Mount Everest

Brian Houghton Hodgson
Columbia University Press
Edward Stanford
George Everest
Royal Geographical Society
Surveyor General of India

From mount + Everest, coined by the British army officer and Surveyor General of India Andrew Scott Waugh (1810–1878)—originally as Mont Everest—in a paper of 1 March 1856 to the Royal Geographical Society, after his predecessor George Everest (1790–1866): see the quotation. The name Mount Everest was used in a 27 October 1856 paper by the British naturalist Brian Houghton Hodgson (1800 or 1801 – 1894) and by Sir Roderick Impey Murchison (1792–1871), the President of the Society, at a meeting of the Society on 11 May 1857 at which the two papers were read.

coinage

[T]he privilege, as well as the duty, devolves on me to assign to this lofty pinnacle of our globe, a name whereby it may be known among geographers and become a household word among civilized nations. In virtue of this privilege, in testimony of my affectionate respect for a revered chief, in conformity with what I believe to be the wish of all the Members of the scientific department, over which I have the honour to preside, and to perpetuate the memory of that illustrious master of accurate geographical research, I have determined to name this noble peak of the Himalayas ‘Mont Everest.’ […] In the case of Mont Everest the accordance of the independent heights is closer than could have been anticipated, because the mountain, though lofty and massive, is not a sharp well-defined peak and was observed from great distances.

[1856 March 1, A[ndrew] S[cott] Waugh, “1. Papers Relating to the Himalaya and Mount Everest. A. By Lieutenant-Colonel A. S. Waugh, Surveyor-General of India, dated Dehra, March 1st, 1856; […]”, in Proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society of London, volume I, number IX, London: Edward Stanford, […] [for the Royal Geographical Society], published 11 May 1857, →OCLC, page 346:

It appears from a late survey made of the Himalaya range, by Colonel Waugh, that the Khanchinjinga, which has been hitherto supposed to be the highest summit, is, in fact, not so—a higher mountain having been discovered, situated between Katmandoo and Khanchinjinga. This last named is 28,156 feet above the level of the sea; but the new summit reaches the enormous height of 29,002 feet. It has been proposed to call this Mount Everest, after a former Surveyor-General of India.

1856 October 15, “Science and Inventions. The Fortnight.”, in The Critic, London Literary Journal, volume XV, number 373, London: John Crockford, →OCLC, page 500, column 3:

EVEREST MOUNT.—A mountain of the Himalaya range, situate between the mountain of Kinchingunga, in Sikkim, and the city of Khatmandoo, in Nepaul, and presumed to be the loftiest summit in the world. Its elevation is 29,002 feet above the level of the sea. The highest summit of the Andes is Sorata, having an elevation of 25,267 feet. Mount Everest is reported to have been recently discovered by Colonel Waugh, and to have been named in compliment to the late surveyor-general of India.

1857, Edward Thornton, “Everest Mount”, in A Gazetteer of the Territories under the Government of the East-India Company, and the Native States on the Continent of India. […], London: W[illia]m H[oughton] Allen & Co., […], →OCLC, page 306, column 1:

But narrative, after all, is Mr. Gilfillan's forte, and his picture of the flood is a masterpiece. […] Then, we have mountains submerged and volcanoes extinguished, "Ben Nevis sunk fathoms and fathoms more beneath the waves"—"the eye of Mount Blanc darkened, Old Taurus blotted out," the tide "rolling over the summit of Mount Everest, and violating its last particle of virgin snow"—and lastly, "some human scenes of extraordinary interest," which Mr. Gilfillan descries amidst the surrounding confusion.

1860 July 21, George Gilfillan, quotee, “Alpha and Omega [book review]”, in The Saturday Review of Politics, Literature, Science, and Art, volume X, number 247, London: […] Spottiswoode and Co., […], →OCLC, page 87, column 2:

The mountains of Asia are the loftiest in the world. Mount Everest, one of the Himalayas, is more than five and one-half miles high,—a mile higher than Mount Tupungato!

1863, Fordyce A[lmon] Allen, “Asia. Lesson XLII.”, in A Primary Geography on the Basis of the Object Method of Instruction (Lippincott’s Geographical Series), 3rd edition, Philadelphia, Pa.: J[oshua] B[allinger] Lippincott & Co., →OCLC, page 45:

Chimborazo was long supposed to be the tallest mountain on the globe, but its supremacy has been supplanted by Mount Everest in Asia, and Aconcagua in Chile. [Footnote †: Mount Everest is 29,000 feet, and Aconcagua 23,200. [Hermann von] Schlagintweit enumerates thirteen Himalayan summits over 25,000 feet, and forty-six above 20,000.]

1870, James Orton, chapter VIII, in The Andes and the Amazon: or, Across the Continent of South America, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, […], →OCLC, page 131:

It was one of those termite cones that, according to Lieutenant Cameron's comparison, are more astonishing than the pyramids of Egypt, raised by the hands of men, because they have been built by such small insects. "It is," said he, "as if a nation had built Mount Everest, the highest mountain of the Himalaya chain."

1878, Jules Verne, “The Bad Roads of Angola”, in [anonymous], transl., Dick Sand; or, A Captain at Fifteen. […], New York, N.Y.: George Munro, […], →OCLC, part II, page 197:

Although the real elevation, and even the geographical position, of even the highest mountain in the world are quite uncertain, it may be assumed that the goal lies somewhere near the northern frontier of Nepal, very probably north of the summit recognised by surveyors as Mount Everest, and that the height is at least 29,000 to 30,000 feet.

1892 October, Clinton T[homas] Dent, “Can Mount Everest be Ascended?”, in James Knowles, editor, The Nineteenth Century: A Monthly Review, volume XXXII, number CLXXXVII, London: Sampson Law, Marston & Company […], →OCLC, page 605:

The years have gone by and still we know not whether or no [George] Mallory and [Andrew] Irvine reached the summit. But the will to climb Mount Everest is still alive.

1926 October, Francis Younghusband, “Preface”, in The Epic of Mount Everest, school edition, London: Edward Arnold & Co., published April 1931 (1933 printing), →OCLC, page 5:

Our investigations were carried out almost exclusively among the Sherpa people living within thirty miles of Mount Everest. Tracks and sightings of the Yeti have been reported over a much wider area than this, but a large proportion of the more tangible evidence used in support of the Yeti theory comes from the region we examined.

1962, Edmund Hillary, Desmond Doig, “Into the Mingbo Valley”, in High in the Thin Cold Air: The Story of the Himalayan Expedition, Led by Sir Edmund Hillary, […], Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday & Company, →OCLC, page 129:

This abode of snow is the loftiest mountain range on earth. Its highest peak is the mighty Mount Everest. The Himalayas extend from Afghanistan in the east up to south-east Tibet, a distance of over 2,400 km in length and 250 to 400 km in breadth.

1989 December 30, P[ritamial] V[ijoyshanker] Bole, “Introduction”, in 100 Himalayan Flowers, New York, N.Y.: The Vendome Press, published 1991, →ISBN, page 8:

Nepal and China, the two countries that share a border on Mount Everest, announced a new official measurement of the mountain’s height on Tuesday: 8,848.86 meters, or 29,031.69 feet.

2020 December 8, Ankit Adhikari, Joanna Slater, “It’s official: Mount Everest just got a little bit higher”, in The Washington Post (Asia & Pacific section), Washington, D.C.: The Washington Post Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2020-12-08:

Lhakpa Sherpa has climbed Mount Everest 10 times, the most ascents ever by a woman. She has no plans of slowing down.

2023 January 31, Bhadra Sharma, Adam Skolnick, “The Queen of Everest trains while working at whole foods”, in The New York Times (Sports section), New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2023-01-31:

A mountain in the Himalayas, on the border of Solukhumbu district, Koshi, Nepal and Tingri County, Shigatse, Tibet Autonomous Region, China; the world's highest mountain above sea level.

Mali Everest

world’s highest mountain above sea level, located in the Himalayas


skinflint

From the phrase skin a flint (“go to extreme lengths for the sake of gain or economy”), from the brittleness and hardness of flint which makes it almost impossible to remove just its skin without shattering it.

You know, he is quite a different sort from the Public Prosecutor and our other provincial skinflints--fellows who shiver in their shoes before they will spend a single kopeck.

One who is excessively stingy or cautious with money; a tightwad; a miser.


dope fiend

Of course you know how prohibition works in many places and how the law is beaten. The dope fiends seem to be doing the same thing with this law.

1914, Arthur B[enjamin] Reeve, “The Toxin of Death”, in The Dream Doctor (The Craig Kennedy Series), New York, N.Y., London: Harper & Brothers, →OCLC, page 163:

(derogatory, dated) A person who abuses drugs.


gentleman

Chinese Pidgin English: gentleman

→ Danish: gentleman

→ Esperanto: ĝentlemano

→ French: gentleman

desctree

→ Russian: джентльмен (džentlʹmen)
→ Armenian: ջենտլմեն (ǰentlmen)
→ Georgian: ჯენტლმენი (ǯenṭlmeni)

→ Mohegan-Pequot: gundermon

→ Polish: dżentelmen

→ Portuguese: gentleman

→ Spanish: gentleman

→ Yiddish: דזשענטעלמען (dzhentelmen)

[ˈd͡ʒɛɾ̃.ɫ̩.mən]

From Middle English gentilman, morphologically gentle + man, partial calque of Old French gentilhome.

Being a gentleman, Robert was entitled to shove other commoners into the gongpit but he still had to jump out of the way of the knights to avoid the same fate himself.

And when their ſcattered armie is ſubdu’d:
And you march on their ſlaughtered carkaſſes,
Share equally the gold that bought their liues,
And liue like Gentlmen in Perſea, […]

c. 1587–1588, [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, →OCLC; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire, London: Scolar Press, 1973, →ISBN, Act II, scene ii:

But when Adam delued, and Eue ſpan,
VVho was then a Gentleman?

1593, anonymous author, The Life and Death of Iacke Straw […], Act I:

“[…] This is Mr. Churchill, who, as you are aware, is good enough to come to us for his diaconate, and, as we hope, for much longer; and being a gentleman of independent means, he declines to take any payment.” Saying this Walden rubbed his hands together and smiled contentedly.

1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter VII, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:

(chiefly historical) A man of gentle but not noble birth, particularly a man of means (originally ownership of property) who does not work for a living but has no official status in a peerage; (UK law) an armiferous man ranking below a knight.


turnkey

He saw the same Turnkey unfetter a man / With but little expedition, / Which put him in mind of the long debate / On the Slave-trade abolition.

1834 [1799], Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Robert Southey, “The Devil's Thoughts”, in The Poetical Works of S. T. Coleridge, volume II, London: W. Pickering, page 86:

[…]they passed through an open door into a lobby, from which a heavy gate, opposite to that by which they had entered, and which was guarded by a stout turnkey with the key in his hand, led at once into the interior of the prison.

1836 March – 1837 October, Charles Dickens, “(please specify the chapter name)”, in The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club, London: Chapman and Hall, […], published 1837, →OCLC:

'Certainly not,' said the turnkey; and the first corroborated his statement.

1883, Thomas Hardy, The Three Strangers:

(archaic) A warder or jailer/gaoler; keeper of the keys in a prison.


turncoat

A compound of turn + coat, reportedly derived from the sometime military practice of wearing uniform coats that were lined in material of a contrasting color, and which could be worn inside out to present a different appearance.

