ablet

From French ablet, ablette, a diminutive from Late Latin abula, for albula, diminutive of albus (“white”). Compare abele.

Alburnus alburnus
Alburnus alburnus#Translingual

A small fresh-water fish (Alburnus alburnus); the bleak.


aboma

From Sranan Tongo aboma, from Fanti Akan aboma (“large constricting snake”), perhaps via French aboma.

Any of the large South American serpents from the genus Boa or related genera.

боа-удушвач

any of several large South American serpents


aardwolf

en-noun

aardwolf (plural aardwolves or aardwolfs)

Today the only dog-like hyena is Africa’s termite-eating aardwolf.

2018, Tim Flannery, Europe: A Natural History, page 108:

A nocturnal, insectivorous mammal, Proteles cristatus, of southern and eastern Africa, related to and resembling the hyena.


acanthopterygian

/ˌæk.ænˌθɑp.təˈɹɪd͡ʒ.i.n̩/

From New Latin, from acanthus (“thorn”), (from Ancient Greek ἄκανθος (ákanthos)) + Ancient Greek πτερύγιον (pterúgion) diminutive of πτέρυξ (ptérux, “wing, fin”), from πτερόν (pterón, “feather, wing”).

(zoology) Any fish of the superorder Acanthopterygii.

acanthoptérygien

any fish of the superorder Acanthopterygii


accipitrine

en-adj

accipitrine (comparative more accipitrine, superlative most accipitrine)

more accipitrine (comparative)
most accipitrine (superlative)

* accipiter + -ine
* Compare French accipitrin

(ornithology) Like or belonging to the Accipitres; raptorial; hawklike.


raptor

From Middle English raptour, from Latin raptor (“kidnapper, thief”).


accipiter

(ornithology) Any hawk of the genus Accipiter.

(ornithology) Any hawk formerly classified in the genus Accipiter, such as Tachyspiza and Astur.

(medicine, surgery) A bandage applied over the nose, resembling the claw of a hawk.


aardvark

Borrowed from Afrikaans aardvark (obsolete), erdvark, from aarde (“earth”, from Middle Dutch aerde) + vark (“pig”, from Middle Dutch varken). Early European colonists in South Africa noticed that the animal was similar to a pig, while aarde hints at the animal's habit of burrowing.

af

from Middle Dutch <i class="Latn mention" lang="dum">aerde</i>

from Middle Dutch <i class="Latn mention" lang="dum">varken</i>

The aardvark burrows in the ground and feeds mostly on termites, which it catches with its long, slimy tongue.

If ‘aardvark lover’ has that syntactic structure, then it determinately means “lover of aardvarks.

2007 August 15, Wayne A. Davis, “Replies to Green, Szabó, Jeshion, and Siebel”, in Philosophical Studies, volume 137, number 3, →DOI:

Orycteropus afer
Orycteropus afer#Translingual

The nocturnal, insectivorous primarily eating ants and termites, burrowing, mammal Orycteropus afer, of the order Tubulidentata, somewhat resembling a pig, common in some parts of sub-Saharan Africa.

oρυκτερόπους m (orykterópous, literally “"Digging/Mining Feet"”)

خوک خاکی (xuk-e xâki, literally “earth pig”)


Abyssinian

A short-haired domestic cat descended from cats of ancient Egypt making it one of the oldest breeds in the world; Abyssinian cat.


acceptance

en-noun

acceptance (countable and uncountable, plural acceptances)

* First attested in 1574. From Middle French acceptance, from Old French accepter (“accept”). Equivalent to accept + -ance.

(horse racing, Australia, New Zealand, plural only) A list of horses accepted as starters in a race.


raven

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-raven (not bird).wav

From Middle English ravene, ravine, from Old French raviner (“rush, seize by force”), itself from ravine (“rapine”), from Latin rapīna (“plundering, loot”), itself from rapere (“seize, plunder, abduct”).


taghairm

en-noun

taghairm (usually uncountable, plural taghairms)

Borrowed from Scottish Gaelic taghairm, from Old Irish togairm, from Proto-Celtic *to-garrman, from Proto-Indo-European *ǵh₂r̥-smn̥, from *ǵeh₂r- (“to call, to shout”); compare Irish toghairm (“an invocation, a summons”), from gairm, gair (“to call; to invoke”), ultimately from the same Proto-Indo-European roots.
The Encyclopædia Britannica (3rd ed., 1797) suggests a derivation from Scottish Gaelic ta (“a ghost, a spirit”) + gairm (“to call, to cry”), while the editor of an 1871 edition of Sir Walter Scott’s The Lady of the Lake suggested tarbh (“a bull”) or targair (“to foretell”). These etymologies are no longer to be taken seriously.

cog

There were different kinds of taghairm, of which one was very lately practiſed in Sky. The diviner covered himſelf with a cow's hide, and repaired at night to ſome deep-ſounding cave, whither the perſon who conſulted him followed ſoon after without any attendants. At the mouth of the cave he propoſed aloud the queſtions of which he wanted ſolutions; and the man within pronounced the reſponſes in a tone of voice ſimilar to that which the obs, or pretended dæmons of antiquity, gave from beneath the ground their oracular anſwers. That in the latter days of taghairm the Gaelic diviners pretended to evocate ghoſts, and from them to extort ſolutions of difficulties propoſed, we have no poſitive evidence; […]

1797, “NECROMANCY”, in Encyclopædia Britannica; or, A Dictionary of Arts, Sciences, and Miscellaneous Literature; [...] In Eighteen Volumes, 3rd greatly enlarged edition, volume XII, Edinburgh: Printed for A[ndrew] Bell and C[olin] Macfarquhar, →OCLC, page 787, column 2:

[page 146] [L]ast evening-tide / Brian an augury hath tried, / Of that dread kind which must not be / Unless in dread extremity, / The Taghairm called; by which, afar, / Our sires foresaw the events of war. / Duncraggan's milk-white bull they slew, […] [page lxv] Notes to Canto Fourth. Note I. […] The Highlanders, like all rude people, had various superstitious modes of enquiring into futurity. One of the most noted was the Taghairm, mentioned in the text. A person was wrapped in the skin of a newly slain bullock, and deposited beside a water-fall, or at the bottom of a precipice, or in some other strange, wild, and unusual situation, where the scenery around him suggested nothing but objects of horror. In this situation he revolved in his mind the question proposed, and whatever was impressed upon him by his exalted imagination, passed for the inspiration of the disembodied spirits, who haunt these desolate recesses.

1810, Walter Scott, “Canto IV. The Prophecy.”, in The Lady of the Lake; […], Edinburgh: […] [James Ballantyne and Co.] for John Ballantyne and Co.; London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, and Orme, and William Miller, →OCLC, stanza IV, pages 146 and lxv:

A country where such traditions could pass current, and in which more unfortunate creatures, perhaps, passed to death through the torturing fire for the imaginary crime of witchcraft under laws framed and administered in the spirit of Moloch himself, then suffered on the same accursed account in any region of similar extent, was a soil well calculated to cherish the Taghairm and Second Sight. […] Those who slept on the skin of the sacrificial lamb at the temple of Amphiaraus, expectant of visions, were, in truth, trying the augury of the Taghairm; […]

1844 December, Gideon Shaddoe, “Recollections and Reflections of Gideon Shaddoe, Esq. No. VI.”, in [Thomas Hood], editor, Hood's Magazine and Comic Miscellany, volume II, number XII, London: Published for the proprietors, by H. Renshaw, 356. Strand; and sold by all booksellers, →OCLC, page 603:

In the taghairm the seer was bound in an animal's hide and left by the waters, the spirits of which inspired his dreams[…]. The hide was probably that of a sacrificial animal.

1911, J[ohn] A[rnott] MacCulloch, “CELTS”, in James Hastings, editor, Encyclopædia of Religion and Ethics, volumes III (Burial–Confessions), New York, N.Y.: Charles Scribner's Sons; London: T. & T. Clark, →OCLC, page 300, column 2:

(historical, Scotland) An ancient divination method of the Highland Scots involving animal sacrifice.

A method of divination involving wrapping a person in the hide of a freshly-killed ox which was then placed beside a waterfall or other desolate place, to enable the person to foresee the outcome of an impending battle; the oracle of the hide.


Polish

Vinokur pulled the trigger a second and third time. "You're lying, you Polish cunt!" he screamed.

2007, Elazar Barkan, Elizabeth A. Cole, Kai Struve, Shared History, Divided Memory, page 287:

As we mentioned the only chemical used in Polish meats or sausages was potassium nitrate even though the list of food additives allowed in Europe was long and impressive.

2009, Stanley Marianski, Adam Marianski, Miroslaw Gebarowski, Polish Sausages: Authentic Recipes and Instructions, page 13:

Of, from or native to Poland, or relating to the Polish language.

pollanda

relating to inhabitants of Poland; citizens

პოლონური

relating to everything except the people


feist

en-noun

feist (countable and uncountable, plural feists)

Earliest sense is “fart”, and later “stink” as abbreviation for fysting cur “stinking dog” (1520s). From Middle English fysten (mid-15th century), from Old English. Cognate with Middle Dutch veest and Dutch vijst. Possibly from Proto-Germanic *fistiz (“a fart”), presumably from Proto-Indo-European *pesd-, though this is disputed.
One explanation for the association of farting with small dogs is given in an 1811 slang dictionary, which suggests that the dogs were blamed for farting, specifically defining fice as “a small windy escape backwards, more obvious to the nose than ears; frequently by old ladies charged on their lap-dogs.”
Cognate terms include German Fist (“soft fart”), Danish fise (“to blow, to fart”) and Middle English askefise (“bellows”, literally “fire-blower, ash-blower”), from Old Norse; originally “a term of reproach among northern nations for an unwarlike fellow who stayed at home in the chimney corner”.

cog

(US, countable) A small, snappy, belligerent mixed-breed dog; a feist dog.

(vulgar) Silent (but pungent) flatulence.


eagle

From Middle English egle, from Anglo-Norman egle, from Old French aigle, from Latin aquila. Displaced native Middle English ern, earn, arn, from Old English earn (“eagle”). More at erne.

(US, numismatics, historical) A gold coin with a face value of ten dollars, formerly used in the United States.


elephant

en-noun

elephant (countable and uncountable, plural elephants)

→ Hawaiian: ʻelepani

→ Maori: arewhana

→ Tokelauan: elefane

→ Tongan: ʻelefanite

→ Welsh: eliffant

From Middle English elefant, elefaunt, from Old French elefant, elefan, olifant, re-latinized in Middle French as elephant, from Latin elephantus, from Ancient Greek ἐλέφᾱς (eléphās) (gen. ἐλέφαντος (eléphantos)). Believed to be derived from an Afroasiatic form such as Proto-Berber *eḷu (“elephant”) (compare Tamahaq êlu, Tamasheq alu) or Egyptian ꜣbw (“elephant; ivory”). More at ivory. Replaced Middle English olifant (from the aforementioned Old French form, from Vulgar Latin *olifantus), which replaced Old English elpend (“elephant”).

elephant trunk

Pachypodium namaquanum or Agave attenuata

elephant tortoise

Testudo gigantea or Testudo elaphantopus

elephant yam

Amorphophallus konjac or Amorphophallus paeoniifolius

Most Exalted Order of the White Elephant

(paper, printing) Synonym of elephant paper


mammal

From Modern Latin Mammalia, coined 1758 by Linnaeus for the class of mammals, from neuter plural of Late Latin mammalis (“of the breast”), from Latin mamma (“breast”), perhaps cognate with mamma (mother).

An animal of the class Mammalia, characterized by being warm-blooded, having hair and producing milk with which to feed its young.


nigger

Sranan Tongo: nengre

Aukan: nengee

Saramaccan: në́ngë

Probably immediately from French nègre or Spanish and Portuguese negro (“a black African”); ultimately from Latin niger (“black”), thus a doublet of negro and noir. Compare Danish nigger, Swedish nigger, German Nigger, Dutch nikker. First use appears c. 1577, in the writings of Edward Hellowes (fl. 1574–1601). The expected Modern English pronunciation would be with /iː/; compare neger. The modern pronunciation with /ɪ/ may be due to influence from the Latin etymon (compare the older Southern US pronunciation of negro with /ɪ/), but compare the dialectal American pronunciations of eagle and eager as /ˈɪɡəl/ and /ˈɪɡɚ/.

чёрный

note: негр m (negr) and негритя́нка f (negritjánka) are neutral terms

حبشی

offensive if intended otherwise 'Male Ethiopian/Abyssian'

حبشن

offensive if intended otherwise 'Female Ethiopian/Abyssinian'

To this group belongs the nigger, or black caterpillar of the turnip, which is often in sufficient numbers to do much mischief.

