knackered

en-adj

knackered (comparative more knackered, superlative most knackered)

more knackered (comparative)
most knackered (superlative)

I've got this job in a warehouse just now and it finishes quite early but I'm dead knackered at the end of the day so I don't know about going out and like studying every night.

2002, Robert Edenborough, Effective Interviewing: A Handbook of Skills and Techniques, pages 97–98:

2003, Hugh Dauncey, Geoff Hare (editors), The Tour de France, 1903-2003: A Century of Sporting Structures, Meanings and Values, Frank Cass Publishers, London, 2005, page 225,
Then, it all just gets worse and worse, you don't sleep so much, so you don't recover as well from the day's racing, so you go into your reserves, you get more knackered, so you sleep less... It's simply a vicious circle.

So my joy at hearing his voice quickly turns to a paroxysm of anxiety as he manages by exhausted gesture and sound to let us know how knackered he feels, how desperate to get horizontal, almost from the first moment he lands in the chair.

2009, Grace Maxwell, Falling & Laughing: The Restoration of Edwyn Collins, page 84:

In the course of this discussion, the (male) presenter, when uttering the word 'knackered', felt obliged to preface his animation of this word with “excuse my language”.

2020 November 12, Jim O’Driscoll, Offensive Language: Taboo, Offence and Social Control, Bloomsbury Publishing, →ISBN, page 48:

(UK, Ireland, Commonwealth, slang, sometimes offensive) Tired or exhausted.


knackered

From "ready for the knacker's yard" or "fit to be knackered", meaning "worn-out livestock, fit to be slaughtered and rendered".

In the end though he had to admit that the car was knackered...

2003, Simon Murphy, The Murders of Mutchrose Village, page 28:

We take an old knackered machine out to China and say, 'Copy that, brand new,' and they do.

2009, John Newton, Vance Miller - Kitchen Gangster?, page 82:

(UK, Ireland, South Africa, colloquial) Broken, inoperative.


mad

mad (comparative madder, superlative maddest)

madder (comparative)
maddest (superlative)

From Middle English mad, madde, madd, medd, from Old English ġemǣd, ġemǣded (“enraged”), past participle of ġemǣdan, *mǣdan (“to make insane or foolish”), from Proto-Germanic *maidijaną (“to change; damage; cripple; injure; make mad”), from Proto-Germanic *maidaz ("weak; crippled"; compare Old English gemād (“silly, mad”), Old High German gimeit (“foolish, crazy”), literary German gemeit (“mad, insane”), Gothic 𐌲𐌰𐌼𐌰𐌹𐌸𐍃 (gamaiþs, “crippled”)), from Proto-Indo-European *mey- ("to change"; compare Old Irish máel (“bald, dull”), Old Lithuanian ap-maitinti (“to wound”), Sanskrit मेथति (méthati, “he hurts, comes to blows”)).

gloss

New York City, New Orleans, Philadelphia, Baltimore

It's mad that I got that job back a day after being fired.

(UK, Ireland, informal) Bizarre; incredible.


mad

He was driving mad slow.

It's mad hot today.

He seems mad keen on her.

(slang, chiefly New York, African-American Vernacular, UK and Ireland, dialectal) Intensifier; to a large degree; extremely; exceedingly; very; unbelievably.

all over the place like a mad woman's custard

get glad in the same britches one got mad in

get glad in the same pants one got mad in


pow

he'd snuffle round the door till the few remaining hairs on the bald pow of Munro would fair rise on end.

1932, Lewis Grassic Gibbon, Sunset Song (A Scots Quair), Polygon, published 2006, page 24:

(Scotland, Ireland, Northern England) Alternative form of poll.


faggot

From Middle English fagot, from Old French fagot (“bundle of sticks”), of uncertain origin. Unlikely from Old Occitan fagot or Italian fagotto, as these appear later than the Old French term. Compare also Italian fangotto and Spanish fajo (“bundle, wad”). Perhaps from a diminutive of Vulgar Latin *facus, from Latin fascis (“bundle of wood”). Compare also Old High German fazza (“bundle, load, burden”). Doublet of fagotto. Related to fascism (note that the Italian fascists also used a bundle of sticks as a symbol). See also: fag.
The senses relating to persons, though possibly originating as an extension of the sense "bundle of sticks", may have been reinforced by faygele, from Yiddish פֿייגעלע (feygele, “homosexual”, literally “little bird”), related to English fowl.

der

In the depth of, winter, however, a faggot of real French Sticks — although of little intrinsic value — may possibly enliven for a few moments an English Fireside.

1853, Sir Francis Bond Head, A faggot of French sticks: or, Paris in 1851, page 2:

Besides the logs and roots that simmered with turves and dung on the cottage fire, rapid heat for bread-making came from faggots - bundles of dry twigs about 4 ft long - which were fed into the oven, burned and then removed as ash before the dough went in.

1980, AA Book of British Villages, Drive Publications Ltd, page 118:

(chiefly UK, Ireland, collective) A bundle of sticks or brushwood intended to be used for fuel tied together for carrying. (Some sources specify that a faggot is tied with two bands or withes, whereas a bavin is tied with just one.)

Today would be faggots in gravy and chocolate pudding with a white sauce. I didn't like faggots but picked at them and rolled the peas around my plate.

2008, Julie Hodgson, In My Father's Pockets, page 16:

(chiefly UK, Ireland) A meatball made with offcuts and offal, especially pork. (See Wikipedia.)

I appoynt thée no more continencie, than to eate while thy bellie is full, nor conﬅancie, but to brawle rather than burne: a filbert is better than a faggot, except it be an Athenian ſhe handfull: you know that Coſmoſophos, euer ſince your laﬅ mariage, how doth the father of your ſonne in law?

1591, T[homas] L[odge] of Lincolns, Catharos Diogenes in his Singularitie: Wherein is comprehended his merrie baighting fit for all mens benefits: Christened by him, A Nettle for Nice Noſes, London: Iohn Busbie, page 12; republished [Glasgow]: [Hunterian Club], [1875]:

she wants me to go to bed to her, and I won't, ... for she is as crooked as a ram's horn ... and as ugly as sin besides ; rot her, the dirty little faggot, she torments me.

1796, Theobald Wolfe Tone, Autobiography:

The woman, in accordance with the custom of the country, raised the Irish cry, in a loud melancholy wail ...
Darby, who prided himself on maintaining silence, could not preserve the consistency of his character upon this occasion ... "Your sowl to the divil, you faggot!" he exclaimed, "what do you mane? The divil whip the tongue out o' you! ..."

1834, William Carleton, The Midnight Mass:

he used to be pretending to be laid up with a sick voice doing his highness to make himself interesting for that old faggot Mrs Riordan that he thought he had a great leg of and she never left us a farthing all for masses for herself and her soul greatest miser ever was actually afraid to lay out 4d for her methylated spirit […]

1922, James Joyce, chapter 18, in Ulysses:

To me she is fractious, tiresome, and a faggot. Yet the subtle desirableness is in her, for me. As it is in the brown hen, or even a sow.

1925, D. H. Lawrence, Reflections on the Death of a Porcupine and Other Essays: .. Love Was Once a Little Boy:

MOTHER: To see who?
DA: You faggot, you; don't let on you don't know.

(UK, Ireland, dated, colloquial, derogatory, now offensive) A shrewish woman.

The Glasgow Herald thought that his attack on the faggots was too serious […]

1973, Ellen Reid Gold, Gladstone in Midlothian: A Rhetorical Analysis of His 1879 Campaign, page 114:

(UK, Ireland, historical, possibly now offensive) A faggot voter.

(UK, Ireland, dated, slang, now offensive) A lazy, weak, work-shy person.


savage

en-adj

savage (comparative more savage, superlative most savage)

more savage (comparative)
most savage (superlative)

From Middle English savage, from Old French sauvage, salvage (“wild, untamed”), from Late Latin salvāticus, alteration of Latin silvāticus (“wild”, literally “of the woods”), from silva (“forest; grove”). Doublet of sylvatic.

der

(Ireland, US, slang) Great, brilliant, amazing.


Mary

Marys (plural)
Maries (plural)
Marie (alternative)

→ Cantonese: Mary

→ Cebuano: Mary, Marie

→ Danish: Mary

→ Faroese: Marý

→ Hawaiian: Mele, Mere

→ Japanese: マリー (Marī)

desc

→ Mandarin: 瑪麗 /玛丽 (Mǎlì), 瑪莉 /玛莉 (Mǎlì), 瑪利 /玛利 (Mǎlì)

→ Manx: Mayree

→ Maori: Mere, Meri

→ Norwegian: Mary

→ Scottish Gaelic: Màiri

→ Swedish: Mary

→ Tahitian: Mere

→ Tok Pisin: meri

→ Thai: แมรี (mɛɛ-rii)

From Middle English Marie, from Old French Marie, from Latin Maria, from Ancient Greek Μαρία (María), Μαριάμ (Mariám), from Aramaic מַרְיָם (maryām) or Biblical Hebrew מִרְיָם (miryām), of uncertain meaning (see the Hebrew entry for more). Doublet of Miriam, Marie, Maria, and Mariah.

doublet

(Ireland, dated) A male middle name, given in honour of the Virgin Mary.

Maria

Mary, mother of Jesus — see also Madonna, Mother of God, Our Lady, Queen of Heaven, Saint Mary, Theotokos, Virgin Mary
Note: Translations for Mary's various titles and appellations should go in the respective entries.

Sister of the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary


poof

en-noun

poof (plural poofs or (less common) pooves)

poofs (plural)
pooves (plural uncommon)
pouf (alternative)

He recalls how everybody got called a ‘poof’ at Forrester High School in the seventies. Back then, only ‘wanker’ possibly rivalled it as the most common term of abuse. But The Poof was the Poof.

2015, Irvine Welsh, A Decent Ride, Random House, →ISBN, page 21:

(UK, Ireland, Commonwealth, derogatory, colloquial) A gay man; especially one who is effeminate.


Paki

Either a clipping of Pakistani or a back-formation from Pakistan. Doublet of Pak.


nancy

From Nancy, pet form of the female given names Agnes and Anne, under influence from earlier nan (“serving girl, maid; male homosexual”), itself from Nan, another pet form of the same names. Compare Mary.

(British, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, US, derogatory, slang, offensive) An effeminate man, especially a homosexual.


burke

en-verb

burke (third-person singular simple present burkes, present participle burking, simple past and past participle burked)

burkes (present singular third-person)
burking (participle present)
burked (participle past)
burked (past)

As soon as the executioner proceeded to his duty, the cries of ‘Burke him, Burke him—give him no rope’... were vociferated... ‘Burke Hare too!’

(UK, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, slang) To murder by suffocation.

"I don’t know that," interrupted the landlady; "Williams is a good hanging name: there was Williams who murdered the Marr's family, and Williams who burked all those poor dear children; I dare say he is some relation of theirs; but to think of his coming to the White Hart—it's no place for his doings, I can tell him: he sha'n't poison his wife in my house; out he goes this very night—I'll take the letter to him myself."

1832, Letitia Elizabeth Landon, The Keepsake 1833, One Peep was Enough, pages 303–304:

Perhaps he is Burked, and his body sold for nine pounds.

1833, T. Hook, Parson's Daughter, II. i. 26:

‘You don’t mean to say he was burked, Sam?’ said Mr. Pickwick, looking hastily round.

1836 March – 1837 October, Charles Dickens, “Chapter 31”, in The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club, London: Chapman and Hall, […], published 1837, →OCLC:

(UK, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, slang, historical) To murder for the same purpose as Burke, to kill in order to have a body to sell to anatomists, surgeons, etc.

The reporters left it out... Those who spoke in favour of the poor men, were what the reporters call burked.

1835, J. A. Roebuck, Dorchester Labourers, 6/1 (note):

He put away—burked—the Directors' letter, and went in to talk to Riley

1888, Rudyard Kipling, “A Bank Fraud,”, in Plain Tales from the Hills, Folio, published 2005, page 128:

Socrates and Plato burked the issue.