But some will cry Turncoat, and rip up old stories, / How I always pretended to be for the tories: […]

1711 [December?] (date written), Jonathan Swift, “An Excellent New Song. Being the Intended Speech of a Famous Orator against Peace [i.e., Daniel Finch, 2nd Earl of Nottingham].”, in Thomas Sheridan, John Nichols, editors, The Works of the Rev. Jonathan Swift, […], new edition, volume VII, London: […] J[oseph] Johnson, […], published 1801, →OCLC, page 72:

Federal prosecutors say that in addition to turncoat witnesses, they are armed with secretly recorded conversations made in the Camden, N.J., office of Mr. Stanfa's lawyer, Salvatore Avena, who has also been indicted on racketeering charges.

1995 October 6, Selwyn Raab, “Brother of Mob Turncoat Is Gunned Down”, in The New York Times:

The opposition members chanted slogans against the turncoats and termed the speaker’s attitude as partial. To them the speaker was promoting 'lotacracy' in the province, prompting them to chant 'go Speaker go', and 'lota speaker'.

2005 June 10, Raja Riaz, The Nation, archived from the original on 2007-12-03:

A traitor; one who turns against a previous affiliation or allegiance.


bookcase

A piece of furniture for the storage and display of books.


bookworm

Any of various insects that infest books.


bookseller

From Middle English boksellere, bok-sillere, equivalent to book + seller.

A person engaged in the business of selling books.


bookstore

A store where books are bought and sold.


bulldog

→ French: bouledogue

→ German: Bulldogge

→ Portuguese: buldogue

From bull + dog, in reference to bullbaiting.

A breed of dog developed in England by the crossing of the bullbaiting dog and the Pug to produce a ladies' companion dog, having a very smooth coat, a flattened face, wrinkly cheeks, powerful front legs, and smaller hind legs.

The original form of this breed, the British bulldog.

[…] and was confronted by a “bulldog,” a proctor's assistant in charge of discipline, who asked if he was a member of the university since he wasn't wearing a gown, and he was able to say that he wasn't, […]

2019, Thomas Merton, Patrick F. O'Connell, Medieval Cistercian History (page lxxiii)

(UK, Oxford University slang) One of the proctors' officers.

The bulldog's just gone to press.

"... playing bulldog in the yard so I know you're fit enough to fight. Have you decided when you're coming back?”

2008 08, Christ Kennedy, Two Sons Nelson, iUniverse, →ISBN, page 304:

[…] playing bulldog on the plaza in front of the meeting hall.

2010 April 29, Bill Svelmoe, Spirits Eat Ripe Papaya, Wipf and Stock Publishers, →ISBN, page 138:

[…] playing bulldog, that game where you have two teams, one team runs and the other one catches. You have to run from […]

2018, Avril Brock, Pam Jarvis, Yinka Olusoga, Perspectives on Play: Learning for Life:

Once Tyson skidded on some wet leaves when he and his friends were playing Bulldog in the park. As he lay on the ground they all laughed at him, even Ajay, and although he'd twisted his ankle, what hurt most was his pride.

2018 June 14, Irvine Welsh, A.L. Kennedy, Meera Syal, John Niven, Pauline Melville, Daisy Buchanan, Christopher Brookmyre, Zoe Venditozzi, Nina Stibbe, Mike Gayle, Murray Lachlan Young, Barney Farmer, 24 Stories: of Hope for Survivors of the Grenfell Tower Fire, Random House, →ISBN:

(chiefly UK, sometimes capitalized) The children's game of British Bulldog or Red Rover.


fine-tooth comb

en-noun

fine-tooth comb (plural fine-tooth combs)

The noun is derived from fine (“particularly slender”) + tooth (“sharp projection”) + comb. The verb is derived from the noun.

compound

A comb with fine, closely spaced teeth, especially one used for removing head lice and their nits (eggs) from the hair; a nit comb.

The police went through his possessions with a fine-tooth comb.

(figuratively) A means of making a thorough search.

tiheä kampa (uncommon; see verb translations below)


fine-tooth comb

en-verb

fine-tooth comb (third-person singular simple present fine-tooth combs, present participle fine-tooth combing, simple past and past participle fine-tooth combed)

fine-tooth combs (present singular third-person)
fine-tooth combing (participle present)
fine-tooth combed (participle past)
fine-tooth combed (past)

(dated) To comb or go through (hair, an animal's fur, etc.) with a comb having fine, closely spaced teeth.

kammata tiheällä kammalla

to comb or go through (hair, an animal’s fur, etc.) with a comb having fine, closely spaced teeth

(figuratively) To search (something or somewhere) meticulously.

onder de loep nemen

to search (something or somewhere) meticulously


stockpile

The noun is derived from stock (“supply of anything ready for use”) + pile (“mass of things heaped together”).
The verb is derived from the noun.

nuclear pile

semantically quite different from a nuclear stockpile

Under the rice subsidy program, Yingluck [Shinawatra]'s administration paid farmers up to 50 percent more than market prices for their rice. The policy was popular with farmers but left Thailand with huge rice stockpiles and caused $8 billion in losses.

2017 August 25, Amy Sawitta Lefevre, Panarat Thepgumpanat, “Thailand’s ousted PM Yingluck has fled abroad: sources”, in Reuters, archived from the original on 2022-01-09:

A supply (especially a large one) of something kept for future use, specifically in case the cost of the item increases or if there a shortage.

en:stock of nuclear weapons specifically

(specifically, military, weaponry) A supply of nuclear weapons kept by a country; a nuclear stockpile.

(mining) A pile of coal or ore heaped up on the ground after it has been mined.


stockpile

en-verb

stockpile (third-person singular simple present stockpiles, present participle stockpiling, simple past and past participle stockpiled)

stockpiles (present singular third-person)
stockpiling (participle present)
stockpiled (participle past)
stockpiled (past)

запасявам се

to accumulate or build up a supply of (something)

He stockpiled weapons and took pot shots in the air / He feasted on their lovely bodies like a lunatic

2007 June–July (date recorded), Nick Cave (lyrics and music), “Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!!”, in Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!!, performed by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, published 18 February 2008:

Shops' shelves were emptied on Friday as people began stockpiling food, with some unable to leave their homes due to the thigh-high snow.

2010 February 7, Adam Gabbatt, “Snow storms cause chaos on US east coast”, in The Guardian:

He [Jeff Bezos] once suggested that, by paying college students on every Manhattan block to stockpile products in their apartments and to shuttle them up and down on bicycles, Amazon could edge towards near-instant delivery.

2019 November 21, Samanth Subramanian, “How our home delivery habit reshaped the world”, in Katharine Viner, editor, The Guardian, London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2022-07-11:

To accumulate or build up a supply of (something).

(specifically, military, weaponry) To build up a stock of (nuclear weapons).

(intransitive) To build up a supply; to accumulate.


thunderstorm

I have never believed, as some people do, in omens and forewarnings, for the dramatic things in my life have generally come upon me as suddenly as a tropical thunder-storm.

1936 July, John Buchan, “Lost Gods”, in The Island of Sheep, London: Hodder and Stoughton, published July 1938, →OCLC, part I (Fosse), page 11:

A storm consisting of thunder and lightning produced by a cumulonimbus, usually accompanied with heavy rain, wind, and sometimes hail; and in rarer cases sleet, freezing rain, or snow.


lipstick

en-noun

lipstick (usually uncountable, plural lipsticks)

→ Dutch: lipstick

→ Bengali: লিপস্টিক (liposṭik)

→ Hindi: लिपस्टिक (lipasṭik)

→ Japanese: リップスティック (rippusutikku)

→ Korean: 립스틱 (ripseutik)

→ Lao: ລິບສະຕິກ (lip sa tik)

→ Malay: lipstik

→ Thai: ลิปสติก (líp-sà-dtìk)

Are you wearing any lipstick today?

In fact, I just saw the movie Shirley Valentine (for the umpteenth time!), and couldn't even look at the adult Marjorie Majors without seeing Patsy and her boofed up hair and red lipstick and long cigarette holder.

2003 August 31, TammyM, “Re: OT: Penis Casino; free Viagra!”, in alt.support.stop-smoking (Usenet):

I'd like three lipsticks in this shade.

She darkens up her eyebrows with it and then runs a tube of pink lipstick over her mouth. She immediately wipes it off with the palm of her hand. She should have black lipstick. A true ninja woman would wear black lipstick.

2021 December 27, Linda MorningStar, Destiny's Wavering Road, Dorrance Publishing, →ISBN, page 164:

Joya was what they called a Lipstick Lesbian. Without wandering too far through the minefield that gay culture can be for the moderately indoctrinated, let stand the observation that this thriving local fauna (The Lipsticks, that is) struck some observers as representing a step up (or forward) in the social evolution of female homosexuality.

2006, Stephen Siciliano, The Sidewalk Smokers Club, page 82:

lipstick lesbian
lipstick lesbian#English

(countable, slang) Short for lipstick lesbian.


lipstick

en-verb

lipstick (third-person singular simple present lipsticks, present participle lipsticking, simple past and past participle lipsticked)

lipsticks (present singular third-person)
lipsticking (participle present)
lipsticked (participle past)
lipsticked (past)

She had even white teeth and a mouth that needed no lipsticking.

1936, Liberty, volume 13, number 4, page 55:

(transitive) To apply lipstick to; to paint with lipstick.


hundreds and thousands

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

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

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

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

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

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


blackberry

From Middle English blakberie, blakeberie (“brambleberry”), from Old English blacu berġe, blæcberġe (attested in plural blaca berġan, equivalent to black + berry.

absolute state like in Syriac but not attested

ܦܛܠ (pṭal) (indeclinable) (neither means blackberry reliably but also thornbush, bramble. briar)

פטל (*pṭal) (indeclinable) (neither means blackberry reliably but also thornbush, bramble. briar)

Rubus fruticosus
Rubus fruticosus#Translingual

A fruit-bearing shrub of the aggregate species Rubus fruticosus and some hybrids.


watermelon

en-noun

watermelon (countable and uncountable, plural watermelons)

/ˈwɔːtəˌmɛlən/

From the 1610s, a compound of water + melon. The meanings referring to environmentalists, collaboraters, and behind schedule projects, derive from the idea of having green (eco-friendly, pro-Tatmadaw, on-schedule) outward appearance while being red (socialist, pro-rebel, behind schedule) in a hidden way comparable to that of the fruit.

The nuts and bolts of any project are transparency. If the project status is transparent, the watermelons can’t arise. If anybody is able to get the information, it will be difficult to hide something.

2011 August 8, Marc Löffler, “Watermelon Reporting”, in DZone, AnswerHub:

As a PMO [project management officer], wherever I see watermelon reporting, I encourage the PM [project manager] to be brave and honest enough to ask for help.

2015 September 17, Ken Burrell, “Watch out for watermelons in project reports”, in LinkedIn:

[see title]

2021 April 24, Sumir Karayi, “Combatting the Watermelon Effect to Improve Digital Experience”, in CIO, IDG Communications, archived from the original on 2021-06-05:

A project that is presented as on schedule when it actually has parts that are falling behind.


eyebrow

en-verb

eyebrow (third-person singular simple present eyebrows, present participle eyebrowing, simple past and past participle eyebrowed)

eyebrows (present singular third-person)
eyebrowing (participle present)
eyebrowed (participle past)
eyebrowed (past)

From Middle English eȝebreu, alteration of Old English ēaganbrū (“eyebrow”), equivalent to eye + brow. The corresponding Old English ēagbrǣw meant "eyelid". Compare Dutch oogbrauw (“eyelid; eyelash; eyebrow”), German Augenbraue (“eyebrow”).