(now offensive) Any of various dark animals:

(archaic) The larva of the turnip sawfly, an agricultural pest.

Well, it's a big heavy line, and you operate the nigger — capstan it's also called — by steam. You wrap your line around that and keep taking in the slack, and that draws up them things.

(archaic, US) A steam-capstan on some Mississippi river boats, used to haul the boat over bars and snags by a rope fastened to a tree on the bank.


pie

pie (countable and uncountable, plural pies)

→ Bulgarian: пай (paj)

→ Cantonese: 批 (pai¹)

→ Finnish: pai

→ Hebrew: פַּאי

→ Japanese: パイ

desc

→ Kashubian: paja (Canada, United States)

→ Korean: 파이 (pai)

→ Malay: pai

→ Persian: پای (pây)

→ Scottish Gaelic: pàidh

→ Spanish: pay

→ Swedish: paj

→ Tok Pisin: pai

→ Welsh: pei

→ Yiddish: פּײַ (pay)

From Middle English pye, pie, pey, perhaps from Old English *pīe (“pastry”) (compare Old English pīe, pēo (“insect, bug”)), attested in early Middle English piehus (“bakery”, literally “pie-house”) c. 1199. Relation to Medieval Latin pica, pia (“pie, pastry”) is unclear, as there are no similar terms found in any Romance languages; therefore, like Irish pióg (“pie”), the Latin term may have been simply borrowed from the English.
Some sources state the word comes from Latin pīca (“magpie, jay”) (from the idea of the many ingredients put into pies likened to the tendency of magpies to bring a variety of objects back to their nests), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *(s)peyk- (“woodpecker; magpie”), though this has its controversies. However, if so, then it is a doublet of pica.

der

The family had steak and kidney pie for dinner and cherry pie for dessert.

SATURNINUS: Go fetch them hither to us presently.
TITUS: Why, there they are, both baked in that pie,
Whereof their mother daintily hath fed,
Eating the flesh that she herself hath bred.

c. 1588–1593 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Lamentable Tragedy of Titus Andronicus”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene iii]:

A type of pastry that consists of an outer crust and a filling. (Savory pies are more popular in the UK and sweet pies are more popular in the US, so "pie" without qualification has different connotations in these dialects.)

A paper plate covered in cream, shaving foam or custard that is thrown or rubbed in someone’s face for comical purposes, to raise money for charity, or as a form of political protest; a custard pie; a cream pie.


pie

From Middle English pye, from Old French pie, from Latin pīca, feminine of pīcus (“woodpecker”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)peyk- (“woodpecker; magpie”). Cognate with speight. Doublet of pica.


fiscal

From Middle French fiscal, from Latin fiscus (“treasury”) – see fiscus and fisc.

Procurator fiscal
procurator fiscal#English

(Scots law) Procurator fiscal, a public prosecutor.


mardo

A small, mouselike, marsupial, Antechinus flavipes, of Australia.


cod

From Middle English cod, codde, of uncertain origin:
* Oldest English form cotfich as a surname in the 13th century; for more see cot (“chamber, cottage”).
* A bag or pouch, related to its bloated shape; see Etymology 2 below.
* From Latin gadus, from Ancient Greek γάδος (gádos, “fish”) with a possible pre-Greek or Semitic origin; for more see Atargatis, Cetus, and κῆτος (kêtos).

haddock

not closely related fish marketed as cod

Sea fish of the genus Gadus generally, inclusive of Pacific cod (Gadus macrocephalus) and Greenland cod (Gadus ogac or Gadus macrocephalus ogac).

ogac

other Gadus spp., esp. Pacific cod; Greenland cod

Melanogrammus aeglefinus
Melanogrammus aeglefinus#Translingual

Merlangius merlangus
Merlangius merlangus#Translingual

Sea fish of the family Gadidae which are sold as "cod", as haddock (Melanogrammus aeglefinus) and whiting (usually Merlangius merlangus).

(informal, usually with qualifiers) Other not closely related fish which are similarly important to regional fisheries, as the hapuku and cultus cod.

(informal, usually with qualifiers) Other not closely related fish which resemble the Atlantic cod, as the rock cod (Lotella rhacina) and blue cod (Parapercis colias).


Cameroon

From Portuguese Rio dos Camarões (“river of prawns”), in reference to the Wouri river.

Republic of Cameroon
w:Republic of Cameroon

A country in Central Africa. Official name: Republic of Cameroon. Capital: Yaoundé. It also claims Ambazonia.


Cameroon

A sheep of a domesticated breed from West Africa.


Cameroon

Alteration of Cameron, influenced by -oon.

He fears that in downplaying traditional Conservative causes, in changing the party to be more in tune with modern Britain, the Cameroons have in effect accepted that they won't change the country much in office.

2007 March 21, Andy Beckett, “The Cameroons”, in The Guardian:

Today, I spy a coalition outrider: Nick Boles, MP for Grantham, founder of Policy Exchange and the archetypal Cameroon ultra-modernizer. I don’t think Boles even owned a tie until he was elected to the House of Commons. That’s how much of a Cameroon the man is.

2010 September 13, Iain Martin, “Nick Boles: The Coalition’s Cameroon Outrider”, in Wall Street Journal:

Maude was a moderniser before modernity dawned in the Tory ranks, a Cameroon before David Cameron.

2012 March 30, James Chapman, “Gorgeous George and why Ed Miliband must now pray Ken Livingstone wins London”, in Daily Mail:

Mr Cameron won significantly smaller vote shares than either Theresa May or Boris Johnson. There are not many Cameroons in Britain. Outside some newspaper op-ed pages, there never were.

2023 November 13, Bagehot, “What David Cameron's return says about British politics”, in Economist:

(UK politics) A Conservative Party member with green or social liberal leanings, supporting the policies of David Cameron.


euro

The name euro was the winner of a contest open to the general public to propose names for the new European currency, and as such is technically a neologism, although it obviously alludes to the common root of geographical names for the continent Europe, derived from Latin Europa, from Ancient Greek Εὐρώπη (Eurṓpē), the name in Greek mythology of a princess, abducted by Zeus as a bull across the Bosporus. According to the official story, the term was coined by Belgian teacher and esperantist Germain Pirlot in 1995, who suggested it in a letter to Jacques Santer, then President of the European Commission.

coin

(numismatics) The currency unit of the European Monetary Union. Symbol: €

euro

euro size

euro style pad


euro

Macropus robustus, a wallaroo (macropod species).


quarter

en-noun

quarter (countable and uncountable, plural quarters)

From Middle English quarter, from Anglo-Norman quarter, from Latin quartarius, from quartus. Compare Spanish cuarto (“room, quarters; quarter”). Doublet of quartier.

cog

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

çerek

one of four equal parts — see also one-fourth

[A]t last she kicked right over the carriage pole and fell down, after giving me a severe blow on my near quarter.

[1877], Anna Sewell, “A Strike for Liberty”, in Black Beauty: […], London: Jarrold and Sons, […], →OCLC, part II, page 106:

(farriery) The part on either side of a horse's hoof between the toe and heel, the side of its coffin.

quartier

part on either side of a horse's hoof between toe and heel


Asian

From Latin āsiānus. The popular American definition referring to East and Southeast Asians collectively seems to be a shortened form of "Asian American", a term whose origins activists and academics trace back to 1968 and University of California, Berkeley (UCLA) students Yuji Ichioka and Emma Gee, who, inspired by the Black Power Movement and the protests against the Vietnam War, founded the "Asian American Political Alliance" as a way to unite Japanese, Chinese, and Filipino American students on campus. It replaced the term "Mongoloid", but still continued the racial grouping of "Mongoloid". South Asians are also sometimes called "Asian" in the English settler colonies (US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand) but rarely (if ever) Near Easterners and Central Asians. The British term exclusively referring to South Asians was due to South Asians forming a majority of immigrants from the continent of Asia in the United Kingdom.

Asiër

person from or descended from people from the Indian sub-continent

One of a supernational region within Asia

One of a transcontinental nation partially within Asia

One of a partially-recognized or unrecognized country or nation within Asia

One of a former country or nation within Asia

A person from the continent of Asia, or a descendant thereof - especially:

(US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, also International English on the Internet) A person from or with ancestry in East or Southeast Asia, occasionally South Asia.

東亞裔

person from or descended from people from east Asia


crow

From Middle English crowe, from Old English crāwe, from Proto-West Germanic *krāā, from Proto-Germanic *krēǭ (compare West Frisian krie, Dutch kraai, German Krähe), from *krēaną (“to crow”). See below.

“Ay,” put in a young man, who had the reputation of being the smartest “crow” in London—“‘fishers of men,’ as the parson says.”

1874, Marcus Clarke, For the Term of his Natural Life, Penguin, published 2009, page 53:

(now rare, slang) Someone who keeps watch while their associates commit a crime; a lookout.

A young petty officer that must have just received his “crow” (a single chevron, with an eagle over it) was showing off to several seamen.

2002, Ed Goodrich, Riggers that Dive, page 46:

The young man had been threatened with loss of his third class rank, his “crow,” the eagle in a petty officer's sleeve insignia.

2003, Jonathan T. Malay, Seraphim Sky, page 106:

(military, slang) The emblem of an eagle, a sign of military rank.


crow

en-verb

crow (third-person singular simple present crows, present participle crowing, simple past crowed or (UK) crew, past participle crowed or (archaic) crown)

crows (present singular third-person)
crowing (participle present)
crowed (past)
crew (UK past)
crowed (participle past)
crown (archaic participle past)

The verb is from Middle English crowen, from Old English crāwan (past tense crēow, past participle crāwen), from Proto-West Germanic *krāan, from Proto-Germanic *krēaną, from imitative Proto-Indo-European *gerH- (“to cry hoarsely”).
The noun is from Middle English crowe, from the verb.
Compare Dutch kraaien, German krähen, Lithuanian gróti, Russian гра́ять (grájatʹ)). Related to croak.

onomatopoeic

imitative

der

(intransitive, music) To test the reed of a double reed instrument by placing the reed alone in the mouth and blowing it.


leg up

en-verb

leg up (third-person singular simple present legs up, present participle legging up, simple past and past participle legged up)

legs up (present singular third-person)
legging up (participle present)
legged up (participle past)
legged up (past)

(transitive, equestrianism) To walk a horse on a hard surface regularly.


koomkie

Borrowed from Bengali কুমকি (kumki), from Classical Persian کمک (kumak).

When an elephant is in a proper state to be removed from the keddah, he is conducted either by koomkies or by tame males.

1807, Thomas Williamson, Oriental Field Sports:

Though on some occasions the mahouts accompany the koomkies up to the saun, yet it is safer, and generally the most sure and easy mode, for them to dismount in some contiguous cover with their blankets and ropes, leading the koomkies to the saun, towards which they proceed in the most cunning style.

1810, “Decoy Elephants Catching a Male”, in Enos Bronson, editor, Select Reviews of Literature, and Spirit of Foreign Magazines, volume 3, page 123:

The drivers remain concealed at a little distance, while the koomkies surround the goondah, as this sort of elephant is called.

1834, Frederic Shoberl, Natural History of Quadrupeds, volume 1, page 213:

The hunters rode out on their koomkies, supplied with ropes, and other apparatus, for securing their captives.

1881, Edmund Routledge, Routledge's Every Boy's Annual, page 486:

With the aid of koomkies, the captives were driven in batches of three or four into a circular stockade […]

1957, The National Geographic Magazine, volume 112, page 505:

A tame female elephant used as a decoy in the capture of wild male elephants.


book

Sranan Tongo: buku

Tok Pisin: buk
→ Rotokas: vuku

→ Chichewa: buku

→ Hawaiian: puke

→ Malagasy: boky

→ Maori: pukapuka (with reduplication)

→ Marshallese: bok

→ Motu: buka

→ Malagasy: boky

→ Shona: bhuku

→ Somali: buugga

i

possibly also from Afrikaans <i class="Latn mention" lang="af">boek</i>

→ Sotho: buka (possibly also from Afrikaans boek)

→ Zulu: ibhuku (possibly also from Afrikaans boek)

From Middle English bok, book, from Old English bōc, from Proto-West Germanic *bōk, from Proto-Germanic *bōks. Eclipsed non-native Middle English livret, lyveret (“book, booklet”) from Old French livret (“book, booklet”). Bookmaker sense by clipping.

have more chins than a Chinese phone book

why buy a book when you can join a library

why buy a book when you can join the library

(horse racing) The list of mares that a stallion will breed in a given season.