(UK, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, slang) To smother; to conceal, hush up, suppress.


Old English

Wiktionary’s coverage of Old English terms

(Ireland, history) A historical ethnic group in Ireland descended from Norman invaders from Britain from the 12th century to the 17th century.


faeces

en-noun

faeces pl (normally plural, singular faex)

This paper reports on ingestion of soil by dairy cows using titanium analysis of faeces by the X-ray fluorescence technique, and gives the range of soil intakes of a year on both an individual and a herd basis.

1968 May, W. B. Healy, “Ingestion of Soil by Dairy Cows”, in New Zealand Journal of Agricultural Research, page 487:

The fact that dogs have a well developed sense of smell suggests that they might be able to use the odour of faeces as a means of communicating.

1984 April 19, David F. Chantrey, James B. Reid, C. E. Davie, “Dog Business”, in New Scientist, page 48:

Urine and faeces are complete fertilizers of high quality with low levels of contaminants such as heavy metals. Urine is rich in nitrogen, while faeces are rich in phosphorous, potassium and organic matter.

2004, Håkan Jönsson, Håkan Jönsson, Anna Richert Stintzing, Björn Vinnerås, Eva Salomon, Guidelines on the Use of Urine and Faeces in Crop Production, page 1:

UK, Canada, Ireland, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, and India standard spelling of feces.


nappy

A diminutive in -y. The base is probably napkin but possibly French nappe directly (note that napkin is already a diminutive).

You will notice that disposable nappies are sold in boy and girl versions. They vary in where the thickest padding is provided.

1995, Jennie Lindon, Lance Lindon, Leandra Negrini, Caring for Young Children, page 60:

Other equipment required was soap for hand washing and washing of nappies, a washing line for the drying of nappies,[…].

2005, Medical Association of Malawi, “Malawi Medical Journal: The Journal of Medical Association of Malawi”, in (Please provide the book title or journal name), volume 17, page 39:

You could burn disposable nappies (not a very practical option); otherwise, it′s probably best to take a supply of large plastic bags or nappy sacks with you and to dispose of them as thoughtfully as you can.

2008, Isabelle Young, Healthy Travel: Asia & India, 2nd edition, Lonely Planet, page 275:

In response we mailed hundreds of nappies to students in halls. On the nappy was a simple message, IT'S A LOT EASIER TO PUT ON A CONDOM.

2009, Chris Arnold, Ethical Marketing and The New Consumer, page 55:

(British, Ireland, Australia, South Africa, New Zealand) An absorbent garment worn by a baby or toddler who does not yet have voluntary control of their bladder and bowels or by someone who is incontinent; a diaper.


puck

en-verb

puck (third-person singular simple present pucks, present participle pucking, simple past and past participle pucked)

pucks (present singular third-person)
pucking (participle present)
pucked (participle past)
pucked (past)

From or influenced by Irish poc (“stroke in hurling, bag”). Compare poke (1861).


puck

From the Irish poc (“male adult goat, billy goat”). Doublet of buck.


consultant

From French consultant, present participle of consulter, from Latin cōnsultāre (“to deliberate, consult”), frequentative of cōnsulere (“to consult, deliberate, consider, reflect upon, ask advice”), from com- (“together”) + -sulere, of uncertain origin.

(medicine, UK, Ireland) A senior hospital-based physician or surgeon who has completed all specialist training and has been placed on the specialist register in their chosen speciality, roughly equivalent to an attending physician in North America.


American football

tlb

(UK, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, India, Pakistan, Myanmar, South Africa, Singapore, Malaysia, Brunei)

"Chain mail, or an American football suit - that's what you'll want."

1912, Arthur Conan Doyle, The Lost World […], London; New York, N.Y.: Hodder and Stoughton, →OCLC:

A team sport similar to rugby football, played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end.


"Two 99s please. And your story." The ice cream was in insulated compartments and he scooped it out […]

2008, Ian Pattinson, Global Weirding, →ISBN:

'Two 99s for you, young man. A Fab? Yes, here you are, madam. A Mivvi coming up.' As he handed over the ices, the kids ran or just sauntered off. I don't know if the ice-cream man thought some adult was going to appear and pay for the lot, […]

2011, On The Cobbles: Jimmy Stockin, →ISBN:

'Two 99s, please.' Copper Pie held them while I searched for the right money. […] Copper Pie was still on the ground, holding the ice creams […]

2012, T. M. Alexander, A Thousand Water Bombs, →ISBN:

(UK, Ireland) An ice cream cone with a chocolate flake inserted into the ice cream.


chunder

en-noun

chunder (countable and uncountable, plural chunders)

Unknown and debated origin. Possibly a shortening of Chunder Loo, itself a presumed rhyming slang for spew (said to be derived from the cartoon character “Chunder Loo of Akim Foo”, drawn by Norman Lindsay for a series of boot-polish advertisements in the early 1900s), but the rhyming slang usage is not actually recorded. Alternatively, possibly from the nautical phrase "*Watch under!" ("Look out below!"), used to warn people on lower decks that someone above was vomiting over the side of the ship, though this is likewise unsubstantiated and may simply be due to folk etymology. Also possibly from tunder, a dialectal pronunciation of thunder; or borrowed from Scots *junder, junner, chunner (“to bump, knock against", also "to break or spill the contents of”), a frequentative form of jund, chund, jundie (“to jog, jostle, annoy, upset”). First attested in c. 1950.

unk

Unknown and debated origin

I had puke streamers hanging from both nostrils; it wasn′t as watery as my chunder usually is (from drinking).

1996 April 24, Andrew Shore, “Nose Chunder (was Re: Grogan Epidemic at ERR)”, in alt.tasteless (Usenet):

(UK, Commonwealth, Ireland, slang) Vomit.

I would guess it points up the difference between the involuntary chunder where you cannot choose the time place or direction, and the self-induced chunder which facilitates further consumption of alcohol after your theoretical limit is reached.

2001 September 9, John Dean, “‘chunder’”, in alt.usage.english (Usenet):

(UK, Commonwealth, Ireland, slang) An act of vomiting.


rubbish

en-adj

rubbish (comparative more rubbish or rubbisher, superlative most rubbish or rubbishest)

more rubbish (comparative)
rubbisher (comparative)
most rubbish (superlative)
rubbishest (superlative)

Inherited from Middle English robous (“rubbish, building rubble”), further origin uncertain; possibly from Anglo-Norman rubous, rubouse, rubbouse (“refuse, waste material; building rubble”), and compare Anglo-Latin rebbussa, robousa, robusium, robusum, rubisum, rubusa, rubusium (although the Anglo-Norman and Anglo-Latin words may be derived from the English word instead of the other way around, as there are no known Old French cognates of the word). The English word may be related to rubble, though the connection is unclear. Possibly derived ultimately from Old Norse rubba (“to huddle, crowd together, heap up", also possibly "to rub, scrape”), from Proto-Germanic *rubbōną (“to rub, scrape”). Compare Swedish rubba (“to move, displace, dislodge, upset”).
The verb is derived from the noun.

cog

This has been a rubbish day, and it’s about to get worse: my mother-in-law is coming to stay.

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

1989 June, Phil Snout [pseudonym; Phil South], “Rage Hard”, in Matt Bielby, editor, Your Sinclair, number 42, London: Dennis Publishing, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 82, column 1:

A-level students will study Russell Brand's views on drugs and Caitlin Moran's Twitter feed alongside more conventional literature in a new A-level that was immediately denounced as "rubbish" by sources at the Department for Education.

2014 May 6, Richard Adams, “English A-level with Russell Brand and Dizzee Rascal on reading list under fire”, in The Guardian:

(chiefly UK, Ireland, Commonwealth, colloquial) Exceedingly bad; awful.


rubbish

en-verb

rubbish (third-person singular simple present rubbishes, present participle rubbishing, simple past and past participle rubbished)

rubbishes (present singular third-person)
rubbishing (participle present)
rubbished (participle past)
rubbished (past)

In my judgment, it is not Christian—I think that is the proper way to put it—to rubbish the leaders of our trade union movements, both employers' and workers'. [...] The employers are quite right in rubbishing this section. The recently retired Chief Ombudsman rubbished it. The insurance guild, not exactly known as a militant trade union until recently, has rubbished it. Twenty-nine leaders in our community have rubbished it.

1977 August 17, A[rthur] J[ames] Faulkner, “Human Rights Commission Bill”, in Parliamentary Debates (Hansard): Third Session, Thirty-eighth Parliament (House of Representatives), volume 412, Wellington: E. C. Keating, government printer, published 1978, →OCLC, pages 2307–2308:

We're messing around at work, the three of us, getting ready to go home and rubbishing each other's five best side one track ones of all time [...]

1995, Nick Hornby, chapter 13, in High Fidelity, London: Victor Gollancz, →ISBN, page 122:

Oh, there is fuel enough for the memoirs, even if Marion's eyes glaze over, periodically, during tea or one of Corrie's rather awful lunches [...]. The names flow forth, and are rubbished or extolled, [...]

2011, Penelope Lively, chapter 1, in How It All Began, London: Fig Tree, Penguin Books, →ISBN; republished New York, N.Y.: Penguin Books, 2012, →ISBN, page 11:

'It's the first real acting job I've had and he completely rubbishes it. My career will be over before it even starts.' / 'I wouldn't take it too personally,' Shelley said as she reloaded the café dishwasher. 'Bryn Dwyer rubbishes just about everything. [...']

2012, Melanie Milburne, chapter 1, in The Virgin’s Price, London: Mill & Boon Sexy, →ISBN:

Such irresponsible comments seem to me clearly an attempt for political reasons to rubbish a past that was of a far better quality than anything that exists today.

2020 May 20, Barry Doe, “McLoughlin unfair with opinion of late-BR rail”, in Rail, page 65:

Delia's Complete Cookery Course is still in print more than 40 years since its first publication. “Everybody did rubbish it,” she says.

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

(transitive, chiefly UK, Ireland, Commonwealth, colloquial) To criticize, to denigrate, to denounce, to disparage.

haukkua

to criticize, denigrate — see also criticize, denigrate


dose

→ Malay: dos

Borrowed from Middle French dose, from Late Latin dosis, from Ancient Greek δόσις (dósis, “a portion prescribed”, literally “a giving”), used by Galen and other Greek physicians to mean an amount of medicine, from δίδωμι (dídōmi, “to give”). Doublet of doos.

до́за

quantity of an agent administered at any one time

There's a dose going round.

(Ireland, colloquial) A cold; a common, viral illness of the nasal passage, sometimes with fever.


hundreds and thousands

100s and 1000s (alternative)
100s & 1000s (alternative)

PIE word
 *ḱm̥tóm
From hundreds + and + thousands. Sense 2 (“tiny balls or strands of multicoloured sugar”) is from the fact that the confectionery is made up of numerous sugar pieces.

So there you have them - Onoda, Gund, Eclipse - all squidged together on the same spoon, their flavours intermingling under a bleeding crust of hundreds-and-thousands.

2003, Neil Wills, “Surfers′ Paradise”, in Third Way, page 12:

Hundreds and thousands, commonly yet boringly called “sprinkles” in North America, are enough to make any child smile. Sprinkled over a cookie and sandwiched around creamy ice cream makes for sheer bliss!

2007, Pippa Cuthbert, Lindsay Cameron Wilson, Cookies!, New Holland Publishers (UK), archived from the original on 2016-09-17, page 96:

(UK, Ireland, Commonwealth) Tiny balls or strands of multicoloured sugar, sprinkled over ice cream, desserts or party foods.


smash

en-noun

smash (countable and uncountable, plural smashes)

→ Czech: smeč

→ Serbo-Croatian: smeč

→ Turkish: smaç

Uncertain, probably of onomatopoeic origin. Compare Swedish smask (“to smack with the lips”), dialectal Swedish smaska (“to smack, kiss”), Danish smaske (“to smack with the lips”), Low German smaksen (“to smack with the lips, kiss”).

cog

The driver and two passengers were badly injured in the smash.

(UK, Ireland, colloquial) A traffic collision.


smash

en-verb

smash (third-person singular simple present smashes, present participle smashing, simple past and past participle smashed)

smashes (present singular third-person)
smashing (participle present)
smashed (participle past)
smashed (past)

→ Catalan: esmaixar

(UK, Ireland, slang, obsolete) To pass counterfeit money.


through

From Middle English thrugh, thruch, thruh, metathetic variants of thurgh, thurh, from Old English þurh, from Proto-Germanic *þurhw (“through”), from Proto-Indo-European *tr̥h₂kʷe, suffixed zero-grade from *terh₂- (“to pass through”) + *-kʷe (“and”). Cognate with Scots throch (“through”), West Frisian troch (“through”), German durch (“through”), Dutch door (“through”), Gothic 𐌸𐌰𐌹𐍂𐌷 (þairh, “through”), Latin trans (“across, over, through”), Albanian tërthor (“through, around”), Welsh tra (“through”). See also thorough.

thoo (alternative pronunciation-spelling)
thorough (alternative)
thorow (alternative obsolete)
thorugh (alternative common)
thro' (alternative archaic poetic)
throughe (alternative obsolete)
thru (alternative US informal)
thrue (alternative obsolete)

Manchester United are through to the FA Cup Final for the thirteenth time.

(chiefly UK, Commonwealth, Ireland, rare in Canada) (usually followed by "to") Able to progress (to the next stage or a higher level) following success in an exam, sports match, etc.


jar

Inherited from Middle English jarre (“jar”), from Medieval Latin jarra, or from Middle French jarre (“liquid measure”) (from Old French jare; modern French jarre (“earthenware jar”)), or from Spanish jarra, jarro (“jug, pitcher; mug, stein”), all from Arabic جَرَّة (jarra, “earthen receptacle”).
The word is cognate with Italian giara (“jar; crock”), Occitan jarro, Portuguese jarra, jarro (“jug; ewer, pitcher”).
The verb is derived from the noun.

der

caught with one's fingers in the cookie jar

(British, Ireland, colloquial) A pint glass

About a shopping trolley, I thought I'd let ye know. Ya'd try to push it straight but it never seems ta go. Ya'd wobble through the car park, hopping off the cars. Anyone would think ya had a few auld jars.

2013 March 15, “The Shopping Trolley” (track 10), in Horsing Around, performed by Richie Kavanagh:

(British, Ireland, colloquial, metonymic) A glass of beer or cider, served by the pint.


deffo

en-adj

deffo (comparative more deffo, superlative most deffo)

more deffo (comparative)
most deffo (superlative)

From definitely or definite + -o (diminutive suffix).

I know for certain they′re not speaking to each other, that′s for deffo, not that I′ve even seen them in the same room over the last week to confirm their silence.

2003, Grace Dent, LBD: it′s a girl thing, page 45:

‘An infection. Nothing serious. They′ll have some colour in them soon, for deffo.’

2009, Joe Stretch, Wildlife, unnumbered page:

“Couldn′t say for deffo, probably at least fifteen years old, but I know they don′t make them like these any more for exactly the reason you′ve just seen. The security systems shite.”

2009, Stephen Leonard Lancashire, Immaculate Deception, page 271:

Needles wilted under the force of Pegg′s demand, his eyes widened and he seemed to shrink in size, and I can′t say for deffo but I think he probably wet himself.

2010, Simon Pegg, Nerd Do Well, page 25:

(colloquial, Australia, UK, Ireland, Canada, usually with for) Definite.


deffo

He told me that he's deffo going to be there tonight.

And I deffo don′t believe in me, cos I′m a proper knobhead, aren′t I, and always have been.

2009, Nick Leather, Billy Wonderful, page 12:

It′s weird, but even though Dosser was only grounded for like two weeks, I was actually starting to kind of miss him, and I deffo would′ve loved to have gone for a good old-fashioned crow-hunt that Saturday afternoon,[…].

2011, Andrew Fitzpatrick, Strictly Legal, page 128:

‘[…]And no giving in at the slightest whimper. Agreed?’
‘Deffo!’ He couldn′t see my fingers crossed behind my back.

2011, Maggie Graham, Me and My Animals, page 142:

(colloquial, chiefly Australia, UK, Ireland, Canada) Definitely.


butt

(dated, West Country and Ireland) A heavy two-wheeled cart.

(dated, West Country and Ireland) A three-wheeled cart resembling a wheelbarrow.


mong

(British, Ireland, slang, offensive, derogatory, dated) A person with Down's syndrome.

Can't you see you don't belong / You're a stupid little fucking mong

2016 May 5, “Thinking He's Hard (Little T Reply)”, performed by Soph Aspin:

(British, Ireland, slang, offensive, derogatory) A stupid person.


shite

en-noun

shite (usually uncountable, plural shites)

From the Middle English shite, schite, scīte (“excrement”), cognate with Middle Low German schīte, Middle High German schīze, Dutch schijt. Compare Middle English shitel, scitel, scytel (“dung, excrement”), from Old English sċitel. More at shit. Doublet of scheisse.

That’s a load of shite.

Look at all this shite.

(chiefly UK, Ireland, vulgar) Shit; trash; rubbish; nonsense

He's a useless shite.

(chiefly UK, Ireland, vulgar, derogatory, uncommon) A foolish or deceitful person.


shite

en-adj

shite (comparative more shite, superlative most shite)

more shite (comparative)
most shite (superlative)

The film was utter shite.

(chiefly UK, Ireland, vulgar) Bad; awful; shit.


shite

Shite! I left my wallet at home.

(chiefly UK, Ireland, vulgar) An expression of annoyance or dismay.


shite

en-verb

shite (third-person singular simple present shites, present participle shiting, simple past shited or shit or shat, past participle shited or shitten)

shites (present singular third-person)
shiting (participle present)
shited (past)
shit (past)
shat (past)
shited (participle past)
shitten (participle past)

From Middle English schiten, from Old English sċītan (“to defecate, shit”), from Proto-West Germanic *skītan, from Proto-Germanic *skītaną (“to defecate”), from Proto-Indo-European *sḱeyd-, *skeyt- (“to vomit, retch, shit”, literally “to shed”). Cognate with Dutch schijten (“to shit”), German scheißen (“to shit”), Swedish skita (“to shit”), Irish sceith, sgeith (“act of spewing, vomiting, shedding”), Albanian shqit (“to tear, separate”).

inh

[…] it still softened my heart to see a man hurt so badly he sobbed and shited on himself.

2004, Robert Morgan, Brave enemies, page 38:

He would probably have a head full of locks. Who has time to be pretty when people are hurting? Crying. Shiting on themselves trying to beat heroin.

2007, Talonie Starr, Growth Manifesto, page 173:

I have eaten a dishful of curds,
And I have shitten your mouth full of turds.

2011, Douglas Bruster, Eric Rasmussen, Everyman and Mankind:

(UK, chiefly Scotland, Ireland, vulgar) To defecate.


material

en-noun

material (countable and uncountable, plural materials)

From Middle English material, from Late Latin māteriālis, from Latin māteria (“wood, material, substance”), from māter (“mother”). Displaced native Middle English andweorc, andwork (“material, matter”) (from Old English andweorc (“matter, substance, material”)). Doublet of materiel.

aineisto

related data of various kinds collected as the basis for a document or book

(Ireland, now rare) The ingredients for making whisky punch.


porter

en-noun

porter (countable and uncountable, plural porters)

→ Irish: pórtar

From Middle English porter, portere, portare, borrowed from Anglo-Norman portour and Old French portier, from Late Latin portarius (“gatekeeper”), from Latin porta (“gate”).

non-rhotic, without the horse–hoarse merger

‘Here, Pat, give us a g.p., like a good fellow.’ The curate brought him a glass of plain porter. The man drank it at a gulp and asked for a caraway seed.

1904–1907 (date written), James Joyce, “Counterparts”, in Dubliners, London: Grant Richards, published June 1914, →OCLC, page 107:


cider

cider (countable and uncountable, plural ciders)

→ Bulgarian: са́йдер (sájder)

→ Finnish: siideri

→ Jersey Dutch: sâiter

→ Japanese: サイダー (saidā)

→ Korean: 사이다 (saida)

[ˈsʌɪ̯ɾə(ɹ)]

From Middle English sider, cidre, sidre, from Old French cisdre, sidre (“beverage made from fermented apples”), from Medieval Latin sīcera, from Ancient Greek σίκερα (síkera, “fermented liquor, strong drink”), from Hebrew שֵׁכָר (šēḵār, “liquor”). Doublet of cyser. Displaced native English apple wine.

der

Apfelsaft (may be specified as trüber Apfelsaft)

са́йдер

non-alcoholic sparkling beverage (apple)

サイダー

non-alcoholic sparkling beverage (lemon-lime)

The procedures for cyser are identical to cider with a notable exception: honey is a much more complex sugar than cane or corn sugars, meaning honey takes a long time to clear and an even longer time (at least six months) to ferment out[…]

1995, Paul Correnty, The Art of Cidermaking, Brewers Publications:

(British, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, Canada) An alcoholic, often sparkling (carbonated) beverage made from fermented apples; hard cider; apple cider.


stretch

→ Esperanto: streĉi

→ Finnish: stretch-

→ French: stretch

From Middle English strecchen, from Old English streċċan (“to stretch, hold out, extend, spread out, prostrate”), from Proto-West Germanic *strakkjan (“to stretch, make taut or tight”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)treg-, *streg-, *treg- (“stiff, rigid”). Cognate with West Frisian strekke, Dutch strekken (“to stretch, straighten”), German strecken (“to stretch, straighten, elongate”), Danish strække (“to stretch”), Swedish sträcka (“to stretch”), Dutch strak (“taut, tight”), Albanian shtriqem (“to stretch”). More at stark.

cog

time stretch analog-to-digital converter

There is a grand stretch in the evenings.

(Ireland) Extended daylight hours, especially said of the evening in springtime when compared to the shorter winter days.


nutter

From Middle English nutter, notere, equivalent to nut + -er.

That bird who's hanging' out with you is mad like cat piss / Like bread and jam, or a knife going with butter / Face it son, your missus is a nutter!

2005, “Your Missus Is A Nutter”, performed by Goldie Lookin Chain:

When I asked Mr Robinson why he'd made his own attempts, he said, 'It gets to be a bug. And I suppose I'm a nutter.'

2012, Andrew Martin, Underground Overground: A passenger's history of the Tube, Profile Books, →ISBN, page 268:

(UK, Ireland, sometimes derogatory, informal) An eccentric, insane, crazy or reckless person.

kaheli

an eccentric, insane, crazy or reckless person


Tim

(slang, derogatory, UK, Ireland) A Catholic.


dogsbody

From dog + -s- + body. 1818, British navy slang (dog's body), originally derogatory reference to unappetizing pease pudding (compare dog's breakfast), as if it were made of mashed dog meat. In 20th century applied to low-ranked sailors, thence menial servants in wider usage.

Who chose this face for me? This dogsbody to rid of vermin.

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

'Cause I, I wanna be anarchy! / No dogsbody!

1976, “Anarchy in the U.K.”, performed by Sex Pistols:

That's just Baldrick, my dogsbody.

1994, Blackadder (television production):

Furthermore, there are still rather backward opinions in our society about the role of a translator. A translator is often regarded as a linguistic dogsbody.

1995, Paul Kussmaul, Training The Translator, John Benjamins Publishing Co, page 146:

(British, Ireland) A person who does menial work, a servant.


electric fire

[A] skinny blonde of about twenty sitting in an armchair by an electric fire reading a true romance magazine.

1965, James Holledge, What Makes a Call Girl?, London: Horwitz Publications, page 69:

An electric fire came next, followed by an umbrella and then a colander.

1971, Richard Carpenter, Catweazle and the Magic Zodiac, Harmondsworth: Puffin Books, page 67:

He was watching television when I got in. The curtains were drawn, and he had dug out an old half-broken electric fire; it was extremely hot.

1988, Alan Hollinghurst, The Swimming-Pool Library, paperback edition, London: Penguin Books, →ISBN, page 2:

(UK, Ireland) A fire, stove or heater powered by electricity.


twat

Unknown origin. Possibly cognate with Old Norse þveit (“cut, slit, forest clearing”), and if so a doublet of thwaite. May however simply be onomatopoeic or sound-symbolic.

uder

At 4pm, the phone went. It was The Sun: 'We hear your daughter's been expelled for cheating at her school exams...'
She'd made a remark to a friend at the end of the German exam and had been pulled up for talking.
As they left the exam room, she muttered that the teacher was a 'twat'. He heard and flipped—a pretty stupid thing to do, knowing the kids were tired and tense after exams. Instead of dropping it, the teacher complained to the Head and Deb was carpeted.

"LARGE MOCHA TO GO, MEDIUM CHAI FOR HERE, YOU TWATS"

2009, Jeph Jacques, Questionable Content (webcomic), Number 1433: Sweet Distraction:

(offensive, vulgar, slang, chiefly UK, Ireland, Commonwealth) A contemptible and stupid person, idiot.


cracker

From Middle English craker (“a boaster”), equivalent to crack (“to break, snap, utter, make a sound”) + -er. From crack (verb), the sound made when one is broken. The hard "bread" and "biscuit" sense is first attested in 1739. The computing senses of cracker, crack, and cracking were promoted in the 1980s as an alternative to hacker, by programmers concerned about negative public associations of hack, hacking (“creative computer coding”). See Citations:cracker. Various theories exist regarding the term's application to poor white Southerners. One theory holds that it originated with disadvantaged corn and wheat farmers (corncrackers), who cracked their crops rather than taking them to the mill. Another theory asserts that it was applied due to Georgia and Florida settlers (Florida crackers) who cracked loud whips to drive herds of cattle, or, alternatively, from the whip cracking of plantation slave drivers. Yet another theory maintains that the term cracker was in use in Elizabethan times to describe braggarts (see crack (“to boast”)); a letter from 1766 supports this theory.

suf

She's an absolute cracker!

The show was a cracker!

A cracker of a day.

And just before the interval, Kolarov, who was having one of his better games in a City shirt, fizzed in a cracker from 30 yards which the Wolves stopper unconvincingly pushed behind for a corner.

2011 January 15, Saj Chowdhury, “Man City 4 - 3 Wolves”, in BBC:

(slang, chiefly British, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand) A fine, great thing or person (crackerjack).


guy

PIE word
 *h₁weydʰh₁-
Coined by semantic widening from the name of Guy Fawkes (1570–1606), an English Catholic executed for his role in the Gunpowder Plot, from Old French Gui, a form of Proto-Germanic *Wido, a short form of names beginning with the element witu "wood" from Proto-Germanic *widuz, such as Witold and Widukind. Cognate with Italian Guido.

(UK, Ireland) An effigy of a man burned on a bonfire on the anniversary of the Gunpowder Plot (5th November).


alcopop

en-noun

alcopop (usually uncountable, plural alcopops)

Blend of alcohol + pop (“sweetened carbonated drink”).

blend

However, the media soon went too far in playing the story up, claiming that underage drinkers drank only alcopop (actually they preferred cheap cider).

1999, Stanton Peel, Marcus Grant, editors, Alcohol and Pleasure: a health perspective:

The breweries began to develop alcopops with names and advertising drawn from drug culture.

2003 January 23, Dave Haslam, London Review of Books:

Over on cheap flights from Prestwick and Stansted, these boys were often to be found floating trouserless in the Liffey at dawn, or staggering up Grafton Street, their T-shirts clinging to them with alcopops and spilled Sambuca.

2004 June 3, Andrew O'Hagan, London Review of Books:

(British, Ireland, Australia) An alcoholic drink that looks and tastes like a soft drink.

napój alkoholowy o niskiej zawartości alkoholu


redundant

en-adj

redundant (comparative more redundant, superlative most redundant)

more redundant (comparative)
most redundant (superlative)

From Latin redundāns, present participle of redundō (“to overflow, redound”), from red- (“again, back”) + undō (“to surge, flood”), from unda (“a wave”).

Four employees were made redundant.

(chiefly British, Ireland, New Zealand, Australia) Dismissed from employment because no longer needed.


tosspot

tosspots (plural)
toss-pot (alternative)

Well, that's one in the eye for the nay-sayers, the doubters, the cynics and assorted tosspots what make up the media and that.

2000 June 13, Darren Tackle, The Guardian:

(UK, Ireland, offensive, slang) A fool, prat; an idiot.


bint

Borrowed from Arabic بِنْت (bint, “girl, daughter”), from Proto-Semitic *bint-, used to denote a patronym.
The term entered the British lexicon during the occupation of Egypt at the end of the 19th century, where it was adopted by British soldiers to mean "girlfriend" or "bit on the side". Its register varies from that of the harsher bitch to being affectionate, the latter more commonly associated with the West Midlands. The term was used in British armed forces and the London area synonymously with bird in its slang usage (and sometimes brass) from at least the 1950s. (In the Tyneside shipping industry, particularly in Laygate, in South Shields, the term may have been adopted earlier, from the Yemeni community which had existed there since the 1890s.)

Tell that bint to get herself in here now!

Don't you remember the Crimbo din-din we had with the grotty Scots bint?

1997, Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery:

If I went round saying I was an emperor just because some moistened bint had lobbed a scimitar at me, they'd put me away!

(UK, Ireland, Commonwealth, derogatory) A woman, a girl.


BSc

Bachelor of Science
Bachelor of Science#English

(UK, Commonwealth, Ireland) Abbreviation of Bachelor of Science.


lag

en-noun

lag (countable and uncountable, plural lags)

→ Finnish: lagi

→ Swedish: lagg n

卡

(Internet) bad connection, loss of connection

(UK, Ireland, slang, archaic) One sentenced to transportation for a crime.

On both these occasions I had ended up behind the bars, and you might suppose that an old lag like myself would have been getting used to it by now.

1934, P. G. Wodehouse, Thank You, Jeeves:

He sat with his great head tipped forward, scowling with a lag's sullenness, and I swear he had closed off his hearing with his thinking and hadn't heard us coming. 'Father,' said Pym.

(UK, Ireland, slang) A prisoner, a criminal.


strewth

Minced form of God's truth. Compare zounds, blimey.

’strewth (alternative)
streuth (alternative)
strooth (alternative)
struth (alternative)
’struth (alternative)

“Strewth! Here she is,” said the salesman.

1957, Greta X (Angela Pearson), The Whipping-Post, page 109:

“Strewth,” he whistled. “I reckon that’s a complicated fracture of the right tibia.”

1971 July 1, Michael O’Donnell, “Take to the hills”, in New Scientist, page 41:

He smiles and is going to say something encouraging. Strewth! Why doesn’t he duck? His head’s above the parapet. He’s in the line of fire. Silly BUGGER! “CRACK!”

2007, Marilys Edwards, Keep The Home Fires Burning, AuthorHouse, page 187:

Nicky: 'Helloooooo?' / Sam: 'Strewth. You gotta be kidding me.'

2020, "Moments of Silence", in Taskmaster, series 10, episode 8, Channel 4, character scripts in The Smart Steak

(UK, Ireland, Commonwealth, originally a minced oath) A mild oath expressing surprise or generally adding emphasis.


fervour

fervour (countable and uncountable, plural fervours)

The early Americans, inheriting the Hebraist fervour of the English Puritans, had enjoyed a Great Awakening of religious joy.

2011, Simon Sebag Montefiore, Jerusalem: The Biography – A History of the Middle East, page 404:

Commonwealth and Ireland standard spelling of fervor.


shag

shag (countable and uncountable, plural shags)

From Middle English *schagge, from Old English sċeacga (“hair, wool”), from Proto-Germanic *skaggô, *skaggiją (“projection, bristly hair, stem”), *skag- (“to emerge, stick out, protrude”), possibly from Proto-Indo-European *(s)kek- (“to jump, move, hurry”).
Akin to Old Norse skegg (“beard”) (compare Danish skæg, Norwegian skjegg, Swedish skägg). Related to shake and shock via the root.

der

(UK, Ireland, archaic) Bacon or fat, especially if with some remaining hair or bristles.

But it is a braw elemental sphere this o' ours, for here's a good queich o' claret for ye, an' a shag o' butter-an'-bread.

1830 January 23, Ettrick Shepherd, “Dr David Dale's Account of a Grand Aerial Voyage”, in The Edinburgh Literary Journal, volume 3, number 63, page 52:

romancing Shelley between / sips of thermos tea and / yeasty shags of bread, sour-sweet, / from Lizzie Coutinho’s bakery.

2001, Ranjani Neriya, “Husk”, in Beloit Poetry Journal, volume 51, number 4, archived from the original on 2016-03-03, page 21:

(UK, Ireland, archaic) A roughly-cut or torn-off piece of bread or cheese.


shag

en-verb

shag (third-person singular simple present shags, present participle shagging, simple past and past participle shagged)

shags (present singular third-person)
shagging (participle present)
shagged (participle past)
shagged (past)

From Middle English schaggen, a variant of Middle English schoggen (“to shake; shake off; tremble”), of uncertain origin. Perhaps a byform of Middle English schokken (“to shake; move rapidly”), related to Middle Low German schokken (“to shake; tremble”). Alternatively, perhaps ultimately from Proto-Germanic *skakkōną (“to shake”), specifically continuing a post-Proto-Germanic variant *skagg-, where the non-singular stem *skag- caused the analogical replacement of the stem-final voiceless geminate consonants with voiced geminates, which was then leveled throughout the paradigm.

cog

Every time since has been a disaster. Our sex life always has been. After k.b.ing me for ages, she’d eventually let me shag her.

1994 [1993], Irvine Welsh, “The Glass”, in Trainspotting, London: Minerva, →ISBN, page 76:

‘You never got so much as a bit of tit in three months, and I shagged her first week!’

1995, Nick Hornby, High Fidelity, London: Victor Gollancz, →ISBN, page 18:

I can kick this stuff any time I like. I tell you what. Get this week over, we'll go to a health farm for ten days. No drugs. No drink. And shag ourselves silly. How about that?

1990, Michael Dobbs, Andrew Davies, House of Cards, season 1, episode 2:

“Ha! Shagging a chair is quite odd.” “Its legs were very sexy. And I know how you are, so I expected a challenge. What did you turn into anyway?” “Oh, the dowdiest mortal woman. You should have seen it.” “Oh, I would have been all over that.” “I know!”

2025 May 11, Monica Padrick, “Don Tyxote” (15:59 from the start), in Krapopolis, season 2, episode 21, spoken by Deliria (Hannah Waddingham):

(UK, Ireland, transitive, slang, vulgar) To have sex with.

I'm not pregnant! I have shagged and shagged and shagged and all the little bastards missed!

2002, Steven Moffat, Perhaps, Perhaps, Perhaps (Coupling), season 3, episode 7, spoken by Jane Christie (Gina Bellman):

(UK, Ireland, intransitive, slang, vulgar) To have sex.


elegant

en-adj

elegant (comparative more elegant, superlative most elegant)

more elegant (comparative)
most elegant (superlative)

From Late Middle English elegaunt, from Middle French elegant, ultimately from Latin ēlegāns.

'An' how are ye, Jemmie—how's every inch iv you?' enquired Moggy of the boy, when his agitation was a little blown over.
'I'm elegant, thank ye,' he answered; 'an' what's the matther wid ye all? I cum through the kitchen, and seen no one.'

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

(Ireland, colloquial, archaic) Fine; doing well.


wheelie bin

wheelie bins (plural)
wheelie-bin (alternative)

From wheelie, presumably as a variant of wheely (“wheeled”) + -ie, and bin.

Instead we switched from dustbins to wheelie bins which required equally significant investment in new bins and refuse vehicles. However because the wheelie bins were larger and easier to collect they actually increased the volume of unsegregated waste.

1999, David Rudlin, Nicholas Falk, Sustainable Urban Neighbourhood, UK: Elsevier, page 95:

You see the occasional frustrated libidinous lunatics walking along Johnson Street kickboxing at the wheelie bins and spreading the contents all over the road.

2005, John Chalmers, Byron Bay Taxis And Lunacies, page 85:

It collects waste materials, including paper, glass, plastics and metals, in the blue-topped recycling wheelie bins from more than two million households each week.

2009, James Kirby, Rod Myer, Richard Pratt: One Out of the Box: The Secrets of an Australian Billionaire, page 49:

She likes to go into town using her wheelchair. It can be difficult when people leave their wheelie bins out on the pavement and she has to go into the road to get past.

2011, Peter Beresford, Jennie Fleming, Catherone Bewley, Michael Glynn, Suzy Croft, Supporting People: Towards a Person-Centred Approach, UK: The Policy Press, page 271:

The next Monday afternoon Daryl hooked his wheelie bin onto the ute′s tow bar. He was just about to tow it up the driveway when Doris yelled out, telling him to go to the shops and grab some milk. With his wheelie bin in tow Daryl set off.

2012, John Bryant, Great Australian Ute Stories, HarperCollins Australia, unnumbered page:

(Australia, New Zealand, UK, Ireland) An outdoor rubbish bin on wheels for easier movability.


crikey

Euphemistic substitute for Christ, perhaps a corruption of Christ King. Compare criminy, cripes, crivvens. Attested from the 19th century.

crickey (alternative uncommon)
cricky (alternative uncommon)

Crikey, mate, that ain't a knife, this is a knife!

The label is based on the word “crikey” the famous catchphrase of Steve Irwin, and “core,” meaning the essential part of anything, according to dictionary.com.

2023 February 16, Erielle Sudario, “Australia gets its own online aesthetic with 'crikeycore'”, in We Got This Covered, archived from the original on 2023-11-23:

(UK, Ireland, Australia, Commonwealth) An exclamation of astonishment.


gobshite

From gob (“mouth”) + shite (“excrement”).

What's that gobshite talking about now?

That whereas for anie time this foure and twentie yeare they haue plaid the fantasticall gub-shites and goose-giblets in Print, […]

1596, Thomas Nashe, Have with You to Saffron-Walden, page 14:

(Ireland, UK, slang, offensive, vulgar) One who engages in nonsensical chatter or unwanted conversation.

LaTisha [...] left school a head-banging argumentative gobshite with no qualifications who wouldnʼt take no orders from no one

2019, Bernardine Evaristo, Girl, Woman, Other, Penguin Books (2020), page 191:

“Water Lily of the Nile. That is what they call it. It's a medicinal flower. It's a narcotic that the Egyptians used to bury with their dead in order to help ease the sufferings of the afterlife. And according to the Compendium Narcoticum, it is the only drug that helps with the pain of being a wraith. Very hard to come by. And it is said that those little gobshites will do anything for it.”

2022 July 26, William Meny & Paul Simms, “The Night Market” (23:43 from the start), in What We Do in the Shadows, season 4, episode 4, spoken by Nadja of Antipaxos (Natasia Demetriou):

(Ireland, UK, slang, offensive, vulgar) A person of very poor judgment and unpleasant character.

"You do work on the brick when you raise it. The Earth doesn’t do work on the brick as it falls."
With all due respect, that's a load of gobshite, John.

2013 July 12, Wow [username], “How Einstein's most famous equation affects you”, in Science blogs, archived from the original on 2023-11-29, comments:

Aw they were always talking gobshite as far as I was concerned, but for most bods, if it was in black and white it was true.

2015 July 6, Macart [username], “The belated truth”, in Wings over Scotland, archived from the original on 2023-12-24, comments:

(Ireland, UK, slang, offensive, vulgar) Nonsense; speech or writing that is untrue, meaningless, or otherwise unwelcome.


ciggy

“Open early and close up late, get people before work and get people after work, not just the dear bloody housewifes going out for a packet of ciggies and a chit-chat.”

2004, Alan Hollinghurst, chapter 8, in The Line of Beauty […], London: Picador, →ISBN:


piggy

(derogatory, slang, UK, Ireland) A member of the police.


gob

Probably from Irish gob, Scottish Gaelic gob (“beak, mouth”).

He′s always stuffing his gob with fast food.

Oi, you, shut your gob!

She's got such a gob on her – she's always gossiping about someone or other.

Now washing you will be like washing a goth / All that black lipstick around their gobs

2005, “Tango”, in Public Warning, performed by Lady Sovereign:

(countable, UK, Commonwealth, Ireland, slang) The mouth.


willy

Originally northern British usage, from the 1960s. Probably the simple use of a proper name as a pet name; compare dick, fanny and peter. Unlikely to be a contraction of Latin membrum virile, male member (that is, the penis), a Latin term used in English in the nineteenth century.

Little Johnny got his willy stuck in his zipper.

Everybody knows your mum is a whore / Getting 'round Piccadilly looking for willy / Punters pull up and say "don't be silly"

2016 March 7, “Road Rage (Freestyle)”, performed by Little T (Josh Tate):

(hypocoristic, slang, UK, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, childish) the penis.


quid

Likely derives from the phrase quid pro quo (“this for that”), referring to the exchange of goods/services for money.

(Ireland, Commonwealth, colloquial, historical) Various national currencies typically known by the name "pound".

(Ireland, colloquial, by extension) Euro.


lav

Please, miss, I need to go to the lav.

If you had too much slap on when you went out . . . your mates say too much slap on your ecaf. Yeah. Oh really girl? Yes . . . Go in the lavs here and have a look.

Quoted in 2006, Matt Houlbrook, Queer London (page 151)

(UK, Ireland, slang) Clipping of lavatory.


rozzer

Late 19th century UK. Etymology unknown. Possibly a play on the given name of Sir Robert Peel, founder of the Metropolitan Police Service. Compare peeler, bobby.

unk

Etymology unknown

"Another wrong un," says the carman. "Hi, Mr. Graham!"—and up walks a rozzer and buckles me tight.

If the rozzers was to see him in bona clobber they'd take him for a gun.

1893, P. H. Emerson, Signor Lippo, Burnt-Cork Artiste:

‘I was never frightened of any job yet,’ he said, ‘and I'd do this job to-night if the house was full of rozzers,’ Hill pretended that he wasn't particular whether the thing came off or not that night, but all the while he kept egging Fred on to do it.

1916, Arthur J. Rees, John R. Watson, The Hampstead Mystery:

Jed Mercurio’s corrupt cop hit remains one of the best shows on TV, but surely every rozzer in the Midlands knows who Kate Fleming is by now?

2017 March 25, Errigo Angie, “Dodgy detectives, Twitter trolls and whistleblowers: Line of Duty is back”, in The Guardian, TV & Radio blog:

(UK, Ireland, slang, dated) A police officer.


gobby

en-adj

gobby (comparative gobbier, superlative gobbiest)

gobbier (comparative)
gobbiest (superlative)

From gob (“mouth”) + -y. The meaning "inclined to talk" is probably related to gabby.

(UK, Ireland, Commonwealth, slang, derogatory, said of a person) Inclined to speak in a loud and offensive manner.


gobby

In year eight, crouched in a playground cubby, she gave Ryan Glover a gobby. Brief, busy, urgent. Then afterwards, slipping it back into his pants, he said thank you.

2004, John Charalambous, Furies, Queensland, →ISBN, page 164:

He bustles me into a cubicle and locks the door.
"I'm not really in the mood for a gobby," I slur, and laugh girlishly at my joke as I unzip my fly, "but if you insist..."

2007, Joe Lewis, The Insurmountable Malaise of Man, Lulu (self-published), page 278 http://google.com/books?id=myJ8WLBqDOcC&pg=PA278&dq=gobby

Have you seen the Colgate Total ad with the female Indian dentist? Would you let her give you a gobby? I would. She has a perdy mouth.

2007 July 17, Gordon Lightfoot III , “A Question for Darkfalz (colgate total)”, in aus.tv (Usenet), message-ID <1184667039.997405.66870@m37g2000prh.googlegroups.com>:

(UK, Ireland, Commonwealth, slang) An act of fellatio.


offy

From off (“first element of noun”) + -y (“diminutive suffix”).

suffix

(Ireland, British, slang) An off-licence.


off-licence

off-licences (plural)
off licence (alternative)
off-license (alternative)

From the fact that such stores have a licence only to sell alcohol for consumption off the premises.

Rolliver's inn, the single alehouse at this end of the long and broken village, could only boast of an off-license; hence, as nobody could legally drink on the premises, the amount of overt accommodation for consumers was strictly limited to a little board about six inches wide and two yards long, fixed to the garden palings by pieces of wire, so as to form a ledge.

1891, Thomas Hardy, Tess of the d'Urbervilles, volume 1, London: James R. Osgood, McIlvaine and Co., page 40:

After six such encounters in tiny corner shops which normally complained that they were out of sugar, that the cornflakes were late in again and that they couldn't get tomato sauce for love nor money, the Captain, his head reeling, had staggered into the High Street off-licence.

1992, Robert Rankin, The Antipope, page 123:

(UK, Ireland) A shop selling alcohol for consumption only off the premises.


brolly

It's going to rain today – you'd better take your brolly.

“The young lady’s hi,” he said suddenly, holding out the umbrella, “is fixed on this here. I am well aware that it is not for the lowest of the low to carry a gentleman’s brolly, and I ask your ladyship’s pardon for the liberty. I come by it accidental-like, and should be glad of a reasonable offer from any gentleman in want of a honest article.”

1887, George Bernard Shaw, chapter III, in An Unsocial Socialist:

The only brolly that's in sight / Is the mini one that's in my drink / JD, coke and lime / This is how I want to spend my time

2010, “Hawaii”, performed by Tom Felton:

Look! The Gnome Girl believed the letter you sent and brought the magic brolly! […] Now, we just wait for the Wretch to eat her and we can finally grab it!

2023, A. C. MacDonald, Twistwood Tales (comic), Andrews McMeel, →ISBN, page 116:

(UK, Ireland, Commonwealth, informal) Alternative form of brelly.


gee

Unknown. Possibly from gowl (“vagina, vulva”), a slang term in Ireland. Compare Irish gabhal (“fork, crotch”).

The brassers, yeh know wha' I mean. The gee. Is tha' why?

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

But he'd had to keep feeling them up and down from her knees up to her gee after she'd said that....

1991, Roddy Doyle, The Van, . Secker & Warburg, →ISBN, page 65:

Lily Neary has a lovely gee and her pore Paddy got his B.A. and by the holy fly I wouldn't recommend you to ask me what class of a tree they were under when he put his hand on her and enjoyed that.

1992, Samuel Beckett, Dream of Fair to Middling Women, . John Calder, →ISBN, page 71:

And I thought, gee is certainly something that gobshite knows all about.

1995, Joseph O'Connor, Red Roses and Petrol, . Methuen, →ISBN, page 7:


shower

→ Hindi: शावर (śāvar)

→ Japanese: シャワー (shawā)

→ Korean: 샤워 (syawo)

→ Pashto: شاور (šāwar)

→ Persian: شاور (šâvar) (Dari)

→ Urdu: شاوَر (śāvar)

From Middle English shour, from Old English sċūr, from Proto-West Germanic *skūru, from Proto-Germanic *skūrō, probably from Proto-Indo-European *(s)ḱēwer- (“north; north wind; cold wind; rain shower”). Cognate with Dutch schoer, German Schauer, Old Norse skúr, Norwegian skur, Swedish skur, Danish skur, Russian север (sever).

der

You all behaved like a shower, now you are to be treated like a shower

1956, Private's Progress (motion picture)

(chiefly Ireland, UK, Australia, derogatory) A shower of shit.

It was one of the worst feelings in the H-Block, one of the worst experiences to sit and listen to somebody getting beat. Because you were totally powerless, and you would always get somebody shouting at the door, “You shower of bastards!” It was always a crowd of screws and one or two naked men in a cell. They had total control.

1991, Allen Feldman, Formations of Violence: The Narrative of the Body and Political Terror in Northern Ireland, University of Chicago Press, →ISBN, page 208, →ISBN:

(chiefly Ireland, euphemistic, derogatory, with of and an invective) Used as an intensifying pluralizer or intensifier


cutaway

cutaways (plural)
cut-away (alternative)

fraklip

the interruption of a continuously filmed action by inserting a view of something else

Thousands of hectares of cutaway are now under squares of grass and conifers, but by the 1990s it was obvious that most of the total area was suitable only for "non-productive" uses.

2002 July 10, “Cutaway bog promises new, wild landscapes”, in Irish Times, Ireland:

This vast land-art and sculpture park is on a former cutaway bog – “cutaway” being the term for a bog where all the commercial peat has been extracted.

2025 March 29, “‘Thanks to the bogs, life will continue. Just not ours’”, in Irish Times, Ireland:


trouser

en-verb

trouser (third-person singular simple present trousers, present participle trousering, simple past and past participle trousered)

trousers (present singular third-person)
trousering (participle present)
trousered (participle past)
trousered (past)

(transitive, British, Ireland, informal) To put (money) into one's trouser pocket; to pocket.

Your aunt told him to pack Upjohn's bags, and the first thing he saw when he smacked into it was the speech. He trousered it and brought it along to me.

1960, P[elham] G[renville] Wodehouse, chapter XIX, in Jeeves in the Offing, London: Herbert Jenkins, →OCLC:

Barr, 34, trousered the money from the pub in Lugton, Ayrshire, between January 2016 and February 2018.

2021 September 7, “Greedy pub worker’s assets targeted after he’s convicted of £40,000 embezzlement: Graham Barr trousered over £35,000 while working at the Canny Man in Lugton”, in Daily Record:

(transitive, British, Ireland, informal) To secretively steal (an item or money) for personal use.

Politicians know how to look after themselves. Derry Irvine, Blair’s old boss, trousered a pension fund worth £2.3 million after just five years as Lord Chancellor - all courtesy of the tax payer.

2010, Richard Littlejohn, Littlejohn’s Britain, page 348:

2021 July 14, “Towns trouser cash as billions earmarked for ‘levelling up’ in U.K.”, in The Guardian:

Andy Prendergast, national secretary of the GMB union, said: “To see the boss of Shell trouser more than £6million while bills are crippling families and countries scrabble around trying to ditch Russian gas is abhorrent.

2022 March 10, “Shell boss earns £6.3million in a year as households and motorists face cost of living crisis”, in Mirror:

The founder and boss of CMC Markets is set to trouser £20million via the company’s dividend payments, even as the group’s profits and revenue fall.

2022 June 9, “CMC Market boss and House of Lords member Peter Cruddas set for bumper dividend as trading platform’s profits and revenue slide”, in thisismoney.co.uk:

Worse still, the driving motivation for all too many of the bosses of water companies appears to be not to improve the environment or to secure London’s water supply but rather to trouser obscene salaries and bonuses

2022 July 4, Feargal Sharkey, “Our taps could run dry and greedy bosses should be prosecuted, writes FEARGAL SHARKEY”, in Daily Mail:

The whopping sum will now be up for grabs on Tuesday when punters will have another chance to trouser the lifechanging amount.

2022 July 17, “LUCKY NUMBERS Euromillions - £191million jackpot rolls over AGAIN with whopping cash prize up for grabs on Tuesday”, in The Sun:

A small piece of the Stone of Destiny broke off during the operation at Westminster Abbey — and Ian's son, Jamie Hamilton, still has it. / "My father had the presence of mind to trouser it and got it set in a brooch, and gave the brooch to my mother," Jamie says.

2022 November 7, Marc Fennell, Rosanna Ryan, “When England invaded Scotland, the Stone of Destiny was stolen. Centuries later, four Scots stole it back”, in Australian Broadcasting C RN:

As an example, in the final three months of 2022 (usually a fallow period for airlines), Ryanair trousered a comfortable £222 million in profits - essentially £2m per day.

2023 April 19, Christian Wolmar, “We need a cross-party transport policy that supports net zero”, in RAIL, number 981, page 34:

(transitive, British, Ireland, informal) To take and keep (something, especially money, that is not one's own); to pocket.


bate

What bate are you on now = where are you going and why ? The dog is on some bate = is finding or following a scent.


bock

Bock that.


bumble

* Verb: Frequentative of boom and/or bum, equivalent to bum + -le.
* Noun: From the verb.

(UK, Ireland, dialect) A Eurasian bittern.


dote

en-noun

dote (countable and uncountable, plural dotes)

dotes (plural)
doat (alternative obsolete)

The verb is derived from Middle English doten, from Middle Low German doten (“to be foolish”) or Middle Dutch doten (“to be silly”). Doublet of doit (Scottish English).
The noun in the sense of "imbecile" is derived from Middle English dote (“simpleton”), itself from doten (see above). The noun in the sense of "darling" and "decay" is derived from the modern verb.

der

But to be sure baby was as good as gold, a perfect little dote in his new fancy bib.

1922 February, James Joyce, “[13]”, in Ulysses, Paris: Shakespeare and Company, […], →OCLC:

(countable, Ireland) A darling, a cutie.


ere

'Ere bit o' bacon in it, Kathleen?

(chiefly Ireland, informal) A contraction of is, there, and the indefinite article. Mainly used in questions.


hob

Related to hub, but the ultimate origin of both words is obscure.

And the first sound in the house was the bang, bang of the poker against the raker, as Morel smashed the remainder of the coal to make the kettle, which was filled and left on the hob, finally boil.

1913, D[avid] H[erbert] Lawrence, chapter 2, in Sons and Lovers, London: Duckworth & Co. […], →OCLC:

(UK, Ireland, Commonwealth) The top cooking surface on a cooker; a cooktop. It typically comprises several cooking elements (often four), also known as 'rings'.


jakes

en-noun

jakes (usually uncountable, plural jakeses)

jakeses (plural)
jacks (alternative)
jacques (alternative)
jakes's (alternative)
jakeses (alternative)

From Middle English Jake (variant of “Jack”) or Jakke (variant of “Jacques” and “Jack”). Use as a place to urinate and defecate first attested in the form jacques. Compare terms such as US slang Cousin John and Quincy, used as euphemistic personifications the speaker was "visiting".

My lord, if you’ll give me leave, I will tread this unbolted villain into mortar and daub the walls of a jakes with him.

c. 1603–1606, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of King Lear”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene ii]:

[…] Whereas the Truth-finder, having raked out that Jakes his own Mind, and being there capable of tracing no Ray of Divinity, nor any thing virtuous, or good, or lovely, or loving, very fairly, honestly, and logically concludes, that no such things exist in the whole Creation.

1749, Henry Fielding, chapter 1, in The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, volume (please specify |volume=I to VI), London: A[ndrew] Millar, […], →OCLC, book VI, page 269:

And the treasures of the floor and walls went raw into the jakeses from my brush and dustpan: sludges, geodes, hair, dead insects and arachnidae, a rubber glove and tainted paper waste, a mouse's skull and tail, a set of used plasters, […]

1994, Derek Beaven, Newton’s Niece, Fourth Estate, published 1999, page 8:

(now chiefly Ireland) A place to urinate and defecate: an outhouse or lavatory.


kern

From Middle English kerne, from Middle Irish ceithern. Doublet of quaternion.

Yet it was held that the testimony of the common beadle of the parish, an officer of police, a vulgar, stupid kern, who stood before your own eyes, a very dolt to look on, in all the stark-staring hebetude of just wit enough to be spiteful—was to be credited as to the sense and meaning of an oration, his understanding was to be respected, and his representation trusted, where the Lord Chief Justice of England was in error.

1828, R. Carlile, “Judgment of the Court of King's Bench on the Reverend Robert Taylor”, in The Lion, volume 1, number 3, page 170:

To think that such a lowly kern Should dare to dream to be allied By wedlock to a royal bairn!

1903, James Duff Law, Here and There in Two Hemispheres, page 105:

The kern was much puzzled, for never before had he known food bought or sold.

1921, Seumas MacManus, The Story of the Irish Race, page 671:

The garrison were certain the Irish had no suitable equipment, that its manufacture was beyond the ignorant kern, and that it could not be bought for lack of funds.

1971, Denis Main Ross Esson, The Curse of Cromwell, page 56:

Watch his impudent boldness with great men – you would not think that Essex was the premier Earl and that McGunn was the lowly kern from the boglands of Ireland.

(obsolete or Ireland) A boor; a low person.


lolly

lolly (countable and uncountable, plural lollies)

(UK, Ireland, slang, uncountable) Money.


looper

(Ireland, slang, derogatory) A crazy person; a maniac.


From Nan, pet form of the formerly very common female given names Anne and Agnes. As a nursemaid and grandmother, a clipping of earlier nana, from nanny under the probable influence of mama, also from Nan. Compare Mary.

We had my nan over for Christmas dinner.

(British, Ireland, Australia, Canada, endearing) Synonym of grandmother.


nob

Pronunciation spelling of knob.
Nobleman sense from white-nob (“white-head”) (18th century), referring to the powdered wigs used by those having or affecting upper middle-class status.

(by extension) (vulgar, slang, chiefly UK, Ireland) The penis; dick. (Also spelled knob.)

The masses have risen up and shot all their nobs.

1989, Richard Curtis, Ben Elton, Blackadder Goes Forth:

(slang, chiefly UK, Ireland) A wealthy or influential person; a toff.


nonce

1975.
Unknown, derived from British criminal slang. Several origins have been proposed; possibly derived from dialectal nonce, nonse (“stupid, worthless individual”) (but this cannot be shown to predate nonce "child-molester" and is likely a toned-down usage of the same insult), or Nance, nance (“effeminate man, homosexual”), from nancy or nancyboy. The rhyme with ponce has also been noted.
As prison slang also said to be an acronym for "Not On Normal Communal Exercise" (Stevens 2012), but this is likely a backronym.

1989 "assorted nonces, ponces and murderers, 'the worst men in the world' … on the nonce wing, where the child-killers, molesters and various perverts have to be protected from the other prisoners." (New Statesman, New Society, Volume 2, Statesman & Nation Publishing Company Limited)

(British, Ireland, derogatory) A sex offender, especially one who is guilty of sexual offences against children.

skinneri

(British, Ireland, prison slang, derogatory) A police informer, one who betrays a criminal enterprise

Shut it, ya nonce!

(British, Ireland, slang, derogatory) A stupid or worthless person.


pith

pith (usually uncountable, plural piths)

The noun is derived from Middle English pith, pithe (“central tissue of a plant’s stem or a tree’s trunk and branches; other spongy inner tissue in a plant; flesh of a fruit, pulp; inner tissue in a body; inner part of an object; essential part, essence, quintessence; importance, value; energy, force, strength, vigour; severity”) [and other forms], from Old English piþa [and other forms], from Proto-Germanic *piþô, from earlier *piþō (oblique *pittan); further etymology unknown. Doublet of pit (“seed or stone inside a fruit”).
The verb is derived from the noun (Middle English pethen (“to give courage or strength”), from pith (noun), did not survive into modern English).
Cognates
* Dutch peen (“carrot”)
* Middle Low German peddek, peddik, piddek (“bone marrow; medulla; spinal cord; inner part of a horn or quill; (figurative) core, essence”) (the last spelling rare) (Low German Peddik (“core; pulp”))
* West Frisian piid (“pulp, kernel”)

nb...

peth, peþe, pight, piþ, piþe, piþþe, pyght, pyth, pythe, pytthe, pyþe, (Early Middle English) piþa

cog

The berrie Coccum Gnidium, in colour reſembleth the Scarlet graine; in quantitie a pepper corne, but that it is bigger: of an ardent and cauſticke qualitie it is, and therefore they uſe to lap it in the ſoft crum or pith of a loafe of bread, and ſo ſvvallovv it, for feare it ſhould burne the throat as it paſſeth dovvn.

1601, C[aius] Plinius Secundus [i.e., Pliny the Elder], “[Book XXVII.] Of the Berrie Called Coccum Gnidium. […].”, in Philemon Holland, transl., The Historie of the World. Commonly Called, The Naturall Historie of C. Plinius Secundus. […], 2nd tome, London: […] Adam Islip, →OCLC, page 280:

Buck Mulligan slit a steaming scone in two and plastered butter over its smoking pith. He bit off a soft piece hungrily.

1922 February, James Joyce, “[Episode 10: Wandering Rocks]”, in Ulysses, Paris: Shakespeare and Company, […], →OCLC, part II [Odyssey], page 239:

(Ireland, Southern England, West Country) The soft inner portion of a loaf of bread.


prig

UK 16th century. Of unknown origin. Earlier noun senses ("tinker" and "thief"), as hyponyms of "undesirable person", may have informed later senses ("conceited person").

unk

unknown

These droncken Tynckers, called also Prygges.

1566, Thomas Harman, A Caveat or Warning for Common Cursitors:

(UK, Ireland, archaic, thieves' cant) A tinker.

Out upon him! Prig, for my life, prig! He haunts / wakes, fairs, and bear-baitings.

c. 1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Winters Tale”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene iii]:

Oh, why didn't he rob some rich old gentleman of all his walables, and go out as a gentleman, and not like a common prig, without no honour nor glory!

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

But a policeman captur'd the naughty boy, / And gave the goose to Smiggs, / And said he was greatly bother'd / By a set of juvenile prigs.

a. 1890, William McGonagall, The Christmas Goose:

(UK, Ireland, archaic, thieves' cant) A petty thief or pickpocket.


punter

[…] and having only peeped into a play-room at Baden-Baden when he hung on Dobbin's arm, and where, of course, he was not permitted to gamble, came eagerly to this part of the entertainment and hankered round the tables where the croupiers and the punters were at work.

1847 January – 1848 July, William Makepeace Thackeray, “”, in Vanity Fair […], London: Bradbury and Evans […], published 1848, →OCLC, page 574:

By Savernake the train was 4½min early; we then had the thrill of sweeping through Newbury at 95 m.p.h.—and one wonders if any of the punters on the neighbouring racecourse had any eyes for our flying cavalcade as we swept by, for it was a race day—[…].

1964 June, Cecil J. Allen, “Locomotive Running Past and Present”, in Modern Railways, page 387:

Punters know the house usually wins, but most have no idea that bookies sharpen their edge via something called “stake factoring”, the process by which winning customers are dialled down, while losers are allowed to bet more.

2022 February 19, Rob Davies, “Revealed: how bookies clamp down on successful gamblers and exploit the rest”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:

(UK, Ireland, Commonwealth, slang) One who gambles or bets.

She's working the streets like she does every night / Pulling in punters left and right

2007, “Suzanne”, in Paint it Blacker, performed by Plan B:

Everybody knows your mum is a whore / Getting 'round Piccadilly looking for willy / Punters pull up and say "don't be silly"

2016 March 7, “Road Rage (Freestyle)”, performed by Little T (Josh Tate):

The number of UK pubs is falling and there is less consensus about how punters should behave. Here’s a guide to getting the most out of a trip to the boozer[.]

2018 June 6, Tony Naylor, “The new rules of pub etiquette: don't flirt with bar staff or steal the glasses”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:

(UK, Ireland, Commonwealth, slang) A customer of a commercial establishment, frequently of a pub or (alternatively) of a prostitute.


sod

The Empire, in particular, was always thick with sods: they strolled side-by-side with the gay girls of the promenade, or stood, in little knots, exchanging gossip, comparing fortunes, greeting one another with flapping hands and high, extravagant voices.

1998, Sarah Waters, Tipping the Velvet, Virago (2018), page 207:

(UK, Ireland, vulgar, dated) Sodomite; bugger.

You mean old sod!

poor sod

unlucky sod

You silly sod.

(UK, Ireland, slang, mildly derogatory, formerly considered vulgar) A person; often qualified with an adjective.

I don’t care a sod.

(UK, Ireland, mildly vulgar) Any trifling amount, a bugger, a damn, a jot.


sod

(UK, Ireland, vulgar) expression of surprise, contempt, outrage, disgust, boredom, frustration.


sod

en-verb

sod (third-person singular simple present sods, present participle sodding, simple past and past participle sodded)

sods (present singular third-person)
sodding (participle present)
sodded (participle past)
sodded (past)

(transitive, UK, Ireland, slang, vulgar) Bugger; sodomize.

Sod him!, Sod it!, Sod that bastard!

(transitive, UK, Ireland, slang, vulgar) Damn, curse, confound.


strop

(UK, Ireland, Commonwealth) A bad mood or temper. A tantrum.


tenner

[...] or, if you're feeling brave, a tenner. Tell your child they have a chance to win the fiver if they can [...]

2016, Rob Eastaway & Mike Askew, "Maths on the Go: 101 Fun Ways to Play with Maths", page 40:

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

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

I’ve visited Eton, there’s loads of places like it, and if that’s all you know, then you’ve definitely not had to worry about pulling a tenner out of the bank…

2023 March 5, Miranda Sawyer, quoting Jason Williamson, “Sleaford Mods: ‘The UK is like a crazy golf course – all we’ve got left are landmarks’”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:

(informal, UK, Ireland) A monetary note (bill) whose face value is ten basic units of currency. Originally, a ten-shilling (half pound) note.

tízdolláros

more commonly specified with the currency:


yoke

From Middle English yok, yoke, ȝok from Old English ġeoc (“yoke”), from Proto-Germanic *juką (“yoke”), from Proto-Indo-European *yugóm (“yoke”), from *yewg- (“to join; to tie together, yoke”). Doublet of yuga, jugum, yoga and possibly yogh.
Senses 3.1 (“area of arable land”) and 3.2 (“amount of work done with draught animals”) probably referred to the area of land that could generally be ploughed by yoked draught animals within a given time.

poikkipuu

linking or supporting object that resembles a yoke

駕駛桿 /驾驶杆

device with crosspieces used to control an aircraft

iugum

unit of land area notionally equivalent to the area a team of yoked draft animals can work in a day

[…] I missed the train home and I couldn't get any kind of a yoke to give me a lift for, as luck would have it, there was a mass meeting that same day over in Castletownroche and all the cars in the country were there.

1916 December 29, James Joyce, chapter V, in A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, New York, N.Y.: B[enjamin] W. Huebsch, →OCLC, page 212:

Senses relating to a pair of harnessed draught animals.

(Ireland, Scotland) A carriage, a horse and cart; (by extension, generally) a car or other vehicle.

These three yokes [AK-47s] we're throwin' them up to them [CIRA]^([sic]) either way…

2023 August 5, Paul Williams, quoting Gerry ‘The Monk’ Hutch, “What Hutch and Downhall said on their drive north”, in Irish Independent, page 12:

(Ireland, informal) A miscellaneous object; a gadget.

(Ireland, slang) A pill of a psychoactive drug.


champ

en-noun

champ (usually uncountable, plural champs)

From Middle English champen, chammen (“to bite; gnash the teeth”), perhaps originally imitative.

onomatopoeic

imitative

(Ireland) A dish comprising mashed potato and chopped scallions.


crater

I then had the two best tarriers beneath the canopy; this poor crater is their daughter," and he patted the dog's head affectionately.

1843, William Hamilton Maxwell, Wild Sports of the West: With Legendary Tales, and Local Sketches, R. Bentley, page 77:

She is a charming crater; I would venture to say that, if I was not her father.

1772, David Garrick, “The Irish Widow”, in The British Drama: A Collection of the Most Esteemed Tragedies, Comedies ..., published 1859, page 611:

‘Then why not stop for fellow-craters—going to thy own father’s house too, as we be, and knowen us so well?’

1872, [Thomas Hardy], “I. Mellstock-Lane”, in Under the Greenwood Tree: A Rural Painting of the Dutch School, volume I, London: Tinsley Brothers, →OCLC, part I, page 6:

(Scotland, Ireland) Alternative form of creature.


crisp

The adjective is derived partly from the following:
* Sense 1: Middle English crisp (“curly; having curly hair or wool; of fabric: crinkly, wrinkled; of water: rippled”), from Old English crisp (“curly”), from Latin crispus (“of hair: crimped, curly”), possibly ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *kris-, from *(s)ker- (“to bend; to turn”).
* Sense 2: from the above, and probably also onomatopoeic, representing a crinkling or crunching sound.
Doublet of crape and crepe.
Adjective sense 2.2.3 (“of air, weather, etc.: cool and dry”) is transferred from a description of frost or snow as “crisp”, that is, crunchy.
The noun is derived partly from the following:
* Middle English crisp (“light, crinkled fabric; kind of pastry; crinkliness or roughness of skin”), from crisp (adjective) (see above).
* Modern English crisp (adjective) (“having a consistency which is hard yet brittle”).

inh

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

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

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

I was buying some crisps and pop when there was a noisy clatter on the bare floorboards and something hit my right heel. It was a white cue ball.

2009, Sid Waddell, “Satan’s Citadel”, in The Road Back Home: The Bittersweet Memoirs of a Geordie Coal Miner’s Son, London: Ebury Press, →ISBN, page 210:

Turn you inside out and lick you like a crisp packet

2014 August 14, Joe Newman, Thom Green, Gus Unger-Hamilton, “Every Other Freckle”, in This Is All Yours (LIB166CD), performed by alt-J, London: Infectious Music, →OCLC:

As I sit in front of the TV angrily eating crisps, it comes to me. I will challenge her to a race.

2016, Neil Gibbons, Rob Gibbons, Steve Coogan, “Shirt Back On Now”, in Alan Partridge: Nomad, London: Trapeze, The Orion Publishing Group, →ISBN, page 47:

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

kale crisps    prawn crisp

When she’s not writing, Katie spends her time with her husband and two kids, and their dogs: Wotsit, the King Charles spaniel, and Skips, the three-legged rescue dog. (And yes, they are both named after crisps!)

2019, Katie Ginger, “About the Author”, in Snowflakes at Mistletoe Cottage, London: HQ, HarperCollinsPublishers, →ISBN:

(Ireland, UK, by extension) Chiefly with a descriptive word: a thin slice made of some other ingredient(s) (such as cornmeal or a vegetable) which is baked or deep-fried and eaten as a snack like a potato crisp.

lastu

thin slice made of some other ingredient(s) which is baked or deep-fried and eaten as a snack like a potato crisp


flake

en-verb

flake (third-person singular simple present flakes, present participle flaking, simple past and past participle flaked)

flakes (present singular third-person)
flaking (participle present)
flaked (participle past)
flaked (past)

From Middle English flake (“a flake of snow”), from Old English flacca and/or Old Norse flak (“loose or torn piece”) (compare Old Norse flakna (“to flake or chip”)), from Proto-Germanic *flaką (“something flat”), from Proto-Indo-European *pleh₂- (“flat, broad, plain”). Cognate with Norwegian flak (“slice, sliver”, literally “piece torn off”), Swedish flak (“a thin slice”), Danish flage (“flake”), German Flocke (“flake”), Dutch vlak (“smooth surface, plain”) and vlok (“flake”), as well as with Latin plaga (“flat surface, district, region”) and Welsh llech (“slate, tablet”). Doublet of plage.

cog

(Ireland, slang) To hit (another person).


grand

en-adj

grand (comparative grander or more grand, superlative grandest or most grand)

grander (comparative)
more grand (comparative)
grandest (superlative)
most grand (superlative)
grande (alternative)

From Middle English grand, grond, graund, graunt, from Anglo-Norman graunt, from Old French grant, from Latin grandis. Doublet of grande and grandee.

A cup of tea? That'd be grand.

(Ireland, Northern England, colloquial, otherwise dated) Fine; lovely.


hedge

From Middle English hegge, from Old English heċġ, from Proto-West Germanic *haggju, from Proto-Germanic *hagjō, from Proto-Indo-European *kagʰyóm (“enclosure”). Cognate with Dutch heg, German Hecke. Doublet of hey (a choreographic figure) and quay. More at haw.

doublet

look as if one has been dragged through a hedge backwards

Attalus[…]made him so dead-drunke that insensibly and without feeling he might prostitute his beauty as the body of a common hedge-harlot, to Mulettiers, Groomes and many of the abject servants of his house.

1603, Michel de Montaigne, chapter 2, in John Florio, transl., The Essayes […], book II, London: […] Val[entine] Simmes for Edward Blount […], →OCLC:

He then traced them from place to place, till at last he found two of them drinking together, with a third person, at a hedge-tavern near Aldersgate.

This particular wheelwright is only a hedge carpenter, without even a shop of his own,[…].

1899, Henry Rider Haggard, A Farmer's Year: Being His Commonplace Book for 1898, page 222:

(UK, Ireland, noun adjunct) Used attributively, with figurative indication of a person's upbringing, or professional activities, taking place by the side of the road; third-rate.


knacker

From Old Norse hnak (“saddle”) (whence Icelandic hnakkur (“saddle”)).

antoušek

one who separates animals for reuse — see also flayer

Travelling Community
Travelling Community

(Ireland, British, offensive) A member of the Travelling Community; a Rom (Gypsy).

(Ireland, offensive, slang) A person of lower social class; a chav, skanger, or similar.


marge

en-noun

marge (usually uncountable, plural marges)

Or probably all meals coalesced with him in an orgy of thick bread-and-marge and an array of sauce-bottles.

1958, Anthony Burgess, The Enemy in the Blanket (The Malayan Trilogy), published 1972, page 246:

(informal, UK, Ireland, New Zealand, Australia, Canada) Margarine.


molly

molly (countable and uncountable, plural mollies)

From Molly, the personal name, a pet form of Mary. In some cases it is possibly derived from mollitia (“softness, weakness”). Drug sense probably influenced by the initial of MDMA.

(now chiefly Ireland) A woman or girl, especially of low status.


pelt

The noun is inherited from Middle English pelt (“skin of a sheep, especially without the wool”); further etymology uncertain, possibly:
* from Middle English pellet (“skin of an animal, especially a sheep”), from Anglo-Norman pelette, pellet, and Old French pelete, pelette (“thin layer, film, skin; epidermis; foreskin”), from pel (“skin; garment made of animal skin, pelisse”) (from Latin pellis (“animal skin, hide, pelt; leather; garment made of animal skin”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *pel- (“to cover; to wrap; hide; skin; cloth”)) + -ete (diminutive suffix); or
* from Late Latin peletta, pelleta, pelletta (“skin of an animal, especially a sheep”).
The verb is derived from the noun.
Cognates
* Norwegian Bokmål pels (“fur; fur coat”)
* Norwegian Nynorsk pels (“fur; fur coat”)

cog

Put on your dress, ye shameless witch, standin' there in your pelt I'll take a strap to, for havin' the conceit out of you, for by your idling had lost me the sup of gin to keep the breath of life in me. Cover your scut, or I'll welt the skin off it.

1938, Norman Lindsay, chapter XVII, in Age of Consent, London: T[homas] Werner Laurie […], →OCLC, page 177:

(chiefly Ireland, humorous, informal) Human skin, especially when bare; also, a person's hair.

huid

(humorous, informal) human skin, especially when bare — see also skin

karv

(humorous, informal) person’s hair — see also hair


pelt

The verb is derived from Late Middle English pelt, pelte; further origin uncertain, probably a variant of Late Middle English pilten (“to push, thrust; to strike; to cast down, humble; to incite, induce; to place, put; to extend, reach forward with”) [and other forms], possibly from Old English *pyltan, from Late Latin *pultiare, from Latin pultāre (“to beat, knock, strike”), the frequentative of pellere, the present active infinitive of pellō (“to drive, impel, propel, push; to hurl; to banish, eject, expel, thrust out; to beat, strike; to set in motion”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *pel- (“to beat; to drive, push”).
The noun is derived from the verb.

nb...

pilt, pilte, pilton, (chiefly Southwest England, Southwest Midlands) pult, pulte

der

[T]he cripple, in falling, gave him ſuch a good pelt on the head vvith his crutch, that the blood follovved.

1771, [Tobias Smollett], “To Sir Watkin Phillips, Bart. of Jesus College, Oxon.”, in The Expedition of Humphry Clinker […], volume II, London: […] W. Johnston, […]; and B. Collins, […], →OCLC, page 129:

(archaic except Ireland) A blow or stroke from something thrown.

(archaic except Ireland) A verbal insult; a jeer, a jibe, a taunt.


rag

Uncertain. Ideas about the scolding and tormenting senses being related to on the rag are only speculative.

(UK, Ireland) A society run by university students for the purpose of charitable fundraising.


reek

Probably a transferred use (after Irish cruach (“stack (of corn), pile, mountain, hill”)) of a variant of rick, with which it is cognate.


scabby

en-adj

scabby (comparative scabbier, superlative scabbiest)

scabbier (comparative)
scabbiest (superlative)

From Middle English scabby, scabbie, equivalent to scab + -y. Doublet of shabby.

The chipper was a bit scabby on the vinegar today.


serviette

From Middle English serviotis pl, from Middle French serviette.

1887, “A Member of the Aristocracy”, Manners and Rules of Good Society; Or Solecisms to Be Avoided, 1999 facsimile edition, Angus&Robertson, page 116,
She should unfold her serviette and place it on her lap. It is immaterial whether she places the bread on the right or left-hand side of the cover when taking it from the serviette.
A gentleman should do the same with his serviette and bread, placing the one across his knees, and the other at his right or left hand.

1914, Arnold Bennett, The Price of Love, 2005, Echo Library, page 40,
And then, when the meal finally did begin Mrs. Maldon′s serviette and silver serviette-ring had vanished.

Nature of goods.—Toilet paper, paper handkerchiefs, paper towels, paper serviettes and paper covers for lavatory seats, none being medicated.

1955 October 25, The Official Gazette of the Colony and Protectorate of Kenya, page 1145:

• To provide the guest with a means of wiping his/her hands and mouth, and
• To make the restaurant look attractive.

2004, Tracey Dalton, The Food and Beverage Handbook, Orchard Publishing, South Africa, page 36, There is a wide variety of serviette folds, but serviettes themselves have two basic functions

2006, K.E. Silva, A Simple Distance, Akashic Books, US, page 90,
I told them to put the paper serviettes out on the table, and look, they′ve put out the cloth napkins! Here, take these back to the kitchen and bring me the stack of paper serviettes.

Avoid the temptation to lick your fingers – a finger bowl filled with warm water is usually placed on the table to wash your fingers at the end of the meal and serviettes should be on hand to dry them.

2007, Sarina Singh, South India, Lonely Planet, page 83:

(UK, Ireland, Canada) A table napkin, now especially a paper one.


skive

en-verb

skive (third-person singular simple present skives, present participle skiving, simple past and past participle skived)

skives (present singular third-person)
skiving (participle present)
skived (participle past)
skived (past)

Probably from French esquiver (“slink away”), from Middle French esquiver (“to escape”), from Spanish esquivar (“to avoid, reject, elude”), from esquivo (“contemptuous, loathsome”), itself from Old French eschiver, of East Germanic origin, from Gothic *𐍃𐌺𐌹𐌿𐌷𐍃 (*skiuhs, “afraid, barefaced”), from Proto-Germanic *skeuhaz (“afraid, frightened”). Cognate with English shy, eschew.

der

Truancies, rather bewilderingly, have risen among children on the programme; the government hopes this is because children skive more as they get older.

2006, The Economist, Young offenders: Arrested development:

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:

(UK, Ireland, Commonwealth, informal) To avoid one's lessons or work (chiefly at school or university); shirk.


skive

Mr Smith's history classes are a total skive.

(UK, Ireland, Commonwealth, informal) Something very easy, where one can slack off without penalty.

I got the bus to school, and the driver gave me the eye, thinking I was on the skive, and I started to explain that there was something up with my head, but then I couldn't be bothered.

2007, Anthony McGowan, Henry Tumour, →ISBN, page 8:

Another school skive! I only realised this when my dentist's receptionist told me to expect a fair wait till I could be seen.

2011, Catherine Forde, Sugarcoated, →ISBN:

But at least they preserved the idea that books were important and that reading and writing were more than just a skive for people too weedy to hack at one another with swords.

2011, Ian Stewart, Jack Cohen, Terry Pratchett, The Science Of Discworld II: The Globe, →ISBN, page 202:

(UK, Ireland, Commonwealth, informal) An act of avoiding lessons or work.


slag

en-noun

slag (countable and uncountable, plural slags)

Borrowed from Middle Low German slagge, slaggen (“slag, dross”), from Old Saxon *slaggo, from Proto-West Germanic *slaggō, from Proto-Germanic *slaggô, from Proto-Germanic *slagōną (“to strike”) + *-gô (diminutive suffix). Compare Middle Low German slāgen (“to strike”), since originally the splinters struck off from the metal by hammering, from *slagōn, from Proto-West Germanic *slagōn. Compare also Old Saxon slegi, from Proto-West Germanic *slagi.
See also Dutch slak, German Schlacke, Swedish slagg; also compare English slay.

1984, Tristan Jones, Heart of Oak, 1997, paperback edition, page 260,
We never talked about that, of course; we talked about how we could find a woman in the Dilly, and if the Yanks had taken them all, how we could always resort to the peroxided older slags who hung out around the side doors to Waterloo station and did knee tremblers for the Yanks.

Which grotesque auld hing-oot will the shrivelled post-menopausal slag want tae shaft? Stay tuned.

1994 [1993], Irvine Welsh, Trainspotting, London: Minerva, →ISBN, page 252:

2002, Josephine Cox, The Woman Who Left, 2012, ebook, unnumbered page,
‘Slag! Wait till I tell Jacob what we′ve been doing – and I will, you mark my words! He′ll want nowt to do with you then, will he, eh? He′ll see you for what you really are. A cheap and nasty little bitch!’

‘[…]He was a lovely man but, when I told him I wanted to continue swinging, he freaked out and called me a slag.’

2008, Ashley Lister, Swingers - Female Confidential, page 31:

‘[…]To the lady that came in to my coffee shop today and ripped on me and my fellow employees for being too slow: eat shit, you miserable slag!’

Soph, yeah, you can't murk me / You're a slag, riddled with STDs

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

NB: All terms are usually pejorative unless stated otherwise.

(UK, Ireland, Australia, slang, derogatory) A prostitute or promiscuous woman; a slut.

(UK, Ireland, derogatory, dated) A coward.

The writers took it for granted that England, with its working class composed of slags, purple-nosed losers, and animals fed on pinball, pornography and junk-food, was disintegrating into terminal class-struggle.

1990, Hanif Kureishi, The Buddha of Suburbia, London, Boston: Faber and Faber, →ISBN, page 207:

1996, Sarah Kane, Phaedra′s Love, Scene 8, 2001, Sarah Kane: Complete Plays, page 100,
Kill him. Kill the royal slag.

2012, Danny Dyer, tweet, quoted by Alexis Petridis, "Danny Dyer: why them 9/11 slags are freaking his nut", The Guardian
Can't believe it's been nearly 11 years since them slags smashed into the twin towers

(UK, Ireland, chiefly Cockney, derogatory) A contemptible person, a scumbag.