig an Aire Oideachais (Atógáil).”, in Dáil Éireann debates, Vol. 195 No. 14 c. 2013:

"Thaw shay mahogany gas-pipes" is a venerable native witticism. It is the facetious Gaelic sally of a person without Gaelic. Suitably mouthed, it sounds frightfully Irish. Leaguers resent it as a sneer.

1967 October 30, Myles na gCopaleen, “Language Please”, in The Irish Times, page 10:

"Buy Irish" is a strongly ritualistic tradition ever since the infancy of the Gaelic League whin all Irish islanders wore Irish tweed and according to Myles na Gopaleen had only to say "Mahogany Gas Pipes" at a ceili to be immediately accepted as native Irish speakers.

1977 July 30, Donal Foley, “The Saturday Column; Buy Irish”, in The Irish Times, page 12:

I've no idea what they're going on about - it's all mahogany gaspipe to me - but next thing Brendan tips me the nod and a wink and gives me to understand that the job is oxo.

1993, Colbert Kearney, The Consequence, Blackstaff Press, →ISBN, page 277:

The original ‘Italian’ reads ‘Raphèl maí amèche zabí almi’, which Carson renders as ‘Yin twa maghogani gazpaighp boke!’, blending Ulster-Scots and ‘mahogany gaspipe’, the non-Irish-speaker's proverbial idea of what the language sounds like.

2014, Sinéad Sturgeon, Essays on James Clarence Mangan: The Man in the Cloak, Palgrave Macmillan, →ISBN, page 47:

(slang, Ireland, dated) a representation of how the Irish language sounds to a non-speaker; gobbledegook.


mahogany gaspipe

mahogany gaspipe (plural mahogany gaspipes)

I’ve been watching you for the last ten minutes and damn the thing you’ve done except yap, yap, yap the whole time. The Chief or the Governor or any of them could have been watching you. They’d have thought it was a bloody mothers’ meeting. What with you and my other bald mahogany gas pipe here.

1956 Brendan Behan, The Quare Fellow Act II (Grove Press (1957) pp. 59-60)


Prod

Clipping of Protestant, as pronounced in an accent with flapping.

"I don't want my daughter marrying a dirty Prod," he said.

'Could be a lot of things,' McCormack said. 'Still, it narrows things down. Probably a Prod […]'.

2022, Liam McIlvanney, The Heretic, page 47:

It was sound advice for anyone visiting Northern Ireland in 1999 and remains so today: do not refer to Protestants as “Prods”, or to Catholics as “Fenians” or “Taigs”, and whatever you do don’t refer to your visit as “being out here”.

[2023 August 23, Rory Carroll, “Files reveal terms ministers were warned not to use in Northern Ireland”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:

(Ireland, UK, slang, sometimes derogatory) A Protestant, (as termed by Roman Catholics), that is in the context of their religious beliefs, or those who have been born in the Protestant tradition, or sometimes those implied to be Protestant by their political ideology of Irish unionism or Ulster loyalism.

Fenian

unionist, Northern Ireland; Irish nationalist or Irish Catholic


throw shapes

en-verb

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

throws shapes (present singular third-person)
throwing shapes (participle present)
threw shapes (past)
thrown shapes (participle past)

(Ireland, idiomatic, slang) To act tough or put up a front. For example, to threaten a person by making "karate chops" at them, without actually doing harm or knowing karate.


year dot

That hat dates from the year dot.

Disk interfaces have been around since the year dot, as people soon realised that the microdrive was unreliable, unstable and generally rubbish for the storage of anything, useless except as a rather small beermat.

1989 June, Phil South, “Rage Hard”, in Your Sinclair magazine, archived from the original on 2012-03-10:

(idiomatic, British, Ireland) A very long time ago, from the beginning or as far back as one can remember.


hire purchase

en-noun

hire purchase (countable and uncountable, plural hire purchases)

Maggie Thatcher, you can't match her, she's the darling of us all. She's the curse of the Irish nation, Fine Gael and Fianna Fail. She's destroyed me hire purchase and she's put me on the dole. If I could only get my hands on her, I'd kick her up the hole!

1983, “The Thatcher Song”performed by Seán Brady:

(UK, Ireland, Commonwealth) A method of purchasing an item, where the buyer hires it and takes possession of it and pays regular instalments. Ownership is only transferred on payment of the final amount. Abbreviated as HP.


potato chip

(UK, Ireland) One of a batch of pieces of potato cut into elongated cubes and fried; a chip or chipped potato, usually larger than American french fries.

ᏄᎾ ᏗᏍᏔᎦᏔᏅ

a piece of potato similar to a french fry, a British potato chip


potato crisp

Edward, give me another of those delicious olives. / What's that? Potato crisps? No, I can't endure them.