(horse racing) A list of the races that a jockey is scheduled to ride in.


sasquatch

Borrowed from Halkomelem sásq’ets (“hairy man”).

bor+

(cryptozoology) A large hairy humanoid creature of western North America.


turkey

en-noun

turkey (plural turkeys or (obsolete) turkies)

turkeys (plural)
turkies (obsolete plural)

Clipping of turkey-cock and turkey-hen (“(originally) the guinea fowl (family Numididae)”), which was imported to Europe by Turkey merchants through Turkey. The word was then applied to the larger northern American bird Meleagris gallopavo which was brought to Spain by conquistadors in 1523. This transfer of the name may have occurred because the two birds were considered similar to each other, or because the North American turkey was in part introduced through Ottoman territories, or simply to indicate that it was foreign.

like turkeys voting for an early Christmas

(countable, originally, now obsolete) The guinea fowl (family Numididae).

It was a Turkey! He never could have stood upon his legs, that bird. He would have snapped 'em short off in a minute, like sticks of sealing-wax.

1843 December 19, Charles Dickens, “Stave Five. The End of It.”, in A Christmas Carol. In Prose. Being a Ghost Story of Christmas, London: Chapman & Hall, […], →OCLC, page 157:

Meleagris gallopavo
Meleagris gallopavo#Translingual

(countable) A bird in the genus Meleagris with a fan-shaped tail and wattled neck, especially the wild turkey (Meleagris gallopavo, now domesticated).

ཏུར་ཀིའི་བྱ་དེ (tur ki'i bya de, literally “turkish chicken”)

ཏུར་ཀིའི་ཁྱིམ་བྱ (tur ki'i khyim bya, literally “turkish fowl”)

Alectura lathami
Alectura lathami#Translingual

Anhinga anhinga
Anhinga anhinga#Translingual

(countable) With a distinguishing word: a bird resembling the Meleagris gallopavo (for example, the brush turkey or bush turkey (Alectura lathami), and the water turkey (Anhinga anhinga)).

(countable, bowling) An act of throwing three strikes in a row.

ターキー

(bowling) act of throwing three strikes in a row

(countable, Australia, US, slang, dated) A pack carried by a lumberman; a bindle; also, a large travel bag, a suitcase.


gag

gag (countable and uncountable, plural gags)

→ French: gag

→ Italian: gag

→ Spanish: gag

The noun is from Early Modern English gagge; the verb is from Middle English gaggen. Possibly imitative or perhaps related to or influenced by Old Norse gag-háls ("with head thrown backwards"; > Norwegian dialectal gaga (“bent backwards”)). The intransitive sense "to retch" is from 1707. The noun is from the 16th century, figurative use (for "repression of speech") from the 1620s. The secondary meaning "(practical) joke" is from 1863, of unclear origin.

gloss

"with head thrown backwards"; > Norwegian dialectal <i class="Latn mention" lang="no">gaga</i> (“bent backwards”)

On Hacksaw Ridge, Oliver and his team of effects artisans devised gags for that spectacular flamethrower shot along with other devastating body and bullet hits, and several mortar and full-scale explosions, all aimed at communicating the reality of battle.

2016 November 3, Ian Failes, “How the King of Practical Effects Conquered ‘Hacksaw Ridge’”, in Inverse:

(film) a device or trick used to create a practical effect; a gimmick

The shallow water groups (Family Serranidae), including gag (Mycteroperca microlepis), black grouper (M. bonaci), scamp (M. phenax), and red grouper (Epinephalus morio), support major commercial and recreational fisheries in the southeastern United States.

1996, C.C. Koenig, “Reproduction in Gag (Mycteroperca microlepis) (Pisces: Serranidae) in the Eastern Gulf of Mexico and the Consequences of Fishing Spawning Aggregations”, in Biology, Fisheries, and Culture of Tropical Groupers and Snappers:

Mycteroperca microlepis, a species of grouper.


wolf

→ Ido: volfo (also from German)

From Middle English wolf, from Old English wulf, ƿulf, from Proto-West Germanic *wulf, from Proto-Germanic *wulfaz, from Proto-Indo-European *wĺ̥kʷos. See also Saterland Frisian Wulf, West Frisian and Dutch wolf, German Wolf, Norwegian and Danish ulv; also Sanskrit वृक (vṛ́ka), Persian گرگ (gorg), Lithuanian vilkas, Russian волк (volk), Albanian ujk, Latin lupus, Greek λύκος (lýkos), Tocharian B walkwe. Doublet of lobo and lupus.

the wolf may lose his teeth but never his nature

who keeps company with the wolf will learn to howl

The soft violin solo was marred by persistent wolves.


bone

en-noun

bone (countable and uncountable, plural bones)

From Middle English bon, from Old English bān (“bone, tusk; the bone of a limb”), from Proto-Germanic *bainą (“bone”), from *bainaz (“straight”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰeyh₂- (“to hit, strike, beat”).
Cognate with Scots bane, been, bean, bein, bain (“bone”), North Frisian bien (“bone”), West Frisian bien (“bone”), Dutch been (“bone; leg”), German Low German Been, Bein (“bone”), German Bein (“leg”), German Gebein (“bones”), Swedish ben (“bone; leg”), Norwegian and Icelandic bein (“bone”), Breton benañ (“to cut, hew”), Latin perfinēs (“break through, break into pieces, shatter”), Avestan 𐬠𐬫𐬈𐬥𐬙𐬈 (byente, “they fight, hit”). Related also to Old Norse beinn (“straight, right, favourable, advantageous, convenient, friendly, fair, keen”) (whence Middle English bain, bayne, bayn, beyn (“direct, prompt”), Scots bein, bien (“in good condition, pleasant, well-to-do, cosy, well-stocked, pleasant, keen”)), Icelandic beinn (“straight, direct, hospitable”), Norwegian bein (“straight, direct, easy to deal with”). See bain, bein.

cog

sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me

what's bred in the bone will come out in the flesh


chook

From Irish English chuck (call made to poultry or pigs), from Irish tsiug, tsiuc. Compare English buck buck.

Worm chickens once every three months and, if an occasional lice problem occurs, spray the inside of the chook shed with Coopex.

2005, Don Burke, The Complete Burke′s Backyard: The Ultimate Book of Fact Sheets, page 683:

2006, Judith Brett, The Chook in the Australian Unconscious, in Peter Beilharz, Robert Manne, Reflected Light: La Trobe Essays, page 329,
This little book, with its meticulous pencil drawings of chooks in mechanical contraptions and photos to show the machine in operation with a white leghorn called Gregory Peck, is evidence of both the sadism inspired by the chook′s comparatively flightless fate and the laughter we use to defend ourselves against the knowledge of that sadism.

She decided to dig her way under the fence into their chook house and had great fun running around and biting the necks of about eight chooks and leaving them half-dead and bleeding. The neighbour was furious, and unfortunately it was Dad′s birthday, so when he arrived home from work, Mum said ‘Happy birthday and^([sic]) darling. Guess what? Your dog has half-killed most of the neighbour′s chooks.

2011, Helen Maczkowiack, An Awkward Fit, page 21:

(Australia, New Zealand, informal) A chicken, especially a hen.

(Australia, New Zealand, informal) A cooked chicken; a chicken dressed for cooking.

(Northern England) Affectionate name for someone, also a chicken, 'chooky egg': a chicken's egg.


dare

The Dare is not unlike a Chub, but proportionably less; his Body is more white and flatter, and his Tail more forked.

1766, Richard Brookes, The art of angling, rock and sea-fishing:

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


kindle

From Middle English kyndel, from kynde + -el. The verb is derived from the noun form by conversion.

A kindle of kittens.


Afghan

/ˈæf(ˌ)ɡɑːn/

Borrowed from Classical Persian افغان (afğān, “Afghan”), from Bactrian αβαγανο (abagano), first attested in the fourth century CE, most likely a compound of *apāka- (“distant, faraway”), from Proto-Iranian *Hapá, from Proto-Indo-Iranian *Hapá (“away”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂epó + *-āna (“ethnic group”), from Proto-Indo-European *-nós, thus: "people from a distant land". Various scholars have proposed Sanskrit etymologies since the nineteenth century (especially prior to the 2007 publication of earlier Bactrian attestations for the word), but linguist Johnny Cheung notes that these are "extremely difficult to reconcile" with recent evidence pointing to a Bactrian source.


cat

en-noun

cat (countable and uncountable, plural cats)

Etymological Dictionary of the German Language

de:Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache

From Middle English cat, catte, from Old English catt (“male cat”), catte (“female cat”), from Proto-West Germanic *kattu, from Proto-Germanic *kattuz, generally thought to be from Late Latin cattus (“domestic cat”) (c. 350, Palladius), from Latin catta (c. 75 A.D., Martial), from an Afroasiatic language. This would roughly match how domestic cats themselves spread, as genetic studies suggest they began to spread out of the Near East / Fertile Crescent during the Neolithic (being in Cyprus by 9500 years ago, and Greece and Italy by 2500 years ago), especially after they became popular in Egypt. However, every proposed source word has presented problems. Adolphe Pictet and many subsequent sources refer to Barabra (Nubian) [script needed] (kaddîska) and "Nouba" (Nobiin) ⲕⲁⲇⲓ̄ⲥ (kadīs, “kadīs”) as possible sources or cognates, but M. Lionel Bender says the Nubian word is a loan from Arabic قِطَّة (qiṭṭa). Jean-Paul Savignac suggests the Latin word is from an Egyptian precursor of Coptic ϣⲁⲩ (šau, “tomcat”) suffixed with feminine -t, but John Huehnergard says "the source … was clearly not Egyptian itself, where no analogous form is attested."
It may be a Wanderwort. Kroonen says the word must have existed in Germanic from a very early date, as it shows morphological alternations, and suggests that it might have been borrowed from Uralic, compare Northern Sami gađfe (“female stoat”) and Hungarian hölgy (“stoat; lady, bride”) from Proto-Uralic *käďwä (“female (of a fur animal)”).
Cognates
Related to Scots cat, West Frisian kat, North Frisian kåt and kaat, Dutch kat, Danish kat, Norwegian katt, Swedish katt, German Low German Katt and Katte, German Katze, Alemannic German Chatz, Icelandic köttur, Afrikaans kat, Latin cattus, French chat, Norman cat, Occitan cat, Portuguese gato, Spanish gato, Aromanian cãtush, Scottish Gaelic cat, Irish cat, Breton kazh, Welsh cath, Cornish kath, as well as Ancient Greek κάττα (kátta), Greek γάτα (gáta), Turkish kedi, and from the same ultimate source Russian кот (kot), Ukrainian кіт (kit), Belarusian кот (kot), Polish kot, Kashubian kòt, Lithuanian katė, and more distantly Armenian կատու (katu), Basque katu, Arabic قِطَّة (qiṭṭa) alongside dialectal Maghrebi Arabic قَطُّوس (qaṭṭūs) (from Berber, probably from Latin).

pilppu

game of "trap and ball" (or "cat and dog")

nervous as a long-tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs

the cat would eat fish but would not wet her feet

At twilight in the summer there is never anybody to fear—man, woman, or cat—in the chambers and at that hour the mice come out. They do not eat parchment or foolscap or red tape, but they eat the luncheon crumbs.

1892, Walter Besant, chapter II, in The Ivory Gate […], New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, […], →OCLC:

A domesticated species (Felis catus) of feline animal, commonly kept as a house pet.

kissamainen petoeläin

member of the suborder (or superfamily) Feliformia (Feloidea), "cat-like" carnivorans

maĥairodeno

member of the extinct subfamily Machairodontinae


cat

She missed the fish diet of her own country, and twice every summer she sent the boys to the river, twenty miles to the southward, to fish for channel cat.

1913, Willa Cather, chapter 2, in O Pioneers!:

Fishing for cat is probably, up to a certain stage, the least exciting of all similar sports.

1916, M. Shults, “Fishing for Yellow Cat in the Brazos”, in Field and Stream, vol. 21, 478:


zebra mongoose

(rare) A banded mongoose (Mungos mungo).


common eland

an antelope, Taurotragus oryx, of the African savannah


white stork

Ciconia ciconia
Ciconia ciconia#Translingual

A large wading bird, of species Ciconia ciconia, that winters in Africa and breeds in Europe; in European folklore, it delivers babies.