(intransitive) To build up waste fibres in a roller machine.


dovecote

If you haue writ your Annales true, 'tis there, / That like an Eagle in a Doue-cote, I / Flutter'd your Volcians in Corioles.

c. 1608–1609 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedy of Coriolanus”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene vi], page 30:

she could see the malt-house with its dovecote

2003, Peter Ackroyd, The Clerkenwell Tales, page 2:

A small house or box, often raised to a considerable height above the ground, and having compartments (pigeonholes), in which domestic pigeons breed; a dove house.

աղավնատուն

house or box in which domestic pigeons breed

(historical) In medieval Europe, a round or square structure of stone or wood, free-standing or built into a tower, in which pigeons were kept.


makeshift

Deverbal from make shift. First appears c. 1554, in the publications of H. Hilarie.

And I am not a model clergyman—only a decent makeshift.

1871, George Eliot [pseudonym; Mary Ann Evans], chapter XVII, in Middlemarch […], volume I, Edinburgh, London: William Blackwood and Sons, →OCLC, book II, page 316:

Hoboism cannot be cured or prevented by makeshifts or by local measures and efforts, although community interest naturally is vital in dealing with a problem that comes home to every community.

1923, Benjamin C. Marsh, “For the Community to Do”, in The World tomorrow, volume 6:

A temporary (usually insubstantial) substitution.


makeshift

en-adj

makeshift (comparative more makeshift, superlative most makeshift)

more makeshift (comparative)
most makeshift (superlative)

They used the ledge and a few branches for a makeshift shelter.

Hodgson was able to introduce Arsenal teenager Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain for his debut late on as this makeshift England line-up closed out a victory that was solid for the most part without ever threatening to be spectacular.

2012 May 26, Phil McNulty, “Norway 0-1 England”, in BBC Sport:

Made to work or suffice; improvised; substituted.


makeshift

Greene the coneycatcher, of this dream the author, / For his dainty devise deserveth the halter. / A rakehell, a makeshift, a scribbling fool; / A famous bayard in city and school: / Now sick as a dog, and ever brain-sick, / Where such a raving and desperate Dick?

1592, Gabriel Harvey, “The First Letter”, in Four Letters and Certain Sonnets, new edition, London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, published 1814, A Due Commendation of the Quipping Author, page 2:


firefly

2000, Exploring Life Science, 2: Bats—Cave Life, Marshall Cavendish, page 96,
Fireflies are the best-known insects that produce light. […] Many fireflies use their light to communicate, particularly at mating time when males and females have to get together.

The luciferins are different in different species and today both the luciferin and luciferase in the firefly are available in the crystalline form.

2004, B. V. David, T. N. Ananthakrishnan, “Chapter 20: Bioluminescence”, in General and Applied Entomology, 2nd edition, Tata McGraw-Hill, page 130:

Various other luciferase genes, especially the firefly luciferase gene, are also used for the study of gene regulation.[…]The classic use of bioluminescence, however, is the use of a luciferin-luciferase mixture from fireflies as an assay for ATP.

2007, Lars Olof Björn, Helen Ghiradella, “23: Bioluminescence”, in Lars Olof Björn, editor, Photobiology: The Science of Life and Light, 2nd edition, Springer, page 607:

(Northern US, Western US, Florida) Any beetle of the family Lampyridae, which exhibit bioluminescence during twilight.


swashbuckler

Phillips, in his New World of Words defines, to swash, to make fly about; to clash, or make a noise with swords; and a swash-buckler, a vain glorious sword player or fencer, a meer braggadochoe, a vapouring fellow.

1786, Francis Grose, A Treatise on Ancient Armour and Weapons, page 80:

A swordsman or fencer who engages in showy or extravagant swordplay.

miekkailija

a swordsman or fencer who engages in show or extravagant swordplay

A kind of period adventure story with flashy action and a lighthearted tone.


tattletale

One who tattles (reports others' wrongdoings), often a child seeking attention.

One who gossips, often for the sake of attention.


tattletale

en-verb

tattletale (third-person singular simple present tattletales, present participle tattletaling, simple past and past participle tattletaled)

tattletales (present singular third-person)
tattletaling (participle present)
tattletaled (participle past)
tattletaled (past)

(transitive, intransitive) To act as a tattletale; to tell on; to give away, reveal, or expose.


tosspot

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

2000 June 13, Darren Tackle, The Guardian:

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


wet willy

He is such a jerk; he gave me a sloppy wet willy.

(slang) A prank whereby a saliva-moistened finger is inserted into an unsuspecting person's ear, often with a slight twisting motion.


wordsmith

wordsmith (third-person singular simple present wordsmiths, present participle wordsmithing, simple past and past participle wordsmithed)

wordsmiths (present singular third-person)
wordsmithing (participle present)
wordsmithed (participle past)
wordsmithed (past)

The noun is derived from word + smith (“craftsperson who works metal into desired forms; (by extension) one who makes anything”). The verb is derived from the noun.

compound

Then he reads the prompt, which has been carefully wordsmithed by Mr. [Ted] Wetzel and his collaborators.

2022 November 10, Simon Montlake, “In Ohio, one man’s quest to get more voters to agree to disagree”, in The Christian Science Monitor, Boston, Mass.: Christian Science Publishing Society, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2023-04-05:

(transitive) To skilfully compose or craft (something written).

巧妙地運用語言 /巧妙地运用语言

to skilfully compose or craft (something written)


trout pout

Chosen for the rhyme and suggesting the grimace of a fish's mouth.

(slang, UK) The exaggerated, grotesque result of injection of excessive quantities of collagen into the lips in order to make them appear fuller.


eyeball

From eye + ball. Compare Middle English balle off the eye, balle of þe eyȝe (“eyeball”, literally “ball of the eye”).

given enough eyeballs, all bugs are shallow

We need compelling content for the new Web site so we can attract more eyeballs.

When The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power debuted at the same time as House of the Dragon, much noise was made about which show attracted more eyeballs.

2022 October 17, Stuart Heritage, “Now it’s over, let’s come out and say it: The Rings of Power was a stinker”, in The Guardian:

(marketing, in the plural) A readership or viewership.

We had an eyeball last year.

(CB radio, slang) A face-to-face meeting.

apple of someone's eye
apple of someone's eye

(Caribbean) A favourite or pet; the apple of someone's eye.


eyeball

en-verb

eyeball (third-person singular simple present eyeballs, present participle eyeballing, simple past and past participle eyeballed)

eyeballs (present singular third-person)
eyeballing (participle present)
eyeballed (participle past)
eyeballed (past)

A good cook can often just eyeball the correct quantities of ingredients.

Each geometric construction must be exact; eyeballing it and getting close does not count.

(transitive, informal) To gauge, estimate or judge by eye, rather than measuring precisely; to look or glance at.

Are you eyeballing my girl?

(transitive, informal) To stare at intently.

Guardiola strode on to the pitch at half-time to remonstrate with the Spanish referee, Antonio Mateu Lahoz, but went too far with his eyeballing and matador-like hand movements. He was “upstairs”, in the Colin Bell stand, to watch Liverpool’s second-half turnaround and a dismal seven days for City take another turn for the worse.

2018 April 10, Daniel Taylor, “Liverpool go through after Mohamed Salah stops Manchester City fightback”, in The Guardian (London):


pastime

From earlier passtime, pass-time, from Middle English passe tyme, passetyme, calque of Middle French passetemps.

Chatting is a pleasant pastime.

Hunting and fishing, the most important employments of mankind in the rude state of society, become in its advanced state their most agreeable amusements, and they pursue for pleasure what they once followed from necessity. In the advanced state of society, therefore, they are all very poor people who follow as a trade what other people pursue as a pastime.

1776, Adam Smith, The Wealth of Nations:

[…]lax court morals and the absurd chivalry business were in full feather, and the joust and the tournament were the frequent pastime of titled fine gentlemen who could fight better than they could spell...

1883, Mark Twain, Life on the Mississippi:

An indulgent playmate, Grannie would lay aside the long scratchy-looking letter she was writing (heavily crossed ‘to save notepaper’) and enter into the delightful pastime of ‘a chicken from Mr Whiteley's’.

1977, Agatha Christie, chapter 4, in An Autobiography, part I, London: Collins, →ISBN:

Nor would there be an opportunity for the media's favorite pastime of exposing conflict among his advisors.

2020 June 23, John Bolton, The Room Where It Happened: A White House Memoir, New York, N.Y.: Simon & Schuster, →ISBN, page 398:

Something which amuses, and serves to make time pass agreeably.


stickleback

From dialectal stickle (“a prickle, spine, sting”), from Old English sticel + bæc. See stick (transitive verb) and compare banstickle.

[I]n my exile and irkeſome diſcontented abandonment, the ſillieſt millers thombe, or contemptible ſtickle-banck of my enemies, is as buſie nibbling about my fame, as if I were a deade man throwne amongeſt them to feede vpon.

1599, [Thomas] Nashe, Nashes Lenten Stuffe, […], London: […] [Thomas Judson and Valentine Simmes] for N[icholas] L[ing] and C[uthbert] B[urby] […], →OCLC, page 1:

Any one of numerous species of small fish of the family Gasterosteidae. The back is armed with two or more sharp spines. They inhabit both salt and brackish water, and construct nests from weeds.


sunflower

From sun + flower. Compare English sunbloom.

(UK, rail transport) An Automatic Warning System (AWS) indicator in the driver's cab that is displayed after a driver has acknowledged an audible warning, which consists of a yellow circle enclosing a white circle, with black spokes overlaid.


lickpot

From Middle English likpot; equivalent to lick + pot. Possibly from the act of using a finger to clean a pot after eating.

. And the message that came was by the mouth of a kind of jackal or lickpot of John Dick's — who, for reasons of his own, hated me, chiefly because I took no share in the foulness of him and his subservient crew.

1896, Samuel Rutherford Crockett, The Grey Man - Volume 1, page 114:

Maybe ye'll not have another chance before the gallows gets ye ! Off with ye now, for a dirty fingered, lickpot sneak, or I'll break the fiddle over the shoulders of ye!"

1911, Maurice Hewlett, The Song of Renny, page 215:

Piso is a peasant, Cyrus a cowherd, Brutus and Cassius landsurveyors, Demosthenes a vine-dresser, Fabius a threader of beads, Artaxerxes a ropemaker, Æneas a miller, Achilles a scurvy pate, Agamemnon a lickpot, Ulysses a haymower, Nestor a beggar, Ancus Martius a shiptrimmer. . . .

1929, Anatole France, Rabelais, page 98:

And, being no lickpot, would be left to watch the breakfast-porridge while the Sisters and Catechists went to Mass with the pupils of the school, on the benches of which young Boengabadu maintained isolated pre-eminence as a genuine Aboriginal converted from utterest heathenry, by the efforts of Pere St. Xavier and Pere Amable-Marie.

1932, Richard Dehan, Dead Pearls: A Novel of the Great Wide West, page 195:


stonefish

en-noun

stonefish (plural stonefishes or stonefish)

A venomous tropical marine fish resembling a piece of rock, of the genus Synanceia, found in the Indian Ocean and Pacific Ocean


splat mat

Our splat mat has saved our rug from our baby's messes again and again.

A waterproof and easily washable sheet used to collect food dropped by a small child while eating, or otherwise to protect easily soiled surfaces.


limestone

limestone (countable and uncountable, plural limestones)

a limestone viaduct

As each blast furnace uses 200 tons of limestone daily, and each limestone kiln 150 tons, a total of 730 tons of limestone has to be carried daily, in addition to limestone chippings, which are sold.