1949 August 22 (first performance), T[homas] S[tearns] Eliot, The Cocktail Party: A Comedy, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.; Hollywood, Los Angeles, Calif.: Samuel French […], published 1950, →OCLC, Act I, scene i, page 11:

(Ireland, UK, chiefly in the plural) A thin slice of potato that has been deep-fried until it is brittle and crispy, and which is eaten when cool; they are typically packaged and sold as a snack.


West Briton

West Britons (plural)
West Brit (alternative)

Coordinate term: Plastic Paddy

—Well, I'm ashamed of you, said Miss Ivors frankly. To say you'd write for a rag like that. I didn't think you were a West Briton.

(Ireland, derogatory) An Irish person considered to be excessively Anglophile, an Irish person who acts English or desires to be part of British society.


a dumb priest never got a parish

(Ireland) Those who fail to speak up will fail to get what they desire.


red top

The titles of these newspapers are traditionally presented on a red banner at the top of the front page.

Just as broadsheets only exceptionally outsell any of the tabloids, so middle-market tabloids—the Mail and Express—only rarely outsell the red tops (although the upmarket Sunday Times outsells the mid-market Express on Sunday and The Mail on Sunday outsells The People).

1997 August 13, Brian Macarthur, “Diana: mover and shaker”, in The Times:

Tabloids have their own language. Maybe it's because the pages are smaller than the broadsheet papers, or perhaps it's because they have to make room to fit all those pictures of Jordan in her knickers in each day, but tabloidese is a language and a skill peculiar to the red tops.

2010, Sharon Marshall, Tabloid Girl, Hachette UK, →ISBN:

(UK, Ireland, journalism) A tabloid newspaper, particularly one of those considered to have lower journalistic standards than the broadsheets.


scut

Uncertain, possibly a variant of scout (“(obsolete except Scotland) contemptible person”), possibly related to scout (“to reject with contempt; to scoff”), from a North Germanic language; compare Old Norse skúta, skúte (“a taunt”), probably from Proto-Germanic *skeutaną (“to shoot”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)kewd- (“to shoot; to throw”). Compare Old Norse skútyrði, skotyrði (“abusive language”).

cog

"I'll have no more of it. I'll have no more Dinny Ryans handlin' flesh and blood of my gettin'. Ye'd see me dyin' for a sup of drink to give me peace, and you philanderin' and danderin' with yon scut of a fellow, and worse doin's behind that, if the truth is told."

1938, Norman Lindsay, Age of Consent, 1st Australian edition, Sydney, N.S.W.: Ure Smith, published 1962, →OCLC, page 195:

She didn't need a new dress! Me money! Me hard earned three hundred that I scraped and scrimped for. Me scut of a daughter puttin' it on her back in finery.

1947, Paul Vincent Carroll, The Wise Have Not Spoken: A Drama in Three Acts (French’s Acting Edition; no. 308), London: French, →OCLC; republished New York, N.Y.: Dramatists Play Service, 1954, →OCLC, Act III, scene i, page 49:

I dreamt that Ruairi Quinn was smokin' marijuana in the Dail. Barry Desmond handing Frenchies out to scuts in Fianna Fail.

1985, “Delerium Tremens” (track 2), in Ordinary Man, performed by Christy Moore:

CHRIS. Danny Bradley is a scut, Rose. / ROSE. I never said it was Danny Bradley! / CHRIS. He's a married man with three young children.

1993, Brian Friel, Dancing at Lughnasa, New York, N.Y.: Dramatists Play Service, →ISBN, act I, page 14:

Ruth had snapped open her purse and pulled out a small gun. I grabbed her arm and yanked her into the car; she squawked and her shot went wide. [...] "You scut," she said as we hit the entrance ramp of the interstate. "You're a scut-pumping Conservative. You made me miss."

1997, John Kessel, “The Pure Product”, in The Pure Product: Stories (Tom Doherty Associates Book), New York, N.Y.: Tor Books, →ISBN; republished in Harry Turtledove, with Martin H[arry] Greenberg, editors, The Best Time Travel Stories of the 20th Century, New York, N.Y.: Del Rey Books, Ballantine Books, 2005, →ISBN, page 322:

Fat-headed scut. That's what he is, scut. Thinks he runs the whole river.

2005, Dean Whitlock, chapter 12, in Sky Carver, New York, N.Y.: Clarion Books, Houghton Mifflin Company, →ISBN, page 108:

(chiefly Ireland, colloquial) A contemptible person.


come-hither

come-hithers (plural)
come hither (alternative)

(Ireland) A persuasive attitude; a binding spell


squizz

From British dialectal (Cornwall) squiz (“to look, examine critically”). Perhaps a blend of squint + quiz (“to peer at, eye suspiciously”).

blend

The building itself is worth a squizz; its modern metal forms and structures evoke maritime themes.

2002, Chris Rowthorn, Alex Landragin, Kate Daly, Victoria, Lonely Planet, page 297:

“That lot heard about the place and came in here on their way to an Antarctic research station. But mostly, it′s just curious folks that drop by for a squizz—like you, for instance.”