Nelson's elk

Cervus elaphus nelsoni; a subspecies of red deer (or wapiti).


trumpet

From Middle English trumpet, trumpette, trompette (“trumpet”), from Old French trompette (“trumpet”), diminutive of trompe (“horn, trump, trumpet”), from Frankish *trumpa, *trumba (“trumpet”), ultimately imitative.
Cognate with Old High German trumpa, trumba (“horn, trumpet”), Middle Dutch tromme (“drum”), Middle Low German trumme (“drum”), Old Norse trumba (“pipe; trumpet”). More at drum.
Displaced native English beme, from Middle English beme, from Old English bīeme.

onomatopoeic

imitative

A funnel, or short flaring pipe, used as a guide or conductor, as for yarn in a knitting machine.


lesser flamingo

en-noun

lesser flamingo (plural lesser flamingos)

Phoeniconaias minor
Phoeniconaias minor#Translingual

A flamingo the Old World species of flamingo, Phoeniconaias minor, syn. Phoenicopterus minor, found principally in the Great Rift Valley of Africa, smaller than flamingos of the other Old World species.


Chilean flamingo

Chilean flamingo (plural Chilean flamingos)

Phoenicopterus chilensis
Phoenicopterus chilensis#Translingual

a species of flamingo, Phoenicopterus chilensis, found in temperate South America


Andean flamingo

Andean flamingo (plural Andean flamingos)

Phoenicopterus andinus
Phoenicopterus andinus#Translingual

A species of flamingo, Phoenicopterus andinus, native to the Andes of Chile


trumpeter swan

Cygnus buccinator
Cygnus buccinator#Translingual

The largest North American swan, Cygnus buccinator; they have white plumage with a long neck, a short black bill.


Darwin's rhea

Named for Charles Darwin, with the genus name Rhea.

A small rhea, Rhea pennata, found from Patagonia to the high Andes.


musk ox

So called because of the strong odour, or musk, emitted by the males during the rutting season.

Its ʽcore faunaʼ consisted of the woolly mammoth, woolly rhino, saiga, muskox and the arctic fox. All except the woolly rhino evolved in the northern Arctic, and all had been evolving for several million years before their modern forms appeared.

2018, Tim Flannery, Europe: A Natural History, page 205:

An Arctic mammal, Ovibos moschatus of the Caprinae subfamily of the family Bovidae, having a thick coat and long curved horns.


Chilean eagle

Geranoaetus melanoleucus
Geranoaetus melanoleucus#Translingual

the black-chested buzzard eagle, Geranoaetus melanoleucus (formerly Buteo melanoleucus).


vicuna

Borrowed from Spanish vicuña, itself borrowed from Quechua wik'uña.

A South American mammal, Vicugna vicugna, closely related to the alpaca, llama, and guanaco.


bush dog

A wild canine animal (Speothos venaticus), found in Central and South America.


bighorn sheep

Ovis canadensis
Ovis canadensis#Translingual

especially, Ovis canadensis, having large, curving horns.


black vulture

In many Latin American towns, the Black Vulture is urbicolous, throwing in its lot with humans, taking advantage of slaughterhouses, garbage dumps, and fishing docks.

2007, Amadeo M. Rea, Wings in the Desert: A Folk Ornithology of the Northern Pimans, University of Arizona Press, →ISBN, page 101:

Coragyps atratus
Coragyps atratus#Translingual

An American vulture species, Coragyps atratus, with black plumage.

Aegypius monachus
Aegypius monachus#Translingual

A north African and Eurasian vulture species, Aegypius monachus.


marsh buck

Tragelaphus scriptus
Tragelaphus scriptus#Translingual

An antelope found in forests throughout sub-Saharan Africa, Tragelaphus scriptus.


griffon vulture

griffon vulture (plural griffon vultures)

/ˈɡɹɪfən ˈvʌlt͡ʃəɹ/

A large Old World vulture, Gyps fulvus, native to mountainous areas from Iberia to Burma.


eagle owl

/ˈiːɡəl ˈɑʊl/

Any of various Old World large owls of the genus Bubo, especially the Eurasian eagle owl, Bubo bubo, that have prominent ear tufts.


handfish

handfish (plural handfish or handfishes)

An astonishing exception, however, is a single fossil of a handfish, so-named because they ʻwalkʼ on fin-like hands.

2018, Tim Flannery, Europe: A Natural History, page 69:

Any of the anglerfishes of the genus Brachionichthys, which can "walk" on the sea floor using their pectoral fins.


scimitar-horned oryx

scimitar-horned oryx (plural scimitar-horned oryxes or scimitar-horned oryx)

scimitar-horned oryxes (plural)
scimitar-horned oryx (plural)

A critically endangered antelope, Oryx dammah, living in the arid plains and deserts of North Africa.


Arabian oryx

Arabian oryx (plural Arabian oryxes or Arabian oryx)

Arabian oryxes (plural)
Arabian oryx (plural)


brindled gnu

brindled gnu (plural brindled gnus or brindled gnu)

brindled gnus (plural)
brindled gnu (plural)

The blue wildebeest (Connochaetes taurinus)


slender-horned gazelle

slender-horned gazelle (plural slender-horned gazelles)

A gazelle with slender horns adapted to desert life (Gazella leptoceros).


grey wolf

A large canid, Canis lupus, once found throughout forested areas of northern Europe, Asia and America; it shares a common ancestry with the domestic dog.


anoa

Anoas need undisturbed forest and cannot adapt to logged areas. The bad-tempered anoa with its sharp short horns is greatly feared, but in spite of this it is periodically suggested as a potential domestic animal. Anyone who has met with an anoa ridicules this idea.

1998, Jane Whitten, Tropical Wildlife of Southeast Asia, page 16:

The Celebes pig and, to a lesser degree, the anoa were the focus of the Wana's large game interests.

2000, Michael Alvard, “The Impact of Traditional Subsistence Hunting and Trapping on Prey Populations: Data from Wana Horticuluralists of Upland Central Sulwesi, Indonesia”, in John G. Robinson, Elizabeth L. Bennett, editors, Hunting for Sustainability in Tropical Forests, page 223:

They reported seeing mountain anoa trophies for sale, and also a living captive animal, in the Toraja highlands; probable lowland anoas in the Gunung Tangkoko National Park on the N tip of Sulawesi, and evidence of both kinds of anoas in or near the Dumoga-Bone National Park.

2011, Colin Groves, Peter Grubb, Ungulate Taxonomy, unnumbered page:

Either of two related species of small Indonesian water buffalo similar in appearance to deer; Bubalus quarlesi or Bubalus depressicornis.


elk

→ German: Elk (obsolete)

→ Korean: 엘크 (elkeu)

→ Malayalam: എൽക്ക് (elkkŭ)

→ Welsh: elc

From Middle English elk, from Old English eolc, eolh (“elk”), from Proto-Germanic *elhaz, *algiz (“elk”) (compare Low German Elk, German Elch, Danish elg, Norwegian elg, Swedish älg), from Proto-Indo-European *h₁élḱis, *h₁ólḱis (compare Polish łoś, Russian лось (losʹ), Vedic Sanskrit ऋश्य (ṛ́śya, “antelope”), variant of *h₁elh₁én (compare German Elen, Tocharian A yäl, Tocharian B ylem (“gazelle”), Lithuanian élnis (“stag”), Armenian եղնիկ (eġnik, “doe, hind”)), from *h₁el- (“deer”). Doublet of Elhaz.

Any of various large species of deer such as the red deer, moose or wapiti (see usage notes).

(chiefly Europe, Commonwealth) Any of the subspecies of the moose (Alces alces, the largest member of the deer family, alternatively named Eurasian elk to avoid confusion with the wapiti), that occurs only in Europe and Asia.


red deer

Cervus canadensis
Cervus canadensis#Translingual

The wapiti or North American elk, Cervus canadensis, a deer species of North America, long believed to be a subspecies of the European red deer.


snow leopard

Panthera uncia
Panthera uncia#Translingual

A large feline mammal, Panthera uncia (syn. Uncia uncia), native to mountain ranges of central Asia.


Asian lion

/ˈeɪʒən ˈlaɪən/

Panthera leo persica, a subspecies of lion that inhabited Asia.


guanaco

→ Irish: guanacó

/ɡwəˈnɑːkəʊ/

Borrowed from Spanish guanaco, from Quechua wanaku.

Lama guanicoe
Lama guanicoe#Translingual

A South American ruminant (Lama guanicoe), closely related to the other lamoids, the alpaca, llama, and vicuña in the family Camelidae.


bit

From Middle English bitte, bite, from Old English bita (“bit; fragment; morsel”) and bite (“a bite; cut”), from Proto-Germanic *bitô and *bitiz; both from Proto-Indo-European *bʰeyd- (“to split”). More at bite.
cognates
Cognate with West Frisian bit, Saterland Frisian Bit, Dutch bit, German Low German Beet, Biet, German Biss and Bissen, Danish bid, Swedish bit, Icelandic biti.

der

I trusted to the Lord to be with me; and at one of our trips to St. Eustatia, a Dutch island, I bought a glass tumbler with my half bit, and when I came to Montserrat I sold it for a bit, or sixpence.

1789, Olaudah Equiano, chapter 6, in The Interesting Narrative, volume I:

Applied to a various small units of currency and coins.

(historical) A unit of currency and coin of the British West Indies worth six black dogs, originally equal to one-eighth of a Spanish dollar but later increasingly debased to one tenth, one eleventh, one twelfth, etc.

(historical) A unit of currency of the Dutch West Indies in the early 20th century, worth one fifth of a cent.


koala

Phascolarctos cinereus
Phascolarctos cinereus#Translingual

A tree-dwelling marsupial, Phascolarctos cinereus, that resembles a small bear with a broad head, large ears and sharp claws, mainly found in eastern Australia.

koalë

a tree-dwelling marsupial that resembles a small bear


wombat

Borrowed from Dharug wambad, wambaj, or wambag. It was originally written whom-batt in English.

Any of several herbivorous, burrowing marsupials, of the family Vombatidae, mainly found in southern and eastern Australia.

(Australia, slang) A slow and stupid person; a dullard.


Welsh

en-noun

Welsh (countable and uncountable, plural Welsh)

From Middle English Walsch, Welische, from Old English wīelisċ (“Briton; Roman; Celt”), from Proto-West Germanic *walhisk, from Proto-Germanic *walhiskaz (“Celt; later Roman”), from *walhaz (“Celt, Roman”) (compare Old English wealh), from the name of the Gaulish tribe, the Volcae (recorded only in Latin contexts).
This word was borrowed from Germanic into Slavic (compare Old Church Slavonic Влахъ (Vlaxŭ, “Vlachs, Romanians”), Byzantine Greek Βλάχος (Blákhos)).
Doublet of Vellish. Compare Walloon, walnut, Vlach, Walach, Gaul, Cornwall.

cog

9 minutes to 2. We just stopped to have our horses' mouths washed, and there all people spoke welsh.

1832, Queen Victoria, journal, 6 Aug 1832


Welsh

A town in Louisiana, United States, named for early landowner Henry Welsh.

An unincorporated community in Ohio, United States, named for an early settler.


impala

An African antelope, Aepyceros melampus, noted for its leaping ability; the male has ridged, curved horns.


prick

From Middle English prik, prikke, from Old English prica, pricu (“a sharp point, minute mark, spot, dot, small portion, prick”), from Proto-West Germanic *prikō, *priku, from Proto-Germanic *prikô, *prikō (“a prick, point”), of uncertain origin, perhaps from Proto-Indo-European *breyǵ- (“to scrape, scratch, rub, prickle, chap”).
Cognate with West Frisian prik (“small hole”), West Frisian prikke (“penis”), Dutch prik (“point, small stick", also "penis”), Danish prik (“dot”), Icelandic prik (“dot, small stick”).

cog

(obsolete) A dot or other diacritical mark used in writing; a point.


prick

en-verb

prick (third-person singular simple present pricks, present participle pricking, simple past and past participle pricked)

pricks (present singular third-person)
pricking (participle present)
pricked (participle past)
pricked (past)

From Middle English prikken, from Old English prician, priccan (“to prick”), from Proto-Germanic *prikōną, *prikjaną (“to pierce, prick”), of uncertain origin; perhaps from Proto-Indo-European *breyǵ- (“to scrape, scratch, rub, prickle, chap”). Cognate with dialectal English pritch, Dutch prikken (“to prick, sting”), Middle High German pfrecken (“to prick”), Swedish pricka (“to dot, prick”), and possibly to Lithuanian įbrėžti (“to scrape, scratch, carve, inscribe, strike”).

cog

(transitive) To pierce or puncture slightly.

(farriery) To drive a nail into (a horse's foot), so as to cause lameness.