1939 July, “What the Railways are Doing: The New Ebbw Vale Steelworks”, in Railway Magazine, page 68:

The house was a big elaborate limestone affair, evidently new. Winter sunshine sparkled on lace-hung casement, on glass marquise, and the burnished bronze foliations of grille and door.

1907 August, Robert W[illiam] Chambers, chapter I, in The Younger Set, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, →OCLC:

An abundant rock of marine and fresh-water sediments; primarily composed of calcite (CaCO₃); it occurs in a variety of forms, both crystalline and amorphous.


dubplate

From dub (“style of reggae music involving mixing of different audio tracks”) + plate (“music record, usually vinyl”).

compound

You heard that new Danny Weed dubplate?

Their dub-plate (unreleased tracks on private pressings) battles are usually limited to JA [Jamaica] and the UK, but they have begun to invade the States with this unique form of entertainment.

1986 April, Roger Steffens, “World Beat”, in Bob Guccione, Jr., editor, Spin, volume 2, number 1, New York, N.Y.: Camouflage Publishing, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 19, column 1:

The sound systems – the mobile reggae discos with their own d.j.s, their "specials" and "dub plates" (specially recorded rhythms owned by the system), their own local followings – are networks of live wires and speakers, sounds and affects.

1988, Dick Hebdige, “Post-script 1: Vital Strategies”, in Hiding in the Light: On Images and Things (A Comedia Book), London, New York, N.Y.: Routledge, published 1990, →ISBN, section 4 (Postmodernism and “The Other Side”), page 215:

Various Artists, Soundclash Dubplate Style (Taurus Jamaica)

[1989 June, “Groove Me: 20 Recommended Current Albums and Reissues”, in Bob Guccione, Jr., editor, Spin, volume 5, number 3, New York, N.Y.: Camouflage Publishing, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 66:

[Courtney] Cole, who finds his artists through talent shows held at his Ocho Rice Roof Club, says he tries out new tunes on a live audience "first on dubplate [special one-off mixes for sound systems and radio jocks], so we can test again before pressing it."

1993 July 10, Maureen Sheridan, “Secrets of the Dancehall Laboratory: Top Groovemasters Drop Science about Reggae’s Tuffest Trend yet”, in Timothy White, editor, Billboard: The International Newsweekly of Music, Video and Home Entertainment, volume 105, number 28, New York, N.Y.: BPI Communications, →ISSN, →OCLC, page R-20, column 4:

The dubplate is a Jamaican idea: seventies sound systems pressed up their own tracks in order to outdo their rivals. Similarly, jungle's top DJs, desperate for exclusive tracks, spend more than two hundred pounds a week on dubplates—either their own productions or tracks by kindred-spirit producers. Dubplates are also a way of testing out a new track on a club sound system, of seeing how the crowd responds and what scope is for improving the record.

1998, Simon Reynolds, “Roots ’n’ Future: Jungle Takes Over London, 1993–94”, in Generation Ecstasy: Into the World of Techno and Rave Culture, Boston, Mass.: Little, Brown and Company, →ISBN, page 264:

By the mid-1970s, companies had begun to release sneak previews of coming releases in dub form on acetates. These rare gems became known as ‘dub[-]plates’.

1999, Eugene Lange, “dub”, in edited by Peter Childs and Mike Storry, Encyclopedia of Contemporary British Culture, London, New York, N.Y.: Routledge, →ISBN, page 163, column 2:

Mikey Dread defined the dub plate as "a little pre-release of the thing before it gets to the streets. Back in those days we didn't have CD burners where you could just go and get a copy. You'd have to wait months. So, the dub plate was just taking the same procedure from the mastering room [of the record manufacturing plant] and they just cut this little thing they called an acetate. They cut it right there [in the recording studio]."

2007, Michael E. Veal, “‘Every Spoil is a Style’: The Evolution of Dub Music in the 1970s”, in Dub: Soundscapes and Shattered Songs in Jamaican Reggae (Music/Culture), Middletown, Conn.: Wesleyan University Press, →ISBN, page 51:

[A]t Duke Reid's Treasure isle studio the engineer Byron Smith had cut the dub-plate with the vocals accidentally turned down. After rocking the crowd with the original vocal pressing of the song, [Ruddy] Redwood played them this new voiceless version. The crowd went crazy, singing along, and he played the song so many times that night that by morning the acetate was worn out.

2006, Bill Brewster, Frank Broughton, “Reggae: Wreck Up a Version”, in Last Night a DJ Saved My Life: The History of the Disc Jockey, updated edition, New York, N.Y.: Headline Book Publishing, Grove Press, →ISBN, page 127:

Dubs originally referred to one-off acetates (eventually called dubplates) that were meant for previewing new music in the 1960s and the praise of an individual sound system in competitive sound clashes[…]. Dubplates are prerecorded endorsements of a particular sound by a reggae artist; they usually follow the melody or lyrics of a popular tune (sometimes a tune sung by that same artist), inserting the name of the sound system and praise for that sound system's skills[…]. In some cases, these improvised lyrics for a dubplate would be cut as records and sold or added to albums[…].

2022, Mark V. Campbell, “Dubbing the Remix and Its Uses”, in Afrosonic Life, New York, N.Y., London: Bloomsbury Academic, Bloomsbury Publishing, →ISBN, pages 94–95:

(music, originally Jamaica) An acetate or vinyl record pressed in very limited numbers, especially one issued to disc jockeys in advance of an official release; specifically (and originally), one containing a piece of dub music (a style of reggae music, often instrumental, involving the mixing of different audio tracks).

dubplate

acetate or vinyl record produced in very limited numbers


silver tongue

/ˌsɪlvəˈtʌŋ/

/ˌsɪlvəɹˈtʌŋ/

From silver (adjective, noun) + tongue (noun). Sense 1 (“trait of being articulate and clever at speaking”) is probably from silver-tongued, which is attested earlier than the noun.

Melospiza melodia
Melospiza melodia#Translingual

(US) The song sparrow (Melospiza melodia).


battleship

From battle + ship; shortened from line-of-battle ship, attested 1794.

Schlachtschiff n. Schlachtschiff is used for dreadnought battleships

Linienschiff is used for pre-dreadnought battleships.

(military, nautical) A large capital warship displacing thousands to tens of thousands of tons, heavily armoured and armed with large-caliber guns; now obsolescent and replaced by smaller vessels with guided missiles.

(science fiction, by extension) A starship of comparable role

(military, nautical, archaic) A ship of the line.

A non-functional rocket stage, used for configuration and integration tests.

A guessing game played on grid paper; see Battleship (game).


scapegoat

From scape + goat; coined by English biblical scholar and translator William Tyndale, interpreting Biblical Hebrew עֲזָאזֵל (“azazél”) (Leviticus 16:8, 10, 26), from an interpretation as coming from עֵז (ez, “goat”) and אוזל (ozél, “escapes”). First attested 1530. Compare English scapegrace, scapegallows.

coinage

And Aarõ caſt lottes ouer the .ij. gootes: one lotte for the Lorde, ãd another for a ſcapegoote.

1530 January 27 (Gregorian calendar), W[illiam] T[yndale], transl., [The Pentateuch] (Tyndale Bible), Malborow [Marburg], Hesse: […] Hans Luft [actually Antwerp: Johan Hoochstraten], →OCLC, Leuiticus xvj:[8], folio XXIX, verso:

[…]; alluding herein unto the heart of man, and the precious bloud of our Saviour; who was typified indeed by the Goat that was ſlain, and the ſcape Goat in the wilderneſſe;

1650, Thomas Browne, “Compendiously of Sundry Other Common Tenents, Concerning Minerall and Terreous Bodies, Which Examined, Prove Either False or Dubious”, in Pseudodoxia Epidemica: […], 2nd edition, London: […] A[braham] Miller, for Edw[ard] Dod and Nath[aniel] Ekins, […], →OCLC, 2nd book, page 64:

In the Mosaic Day of Atonement ritual, a goat symbolically imbued with the sins of the people, and sent out alive into the wilderness while another was sacrificed.

كَبْش فِدَاء

a goat imbued with the sins of the people


moonshine

en-noun

moonshine (countable and uncountable, plural moonshines)

From Middle English mone schyne, mone-schyne, moone shone; equivalent to moon + shine. Illegally distilled liquor is so named because its manufacture may be conducted without artificial light at night. The verb sense is a back-formation from moonshiner.

They watered down the moonshine.

“Wish I'd been more polite to that girl,” the sheriff remarked regretfully. […] I know she’d have give me another drink of that old moonshine she has.”

1920, Peter B. Kyne, chapter IV, in The Understanding Heart:

My great grandpa was a blues lover / He'd be rockin' his moonshine to B.B. King and Jimmy Reed

1974, Betty Davis (lyrics and music), “They Say I'm Different”, performed by Betty Davis:

(informal) High-proof alcohol (especially whiskey) that is often, but not always, produced illegally.

(England, dialectal, archaic) smuggled spirits, often with a specific sense;(Kent, Sussex) white brandy; (Yorkshire) gin.

(mathematics, uncountable) A branch of pure mathematics relating the Monster group to an invariant of elliptic functions.

(US, cooking) A spiced dish of eggs and fried onions.


moonshine

en-verb

moonshine (third-person singular simple present moonshines, present participle moonshining, simple past and past participle moonshined)

moonshines (present singular third-person)
moonshining (participle present)
moonshined (participle past)
moonshined (past)

His grandfather started to moonshine when things got really bad in 1933; when he got caught moonshining, he did a bit of time.

Tommy is seventy-seven years old. He started moonshining at the age of seven. He was working for an outfit by the age of eight. He worked for the outfit fulltime until he was sixteen. He moonshined off and on until his mid-twenties. He works at a sawmill now as well.

2007, Jason Sumich, “It's All Legal Until You Get Caught: Moonshining in the Southern Appalachians”, in Ethnographic and Linguistic Field Schools, volume 1: Summer 2007: Alleghany County, Appalachian State University, retrieved 2023-12-15:

(intransitive) To make homemade (especially, illicit) alcohol, especially distilled spirits.


hodgepodge

en-noun

hodgepodge (countable and uncountable, plural hodgepodges)

/ˈhɒd͡ʒˌpɒd͡ʒ/

/ˈhɑd͡ʒˌpɑd͡ʒ/

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

From Middle English hochepoche, a variation of hochepot, from Old French hochepot, from Middle Dutch hutspot (“beef or mutton cut into small pieces and mixed and boiled together in a pot”), from hotsen, hutsen (“to shake; jog; jolt”) + pot (“pot”), equivalent to hotch + pot. Compare German Low German Hüttspott (“hodgepodge”).

cog

His latest sculpture is a hodgepodge of kitchen clutter and scrap glued together.

1653, Izaak Walton, The Compleat Angler
Man's life is but vain, for 'tis subject to pain, / And sorrow, and short as a bubble; / 'Tis a hodge-podge of business, and money, and care, / And care, and money, and trouble.

A collection containing a variety of miscellaneous things.

mengelmoes

collection of miscellaneous things; a jumble

A confused mass of ingredients shaken or mixed together in the same pot.


hodgepodge

en-verb

hodgepodge (third-person singular simple present hodgepodges, present participle hodgepodging, simple past and past participle hodgepodged)

hodgepodges (present singular third-person)
hodgepodging (participle present)
hodgepodged (participle past)
hodgepodged (past)

/ˈhɒd͡ʒˌpɒd͡ʒ/

/ˈhɑd͡ʒˌpɑd͡ʒ/

(transitive, intransitive) To move or position in an erratic, disorganised manner.


omnium-gatherum

en-noun

omnium-gatherum (plural omnium-gatherums or omnium-gathera)

omnium-gatherums (plural)
omnium-gathera (plural)

/ˌɒm.nɪəmˈɡæ.ðə.ɹəm/

Dog Latin, from Latin omnium (“of all”) and gather + -um, suggesting a collection of everything.