2009, William Efford, Picaroon, page 77:

“I'll get you to have a look at the paper work and just have a squizz through some patient′s case notes, so you get an idea of how we document our daily nursing units of care.[…]”

2012, Annette Evalyn Swain, Suicide Angels and the Silent Terrorists: A Story About Bullying, iUniverse, page 82:

I think it would be a good idea to have a squizz at Toowoomba′s place.

(West Country, Commonwealth, Ireland, colloquial) A look.


squizz

en-verb

squizz (third-person singular simple present squizzes, present participle squizzing, simple past and past participle squizzed)

squizzes (present singular third-person)
squizzing (participle present)
squizzed (participle past)
squizzed (past)
squiz (alternative)

“That′s just according to how you bring them up, Jane,” Betsy replied ; “if they′d had porridge from the first, they′d have eaten it fast enough ; and it isn′t good to allow children to be squizzing (looking) into their food and picking it over.”

1885, Emily Cruwys Sharland, Ways and means in a Devonshire village, a book for mothers′ meetings, page 19:

He liked to see them laughing, enjoying themselves, squizzing at the antics of whitefellers in party mood.

1998, Patricia Shaw, A Cross of Stars, published 2011, unnumbered page:

1999, Lindsay Charman-Love, Top Hat and Taiaha, Huia Short Stories 3, Huia Publishers, New Zealand, page 44,
Others were off at the shops getting ice blocks or squizzing at the boats down at the wharf.

2010, Linzy Harris, Perdita, Paragon Publishing, UK, page 79,
She presented me with a bag, and when I squizzed inside I saw it contained five boxes of cigarettes.

(West Country, Commonwealth, Ireland, colloquial, usually with "at") To look, to examine.


fuck-knuckle

fuck-knuckles (plural)
fuckknuckle (alternative)
fuck knuckle (alternative)
fucknuckle (alternative misconstruction)

That little fuck-knuckle is into me for eighteen dimes, plus interest

1986 June 12, Richard Martins, The Cinch, Random House Publishing Group, page 95:

Typical septic. Can't understand why the rest of the world thinks he's a fuck-knuckle.

1998 April 21, Justin Downey, “Re: rachel is awful cute!”, alt.nuke.the.USA, aus.flame.usa, and alt.flame

“Cool your jets, fuck-knuckle. I've been getting an anus beating all day and I'm preparing for a federal raping tomorrow because of you two freaks...”

2002 January, Michael Cordoni, Peaches & Snitches: A Novel, Writers Club Press, page 136:

‘Right fuck-knuckle, get into those dixies over there,’ ordered the crazy-eyed shit posing as a cook, but more closely resembling a human hog.

2002 April, Terry O’Farrell, Behind Enemy Lines: An Australian SAS soldier in Vietnam (Allen & Unwin Proprietary), page 12

(slang, vulgar, humorous, UK, Ireland, Commonwealth) A term of abuse.


fuckknuckle

The "knife" you are longing for is your own Crow. You post with sincereity, desperation, and you post like a fuckknuckle. (I know.)

1997 July 1, Peter “E. Varden” Shore, “Re: Replacements”, in alt.bitterness (Usenet):

1998 July 31, Thomas K. Javoroski, “Re: To all fans of Gygax...”, rec.games.frp.advocacy, rec.games.frp.dnd, and rec.games.frp.misc, Usenet
He's trying to entertain, not teach, you insufferable fuckknuckle!

So tell me, oh ignorant, unemployable fuckknuckle how many men and boys have to give sworn testimony before you believe that Wacko is a child molesting criminal?

2005 April 5, John Lucas, “question for the Jackson fans”, in alt.music.michael-jackson (Usenet):

(slang, vulgar, humorous, Commonwealth, UK, Ireland) Alternative form of fuck-knuckle.


fuck knuckle

You fuck knuckles showed that you couldn't play fair, and because you couldn't play fair, now you've got to play by Beaudreau's Rules.

1998 September 2, Randy Beaudreau, “This board is Beaudreau's House now”, in alt.tv.comedy-central (Usenet):

2004 December 3, William J. Wolfe, “Re: PETA Campaign Pitches Fish As Smart”, aus.politics, alt.politics.british, alt.politics.communism, alt.politics.democrats, and alt.politics.economics, Usenet
That's right, fuck knuckle, you can't prove that fish feel pain, neither can anybody else.

2006 May 25, Colin Kynoch, “aus.sport.aussie-rules”, Re: Bumblers Fined for cheating and runner booted for 2 weeks, Usenet
And can you point to any Essendon supporter who has defended Dimma?
Didn't think so you deluded fuck knuckle.

He still wondered who the fuck knuckle was who made them do that and who purchased the stupid fucking things.

2006 June 30, Kerry Plowright, Vostock Station - Point of Impact, Trafford Publishing:

(vulgar, slang, humorous, Commonwealth, UK, Ireland) Alternative form of fuck-knuckle.


maneen

I was standing at the end of the South Terrace one day with some maneens like myself and sure we thought we were grand fellows because we had pipes stuck in the corners of our mouths.