Seed should be sown thinly and evenly to enable seedlings to be pricked out without disturbing those that have just emerged. If there is space, seedlings should be pricked out individually, either into small pots or module trays.

2002 July 6, Carol Klein, “Coming up primroses”, in The Daily Telegraph (Gardening), archived from the original on 2013-02-15:

All three germinate well in pots and can be pricked out and potted on with no problems. [...] Grass seeds can be collected as the heads begin to break up. Sow them in late spring, prick out small bundles of seedlings into 7.5cm (3in) pots and transplant them in late May.

2005 October 22, Valerie Bourne, “Self-seeding”, in The Daily Telegraph (Gardening), archived from the original on 2013-11-24:

Geoff might prefer to "take control": to collect seed and sow it next spring, pricking out a few of the best seedlings, growing them on in pots next summer before planting them out in the autumn.

2015 September 21, Helen Yemm, “How to manage hollyhocks [print version: Hollyhock and elder care, evil weevils, 12 September 2015, page 7]”, in The Daily Telegraph (Gardening), archived from the original on 2015-09-25:

(horticulture) Usually in the form prick out: to plant (seeds or seedlings) in holes made in soil at regular intervals.


raccoon

From arocoun (1608), from Powhatan ärähkun, from ärähkuněm (“he scratches with his hands”).

Before a fire upon a seat like a bedsted, he sat covered with a great robe, made of Rarowcun skinnes, and all the tayles hanging by.

1624, Iohn Smith, The Generall Historie of Virginia, New-England, and the Summer Isles: […], London: […] I[ohn] D[awson] and I[ohn] H[aviland] for Michael Sparkes, →OCLC, (please specify |book=1 to 6); reprinted in The Generall Historie of Virginia, … (Bibliotheca Americana), Cleveland, Oh.: The World Publishing Company, 1966, →OCLC:

The Rackoone is a deepe furred beaſt, not much unlike a Badger, having a tayle like a Fox, as good meate as a Lambe; there is one of them in the Tovver.

1634, William Wood, “Of the Beasts that Live on the Land”, in New Englands Prospect. A True, Lively, and Experimentall Description of that Part of America, Commonly Called New England; […], London: […] Tho[mas] Cotes, for Iohn Bellamie, […], →OCLC, 1st part, page 22:

Thus we're presented with[…]a man who has the head of his penis bitten off by a raccoon, then bleeds to death in a forest.

2010 April 3, Charlie Brooker, “Screen Burn”, in The Guardian:

Procyon lotor
Procyon lotor#Translingual

An omnivorous, nocturnal mammal native to North America, typically with a mixture of gray, brown, and black fur, a mask-like marking around the eyes and a striped tail; Procyon lotor.

wasbeer

nocturnal omnivore living in North America, Procyon lotor


ask

From Middle English asken (also esken, aschen, eschen, etc.), from Old English āscian, from Proto-West Germanic *aiskōn, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂eys- (“to wish; request”). Cognate with Saterland Frisian aaskje (“to ask, demand, require”), West Frisian easkje (“to ask, demand, require”), Dutch eisen (“to demand, require”), German heischen (“to ask, request, implore”), Russian иска́ть (iskátʹ), Sanskrit इच्छति (iccháti) (whence Hindi ईछना (īchnā).

cog

African-American Vernacular, Cajun, Nigeria, proscribed

ax

alternative pronunciation until about 1600, now dialectal and no longer standard


alpaca

en-noun

alpaca (countable and uncountable, plural alpacas or alpaca)

→ Gujarati: અલ્પાકા (alpākā)

→ Thai: อัลปากา (an-bpaa-gâa)

Borrowed from Spanish alpaca, from Aymara allpaqa.

The dress was at the bottom, — it was an alpaca, of a pretty shade in blue, bedecked with lace and ribbons, as is the fashion of the hour, and lined with sea-green silk.


cow

cow (countable and uncountable, plural cows or cattle or (archaic or dialectal) kine)

cows (plural)
cattle (plural)
kine (archaic dialectal plural)

bull

antonym(s) of “female domesticated ox or other bovine”

Sranan Tongo: kaw

Tok Pisin: kau

q

from <i class="Latn mention" lang="en">cows</i>

→ Abenaki: kaoz (from cows)

→ Maori: kau

Etymology tree
Proto-Indo-European *gʷṓws
Proto-Germanic *kōz
Proto-West Germanic *kō
Old English cū
Middle English cou
English cow
Inherited from Middle English cou, cu, from Old English cū (“cow”), from Proto-West Germanic *kō, from Proto-Germanic *kōz (“cow”), from Proto-Indo-European *gʷṓws (“cow”).
Cognate with Sanskrit गौ (gow), Ancient Greek βοῦς (boûs), Persian گاو (gâv)), Latvian govs (“cow”), Proto-Slavic *govędo (Serbo-Croatian govedo, Russian говядина (govjadina, “beef”), Scots coo (“cow”), North Frisian ko, kø (“cow”), West Frisian ko (“cow”), Dutch koe (“cow”), Low German Koh, Koo, Kau (“cow”), German Kuh (“cow”), Swedish ko (“cow”), Norwegian ku (“cow”), Icelandic kýr (“cow”), Latin bōs (“ox, bull, cow”), Armenian կով (kov, “cow”). Doublet of beef.
The plural kine is from Middle English kyne, kyn, kuin, kiin, kien (“cows”), either a double plural of Middle English ky, kye (“cows”), equivalent to modern kye + -en, or inherited from Old English cȳna (“cows', of cows”), genitive plural of cū (“cow”).

etymon

the cow knows not the worth of its tail till it loses it

why buy the cow when you can get the milk for free

Colonel Red Reeder, West Point Second Classman
An assistant manager, wearing the stripes of a cadet corporal, walked up to Coach Smith. Clint knew him, a Cow from B-l. What had he done to become so outstanding that the Tacs made him a corporal?

When I was a cow (junior) at West Point, I dated a plebe (freshman), which is considered fraternization in the cadet realm.

2023, James E Parco, David A Levy, Daphne DePorres, Attitudes Aren't Free: A Call to Action, page 242:

(US, military, slang) A third-year cadet at West Point.


ostrich

/ˈɒs.tɹɪt͡ʃ/

/ˈɒs.tɹɪd͡ʒ/

/ˈɔs.tɹɪt͡ʃ/

/ˈɑs.tɹɪt͡ʃ/

/ˈɔs.tɹɪd͡ʒ/

/ˈɑs.tɹɪd͡ʒ/

From Middle English ostrich, ostriche, ostryche, ostrige, borrowed from Anglo-Norman ostrige and Old French ostruce, from Vulgar Latin *austruthio, from Latin avis (“bird”) + strūthiō (“ostrich”), from Ancient Greek στρουθίων (strouthíōn), or shortened from strūthiocamēlus, from Ancient Greek στρουθιοκάμηλος (strouthiokámēlos), from στρουθός (strouthós, “sparrow”) + κάμηλος (kámēlos, “camel”). Compare Spanish avestruz and Portuguese avestruz.

der

στρουθιοκάμηλος

(golf) The hypothetical completion of a hole five strokes under par (a quintuple birdie, quadruple eagle, triple albatross, or double condor).


jack

→ Brazilian Portuguese: jegue

→ European Portuguese: jaque

Transferative use of the personal name Jack.
(cricket: eleventh batsman): An allusion to the jack in playing cards, which follows the 10.

náłbiil bijaadbee dahnádidlohí

device for raising and supporting a heavy object

jekker

military: coarse medieval coat of defense

(obsolete) A machine for twisting the sliver as it leaves a carding machine, in the preparation of yarn.

Any of the marine fish in the family Carangidae.


tiger

→ Volapük: tigrid

→ Welsh: teigr

Canada, Inland Northern American, New England, some speakers

From Middle English tygre, in part from Old English tigras (pl.), in part from Anglo-Norman tigre, both from Latin tigris, from Ancient Greek τίγρις (tígris), from Iranian (compare Avestan 𐬙𐬌𐬔𐬭𐬌 (tigri, “arrow”), 𐬙𐬌𐬖𐬭𐬀 (tiγra, “pointed”)). Ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *(s)teyg- (“to pierce, prick, be sharp”). Compare English stick.

For with ſuch puiſſance and impetuous maine / Thoſe Champions broke on them, that forſt the fly, / Like ſcattered Sheepe, whenas the Shepherds ſwaine / A Lyon and a Tigre doth eſpye, / With greedy pace forth ruſhing from the foreſt nye.

1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book II, Canto IX”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 14, page 311:

Panthera tigris
Panthera tigris#Translingual

Panthera tigris, a large predatory mammal of the cat family, indigenous to Asia.

Coordinate term: tigress

Jim remarked irrelevantly that tigers were 'schelms' and it was his conviction that there were a great many in the kloofs round about.

1907, Sir Percy Fitzpatrick, Jock of the Bushveld, Longmans, published 1976, →ISBN, page 251:

(South Africa, dated but still used) A leopard.


tiger

From the mascot of Princeton (a tiger), which led to early cheerleaders calling out "Tiger" at the end of a cheer for the Princeton team.

He spoke with a very strong Scotch accent, and is by no means a graceful orator, but he produced througout a most favourable impression upon all his hearers, and especially upon the students, one of whom shouted as the speaker closed, 'Long Live PRESIDENT M'COSH!' and then proposed three cheers, which were given with a will, followed by the usual tiger and ' rocket.'

1868, Punch: Or the London Charivari - Volume 55, page 231:

. . . every blue coat in the audience sprang to his feet, with three times three and a tiger.

1941, Margaret Leech, Reveille in Washington:

One Brooklyn military company has a “tiger” composed of a provincial expression borrowed from the farmers. When drawled out by a hundred throats the phrase "I-wanter-know!" always produces a laugh.

2008, D. C. Beard, The Outdoor Handy Book: For Playground, Field, and Forest, page 413:

A final shouted phrase, accompanied by a jump or outstretched arms, at the end of a cheer.


Englishman

/ˈɪŋ.ɡlɪʃ.mən/

From Middle English Englishman, Inglishman, from Old English Englisċman, Englisċmon, corresponding to English + -man. Compare Old Norse Englismaðr (“Englishman”).

Fucking above your head Englishman!

2008, Christopher-Lee dos Santos, At thy Call, Dino Pappas and Ksenija Micic:

(South Africa, dated, ethnic slur) A South African of British descent, and/or whose first language is English (as opposed to Afrikaans-speaking Afrikaner South Africans).


pink

Unknown. Some lexicographers suggest comparison to regional German Pinke (“minnow; small salmon”), but this is not widely accepted.

Phoxinus phoxinus
Phoxinus phoxinus#Translingual

(regional) The common minnow, Phoxinus phoxinus.


pink

Borrowed from Middle Dutch pincke. Compare French pinque.


llama

desc

→ Chinese: 駱馬／骆马 (luòmǎ) (semantic loan)

→ Irish: láma

→ Japanese: ラマ (rama)

→ Korean: 라마 (rama)

→ Welsh: lama

Borrowed from Spanish llama, from Quechua llama.

A South American mammal of the camel family, Lama glama, used as a domestic beast of burden and a source of wool and meat.


yak

a traditional Korean flute used in court music


bongo

Tragelaphus eurycerus
Tragelaphus eurycerus#Translingual

A striped bovine mammal found in Africa, Tragelaphus eurycerus.


bongo

From United States Spanish bongó, from a Bantu language; probably Ekele boungu.

He's banging on the bongos like a chimpanzee.

1984, Dire Straits (band), Money for Nothing (song)

Either of a pair of small drums of Cuban origin, played by beating with the hands.


bongo

en-verb

bongo (third-person singular simple present bongos, present participle bongoing, simple past and past participle bongoed)

bongos (present singular third-person)
bongoing (participle present)
bongoed (participle past)
bongoed (past)


reindeer

From Middle English reyndere, reynder, rayne-dere, from Old Norse hreindýri (“reindeer”), from hreinn (“reindeer”) + dýr (“animal”). Compare Dutch rendier (“reindeer”), German Rentier (“reindeer”), Swedish rendjur (“reindeer”), Danish rensdyr (“reindeer”). Related also to displaced Old English hrān (“reindeer”). Unrelated to rein.

(plural: reindeers, biology) Any species, subspecies, ecotype, or other scientific grouping of such animals.


tick

From Middle English tek (“light touch, tap”).

(computing) A jiffy (unit of time defined by basic timer frequency).

I'll be back in a tick.