We live in the era of Omnium-Gatherum; all the world's a museum, and men and women are its students. To design any building in England nowadays is therefore to work under the eye, so to speak, of the Society of Antiquaries.

1864, Robert Kerr, The Gentleman's House, page 342:


has-been

When the aforesaid alderman or another wishes to express mild contemptuosity for his fellows and himself in future I would suggest “old fossils” or “old has beens,” or “old fogies,” then the Sir Galahads that are always riding—or driving—about in this progressive dorp will not have any cause to complain.

1927 November 25, J. Jingle, “Merely My Musings”, in The Dabbo Liberal and Macquarie Advocate, page 2, column 3:

I think Apple Computer is a has-been.

1986 (Jan 6), John Gantz, "Things Look Better in the Long View", InfoWorld, 7 (52) / 8 (1), page 19

Is it better to never be than to be and eventually become a has-been?

2009, William Shatner, Up Till Now: The Autobiography, page 338:

(informal, derogatory) A person, especially one who was formerly popular or influential, who continues in their field after their popularity or effectiveness has peaked and is now in decline.

一度有名的人物

person declining in popularity or effectiveness

gewesen (in nominal use combine with some noun like Berühmtheit, Größe, Star)


jet set

en-verb

jet set (third-person singular simple present jet sets, present participle jet setting, simple past and past participle jet setted)

jet sets (present singular third-person)
jet setting (participle present)
jet setted (participle past)
jet setted (past)

(intransitive) To follow the lifestyle of the jet set.


icecream

en-noun

icecream (countable and uncountable, plural icecreams)

Many icecream shops now sell soft-serve yoghurts, icecreams and ice-desserts that are high in carbos and low in fat.

1995, Louise Burke, The Complete Guide to Food for Sports Performance: A Guide to Peak Nutrition for Your Sport, 2nd edition, Allen & Unwin, →ISBN, page 24:


sweet tooth

He eats a healthy diet most of the time, but has a sweet tooth when it comes to candy.

(idiomatic, only in singular) A liking for foods that are sweet; a weakness for sweets.

voorliefde voor zoet

a liking for foods that are sweet; a weakness for sweets

(idiomatic, countable) Someone with a liking for sweet foods.

Hydnum repandum
Hydnum repandum#Translingual

An edible fungus of species Hydnum repandum.

the python has a sweet tooth for rats and mice and the sweet tooth of this particular snake is on edge for a square meal.

1913, Jewett Castello Gilson, Wealth of the World's Waste Places, and Oceania, page 298:

Prowlers are on the loose in suburban Denver. Description: pointy ears, bushy tails and a sweet tooth for poodle and cat.

2007 May 30, Joey Bunch, “Suburban pet peeve: coyotes”, in The Denver Post:

But my grandmother had, in my father's words, a "sweet tooth” for meat.

2010, Tony Ardizzone, The Whale Chaser: A Novel, page 101:

In the same way I developed a craving for doughnuts, my sweet tooth for God's Word developed by repetition.

2013, Kim Newlen, The One Year Sweet and Simple Moments with God Devotional, page 169:

".... She had a sweet tooth for booze." "Did she have a sweet tooth for drugs?"

2014, John Maley, A Little Murder in Tucson, page 50:

I have high hopes though, because mother always did have a sweet tooth for rather nice men, you see father was tremendously attractive.

2022, Anthony M. Ludovici, Too Old for Dolls: A Novel:

A preference, especially for a kind of food.


Kris Kringle

/ˌkɹɪs ˈkɹɪŋɡ(ə)l/

Borrowed in a modified form from Pennsylvania German Christ-kinkle, from German Christkindl (“(dialectal diminutive) Christ Child”), Christkind (“Christ Child”), from Christ (“Christ”) + Kindl (dialectal diminutive), Kind (“child”).

der

Now is not "Kriss Kingle" a nice, fat, good-humored looking man. See how eagerly those little boys embrace him, hoping that he will give them some nice little present or other. Mr. "Kriss Kingle" loves good little boys and girls, and if they behave and mind what their parents tell them, they may rest assured that he will pay them a visit, and leave them something nice, as a reward for their good behaviour.

1842, “Introduction”, in Saint Nicholas’s Book for All Good Boys and Girls, Philadelphia, Pa.: Thomas, Cowperthwait & Co., →OCLC; quoted in Alfred L[ewis] Shoemaker, “[Woodstove Christmases] Christ-Kindel to Kriss Kringle”, in Christmas in Pennsylvania, 50th anniversary edition, Lanham, Md.: Globe Pequot Press, 2009, →ISBN, page 60:

The practice of hanging up stockings in the chimney corner for Kriss Kringle to fill with toys, pretty books, bon-bons, &c., for good children, is being superseded by that of placing a Christmas Tree on the table to await the annual visit of the worthy Santa Klaus.

1847, “Advertisement”, in Kriss Kringle’s Christmas Tree. A Holiday Present for Boys and Girls, Philadelphia, Pa.: Published by Grigg & Elliot, →OCLC:

In the New-Year's days of "the winters long ago," many was the romp I had with little Fanny. Gay and ringing—clear as bells of silver—was her New-Year laugh, as she peered into her stocking, in the early morning, and found the hundred beloved knickknackeries that the fabled Kris Kringle used to put there—so fond of the dear little creature was this bearded old friend of infancy.

1853 February, P. L., “Home and Its Recollections”, in D[avis] W[asgatt] Clark, editor, The Ladies’ Repository: A Monthly Periodical, Devoted to Literature and Religion, volume XIII, Cincinnati, Oh.: L. Swormstedt and A. Poe; […], →OCLC, page 74, column 2:

What if that other room, also, had its Christmas tree? What if in every room these evidences of Kriss Kringle’s more enterprising handiwork had already been obtruded?

1878, Leonard Kip, “St. Nicholas and the Gnome”, in Hannibal’s Man and Other Tales. The Argus Christmas Stories, Albany, N.Y.: The Argus Company, printers, →OCLC, chapter III, page 331:

"The symbolic figure of Santa Claus, St. Nicholas, or Kris Kringle," he began, "represents a classic expression of the wishful dreaming of all children. He is the omnipotent Giver, the generous Father. Mature adults who seek to perpetrate this myth reveal themselves as incomplete and neurotic personalities. They are clinging to infantile fantasies and show themselves unable to face reality."

1947, Valentine Davies, chapter 10, in Miracle on 34th Street, New York, N.Y.: Harcourt, Brace and Company, →OCLC, page 63:

In Germany, Santa has long been known as "Kriss Kringel" (derived from Christ Child). In America, the name is still used by the Pennsylvania Dutch.

1976, Good Housekeeping, volume 183, New York, N.Y.: Hearst Magazines, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 76:

“I find it appalling that Kriss Kringel’s brother could be so cold-hearted about Christmas,” said Bartoli.

2000, E[ugene] F[orrest] Shelby, “The Antisanta”, in Gothic Alaskan and Other Stories: Bad Horror from the Dark Subcontinent, Lincoln, Neb.: Writers Club Press, iUniverse, →ISBN, page 198:

Standing in the reception was a tall older man with a big bushy white beard that looked exactly like Kris Kringel in Miracle on 42nd Street.^([sic – meaning Miracle on 34th Street])

2004, Ballooning, volume 37, San Luis Obispo, Calif.: Balloon Federation of America, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 26:

The mall is brimming over with Christmas spirit. There are forty Santas—short ones, tall ones, smiling ones, and grouchy ones. [...] It's full of crisp jingles and Kris Kringles—and it's only November. Christmas seems to come earlier and earlier every year.

2006, Mike Thaler, “Deck the Mall”, in The Christmas Party from the Black Lagoon (Black Lagoon Adventures; 9), New York, N.Y.: Scholastic, →ISBN, page 16:

[T]he two fat and jolly voice actors, both with beards and beer bellies, sitting on the edge of the fragile wooden stools, miked up and ready-to-go, looking over the script like a pair of disparaging Kris Kringles; [...]

2009 June 19, Tony Esposito, chapter 18, in Don’t Ever Leave This Country, Bloomington, Ind.: AuthorHouse, →ISBN, page 116:


kangaroo court

/ˌkæŋɡəˌɹuː ˈkɔːt/

/ˌkæŋɡəˌɹu ˈkɔɹt/

From kangaroo + court. The etymology is uncertain; it has been suggested that the term draws a comparison between the leaping of a kangaroo and one of the following:
* The 19th-century practice of itinerant judges moving from place to place on the American frontier and trying cases speedily and perfunctorily in order to get paid.
* The use of irregular courts during the California Gold Rush (1848–1855) to decide claims of “jumping” (illegally occupying) mining claims.
* The notion that a kangaroo court jumps to conclusions.

The Concordia Intelligencer says "several loafers were lynched in Natchez last week upon various charges instituted by the Kangaroo court.[…]" What is a Kangaroo court, neighbor?

1841 August 24, “Don’t comprehend”, in C. M. Price, G. R. Fall, editors, The Daily Picayune, volume V, number 179, New Orleans, La.: Lumsden, Kendall & Co., →OCLC, page 2, column 5:

On the evening succeeding the election, a meeting was gotten up some what in imitation of a "Kangaroo Court," for the purpose of trying three individuals, […]

1848 December 1, W. P. Andrews, “[Letter to the editors]”, in The Mississippian, volume XVIII, number 3, Jackson, Miss.: [G. R. Fall and J. Marshall], published 12 January 1849, →OCLC, page 3, column 2:

One of the principal amusements of the bar during these sessions of the court, is to assemble in some sufficiently capacious room, and after indulging in all the boyish games that occur to them, to institute mock proceedings against some one of their number, for some ridiculous, imaginary offence. […] By an unanimous vote, Judge G.—the fattest and funniest of the assembly—was elected to the bench, and the "Mestang" [i.e., mustang] or "Kangaroo Court" regularly organized.

1853, Philip Paxton [pseudonym], “Term Time in the Backwoods, and a Mestang Court”, in A Stray Yankee in Texas, New York, N.Y.: Redfield, […], →OCLC, page 205:

Sol Tuttle interposed; "Don't you let nobody hev any witnesses i[n] this kangaroo court?"

1856, Charles Summerfield [pseudonym; Alfred W. Arrington], “The Trial—An Execution”, in The Rangers and Regulators of the Tanaha: Or, Life among the Lawless. A Tale of the Republic of Texas, New York: Robert M. De Witt, […], →OCLC, page 247:

He [Judge Murray] endeavors to place me in the position of having assailed him, by describing the courts held by him as Kangaroo courts, and imputes to me a settled purpose to alienate all social and friendly relations, between the bench, bar, officers of the court, and all others, who come in direct contact with the courts. Now, all this is simply untrue, as well as ridiculous.

1858 July 14, Theodoric F. Sorrells, “To the Voters of the Second Judicial Circuit [letter]”, in C. C. Danley, editor, Arkansas State Gazette and Democrat, volume XXXIX, number 24 (Gazette); volume XIII, number 3 (Democrat), Little Rock, Ark.: W. F. Holtzmann, →OCLC, page 3, column 3:

[A]bout twenty prisoners were confined in the city prison at the time and were all more or less drunk on white line (alcohol) furnished through the window by outside parties; […] two kangaroo courts were held the day on which Varnoff was convicted of violating the prison rules, was fined 50 cents each time and searched by officers of the court.