1916 December 29, James Joyce, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, New York, N.Y.: B[enjamin] W. Huebsch, →OCLC:


Corkonian

To the sellers in the market, to the barmen and barmaids, to the beggars who importuned him for a lob Mr Dedalus told the same tale, that he was an old Corkonian, that he had been trying for thirty years to get rid of his Cork accent up in Dublin and that Peter Pickakafax beside him was his eldest son but that he was only a Dublin jackeen.


bleeder

His brother caught three hundred cran when the seas were lavish, / Threw the bleeders back in the sea and went upon the parish.

‘Well, what did the old bleeder say?’ said Opus Fluke.

1950, Mervyn Peake, chapter 36, in Gormenghast, London: Eyre & Spottiswoode:

(UK, Ireland, Commonwealth, slang, derogatory) A troublesome fellow or thing; a blighter.


gillie

gillies (plural)
ghillie (alternative)
gilly (alternative)

From Scottish Gaelic gille (“helper”), from Middle Irish gilla (“youth, young man; boy, male child; messenger, page, servant”), possibly borrowed from Old Norse gildr (“brawny, stout; of full worth”). Compare Irish giolla (“boy”).

der

Every deerstalker will bear witness to the eagerness of Highlanders in pursuit of their old favourite game, the dun deer; the mountaineer shews what he is when his eye kindles and his nostril dilates at the sight of a noble stag; when the gillie forgets his master in his keenness, and the southern lags behind; when it is "bellows to mend" and London dinners are remembered with regret.

1860, “Introduction. The Fairy-egg, and What Came Out of It.”, in J[ohn] F[rancis] Campbell, editor, Popular Tales of the West Highlands: Orally Collected wih a Translation, volume I, Edinburgh: Edmondston and Douglas, →OCLC, page lxxxviii:

When dinner should be over, supper was to follow with scarcely any interval to speak of; and to partake of this other guests should be bidden—Svengali and Gecko, and perhaps one or two more. No ladies! For, as the unsusceptible Laird expressed it, in the language of a gillie he had once met at a servants' dance in a Highland country house, "Them wimmen spiles the ball!"

1894 March, George du Maurier, “Trilby”, in Harper’s New Monthly Magazine, volume LXXXVIII, number DXXVI, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, publishers, 325 to 337 Pearl Street, Franklin Square, →OCLC, part third, page 584, column 2:

[T]hough the fish run small, as indeed they all do in these small rivers, the strength of the water and the broken ground along the banks must make playing them an exciting business. Over twenty have been killed by one rod in a single day, and I should say that in most seasons some lucky man gets a bag of ten. But of course this sort of thing has to be paid for. Ten shillings a day is the charge for the river, and in addition to that there is your gillie.

1899, Stephen [Lucius] Gwynn, “Fishing and Golf in Donegal”, in Highways and Byways in Donegal and Antrim, London: Macmillan and Co., Limited; New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company, →OCLC, pages 299–300:

Courage and coolness are great qualities in a gillie, and you do not really know your man till you have been with him in a storm. […] Most gillies have cool heads and hearts of oak. They must have these qualities; to be cool and courageous is part of their job.

1994, Jeremy Paxman, Fish, Fishing and the Meaning of Life, London: Michael Joseph, →ISBN:

[H]e said, "I hae the day off tomorrow. I'll take ye out on the Anstey if ye want." This met with Patricia's ideas of what was right or fitting. Fishing on a Scottish river with a policeman as ghillie was socially acceptable to her mind.

1998, M. C. Beaton [pseudonym; Marion Chesney], chapter 1, in Death of a Scriptwriter (A Hamish Macbeth Mystery), New York, N.Y.: Mysterious Press, →ISBN:

Before we knew it, we were on a Fokker, twin engine, jet aircraft out of Copenhagen bound for Stavenger, Bergen and Trondheim, Norway, where we rested up for two days before boarding a four passenger float plane in the tiny Village of Hell. The Land Rover manned by our gilly (guide) waited where the A-Elv River joined the sea at the head of the fjord.

2010, John W. Stevens, “Atlantic Salmon from Hell and Back”, in Memorable Fish and Fishermen, [Bloomington, Ind.]: Xlibris, →ISBN:

(British, Ireland, Scotland) A fishing and hunting guide; a man or boy who attends to a person who is fishing or hunting, especially in Scotland.


Lord Mayor

en-noun

Lord Mayor (plural Lord Mayors or Lords Mayor)

Lord Mayors (plural)
Lords Mayor (plural)

(UK, Ireland and some Commonwealth countries) The holder of a ceremonial post on a local council (distinct from the council leader who may be addressed as mayor).


fair play

[S]he consolidated her position by purchasing the kennels, doing them up regardless of expense and buying two new horses, and, fair play to her, fair play, as they say in Wales, ...