(colloquial) A short period of time, particularly a second.


deer

en-noun

deer (plural deer or (nonstandard) deers)

deer (plural)
deers (nonstandard plural)

Sranan Tongo: dia

From Middle English deere, dere, der, dier, deor (“small animal, deer”), from Old English dēor (“animal”), from Proto-West Germanic *deuʀ, from Proto-Germanic *deuzą, from Proto-Indo-European *dʰewsóm (“living thing”), from *dʰéws (“breath”), full-grade derivative of *dʰwes-.
Cognate with Scots dere, deir (“deer”), North Frisian dier (“animal, beast”), West Frisian dier (“animal, beast”), Dutch dier (“animal, beast”), German Low German Deer, Deert (“animal”), German Tier (“animal, beast”), Swedish djur (“animal, beast”), Norwegian dyr (“animal, beast”), Icelandic dýr (“animal, beast”), Danish dyr (“animal, beast”).
Related also to Albanian dash (“ram”) (possibly), Lithuanian daũsos (“upper air; heaven”), Lithuanian dùsti (“to sigh”), Russian душа́ (dušá, “breath, spirit”), Lithuanian dvėsti (“to breathe, exhale”), Sanskrit ध्वंसति (dhvaṃsati, “he falls to dust”).
For the semantic development compare Latin animālis (“animal”), from anima (“breath, spirit”).

cog

A ruminant mammal with antlers and hooves of the family Cervidae, or one of several similar animals from related families of the order Artiodactyla.


kiwi

en-noun

kiwi (countable and uncountable, plural kiwi or kiwis)

→ Catalan: kiwi

→ Dutch: kiwi

→ French: kiwi

→ German: Kiwi

→ Korean: 키위 (kiwi)

→ Polish: kiwi

desc

→ Portuguese: quivi, quiuí, kiwi (unadapted)


cock

en-noun

cock (countable and uncountable, plural cocks)

Sranan Tongo: kaka

Tok Pisin: kok

→ Thai: ก๊อก (gɔ́k, “tap”)

From Middle English cok, from Old English coc, cocc (“cock, male bird”), from Proto-West Germanic *kokk, from Proto-Germanic *kukkaz (“cock”), probably of onomatopoeic origin.
Cognate with Middle Dutch cocke (“cock, male bird”) and Old Norse kokkr ("cock"; whence Danish kok (“cock”), dialectal Swedish kokk (“cock”)). Reinforced by Old French coc, also of imitative origin. The sense "penis" is attested since at least the 1610s, with the compound pillicock (“penis”) attested since 1325.

onomatopoeic

onomatopoeic


pinky

en-adj

pinky (comparative pinkier, superlative pinkiest)

pinkier (comparative)
pinkiest (superlative)

In a pinky paper all folded neat,
And they fastened it down with a pin.


pinky

en-noun

pinky (countable and uncountable, plural pinkies)

“Here,” Nigel greeted him, “do try a spot of ‘pinky,’ it's ever so much fun, really.”

2006, Thomas Pynchon, Against the Day, Vintage, published 2007, page 262:

(uncountable, historical, slang, Australia) Methylated spirits mixed with red wine or Condy's crystals.

You may get some pinkies around the Black Rock area, but the snapper *run* is normally from late October to mid January, although it sounds like the odd adult fish is still lurking..

2001 May 3, Lindsay Vincent, “Re: snapper fishing in Victoria”, in aus.sport.fishing (Usenet):

(Australia, informal) The Australasian snapper or pink snapper (Chrysophrys auratus).


zebra

1600; borrowed from Italian zebra, from Portuguese zebra, zebro (“zebra”), from Old Galician-Portuguese enzebro, ezebra, azebra (“wild ass”), from earlier cebrario (882), ezebrario (897), from Vulgar Latin *eciferus, from Latin equiferus (“wild horse”) (Pliny), from equus (“horse”) + ferus (“wild”).
While the word was traditionally pronounced with a long vowel in the first syllable in standard English, during the twentieth century a vowel shift occurred in regions of England, with the shortening of the first vowel. This pronunciation is now used throughout the UK and most Commonwealth nations. The long-vowel pronunciation remains standard in Canadian and American English.
(unlikely diagnosis): Originates in the advice often given to medical students, "when you hear hoofbeats, think of horses, not zebras".
(referee): In reference to the black and white striped shirts they wear.

(informal) A zebra cichlid (Amatitlania nigrofasciata).


spring

en-verb

spring (third-person singular simple present springs, present participle springing, simple past sprang or sprung, past participle sprung)

springs (present singular third-person)
springing (participle present)
sprang (past)
sprung (past)
sprung (participle past)
spring (infinitive)

From Middle English springen, from Old English springan (“to spring, leap, bounce, sprout forth, emerge, spread out”), from Proto-West Germanic *springan, from Proto-Germanic *springaną (“to burst forth”), from Proto-Indo-European *spre(n)ǵʰ- (“to move, race, spring”), from *sper- (“to jerk, twitch, snap, shove”).
cognates
* Saterland Frisian springe
* West Frisian springe
* Dutch springen
* German Low German springen
* German springen
* Danish springe
* Swedish springa
* Norwegian springe
* Faroese springa
* Icelandic springa (“to burst, explode”).
Other possible cognates include Lithuanian spreñgti (“to push (in)”), Old Church Slavonic прѧсти (pręsti, “to spin, to stretch”), Latin spargere (“to sprinkle, to scatter”), Ancient Greek σπέρχω (spérkhō, “to hasten”), Sanskrit स्पृहयति (spṛháyati, “to be eager”). Some newer senses derived from the noun.

cog

Deer spring with their hind legs, using their front hooves to steady themselves.

...into helle spring...

c. 1250, Life of St Margaret, Trin. Col. MS B.14.39 (323), f. 22v

Ye kynge... sprange out of his chare and resseyuyd them worshipfully.

1474, William Caxton, transl., Game and Playe of the Chesse, iii, vii, 141:

...the Mountain Stag, that springs
From Height to Height, and bounds along the Plains,
Nor has a Master to restrain his Course...

...out on the lawn there arose such a clatter,
I sprang from my bed to see what was the matter.

1827, Clement Clarke Moore, (A Visit from St. Nicholas):

However, with the dainty volume my quondam friend sprang into fame. At the same time he cast off the chrysalis of a commonplace existence.

1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter I, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC:

Thus she advanced; her belly low, almost touching the surface of the ground—a great cat preparing to spring upon its prey.

1912, Edgar Rice Burroughs, chapter 5, in Tarzan of the Apes:

Reporters sprang to the conclusion that the speech would make detailed new commitments...

(figurative, usually with cardinal adverbs) To move with great speed and energy.

To move or burst forth.
To move with great speed and energy.


spring

en-noun

spring (countable and uncountable, plural springs)

Arlington Springs Man
Beijing Spring
Berber Spring
ColdSpring
Croatian Spring
Damascus Spring
Operation Spring Awakening
Operation Spring Cleanup
Operation Spring of Youth
Prague Spring
Spring Palace
Spring of Nations
Springbal
Springfest
The Spring Offensive
spring

From Middle English spryng (“a wellspring, tide, branch, sunrise, kind of dance or blow, ulcer, snare, flock”); partly from Old English spring (“wellspring, ulcer”), from Proto-West Germanic *spring, from Proto-Germanic *springaz (“a wellspring, fount”); and partly from Old English spryng (“a jump”), from Proto-West Germanic *sprungi, from Proto-Germanic *sprungiz (“a jump”). Further senses derived from the verb and from clippings of day-spring, springtime, spring tide, etc. Its sense as the season, first attested in a work predating 1325, gradually replaced Middle English lente, lentin, from Old English lencten (“spring, Lent”) as that word became more specifically liturgical. Compare fall.

ааԥын

season between winter and summer in temperate climates

Heav'ns what a spring was in his Arm, to throw:
How high he held his Shield, and rose at ev'ry blow!

1697, John Dryden, Virgil's Aeneis, Bk. xi, ll. 437–8

Mrs Durbeyfield, excited by her song, trod the rocker with all the spring that was left in her after a long day's seething in the suds.

1891, Thomas Hardy, Tess of the d'Urbervilles, volume 1, London: James R. Osgood, McIlvaine and Co., page 30:

(uncountable) Springiness: an attribute or quality of springing, springing up, or springing back, particularly


orang

To judge from its sinuses, Hispanopithecus crusafonti is the earliest known hominine (the group including all great apes except orangs).

2018, Tim Flannery, Europe: A Natural History, page 115:


quail

en-verb

quail (third-person singular simple present quails, present participle quailing, simple past and past participle quailed)

quails (present singular third-person)
quailing (participle present)
quailed (participle past)
quailed (past)

From Middle English quaylen, from Middle Dutch queilen, quēlen, from Old Dutch *quelan, from Proto-West Germanic *kwelan, from Proto-Germanic *kwelaną (“to suffer”). Doublet of queal.

(intransitive) To waste away; to fade, to wither.


quail

en-noun

quail (countable and uncountable, plural quails or quail)

From Middle English quayle, quaile, quaille, from Anglo-Norman quaille, from Late Latin quaccola (“quail”).
(prostitute): So called because the quail was thought to be a very amorous bird.

Quail require little water, so there is no point to putting in a guzzler if there is any permanent water within travel range.

1954, Wildlife Review, numbers 75-83, page 44:

Any of various small game birds of the genera Coturnix, Anurophasis or Perdicula in the Old World family Phasianidae or of the New World family Odontophoridae.


hammerkop

From Afrikaans hamerkop, from hamer (“hammer”) + kop (“head”).

Scopus umbretta
Scopus umbretta#Translingual

A bird from southern Africa, Scopus umbretta, of the family Scopidae and related to the herons.


kangaroo

desc

→ Arabic: كَنْغَر (kanḡar), كنقر (kangar, kanqar), قنغر (qangar), كنجر (kangar), قنقر (qanqar)

→ Bengali: ক্যাঙ্গারু (kêṅgaru)

desctree

→ Dutch: kangoeroe
→ Indonesian: kanguru

→ Danish: kænguru

→ Estonian: känguru

→ French: kangourou (see there for further descendants)

→ Finnish: kenguru

→ Georgian: კენგურუ (ḳenguru)

→ German: Känguru, Känguruh (superseded)
→ Luxembourgish: Känguru
→ Serbo-Croatian:
Cyrillic script: кенгур
Latin script: kengur

→ Greek: καγκουρό (kagkouró)

→ Hebrew: קֶנְגּוּרוּ (kénguru)

→ Hindi: कंगारू (kaṅgārū)

→ Hungarian: kenguru

→ Italian: canguro

→ Japanese: カンガルー (kangarū)

→ Norwegian Bokmål: kenguru

desc

→ Malayalam: കാംഗരു (kāṅgaru), കംഗാരു (kaṅgāru), കങ്കാരു (kaṅkāru)

→ Manx: kangaroo

→ Niuean: kāgalū

→ Portuguese: canguru

→ Russian: кенгуру́ (kengurú) (see there for further descendants)

→ Slovene: kenguru

desctree

→ Spanish: canguro
→ Tetelcingo Nahuatl: canguro

→ Swedish: känguru

→ Tokelauan: kāgalū

→ Ukrainian: кенгуру́ (kenhurú)

→ Welsh: cangarŵ

→ Yiddish: קאַנגגערוּ (kanggeru)

/ˌkæŋ.ɡəˈɹuː/

Borrowed from Guugu Yimidhirr gangurru (“eastern grey kangaroo”).

bor+

Besides the Animals which I have before mentioned, called by the Natives Kangooroo, or Kanguru […].

In the woods are the kanguroo, the emu or cassowary, paroquets, and a variety of small birds […].

1814, Matthew Flinders, A Voyage to Terra Australis:

A member of the Macropodidae family of large marsupials with strong hind legs for hopping, native to Australia.


antler

From Middle English auntelere, hauntelere, from Old French antoillier (“antler, horn”), from ante- (“in front of”) + oillier (oil (“eye”) + -ier (a suffix indicating location)), possibly from an unattested Latin *anteocularis (“before the eye”).

While hiking in the woods, I found an antler from a deer.