1893 March 10, “Scotch verdict”, in M[arshall] M. Murdock, editor, The Wichita Eagle, volume XXI, number 52, Wichita, Kan.: [M. M. Murdock], →ISSN, →OCLC, page 6, column 7:

They take him off to face their kangaroo court in the cellar of a deserted brewery.

1933 April 10, “The New Pictures: M by Fritz Lang”, in Time, New York, N.Y.: Time Inc., →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2016-04-15:

[W]here police take matters in their own hands, seize victims, beat and pound them until they confess, there cannot be the slightest doubt that the police have deprived the victim of a right under the Constitution. It is the right of the accused to be tried by a legally constituted court, not by a kangaroo court.

1951 April 23, William O[rville] Douglas, Associate Justice, Supreme Court of the United States, “Williams v. United States”, in Legal Information Institute, Cornell Law School (341 U.S. 97, 71 S. Ct. 576, 95 L. Ed. 774), archived from the original on 2022-08-29, paragraph 8:

A military commission trial falling short of the full UCMJ standard is all but certain to be pejoratively judged as a "kangaroo court" in the court of public opinion.

2003 December, David Glazier, “Kangaroo Court or Competent Tribunal?: Judging the 21st Century Military Commission”, in Virginia Law Review, volume 89, number 8, Charlottesville, Va.: Virginia Law Review Association, →DOI, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 2093:

(originally US, idiomatic) A judicial or quasi-judicial proceeding, or a group of people which conducts such proceedings, which is without proper authority, and often acts abusively or decides unjustly.

American frontier
California Gold Rush
Christian Science Publishing Society
Encyclopedia.com
The Christian Science Monitor

паро́дия на суд m (paródija na sud, literally “a parody of a court”)


peahen

From Middle English pehenne, equivalent to pea (“peafowl”) + hen. Compare Icelandic páhæna (“peahen”). See also peacock, peafowl, peachick, etc.

It shows the peahens that the peacock is strong.

2014, Bill Nye, Corey S. Powell, Undeniable: Evolution and the Science of Creation:


killjoy

/ˈkɪlˌd͡ʒɔɪ/

From kill + joy, first attested in 1776.

“If you mean me, sir, I call you and every one else to the inspection of my professional life. As to Christian or unchristian, I repudiate your canting palavering Christianity; and as to the way in which I spend my income, it is not my principle to maintain thieves and cheat offspring of their due inheritance in order to support religion and set myself up as a saintly Killjoy....”

What kill-joy have we here? […] I feel it in my bones some rascal is come to Galing, one that bringeth ill hap in his pocket and a shadow athwart the sun on this our day of festival.

1922, E[ric] R[ücker] Eddison, The Worm Ouroboros, London: Jonathan Cape, page 7:

He stalked behind her simple narrative, a kill-joy parent, hasty, intolerant, keeping a special cane to enforce the authority of his sadistic God[.]

1930, Norman Lindsay, Redheap, Sydney, N.S.W.: Ure Smith, published 1965, →OCLC, page 123:

December 10 2005, Sam Murphy in The Guardian, A sober thought
Just in time for the party season, some old killjoys at the journal Medicine & Science In Sports & Exercise have released their findings on the effects on muscle of prolonged heavy alcohol intake (six weeks is prolonged, apparently). The bad news is that it seems too much boozing puts all that effort in the gym to waste - in the study, alcohol prevented the usual resistance-training-induced muscle response that leads to increased size and strength.

(occasionally endearing, derogatory) A person who is anti-fun, or prevents others from having fun.


daredevil

Even as a youngster, Steven was a bit of a daredevil riding up homemade wooden ramps on his BMX.

A person who engages in very risky behavior, especially one who is motivated by a craving for excitement or attention.


seaweed

en-noun

seaweed (usually uncountable, plural seaweeds)

We have lingered in the chambers of the sea / By sea-girls wreathed with seaweed red and brown / Till human voices wake us, and we drown.

1915 June, T[homas] S[tearns] Eliot, “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock”, in Prufrock and Other Observations, London: The Egoist […], published 1917, →OCLC, page 16:

The tide was out, and we drew up amid the strong bracing smell of seaweed, with gulls screeching, wheeling around, and gliding on the wind.

1947 January and February, O. S. Nock, “"The Aberdonian" in Wartime”, in Railway Magazine, page 8:

Any of numerous marine plants and algae, such as a kelp.

todhar (North Uist, Benbecula, Eriskay, Barra)

With light penetrating to the lake bottom, beds of seaweed flourished where little had grown before.

1995, Dan McCosh, “Aliens among us”, in Popular Science, page 94:

(by extension) Any of various fresh water plants and algae.


wheelchair

→ Persian: ویلچر (vilčer)

"And there are aspirations that we must rightly meet - people travelling in a wheelchair should be able to get on and off the train."

2021 January 13, Paul Clifton, “Island Line bids farewell to 1930s "icon of transport"...”, in Rail, page 9:

A chair mounted on large wheels for the transportation or use of a sick or disabled person.

(attributive) Designed for use by wheelchairbound people.

To build the wheelchair, Dale Ryder attached wheels from a toy plane to an axle that fits over Mrs. T’s shell.

2020 March 1, Gabe Bergado, “Watch this tortoise zip around town in a giant wheelchair”, in The Daily Dot:

(by extension) Any device involving wheels designed to assist a non-human animal with locomotion.


wheelchair

en-verb

wheelchair (third-person singular simple present wheelchairs, present participle wheelchairing, simple past and past participle wheelchaired)

wheelchairs (present singular third-person)
wheelchairing (participle present)
wheelchaired (participle past)
wheelchaired (past)

Almost all of them learned wheelchairing and all learned to manage to eat by themselves.

1991, Gosta Blennow, Jaak Jaeken, Lars Martin Wiklund, “Neurological Findings in the Carbohydrate-deficient Glycoprotein Syndrome”, in Acta Paediatrica, volume 80, number s375, →DOI, →ISSN, pages 14–20:

People who took part walked, jogged, ran, rollerbladed and wheelchaired the five kilometers

1996 May 14, “'Human Race'raises fundsfor charit”, in BYU Daily Universe:

They strolled, ran, walked and wheelchaired the track.

1996 June 2, “3,000 JOIN SPIRITED WALK TO HELP RAISE FUNDS IN FIGHT WITH CANCER”, in scholar.lib.vt.edu:


killer whale

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Calque or mistranslation of Spanish asesina-ballenas (“whale killer”), referring to their tendency to hunt whales.

bor

Of this whale, little is known to the Nantucketer, and nothing at all to the professed naturalist. From what I have seen of him at a distance, I should say that he was about the bigness of a grampus. He is very savage - a sort of Feegee fish. He sometimes takes the great Folio whales by the lip and hangs there like a leech until the mighty brute is worried to death. The killer is never hunted. I have never heard what sort of oil he has. Exception might be taken to the name of this whale, on the grounds of its indistinctness. For we are all killers on land and on sea; Bonaparts and sharks included.

1851 November 14, Herman Melville, Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC:

A sea mammal related to dolphins and porpoises (Orcinus orca).


lockjaw

en-noun

lockjaw (usually uncountable, plural lockjaws)

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(pathology) A spasmodic, nervous system disease brought on by the tetanus bacteria, causing muscles to seize up and may cause death by suffocation.


public domain

From public (“able to be seen or known by everyone”) + domain (“field or sphere of activity, expertise, or influence”).

公有的

state of not being owned by anyone, and thus freely usable by everyone

(especially US) Land regarded as owned by the public, and not subject to a land patent or other forms of private ownership (for example, unowned prairie in the southwestern and western United States).

公地

land regarded as owned by the public, and not subject to a land patent or other forms of private ownership


backpack

Rachel discovered that she could also keep things in her backpack that were important to her, nobody would know about them because they would be hidden. These important things included a small round rock that she had found […]

2011, Thelma J. Miller, What's in Your Backpack?, page 8:

Many seats carry reservation labels, while the luggage racks are festooned with backpacks and suitcases.

2022 November 30, Paul Bigland, “Destination Oban: a Sunday in Scotland”, in RAIL, number 971, page 77:

A knapsack, sometimes mounted on a light frame, but always supported by straps, worn on a person’s back for the purpose of carrying things, especially when hiking, or on a student's back when carrying books.

rugsak

worn on a person's back, e.g., for hiking


gunpowder

Possibly due to its smell resembling gunpowder during the British Raj.

/ˈɡʌnˌpaʊdə/

/ˈɡʌnˌpaʊdɚ/

Some restaurants try and give their dosas the "ethnic" touch by slipping along a small dish of mulaga podi-gunpowder mixed with oil as well, but that isn't always enough.

1989, Bombay: The City Magazine, page 26:

It was a hardcore Andhra lunch from a restaurant famous for its lunch meals. And that is where I had my first run-in with 'gunpowder'. And to be honest, I hated it.

2015 June 12, Priyadarshini Nandy, “South India's Spice Hero: How to Make the Famous Gunpowder”, in NDTV:

In fact, I’ve long suspected that the popularity of gunpowder or molagapodi outside South India has little to do with the burst of flavours it serves.

2020 May 27, Pooja Pillai, “The Back Burner: Homemade molagapodi is easier than you think”, in The Indian Express:

(India, informal) Idli podi/milagai podi; ground-up dry spices mixed with oil and ghee and served alongside idli or dosa.


sandstone

en-noun

sandstone (countable and uncountable, plural sandstones)

From Middle English sandston, from Old English *sandstān, from Proto-West Germanic *sandastain (“sandstone, chisel, gravel”), equivalent to sand + stone. Cognate with West Frisian sânstien (“sandstone”), Saterland Frisian Soundsteen (“sandstone”), Dutch zandsteen (“sandstone”), German Low German Sandsteen (“sandstone”), German Sandstein (“sandstone”), Danish sandsten (“sandstone”), Swedish sandsten (“sandstone”), Icelandic sandsteinn (“sandstone”).

cog

It spread slowly up from the sea-rim, a welling upwards of pure white light, ghosting the beach with silver and drawing the grey bastions of sandstone out of formless space.

1938, Norman Lindsay, Age of Consent, 1st Australian edition, Sydney, N.S.W.: Ure Smith, published 1962, →OCLC, page 32:

A sedimentary rock produced by the consolidation and compaction of sand, cemented with clay etc.


telltale

From tell + tale, perhaps dissimilated from earlier taleteller, from Middle English tale tellere (literally “tale teller”).

der

Your husband is at hand; I heare his Trumpet, / We are not tell-tales, Madam; feare you not.

c. 1596–1598 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene i], page 183:

There were some ill-natured people —tell-tales—it seemed, in Tamai; and hence there was a deal of mystery about getting up the dance.

Louis tells me that the gossip of the sailors finds its way aft, and that two of the telltales have been badly beaten by their mates.

1904, Jack London, The Sea-Wolf (Macmillan’s Standard Library), New York, N.Y.: Grosset & Dunlap, →OCLC:

The Chinese girls who saw me yesterday are telltales. I'd better wait till dark.

2008, Fleur Yano, Collected Writings of Flora Belle Jan, page 112:

Try to teach your child that there's a time to intervene and a time to mind your own business. Nobody loves a telltale.