1964, Charles Norman De Courcy-Parry, Here lies my story, page 248:

"Fair play to Jean, he has made it work for him."

1990 July 1, Joe Saward, quoting Martin Donnelly, “Interview: Martin Donnelly”, in The Business of Motorsport Newsletter, archived from the original on 2017-10-16:

The Gaelic Athletic Association, fair play to them, want absolutely nothing to do whatsoever with that thingumajig football tournament in America.

1994 June 21, Liam Hayes, “GAA's holding its own now, but could lose in the end”, in Irish Voice, archived from the original on 2016-04-21:

I wasn't expecting much of Ms Dynamite at the start of the night, but fair play to her, she's got a great voice on her.

2002 October 30, "Acquiesce", “Re: noel and chris at fair play gig”, in alt.music.oasis (Usenet):

Liam Watson: "Fair play to Southport, they were the best team on paper because they got the most points. We just want to prove we are as good as them".

2010 May 7, “Clayton sure buoyant Reds are up to the task of seeing off Fleetwood”, in Derby Evening Telegraph:

(colloquial, UK, Ireland) used to acknowledge or congratulate for something.


washing-up liquid

washing-up liquid (countable and uncountable, plural washing-up liquids)

I have to use a special washing-up liquid, because I have sensitive skin.

(UK, Ireland, Commonwealth) A form of liquid soap used to wash dishes by hand.


as Gaeilge

The President will speak as Gaeilge on the need for reform.


tetchy

en-adj

tetchy (comparative tetchier, superlative tetchiest)

tetchier (comparative)
tetchiest (superlative)
titchy (alternative)
techy (alternative)
techie (alternative)
teachy (alternative)
teachie (alternative)
teechy (alternative)
tetchie (alternative)
tecchy (alternative)
titchie (alternative)
tichy (alternative)
tertchy (alternative)
tatchy (alternative)
tachy (alternative)

Uncertain, first attested as teachie in the 1597 first quarto versions of Romeo and Juliet and Richard III. Perhaps coined by Shakespeare. Also variously derived from English tetch (“tantrum, fit of anger”); from Scots tache (“blotch, fault”); from Middle English tatch (“blemish”) &c. under influence from touchy, in turn derived from Old French tache, from proposed Vulgar Latin *tacca, from Gothic 𐍄𐌰𐌹𐌺𐌽𐍃 (taikns, “sign”), from proposed Proto-Indo-European *deyḱ-.

Nurce: ...But as I said, when it did tast the wormwood on the nipple of my dug, & felt it bitter, pretty foole to see it teachie and fall out with Dugge...

c. 1591–1595 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Romeo and Ivliet”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene iii]:

King. And came I not at last to comfort you?
Du. No by the holie roode thou knowst it well,
Thou camst on earth to make the earth my hell,
A greuous burthen was thy berth to me,
Techie and waiward was thy infancie,
Thy schoele-daies frightful, desperate, wild, and furious.

c. 1593 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedy of Richard the Third: […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene iv]:

Nurse: […]But as I said, when it did taste the worme-wood on the nipple of my dug, and felt it bitter, pretie foole, to see it teachie and fall out with the Dugge...

Our hart is so narrowly limited that (by euery little distaste) we are strangely altered, and being in this teasty tetchy way, presently we let flye foorth much vnseemelines.

1605, “Chapter 6”, in Anthony Munday, transl., The Dumbe Diuine Speaker, London: William Leake, translation of original by Giacomo Affinati d’Acuto Romano, page 58:

I warrant, sir, he is, as you say, a very precise acrimonious person—A tetchy repugnant kind of old gentleman.

1792, Thomas Holcroft, edited by J. Bragg, The Road to Ruin, Dublin, act 5, page 65:

They’re good boys, as I said afore; but they’re quick and tetchy—George, being the youngest, nat’rally is the tetchiest.

1887, Bret Harte, A Millionaire of Rough-and-Ready and Devil’s Ford, Devil’s Ford, page 238:

[…] the commonplace Communist simply loses his temper if you venture to doubt whether everything is being done in precisely the best and most intelligent way under the new régime. He is like a tetchy housewife who wants you to recognise that everything is in perfect order in the middle of an eviction.

1920, H. G. Wells, “Chapter 6”, in Russia in the Shadows:

(UK, Ireland, Commonwealth) Synonym of touchy: easily annoyed or irritated, peevish, testy, irascible; also (figurative) extremely sensitive, difficult to manage, use, or work.


holidayer

The Tippers were not natural holidayers.

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

(UK, Ireland, Commonwealth) Someone who is taking a holiday (recreational trip away from home).


holidaymaker

holidaymakers (plural)
holiday-maker (alternative)

The beaches were crowded with holidaymakers.

The Northern coastal districts of Kent, from Whitstable to Ramsgate, are one of the distressed areas of England. Their main industry – in fact almost the only one – is the summer holidaymakers, both day-trippers and fortnightly boarders. In these changing times, the habits of holidaymakers are altering also.

1959 April, P. Ransome-Wallis, “The Southern in Trouble on the Kent Coast”, in Trains Illustrated, London: Ian Allan Publishing, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 212:

"With the number of holidaymakers back on the rise, upgrading critical infrastructure like Gatwick Airport station is key to improving the passenger experience," said Rail Minister Wendy Morton.

2022 February 23, “Network News: New escalators at Gatwick Airport”, in RAIL, number 951, page 15:

(UK, Ireland, Commonwealth) someone who is on holiday


self-raising flour

en-noun

self-raising flour (usually uncountable, plural self-raising flours)

self-raising flours (plural)
self-rising flour (alternative)

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-self-raising flour.wav

(UK, Ireland, Commonwealth, cooking) A type of flour that contains an agent, such as baking powder, which makes baked goods expand and rise when cooked. Equivalent to American English "self-rising flour".

自發粉 /自发粉

a type of flour that contains an agent, such as baking powder, which makes baked goods expand and rise when cooked

önkelesztő / önmagától megkelő liszt (sütőporos)


skirting board

But these little tunnels, emerging into the open at Finchley Road (reached in 1879) were the start of something big. By the early twentieth century it would be possible to think of them as two mouseholes in the skirting board of a wall separating two great ballrooms.

2012, Andrew Martin, Underground Overground: A passenger's history of the Tube, Profile Books, →ISBN, page 51:

(UK, Ireland, Commonwealth, carpentry, interior decoration) A panel, normally made of wood, between the floor and the interior wall of a structure, or placed in a position that is subject to repeated knocks.


lookit

Nonstandard reanalysis of look at (that).

Ah lookit deputy, with all due respect to you, if you come in here and act like an ass that's exactly the label that you'll gain

2010 May 20, Miriam Lord, quoting Dick Roche, “As asses roar it's business as usual in the chamber”, in The Irish Times:

Lookit! I'm old enough now, I'll wear what I want!

2010 September 14, Rosemary MacCabe, “MTV VMAs mark two: the young guns”, in The Irish Times, archived from the original on 2015-06-13:

Paddy said yesterday morning: "Lookit he didn't murder anybody. He is not a bad lad."

2014 March 24, Paul Williams, Fionnan Sheahan, Sam Griffin, “Mum tells gardai how drunk TD sent lewd message to schoolgirl”, in Irish Independent:

(colloquial, informal, Canada, US, Ireland) look, listen; see here, pay attention; the thing is, to be honest


star jump

star jumps (plural)
starjump (alternative)

Referring to the star-like shape of the person jumping with limbs extended.

(UK, Ireland, Commonwealth) A form of exercise where one touches one's toes, then jumps up.


give off

en-verb

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

gives off (present singular third-person)
giving off (participle present)
gave off (past)
given off (participle past)

(intransitive, slang, Ireland) To fuss or whine.


totty

(UK, Ireland, slang) sexually attractive women considered collectively; usually connoting a connection with the upper class.

The mother screamed that Ali was a posh totty who held her nose up at ordinary folk with babies.

2005, Georgina Hunter-Jones, Peckham Diamonds, Fly Fizzi Publishing, →ISBN, page 19:

Some posh totty, who was more than a little bit of a babe, just walks up and makes Eddie pull her, against his will almost.

2006, Richard Taylor, Eddie Shore 4 Jo, Lulu Press, Inc., →ISBN, page 29:

The doctor attended a fancy dress ball dressed as Star Trek's Dr Spock but suddenly the costume split open and his phaser found its way into some totty.

2006, Tonto Greenberg, J Bannister, The Blue Book : V. 1, Banland Publishing Ltd, →ISBN, page 32:

(UK, Ireland, slang) an individual sexually attractive woman


lock-in

He was a lunatic drunk and started sing songs that lasted into the early hours of the morning and resulted in many weekend lock-ins in the village pub.

2009, Annette J. Dunlea, Always and Forever, page 53:

(UK, Ireland) An illegal but widely-tolerated invitation-only gathering in a British pub, after the end of licensing hours, to allow regular customers the opportunity to enjoy further drinking time.


Frenchie

I dreamt that Ruairi Quinn was smokin' marijuana in the Dail. Barry Desmond handing Frenchies out to scuts in Fianna Fail.

1985, “Delerium Tremens” (track 2), in Ordinary Man, performed by Christy Moore:

Gone are the terms we used in our youth the frenchies, frangers, rubbers, joes, french letters, gumboots, rubbers, johnnies, parachutes and plastic fantastics — these days they're just condoms.

2002 February 7, Janine Burgess, “Armour against pleasure?”, in The Timaru Herald:

The poster was designed by Aboriginal health workers in northern Queensland for use in remote Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities, where the slogan was sometimes modified to ‘Use Frenchies’ because the word ‘condom’ was not in common use.

2004, Paul Sendziuk, Learning to Trust: Australian Responses to AIDS:

(UK, Ireland, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, slang) A condom; abbreviated form of French letter.


oxtercog

oxtercog (third-person singular simple present oxtercogs, present participle oxtercogging, simple past and past participle oxtercogged)

oxtercogs (present singular third-person)
oxtercogging (participle present)
oxtercogged (participle past)
oxtercogged (past)

(UK, Ireland, rare, transitive) To carry (a person) by supporting them under the armpits


flypast

An impromptu flypast by the Red Arrows finished off the special event in style.

2021 September 22, “News in pictures: Red Arrows add to gala success”, in RAIL, number 940, page 29:

(UK, Ireland) A low-level flight of a ceremonial nature; a flyover (US)


flyover

flyovers (plural)
fly-over (alternative)

They form part of the vast electrification and reconstruction schemes which have been in hand for a number of years at Liverpool Street, and in suburban Essex, and include the rearrangement of tracks, of which the Ilford flyover forms part; the modern signal boxes, now needed only at key points; the electric control or sub-stations; and a large electric car shed.

1951 January, R. A. H. Weight, “A Railway Recorder in Essex and Hertfordshire”, in Railway Magazine, page 44:

As our train to Paris dashed through the labyrynthine flyovers at Porchefontaine, barely a mile from Versailles, the 75 m.p.h. limit was already almost attained.

1961 November, H. G. Ellison, P. G. Barlow, “Journey through France: Part One”, in Trains Illustrated, page 670:

The sales of toy motor-cars were enormous, and not only are there cars, there are all the accessories to go with them. In 1960 there were road sections with flyovers and banked corners on which sports and saloons could whizz along at a speed of 250 m.p.h, which apparently was a real speed of from six to seven miles per hour.

1971, Gwen White, Antique Toys And Their Background, page 89:

(UK, Ireland, Commonwealth, Philippines) A road or railway that passes over another, allowing routes to cross without interruption.


bag for life

(British, Ireland) A reusable shopping bag, especially one that the retailer commits to replacing when it wears out.


swings and roundabouts

If, in order to save money, you never buy a parking ticket, you are more likely to get fined, so it's all swings and roundabouts really.

Whether we pick up Mary first and then John or John first and then Mary is a matter of swings and roundabouts.

(UK, Ireland, Australia) Gains and losses that offset each other.

what you gain on the swings you lose on the roundabouts

what you lose on the swings you gain on the roundabouts


flatland

Back then, at eighteen, in her humble bed-sit, in Dublin's 'flatland', she was lonely.

2005, Esme Conway, Into Angels, page 18:

(Ireland, colloquial) An urban region with many flats or apartments to rent.


stim

Likely related to Scots stime; both perhaps from Old English scima (“shine”).

That boy hasn't a stim of common sense.

(rare, Ireland, chiefly in the negative) A whit or jot; the least amount.


blues and twos

Originally 1960s police slang, from the blue colour of the lights and the two-tone sound of the siren. Publicised by Blues and Twos, a documentary series broadcast on ITV from 1993.

Five minutes later, Bella, efficient as ever, radioed him back with an address near Hove station, about ten minutes drive away, going soberly, or ninety seconds with the blues and twos on.

2006, Peter James, Looking Good Dead, New York: Pan, →ISBN, page 142:

The new directive says risks associated with the use of so-called ‘blues and twos’ by coastguard vehicles “need to be mitigated”.

2019 February 20, MacDara Conroy, “No More Blue Lights & Sirens For Irish Coast Guard Road Vehicles Under New Directive”, in Afloat.ie:

“The hospital rang home and said somebody needs to get here quickly,” Coffey told the paper. “So my mum, who must have been in her eighties by then, came up and we did the flashing blues and twos down to King’s [College hospital] and I was operated on that night.”

2023 December 2, Hayden Vernon, “Thérèse Coffey says she ‘came close to dying’ from brain abscess”, in The Guardian, London:

(chiefly UK, Ireland, informal) The flashing lights and loud siren of an emergency vehicle.


blues and twos

He glanced at his watch. “Blues and twos,” he said. “I want to get there before the train.” [...] They pulled out of the forecourt at the rear of the police office and drove straight across into Vauxhall Bridge Road, ignoring the one-way circuit, their siren and blue light carving a priority passage through the afternoon traffic.

1990, Graham Ison, A Damned Serious Business, Ulverscroft Large Print, →ISBN, pages 351-352:

If Mondo was alive, he'd be long gone, the ambulance hurtling blues and twos to the nearest hospital.

2003, Val McDermid, The Distant Echo, HarperCollins, →ISBN, page 304:

(chiefly UK, Ireland, informal) [of an emergency vehicle] with the blues and twos switched on


fluted

en-adj

fluted (comparative more fluted, superlative most fluted)

more fluted (comparative)
most fluted (superlative)


Orangey

It comes from the identification that Protestants have in Northern Ireland as supporters of the memory of King William III, "Prince of Orange", the color is often identified with the fraternal Protestant Orange Order.

(slang, Ireland, sometimes derogatory) A Protestant, especially one that is a member of the Protestant unionist community of Northern Ireland.

(slang, Ireland, sometimes derogatory) Any one from the Protestant, Unionist and pro-British community, whether they are members of the Orange Order or not (as termed by Irish Nationalists and Catholics).


earwigging

(British, Ireland, colloquial, dated) A telling-off or reprimand.


squidgy

squidgy (comparative squidgier, superlative squidgiest)

squidgier (comparative)
squidgiest (superlative)

He was one of those dangerous people who are soft, squidgy and cowlike provided they have what they want. And because he had always had what he wanted, and had seemed easily pleased with it, it had never occurred to anybody that he was anything other than soft, squidgy and cowlike.

1987, Douglas Adams, Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency, Simon & Schuster, page 102:

It consists of two layers of ground cashew nuts, mixed with breadcrumbs, onions, nutmeg and vegetable stock, and separated by a vibrant green herb stuffing, the main ingredient of which is also bread. Although surprisingly moist, thanks to the stock (indeed, the contrast between the crisp exterior and the squidgy middle is horribly moreish), the combination of parsley, garlic and breadcrumbs reminds me of a very fancy loaf of garlic bread – and all but overpowers the sweet flavour of the cashews.

2011 December 15, Felicity Cloake, “How to cook the perfect nut roast”, in Guardian:

(UK, Ireland, Commonwealth, informal) Moist and pliant; soggy.


slowcoach

Hey, you slowcoaches at the back! Get a move on!

They were both very quiet, respectable people; one of them paid the bill and went out; the other, who seemed a slower coach altogether, was some minutes longer getting his things together.

1911, Chesterton, The Innocence of Father Brown, The Blue Cross

(informal, UK, Ireland) A person, especially a child, who moves slowly.

(informal, UK, Ireland) A person who is slow on the uptake; one who does not comprehend new ideas quickly.


JCB

From the initials of the company founder, Joseph Cyril Bamford.

(UK, Commonwealth, Ireland) An earthmoving machine made by the J. C. Bamford (JCB) company.


green diesel

(British, Ireland) Diesel fuel that has been dyed green to indicate that it is only permitted to be used off-road due to lower road taxes.


NDP

National Development Plan
w:National Development Plan

(Ireland, historical) Initialism of National Development Plan


clingfilm

en-noun

clingfilm (countable and uncountable, plural clingfilms)

clingfilms (plural)
cling film (alternative)

(UK, Ireland) Light, transparent plastic film used as a wrapping for food etc.


building society

building society (plural building societies)

(UK, Ireland, Commonwealth, banking) A type of financial institution which traditionally was based on lending money (as mortgages) to society members to buy houses, from other members' pooled savings and/or money borrowed wholesale.

住宅金融組合

じゅうたくきんゆうくみあい


carriageway

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

(UK, Ireland, Hong Kong) The part of a road that carries traffic.

(UK, Ireland, Hong Kong) One side of a dual carriageway that carries traffic in a single direction.


bothy

bothies (plural)
boothie (alternative)
boothy (alternative)
bothie (alternative)

But civilization had changed that completely. Not one criminal in a thousand now fled to the Highlands or to Wales for refuge. A man demanded the means of food and shelter in his retreat nowadays, and a deserted bothy or a cave on the hillside was out of date.

1929, Josephine Tey, The Man in the Queue, The Macmillan Company:

Often Neil sat in their bothy on winter nights and told Calum about seas he had never seen.

1955, Robin Jenkins, The Cone-Gatherers, Canongate, published 2012, page 106:

Then, in the evening of the second day after I had climbed from the pupil of the right eye, I came upon a shepherd's bothy, a sort of beehive of stone, and found in it a cooking pot and a quantity of ground corn.

1982, Gene Wolfe, chapter XXVII, in The Sword of the Lictor (The Book of the New Sun; 3), New York: Timescape, →ISBN, page 200:

The Bog Creeper came out her wee bothy so I stood on the toilet seat and Lanna whipped her skirt down to her boots and sat.

1995, Alan Warner, Morvern Callar, Vintage, published 2015, page 12:

(Scotland, Ireland, Northumberland) A small cottage, especially one for communal use in remote areas by labourers or farmhands, or as a mountain shelter.

Schutzhütte

a small cottage, especially one for communal use in remote areas by labourers or farmhands


number plate

Japanese: ナンバープレート (nanbāpurēto)

(UK, Ireland, Commonwealth) Either of a pair of rectangular metal plates bearing an alphanumeric code, fixed to the front and rear of a motor car to show its identity as registered with the DVLA.


sodding

Open the sodding door!

(UK, Ireland, Commonwealth, mildly vulgar) An intensifier.