A deciduous branching and bony structure on the head of deer, moose and elk, normally in pairs, grown and shed each year. (Compare with horn, which is generally not shed.)


web-footed gecko

en-noun

web-footed gecko (plural web-footed geckos)

A type of gecko, Palmatogecko rangei, from Namibia and adjacent areas, having broad, webbed feet


sidewinder

From side + winder (“one who winds or wends, traveller”), from the sideways, looping manner in which they move.

compound

A North American rattlesnake, Crotalus cerastes, that inhabits lowland deserts.


caracal

/ˈkæ.ɹəˌkæl/

/ˈkæɹ.əˌkæl/

General American, Mary–marry–merry merger

/ˈkɛɚ.əˌkæl/

From French caracal, from Ottoman Turkish قره قولاق (kara kulak, literally “black ear”), a calque of Classical Persian سیاهگوش (siyāh-gōš). Compare modern Turkish karakulak.

der

Caracal caracal
Caracal caracal#Translingual

A type of cat native to Southern Africa, West Asia, and parts of Central and South Asia, Caracal caracal.


blue

en-noun

blue (countable and uncountable, plural blues)

From Middle English blewe, from Anglo-Norman blew (“blue”), from Middle French bleu, from Old French blöe, bleve, blef (“blue”), from Frankish *blāu (“blue”) (perhaps through a Late Latin blāvus, blāvius (“blue”) attested from Isidore of Seville), from Proto-Germanic *blēwaz (“blue, dark blue”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰlēw- (“yellow, blond, grey”). Cognate with dialectal English blow (“blue”), Scots blue, blew (“blue”), North Frisian bla, blö (“blue”), Saterland Frisian blau (“blue”), Dutch blauw (“blue”), German blau (“blue”), Danish, Norwegian and Swedish blå (“blue”), Icelandic blár (“blue”), Latin flāvus (“yellow”), Middle Irish blá (“yellow”). Doublet of blow.
Possibly related also to English blee (“colour”), from Old English blēo (“colour”); but direct derivatives of Proto-Germanic *blēwaz (“blue, dark blue”) in Old English include: Old English blāw and blēo (“blue”), Old English blǣwen (“bluish, light-blue”), blǣhǣwen (“blue-coloured, bluish, violet or purple colour”, literally “blue-hued”). There seems to be a parallel connection in Germanic between words for blue and colour, dually exemplified by Proto-West Germanic *blīu (“colour, blee”) and *blāu (“blue”); and Proto-Germanic *hiwją (“colour, hue”) and *hēwijaz (“blue, purple”).
The sense "obscene, pornographic" is apparently from the colour; various theories exist as to how it arose, including that it is from the colour of the envelopes used to contain missives of the censors and managers to vaudevillian performers on objectionable material from their acts that needed to be excised.


queen

Tok Pisin: kwin

desc

⇒ American Sign Language: G@Shoulder-PalmDown G@Abdomen-PalmDown

→ Burmese: ကွင်း (kwang:)

→ German: Queen

→ Japanese: クイーン (kuīn), クィーン (kwīn)

→ Korean: 퀸 (kwin)

→ Marshallese: kwiin

→ Sikaiana: kuini

→ Spanish: cuina

→ Thai: ควีน (kwiin)

From Middle English quene, queen, cwen, from Old English cwēn (“queen”), from Proto-West Germanic *kwāni, from Proto-Germanic *kwēniz (“woman”), from Proto-Indo-European *gʷénh₂s (“woman”).
Cognate with Scots queen, wheen (“queen”), Old Saxon quān ("wife"; > Middle Low German quene (“elderly woman”)), Dutch kween (“woman past child-bearing age”), Swedish kvinna (“woman”), Norwegian kvinne (“woman”), Danish kvinde (“woman”), Icelandic kvon (“wife”), Gothic 𐌵𐌴𐌽𐍃 (qēns, “wife”), Norwegian dialectal kvån (“wife”). Related to and possibly merged with and/or absorbed some senses of English quean, from Middle English quene, from Old English cwene (“woman; female serf, quean”), see quean. Generally eclipsed non-native Middle English regina (“queen”), borrowed from Latin rēgīna (“queen”) (see Modern English regina). Doublet of quean and gyne.

gloss

"wife"; > Middle Low German <i class="Latn mention" lang="gml">quene</i> (“elderly woman”)

cog

[…] and yet I will not ſay but amongſt duſt there is Pearle found, and in hard rockes Dyamonds of great value, and ſo amongſt many women there are ſome good, as that gracious and glorious Queene of all woman kinde the Virgin Mary the mother of al bliſſe, what wun her honour, but an humble minde and her paines and loue vnto our Sauiour Chriſt.

1620, Thomas Tell-Troth [pseudonym of Joseph Swetnam], The Araignment of Lewd, Idle, Froward, and Unconstant Women: Or the Vanitie of Them, Choose You Whether, London, published 1807, retrieved 2022-01-14:

A woman whose pre-eminence, power, or forcefulness is comparable to that of a queen.

(Christianity) The Virgin Mary (especially in formulations such as Queen of Heaven, Queen of Glory).


tadpole

From Middle English tadpolle, taddepol, equivalent to toad + poll (“head”).

A young toad or frog in its larval stage of development that lives in water, has a tail and no legs, and, like a fish, breathes through gills.

salamander tadpole

(by extension) The aquatic larva of any amphibian.

A type of cargo bike that has two wheels in front and one in back.


black

en-adj

black (comparative blacker or more black, superlative blackest or most black)

blacker (comparative)
more black (comparative)
blackest (superlative)
most black (superlative)

Bislama: blak

Sranan Tongo: blaka

Aukan: baaka

→ Caribbean Hindustani: blaaka

Tok Pisin: blak

Torres Strait Creole: blaik

→ Dutch: black

→ French: black

→ Greek: μπλάκης (blákis)

From Middle English blak, black, blake, from Old English blæc (“black, dark", also "ink”), from Proto-West Germanic *blak, from Proto-Germanic *blakaz (“burnt”) (compare Dutch blaken (“to burn”), Low German blak, black (“blackness, black paint, (black) ink”), Old High German blah (“black”)), possibly from Proto-Indo-European *bʰleg- (“to burn, shine”) (compare Latin flagrāre (“to burn”), Ancient Greek φλόξ (phlóx, “flame”), Sanskrit भर्ग (bharga, “radiance”)). More at bleak.
Sense 20 is a semantic loan from Cantonese 黑面 (hak1 min6, “to pull a long face, to scowl”).

sort

of coffee or tea, without milk or other whitener

After the election, the parties united in a black-yellow alliance.

(German politics) Related to the Christian Democratic Union of Germany.

زِنْجِيّ

relating to people with dark skin — see also dark-skinned
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musta

politics: related to the Christian Democratic Union of Germany


black

en-noun

black (countable and uncountable, plural blacks)

→ Japanese: ブラック (burakku)

→ Volapük: bläg

(countable, baseball) The edge of home plate.


mouse

mouse (plural mice or (computing) mouses)

→ Bengali: মাউস (maus)

→ Brazilian Portuguese: mouse

→ French: souris (semantic loan)

→ Georgian: მაუსი (mausi)

→ Italian: mouse

→ Japanese: マウス (mausu)

→ Korean: 마우스 (mauseu)

→ Romanian: mouse

→ Spanish: mouse

desc

→ Thai: เมาส์ (máo), เม้าส์ (máo)

→ Thai: เมาส์ (máo), เม้าส์ (máo)

→ Vietnamese: chuột (semantic loan)

From Middle English mous, from Old English mūs, from Proto-West Germanic *mūs, from Proto-Germanic *mūs, from Proto-Indo-European *múh₂s.
cognates
Germanic cognates include Old Frisian mūs, Old Saxon mūs (German Low German Muus), Dutch muis, Old High German mūs (German Maus), Old Norse mús (Swedish mus, Danish mus, Norwegian mus, Icelandic mús, Faroese mús).
Indo-European cognates include Ancient Greek μῦς (mûs), Latin mūs, Spanish mur, Armenian մուկ (muk), Old Church Slavonic мꙑшь (myšĭ) (Russian мышь (myšʹ)), Albanian mi, Persian موش (muš),Northern Kurdish mişk,Sanskrit मूष् (mūṣ).
The computing sense was coined by American engineer Bill English in 1965 and first used publicly in a publication titled "Computer-Aided Display Control", in reference to the similarity with the animal.

coin

the best laid plans of mice and men go oft astray

the best laid plans of mice and men often go awry

At twilight in the summer there is never anybody to fear—man, woman, or cat—in the chambers and at that hour the mice come out. They do not eat parchment or foolscap or red tape, but they eat the luncheon crumbs.

1892, Walter Besant, chapter II, in The Ivory Gate […], New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, […], →OCLC:

老鼠

ló͘-chhír, ló͘-chhí, niáu-chhú, niáu-chhí, niáu-chhír

move the mouse over the icon (that is, move the mouse so that the pointer moves over the icon)

(computing) (plural mice or, rarely, mouses) An input device that is moved over a pad or other flat surface to produce a corresponding movement of a pointer on a graphical display.

踎士

loaned from English, though more commonly simply written as mouse

(nautical) A turn or lashing of spun yarn or small stuff, or a metallic clasp or fastening, uniting the point and shank of a hook to prevent its unhooking or straightening out.


comet

→ Malay: komet

→ Urdu: کومٹ (komeṭ)

→ Welsh: comed

From Middle English comete, partly from Old English comēta and partly from Old French comete, both from Latin comētēs, from Ancient Greek κομήτης (komḗtēs, “longhaired”), short for ἀστὴρ κομήτης ([astēr] komētēs, "longhaired [star])" and referring to the tail of a comet, from κόμη (kómē, “hair”). Compare English faxed star.

der

Any of several species of hummingbird found in the Andes.


hack

(falconry) A board which the falcon's food is placed on; used by extension for the state of partial freedom in which they are kept before being trained.


hack

en-verb

hack (third-person singular simple present hacks, present participle hacking, simple past and past participle hacked)

hacks (present singular third-person)
hacking (participle present)
hacked (participle past)
hacked (past)

Abbreviation of hackney (“an ordinary horse”), probably from place name Hackney.

(equestrianism) To ride a horse at a regular pace; to ride on a road (as opposed to riding cross-country etc.).


hack

en-noun

hack (countable and uncountable, plural hacks)

Unclear. Perhaps imitative; compare hock, hawk. Alternatively, perhaps from hack (“chop; do something difficult”) via the idea of doing something (like breathing) or with difficulty.


flatfish

flatfish (countable and uncountable, plural flatfish or flatfishes)

A fish of the order Pleuronectiformes, the adults of which have both eyes on one side and usually swim with the other side down, such as a flounder, a halibut, or a sole.


Thai

en-adj

Thai (comparative more Thai, superlative most Thai)

more Thai (comparative)
most Thai (superlative)

Borrowed from Thai ไทย (tai). Doublet of Tai and Dai.


Thai

en-noun

Thai (countable and uncountable, plural Thai or Thais)

The Bangkok government indicated real concern over the developments in Communist China’s Yunnan province. Thai officials were afraid that Sibsongpanna would be a center where pro-Communist Thai in Southeast Asia would go and where subversive agitation could be directed against outside legitimate governments.

1958, Russell H. Fifield, The Diplomacy of Southeast Asia: 1945-1958, New York: Harper & Brothers, →LCCN, →OCLC, →OL, page 263:

(countable) A person living in or coming from Thailand.

Alternative form: Thaï

(uncountable) The main language spoken in Thailand (closely related to Lao).