2011, Elizabeth Grahamslaw, A Parents' Guide To Primary School:

One who divulges private information with intent to hurt others.

(music) A movable piece of ivory, lead, or other material, connected to the bellows of an organ, whose position indicates when the wind is exhausted.

The sailmakers mistake can be an excellent way to lose a race as the telltale signals were disturbed and confusing.

1997, Patrick M. Royce, Royce's Sailing Illustrated - Volume 2:

If you turn toward the wind, the sail becomes undertrimmed, and the inside, or windward, telltale starts to rise and flutter as the flow is disturbed.

2011, J. J. Isler, Peter Isler, Sailing For Dummies, page 245:

The telltale shows if wind is flowing across the sail on every point of sail except a run.

2014, John Rousmaniere, The Annapolis Book of Seamanship, page 76:

(nautical) A length of yarn or ribbon attached to a sail or shroud etc to indicate the direction of the flow of the air relative to the boat.

grímpola

nautical: yarn that indicates relative direction of airflow

(engineering) A machine or contrivance for indicating or recording something, particularly for keeping a check upon employees (factory hands, watchmen, drivers, etc.) by revealing to their employers what they have done or omitted.

controleapparaat

engineering: contrivance for indicating or recording something

"Metamorphoses . . ." is the title of a book of telltales (or serialised fables) written by Lucius Apulei¡us, a neo-platonist priest in the second century A.D.

2012, Anna-Teresa Tymieniecka, The Origins of Life, page 130:

This telltale is not like the story that you put in the hands of your children, or those narrated by mothers in their children's bedrooms in Western Europe before sleep. This is a telltale that is not welcome but is forbidden to be distributed.

2018, Dawood Kaloti, The Telltale Leaflet: From Palestine to Stockholm:

A story or fable that has a moral or message.


fender-bender

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My insurance went up even though all my accidents were just fender-benders.

(chiefly US, slang) A minor accident involving at least one motor vehicle.


airspace

en-noun

airspace (countable and uncountable, plural airspaces)

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(εθνικός) εναέριος χώρος m ((ethnikós) enaérios chóros, literally “(national) airspace”)

Various European countries transferred the aviation control of their adjoining airspace to Eurocontrol, while each retaining legal jurisdiction.

Haines has previous experience of dealing with a hugely disruptive crisis. He said: "I left the railway in 2008 and went to the Civil Aviation Authority. And within a few months I was in the middle of an Icelandic volcanic storm. Eyafjallajokull closed airspace across northern Europe.

2020 March 25, “Network News: Railway working with government to combat crisis”, in Rail, page 7:

(politics, aviation) A specified portion of the atmosphere, especially that under the technical aviation control and/or jurisdiction of a particular state over which territory (and territorial waters) it lies.

(aviation) that part of the sky designated for the sole use of aircraft.

The legalisation of free radios caused a bitter fight for airspace.

(broadcasting) Space (i.e. a few neighboring frequencies) available for broadcasting within a particular frequency band.

The portion of an enclosed area which contains air, especially breathable air.

(construction) The cavity in a cavity wall containing air for insulation.


lobsterback

Bahuvrihi compound of lobster + back, from the resemblance to lobsters of the red coats worn by the British soldiers.

(derogatory, historical) A British soldier during the War of 1812.


homework

homework (usually uncountable, plural homeworks)

/ˈhəʊmˌwɜːk/

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You must do your homework before you can watch television.

Even 15-year-olds do no more than 30 minutes' homework a night.

2013 July 1, Peter Wilby, “Finland's education ambassador spreads the word”, in The Guardian, archived from the original on 2022-10-15:

And I'm sympathetic to teachers who feel that they have enough to worry about, without adding A.I.-generated homework to the mix.

2023 January 12, Kevin Roose, “Don't Ban ChatGPT in Schools. Teach With It.”, in The New York Times, archived from the original on 2023-01-17:

Under the proposals, an assurance is given that GBR (in the words of the plan) will not be marking its own homework.

2024 May 15, 'Industry Insider', “Labour's plan for the railway”, in RAIL, number 1009, page 68:

Exercises assigned by a teacher to a student which review concepts studied in class.

The speaker had certainly done his homework before delivering the lecture.

Since the whole world is watching this launch, they probably should've done some homework on their talking points.

2012 April 10, John Hudson, “North Korea Has a Clumsy Way of Soothing Concerns About Its Rocket Launch”, in The Atlantic, archived from the original on 2022-01-22:

Four years after her first sexual health book came out, Dr. Lori Brotto is giving her readers a little bit of homework for the bedroom.

2017 May 9, “Mindful sex is better sex, says B.C. researcher promoting new workbook”, in CBC News, archived from the original on 2022-11-22:

I didn't even know who he was until I did my homework and realised he was a premier footballer for Bayern.

2022 July 18, Donald Mcrae, quoting Michael Yormark, “Roc Nation's Michael Yormark on Romelu Lukaku: 'You have to play to his strengths... I don't think that happened'”, in The Guardian, archived from the original on 2022-12-26:

Nigeria had done their homework and were well organised. Halimatu Ayinde was exceptional in her marking of James, who had scored twice and provided three assists as she ran the show against China.

2023 August 7, Suzanne Wrack, “England beat Nigeria on penalties to reach Women’s World Cup quarter-finals”, in The Guardian:

(by extension) Something which one is encouraged to learn or study on one's own.

Hatch perceived homework to be one tool—along with various workfare schemes and private sector training programs—that would take women off welfare and make poor women "independent."

1989, Eileen Boris, Cynthia R. Daniels, Homework: Historical and Contemporary Perspectives on Paid Labor at Home, University of Illinois Press, →ISBN, page 241:

(literally, now rare) Any work that is done at home; housework.

My wife and I want a kid, and we do plenty of homework, but goddamn it, Dutch, I just can't connect.

1933, James T. Farrell, Gas-House McGinty, page 186:

(slang, euphemistic) Sexual intercourse.

(BDSM) Tasks assigned by a dominant for a submissive to perform when they are physically away from their dominant or otherwise free.


chill pill

Take a chill pill, and calm down.

(informal) An imaginary medicine taken when excessively anxious or upset about a trivial matter.


teabag

He put a spoon and teabag on the saucer and placed it before Mr. McManus.

1980, Walter Stovall, The Minus Pool, page 10:

A cloth or paper sachet containing tea leaves or herbal tea, designed to act as an infuser when submerged in hot water.


teabag

en-verb

teabag (third-person singular simple present teabags, present participle teabagging, simple past and past participle teabagged)

teabags (present singular third-person)
teabagging (participle present)
teabagged (participle past)
teabagged (past)

(transitive, vulgar, slang) To lower one's scrotum into the mouth of another person, or onto the face or head of another person.

lower testicles into or onto another person

خایهخوری [xāyexōri] , خایهلیسی [xāyelisi]

The good news is, you don't have to play 10,000 matches to learn to hold your own against those obnoxious, teabagging 9-year-olds anymore!

(video games) To sit or crouch repeatedly on the head of another player's character after they are dead.

(of a kite) To have enough lift to repeatedly lift the kite-flyer slightly off the ground, then back down, then back up, etc., in the manner of dunking a teabag into water.


spacetime

en-noun

spacetime (countable and uncountable, plural spacetimes)

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From space + time, as a calque of German Raumzeit, introduced in this sense by Hermann Minkowski. First appears in print c. 1893 in the Philosophical Review.

a Minkowski spacetime

a 5-dimensional spacetime

(physics) An n-dimensional continuum consisting of dimensions of both space and time. Normally spacetime is considered as having 4 dimensions (x, y, z, t), but higher-dimensional spacetimes are often encountered in theoretical physics, e.g. the 5-dimensional spacetime of Kaluza-Klein theory or the 11 dimensions of spacetime in M-theory.


blowhard

Essentially deverbal in nature, albeit not from a unitary phrasal verb; from blow hard.

The merchants are the most ultra Secessionists, one of the secret springs of action among this class being the heavy indebtedness owing to Eastern creditors. Some men of Northern origin were the most rabid. A "blow-hard," named JAMES PATTERSON, of Augusta, Jackson County, was originally from Pennsylvania. He stumped the county and was elected to the Convention, and cast his vote for secession.

1861 October 20, “Interesting from Arkansas. Correspondence of the Missouri Democrat.”, in The New York Times, page 2:

[T]he loud-mouthed blowhard seemed just the man to flinch when real danger confronted him; […]

1896, Robert Barr, “The Shadow of the Greenback”, in Revenge!, New York, N.Y., London: Frederick A. Stokes Company, →OCLC, page 182:

Oh, this bellowing, blatant, bellicose, belligerent, bombastic blowhard […]

1941 November 17, “Political Notes: Republican Rift?”, in Time, archived from the original on 2016-04-16:

In my profession, I have seen more than my share of blowhards who use volume to intimidate the weak, fool the feeble-minded, or control the insecure or lazy who would just as soon have someone do their thinking for them anyway.

1999, Jo-Ellan Dimitrius, Wendy Mazzarella, “Learning to Ask the Right Questions—and Listen to the Answers”, in Reading People: How to Understand People and Predict Their Behavior—Anytime, Anyplace, London: Vermilion, Ebury Press, →ISBN, page 109:

David Davis, Liam Fox, Boris Johnson and the other Brexit blowhards know they have no chance of achieving their stated aims, such as a £350m weekly NHS payback.

2017 March 27, “The Observer view on triggering article 50: As Britain hurtles towards the precipice, truth and democracy are in short supply”, in The Observer, London, archived from the original on 2017-08-30:

(Canada, US, derogatory) A person who talks too much or too loudly, especially in a boastful or self-important manner.


heartbeat

Music is the heartbeat of the people.

Dream Body Recovery is just one of countless recovery houses that have cropped up in Miami, which has become the heartbeat of the B.B.L. boom in the United States. The average price of a B.B.L. nationwide is around $5,000, according to the American Society of Plastic Surgeons.

2022 May 11, Sandra E. Garcia, “Butt Lifts Are Booming. Healing Is No Joke.”, in The New York Times Magazine:

A driving impulse or vital force; the vital center of something.


heartthrob

And really, Michael Jackson is a more fitting aspiration for the similarly sexless would-be-former teen heartthrob, who’s compared himself to the late King Of Pop (perhaps a bit prematurely) on several occasions and sings in a Jackson-like croon over a sample of “We’ve Got A Good Thing Going” on Believe’s “Die In Your Arms.”

2012 June 26, Genevieve Koski, “Music: Reviews: Justin Bieber: Believe”, in The A.V. Club, archived from the original on 2020-08-06:


mailman

"What I'm thinking," she said, "is that I'll become a mailman. They're hiring women mailmen now, you know. [...]"

1974, Ella Leffland, Love Out of Season, page 364:

(Canada, US) someone who delivers mail to, and/or collects mail from, residential or commercial addresses, or from public mailboxes


applesauce

applesauce (countable and uncountable, plural applesauces)

(slang, US, dated, 1920s) Nonsense, balderdash, bunk, piffle.


fat-ass

My boss is a fat-ass who doesn't know his job as well as I do.

Yes, your whole department is full of fat-asses.

(derogatory) A jibe used on someone disliked, frequently someone regarded as lazy.


cuttlefish bone

cuttlefish bone (plural cuttlefish bones)

/ˌkʌtl̩fɪʃ ˈbəʊn/

The calcareous, oval-shaped internal shell of a cuttlefish (order Sepiida), originally used in powdered form as an antacid and for absorbing moisture or polishing objects, and now chiefly as a dietary supplement for cage birds.


paleface

From pale + face, a supposed calque from a Native American language. First appears in print c. 1797.

Dere is Great Wicked Spirit, too... Heart grow hard. Great pleasure was to kill pale-face. Dat feeling last, Blossom, till I see you. Feel like fader to you, and don't want your scalp... Still want all udder pale-face scalp. Want Bourdon scalp much as any.

1848, James Fenimore Cooper, chapter XXVIII, in The Bee-Hunter, or, The Oak Openings:

The hearts of the palefaces would not thrill to these superstitions of the red men, though we spoke of them in the centre of the haunted region.

1889, Nathaniel Hawthorne, “Sketches from Memory”, in The Great Stone Face and Other Tales of the White Mountains:

The dusky hunters "guyed" the palefaces who could not do as well as they with their primitive weapons, even though the fire spouted from the iron tubes and the balls that could not be seen by the eye carried death farther than did the missiles launched by the natives.

1905, Edward S. Ellis, Deerfoot in The Mountains:

"Yes me big paleface—me come long way toward setting sun—go cross Big Water—go Buckskin—Siwash—chase cougar." The cougar, or mountain lion, is a Navajo god and the Navajos hold him in as much fear and reverence as do the Great Slave Indians the musk-ox.

1908, Zane Grey, The Last of the Plainsmen:

High Jack had been drinking too much rum ever since we landed in Boca. You know how an Indian is—the palefaces fixed his clock when they introduced him to firewater.

1909, O. Henry [pseudonym; William Sydney Porter], “He Also Serves”, in Options:

Some Blackfeet Indians, with a taste and a respect for Nature that shames the paleface, have protested to the Secretary of the Interior[…]

1916 March 11, “Silly Place-Names”, in Saturday Evening Post:

Speed is whitey's drug, from the palefaces who cook it to the Caspers who deal it to the ofay vanilla wafers who snort or spike it.

1998, Jim Goad, The Redneck Manifesto, page 128:

(ethnic slur) A white person, a person of European descent, particularly in Native American contexts.

սպիտակամորթ

a white person of European descent, in the context of American Indians


songbird

Any bird in the passerine suborder Passeri, which are distinguished by a more sophisticated vocal apparatus.


dustbin

From dust + bin, as used for disposing of dust and other rubbish.

Nothing was too small to receive attention, if a supervising eye could suggest improvements likely to conduce to the common welfare. Mr. Gordon Burnage, for instance, personally visited dust-bins and back premises, accompanied by a sort of village bailiff, going his round like a commanding officer doing billets.

1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter XIX, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:

(Commonwealth, Ireland, UK) A bin for holding rubbish until it can be collected; a garbage can.


green fingers

/ɡɹiːn ˈfɪŋɡəz/

/ɡɹin ˈfɪŋɡəɹz/

PIE word
 *pénkʷe
From green (adjective) + fingers, possibly popularized by the British gardener and radio and television broadcaster Cecil Henry Middleton (1886–1945).

To some they are a rural escape in the centre of the city, to others they are a chance to test their green fingers and design skills. Now London mayor Boris Johnson has found a new use for urban roof gardens – as a key weapon on the front line against global warming.

2008 August 29, David Adam, “Environment: Johnson unveils secret weapon in war on climate change – the roof garden”, in Alan Rusbridger, editor, The Guardian, London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2023-03-13:

(idiomatic, informal) A seemingly natural gardening ability.


cease-fire

The rebels agreed to a ceasefire while the peace talks were underway.

In warfare, an agreed end to hostilities for a specific purpose. (Typically only temporary).

vuurstaking

in warfare, an agreed end to hostilities for a specific purpose


sledgehammer

These were succeeded by anchor and chain-cable forges, where sledgehammers were dinging upon iron all day long.

1846 October 1 – 1848 April 1, Charles Dickens, Dombey and Son, London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1848, →OCLC:

A hammer that consists of a large, heavy, broad and flat block of metal (the head) attached to a handle typically 0.5 meter to 1 meter long. The sledgehammer's design is meant to allow it to be swung powerfully, and to distribute force over a wide area upon impact.

ញញួរដំដែក

ñɔɔñɔñuə dɑm daek


hat trick

From hat + trick (“element of a magician’s or variety entertainer’s act; entertaining and difficult physical action”, noun). Sense 2 (“achievement of a bowler taking three wickets in three consecutive balls”)—the original sporting sense—refers to the commemorative hat formerly given as a prize to the bowler by his club.

هاتريك

three achievements in a single game, competition, season, etc.

שלושער m (shloshá'ar, literally “three-gate or goal”)

གསུམ་སྦྲགས (gsum sbrags, literally “pack-of-three”)

Member of Parliament
Member of Parliament

(UK politics, historical, rare) A means of securing a seat in the House of Commons by a Member of Parliament placing their hat upon it during an absence.


earshot

en-noun

earshot (usually uncountable, plural earshots)

I'll row out on the lake but stay within earshot.

Loola glances about her to make sure that nobody is within earshot, then speaks at last almost in a whisper.

1948 August, Aldous Huxley, Ape and Essence, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, →OCLC:

Ananda hit the target, an iron drum, from a distance of two earshots. Devadatta, from a distance of four earshots, Sundarananda from a distance of six earshots, and Dandapani [found his target] from one league.

2013, Buton Richen Drup, Buton's History of Buddhism in India and Its Spread to Tibet:

A distance from which sound is still audible.


workbench

A sturdy bench or table at which manual work is done by a carpenter, machinist, etc.


bloodstream

The flow of blood through the circulatory system of an animal


toothpaste

toothpaste (countable and uncountable, plural toothpastes)

From tooth + paste. Compare Saterland Frisian Tuskepasta (“toothpaste”), West Frisian toskpoetserguod (“toothpaste”), Dutch tandpasta (“toothpaste”), German Zahnpasta, Zahnpaste (“toothpaste”), Danish tandpasta (“toothpaste”), Swedish tandpasta (“toothpaste”), Icelandic tannkrem (“toothpaste”).

cog

A paste, normally used with a toothbrush, for cleaning the teeth.

you can't put the toothpaste back in the tube


toothbrush

en-verb

toothbrush (third-person singular simple present toothbrushes, present participle toothbrushing, simple past and past participle toothbrushed)

toothbrushes (present singular third-person)
toothbrushing (participle present)
toothbrushed (participle past)
toothbrushed (past)

From tooth + brush. Compare Saterland Frisian Tuskebäärsel (“toothbrush”), West Frisian toskboarstel (“toothbrush”), Dutch tandenborstel (“toothbrush”), German Zahnbürste (“toothbrush”), Danish tandbørste (“toothbrush”), Swedish tandborste (“toothbrush”), Icelandic tannbursti (“toothbrush”).

cog

In Rome, a restorer toothbrushed away some candle-grime over God's Sistine Chapel eye to reveal an eyebrow of Groucho Marx proportion.

1997, Matthew Remski, Dying for Veronica:

I toothbrushed the stale rum stink from my mouth and stared at myself in the cabinet mirror.

(transitive) To clean or scrub with a toothbrush.


roly-poly

en-noun

roly-poly (countable and uncountable, plural roly-polys or roly-polies)

roly-polys (plural)
roly-polies (plural)

/ˌɹəʊlɪˈpəʊli/

The noun is apparently derived from roll (“to turn over and over”) + -y (suffix forming adjectives with the sense ‘having the quality of’), reduplicated with a change of the initial consonant. Compare rolly (“having the ability to roll, rolling”, adjective), which is attested since the 19th century.
Sense 1.7 (“mischievous or worthless person”) is possibly influenced by poll (“head; (archaic) scalp; (by extension) person”).
The adjective and adverb are attested later than the noun, and so are probably derived from it.

rolly-pooly

game in which balls are rolled or bowled into holes

A roly-poly had found his way inside the house; I reasoned that the tiny varmint had crawled up the steps. […] The creatures are no more than an inch long, and when you touch them they roll themselves into a tight gray ball.

1960 July 11, Harper Lee, chapter 25, in To Kill a Mockingbird, Philadelphia, Pa., New York, N.Y.: J[oshua] B[allinger] Lippincott Company, →OCLC, part 2, page 251:

Terrestrial isopods, commonly known as pill bugs, sow bugs, or roly-polys, are generally familiar to most of us.

1995, Henry W. Robison, Robert T. Allen, “Subphylum Crustacea: Crustaceans”, in Only in Arkansas: A Study of the Endemic Plants and Animals of the State, Fayetteville, Ark.: University of Arkansas Press, →ISBN, page 45:

From the window, she sees them discover a colony of roly-polies (tiny gray bugs that roll into miniature balls in the presence of danger). She delights in the wonder and fun of the children as they play gently with the tiny bugs.

1997, Clark M. Williamson, Ronald J[ames] Allen, “Worship as the Power of God”, in Adventures of the Spirit: A Guide to Worship from the Perspective of Process Theology, Lanham, Md., Oxford, Oxfordshire: University Press of America, →ISBN, page 76:

[Romy Tinkle] What is that thing, Quincy?! / [Quincy Tinkle] Um … It's a giant Rolly Polly (Pill Bug). It's been living entirely on my body-building protein powder, apparently!!

2002 May 26, J[effrey] J. Rowland, Wigu Adventures (webcomic), archived from the original on 2009-12-13:

(Canada, US) In full roly-poly bug: a small terrestrial invertebrate which tends to roll into a ball when disturbed, such as a woodlouse (suborder Oniscidea, especially a pill bug (family Armadillidiidae) or a sowbug (family Porcellionidae)) or a pill millipede (superorder Oniscomorpha).


boob tube

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

* (television): An allusion to the idiocy of television programming and the supposed audience for such (boobs) and that the televisions of that era used cathode ray tube (CRT) vacuum tube displays. First use appears c. 1959, in the The Herald Journal.
* (clothing): Due to the clothing resembling a tube-like garment that covers the breasts (boobs) of a woman. First use appears c. 1977, in the Daily Mail.

(US, informal, dated, derogatory) A television.

At the same time, Tara puts her arms into her boob tube.

2015, Oscar Phoenix, This Hostage to Fortune:

(British, informal) A type of woman's upper body garment consisting of a taut band of cloth around the breasts and back.


snail mail

A retronym emphasizing postal mail's slowness compared to email.

I came home to a mailbox stuffed with snail mail.

To send a letter by snail mail (the Postal Service), you must still compose it, and also print it out, unless you write it by hand or on a typewriter.

1993 November 9, L. R. Shannon, “Peripherals: MCI Mail Changes The Nature Of Letters”, in New York Times, retrieved 2014-04-03:

en:physical material conveyed by the postal service

(retronym) Mail (physical material) sent in the post, especially as compared with email.


clover clamp

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

(chiefly BDSM) A metal clamp, usually joined to another by a chain, meant to be worn on the nipples to cause pain.


pigsty

Coordinate term: (sometimes synonymous) hoghouse

The lower pasture also contains a pigsty.

An enclosure where pigs are kept, either a building or part of one.


grabass

en-verb

grabass (third-person singular simple present grabasses, present participle grabassing, simple past and past participle grabassed)

grabasses (present singular third-person)
grabassing (participle present)
grabassed (participle past)
grabassed (past)

The Paranoids were singing, to the tune of ‘Adeste Fideles’: […] grabassing around, trying to push each other over the side.

1966 March, Thomas Pynchon, The Crying of Lot 49, Philadelphia, Pa.; New York, N.Y.: J[oshua] B[allinger] Lippincott Company, →OCLC: