lough

Borrowed from Irish loch (from Old Irish loch), from Proto-Celtic *loku (“lake, pool”), from Proto-Indo-European *lókus (“pond, pool”). Doublet of lay, loch, and Looe.

der

Outside, a freezing wind whips across Belfast lough […].

2009 January 26, Henry McDonald, “It's got fancy flats, a hotel. Even a bank. But can the Titanic Quarter stay afloat?”, in The Guardian:

A study showing that the temperature of the lough’s water has risen 1C since 1995, however, suggests that climate change and clearer waters as a result of an invasive zebra mussel species may also be contributing factors.

2023 August 23, Tommy Greene, “Lough Neagh ‘dying in plain sight’ due to vast algal blooms”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:

(Ireland) A lake or long, narrow inlet, especially in Ireland.


knacked

en-adj

knacked (comparative more knacked, superlative most knacked)

more knacked (comparative)
most knacked (superlative)

Bert walked in. 'I'm knacked,' he said as he sat down on the end of the bed.'

2001, D. T. Blakeley, At the Precipice of Poverty: A Croydon Chronicle, page 198:

'Sorry, love, I just put her to bed. She was knacked.'

2010, Karen Campbell, The Twilight Time:

(UK, Ireland, slang) Very tired; knackered.


half-arsed

half-arsed (comparative more half-arsed, superlative most half-arsed)

more half-arsed (comparative)
most half-arsed (superlative)

(UK, Ireland, Commonwealth, slang, sometimes considered, vulgar) Alternative spelling of half-assed.


cor blimey

(UK, Ireland, Commonwealth) An exclamation of surprise.


gobsmackingly

en-adv

gobsmackingly (comparative more gobsmackingly, superlative most gobsmackingly)

more gobsmackingly (comparative)
most gobsmackingly (superlative)

1992, Mark Lewisohn, Root Into Europe, BBC Guide to Comedy
Astonishingly blunt, completely oblivious to the fact that his opinions and rudeness might be alien or offensive to others, and gobsmackingly ignorant of any other point of view.

The AAA company Millie’s suing is run by a crooked mogul played by Taika Watiti, doing a gobsmackingly awful caricature of modern tech-bro arrogance.

2021 August 6, A. A. Dowd, “The Ryan Reynolds action-comedy Free Guy is a Truman Show for the Fortnite age”, in The A.V. Club:

‘Gobsmackingly bananas’: scientists stunned by planet’s record September heat. [title]

2023 October 5, Damian Carrington, “‘Gobsmackingly bananas’: scientists stunned by planet’s record September heat”, in The Guardian:

(slang, UK, Ireland, Commonwealth) Astonishingly; amazingly.


wynd

From Middle English wynde, probably from wynden (“to wind, proceed, go”). Compare also Old English ġewind; Old Norse venda.

This was then used as the base for the cocks of hay, or wyndes as we called them. […] A piece of hay with its ends firmly embedded in the base of the wynde was wound around the hay twine and knotted with it. The ball of twine was then thrown across the wynde and tied at the other side in the same way, and this process was repeated crossways.

1988, Alice Taylor, To School Through the Fields: An Irish Country Childhood, Brandon Ltd, →ISBN, pages 80–81:


chinwag

chinwags (plural)
chin wag (alternative)
chin-wag (alternative)

/ˈt͡ʃɪnˌwæɡ/

Reg liked a chat about old times and we used to go and have a chinwag in the pub.

1963, Margery Allingham, “Foreword”, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC:

Every major network has at least one prime-time newsmagazine, which features extended coverage of gruesome crimes or amazing trials, intimate chinwags with the stars, and exposés of the horrors lurking in your own home, […]

2005, Laura Penny, Your Call Is Important to Us: The Truth about Bullshit, Toronto, Ont.: McClelland & Stewart, →ISBN, page 222:

Hundreds of Reading folk got together for coffee, cake and a good old fashioned chinwag during a national cancer charity's coffee morning fundraiser.

2008 September 29, “Raising a cup for Macmillan Cancer”, in Reading Evening Post, Reading, Berkshire: Surrey & Berkshire Media, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2008-10-03:

"I have a bone to pick with you and I can't possibly nap until we've had a jolly good chin-wag about it." / "Chin-wag?" / "A powwow. A council of war."

2014, [C.] Alan Bradley, The Dead in Their Vaulted Arches: A Flavia de Luce Novel, New York, N.Y.: Delacorte Press, →ISBN:

(UK, Ireland, Commonwealth, informal) An informal conversation, usually about everyday matters; a chat, a gossip.


chinwag

en-verb

chinwag (third-person singular simple present chinwags, present participle chinwagging, simple past and past participle chinwagged)

chinwags (present singular third-person)
chinwagging (participle present)
chinwagged (participle past)
chinwagged (past)
chin wag (alternative)
chin-wag (alternative)

/ˈt͡ʃɪnˌwæɡ/

I saw the pair of them chinwagging by the water-cooler.

We stamped around to get some circulation into our legs after a stint of three hours in the cold water, had a pull at a bottle of wine, and chinwagged with some of the other fishermen who were clambering out of their waders beside their parked cars.

1972 March, Keith Draper, “Big Trout are Suckers after Dark”, in Field & Stream, Los Angeles, Calif.: CBS Magazines, →OCLC, page 161:

[Trevor] Nunn gives the play [All's Well That Ends Well] more than a touch of [Anton] Chekhov; he gives it the great Slav physician's context: arrivals and departures and a country estate and house in which Helena is gentlewoman to the Countess Rossilion (Peggy Ashcroft) who has an old gnarled retainer, Lavache, the Clown (Geoffrey Hutchings), with whom she chinwags and at whom she affectionately rails.

1982, The Month, London: Simpkin, Marshall, & Co., →ISSN, →OCLC, page 317:

By the light of the big candles on stakes clusters of people were eating and drinking and chinwagging about the topics of the past four days.

1996, Ian Watson, Hard Questions, London: Gollancz, →ISBN:

(UK, Ireland, Commonwealth, informal) To chat, to gossip.


answerphone

answerphones (plural)
ansaphone (alternative)
ansafone (alternative)
answer phone (alternative)

I keep trying to call her, but all I get is the answerphone.

(British, Ireland, Commonwealth) A telephone containing a built-in device for recording incoming callers’ messages for later retrieval.


soakage

en-noun

soakage (countable and uncountable, plural soakages)

It's a place that does carvery as well during the day time if you want some soakage in between your mid-day or evening pints.

2019 March 10, Darragh Berry, “There's Only Two Pubs In Dublin That Sell Guinness For Under €4”, in Lovin' Dublin:

Any experienced drinker knows the importance of soakage. You never embark on a session with an empty stomach

2020 January 9, Fiona Cooney, “A Christmas Eve celebration which almost cost me my life”, in Irish Examiner:

(Ireland, informal) food or nonalcoholic beverages consumed before or during a bout of drinking to slow down the onset of drunkenness


Bloody Sunday

We eat and drink while tomorrow they die / Sunday, Bloody Sunday / The real battle just begun / Sunday, Bloody Sunday

1983, “Sunday Bloody Sunday”, in War, performed by U2:

(historical, British, Ireland) A 1972 event in Northern Ireland in which 14 civil rights protesters were shot and killed by a British Army regiment.


eneclann

(Ireland, historical) The honour price ascribed to an individual as a measure of his/her status, recorded in the early Irish Law tracts. It had to be paid for any major offence committed against an individual, e.g. murder, satire, serious injury, refusal of hospitality, theft, violation of protection, etc.


agri-food

agri-food (countable and uncountable, plural agri-foods)

agri-foods (plural)
agrifood (alternative)

/ˈæɡɹiˌfuːd/

The Liberal statement does draw attention to its potential future agenda, namely, fisheries, forestry, agri-food, and mining, all resource-based sectors.

1982, G. Bruce Doern, How Ottawa Spends Your Tax Dollars: National Policy and Economic Development, 1982, James Lorimer & Company, →ISBN, page 21:

2007, F. Scala, A. Raio, A. Zoina, and M. Lorito, "Biological Control of Fruit and Vegetable Diseases with Fungal and Bacterial Antagonists: Trichoderma and Agrobacterium", chapter 7 of S. B. Chincholkar and K. G. Mukerji (eds.), Biological Control of Plant Diseases, Haworth Press, →ISBN, page 177,
Sales of organic products have increased dramatically in recent years (for instance, in Europe), and organic farming is the fastest-growing sector of agriculture and an important point in the EU agri-food policy.

(chiefly Canada, also US and Ireland, Australia) The business of producing food agriculturally (as opposed to through hunting, fishing, gathering, and so on); food so produced.


poncy

en-adj

poncy (comparative poncier, superlative ponciest)

poncier (comparative)
ponciest (superlative)
poncey (alternative)

From ponce (“kept man; pimp; effeminate man; homosexual man”) + -y (suffix forming adjectives meaning ‘having the quality of’).

suffix

I mean, you could tell he was a Pom all right, but he was trying, he didn't sound so poncy any more, [...]

1988, Janette Turner Hospital, “On Bea-particles and the Relativity of Scone Making”, in Charades, St. Lucia, Qld.: University of Queensland Press, published 2003, →ISBN, part I (Charade), page 100:

And in his ponciest voice he said, 'I do most humbly apologise.'

1992, Liza Cody, chapter 8, in Bucket Nut, London: Chatto and Windus, →ISBN; paperback edition, London: Bloomsbury Publishing, 1997, →ISBN, page 32:

Get off my land. Don't come back without a search warrant and by God it had better be signed by someone in authority, not your poncy boss.

1996, Beverley Harper, Storms over Africa, Sydney, N.S.W.: Pan Macmillan Australia, →ISBN; republished Sydney, N.S.W.: Pan Macmillan Australia, 2008, →ISBN:

He even helps make eggs Benedict, his namesake. Well, he's called Benedict, Anna's slightly poncey choice, but no one's ever called him that.

1997, Jacqueline Wilson, “Four in the Family”, in Girls in Love, London: Doubleday, →ISBN; 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Delacorte Press, 2002, →ISBN:

We found a decent guesthouse to stay in and then went to a poncey restaurant for food (‘poncey’ meaning that meals and drinks for two cost 3 dollars instead of 2!)

2004, Warwick Allen, “Thailand (Part One)”, in Sweat, Lincoln, Neb.: iUniverse, →ISBN, page 42:

You could tell from his long hair, grungy clothes, the poncey novel an newspaper on his dashboard an Coldplay album playin in his car that he was a muthafuckin coconut. So white he was inside his brown skin, he probably talked like those gorafied desis who read the news on TV. Probably even more poncier than the way how I used to talk. An think. Probly.

2006, Gautam Malkani, chapter 2, in Londonstani, London: Fourth Estate, HarperCollins, →ISBN; republished New York, N.Y.: Penguin Books, 2007, →ISBN, pages 20–21:

I'm not a person who finds meditation a doddle or to whom yoga comes naturally. To tell you the truth, I find the whole business a bit poncey and contrary to the way I used to see myself.

2014, Russell Brand, “Is Everybody In?”, in Revolution, New York, N.Y.: Ballantine Books, →ISBN, page 39:

She also finds the “poncy” approach that dominates the modern restaurant trade utterly grating.

2023 July 15, Josh Noble, quoting Delia Smith, “‘Life is not a bowl of cherries’”, in FT Weekend, Life & Arts, page 3:

(chiefly British, Ireland, Commonwealth, derogatory, informal) Of, relating to, or (supposedly) characteristic of a ponce.

Intended to impress others, particularly in an excessively refined or ostentatious manner; affected, pretentious.

With sudden interest Morse turned up the volume [of the radio]: the voice was donnish, slightly effeminate. [...] 'Shert erp, you poncy twit!' he said aloud, got out of bed, pulled on his clothes, walked downstairs and dialled the speaking clock.

1976 April, Colin Dexter, chapter 38, in Last Seen Wearing, London: Pan Books, →ISBN; paperback edition, London: Pan Books, 2016, →ISBN:

It was Johannesburg's only regular gay bar in those days, and not even a proper bar. [...] Since apartheid was a way of life, only the ponciest of African queens, only the butchest of Indian dykes could appear—noncitizens acceptable, in this underworld that was deviant but uncourageous, so long as they were no more than bedding material.

1990, Dale Gunthorp, “Gypsophilia”, in Naomi Holoch, Joan Nestle, editors, The Vintage Book of International Lesbian Fiction, New York, N.Y.: Vintage Books, published 1999 (2010 printing), →ISBN, page 86:

After lunch, Her mother suddenly produced a poncy lace dress out of her bag and announced, 'This is the family christening dress, which you were christened in,' etc., etc. [...] Looking at it close to, I saw that it was even poncier than the other one.

1992, Simon Brett, How to Be a Little Sod, London: Victor Gollancz, →ISBN; republished London: Orion Books, Orion Publishing Group, 2011, →ISBN:

He wore a cream-colored linen suit of a cut and color designed expressly for garden parties, the kind of suit Tom would surely have called "poncy" had he seen it on another man.

2008, Galt Niederhoffer, The Romantics, New York, N.Y.: St. Martin’s Press, →ISBN:

None of the gallery staff took any notice of a gangly, stick-thin, nose-picking, acne-faced youth wearing a plastic imitation leather jacket, winkle-picker shoes and a greasy Mick Jagger hairstyle. We all looked like that in those days, except those poncey Mods.

2009, David Stedman, chapter 1, in That Terrible Shadowing: The Quest across Time for Caravaggio’s Killer, Kibworth Beauchamp, Leicester: Matador, →ISBN, page 1:

Fixing your hair is also something that needs to be done in private (unless it is literally a quick pat and fluff). There are some who will happily stand in front of the mirror (there is only one mirror, you see, none of this fancy mirror-above-every-sink malarkey) and style their hair with pout and pose included, but they are usually too popular to get abuse about how poncey and womanly they look.

2011, Tom Clempson, “Last Break Hanging Out”, in One Seriously Messed-up Week in the Otherwise Mundane and Uneventful Life of Sam Taylor Jack Samsonite, London: Atom, →ISBN:

Chiefly of a male person: effeminate; gay, homosexual.


moonlighter

(Ireland, historical) One of a gang who used violence, especially at night, to promote agrarianism in Ireland during the Land War of the late 19th century.


instil

en-verb

instil (third-person singular simple present instils, present participle instilling, simple past and past participle instilled)

instils (present singular third-person)
instilling (participle present)
instilled (participle past)
instilled (past)

her only real object in this call had been to instil a general uneasiness into Diva’s mind about the coal strike

1922, Edward Frederic Benson, Miss Mapp, page 70:

"If we do not instil public confidence in the system, I fear the public will lose confidence and even fewer people will travel by rail."

2020 October 21, “Network News: Labour reiterates demand for full public ownership”, in Rail, page 7:

Australia, Ireland, and UK standard spelling of instill.


sleiveen

sleiveens (plural)
sleeveen (alternative)
sleveen (alternative)

From Irish slíghbhín, slíbhín, with the same meaning; from sliabh (“mountain”) (hence the implication that the person is rural).

In trust he took John's lands; / Sleiveens were all his race

1889, WB Yeats, The Ballad of Father O'Hart:

You blackened, filthy sleeveen liar. I curse the living day I ever let you near me.

2002, Joseph O'Connor, Star of the Sea, Vintage, published 2003, page 298:

(Ireland, Newfoundland) A dishonest person; a trickster, usually from a rural area.


pencil crayon

You'll notice that all the illustrations are done in different media: some with pencil crayons, some with felts, some with paint, some with chalk pastels.

1989, Anne D. Forester, Margaret Reinhard, The Learners' Way, page 116:

(Canada, UK, Ireland) A coloured pencil.


flick knife

flick knives (plural)
flick-knife (alternative)

(British, Ireland) A type of knife which has the blade mounted on a pivot so that it can fold back sideways into the handle when not in use, but can flick out straight, usually with a spring-loaded mechanism, when required.


shake hands

Many a shake hands did I get from the neighbours’ sons, wishing me joy

1834, William Carleton, "Shane Fadh's Wedding", Traits and Stories of the Irish Peasantry, Volume 1, p.178 (W. F. Wakeman)

He exchanged greetings with his rival, but their shake-hands was rather a cold one, and each looked the other askance, as if distrust was in their hearts.

1909, Frederick Lawton, translation of Jules Verne, The Chase of the Golden Meteor, p.44 (London: Grant Richards)

It was the first time a Minister ever left the country without a ceremonial goodbye and a shake hands at the airport, with the tall hats being doffed.

1967 July 27, Jack McQuillan, Livestock Marts Bill, 1967: Second Stage (Resumed). Seanad Debates, Vol.63 No.12 p.4 col.928

I wasn’t sure if it was goodbye, but as soon as I saw Terry I knew it was the last time I was going to see him, and the shake hands was the last shake hands I’d ever have with him.

2015 February 1, Brian D'Arcy, quoted in Cork Examiner "Terry Wogan's friend Father Brian D'Arcy tells of their emotional final handshake"

(Ireland) an instance of shaking hands; a handshake


Tans

Intuitively, on Bloody Sunday, the Tans recognized where their trouble lay: the Irish were playing their own game once again.

1931, John Bowyer Bell, To Play the Game: An Analysis of Sport:

Close quarter fighting did not suit them. It does not suit the Essex or the Tans.

1948, Tom Barry, Guerilla^([sic]) Days in Ireland, published 1949:

The Dawn contains two problems for its male protagonists: namely, Ireland's fight against the British forces, the RIC, and the Tans, and the patriotic commitment of the Malone family's sons.

1995, Lance Pettitt, Screening Ireland: Film and Television Representation:

(Ireland, British) The Black and Tans, a British irregular army group operating against Irish republicans in the War of Independence 1920/21.


dosser

Illustrating the strength of feeling, some said Dorries was “never here and is as useful as a chocolate teapot”, while “Dosser Dorries” posters appeared in the area.

2023 October 20, “Labour takes Nadine Dorries’ former seat in Mid Bedfordshire byelection”, in The Guardian, UK:

(British, Ireland) Someone who dosses, someone known for avoiding work.


beef to the hoof

(Ireland, idiomatic, said of a woman) fat, chubby, particularly with fat legs.


Mossie

(Ireland) A diminutive of the male given name Maurice.


Ulster Irish

(Ireland) A dialect of the Irish language indigenous to Ulster.


Spy Wednesday

From the idea that Judas Iscariot was spying on Jesus before betraying him. The Middle Irish equivalent, Cédaín in Braith ["Wednesday of Betrayal" or "Spy Wednesday"], is attested in the 15th-century Leabhar Breac.

CATHEDRAL. Spy-Wednesday—Evening Office of Tenebrae, at 5½ o'clock.

1844 March 30, “Order of Service in Holy Week.”, in Bengal Catholic Herald, Vol.VI No.13 p.174:

On Spy Wednesday 1916 Thomas McDonagh gave B Company, 2nd Battalion, Irish Volunteers a pep talk.

1974 January 23, Seamus de Burca, "Peadar Kearney (1883–1942)" Dublin Historical Record (Old Dublin Society) Vol. 28, No. 2, pp. 42–56 : 49


tuppenny-ha'penny

From tuppenny + ha’penny, i.e. “worth 2½ (old) pence”.

You’d think he’d lost a Rolex rather than that tuppenny-ha’penny old watch of his.

(UK, Ireland, chiefly derogatory) Very cheap.


rubbish bin

(UK, Ireland, Commonwealth) garbage can, trash can.


in-tray

(British, Ireland) A desktop organizer; inbox, in-basket.


funfair

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

(UK, Ireland) A travelling amusement park.


wankered

en-adj

wankered (comparative more wankered, superlative most wankered)

more wankered (comparative)
most wankered (superlative)

(British, Ireland, Commonwealth, vulgar, slang) Very drunk.


take it up the arse

en-verb

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

takes it up the arse (present singular third-person)
taking it up the arse (participle present)
took it up the arse (past)
taken it up the arse (participle past)

take it up the ass
take it up the ass#English

(British, Ireland) Alternative form of take it up the ass.


on the trot

We played five gigs on the trot.

But they came up against an impressive force in Bayern, who extended their run to 10 wins on the trot, having scored 28 goals in the process and conceding none.

2011 September 27, Alistair Magowan, “Bayern Munich 2 - 0 Man City”, in BBC Sport:

(UK, Ireland, Commonwealth, idiomatic, informal) Successively, in succession; one after the other.

2001, 26 July, Liverpool Echo, "Man is jailed for '80s killing"
The former South London publican admitted at the Old Bailey that he "went on the trot" on Christmas Day, 1986 following a brawl at a party […]

It seemed the two POs were happy enough with the situation; if Cain went on the trot they would be in the clear with two grand each […]

(UK, Ireland, Commonwealth, slang) on the run; fleeing


belt of the crozier

(Ireland, colloquial) An admonishment or a condemnation from the clergy.


cess

For the first meaning below, the writings of Edmund Spenser, published 1633, point to a borrowing from Irish cís (“tax, tribute, cess, rent”), likely from Latin census.
Other senses: Uncertain. Occurs in print at least as early as 1831, when Samuel Lover used the expression as one already long-established. He unambiguously stated the derivation of cess in the malediction bad cess to be an abbreviation of success. The OED speculated that it either was from success or from assessment meaning a military or governmental exaction. The verb is attested in Middle English (cessen).

EUDOX[US] But what is that which you call Cess? it is a Word sure unused amongst us here; therefore (I pray you) expound the same. IREN[EUS] Cess is none other than that which you yourself called Imposition, but is in a kind unacquainted perhaps unto you; for there are Cesses of sundry sorts: one is the Cessing of Soldiers upon the Countrey; [...] Another kind of Cess is, the imposing of Provisions for the Governours Housekeeping, [...]

1595-1596, Edmund Spenser, A View of the State of Ireland as it was in the Reign of Queen Elizabeth:

The act provides for a levy of a cess on all coal and coke despatched from collieries in India, at such rate, not less than twenty-five paise and not more than fifty paise per ton, as may be fixed by the Central Government.

1967, G. R. Madan, Indian Social Problems, volume 2, →ISBN, page 225:

Therefore it was proposed to levy a cess on local authorities which are entrusted with the duty of supplying water under the law by or under which they are constituted and on certain specified industries.

2006, The Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974, Georg Thieme Verlag, page 76:

(British, Ireland) An assessed tax, duty, or levy; billeting.

"Bad cess may attend you, where are you scampering to, you rambunctious"—but she could go no farther; the tears burst from her, and she gave way, without farther resistance, to an explosion of grief.

1852 November, O’Hara Family, “Clough Fionn; or, The Stone of Destiny”, in The Dublin University Magazine, a Literary and Political Journal, volume XL, number CCXXXIX, Dublin: James McGlashan, […]; London: W[illia]m S[omerville] Orr and Company, →OCLC, chapter XI, page 557:

Midland has had good cess with using minute commercials eight television stations, cited as one example of modernizing its advertising.

1962, News for Farmer Cooperatives, Information Office, Farm Credit Administration:

It is good cess to feel the warmth and sincerity of this couple who fill the role of the Queen's representative in Canada.

Bad cess to it, b'ys! Where's the blessed ting, at all, at all? Bad cess to it!

2004, Kevin O'Malley, Inside, →ISBN, page 37:

(British, Ireland, informal) Usually preceded by good or (more commonly) bad: luck or success.


cess

cess (third-person singular simple present cesses, present participle cessing, simple past and past participle cessed)

cesses (present singular third-person)
cessing (participle present)
cessed (participle past)
cessed (past)

...according to the quantity thereof, we may cess the said rent and allowance issuing thereout.

1596, Edmund Spenser, A View of the Present State of Irelande:


Mexican wave

Popularised during the 1986 FIFA World Cup held in Mexico.

1995, Shane Cloude, An Introduction to Electromagnetic Wave Propagation & Antennas, Springer, 0-387-91501-X, pages 3–4,
This is an important idea and can best be illustrated by analogy with a Mexican wave. Although the Mexican wave seems to involve the coherent motion of a large number of people, it is clear to those who have been involved, that the “trigger” for an individual to react is entirely spatially and temporally local, i.e. the individual reacts at the appropriate time and space point simply by waiting until his or her neighbours react.

2001, John Morgan, Debrett’s New Guide to Etiquette and Modern Manners: The Indispensable Handbook, St. Martin's Press, →ISBN, page 127,
The usual signals for standing are: at the arrival of Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother; […]; and every time the Colour passes in front of you. The effect can sometimes be like a rather well-dressed Mexican wave.

2007, Scott Hamilton, An Analog Electronics Companion: Basic Circuit Design for Engineers and Scientists, Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, page 94,
A Mexican wave travels around a stadium very much more rapidly than a person could.

Now Australian cricket is reeling from its quadruple loss. Joining the hat trick of players exiting the game in 2007 – once-in-a-lifetime legend Shane Warne, Glenn McGrath and Damien Martyn – was the Mexican wave. Cricket Australia, which instituted the ban, acknowledged that it could be construed as ‘the fun police gone wrong’ but explained that it was the only way to stop people throwing things.

2009, Justine Vaisutis, Australia, Lonely Planet, page 47:

(UK, Ireland, Commonwealth) A phenomenon that primarily occurs at sports events, where the members of the crowd stand up and/or raise their hands in turn, creating the illusion of a wave passing through the crowd.


skinning

(Ireland, colloquial, regarding the weather) exceptionally cold


under the counter

en-adj

under the counter (comparative more under the counter, superlative most under the counter)

more under the counter (comparative)
most under the counter (superlative)
under-the-counter (alternative)

This morning he said he could not remember exactly where or how the invoice was written. It was used to cover up an under the counter payment from the sale of his land in Lucan.

2003 September 19, “Lawlor questioned at Planning probe”, in RTE News:

(British, Ireland, colloquial) In an underhand way, sneakily; unofficially, particularly with regard to payment or tax avoidance.


plug out

en-verb

plug out (third-person singular simple present plugs out, present participle plugging out, simple past and past participle plugged out)

plugs out (present singular third-person)
plugging out (participle present)
plugged out (participle past)
plugged out (past)

(Ireland, transitive, colloquial) To unplug; to remove (an electrical device) from its socket.


HSE

Health Service Executive
w:Health Service Executive

(Ireland) Initialism of Health Service Executive, the public healthcare system in Ireland.


LRC

Labour Relations Commission
w:Labour Relations Commission

(Ireland) Initialism of Labour Relations Commission.


Armalite and the ballot box

(Ireland, historical) An electoral strategy pursued by the Irish Republican movement in the 1980s and early 1990s, where elections in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland were contested by Sinn Féin, while the IRA continued military operations against the British Army and RUC.


stockist

I need a replacement cartridge but I can't find a stockist.

But of all the tunes, the one she loved the most, and almost managed to capture in its entirety, was a song she had seen performed live back in the late 1970s, when she had first travelled to Britain with the hope of finding stockists for her clothing.

2016, Laurence Fearnley, The Quiet Spectacular, →ISBN, page 263:

(UK, Ireland, Commonwealth) A retailer or distributor who has stocks of a certain type of item for sale.


guv'nor

“Now we have to get out of here before the fuzz start sniffing around. Fingers, get the Rolls resprayed and change the number plates in case they trace it.”
“Yes, guv’nor.”

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

(UK, Ireland) An informal form of address to a man; see guv. This version is especially likely to be applied to the owner of a business or the landlord of a public house.


safeguarding

en-noun

safeguarding (countable and uncountable, plural safeguardings)

We cannot have a culture that sees safeguarding as a separate add-on. It needs to be part of our DNA, as an expression of our love for one another and our commitment to the Gospel.

2022 October 10, Past Cases Review 2, National Safeguarding Steering Group of the Church of England, archived from the original on 2024-06-11, page 4:

(UK, Ireland, formal) Policies and actions for the protection of children and vulnerable adults.


like death warmed up

like death warmed over
like death warmed over#English

(British, Ireland, Australia) Alternative form of like death warmed over.


black bag

The road was full of black bags awaiting the arrival of the dustbin men.

(UK, Ireland) A black plastic sack produced for the disposal of household waste.


give a toss

en-verb

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

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

“Tiles ... tiles ... splashback,” he burbled, trying to make himself heard over the crunching of diazepam tablets. Boris shrugged, not bothering to talk in meaningful sentences or even attempting to conceal the fact that he didn’t really give a toss.

2019 November 18, John Crace, “Boris Johnson gets down to the business of getting business down”, in The Guardian:

(British, Ireland, Australia, slang, chiefly in the negative) To care.


Irish joke

(Ireland) Something illogical or silly that happened in Ireland.


industrial action

en-noun

industrial action (countable and uncountable, plural industrial actions)

Furthermore, overdue training of crew on the new Class 385 electrics, compounded by industrial action, meant that announcements of train cancellations "due to a member of the train crew being unavailable" became very familiar to passengers across east central Scotland.

2019 November 6, Robert Drysdale, “Wires offer boost to Borders revival”, in Rail, page 42:

The federation, set up in 1919 after police were banned from taking industrial action when strikes led to riots and looting, is a statutory body that provides legal support to its officers, as well as fighting their corner like a union would over pay, conditions and welfare.

2025 April 5, John Simpson, “Police Federation under fire for backing ‘unsackable’ rogue cops”, in The Observer:

(chiefly UK, Ireland, labour) A workplace protest by employees designed to inconvenience or disrupt the business of the employer.


meself

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

‘True, I haven’t introduced meself.’

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

(slang or dialectal, UK, Ireland, Australia) Alternative form of myself.


turlough

Naisi said that it was a turlough, or a disappearing lake, and that before the year's end, it would be full of water again.

2008, David Riley, A Celtic Tale, page 75:

How deep was that small lake—more a turlough really, filled with water in autumn and winter, a dry hollow in summer[…]

2011, Dermot Bolger, The Journey Home, page 108:

(Ireland) A temporary lake in an area of limestone, filled by rising groundwater during the rainy winter season.


come-all-you

come-all-yous (plural)
come-all-ye (alternative)

From the common occurrence in such songs of an exhortation beginning "come all you".

He slapped his thighs and whooped and catcalled, encouraging anyone who knew it to join in the ‘traditional come-all-you’!

2006, Patrick McCabe, Winterwood, Bloomsbury, published 2007, page 3:

(dialectal, British, Ireland) A traditional folk or country song.


gunner

Cebuano: gunner

gonna (non-rhotic, based on the /ˈɡʌn.ə/ pronunciation)

From Middle English gonner; equivalent to gun + -er.

Pagellus bogaraveo
Pagellus bogaraveo#Translingual

(UK, Ireland, dialect) The sea bream, especially Pagellus bogaraveo (blackspot sea bream)


jerry

We used chamber-pots a good deal – ‘jerries’ – cause of much hilarity doe to the hostilities.

1976, Angela Carter, “The Mother Lode”, in Shaking a Leg, Vintage, published 2013, page 3:


Bazza

From Barry (or any personal name starting Ba-) + -zza.

“Barry, you've been on the Coast too long. Tomorrow morning I'm going to organize a job for you elsewhere. I'd start packing if I were you.”
However, Bazza wasn't put off that easily.

(British, Ireland, Australia) A diminutive of the male given name Barry.

‘I′m standing at me own door, Bazza. Nothing illegal in that, is there?’
‘Do you want a lift, Basil?’ I asked him.

2001, Kerryn Higgs, All That False Instruction, page 181:

(British, Ireland, Australia) A diminutive of the male given name Basil.


ESB

Electricity Supply Board
w:Electricity Supply Board

(Ireland) Initialism of Electricity Supply Board.


top of the morning

A working-class phrase once popular throughout the British Isles, possibly in reference to cream rising in milk. It has been revived into popular consciousness, and is associated with Irishmen, by the film Darby O'Gill and the Little People (1959).

(Ireland, New England, idiomatic, archaic, sometimes humorous) A generic, cheerful greeting said to someone in the morning.

British Isles
Darby O'Gill and the Little People


sorra

sorra (countable and uncountable, plural sorras)


sorra

'Sorra a friend I have - sorra a friend, Masther Richard; and I did not spake to the priest this year or more, and I darn't go near him,' said the poor Palmerstown lass that was once so merry.

1863, Sheridan Le Fanu, The House by the Churchyard:

Sorra a bite she ates but she drinks the mixture with it.

1879, Chambers's Journal, volume 56, number 2, page 589:

(Scotland, Ireland, dialect) nary (a); no; not one


candidature

candidature (countable and uncountable, plural candidatures)

/ˈkændɪdət͡ʃʊɚ/

/ˈkændɪdət͡ʃɚ/

From French candidature, equivalent to candidate + -ure.

(Commonwealth, Ireland, UK) The condition of becoming a candidate; candidateship.


Nissen hut

Named after Canadian engineer Peter Norman Nissen (1871–1930).

named-after

A group of six men could erect a Nissen hut in just four hours. Its design could be easily modified for a range of uses such as hospitals, kitchens, drying rooms and bathhouses.

2015, James Campbell et al., editors, Studies in Construction History, →ISBN, page 244:

A row of original, large and life-expired MoD 'wriggly tin' Nissen huts close to the Rail Live entrance haven't simply been reskinned, they have been replaced with new, modern equivalents to the original design.

2023 May 31, Nigel Harris, “The Rail Live story...”, in RAIL, number 984, page 36:

(UK, Ireland) A prefabricated building, formerly used by the military, having a semicircular roof of corrugated iron.


ironmongery

en-noun

ironmongery (countable and uncountable, plural ironmongeries)

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

"He came in. He had a gun. He was crazy. You can see he was crazy; look what he did to Ricky. He thought Ricky was me. He wanted to steal my adjustables. Look."
Sonny smiled and tilted the steel case so Henry could look at the jumble of rusty ironmongery inside.

(dated, UK, Ireland, uncountable) Tools and other hardware that can be bought in an ironmonger's shop.

(UK, Ireland, uncountable) The trade of an ironmonger.

(UK, Ireland, countable) An ironmonger's shop.


do exactly what it says on the tin

en-verb

do<does,,did,done> exactly what it says<says,said,said> on the tin

do exactly what it says on the tin (third-person singular simple present does exactly what it says on the tin, present participle doing exactly what it said on the tin, simple past did exactly what it said on the tin, past participle done exactly what it said on the tin)

does exactly what it says on the tin (present singular third-person)
doing exactly what it said on the tin (participle present)
did exactly what it said on the tin (past)
done exactly what it said on the tin (participle past)

Based on the slogan from a series of UK television commercials for Ronseal (sealant products), beginning in the 1990s.

[The Erotic Art Museum] does exactly what it says on the tin: presents erotic art […]

2004, Andrea Schulte-Peevers, Germany, Lonely Planet,, →ISBN, page 689:

“That update is doing exactly what it says on the tin,” Jack started, demonstrating the date of birth restriction. It only returned the day and month now, holding back the year, causing some of Jack's regression tests to fail.

2013, Stephen J. Sweeney, Firmware, volume 1:

"Until we get a train that performs to specification, it's difficult to put a timeline on it. The train does not do what it says on the tin.

2022 January 26, Paul Clifton, “Network News: ... and Arterio woes could mean more cascades”, in RAIL, number 949, page 10:

The solutions to this crisis are clear. We must keep fossil fuels in the ground and deliver a clean, green and affordable energy system. We need publicly owned utilities to do what they say on the tin, rather than simply siphon off obscene profits to shareholders.

2022 August 12, Caroline Lucas, “As drought blights the UK, our politicians have their heads buried in the sand”, in The Guardian:

(idiomatic, British, Ireland) To do what is described or what one would expect, with no further explanation needed.


toe rag

Said to be from Tuareg, a nomadic North African tribesman, but may share same etymology as the UK definition: from the cloths worn around the foot.

(Ireland, slang, derogatory) An obnoxious or insignificant person.


sambo

Abbreviation of sandwich (pronounced "samwich") + excrescent -b- + -o (colloquializing suffix).


nicked

en-adj

nicked (comparative more nicked, superlative most nicked)

more nicked (comparative)
most nicked (superlative)

(UK, Ireland, Commonwealth, slang) Stolen.

Get yer trousers on, you're nicked.

1974, Ian Kennedy Martin, Regan, spoken by Jack Regan (John Thaw):

"Mr Punch," I said. "You're nicked."

2011, Ben Aaronovitch, Rivers of London, Gollancz, published 2011, page 324:

(UK, Ireland, Commonwealth, slang) Captured (by police); arrested.


slaggy

slaggy (comparative slaggier or more slaggy, superlative slaggiest or most slaggy)

slaggier (comparative)
more slaggy (comparative)
slaggiest (superlative)
most slaggy (superlative)

2005, Maria Beaumont, MissFit, Arrow Books, UK, page 175,
This evening I′ve been the cheapest, slaggiest slag ever.

(UK, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, derogatory) Resembling or characteristic of a slag; slutty, promiscuous.


slag off

en-verb

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

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

There’s pressure to be a brand. I’m even locked out of my social media because I just get drunk and slag people off.

2023 February 24, Michael Segalov, quoting Will Young, “Will Young: ‘I’m locked out of my social media because I get drunk and slag people off’”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:

(UK, Ireland, Commonwealth, slang, transitive) To talk insultingly to or about someone or something; usually one who is not present.

mollata

to talk insultingly to or about someone or something


dodgem

What better way to let off a little steam, than by zipping around on the dodgems, or flying high on the Cosmic Typhoon roller coaster?

2007 December 19, “Special Offer”, in North Devon Gazette, UK:

(UK, Ireland) A bumper car in an amusement park.


move house

move house (third-person singular simple present moves house, present participle moving house, simple past and past participle moved house)

moves house (present singular third-person)
moving house (participle present)
moved house (participle past)
moved house (past)

I haven’t had any post since I moved house.

(idiomatic, UK, Ireland) To change one's place of residence.


approved school

en-noun

approved school (plural approved schools)

youth detention center
youth detention center

(British, Ireland, historical) A former institution for the care and education of young offenders; a reformatory, reform school, youth detention center.


happy as a pig in shit

He's "happy as a pig in shit". "This is what I really enjoy, working with film-makers," he says.

1998 March 6, Nick Hasted, “Film: Will movies kill the soundtrack star?”, in Independent, UK, retrieved 2014-08-06:

And he pays generous tribute to Noble who, he says, actively encouraged him . . . to venture further into the classics with Romeo and Juliet, Othello and Henry IV. "Speaking purely as a director, I was happy as a pig in shit."

2002 January 12, Michael Billington, “Culture: ‘It's like being in love’”, in Guardian, UK, retrieved 2014-08-06:

"I am as happy as a pig in shit—you can quote me on that—doing what I'm doing at the moment."

2013 September 6, David Wroe, “Abbott adviser handed new paid role as envoy”, in The Age, Australia, retrieved 2014-08-06:

Beauty products are the one thing that I waste my money on. Give me a hundred bucks and plop me in the nearest Duane Reade, and I’m happy as a pig in shit.

2014 August 5, Megan Reynolds, “Tried & Tested: 10 Hippie Beauty Treatments”, in The Frisky, US, retrieved 2014-08-06:

(chiefly UK and Ireland, idiomatic, vulgar, simile) Extremely happy; obviously satisfied and carefree.

cieszy się, jakby mu kto w kieszeń nakakał


ropy

en-adj

ropy (comparative ropier or more ropy, superlative ropiest or most ropy)

ropier (comparative)
more ropy (comparative)
ropiest (superlative)
most ropy (superlative)
ropey (alternative)

From Scots roupy (“husky; hoarse”), from Scots roup (“hoarseness, huskiness, any inflamed condition of the throat”).

bor

The very poultry in the coop / Began to pine away and droop— / The cock was first to go; / And glad we were on all our parts, / He used to damp our very hearts / With such a ropy crow.

Although Britain’s migration figures are ropey, other data point in the same direction.

2012 September 8, “Emigration: On The Road”, in The Economist:

(UK, Ireland, colloquial) Of poor quality; in poor health.


gobstopper

gobstoppers (plural)
gob stopper (alternative)
gob-stopper (alternative)

“Everlasting Gobstoppers!”’ cried Mr. Wonka proudly. “They're completely new! I am inventing them for children who are given very little pocket money. You can put an Everlasting Gobstopper in your mouth and you can suck it and suck it and suck it and suck it and suck it and it will never get any smaller!”

1964, Roald Dahl, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, New York: A. A. Knopf, page 95:

Hence, gobstopper—something that stops the mouth. If you want to stop someone from prattling on, simply stuff a gobstopper in his or her mouth. The Everlasting Gobstopper, a jawbreaker that changes colors and flavors, was the brainchild of Roald Dahl in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory in 1964.

2014, Richard W. Hartel, AnnaKate Hartel, Candy Bites: The Science of Sweets, Springer, →ISBN, page 183:

(British, Ireland) A type of hard long-lasting candy, usually spherical in shape.


VN

VNs (plural)
V.N. (alternative)
V. N. (alternative)

But in addition, he adds to the tags of certain assistants the designation, “V.N.,” meaning veterinary nurse.

1963, American Veterinary Medical Association, Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association, volume 143, page 179:

Veterinary nurse applicants wanting to work for the Society have to follow the VN course (see Chapter One for details).

1999, Victoria Pybus, Working with Animals: The UK, Europe and Worldwide:

Alison Young joined a small animal practice in 1998 as a student veterinary nurse and whilst there gained her VN qualification.

2006, British Small Animal Veterinary Association, BSAVA Congress 2006: Scientific Proceedings, page 20:

(veterinary, UK, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa) Initialism of veterinary nurse.


jacket potato

The "jacket" is the tough outer skin formed by baking.


shed a tear

en-verb

shed a tear (third-person singular simple present sheds a tear, present participle shedding a tear, simple past and past participle shed a tear)

sheds a tear (present singular third-person)
shedding a tear (participle present)
shed a tear (participle past)
shed a tear (past)

Now, in coming down here, I journeyed part of the way with a jolly old cock, who shed a tear with me every time the coach stopped […]

1848, Thomas Frost, Paul the Poacher, page 118:

(UK, Ireland, slang, obsolete) To take a dram, or glass of spirits.


meat and two veg

(British, Ireland, colloquial) A stereotypical standard dinner, with a meat and two kinds of vegetable.


white paper

white papers (plural)
whitepaper (alternative)
white-paper (alternative)

→ Malay: kertas putih (calque)

→ Polish: biała księga (calque)

(British, Ireland, European Union, government, politics) A parliamentary document announcing or proposing a government policy or action.


Romanist

(historical, Ireland, derogatory) someone perceived to be in favor of Rome Rule in Ireland.


handball

en-noun

handball (countable and uncountable, plural handballs)

desc

→ Portuguese: andebol, handebol (Brazil)

sport involving bouncing a ball off a wall

(uncountable, US, Ireland) A sport in which players alternately strike the ball against a wall with their hand. Irish and American variants have slightly different rules.


ramps

(England, Scotland, Ireland) Alternative form of ramson.


blighter

From blight (something that impedes development or growth, or spoils any other aspect of life) + -er.

suffix

(UK, Ireland, Commonwealth, often disrespectful) A person, usually male, especially one who behaves in an objectionable or pitiable manner.


Batt

* As an English surname, a pet form of Bartholomew.
* Also as an English surname, possibly from Old English batt (“cudgel”); see modern bat.
* As a German surname, from a derivative of Medieval Latin beatus (“blessed”).

(Ireland) A diminutive of the male given name Bartholomew.


arsey

en-adj

arsey (comparative more arsey, superlative most arsey)

more arsey (comparative)
most arsey (superlative)
arsy (alternative)

First few months in, I was arsey as hell. Thought they were a right bunch of wankers.

2000, Peter Billingham, Sensing the City Through Television: Urban Identities in Fictional Drama, page 50:

"Oh, we had that singer in the other day and they were really arsey with us, and we only kept them waiting half an hour' - and I go, 'Hang on a minute, that's a long time and they've probably been doing lots of work that day and I think that it's actually justified for them to get annoyed.'"

2002 October 28, Simon Hattenstone, quoting Sophie Ellis-Bextor, “Sophie's world”, in The Guardian:

Work experience as an arsey teenager is pretty straightforward: disappear into the storeroom, smoke a few cigarettes, text your mates and watch the minute hand tick slowly by. If there's nowhere suitable to hide, all you need is a vacant computer and you can chat to your skiving associate in the building next door.

2007 April 30, Jon Bentham, “How to...... do work experience”, in The Guardian:

Maybe Hanna Frost, for all of her arsey mannerisms, really did know what she was doing.

2011, Lotte Daley, Faking It, Penguin, →ISBN:

(UK, Ireland, Commonwealth, slang) Unpleasant, especially in a sarcastic, grumpy or haughty manner.


tink

'Most have white eyes, which ain't natural in any beast, tame or wild, and they are considered unlucky - the tinks calls 'em moonpies, and most will avoid settling on farms where they are kept.

2000, David Brian Plummer, Merle: The Start of Dynasty, →ISBN, page 11:

Her family had a name that marked them out as tinks, only they weren't tinks anymore.

2014, Alastair Macleod, The Traveller's Tale, →ISBN:

'Well, you should feel right at home,' Flannigan said. 'You love a bit of thieving, you and the rest of the fucken tinks you grew up with in the Emerald Toilet.'

2015, Andrew O'Hagan, The Illuminations, →ISBN, page 47:

(chiefly British and Ireland, offensive) A member of the travelling community. A gypsy.


driving licence

en-noun

driving licence (plural driving licences)

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

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

(UK, Ireland) A driver's licence; an official identification document which states the recipient may drive a motorised vehicle.


piss artist

He pulled over to the roadside the policeman walked up to the door Goth had got the window wound down by now, all the copper said to him “get out the van Goth” he just fell out the van laughing, the policeman saying what’s funny Goth. He then said I am painter and decorator by trade and you said it get out the van Goth, Van Goth is a famous Dutch artist, so the policeman replied this you are a piss artist, he then said to Goth get the rear light sorted out, because next time I’ll charge you with a defective rear light.

2006, James T. Long, Knights of the Far East, page 144:

“Yeah, but I’m no drinker, I’m a drunk. A piss artist, a tosspot. I’m sloshed 24/7. Last week I had to use a rope to keep my trousers up, because I was trembling so hard each morning that I couldn’t be arsed with a belt.”

2014, T.M.Simmler, In Vino Veritas:Shaking Frenzy, page 73:

I despised people who got drunk, I referred to them as ‘piss artists, and I had nothing but contempt for them, nothing but contempt for these people, who fell around drunk, who were incoherent when they spoke.

2015, Mary Addenbrooke, Survivors of Addiction: Narratives of Recovery, page 77:

(Australia, British, Ireland, slang) Someone who is frequently drunk (pissed).


yank off

en-verb

yank off (third-person singular simple present yanks off, present participle yanking off, simple past and past participle yanked off)

yanks off (present singular third-person)
yanking off (participle present)
yanked off (participle past)
yanked off (past)

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

(UK, Ireland, vulgar) To jack off, to masturbate.


Six Counties

(Ireland, informal) The six Irish counties that form Northern Ireland.

na Sé Chontae

the six counties that comprise Northern Ireland


ODC

(Ireland, law enforcement, informal) Initialism of ordinary decent criminal (a prisoner not associated with terrorism).


glype

1896, William Handling, Grandmother's Death and Other Poems http://books.google.com/books?id=pqgtAAAAMAAJ, New Haven: George D. Bone, page 8,
Ye wee bit rakin' cheeky glypes, / Ye'll gang nae farther noo, / A jumpin' burns and six-fit dykes, / And rashes wadin' through.

Mr Lyttle is yet another glype who ignores everything of substance. Is it any wonder the AO is in such a mess when it relies on the likes of ye to be its apologists?

2000 October 12, panopticon1299, “Re: Justice”, in alt.religion.bahai (Usenet):

"Soozle" wan't acting the glype...

2002 July 13, Geoff Burns, “Re: the 11th night”, in alt.2eggs.sausage.beans.tomatoes.2toast.largetea.cheerslove (Usenet):

(Ireland, slang) A stupid and annoying person.


yit

(US, Ireland, colloquial) Alternative form of yet.


chip shop

chip shops (plural)
chip-shop (alternative)
chipshop (alternative)

(UK, Ireland) A fast food outlet which sells fish and chips.

asklotti

UK: a fast food outlet which sells fish and chips


alpeen

(Ireland) A thick, knotted club or shillelagh.


sort code

(banking, UK, Ireland) A code assigned to a specific branch of a bank.


scrumpy

en-noun

scrumpy (countable and uncountable, plural scrumpies)

(UK, Ireland) A rough cider, normally more alcoholic than usual, and typically produced through natural fermentation.


give a light

en-verb

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

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

I don't think I ever heard / A single little civil word from those guys / But you know I don't give a light

1976, Brian May, “Tie Your Mother Down”, in A Day at the Races, performed by Queen:

White man, white man / Don't you give a light / For the blood you've shed?

1976, Brian May, “White Man”, in A Day at the Races, performed by Queen:

(British, Ireland, idiomatic, slang) To care.


teacake

teacakes (plural)
tea-cake (alternative)

Barm brack, a raisin-studded teacake of gargantuan proportions, is the speciality of many an Irish matron. In the right hands, it is a divine thing. Ma's hands were not the right hands

2015 November 19, Claire Sandy, Snowed in for Christmas, Pan Macmillan, →ISBN, page 131:

One Halloween tradition that can also be brought into your St Patrick Day festivities is the Barmbrack (bairín breac) cake. Made with cold tea, whiskey and dried fruit, this traditional Celtic teacake has an extra edge of fun.

2021 February 25, Orange Hippo!, The Little Book of St Patrick's Day: A compendium of craic about Ireland's famous festival, Hachette UK, →ISBN, page 118:

(Ireland) A fruit cake similar to a barmbrack (but often without yeast) flavoured with tea, especially associated with Halloween.


register office

en-noun

register office (plural register offices)

(UK, Ireland) The local office in which births, marriages and deaths are registered, and in which civil marriages are conducted and recorded.

matrika

the local office in which births, marriages and deaths are registered, and in which civil marriages are conducted


telephone kiosk

telephone kiosk (plural telephone kiosks)


perspex

(UK, Ireland, Commonwealth) Any tough, transparent plastic that is used instead of glass for windows.


mean

en-verb

mean (third-person singular simple present means, present participle meaning, simple past and past participle meant)

means (present singular third-person)
meaning (participle present)
meant (participle past)
meant (past)

From Middle English menen (“to intend; remember; lament; comfort”), from Old English mǣnan (“to mean, complain”), Proto-West Germanic *mainijan, from Proto-Germanic *mainijaną (“to mean, think; complain”), from Proto-Indo-European *meyn- (“to think”), or perhaps from Proto-Indo-European *meyno-, extended form of Proto-Indo-European *mey-.
Germanic cognates include West Frisian miene (“to deem, think”) (Old Frisian mēna (“to signify”)), Dutch menen (“to believe, think, mean”) (Middle Dutch menen (“to think, intend”)), German meinen (“to think, mean, believe”), Old Saxon mēnian. Indo-European cognates include Old Irish mían (“wish, desire”) and Polish mienić (“to signify, believe”). Non-Indo-European cognates include Finnish mainita (“to mention”), Finnish meinata (“to mean, to plan, to intend”) Estonian mainima (“to mention”), Northern Sami máinnastit (“to tell”). Related to moan.

cog

Thanne morned Mede · and mened hire to the kynge / To haue space to speke · spede if she myȝte.

c. 1385, William Langland, Piers Plowman, section III:

They were forced to mean our estate to the Queen of England.

1560 (1677), Spottiswood Hist. Ch. Scot. iii. (1677), page 144

If you should die for me, sir knight, There's few for you will meane, [...]

1803, Sir Walter Scott, Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border, page 276:

All the tyme of his sickness he never said, "Alace!" or meaned any pain, whilk was marvellous. Never man died in greater peace of mind or body.

1845, Wodrow Society, Select Biographies:


twatted

en-adj

twatted (comparative more twatted, superlative most twatted)

more twatted (comparative)
most twatted (superlative)

(vulgar, slang, UK, Ireland, Commonwealth) Extremely drunk, intoxicated

What kind of a cold-hearted bitch does that, You stinky twatted sadistic whore.

2004, Shane Feldman, Burn: A Bipolar Memoir, page 114:

(vulgar, slang, UK, Ireland, Commonwealth, in combination) Having a particular sort of vagina or vulva.

(vulgar, slang, UK, Ireland, Commonwealth) Extremely or profoundly injured, usually as a result of deliberate action by another party.


twatfaced

twatfaced (comparative more twatfaced, superlative most twatfaced)

more twatfaced (comparative)
most twatfaced (superlative)

(UK, Ireland, slang, vulgar, idiomatic) fucked, pissed, drunk as a skunk


wodge

He paid a wodge of dosh for his new motor from the car dealership.

[…] if Eben comes to me with that there hankychy and slips a big wodge of hard Hamsterdam ’bacco and a square bottle o’ stuff as hasn’t paid dooty into my hands in the dark some night, what am I to do?

1900, George Manville Fenn, chapter 16, in The Lost Middy:

I lifted the lid off the second tureen and uncovered a wodge of macaroni, stone-cold and stuck together in a gluey paste.

1963, Sylvia Plath, chapter 14, in The Bell Jar, London: Faber & Faber, published 1971:

Bad food, bad drinks, no decent pubs, no laughter in public, and dodgy money-changers hissing that communism was shit and who then disappeared, leaving us with wodges of worthless notes.

2012, John Sweeney, ‘At War with Ceausescu’, Literary Review, number 399:

MAIRE MIRKIN (played by Brid Brennan):”Sit down please the both of you. You’ve intruded right into the middle of our nightcap, young man. I was just about to serve a toddy to Hector and myself. Can I fix you one?”. ARM (played by Cosmo Jarvis): A wha…? HECTOR: Do, dear, yeah. And, um (clicks tongue) cut us a few wodges of brack while you’re at it.

2020 January 6, Joe Murtagh, Colin Barrett, 01:18:44 from the start, in Calm With Horses (film), spoken by Hector (David Wilmott):

(chiefly UK, Ireland, colloquial) A bulk mass, usually of small items, particularly money; a wad


stop the lights

* Originated as a catchphrase on the Irish quiz show Quicksilver, where contestants called out "Stop the lights" when they did not know the answer, to prevent loss of prize money for the next questions.

Sure, stop the lights, I know all about it. There's a great shop in Phibsboro.Transformations' Any size you want.

Oh, stop the lights. The Priest is after parkin' across the street. I think he's comin' over here.

2003, Ronan Noone, The Lepers of Baile Baiste, page 57:

(Ireland, idiomatic) An interjection expressing exasperation or incredulity. or to illustrate the humour in a situation.


straight away

This item is urgent, so please start on it straight away.

(idiomatic, UK, Ireland, Commonwealth) Very soon; quickly; immediately.


spalpeen

A late 18th-century term, from Irish spailpín.

"And they stood you before the magistrates, like a spalpeen or a tinker." / "Sure the French wouldn't bring with them barrels of coppers for the spalpeens of Connaught. It is murder and bloodshed they would bring."

1979, Thomas Flanagan, The Year of the French, New York, N.Y.: The New York Review of Books:

The men were mainly evicted farmers from Connaught and West Cork, beggared spalpeens from Carlow and Waterford; a cooper, some farriers, a horse-knacker from Kerry; a couple of Galway fishermen who had managed to sell their nets.

2002, Joseph O’Conner, Star of the Sea, Vintage, published 2003, page 25:

(Ireland, ethnic slur) A poor migratory farm worker in Ireland, often viewed as a rascal or mischievous and cunning person.

[A] fortunate accident […] happened to me when I was a very little boy. A good-hearted old Irish nurse (whom I shall not forget in my will) took me up one day by the heels, when I was making more noise than was necessary, and, swinging me round two or three times, d——d my eyes for "a skreeking little spalpeen," and then knocked my head into a cocked hat against the bed-post. This, I say, decided my fate, and made my fortune.

1840 February, Edgar A[llan] Poe, “Peter Pendulum, the Business Man”, in William E[vans] Burton, Edgar Allan Poe, editors, Burton’s Gentleman’s Magazine and American Monthly Review, volume VI, number II, Philadelphia, Pa.: William E. Burton, […], →OCLC, page 87:

(Ireland, sometimes endearing) A good-for-nothing person.


shirt lifter

shirt lifters (plural)
shirtlifter (alternative)
shirt-lifter (alternative)

From the imagined lifting of a long shirt to facilitate receiving anal sex.

(UK, Ireland, slang) Synonym of bottom: a gay man who is penetrated or prefers to be penetrated during anal sex.


bishop's collar

en-noun

bishop's collar (plural bishop's collars)

From its appearance of having a white band above the black drink.

(Ireland, slang) a pint of Guinness (or similar) having too much head on top.


bureau de change

bureau de change (plural bureaux de change or bureaus de change or bureau de changes)

bureaux de change (plural)
bureaus de change (plural)
bureau de changes (plural)

/ˈbjʊəɹ.əʊ.dəˌʃɒ̃ʒ/

Unadapted borrowing from French bureau de change (“office of exchange”).

ubor

A bureau de change, as has been seen, is certainly an institution or person subject to the Directive and it arguably enters into business relations with its customers.

2007, R. C. H. Alexander, Insider Dealing and Money Laundering in the EU: Law and Regulation, page 155:

Good private bureaux de change include the Shangani Bureau de Change (at the northern end of Kenyatta Road, near the Tembo Hotel), and the Malindi Bureau de Change (next to the ZanAir office, east of the port gates).

2009, Chris McIntyre, Susan McIntyre, Zanzibar, Bradt Travel Guides, page 159:

The network comprises Masterlink, a bureau de change, and a United Kingdom bank, along with a partnering MTO and a bank in Uganda.

2011, Isaku Endo, Jane Namaaji, Anoma Kulathunga, World Bank Working Paper No. 201: Uganda′s Remittance Corridors from United Kingdom, United States, and South Africa, page 21:

(UK, Ireland, Commonwealth) A place where foreign currency can be exchanged.

صِرَافَة اَلْعُمْلَات

a place where foreign currency can be exchanged


VRT

(Ireland) Initialism of vehicle registration tax.


cark it

en-verb

cark it (third-person singular simple present carks it, present participle carking it, simple past and past participle carked it)

carks it (present singular third-person)
carking it (participle present)
carked it (participle past)
carked it (past)
kark it (alternative)

A slang shortening of carcass + it. Not related to cark (“to worry”). Used frequently in Australia.

The guy was running, then he had a heart attack and carked it.

He′d always bragged about carking it before he hit twenty. When he turned twenty, he escalated the date of his demise to twenty-five.

1989, Kathy Lette, Girl′s Night Out, →ISBN, page 86:

If I hit the little shit too hard his parents could even sue me. There′s a fine line between self-defence and pure and simple mayhem. The little bastard might even cark it.

1998, Barry Westburg, Glenda & Me & Meathead Go For Broke: Rage of Angels: Expatriate Tales, page 74:

“Hi Bill. Zorah told you about Kate?”
“That she carked it? Yeh.” Translation: That she died. Yeah.
He flapped his hand in a go-away gesture and started toward the koalas, but not before I saw a haunted look in his eyes. Did he still care for Kate?

2010, Betty Webb, The Koala of Death, page 10:

(UK, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, slang) To die.


headteacher

headteachers (plural)
head teacher (alternative)

I had to go and see the headteacher about my attitude.

(UK, Ireland) The most senior teacher in a school who is responsible for its management and administration.


know-all

know-alls (plural)
know-it-all (alternative US)

(chiefly UK, Ireland) Someone who obnoxiously claims to be knowledgeable on a subject.


townland

Here is to be noted, that Sir Hugh got his estate by townlands, by reason of his agreement with Con O'Neil, whereas other undertakers of plantations in Ulster had several scopes of land (called proportions) admeasured to them, each containing one thousand acres, profitable for plough and good pasture, mountains and bog not reckoned in the number, but thrown in as an appurtenance.

1696–1706, William Montgomery, chapter IV, in George Hill, editor, The Montgomery Manuscripts: (1603–1706): Compiled from Family Papers by William Montgomery of Rosemount, Esquire; […], Belfast: James Cleeland, […]; Thomas Dargan, […], published 1869, →OCLC, page 55:

I am not aware that those tenants have since transgressed; but I received a letter from home, informing me that there were three fines struck upon a townland of mine, and that on the tenants of that townland being asked how that came about, the only account they gave was, that there were three stills brought from Cloghonnelly, and lodged in that townland of mine.

1816 May 31, Alexander Stewart (witness), “Appendix. Minutes of Evidence Taken before the Select Committee Appointed to Inquire into the Causes and Extent of Illicit Distillation of Spirits in Ireland, and the Best Means or the Prevention thereof; […]”, in Reports, also, Accounts and Papers, Relating to Ireland. […], volume IX, pages 63–64:

The civil distribution of Ireland, in the descending scale, is into Provinces, Counties, Baronies, Parishes, and Townlands; and under these successive grades of classification every acre of Ireland is accounted for in that noble compilation, the Census of 1851,— […]

1861 April 22, W[illia]m Reeves, “On the Townland Distribution of Ireland”, in Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy, volume VII, Dublin: Printed by M[ichael] H[enry] Gill, […], published 1862, →OCLC, page 473:

[T]hey walked round the lake, for the townland was at the back of the demesne; and while they walked, James proposed to pay Mike ten shillings a week for his board and lodging.

1903, George Moore, “Home-Sickness”, in The Untilled Field, London: T[homas] Fisher Unwin, […], →OCLC, page 158:

[T]he report had already been spread about the country that Shiana was out of his mind; […] that there was a batch of people in every one of the seven townlands cutting splinters of wood to make torches for the night to go in search of him, and that no doubt he would be found stuck head downwards in some hole and drowned, or in some rock-cave, perished with cold and hunger.

1916, [Peter O’Leary], “The Jewel”, in Shiana: From the Irish, Dublin: The Irish Book Company […]; Browne & Nolan, Limited […], →OCLC, pages 89–90:

Lixnaw is my parish and my hurling club; Ballinclogher is my townland and my home. Finuge is the football side of the parish, about 8 miles from where I grew up.

2014, Paul Galvin, “North Kerry – Rebel Stronghold”, in In My Own Words: The Autobiography, London: Transworld Ireland, Transworld Publishers, →ISBN, page 28:

(Ireland) A geographical unit of land smaller than a parish.


Munster Irish

(Ireland) A dialect of the Irish language indigenous to the province of Munster.


Connacht Irish

(Ireland) A dialect of the Irish language indigenous to the province of Connacht.


mether

methers (plural)
medar (alternative)
meather (alternative)
madder (alternative)

From Irish meadar, from Old Irish metar, from Latin metrum. Doublet of metre, meter, and metron.

I raise to you, O Queen, this Loving Cup, this Mether,
Filled with Mead
Made from honey of the heather

1912 James Henry Cousins, "The Loving Cup" I (Etain the Beloved and Other Poems, p.84) (Maunsel & Co)

Lord Herbert and Mr. Luke White were to be seen on the roof pouring water down the chimney, while the Marchioness of Ormonde was seen carrying the Regimental Cup (the silver Irish mether to be competed for) from the scene of the fire.

1912 "Our Lady Correspondent" "Fashions at Leopardstown" The Irish Times 27 August 1912, p.8

(historical, Ireland) A communal drinking vessel used in Gaelic times for drinking mead. It had squared sides and one drank from a corner. Also, a trophy in this shape.


shit off

shit off (third-person singular simple present shits off, present participle shitting off, simple past shat off or shit off, past participle shat off)

shits off (present singular third-person)
shitting off (participle present)
shat off (past)
shit off (past)
shat off (participle past)

'Oh, shit off!' she shouted.

1966, William Sansom, Goodbye: A Novel, page 162:

One girl was incensed at finding herself in the support unit one day because she was reported to have told a teacher to ' shit off ' when she claimed she had 'only' responded 'shut up.'

1984, Lynn Davies, Pupil Power: Deviance and Gender in School, →ISBN, page 13:

Well, bloody well take 'em and shit off.

2006, Keith Blackburn, Grandma's Garden, →ISBN, page 55:

(British, Ireland, Commonwealth, vulgar) Synonym of fuck off.


dog's breakfast

en-noun

dog's breakfast (plural dog's breakfasts)

So complex was the scheme that neither blacks nor whites could say for certain who had won. "A dog's breakfast," cried Laborite M.P. James Callaghan. "I say frankly that I do not begin to understand it."

1961 July 7, “Black Temper”, in Time, archived from the original on 2012-02-03:

Critics here are reserving judgement on whether ABC will do "Life in Mars" justice or make a dog's breakfast of it.

2008 May 18, David Usborne, “The Gene Genie gets an LA makeover”, in The Independent, retrieved 2008-06-09:

I'd trade one of their sublime sentences for the entire crop of sprawling, show-offy novels – dog′s breakfasts of facetiousness – that are currently the literary vogue.

2010, Kate Jennings, “Bouleversé”, in Trouble: Evolution of a Radical/Selected Writings 1970–2010, page 277:

(UK, Ireland, Commonwealth, idiomatic) An unappealing mixture; a disorderly situation; a mess.


LEA

local electoral area
w:local electoral area

(Ireland, politics) Initialism of local electoral area.


bibe

Borrowed from Irish badhb, a variant of badhbh.

"[…] But when Jack lies on his low death-bed, with the clammy dews standing on his brow, the moaning bibe combing her yellow locks, and singing the death-wail at his casement, then will this, and all poor Delaney's other actions, appear to his darkening eye in their true colours."

1822, “All Hallow Eve in Ireland”, in Colburn's New Monthly Magazine and Humorist, volume IX, number XV, page 257:

Down there where the Bibe had her hole out of which she would howl to the rising moon and to the fairy peoples that would be peeping out at the new moon only to withdraw their small heads as they heard the cry of the Bibe.

1952, Shaw Desmond, Love by the Dark Water, page 11:

He never believed in the bibe although the people were always talking of her.

1992, William Nolan, Thomas P. Power, Waterford history & Society, page 628:

Sophie's face grew serious. "Not the bibe. She comes when we dies."

2006, Coralie Hughes Jensen, Lety's Gift:

(Ireland, Newfoundland) A type of banshee whose cry indicates someone's impending death.


staycation

staycations (plural)
stacation (alternative)
stay-cation (alternative)

The noun is a blend of stay (at home) + vacation. The verb is derived from the noun.

It's holiday time again. Having invented the staycation – no, I don't like the word either – four years ago when we ran out of money and out of patience with French traffic, we are sticking to principle and, as we did four months ago, hanging out at Tom Hodgkinson's gaff in north Devon.

2009 August 31, Nicholas Lezard, “Down and Out in London”, in New Statesman, London: New Statesman Ltd., →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2012-12-01, page 54:

Somewhere in the last few decades the stacation was substituted for the prestige and glamour of the trip abroad, and the recent flurry of low cost airlines all but cemented that as the new tradition for those that can afford it.

2012 October 24, Jeff Brazier, “The Joys of Camping”, in HuffPost, UK edition, archived from the original on 2017-07-01:

The rise in patronage partly reflects the growing trend for ‘staycations’ in the UK, in addition to Pitlochry’s status as the southern gateway to the world-famous Cairngorms National Park.

2019 December 4, Paul Stephen, “At the Heart of the Local Community”, in Rail, Peterborough, Cambridgeshire: Bauer Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 58:

Many families who had planned to go away for the easter holidays are now deciding to grab a tent and go on an isolated family camping stacations to ensure the kids are still entertained as many holiday resorts go on possible lockdown.

2020 March 16, Heather Carrick, “Coronavirus: Glaswegians stock up on camping gear before self-isolation”, in Glasgow Times, Glasgow: Newsquest (Herald & Times), →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2020-09-27:

(informal) A vacation spent at or close to home.

(British, Ireland) A holiday spent in one's own country without travelling abroad.


staycation

en-verb

staycation (third-person singular simple present staycations, present participle staycationing, simple past and past participle staycationed)

staycations (present singular third-person)
staycationing (participle present)
staycationed (participle past)
staycationed (past)

[...] I staycationed there this summer, enjoying the ancient town of Sandbach with Saxon crosses in its cobbled square; [...]

2010 September 14, Fiona Bruce, “Equitable Life (Payments) Bill: Second Reading”, in House of Commons Debates (House of Commons of the United Kingdom), volume 515, part no. 45, London: Parliament of the United Kingdom, archived from the original on 2010-09-21, column 763:

Having ‘staycationed’ with her sister in Kinnity, Co Offaly for the past four years, and with a budget of around €350, Bronwyn O’Brien says she’d just be happy to see the inside of a plane. “Although I didn’t mind holidaying at home, there’s nothing like getting on an airplane and feeling the heat hit your face the minute you arrive,” she tells.

2015 January 15, Dierdre Reynolds, “Sunshine Saturday: We’re all going on a summer holiday”, in Irish Independent, Dublin: Independent News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2017-05-11:

It's that time of the year when deleting Instagram seems like a sensible mode of self-preservation for people staycationing, or quite simply stuck on home soil, while others are hashtagging #HotGirlSummer all over the continent.

2019 August 16, Alice Newbold, “Is Anyone Else Suffering from Yacht Fatigue?”, in Vogue, London: Condé Nast, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2019-08-16:

Baz [Ashmawy] and his family are staycationing in Ireland this summer due to the Covid-19 pandemic

2020 August 5, Dara Browne, “Fam-cation: RTE’s Baz Ashmawy shares adorable snap of his mother and daughter on staycation in Co Limerick”, in The Irish Sun, Dublin: News Group Newspapers, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2020-08-07, photograph caption:

Over the last few weekends traffic is back with a vengeance, with families breaking out of lockdown to staycation in the UK and visit the coast, countryside and shops.

2020 August 5, Edmund King, quotee, “Weekend car use returns to pre-pandemic levels”, in Express & Star, Wolverhampton, West Midlands: Midland News Association, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2020-08-09:

RTE star Mary Kennedy has said that it is "so nice to explore our lovely country" as she staycations on Inis Oirr with her friend.

2020 September 25, Aine Conaty, “Merry Mary: RTE star Mary Kennedy says it’s ‘so nice to explore our lovely country’ as she staycations on Inis Oirr with pal”, in The Irish Sun, Dublin: News Group Newspapers, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2020-09-19, photograph caption:

(intransitive, informal) To spend a vacation at or close to home.

(British, Ireland) To take a holiday in one's own country as opposed to travelling abroad.


yere

What I want ye to remember, as the bullets come out through yere foreheads, is […]

2001, Martin McDonagh, The Lieutenant of Inishmore, Scene 8:

The Rubberbandits took to their Twitter (@Rubberbandits) on Tuesday in the wake of the Fringe fest’s apparent typo saying that, “@edfringe As much as we'd love to swear allegiance to Lizzie. Could ye change our country of origin from "England" to Ireland on yere site?” (sic)

2012 Kerry O'Shea Edinburgh’s Fringe festival thinks The Rubberbandits are English IrishCentral 27 July 2012

"I've been listening to yere s**** there all day about how great ye are," he told them. "Who the hell do ye think ye are with yere two All-Irelands and one ambush?"

2012 July 28, Christy O'Connor, “The first great rivalry of the 21st century”, in Irish Independent:

(Ireland) your (plural); of ye, belonging to ye


marla

From Irish marla, from Middle English marle. Doublet of marl.

Miss Carney handed us out blank paper and marla,
old plasticine with the colours
all rolled together into brown.

1996, Thomas Kinsella, Model School, Inchicore: Collected Poems, 1956-1994, page 229:

As she sits and plays with Damien, she feels her legs start to tremble from the effort. Her knees seem to disappear.
Plasticine legs, she says to Damien. Old marla legs.

1997, Catherine Dunne, In the Beginning, page 107:


squad car

Yesterday he was sleeping in his accustomed place beneath the strong arm squad car. A new driver was on duty and he failed to look underneath.

1922 July 24, “Loses All his Nine Lives: Bonny, Police Mascot and Champion, Crushed by Car”, in New York Times, page 16:

2008, 2 officers, 3 others hurt when van hits Chicago squad car," ChicagoTribune.com, 3 Jun. (retrieved 23 June 2008),
Five people were injured, including two Chicago police officers, when a squad car collided with a minivan while responding to an emergency call.

The gardai pulled in and were helping the male driver when another vehicle ploughed into the back of the patrol car. [...] Sources said that, to the shock of the arresting gardai, it later emerged that the driver that crashed into the squad car was an officer based at a garda station close to the Border.

2015 March 23, Ken Foy, Robin Schiller, “Garda is quizzed over squad car hit-and-run”, in The Herald, Dublin:


boneen

-een (suffix forming diminutive nouns in Hiberno-English).


langered

en-adj

langered (comparative more langered, superlative most langered)

more langered (comparative)
most langered (superlative)
langers (alternative)

* probably from langer + -ed; possibly from languor (either via langer or separately)

He was at that awkward stage where oblivion was still three or four drinks away; he was definitely pissed, but not quite langered enough not to care.

Goes out for a few jars. Meets three young Irish Army fellaas on leave from the Lebanon. Gets langered. Wakes up in their flat next morning, in nothing but her knickers, awful hangover.


phone box

phone boxes (plural)
phonebox (alternative)


squaddie

squaddies (plural)
squaddy (alternative)

He'll turn out to be a squaddie— a Muslim squaddie. Exactly the kind of victim they're looking for.

2010, Mick Herron, Slow Horses, page 117:

Hard men from the high flats and off-dutie squaddies threw back their pints shoulder to shoulder in its spartan public bar.

2022, Liam McIlvanney, The Heretic, page 164:

(slang, UK, Ireland, Commonwealth) A private in the army.


gowl

(Ireland, slang) An annoying person; an idiot; a dishonest person.


brasser

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

From Cockney rhyming slang brass nail, or its reduced form brass, with the same meaning.

1. The brassers, yeh know wha' I mean. The gee. Is tha' why?
2. Yeh know the way they're The Byrds an' Bird is another name for a girl, righ'? —Couldn't we be The Brassers? It was a great name.

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

Don't misunderstand me, compadre, he said. Not just women. All men are brassers as well.

1991, Roddy Doyle, The Van, Secker & Warburg, →ISBN:

Among the devices in the word formation morphology of Dublin English the most striking and productive must be the addition of -er /-ər/ (more rarely -ers) to stems...Examples: ...brasser 'prostitute, shameless female'...

2005, Raymond Hickey, Dublin English: evolution and change, John Benjamins Publishing Company, page 138:

"Oh, and all the brassers knew Dolly Moran," he said. Quirke nodded. Brassers were whores, he assumed, but how? Brass nails, rhyming with tails, or was it something to do with screws?

2006, Benjamin Black, Christine Falls, Picador, page 174:

"Sex workers? Jesus, even the brassers have gone PC," I said to the screen.

2011, Tony Black, Paying For It, page 167:


skewwhiff

skewwhiff (comparative more skewwhiff, superlative most skewwhiff)

more skewwhiff (comparative)
most skewwhiff (superlative)

(UK, Ireland, Commonwealth) Alternative spelling of skew-whiff.


ould

ould (comparative oulder, superlative ouldest)

oulder (comparative)
ouldest (superlative)
oul (alternative)
oul' (alternative)

Dialectal pronunciation of old, preserving 17th-century English.

For quotations using this term, see Citations:ould.

Pronunciation spelling
pronunciation spelling

(colloquial, Ireland) Pronunciation spelling of old.


papish

papish (comparative more papish, superlative most papish)

more papish (comparative)
most papish (superlative)

(now Scotland, Ireland, chiefly derogatory) Roman Catholic.


papish

‘But how can he have any right to make us papishes?’ says the landlord.

1749, Henry Fielding, Tom Jones, Folio Society, published 1973, page 442:

King William on a white horse crossing the Boyne is still their beau ideal and to shout 'To Hell With the Pope' and to stone the 'bloody papishes' is still the chief duty of a 'loyal' Belfast citizen.

1979, Dervla Murphy, Wheels Within Wheels, page 31:

(now Scotland, Ireland, chiefly derogatory) A Roman Catholic.


fucked off

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

more fucked off (comparative)
most fucked off (superlative)

I sat in the kitchen, all fucked off / Imagining over and over what they were all doing behind my back

2004, The Streets, “Empty Cans”, in A Grand Don’t Come for Free:

(UK, Ireland, Commonwealth, idiomatic, vulgar) annoyed, irritated


standard fare

en-noun

standard fare (countable and uncountable, plural standard fares)

Anyone found travelling without a valid ticket will be issued with a standard fare of £100 which must be paid within 21 days. This charge will be reduced to £50 if paid within 14 days.

2011, “Standard Fare”, in Transport for Greater Manchester:

(British, Ireland, countable, by extension) The price charged to passengers who travel without buying tickets in advance on certain public transport systems (especially British bus and tram systems) (compare penalty fare).

tarkastusmaksu

price charged to passengers who travel without valid tickets


wide boy

Related to wide awake, i.e. sharp-witted, open-eyed, with wide open eyes.

Much amusement at Westminster about David Mellor, a wide boy if ever there was one. Someone tapped his girlfriend's phone and sold the tape to The People. Very funny stuff—all about how knackered he was.

(slang, UK, Ireland, Commonwealth) A man who lives by his wits, wheeling and dealing.


oh my days

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-oh my days.wav

“[…] Oh, my days, don’t ’ee say another word about either of ’em. I wish I’d never been born.”

1907, Mary Patricia Willcocks, The Wingless Victory, John Lane Company, page 391:

"Oh my days," said my mother and she sank into a chair.

1963, Will P. Rose, The Vanishing Village, Citadel Press, page 192:

‘Oh my fucking days,’ cried Biscuit, shaking his head. ‘We’re fucking jinxed, man.’

2001, Alex Wheatle, East of Acre Lane, Fourth Estate, →ISBN, page 33:

Then the nurse mentioned Epidural, oh my days I know i nearly passed out at the sight of the needle going into the spinal column, all the while that wretch is screaming blue murder in the next room, get it out.

2004, "Kunjufu" (username), comment in "Fathers and Childbirth" (online forum topic), quoted in Barbara M. Newman and Philip R. Newman, Development Through Life: A Psychosocial Approach, Tenth Edition, Cengage Learning (2008), page 111

Jamal covered his face with his hands. ‘Oh my days . . .’

2006, Martyn Waites, The Mercy Seat, Pegasus Books, →ISBN, page 361:

Jessie was so amazed that she almost spilled her tea. “Oh my heavenly days!” she cried.

2008, Budge Wilson, Before Green Gables, G.P. Putnam's Sons, →ISBN, page 12:

(British, Ireland, Singapore, euphemistic) An exclamation of astonishment or gleeful disapproval.


lolly ice

I prefer strawberry lolly ices to lemon ones.

(Ireland, Liverpool) Frozen fruit juice on a stick.


chicken burger

chicken burgers (plural)
chickenburger (alternative)

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

(Ireland, UK) A sandwich consisting of a piece of boneless, sometimes fried chicken served in a bun, typically hot (called a chicken sandwich in the US).


pogue

From Irish póg, from Latin pāx. Doublet of peace.

'Sure, sure' sayes Nees, 'she does but jeast, It's not de nature of de beast; Praise dee here, mee joly rogue, And gave de [me] one litle Poge For old acquaintance, for it's dee Dat is mee only gra-ma-cree.' 'Kiss mee? Poo! Fart upon dee, Nees!'

c1670, anonymous author, “Purgatorium Hibernicum”, in Andrew Carpenter, editor, Verse in English from Tudor and Stuart Ireland, Cork University Press, published 2003, page 416:

[…] He ask'd for one Pogue, she call'd him a Rogue, And struck him with her Brogue, […]

c1707, Henry Playford, Wit and Mirth: Or, Pills to Purge Melancholy: Being a Collection of the Best Merry Ballads and Songs, Old and New. Fitted to All Humours, Having Each Their Proper Tune for Either Voice, Or Instrument: Most of the Songs Being New Set., volume 4, London: W. Pearson for J. Tonson, page 278:


gurl

en-verb

gurl (third-person singular simple present gurls, present participle gurling, simple past and past participle gurled)

gurls (present singular third-person)
gurling (participle present)
gurled (participle past)
gurled (past)

From Middle English gurlen (“to growl, rumble”).

inh

The poor little doctor, thus rudely and suddenly aroused from his tipsy sleep, looked excessively bewildered when he opened his eyes, and met the glare of ferocious delight that Darby Kelleher cast upon him, and he gurled out, “What's the matter?” as well as the grip of Darby's hand upon his throat would permit him.

1834, Samuel Lover, Legends and Stories of Ireland:

“Weel may ye mind, yon night sae black, Whan fearfu' winds loud gurled, And mony a lum dang down—and stack, Heigh i' the air up swirled, Alangst yon brae, ye clam, and stack,

1845, Alexander Wilson, Poetical Works: With an Extended Memoir of His Life and Writings:


whatsit

whatsits (plural)
whatzit (alternative)
wotsit (alternative)
wossit (alternative)

Pass me one of those whatsits, will you?

(chiefly UK, Ireland) A thing (used in a vague way to refer to something whose name one cannot recall, or that one is embarrassed to say)


PMSL

(Commonwealth, UK, Ireland, Internet slang, text messaging) Initialism of pissing myself laughing (used to indicate great amusement).


lamped

en-adj

lamped (comparative more lamped, superlative most lamped)

more lamped (comparative)
most lamped (superlative)


cratur

An' my ould een turned, an' my heart sickened; but I aye cried to mysel', "silly coward cratur, are ye frighted to see what ye prayed to behold?"

1835, James Baillie Fraser, The Highland Smugglers:

"Keep him out," cried Dr. Henry, "don't let the cratur in here."

1907, John Watson, The Scot of the eighteenth century: His religion and his life:

(Scotland, Ireland) Alternative form of creature.


estate car

From estate; estate cars were originally designed for transporting people and luggage between railway stations and country estates.


Zimmer frame

Zimmer frames (plural)
zimmer frame (alternative)

From Zimmer Orthopaedic Ltd, the original manufacturer.

Aids, such as a Zimmer frame, walking stick, or foot-drop splint may be needed at some point by many patients.

1988, Derick T Wade, Stroke: A Practical Guide:

These are three- or four-legged frames, on wheels, which remind one of a modern-day Zimmer frame.

2006, Irina Metzler, Disability in Medieval Europe:

(UK, Ireland, Commonwealth) A walking frame.


zimmer frame

the well-dressed, terminally ill defendant who stumbles into the dock, supported by a zimmer frame

She was leaning on a zimmer frame, peering up at them from under a bird's nest of uncombed grey hair.

2004, M C Beaton, Agatha Raisin and the Case of the Curious Curate:

(UK, Ireland, Commonwealth) Alternative letter-case form of Zimmer frame.


dustcart

dustcarts (plural)
dust cart (alternative)

There were other disputes in Scotland, indeed in Glasgow, some affecting local authority services, and from the second day of coverage of the dustcart strike, reporting often linked them in bulletins; […]

2009, Peter Beharrell, Howard Davis, John Eldridge, Bad News, page 246:

Imagine your dismay if you'd been using film and not noticed the dustcart in the shot until you were back home, when your photos had been processed.

2014, Simon Whaley, Compass Points - Photography for Writers:

(UK, Ireland) A vehicle for collecting refuse.


jumble sale

Today's children at Christmas-time take a cast-off toy to the Toy Service held in many churches, and it is a pretty sight to watch those tiny mites clutching their toys and parting from them. However, it has been said that they should take one which they really love, otherwise it is no sacrifice. What busy-bodies some of these grown-ups are! Do they send off their best clothes to the local jumble sale?

1971, Gwen White, Antique Toys And Their Background, page 35:

(UK, Ireland) A sale of used goods by individuals operating tables or stalls, usually held indoors and open to the public.


quare

quare (comparative quarer, superlative quarest)

quarer (comparative)
quarest (superlative)

I was after finishing my dinner when there was quare knock on the door.

Look, the quare fellow’s got to be buried in the morning, whether we like it or not, so cut the mullarkey and get back to work.

1956, Brendan Behan, The Quare Fellow, page 60:

(dated, Ireland, Appalachia, Ottawa Valley) Queer, strange.

He'd brought a quare amount of money with him.

(Ireland, used for emphasis) A lot of, very, great.


shitey

shitey (comparative shitier, superlative shitiest)

shitier (comparative)
shitiest (superlative)
shity (alternative)

That's if the combined smell of minging socks, shitey trainers and a thousand farts clinging to the wallpaper doesn't put them off coming in here.

You know one of those wee shitey dogs that just yaps and yaps.

2008, John Richmond, The Birds Call Me Seb:

If you don't get your act together, I'm gonna drag you to Hogwarts, you'll get a wand, you'll get an owl that'll deliver your shitey mail, and that'll be that, and you'll enjoy it.

2012, Gurpage Productions, "Yer a wizard, Harry!" (video):

(chiefly UK, Ireland, vulgar, slang) Shitty, worthless.


kiss my arse

And here, I believe, the wit is generally misunderstood. In reality, it lies in desiring another to kiss your a— for having just before threatened to kick his; for I have observed very accurately, that no one ever desires you to kick that which belongs to himself, nor offers to kiss this part in another.

1749, Henry Fielding, chapter IX, in The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, volume (please specify |volume=I to VI), London: A[ndrew] Millar, […], →OCLC, book VI:

(vulgar, UK, Ireland, Commonwealth) Alternative form of kiss my ass.


two penn'orth

twopenn'orth (alternative)
two pennorth (alternative)
tuppence worth (alternative)
tuppenceworth (alternative)
tuppennys' worth (alternative)

That's just my two penn’orth; you can believe what you like.

(UK, Ireland, idiomatic, colloquial) One's opinion or thoughts.


two pennorth

Here's my 'two pennorth'. Great British Railways (and NR meanwhile) should adopt the following policy: [...].

2021 November 17, Nigel Harris, “Comment: Salisbury: a media own goal”, in RAIL, number 944, page 3:

(UK, Ireland) Alternative spelling of two penn'orth.


tuppenceworth

(UK, Ireland) Alternative spelling of tuppence worth.


tuppence worth

tuppence worths (plural)
tuppence-worth (alternative Ireland UK)
tuppenceworth (alternative Ireland UK)
tuppenny’s worth (alternative Ireland UK)
two penn’orth (alternative Ireland UK)
twopenn’orth (alternative Ireland UK)
two pennorth (alternative Ireland UK)
tupp’orth (alternative Ireland UK rare)

I bought a tuppence worth of humbugs

(UK, Ireland, dated) Two pennies' worth; goods or services with a value of two pennies.

That's just my tuppenceworth; you can believe what you like.

He had only a tuppence worth of success.

(UK, Ireland, idiomatic, colloquial) A small amount.


who's 'she', the cat's mother

Who's 'she' (canonical)
the cat's mother (canonical)

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-who's 'she', the cat's mother.wav

"She's coming on the trip with us too!"

"Who's 'she', the cat's mother?"

Sorry, Gran is coming with us too.

(idiomatic, somewhat dated, British, Ireland, New England) A rebuke especially directed towards children for having referred to a woman in the nominative case as "she", instead of by her name or an appropriately respectful title.


keep one's hair on

en-verb

keep one's hair on (third-person singular simple present keeps one's hair on, present participle keeping one's hair on, simple past and past participle kept one's hair on)

keeps one's hair on (present singular third-person)
keeping one's hair on (participle present)
kept one's hair on (participle past)
kept one's hair on (past)

All right, all right, just keep your hair on, mate.

“Oh, nothing, nothing!”
“Yes, there’s something. I mean to know!”
“Keep your hair on; it’s nothing.”
“Out with it!” cried Addie, scarlet with rage.
And he flew at Jaap’s throat.

1901, Louis Couperus, translated by Alexander Teixeira de Mattos, Small Souls:

1965 [Chatto & Windus], Margery Allingham, The Mind Readers, 2016, Penguin Random House (Vintage), page 138,
‘Keep your hair on, I don't see any crime. […] ’

“Sorry old chap—keep your hair on—but surely you knew just about everyone was siphoning off the odd bit, here and there?”

2014, Melvin Rea, The Island They Towed Away, AuthorHouse, page 233:

(idiomatic, British, Ireland, colloquial) To stay calm; to be patient; to calm down.


chat shit

chat shit (third-person singular simple present chats shit, present participle chatting shit, simple past and past participle chatted shit)

chats shit (present singular third-person)
chatting shit (participle present)
chatted shit (participle past)
chatted shit (past)

I shagged David Beckham last week. – Stop chatting shit; that's a load of bollocks.

(slang, vulgar, UK, Ireland, Commonwealth) To talk nonsense or to lie.

My brother came round and we were chatting shit for hours.

(slang, vulgar, UK, Ireland, Commonwealth) To have a casual or meaningless conversation.

Chat shit, get banged.

(slang, vulgar, UK, Ireland, Commonwealth) To untruthfully speak of another in a belittling, deprecative, slighting manner, either in person or in absentia.


talk shite

talk shite (third-person singular simple present talks shite, present participle talking shite, simple past and past participle talked shite)

talks shite (present singular third-person)
talking shite (participle present)
talked shite (participle past)
talked shite (past)

(slang, vulgar, UK, Ireland, very uncommon) To talk badly about something.

(slang, vulgar, UK, Ireland, very uncommon) To talk nonsense or to lie.


fuckwitted

en-adj

fuckwitted (comparative more fuckwitted, superlative most fuckwitted)

more fuckwitted (comparative)
most fuckwitted (superlative)

But this fuckwitted spastic is too immobilised and confused to work that out and by then I'm well away, bristling with excitement and satisfaction.

1998, Irvine Welsh, Filth, London: Jonathan Cape, →ISBN:

[…] jokes about stingy Jews, which make my blood boil and ensure lifelong hatred against the fuckwitted joker.

(UK, Ireland, Commonwealth, slang, vulgar, derogatory or offensive) Stupid; having the intelligence of a fuckwit.


microneighbourhood

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


press-up

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

(UK, Ireland, Commonwealth) Synonym of push-up (“exercise”).


good on someone

good for someone (alternative)
onya (alternative)

You got married? Good on you!

And he had a big smile like he really liked us and our wall. Black old teeth. Fat stomach. Well good on you. Good on all of you and your wall. Hee, hee, hee, hee.

1989, Patricia Grace, “Six by Six: Short Stories by New Zealand's Best Writers”, in Bill Manhire, editor, The Wall:

I have never forgotten his smile and the look in his eyes as he said, ‘Good on you, little brother.[…]’

2004, Willem Dijkstra, May You Live In Interesting Times, volume 1, page 301:

2009 October 27, House of Lords European Union Committee, Directive on Alternative Investment Fund Managers: 3rd Report of Session 2009-10, Volume II: Evidence, page 88,
Lord Renton of Mount Harry: […] I do not wish to be rude in saying this, but it is very easy for you as BlackRock because you are already a global, very big company and you are obviously hugely successful — good on you — but what about the alternative investment fund manager in one of the EU countries who wants to grow, wants to become more established in other countries, et cetera, surely for them there has to be some other international means, not just standing on national status and national passports.

(UK, Ireland, New England, Newfoundland, Australia, New Zealand) An exclamation of encouragement or congratulation: well done.


housebuyer

(British, Ireland, Malaysia) Someone who buys a house


transport café

eating establishment
eating establishment

(UK, Ireland) A roadside eating establishment used especially by lorry-drivers; a truck stop