(uncountable) Thai cuisine; traditional Thai food.


tortoise

From Middle English tortuse, tortuce, tortuge, from Medieval Latin tortuca, of uncertain origin. May be from Late Latin tartarūcha, from tartarūchus, from Ancient Greek ταρταροῦχος (tartaroûkhos, “holder of Tartaros, Tartarus, the land of the dead in ancient stories”), because it used to be thought that tortoises and turtles came from the underworld and they were commonly paired with such infernal beasts; see Τάρταρος (Tártaros). Or, from Latin tortus (“twisted”). The French-looking Modern English spelling tortoise may be influenced by porpoise. Displaced native Old English byrdling.

der

Any of various land-dwelling reptiles, of the family Testudinidae (chiefly Canada, US) or the order Testudines (chiefly UK, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, South Africa, India), whose body is enclosed in a shell (carapace plus plastron). The animal can withdraw its head and four legs partially into the shell, providing some protection from predators.


hobby

→ Catalan: hobby

→ Danish: hobby

→ Dutch: hobby

→ French: hobby

→ Galician: hobby

→ German: Hobby

→ Italian: hobby

→ Norwegian Bokmål: hobby

→ Norwegian Nynorsk: hobby

→ Polish: hobby

→ Portuguese: hobby

→ Romanian: hobby

→ Russian: хобби (xobbi)

→ Spanish: hobby

→ Swedish: hobby

Shortened from hobby-horse, from Middle English hoby, hobyn, hobin (“small horse, pony”), from Old French hobi, *haubi, haubby, hobin ("a nag, hobby"; > Modern French aubin, Italian ubino), of Germanic origin: from Old French hober, ober (“to stir, move”), from Old Dutch hobben (“to toss, move up and down”); or from North Germanic origin related to Danish hoppe (“a mare”), Old Swedish hoppa (“a young mare”), North Frisian hoppe (“horse”); both ultimately from Proto-Germanic *huppōną (“to hop”), from Proto-Indo-European *kewb- (“to bend; a bend, joint”). More at hop, hobble.
The meaning of hobby-horse shifted from "small horse, pony" to "child's toy riding horse" to "favorite pastime or avocation" with the connecting notion being "activity that doesn't go anywhere". Possibly originally from a proper name for a horse, a diminutive of Robert or Robin (compare dobbin).

der

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

I like to collect stamps from different countries as a hobby.

take up a hobby

give up your hobby

An activity that one enjoys doing in one's spare time.

stokperdjie

activity done for enjoyment in spare time

(equestrianism) An extinct breed of horse native to the British Isles, also known as the Irish Hobby


teal

en-noun

teal (countable and uncountable, plural teals)

From Middle English tele, probably from an unrecorded Old English *tǣle, cognate with West Frisian tjilling (“teal”), Middle Dutch teling (“teal”) (modern Dutch taling), Middle Low German telink, from Proto-Germanic *tailijaz, of unknown ultimate origin, with no cognates outside of Germanic. As the name of a shade of dark greenish-blue like the color patterns on the fowl's head and wings, it is attested from 1923. The Australian political sense derives from the colour teal being intermediate between green (signifying environmentalism) and blue (signifying the conservative Australian Liberal Party).

unk

unknown

In a bid to defend their inner-city seats, the Liberal Party has moved towards the environmental and progressive left in what can be described as a “teal strategy” that blurs the lines between the Liberals and the Greens.

2021 September 21, Kurt Wallace, “Navigating the great dividing voter range”, in IPA Today, Institute of Public Affairs:

Concerns of a targeted dirty tricks campaign targeting “teal” independents has prompted the Australian Electoral Commission to bring in its electoral integrity assurance taskforce as pre-polling opens.

2022 May 9, “AEC mobilises taskforce to investigate corflute damage”, in Sydney Morning Herald, page 10:

Ms Haines is a strong proponent of this, and many of the teal cross benchers support her approach to appointing a whistleblower protection commissioner.

2022 September 26, “Teals, Greens list watchdog demands”, in The Canberra Times, page 6:

(countable, Australia, politics, chiefly attributive) A teal independent.


handsaw

When the wind is southerly, I know a hawk from a handsaw.

c. 1600, William Shakespeare, Hamlet, act II, scene II:


alligator

Alligator Alley
Alligator Pond
alligator

]
From early Modern English alligater, alligarta, aligarto, alegarto, alagarto, from Spanish el lagarto (“the lizard”), from Latin lacertus (“lizard”), modern spelling possibly influenced by the unrelated Latin alligator (“one who binds”).

(Nigeria) A dwarf crocodile (Osteolaemus tetraspis)


ivory

en-noun

ivory (countable and uncountable, plural ivories)

→ Pohnpeian: aipori

From Middle English yvory, ivorie, from Anglo-Norman ivurie, from Latin eboreus (“in or of ivory”) adjective of ebur (“ivory”) (genitive eboris), from Demotic yb (“ivory, Elephantine”) (compare Coptic ⲓⲏⲃ (iēb, “Elephantine”)), from Egyptian ꜣbw (“elephant, ivory, Elephantine”). Displaced native Old English elpendbān (literally “elephant bone”).

ncog

(uncountable) The hard white form of dentin which forms the tusks of elephants, walruses and other animals.

c. 1846, Alexandre Dumas (translated by William Barrow), The Three Musketeers
The triumphant Englishman did not give himself the trouble even to shake the dice; and, so sure was he of winning, that he threw the ivory on the table without looking.

(informal) A die (object bearing numbers, thrown in games of chance).


ivory

Men that I knew around Wapatomac didn't wear high, shiny plug hats, nor yeller spring overcoats, nor carry canes with ivory heads as big as a catboat's anchor, as you might say.

1913, Joseph C[rosby] Lincoln, chapter X, in Mr. Pratt’s Patients, New York, N.Y., London: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC:


moose

en-noun

moose (plural moose or (dated, rare) mooses or (nonstandard, humorous) meese)

moose (plural)
mooses (dated plural rare)
meese (humorous nonstandard plural)

→ Irish: mús

→ Khmer: មូហ្ស (muuzɑɑ)

→ Korean: 무스 (museu)

→ Persian: موس (mus)

→ Arabic: مُوظ (mūẓ)

→ Thai: มูส (múus)

Thai: กวางมูส (gwaang-múus)

→ Welsh: mws

Earlier mus, moos, from an Eastern Algonquian language name for the animal, such as Massachusett moos, mws, Narragansett moos or Penobscot mos (cognate to Abenaki moz), from Proto-Algonquian *mo·swa (“it strips”), referring to how a moose strips tree bark when feeding: compare Massachusett moos-u (“he strips, cuts smooth”).

cog

We saw a moose at the edge of the woods.

The largest member of the deer family (Alces americanus, sometimes included in Alces alces), of which the male has very large, palmate antlers.

moz

largest member of the deer family (Alces alces)

آمریقا صیغینی (Amerika sığını, literally “American elk”)

elk

largest member of the deer family (Alces americanus)


omelette

en-noun

omelette (countable and uncountable, plural omelettes)

From French omelette, from alemette, from alemelle (“knife blade”), probably derived from la lemelle, from Latin lamella (“thin plate”).

you can't make an omelette without breaking eggs

you've got to crack a few eggs to make an omelette

He crossed to the window, which looked on to a herb garden, and seated himself on the chintz-covered window-seat and delicately watched the two, who were engaged in eating omelette and salad at a round table near the fire-place.

1912, w:Marjorie Bowen [pseudonym; Margaret Gabrielle Vere Long], “The Heretic”, in The Quest of Glory, London: Methuen & Co. Ltd. […], part I (The Quest Joyful), pages 69–70:

She had never meant to confide in him — certainly not here, eating omelette and cheese sauce — but that look seemed to demand a confidence.

1969, J[ohn] B[oynton] Priestley, “London End”, in The Image Men, Boston, Mass.: Little, Brown and Company, →LCCN, page 288:

She stayed to lunch that day, eating omelette and peas in the kitchen, followed by treacle tart.

1985, Christine Pullein-Thompson, Wait for Me Phantom horse, London: Award Publications Limited, published 1997, →ISBN, page 64:

A dish made with beaten eggs cooked in a frying pan without stirring, flipped over to cook on both sides, and sometimes filled or topped with other foodstuffs, for example cheese or chives.


guinea pig

Sranan Tongo: dyinipi

The origin of "guinea" in "guinea pig" is uncertain. One theory is that the animals, which are originally from South America, were brought to Europe by way of Guinea, leading people to think they had originated there. "Guinea" was also frequently used in English to refer generally to any far-off, unknown country, and so the name may simply be a colorful reference to the animal's foreignness. Others believe "guinea" may be an alteration of the word coney (“rabbit”); guinea pigs were referred to as "pig coneys" in Edward Topsell's 1607 treatise on quadrupeds.

A good seaman he is... none of your guinea-pigs.

1748, Tobias Smollett, The Adventures of Roderick Random, page 183:

I promise you, to me it was no slight penance to be exposed during the whole voyage to the half sneering, satirical looks of the mates and guinea-pigs.

1779, Macintosh, Travels, quoted in Carey, Old Days, i. 73

(nautical, obsolete) A midshipman in the East India service; (by extension) a low-skilled or non-proficient seaman.


tortilla

An authentic Spanish tortilla is traditionally made with just eggs, potatoes, onions, salt and pepper, but this version contains sliced red and green peppers for a bit of extra colour and flavour.

2004, The Student Cookbook, Hachette UK, →ISBN:

(Spanish cuisine) Spanish omelette; an omelette containing potatoes and onions.


red

red (countable and uncountable, plural reds)

From Middle English red, from Old English rēad, from Proto-West Germanic *raud, from Proto-Germanic *raudaz from Proto-Indo-European *h₁rowdʰós, from the root *h₁rewdʰ-.
Cognates
See also West Frisian read, Low German root, rod, Dutch rood, German rot, Danish and Norwegian Bokmål rød, Norwegian Nynorsk raud; also Welsh rhudd, Latin ruber, rufus, Tocharian A rtär, Tocharian B ratre, Ancient Greek ἐρυθρός (eruthrós), Albanian pruth (“redhead”), Russian ру́дый (rúdyj) ("red", "redhaired"). Czech rudý, Lithuanian raúdas, Finnish rauta, Estonian raud, Serbo-Croatian riđ ("reddish", "red"), Avestan 𐬭𐬀𐬊𐬌𐬛𐬌𐬙𐬀 (raoidita), Sanskrit रुधिर (rudhirá, “red, bloody”).

sekobarbitaali

slang: secobarbital — see also secobarbital

(Ireland, UK, beverages, informal) Red lemonade

The species Sciaenops ocellatus certainly isn’t lacking for nicknames.[…] Clear water also favors sightcasting. Against the dark background of marsh mud, a red will appear like a pumpkin — big, orange and round.

2013 November, Catch Cormier, “Sightcasting for redfish”, in Louisiana Sportsman:

(informal) The redfish or red drum, Sciaenops ocellatus, a fish with reddish fins and scales.

punarumpukala

fish Sciaenops ocellatus — see also red drum


buff

buff (countable and uncountable, plural buffs)

From buffe (“leather”), from Middle French buffle (“buffalo”).

A diuell in an euerlaſting garment hath him ; / On whoſe hard heart is button’d vp with ſteele : / A Feind, a Fairie, pittileſſe and ruffe : / A Wolfe, nay worſe, a fellow all in buffe […]

c. 1594 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Comedie of Errors”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene ii], page 94:

The greyish viscid substance constituting the buffy coat.


buff

en-adj

buff (comparative buffer or more buff, superlative buffest or most buff)

buffer (comparative)
more buff (comparative)
buffest (superlative)
most buff (superlative)

The bouncer was a big, buff dude with tattoos, a shaved head, and a serious scowl.

(originally bodybuilding, colloquial) Unusually muscular.


ass

From Middle English asse, from Old English assa, back-formed from assen (“she-ass”), from Celtic (compare Old Irish asan, Old Cornish asen), from Latin asinus. Displaced Old English esol, from Proto-West Germanic *asil, also a loanword from the same Latin word. Sense “stupid person” from the animal's reputation for stubbornness, going back to antiquity (compare Latin asinus (“slow-witted person”)).

And Iesse tooke an asse laden with bread, and a bottle of wine, and a kid, and sent them by Dauid his sonne vnto Saul.

1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, 1 Samuel 16:20:

Thus the Aſſe having a peculiar mark of a croſſe made by a black liſt down his back, and another athwart, or at right angles down his ſhoulders; common opinion aſcribes this figure unto a peculiar ſignation; ſince that beaſt had the honour to bear our Saviour on his back.

1650, Thomas Browne, “Of the Same [i.e., the Blacknesse of Negroes]”, in Pseudodoxia Epidemica: […], 2nd edition, London: […] A[braham] Miller, for Edw[ard] Dod and Nath[aniel] Ekins, […], →OCLC, 6th book, page 282:

[…] suddenly a man, in foreign garments: wonderfully real and distinct to look at: stood outside the window, with an axe stuck in his belt, and leading an ass laden with wood by the bridle.

1843 December 19, Charles Dickens, “Stave Two. The First of the Three Spirits.”, in A Christmas Carol. In Prose. Being a Ghost Story of Christmas, London: Chapman & Hall, […], →OCLC, page 51:

In this section "animal" means any horse, cattle, ass, mule, sheep, pig, goat or dog.

1972, Parliament of the United Kingdom, “Part I, section 20(3)”, in Road Traffic Act 1972, page 14:

Any of several species of horse-like animals, especially Equus asinus, the domesticated of which are used as beasts of burden.


SP

en-noun

SP (countable and uncountable, plural SPs)

He was an atheist, a rationalist, a medical student of no great distinction, an SP punter, a singer of bawdy songs, an acknowledged expert in matters erotic.

1985, Peter Carey, Illywhacker, Faber and Faber, published 2003, page 157:

It was the last time, too, when […] the races dominated the radio on Saturday afternoons and everyone had the number of an SP bookie.

1998, David Malouf, A First Place, Vintage, published 2015, page 196: