nipfarthing

I woulde the not a nipfarthinge, / nor yet a niggarde haue, / Wilte thou therefore, a drunkard be, / a dingthrifte, and a knaue?

1566, “1st satire”, in Drant, Thomas, transl., A Medicinable Morall, translation of Satires by Horace:

Were you hoping to benefit from your sister's marriage, Sebastian? Are all the rumors I have heard of your gambling and other debts true? And is your father still the nipfarthing you have always claimed him to be?


turntippet

The priests, for the most part, were doublefaced, turntippets, and flatterers

c. 1556, Thomas Cranmer, A Confution of Unwritten Verities; republished in The Works of Thomas Cranmer, volume 2, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1846, page 15:

(obsolete) A traitor; a defector; a renegade.


quenchcoal

en-noun

quenchcoal (countable and uncountable, plural quenchcoals)

Zeal has in this our earthly mold little fuel and much quench-coal; it is hardly fired and soon cooled.

1615, Samuel Ward, A Coal from the Altar to Kindle the Holy Fire of Zeal:

You are quenchcoal; no sparkle of grace can kindle upon your cold hearth.

1642, Daniel Rogers, Naaman the Syrian: His Disease and Cure, page 868:

In 1636 he published two books at once, or immediately after each other. One of them was called The Quench Coal, in answer to that called A Coal from the Altar; against placing the Communion-Table Altarwise.

1817, “William Prynne”, in Athenae Oxonienses, volume 3, page 847:

(obsolete, idiomatic, Puritanism) A person or thing that undermines religious zeal; hence a heartless, uncaring person with respect to religion.


frayboggard

From fray (“fear, terror”) + boggard (“bugbear, ghost, goblin”).

compound

For like as a frayboggarde in a garden off Cucumbers kepeth nothinge, euen ſo are their goddes of wod, of ſyluer ⁊ golde:

1535 October 14 (Gregorian calendar), Myles Coverdale, transl., Biblia: The Byble, […] (Coverdale Bible), [Cologne or Marburg]: [Eucharius Cervicornus and Johannes Soter?], →OCLC, Baruch vj:[70], folio liiij, recto:


lack-looks

Oh but our sweet fac't Gentlewomen will keepe your profession in great request; our lacke-lookes and barren-beauties will vphold it for euer, when the old Baude like a greene apple parch't in an Ouen, or the Italian coulorist with his new cast face shall present this good complexion.

1618, Thomas Decker, The Owles Almanacke:


loiter-sack

I maruell I heare no nevves of Dromio, either hee ſlackes the matter, or betraies his Maiſter, I dare not motion anie thing to Stellio, till I knovv vvhat my boy hath don, Ile hunt him out, if the loiterſacke be gone ſpringing into a Tauerne, Ile fetch him reeling out.

c. 1590 (date written), [John Lyly], Mother Bombie. […], 2nd edition, London: […] Thomas Creede, for Cuthbert Burby, published 1598, →OCLC, Act II, scene ii:


thump-cushion

And yet, should the wind chop about, / And thy mouth cease this damn'd squally weather, / Let us send for old Thump-cushion out, / And swing in a hammock together.

1812, John Wolcot, “Sea Courtship”, in The Works of Peter Pindar, Esq., volume 4, page 117:

Rub-a-dub-dub, / The knight of the tub, Evangelical Thump-cushion hight, / Has too long had his way, / And, I'm sorry to say, / Put your orthodox phalanx to flight.

1844, Peter Placet, The String of Beads for Romanisers, page 51:

[…] let it be borne in mind, that it was a place for saints as well as for sinners; and, whilst the gayer portion of the community ran after assemblies and all such carnal amusements, the more serious moiety hurried as eagerly to hear the energetic expoundings of the favourite thump-cushion of the season.

1847, Robert Folkestone Williams, Strawberry Hill, volume 2, page 91:

(obsolete) A boisterous, impassioned preacher.


scrapegut

From scrape + gut (“intestines of an animal used to make strings”).

His father met him with some impatient questions as to what he had been living on so long, for the old man well knew how scantily his pocket was supplied. "Pretty much like the young ravens," answered he; "I only wished I had been as good a player on the flute as poor George Primrose in The Vicar of Wakefield. If I had his art, I should like nothing better than to tramp like him from cottage to cottage over the world."―"I doubt," said the grave Clerk to the Signet, "I greatly doubt, sir, you were born for nae better than a gangrel scrape-gut."

1837, John Gibson Lockhart, Memoirs of the Life of Sir Walter Scott, Bart, volume 1, pages 151–152:

I was known in the whole street as crins crins, and scouted by the neighbours with the nickname of "Racleur de boyaux," terms equivalent in English to "Scrapegut."

1862 September 6, “Paganini's Ghost”, in The Musical World, volume 40, number 36, page 565:


choke-priest

UK mid-19th century. Calque of Italian strozzapreti, from strozzare (“to choke; to strangle”) + prete (“priest”). Equivalent to choke + priest.

Warm choke-priest, pastry, and sour wine (the refuse of the convent cellars) were retailed for the same purposes.

1848, James Grant, Adventures of an Aide-de-camp, volume 1, page 145:

(obsolete) A thick Italian soup containing pasta or dumplings.


stab-rag

In conclusion, the bottom on the jacket, and the button-holes, companions thereto, would baffle the criticism of the most hyper-fastidious stab-rag; and the shirt collar, with every other detail—never forgetting the chiaro-scuro—are equal to any of the preceding.

1841 August 21, “Fine Arts”, in Punch, or the London Charivari, volume 1, page 65:

Corporal Target is at the stab-rag—tailor's, sir. Bein' measured for a new overcoat, sir.

1943, Stella Gibbons, Ticky, London: Random House, published 2012, →ISBN, page 127:

(obsolete, military, British, slang) A regimental tailor.


choke-children

From choke + children. The fish is noted for its boniness, which could prove a choking-hazard to children. May be related to folklore surrounding the Cornish saint St. Leven.

(obsolete) A fish, the allis shad (Alosa alosa) or rock herring.


choke-dog

Bought a little bit of Gruyere cheese, instead of our domestic choke-dog concern. When did I ever purchase anything for my own eating? But I will say no more of that. And now to the bread-mill.

1826 June 14, Walter Scott, edited by Douglas, David, The Journal of Sir Walter Scott, New York: Harper & Brothers, published 1891, page 137:

As I have said before, the Dorsetshire hind is undoubtedly under-fed. Bread and "choke-dog", as he calls his county's cheese, […] these are the chief items in his bill of fare.

1870 February 28, “Our Working People and How They Live: The Dorsetshire Hind”, in Good Words, page 98:

As there was absolutely nothing to do but to grin and bear it, we made a breakfast of smoked salmon, "choke-dog," and tea; then shouldered our packs.

1897 August 30, F. J. Church, “In the Land of the Shag”, in Recreation, volume 7, number 2, page 123:

(obsolete, British slang) A very hard cheese. Attributed variously to counties of the West Country of the United Kingdom such as Devon, Dorset and the Isle of Wight.

(obsolete, US) Any of several plants in the genus Gonolobus.


lack-laughter

en-adj

lack-laughter (comparative more lack-laughter, superlative most lack-laughter)

more lack-laughter (comparative)
most lack-laughter (superlative)

The lack-laughter sangfroid of the parſon was the conſtant topic of his ridicule, and he complained that whenever I appeared I caſt a gloom over the mirth of his company.

1771, John Horne, The Controversial Letters of John Wilkes, Esq., the Rev. John Horne, and Their Principal Adherents, page 153:

[…] many force / Lack-laughter faces to relax / Into the soft lines traced by joy.

1850, “Agamemnon”, in Blackie, John Stuart, transl., The Lyrical Dramas of Æschylus, volume 1, translation of original by Aeschylus, page 48:


lack-learning

So few persons among the laity were acquainted with the art of writing, that the science itself acquired the name of 'clergy.' The term ' clerk' became equivalent to 'penman;' and our common nomenclature still bears testimony to the lack-learning of ancient times.

1837, Sir Francis Palgrave, “The Refectory”, in The Merchant and the Friar, page 4:


lackstock

Only let me say, that I should be as glad as you could be to find myself in possession of a good independent fortune: and that we poor lacklands and lackstocks who have to earn our livelihood, must endeavour to make the best of it.

1802 November 6, Robert Southey, Letter to To Grosvenor C. Bedford, Esq.; republished in Warter, John Wood, editor, Selections from the letters of Robert Southey, volume 3, London: Longman, Brown, Green, Longmans, & Roberts, 1856, page 212:

(obsolete, stock market) A person who has no money in stocks and shares.


lack-linen

lack-linen (comparative more lack-linen, superlative most lack-linen)

more lack-linen (comparative)
most lack-linen (superlative)

I scorn you, scurvy companion. What! / you poor, base, rascally, cheating, lack-linen / mate! Away, you mouldy rogue, away!

c. 1596–1599, William Shakespeare, Henry IV, Part 2, act 2, scene 4, lines 133–135:


lack-love

lack-love (comparative more lack-love, superlative most lack-love)

more lack-love (comparative)
most lack-love (superlative)

And I in exile's lack-love loneliness / Must sigh for joy if yet I may not sing—

1917, Arthur Shearly Cripps, “The End of the Rains”, in Lake and War, page 17:

The effects upon the development of personality and behavior of a lack-love infancy appear to have still further repercussions.

1988, Karl J. Nice, Science and other ways of knowing:

Uncaring; indifferent to love; loveless.


lack-love

Pretty soul! she durst not lie / Near this lack-love, this kill-courtesy.

c. 1595–1596, William Shakespeare, A Midsummer Night's Dream, act 2, scene 2, lines 76–77:

(obsolete) A heartless person; someone who is uncaring and indifferent to love.


clutchfist

No fitter place; there is / An old rich Clutchfist Knight, Sir Thomas Bitefig, / Invite him too; perhaps I may have luck, / And break his Purse yet open for one hundred. / A Usurer is somewhat exorable / When he is full: He ne'r lends money empty.

1651, William Cartwright, The Ordinary, act 2, scene 1:

Which, of course, her gouty, miserable clutchfist of a spouse had not.

2010, Patricia Rice, Wicked Wyckerly (Rebellious Sons; 1):

Amelia abandoned her soulful mien. "You are nothing but a penny-pinching clutchfist, Hugo!"

2014, Anne Gracie, An Honorable Thief (Harlequin Historicals; 616):


steelback

From steel (“to harden; to strengthen”) + back.

compound

Onely the Portugal inhabitants, in their townes and cities (being many and great) doe make a kinde of wine of dryed grapes or raysins of the sunne, for relish and operation the best (I thinike) in the world, not inferiour to the Spanish nectar, el vino de San Martin, being pleasant, strong, and cordiall, called raysin wine, almost of the colour of Alicant or steelebacke*; which (thankes to our honourable masters) wee were seldome without[…]
* A name given to Alicant wine, which was supposed to strengthen the back.

1633, Christopher Farewell, “An East-India Colation”, in Foster, Sir William, editor, The Voyage of Nicholas Downton to the East Indies 1614-15, London: Hakluyt Society, published 1939, page 146:


cumberworld

From Middle English combre-world, combreworldes pl, from the phrase *combren the world; equivalent to cumber + world.

A cumber-world, yet in the world am left, / A fruitles plot, with brambles ouergrowne, / Miſliued man of my vvorlds ioy bereft, / Hart-breaking cares the ofspring of my mone.

1593, Michael Drayton, “The Second Eglog”, in Idea the Shepheards Garland, […], London: […] [T. Orwin] for Thomas Woodcocke, […], →OCLC; republished as J[ohn] P[ayne] C[ollier], editor, Idea the Shepheards Garland, [London]: [Privately printed], 1870, →OCLC, page 6:

His pouch was now all void and empty, his future years were like to be sour, thoughty, and woe-begone, and himself a cumberworld, unsicker of his scarce and slender livelihood in lickpenny London, forced to beg, steal, or starve, and gaping after honest death.

1894, James Hamilton Wylie, History of England under Henry the Fourth, volume 2, pages 22–23:

(derogatory, obsolete) Someone who, or something which, is an encumbrance on the world; a useless person or thing.


crack-hemp

Come hither, crackhempe.

c. 1590–1592 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Taming of the Shrew”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene i], page 226, column 2:

Even in the Castle of Avenel thou wert a wild blood enough, but hadst thou been nurtured here, within a flight shot of the court, thou hadst been the veriest crack-hemp of a page that ever wore a feather in thy bonnet or steel by thy side: truly, I wish it may end week with thee.

1820, Sir Walter Scott, The Abbot (Waverley Novels), page 246:

(obsolete) A person who deserves to be, or is likely to be, hanged.


crack-rope

Jack. Master, I handled you not, but who did handle you very handsomely, you can tell.
Carisophus. Handsomely, thou crack-rope?

1564, Richard Edwardes, Damon and Pythias; republished in King, Ros, editor, The Works of Richard Edwards, Manchester and New York: Manchester University Press, 2001, page 153:

Then let him be led through every ſtreete in yᵉ towne, / That every crackrope, may throw rottē egs at yᵉ clown.

1584, Anthony Munday, edited by Percy Simpson, Fidele and Fortunio, the Two Italian Gentlemen, The Malone Society, published 1909, page [55]:

Hark ye, ye crack-rope padder, born beggar, and bred thief!

1818, Sir Walter Scott, The Heart of Midlothian (Waverley Novels; 7), London: Adam and Charles Black, published 1898, page 307:

(obsolete) A person who deserves to be, or is likely to be, hanged; a gallows bird.


sneak-cup

How! the prince is a Jack, a sneak-cup: 'sblood, an / he were here, I would cudgel him like a dog, if he / would say so.

c. 1605–1608, William Shakespeare, Henry IV, Part I, act 2, scene 3:

A sneaker was originally a smaller drinking mug or beaker than was ordinarily used, and was drunk from by a "sneak-cup," that contemptible creature who wished to shrink from his convivial duties by "balking his drink," or, to speak plainly, who wished to drink less than his companions fancied he ought to. It came gradually to be used as the name of a small mug, and as such frequently appears in the inventories of china made and sold at Worcester. Washington was no "sneak-cup," he boldly and liberally ordered large mugs instead of pint sneakers.

1892, Alice Morse Earle, “George and Martha Washington's China”, in China Collecting in America, published 1906, pages 237–238:

(obsolete) Someone who is deemed to not drink their share during communal drinking sessions.


swill-bowl

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But nothing like to that hath been shewed since in the English church by the spiritual tyrant of Rome and his mitred termagants, at the provocation of their oiled swill-bowls and blind Balaamites. For they most cruelly brent those innocents which did but only read the testament of God in their mother-tongue; and do not yet repent them of that mischief, but continue therein.

1547, John Bale, The Second Examination of Anne Askewe; republished in Christmas, Henry, editor, Select Works of John Bale, The Parker Society edition, Cambridge: University Press, 1849, Britannish, page 193:

Wantonness was never such a swill-bowl of ribaldry; nor Idleness ever such a carouser of knavery.

1593, Gabriel Harvey, Pierce's Supererogation; or, A New Praise of the Old Ass, published 1815, page 141:


swill-flagon

Out, thou German wine-flask!—Out, thou eternal swill-flagon!—Heard you ever of a modest maiden who drank wine before she had dined?

1829, Sir Walter Scott, Anne of Geierstein:


swill-belly

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I'll not account of her as of my child. / Was there no better object for her eyes / But a foul drunken lubber, swill-belly, / A shoemaker? That's brave!

1599, Thomas Dekker, The Shoemaker's Holiday, act 4, scene 5; Rhys, Ernest, editor, Thomas Dekker, unexpurgated edition, London: Vizetelly & Co, 1887, page 63:


smell-smock

From smell + smock (“woman's undergarment”).

Cardamine pratensis
Cardamine pratensis#Translingual

(British, dialect) A plant, the cuckooflower or lady's smock (Cardamine pratensis).


swill-pot

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

But, said he, what doth that part of our army in the meantime which overthrows that unworthy swillpot Grangousier?

1653, Thomas, transl. Urquhart, chapter XXXIII, in Gargantua and Pantagruel, translation of original by Francois Rabelais, First Book:

Look you, ye hang-dog! You ſhall caſt flections on me and my ways! You ſhall, ye ſwill-pot!

1799, George Peter Holford, True Patriotism, act2, scene 1, page 22:

Beer, ye boozy scabs! Ha'n't ye enough a'ready? Don't I pay for it, and for every minute of time ye rob me of, ye swabs, ye swill-pot hounds? There's the pond for ye. Go and lap water, like the lazy dogs ye are!

1892 June 30, Arthur Morison, “The Legend of Lapwater Hall”, in Macmillan's Magazine, volume 66, page 110:


swill-tub

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But I have known a great many, to whom theſe kind Words have been chang'd into the quite contrary, in leſs than three Months Time; and inſtead of pleaſant Jeſts at Table, Diſhes and Trenchers have flown about. The Husband, inſtead of my dear Soul, has been call'd Blockhead, Toſs-Pot, Swill-Tub; and the Wife, Sow, Fool, dirty Drab.

1725 [1518], Nathan, transl. Bailey, “The Epithalamium of Petrus Ægidius”, in All the Familiar Colloquies of Desiderius Erasmus, of Roterdam, translation of Colloquies by Desiderius Erasmus Roterodamus, page 261:


suck-pint

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Humeux: m. A ſucke-pinte or ſwill-pot; a notable drunkard.

1611, Randle Cotgrave, A Dictionarie of the French and English Tongues, page HVI-HVM:

As he was back in London 'in the first months of 1736,' running 'the little French theatre in the Haymarket,' and 'the Great Mogul's Company of Comedians' […], and producing Pasquin, Murphy's 'three years' of 'entertainments, hounds, and horses' gets so hard a knock that, if we had not all been brought up (as it were) in the strong persuasion that Fielding was a squandering suck-pint, it would, I believe, have been held long since a common lie.

1903, William Ernest Henley, Henry Fielding; republished in Essays, London: Macmillan and Co., 1921, page 33:


common kingsnake

en-noun

common kingsnake (countable and uncountable, plural common kingsnakes)

Lampropeltis getula, a harmless colubrid kingsnake endemic to much of warm temperate northern Mexico and the United States.


bitesheep

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

From bite + sheep. Possibly an intentional, satirical corruption of, or pun on, bishop, to imply one who bites the flock he should be protecting (compare English sheep-biter).

Wherefore mine advice and most earnest desire is, with all other of your loving friends, that you still keep that order with those bloodthirsty bitesheeps (bishops, I should say) that you have begun. For though in conclusion they will surely have your blood, yet shall they come by it with shame enough, and to their perpetual infamy while the world doth endure.

c. 1556, John Foxe, “A Letter of John Careless, answering to the loving Epistle or Letter sent to him before by Master John Philpot”, in Rev. Stephen Reed Cattley, editor, The Acts and Monuments of John Foxe, volume 8, London: R. B. Seeley and W. Burnside, published 1839, page 172:

Wherfore the bitesheepe and the recorder beinge owtragiously moved agaynst him, contrary to all justice all Law th[e]y condemned him to bee whipped at a Carts tayle and to bee boored through the eare wᵗʰ a hot iron, wᶜʰ was executed in most dispitful and cruellest manner that might bee executed to any Rooge, […]

1578 December 15, A. Dolm, [A Letter]; republished in “Diarium Secundum”, in The First and Second Diaries of the English College, Douay, London: David Nutt, 1878, Februarius 1579, page 149:

If Thomas is rather fond of calling Geoffrey Riddell Archidiabolus instead of Archidiaconus, was it not the established joke of the Reformation to call a Bishop a Bitesheep, and to turn Cardinal Poole into Carnal Fool?

[1860 April 30, Edward Augustus Freeman, “Saint Thomas of Canterbury and His Biographers”, in The National Review; republished as Historical Essays, London: Macmillan and Co., 1875, page 95:

(obsolete, derogatory, dysphemistic, religious slur) A bishop, particularly a Catholic bishop persecuting Protestants.


lack-grace

en-adj

lack-grace (comparative more lack-grace, superlative most lack-grace)

more lack-grace (comparative)
most lack-grace (superlative)

"I'm calling on the owners of Maine Yankee to pull their managers in check, because they are destroying whatever goodwill their employees have built up," Shadis said. "This is such a lack-grace exit." He said instead of fighting the state and the community over jurisdiction questions and clean-up standards, the company should "go the extra mile, clean it up to community comfort levels, and fare thee well."

1999 July 28, Kris Ferrazza, quoting Ray Shadis, “State, Maine Yankee spar over inspections”, in Lincoln County Weekly:


lack-pity

lack-pity (comparative more lack-pity, superlative most lack-pity)

more lack-pity (comparative)
most lack-pity (superlative)

Each sore defeat of my defeated life / Faced and outfaced me in that bitter hour; / And turned to yearning palsy all my power, / And all my peace to strife, / Self stabbing self with keen lack-pity knife.

1881, Christina Rossetti, “An Old-World Thicket”, in A Pageant and Other Poems, page 122:


lack-mind

Let us not imitate the lazy indifference of those lack-minds who visit in succession half a dozen wondrous new ports in the Far East, and whose stagnant curiosity is satisfied by staring over the ship's side and evaporating their brains in clouds of tobacco.

1887, Henry Knollys, “A Typhoon.—Nagasaki and Kobe.”, in Sketches of Life in Japan, page 17:

(archaic, derogatory) An unintelligent person.


whip-belly

From whip + belly. In reference to its effect on the stomach.

Whip-belly — Thin, poor, or weak liquor. Ex. She's a regular skinflint, and supplies her customers with whip-belly,

[1866, J. Ellet Brogden, Provincial Words and Expressions Current in Lincolnshire, page 223:

(Lincolnshire, obsolete) Poor quality (weak or sour) beer.


pinch-gut

Por. We are my Lady Pinch-guts men, Sir.
Co. Her Men? No, he Mice. We live upon crums,^([sic]) and a good Cat would run away with us all.
[…]
L. W. I wonder at it; my Lords humour is very oppoſite to hers, he loves Grandeur.
Co. So does ſhe, Sir, but hates to pat for't. She will ha' Servants for a ſhew, and they ſhall ha' Liveries for a ſhew, when company comes: But when company's gone, we are ſtripp'd and ſtarv'd; a damn'd Papiſtical Heathen.

1690, John Crowne, “Lady Pinch-guts Houſe”, in The English Frier, act 2, scene 1, page 9:

Pinch-gut—A mean purser.

[1883, William Clark Russell, Sailors' Language, page 103:

(obsolete) A miser; especially someone parsimonious with food.


pinch-commons

She listened to them with a haughty and unmoved air, and replied at length aloud, and in English—"I will not. What if this house be strewed in ruins before morning—where would be the world's want in the crazed projector, and the niggardly pinch-commons, by which it is inhabited? They will needs come to reform Zetland customs, let them try how they like a Zetland storm.—You that would not perish, quit this house!"

1822, Walter Scott, chapter 6, in The Pirate:


stitch-back

Among the promiscuous Assembly of broken Extravagants, a slovenly Sot sits puffing at the Board in a woollen Night cap, so disguis'd with Dirt, & his Hands & Face with Nastiness, that he look'd like the Cook of a Newcastle Collier just slept on Shore to enter an Action against his Master for wages. A second in his slip shoes, and ungarter'd stockings, like a Journey Man Taylor jumpt of the Board for a Halfpenny Roll & a pint of Tow^([sic]) Penny Stich-Back.

1709, Edward Ward, “The Broken Shop-Keepers' Club”, in The History of the London Clubs, London: J. Dutten, published 1896, page 19:


cover-slut

Krio: kabaslot (“loose-fitting dress”)

From cover + slut (“slovenly, untidy person”).

compound

Nor let your women there appear / With dirty ſmock-ſleeves, foul head-geare, / With Cover-ſlut from Neck to Toe, / As Maids to morning Lectures go.

1678, John Phillips, “Book V”, in Maronides, or, Virgil Travesty, page 15:

The Irish cloak forms very graceful drapery; the material falls well, and folds well. It is usually large enough to envelop the whole person; and the hood is frequently drawn forward to shield the face of the wearer from sun, rain, or wind. Yet we would fain see its general use dispensed with. A female in the lower ranks of life cares but little for the other portions of her dress if she has "a good cloak;" and certainly her ordinary appearance would be more thought of, if the huge "cover-slut" were not always at hand to hide dilapidations in her other garments.

1846, Samuel Carter Hall, Ann Kent Hall, “Kildare”, in Ireland: Its Scenery, Character &c., volume 2, footnote, page 272:

(obsolete) An apron or pinafore, worn to hide slovenliness (such as dirt, stains, or tears) in the clothing beneath.

Fie, madam, you'll ruin the sex! Husband, say ye? A mere thing—a cover-slut of custom!

1690, John Wilson, Belphegor, act 2, scene 3; republished in The Dramatic Works of John Wilson, Edinburgh: William Paterson, 1874, page 320:

(obsolete, by extension, figurative) Any surface appearance hiding something underneath.


cover-shame

Give place then exprobrating fruit, and come / Thou Cover-shame, old Fig-tree, in the Room: / Though men of all the fruit, that hangs o'th' tree, / Should love none less for your obscurity

1659, Edmund Gayton, chapter 31, in The Art of Longevity:

O impudence! O rogue! O villain! Nay, if he be such a man, my righteous spirit rises at him! Does he put on holy garments, for a cover-shame of lewdness?

1681, John Dryden, The Spanish Friar, act 3, scene 2; republished in The Works of John Dryden, volume 6, Edinburgh: Archibold Constable and Co., 1821, page 428:

If this were believed, men would make more account of sincerity, which will only give us boldness, and not seek for cover-shames; the confidence whereof, as it maketh men now more presumptuous, so it will expose them hereafter to the greater shame.

1838, Richard Sibbes, chapter 25, in The Bruised Reed and Smoking Flax, page 122:

(obsolete) Something used to conceal infamy.


hide-all

The soldier is not unfrequently destitute of portions of his uniform, or his regimental coat and continuations are in such hopeless rags, that even in the sultry summer the slate-coloured great-coat is worn as a hide-all and slut-cover, like the begrimed blanket of a Mexican lépero. Clumsy gaiters, ill-buttoned and discoloured, descend over shoes which, in one case out of three, are broken in pieces, disclosing to view the naked toes of the men—such in Spain are the glories of the vida military!

1845, Terence MacMahon Hughes, Revelations of Spain in 1845, page 326:

A female in the lower ranks of life cares but little for the other portions of her dress if she has "a good cloak;" and certainly her ordinary appearance would be more thought of, if the huge "cover-slut" were not always at hand to hide dilapidations in her other garments. "Oh, then, I'm not fit to be seen; hadn't I better tidy myself a bit?—but asy! sure when I throw on my cloak no one will know what I am," is a too frequent observation; and away they go, shrouded from head to foot in this woollen hide-all.


Kappa slapper

Chosen for the rhyme (in non-rhotic accents); Kappa is a sportswear clothing brand.

(UK, slang, derogatory) A female chav or townie.


walke-street

From walke (“obsolete spelling of walk”) + street.

Bateur de pavez. An idle, or continuall walke-ſtreet; a jetter abroad in the ſtreets; one that ſees the towne ſerued when honeſt men are in bed; a laſciuious, or unthrifty, night-walker, generally, any looſe or mad youth, diſſolute or diſorderly yonker.

1611, Randle Cotgrave, A Dictionarie of the French and English Tongues, page BAT-BAT:

(obsolete) Someone who wanders aimlessly; a flaneur.


breakbone

en-noun

breakbone (countable and uncountable, plural breakbones)

breakbone A chicken's wishbone; also called the breaking bone or pulleybone.

[2000, Robert Hendrickson, editor, The Facts on File Dictionary of American Regionalisms, Infobase Publishing, →ISBN, page 30:

(US dialect, countable) A chicken's wishbone.


break-bones

From break + bones, calque of Spanish quebrantahuesos.

These southern seas are frequented by several species of Petrels: the largest kind, Procellaria gigantea, or nelly (quebrantahuesos, or break-bones, of the Spaniards), is a common bird, both in the inland channels and on the open sea. In its habits and manner of flight, there is a very close resemblance with the albatross; and as with the albatross, a person may watch it for hours together without seeing on what it feeds. The "break-bones" is, however, a rapacious bird, for it was observed by some of the officers at Port St. Antonio chasing a diver, which tried to escape by diving and flying, but was continually struck down, and at last killed by a blow on its head.

1839, Charles Darwin, chapter 13, in The Voyage of the Beagle, volume 29, New York: P. F. Collier & Son, published 1909:

Whilst we were at work on the beach, crowds of birds began to assemble, especially the Giant Petrel or "Breakbones" (Ossifraga gigantea), the "Nelly" or "Stinker" of sealers. This bird in its habits is most remarkably like the vulture.

1879, Henry Mottidge Moseley, “Kerguelen's Land”, in Notes by a Naturalist on the Challenger, Cambridge University Press, published 2014, →ISBN, pages 205–206:

The titlark, sheath-bill, teal, and goose of South Georgia are wholly or in part vegetable feeders. The cormorant and the tern eat fish. The gull subsists chiefly on limpets and other shell-bearing mollusks. The penguins and Tubinares capture cuttlefish and pelagic crustaceans, the giant petrel, or "breakbones," alone obtaining part of its food on shore, since it has a relish for carrion. The skua feeds on any kind of animal food, dead or alive, especially upon other birds and their eggs.

1922 April 30, Robert Cushman Murphy, “South Georgia, An Outpost of the Antarctic”, in National Geographic, volume 41, number 4, page 429:

Any bird in the genus Macronectes, known as giant petrels.


lack-life

en-adj

lack-life (comparative more lack-life, superlative most lack-life)

more lack-life (comparative)
most lack-life (superlative)

What influence the decorative motives of Egypt and Assyria, imported by the Phoenicians, had upon the early artists of Greece, it is again, as yet, very difficult to say, and we have to glean such scanty information as we can from what exists of archaic Greek art in pre-Phoenician strata, compared with such ancient Phoenician remains as are entirely destitute of any admixture of Greek influence. Such is the surpassing value of these Phoenician shields, the most ancient metal shields yet discovered. They belong to an epoch when the Greek race was in its youth, when the springs of its mind were fresh, when it was most likely to be influenced by external agents, and such objects were the first to introduce the young and aspiring Greek to the rigid, severe, monotonous, mysterious, and impenetrable forms of Egypt, and to the dreamy, lack-life, symbolic and ideal creations of the Assyrians.

1888 August 7, Rev. Joseph Hirst, “Opening Address of the Antiquarian Section”, in The Archaeological Journal, volume 46, number 181, Royal Archaeological Institute, published 1889, pages 31–32:

(art, nonce word) Represented in such a way as to show important characteristics, rather than in a realistic or literal manner; stylized; abstract.


mumble-matins

From mumble + matins (“morning prayers”).

The reason, why so great a stress was laid on the distinct reading of the Church Service, independently of its obvious necessity, was the general prevalence of an opposite practice amongst the Popish Clergy, many of whom, after they had conformed to the Liturgy, read it as they had been accustomed to read the prayers in their Breviary.*
* The Clergy who read in this hurried and indistinct manner were called, in derision, "Mumble-Matins."

[1845, Rev. William Simcox Bricknell, The Judgment of the Bishops Upon Tractarian Theology, page 604:

By our Lady! if thou hadst seen death in as many shapes as I have, the fearful change, as the mumble matins call it, coming over white and dusky faces alike, thou would not fear it, but prepare to meet it gaily, flask in hand, like a welcome guest or an expected bride[…]

1852, George Walter Thornbury, “The Monastery of the Flowery Plain”, in Ainsworth's Magazine, volume 21, page 222:

(obsolete, religious slur) A Roman Catholic priest.


make-fray

Alternative form: makefray

If brabbling Make-fray, at each fair and size, / Picks quarrels for to show his valiantize,

a. 1656, Joseph Hall, “Satire IV”, in The Works of the English Poets, volume 5, published 1810, page 276:

(obsolete) Someone who instigates quarrels.


make-debate

I will now pursue the Subject, and put the Case that you have no Proof that he is guilty, but your Surmizes, or, perhaps, the busy Whisperings of officious Make-debates. In this Case, take care, my Betsey, that you don't, by the Violence of your Passions, precipitate him on the Course you dread, and that you alienate not, by unjust Suspicions, his Affections from you; for then perhaps he will be ready indeed to place them somewhere else, where you may not so easily draw him off; for he will, may be, think, as to you (if he be devoid of superior Considerations) that he may as well deserve your Suspicions, as be tiezed with them without deserving them.

1741, Samuel Richardson, “Letter LV”, in Letters Written to and for Particular Friends, pages 68–69:


break-vow

With that same purpose-changer, that sly devil, / That broker, that still breaks the pate of faith, / That daily break-vow, he that wins of all, / Of kings, of beggars, old men, young men, maids,

c. 1596 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Life and Death of King Iohn”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene i]:

(obsolete, derogatory) An untrustworthy person; someone who habitually breaks vows and promises.


break-promise

if you break one jot of your promise or come one / minute behind your hour, I will think you the most / pathetical break-promise and the most hollow lover

1599, William Shakespeare, As You Like It, act 4, scene 1:


breakwind

He bent and disappeared out of the sheltering circle of the fir-fronds, returning in a moment with an armful of boughs. He went back, foraging, and she heard him snapping off others. Presently he was beside her again, and began to construct the break-wind, interweaving from the ground up to the fir-fronds a wall of boughs. Abruptly the wind ceased to blow upon Clair's back.

1932, Lewis Grassic Gibbon, Three Go Back:

The rows of breakwind trees should be planted at right angles to the prevailing wind, and there should be at least thirty feet between the first row of fruit trees and the breakwind trees.

1971, Duncan Brown, Better Fruit Growing for Australian Gardeners, page 15:


tell-truth

When we know a tale-teller is neer us, we are very carefull what we ſay or doe. Why? we have alwaies a tell-truth in our boſoms, where ever we go, or whatſoever we do; who will tell all to the Judge of all the world, that we think, ſpeake, or do[…]

1643, NIcholas Lockyer, A Divine Discovery of Sincerity, published 1649, page 63:

But page 58. he thinks he hath for ever undone my reputation as an Expoſitor, even as much as I, and thouſands more, believe his Anſwer hath undone his reputation for a Tell-truth.

1673, John Faldo, A Vindication of Quakeriſm no Christianity, page 28:

"I am no tell-tale."
"It is a tell-truth that we require. You think that you are betraying your fellows but I say that you are not. You are defending the realm and you are defending them too. It is for their wellbeing and their protection that as much as possible be known. In knowledge lies safety."

2001, Philip Gooden, Death of Kings (Shakespearean Murder; 2):

(obsolete) An honest and truthful person.


kindle-fire

This is the Whiſperer that ſeparates chief friends, and makes thoſe that have drunk of our Cup, to lift up the heel upon us; and with whom we have taken ſweet counſel together, to plot our ruine, and give counfel gainſt our very life. In a word, ſuch a kindle-fire ſin is, that the flames it kindles, flye not only from one Neighbours houſe to the other, but from one Nation to another. All the water in the Sea that runs between Kingdom and Kingdom, cannot quench the Wars it raiſeth: But it makes men that live at one end of the World , thirſt for the blood and treaſure of thoſe that live at the other[…]

1662, William Gurnall, chapter XXV, in Christian in Compleat Armour, volume 3, section 4, page 218:

And now there reſted nothing, for the general Quieting of the Kingdom, but only the Suppreſſion of Malcolm King of Scots, the greateſt Kindle-fire of all theſe Conſpiracies in the North Parts, and the only Refuge for all that were diſcontented and mutinous in this State.

1693, Sir Walter Raleigh, “A Breviary of the Hiſtory of England; Beginning at the Reign of King William the Iſt, Entitled the Conqueror”, in The Works of Sir Walter Raleigh, Kt., section 24, London: R. Dodsley, published 1751, page 304:

(obsolete, idiomatic) Something, such as a person or event, that initiates events or incites a response.


kindle-coal

Many a ſharp conflict there hath been betwixt Saint and Saint, ſcuffling in the dark through miſunderſtanding of the truth, and each other: Abraham and Lot at ſtrife. Aaron and Miriam juſtled with Moſes for the wall, till God interpoſed and ended the quarrel by his immediate ſtroak on Miriam. The Apoſtles even in the preſence of their Maſter, were at high words, conteſting who ſhould be greateſt. Now in theve Civil wars among Saints, Satan is the great kindle-coale, though little ſeen, becauſe, like Ahab, he fights in a diſguiſe, playing firſt on one ſide, and then on the other, aggravating every petty injury, and thereupon provoking to wrath and revenge[…]

1655, William Gurnall, chapter II, in Christian in Compleat Armour, 3rd edition, volume 1, section 3, published 1658, pages 174–175:


shark-gull

From shark (“to swindle; to trick”) + gull (“dupe; mark; sucker”).

compound

Complainest thou of bad doings, when there are harlots of all trades, and knaves of all languages? Knowest thou not that sin may be committed either in French, Dutch, Italian, or Spanish, and all after the English fashion? But thou excusest the negligence of thy practice by the last summer's pestilence: alas, poor shark-gull, that put-off is idle! for sergeant Carbuncle, one of the plague's chief officers, dares not venture within three yards of an harlot, because monsieur Drybone, the Frenchman, is a leiger before him.

1604, Thomas Middleton, The Black Book; republished in The Works of Thomas Middleton, volume 5, London: Edward Lumley, 1840, page 524:

confidence trickster
confidence trickster

(obsolete) A confidence trickster; a person who preys on simpletons.


stay-stomach

I reckon that old fellow, your husband, aint brung in your breckkus yet ; so you must be mighty hungry by this time, and there’s no better stay-stomach in the worl than hard biled eggs.

1841, William Gilmore Simms, “Caloya; or, The Loves of the Driver”, in The Wigwam and the Cabin, New York: Jophn W. Lovell Company, published 1885, page 396:

But there were others in the thirteenth century, quoted in the Summa Summarum of Sylvester Prieras, who said that a man might take electuaries, or ginger by way of stay-stomach, without impeding Communion.

1873, Rev. Hollingworth Tully Kingdon, Fasting Communion, page 91:


rinse-pitcher

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

Rince Pytcher is he that will drinke out his thrift at the ale or wine, and be oft times dronke. This is a licoryce knaue that will swill his Maisters drink, and brybe his meate that is kept for him.

[1561, John Awdely, “The Orders of Knaues”, in The Fraternitye of Vacabondes; republished in Edward Viles, Frederick James Furnivall, editors, Awdeley's Fraternitye of Vacabondes, Harman's Caveat, Haben's Sermon, &c, London: Early English Text Society, 1869, page 13:

What the godly Cromwell saw in this Royalist rinse-pitcher it is now difficult to assess — but he sought him for his son-in-law.

1971, Allen Andrews, The Royal Whore: Barbara Villiers, Countess of Castlemaine, page 9:


wastegood

This firſt, whom by his careleſſe ſlovenly gate, at firſt ſight, I imagined to be a Poet, is a waſte good and an unthrift, that he is born to make the taverns rich, and himſelfe a begger[…]

1592, Robert Greene, edited by Collier, John Payne, A Qvip for an Vpstart Courtier, reprint edition, published 1870, page 67:

Ayoong Heyre or Corkney, that is his Mothers Darling, if he haue playde the waste-good at the Innes of the Court or about London, and that neither his Students pension, nor his vnthrifts credite will serue to maintaine his Collidge of whores any longer[…]

1592, Thomas Nash, Pierce Penilesse his Supplication to the Diuell:

Give my waste-good your stuffs, and go with my cousin, sir; he'll presently despatch you.

1621, Thomas Middleton, John Webster, Anything for a Quiet Life, act 2, scene 3; republished in The Works of Thomas Middleton, volume 4, London: Edward Lumley, 1840, page 450:


blabtongue

Much like a Curre (ſaid I) nay not so wiſe; / For why I know my griefes vnhappie ground, / I ſee the roote from whence my paſſions riſe, / And view the lure, that did my life confound: / O blab-tongue Tantalus, why doſt not eate? / Fondling, t'is I must pine in ſight of meate.

1600, Rev. Samuel Nicholson, edited by Rev. Alexander B. Grosart, Acolastus: His After-Witte, published 1876, page 14, lines 229–234:

Report, the blab-tongue of those tell-tale times, / That rather magnifies than lessens crimes,

1683, John Chalkhill, Thealma and Clearchus, Chiswick: C. Wittingham, published 1820, page 28:


blabtale

en-adj

blabtale (comparative more blabtale, superlative most blabtale)

more blabtale (comparative)
most blabtale (superlative)

(obsolete) Revealing something, especially something not intended to be known.


slip-halter

Why, you whoreson rogue! where's my suit? As I hope for mercy, I am half-persuaded that this slip-halter has pawned my clothes.

1659, Thomas Lodge, Robert Greene, Lady Alimony, act 4, scene 6; republished in Hazlitt, William Carew, editor, A Select Collection of Old English Plays, volume 14, New York: Benjamin Blom, Inc., 1964:

(obsolete) Someone who deserves to be, or is likely to be, hanged.


lick-twat

Th' art both a Pick-thank, and Detractor, / A cunning Cheater, and a Factor, / A Lick-twat, and a Fencer too, / I wonder much (Ʋacerra) how now? / With all these trades thou canst want mony

1656, Fletcher, Robert, transl., “In Ʋacerram”, in Ex Otio Negotium, liber 11, epigram 67, translation of Epigrammaton by Martial:

(obsolete, vulgar) A cunnilingist; one who performs cunnilingus.


lick-wimble

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

[…]I bind me, my heires, Ale-squires, pot-companions, Lick-wimbles, Maltwormes, Vine-fretters, and other faithfull Drunkards firmely by these presents:[…]

c. 1638, Richard Brathwait, “Laws of Drinking”, in Joseph Haslewood, editor, Barnabae Itinerarium: Or Barnabee's Journal, volume 1, published 1820, page 208:

c. 1642, A health to all vintners, beer-brewers and ale-tonners, tapsters, bezlors, carrowsers, and wine-bibbers, bench-whistlers, lick-wimbles, down-right drunkards, pety drunkards; Bacchus boyes, roaring-boyes, Bachanalians, taverne antients, captaine swaggeters, foxcatchers, pot and halfe-pot men, quart, pint halfe pint men, short winded glasse-men, and in generall, to all and every privie drunkard, halfe-pot companion, indenturians, &c. And to all other good fellowes of this our fraternitie, whom these presents may concerne, greeting.:


lick-trencher

From lick + trencher. Compare lick-dish, lick-plate, lick-platter.

Why Peniculus worship, that whorson lick-trencher, your Parasiticall attendant.

1595, W. W., transl., Menechmus, translation of Menaechmi by Titus Maccius Plautus, act 2, scene 1; republished as Shakespeare's Library, volume 5, London: Reeves and Turner, 1875, page 12:

The earliest known picture of William Hogarth is one called the Wanstead Assembly, long, and by a ridiculous blunder, corrupted into "Wandsworth." The term "Assembly" was a little bit of art-slang. A portrait being a portrait, and a "conversation" a group of persons generally belonging to one family; by an "assembly" was understood a kind of pictorial rent-roll, or domestic "achievement," representing the lord, or the squire, the ladies and children, the secretaries, chaplains, pensioned poets, led-captains, body-flatterers, hangers-on, needy clients, lick-trenchers, and scrape-plates, the governesses and tutors, the tenants, the lacqueys, the black-boys, the monkeys, and the lapdogs: tutta la baracca, in fact.

1860 May 30, “William Hogarth: Painter, Engraver, and Philosopher—IV. The Painter's Progress”, in Cornhill Magazine, pages 565–566:


lickdish

Thou liar, lickdish, didst not say the nee'le would be gitten?

1567, Mr. S, Gammer Gurton's Needle, act 5, scene 2:

In addition to these, there are “the hypocritical mockers in feasts,” of whom David complains, (Ps 35:16;) and I mean by these not only lick-dish characters who seek a meal to fill their belly, but all those who by false reports seek to obtain the favor of the great.

1847–50 [c. 1550s], Anderson, Rev. James, transl., “Author's Preface”, in Commentary on the Book of Psalms, volume 1, translation of original by Calvin, John:


lick-box

From lick + box. Possibly a Calque of French liche-casse.

Their Eſtate and Condition of living is but only changed after a very ſtrange manner[…] Achilles, a ſcald-pated Maker of Hay-bundles;¶ Agamemnon, a Lick-box.¶ Ulysses, a Hay-mower.

1738 [1534], Ozell, John, transl., chapter XXX, in The Works of Francis Rabelais, volume 2, translation of Gargantua by Rabelais, François, page 181:


tear-throat

The majestical king of fishes, heroical most magnificent Herring, armed with white and red, keeps his court in all this hurly-burly, not like a tyrannical tear-throat in open arms, but like wise Diogenes in a barrel[…]

1630, John Taylor, Jack a Lent; republished in Works of John Taylor, the Water-Poet, London: Reeves and Turner, 1876, page 15:

(obsolete) A blustering, boisterous person.


tear-throat

tear-throat (comparative more tear-throat, superlative most tear-throat)

more tear-throat (comparative)
most tear-throat (superlative)

[…]upon which was erected the true picture of a most unmatchable Hangman[…]for this tear-throat termagant is a fellow in folio, a commander of such great command, and of such greatness to command, that I never saw any that in that respect could countermand him[…]

1617, John Taylor, Taylor's Travels; republished in Works of John Taylor, the Water-Poet, London: Reeves and Turner, 1876, pages 8–9:

The cheap entertainment of the “tear-throat” Red Bull plays, with their battles, clowns, and fireworks, has been sharply contrasted with the innovative, “literary” dramatic styles of the hall-playhouses, which favored witplay over swordplay[…]

2013, Eleanor Collins, “Old Repertory, New Theatre”, in Martin Procházka, Andreas Höfele, Hanna Scolnicov, Michael Dobson, editors, Proceedings of the Ninth World Shakespeare Congress, →ISBN, page 151:

Or was he just going to expose the tear-throat acting in the Rose?

2000, Robert M. Gorrell, Murder at the Rose, →ISBN:

(obsolete) Amateurish; characterized by overacting.


tear-mouth

You grow rich, do you, and purchase, you twopenny tear-mouth?

1601, Ben Jonson, Poetaster, act 3, scene 1:

How would you, or how do you think I should, relish being the object of such a letter as Kean wrote t'other day to a poor author, who, though a pedantic blockhead, had at least the right to be treated as a gentleman by a copper-laced two-penny tearmouth, rendered mad by conceit and success?

1819 April 30, Sir Walter Scott, [Letter to Robert Southey]:


tear-mouth

tear-mouth (comparative more tear-mouth, superlative most tear-mouth)

more tear-mouth (comparative)
most tear-mouth (superlative)


Jucy Lucy

Various unsupported theories, but apparently from juicy and the name Lucy, chosen for the rhyme (and respelled accordingly).

(Upper Midwestern US) A cheeseburger with the cheese inside the meat instead of on top, resulting in a melted core of cheese.


lick-platter

And as for freedom from malignant personalities, he might have been a model to all critics. I must except politics, however, for in these he could be rabid and savage. He had a passion for independence, which, though pushed to excess, was not without grandeur. No lick-platter, no parasite, no toadeater, no literary beggar, no hunter after patronage and subscriptions; even in his dealings with Audley Egerton, he insisted on naming the price for his labours.

1853, Pisistratus Caxton [pseudonym; Edward Bulwer-Lytton], chapter XXIII, in “My Novel”; Or Varieties in English Life […], volume II, Edinburgh; London: William Blackwood and Sons, →OCLC, book sixth, page 186:


kill-time

For as to the devotees of the circulating libraries, I dare not compliment their pass-time, or rather kill-time, with the name of reading.

1817, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, chapter 3, in Biographia Literaria, footnote, published 1889, page 24:

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


pick-fault

The foe of genius, learning's pest, / A pick-fault, scurvy hack at best

1823, Charles Molloy Westmacott, Cockney Critics, page 17:

(obsolete) A critic; a censorious person.


bobchin

Yes, and keep it during the Fair, bobchin.

1614, Ben Jonson, Bartholomew Fair, act 3, scene 4:


fill-dike

The Anglo-Saxons called February several names: "Sprout-kale," from the sprouting of cabbage or kale, and "Fill-dike," when the rain and melting snow fills the ditches to overflowing.

[2011, Michael Judge, “100 Words Concerning Rain”, in The Dance of Time, →ISBN, page 104:

February fill-dike
February fill-dike#English


fill-dyke

Even Anglo-Saxon spin doctors gave up when it came to giving February a good name. Our ancestors called this dreary month 'Sprout-Kale', on account of cabbages being the only things that were showing signs of life. When they weren't saying things like, 'I'll be glad when Sprout-Kale is over,' they were grumbling, 'Fill-Dyke is wetter than usual' because that was another term they used for this depressing time of year.

1998 February 28, Susan Crewe, “From the Editor”, in House & Garden (UK edition), volume 53, number 2 (whole number 559):

Fill-dyke: February, the month of rainfall

[2016, Melissa Harrison, Rain: Four Walks in English Weather, →ISBN:


scatter-story

Aelian and some other such scatter-stories as himself, do make more reports of Dogs and Elephants, of Birds and Horses, and some other unreasonable creatures, that they did either compassionate or relieve, if they were able, the miseries of those Masters whom they had long attended[…]

1675, John Hacket, “A Sermon Preached upon the Gowry Conspiracy Before King James”, in A Century of Sermons upon Several Remarkable Subjects, London: Thomas Plume:

(obsolete) A person who spreads stories.


scare-beggar

He is the Terror of all the Deer and Poultry-Stealers in the Neighbourhood, and is ſo implacable a Perſecutor of Pochers^([sic]), that he keeps a Regiſter of all the Dogs and Guns in the Hundred, and is the Scare-Beggar of the Pariſh.

1696, Judith Drake, An Essay in Defence of the Female Sex, 4th edition, London: S. Butler, published 1721, pages 29–30:


gallicrow

"And what ghastly gallicrow might the poor fellow have been like, Master Fairway?" asked the turf-cutter.

1878, Thomas Hardy, “The Custom of the Country”, in The Return of the Native:


scare-sleep

The other was a large fly, which Madam Merian, who gives a drawing of it, calls the vielleur, but which I have generally heard called the ſcare-ſleep by the Dutch.

1796, J[ohn] G[abriel] Stedman, Narrative of a Five Years’ Expedition against the Revolted Negroes of Surinam, in Guiana, on the Wild Coast of South America; […], volume II, London: J[oseph] Johnson, […], and J. Edwards, […], →OCLC, page 38:

The great lantern-fly (Fulgora laternaria), from its noise in the evening—nearly resembling the sound of a cymbal, or razor-grinder when at work—is called Scare-sleep by the Dutch in Guiana.

1828, William Kirby, William Spence, “On the Noises Produced by Insects”, in An Introduction to Entomology, volume II, page 397:

(obsolete) An insect, a lanternfly (Fulgora laternaria).


ghost gun

From ghost + gun. Derived from the fact that these firearms are unserialized, difficult to trace, and often remain invisible to the tracking and regulation covering traditionally manufactured firearms. First use appears c. 2001 in Sunday People.

The two companies warrant attention because their marketing focuses “on the anonymous, untraceable nature of the guns they allow to be made — and the many examples of ghost guns used in crimes,” Adam Skaggs, chief counsel at the center, said in an email.

2017 November 27, Christina Caron, quoting Adam Skaggs, “‘Ghost Guns,’ Homemade and Untraceable, Face Growing Scrutiny”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

In New York, state lawmakers announced legislation on Monday that would require makers of ghost guns to have a gunsmith license and register the firearms.

2018 July 30, Tiffany Hsu, Alan Feuer, “A Rush to Block Downloadable Plans for 3-D Printed Guns”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

The suspects in New Jersey are accused of trying to sell several homemade AR-15 assault-style rifles that are known as ghost guns because they cannot be tracked.

2019 March 18, Nick Corasaniti, “The Target Was a Drug Ring. They Found ‘Ghost Guns.’”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

A gun without serial numbers that cannot be easily tracked, especially a homemade gun built with nonregistered, partially finished or 3D printed components.


bruckback

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


Mango Mussolini

Mango refers to Trump's orangish skin tone; the reference to Benito Mussolini is because of Trump's conservative nationalist politics, which his opponents liken to fascism.

Also, Bill Maher is a liberal in the same way Mango Mussolini is a conservative.

2017 June 6, Freezer, “LIEberal ICON Bill Maher uses N-Word, is NOT called, "RACIST!!! by LIEberals, and is NOT suspended”, in rec.sport.pro-wrestling (Usenet):

(US politics, derogatory, slang, offensive) Donald Trump.


archaic smile

From archaic + smile, referring to the Archaic period of Ancient Greek art.

(Ancient Greece, art, sculpture, historical) A smiling facial expression commonly found on Greek statues of the Archaic period (circa 700–500 B.C.E.).

Ancient Greece; sculpture; Ancient Greece; sculpture


dispatch box

House of Commons of the United Kingdom
Parliament of the United Kingdom

From dispatch (“important official message sent by a diplomat, government official, military officer, etc.”) + box. Sense 2 (“box placed on a table in a legislative debating chamber and used as a lectern”) is from the fact that in the Parliament of the United Kingdom dispatch boxes used by ministers and other Members of Parliament to carry important documents (sense 1) were formerly used as lecterns; these have generally been replaced by cases, usually made of wood, specifically made to be used as lecterns.

compound

It was about the only attempt at humour Raymond had made at the dispatch box that year, which may have been the reason so few members laughed.

1984, Jeffrey Archer, chapter 29, in First Among Equals, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Linden Press/Simon & Schuster, →ISBN, part 6 (Party Leaders: 1988–1990), page 369:

Officials are used to finding graffiti on the priceless fixtures and fittings in the House of Commons chamber. Teams of French polishers regularly repair damage caused by tourists. But during a recent examination they noticed that the beautifully-carved government Dispatch Box was covered in strange black pen marks. At the next Prime Ministers Questions they stood watch, and caught the culprit in the act. As Gordon Brown gesticulated wildly with his black marker pen, stabbing at the papers in front of him and missing to hit the wood beneath, the awful truth was clear. The PM was the vandal. […] The boxes were a gift from New Zealand after the rebuilding of the House of Commons following the Second World War. The are modelled on the dispatch boxes in the Australian parliament and are made from a strong, teak-like wood from the rare Puriri tree and were thought to be almost indestructible.

2008 August 31, Melissa Kite, “Dispatch Box vandal caught in the act and culprit is Prime Minister Gordon Brown”, in The Daily Telegraph, London: Telegraph Media Group, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2008-08-31:

There is a familiar pattern that has come to define Theresa May's premiership. Encouraging rhetoric gets periodically wheeled out: the pledges to ease the burden on the "just about managing"; the promises to fight the "burning injustices" of social inequality. But then a few weeks later, the chancellor gets up at the dispatch box to deliver a budget or an autumn statement and it's as if those words had never been uttered.

2018 October 28, “The Observer view on the budget and the decade of austerity”, in The Observer, London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2021-01-26:

Downing Street has refused to restart Brexit deal negotiations despite Michael Gove performing a U-turn at the dispatch box in which he praised a "constructive move" by the EU minutes after declaring the talks "effectively ended".

2020 October 19, Daniel Boffey, Lisa O’Carroll, “UK refuses to restart Brexit talks despite EU accepting its demands”, in Katharine Viner, editor, The Guardian, London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2022-03-30:

(Commonwealth, politics) A box that is placed on a table in a legislative debating chamber and used as a lectern for addressing the legislature.


God squad

(informal, derogatory) Christians who proselytize.


randy mandies

Chosen for the rhyme, from mandies, with randy describing the sexual desire they may induce.

(slang) Synonym of mandies (“the drug methaqualone”)


fire chicken

Synonym of buldak (“Korean spicy chicken dish”)


ringshine

The spacecraft photographed the planet's sunlit crescent, the ring shadows falling on the planet, and Saturn's dark hemisphere illuminated by "ringshine."

1980, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Voyager 1 encounters Saturn, page 33:

One, the ``dragon storm, is shown in Figure 5.28 (see color section), while another example, on Saturn's night side, but illuminated by ``ringshine (i.e., light reflected from Saturn's rings) is shown in Figure 5.29.

2009, Patrick Irwin, Giant Planets of Our Solar System, →ISBN, page 197:

Elephant juddered briefly, making the insertion burn, and then they were racing around the dark side of Saturn, faintly illuminated by the ghost light of ringshine.

2009, Paul McAuley, Gardens of the Sun, →ISBN:

(astronomy) Sunlight that is reflected from the ring around a planet (such as the one around Saturn), visible on the night side of the planet.


royal burgh

/ˌɹɔɪəl ˈbʌɹə/

/ˌɹɔɪ(ə)l ˈbɝoʊ/

Most royal burghs were either created by the Crown, or upgraded from another status, such as a burgh of barony.

(Scotland, historical) A type of Scottish burgh founded by, or subsequently granted, a royal charter; these were legally abolished in 1975.


white-shirt

From white + shirt, from the colour of the uniform.

(prison slang) A higher-ranking prison officer.


vidkid

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

Like the pool sharks and pinball wizards before them, "vidkids" have invaded the world and are just as controversial.

In addition to the obvious distraction of the laptops in the classroom, vidkids now have an even more invidious distraction […]

2006, Compendium of Continuing Education in Dentistry:

Similarly, in Joystick Nation, dedicated to her "vidkid little brother," author J. C. Herz states: […]

2008, Yasmin B. Kafai, Beyond Barbie and Mortal Kombat: New Perspectives on Gender and Gaming:

(slang) A young person with an interest in playing video games.


quit lit

A genre of confessional writings by people who have left academia.


red Ned

VERNA: And get him to pick up a flagon o' Red. [She goes toward the bathroom door and turns.] Ya know what they say about the Old Red Ned…puts lead in ya pencil!

1977, Gerry Bostock, “Here Comes the Nigger”, in Heiss & Minter, editor, Macquarie PEN Anthology of Aboriginal Literature, Allen & Unwin, published 2008, page 70:

(Australia, colloquial) Cheap or poor-quality red wine.


red vet pet

(informal, historical) A form of petroleum jelly formerly supplied as a sunscreen in survival kits etc.


noon balloon

Coordinate term: shoulder

We did not have a noon balloon, but when needed I met VIPs at the airport. I chauffeured them between the airport, hotel and the plant.

1995, Edward C. Welter, GM Means Good Money, page 105:

The noon balloon was chosen as the basis for the traffic model because during this arrival rush demand exceeds airport capacity and air traffic managers impose time-based metering restrictions […]

1999, Journal of Aircraft, volume 36, numbers 4-6, page 788:

(aviation) A period around midday when an airport has a particularly large amount of air traffic.


clenchpoop

[…] for if a Gentleman haue in hym any humble behauour, then Roysters do cal suche one by the name of a Loute, a Clynchpope, or one that knoweth no facions […]

1555, The Institucion of a Gentleman, London: Charles Whittingham, published 1839:

What a clenchpoope drudge is this: I can forbeare him no more.

a. 1581, R[obert]? W[ilson], The Three Ladies of London, act 2; republished London: Tudor Facsimile Texts, 1911, page 8:

Not far of was a Loute / With neare a hansome rag, himselfe lesse handsome sole to snout, / Lesse wel-form'd, or more il-fac'st, & like Clenchpoope looke and lim,

1589, William Warner, chapter 31, in Albion's England, book 6, London: Edm. Bollifant for George Potter, published 1602, page 153:

"There was an unwelcome guest in our cellars last night, but the rotted clenchpoop is done in now."

2006, David M. Cornish, Lamplighter (Monster Blood Tattoo; 2):

"You could have any clenchpoop in these kitchens if you wanted. All you want's a fumble; it's not like you want him to marry you."

2013, Elizabeth Fremantle, Queen's Gambit:

(obsolete, derogatory) An uncultured, ill-mannered person.


crowbill

From crow (“bird of the genus Corvus”) + bill (“beak of a bird”). Sense 1 (“kind of forceps”) is probably from its appearance, while sense 2 (“type of poleaxe”) is a calque of French bec de corbin (literally “crow or raven's beak”).

calque

(weaponry, historical) Synonym of bec de corbin (“poleaxe with a modified hammerhead and a spike mounted on the top of the pole”)


itty bitty titty committee

the itty bitty titty committee (canonical)

Coined for the rhyme. First attested on American musical comedian Rusty Warren's record Rusty Rides Again (1967).

Oh yeah, there's lots of little Nanny-No-Knockers – in fact, we've got our own group. It's called the I.B.T.C., that's the itty bitty titty committee.

1967, Rusty Warren, Rusty Rides Again, Jubilee Records, side B, 09:02

Sandy smiled dryly. "When my friends were getting breasts, but eons before I was, they would say I was on the Itty-bitty Titty Committee. […]"

1997, Naomi Wolf, Promiscuities: The Secret Struggle for Womanhood, Random House, page 46:

"I’m gettin’ me some implants … so I can get my Pamela Anderson on." ¶ "I heard that, cause you know you belong to the itty bitty titty committee."

2011, Sheila Copeland, Saved and Single, Kensington Books, page 298:

"But please try to keep your expectations in check. As a former member of the Itty Bitty Titty Committee myself, I can understand your hype. But I still don't want you to feel crushed if they don't get as big as you'd like."

2017 January 24, Jocelyn Samara D., Rain (webcomic), Comic 907 - Committee:

When I failed to develop large breasts, my father asked me if I planned to join the "Itty Bitty Titty Committee".

2019 March 8, Rachel Inberg, “My life in sex: the woman who grew up in the porn industry”, in The Guardian:

(vulgar slang, humorous, often derogatory) Women or girls with small breasts, viewed collectively.


open world

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

Role-play games […] they use a closed visual world of walls or grids or open worlds across computer systems

2004, Paul Grover, “Computer Games in Your Hands”, in Visual Texts (The Heinemann English Project), Port Melbourne, Melbourne, Vic.: Heinemann Harcourt Education, →ISBN, page 15:

Open world games (sometimes referred to as "sandbox games") are one of the most popular genres of video games. They typically feature non-linear gameplay, the ability to roam the game world freely any way the player chooses, unscripted interaction with non-player characters (NPCs), and a living, breathing city, countryside, or fantasy environment to explore.

2007, David Hutchinson, “Kid-friendly Grand Theft Auto”, in Playing to Learn: Video Games in the Classroom, Westport, Conn.: Teachers Ideas Press, Greenwood Publishing Group, →ISBN, page 110:

Liberty City, the virtual space of Grand Theft Auto III, can be interpreted as the spatial universe that qualitatively changes and combines the limited character attributes of the inhabiting non-player characters. Because they all seem to live and act in such a huge open world, they appear to be more complex themselves.

2008, Michael Nitsche, “Combining Interaction and Narrative”, in Video Game Spaces: Image, Play, and Structure in 3D Worlds, Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, →ISBN, part I (Structure), page 54:

The Saints Row games are open worlds, and many consider the Grand Theft Auto series to also be open worlds.

2014, Carolyn Handler Miller, “Video Games”, in Digital Storytelling: A Creator’s Guide to Interactive Entertainment, 3rd edition, Burlington, Mass.; Abingdon, Oxfordshire: Focal Press, →ISBN, part 4 (Media and Models: Under the Hood), page 283:

The second category of storytelling that coexists in GTA [Grand Theft Auto]’s open world takes the form of player-driven stories.

2017, Chris Solarski, “Transitions in Open-world Games”, in Interactive Stories and Video Game Art: A Storytelling Framework for Game Design (An A K Peters Book), Boca Raton, Fla.: CRC Press, →ISBN, section II (The Dramatic Curve and Transitions), page 170:

What Guy doesn’t know, but the audience surely will (it's all over the trailers), is that he's not a real person at all but rather an NPC—or non-player character—in a popular and extremely violent open-world video game.

2021 August 6, A. A. Dowd, “The Ryan Reynolds Action-comedy Free Guy is a Truman Show for the Fortnite Age”, in The A.V. Club, archived from the original on 2023-04-19:

(video games, also attributive) A gameworld that the player may traverse freely, rather than being restricted to certain predefined areas and quests.


grapefruit spoon

en-noun

grapefruit spoon (plural grapefruit spoons)

A spoon with a pointed and/or serrated tip designed for separating the flesh of a grapefruit from its rind.


pickle fork

ref

By John R. Towers, c. 1936, from the collection of the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., USA.

ball-and-socket joint
ball-and-socket joint

A long-handled tool with two prongs used to unseat ball-and-socket joints.


cocktail fork

From cocktail + fork; cocktail may refer either to:
* a dish consisting of small pieces of fruit, vegetables, or seafood with a dressing, usually served chilled in a glass as an appetizer; or
* a mixed alcohol beverage such as a martini, which is often garnished with an olive.

Oyster and cocktail forks are placed at the extreme right of the cover beyond the teaspoons, or they may be laid across the right side of the service plate underlining the cocktail glass or the oyster service.

1942, Ruth M. Lusby, “Unit 1. Preparing and Closing the Serving Station.”, in Training Restaurant Sales Personnel: A Teacher’s Manual for Use in the Vocational Training of Restaurant Sales Personnel (Vocational Division Bulletin; no. 222; Business Education Series; no. 15), Washington, D.C.: Federal Security Agency; U.S. Office of Education; United States Government Printing Office, →OCLC, part IV (Work of Table-service Salespersons), page 86:

No fairy tale this. Just the story of Soviet slave labor in icy camps, dumping millions of pounds of fish for your dainty cocktail forks each month—and so beginning to kill off a multi-million dollar American fishing industry, canneries, boatbuilding and gear production.

1950 April 19, Russell V[ernon] Mack, “Russian Crab Imports: Extension of Remarks of Hon. Russell V. Mack of Washington”, in Congressional Record: Proceedings and Debates of the 81st Congress, Second Session: Appendix (United States House of Representatives), volume 96, part 14, Washington, D.C.: United States Government Printing Office, →ISSN, →OCLC, page A2862, column 2:

[page 944, column 1] Cocktail fork—used for sea foods. It is a short, slender fork about ½ inch wide at the prong end of the fork. […] [page 945, column 3] On the left are all the forks except the cocktail fork, which is laid to the extreme right of the knives when placed.

1986, “Your Meats”, in Ruth Berolzheimer, editor, Culinary Arts Institute Encyclopedic Cookbook (A Perigee Book), New York, N.Y.: Berkley Publishing Group, published March 1988, pages 944 and 945:

We just returned from a cruise where there were eleven pieces of flatware on the table for dinner: three knives and a soup spoon to the right of the plate, four forks to the left, and a cocktail fork, teaspoon, and demitasse spoon above the plate. Could you please explain the function of each?

1990, Judith Martin, “Dealing with the Public”, in Miss Manners’ Guide for the Turn-of-the-Millennium (A Fireside Book), New York, N.Y.: Simon & Schuster, →ISBN, page 364:

Mock Meatballs […] Serve in a shallow serving dish with cocktail forks or toothpicks.

1991 December, Denis Jaricot, “The Art of the Hors d’Oeuvre”, in Paul Obis Jr., editor, Vegetarian Times, number 172, Oak Park, Ill.: Vegetarian Times, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 26, column 3:

[H]ow could you talk a raving lunatic out of drinking his own urine or stabbing his invalid grandmother a hundred times with a cocktail fork?

1998 February 1, T[homas] C[oraghessan] Boyle, “One Slit’s Enough”, in Riven Rock, New York, N.Y.: Viking, →ISBN, page 234:

To remove [crab] meat, twist off claws and legs; use a nutcracker to crack shells at the joints. Remove meat with a small cocktail fork or nutpick. Break the body; remove any remaining meat.

2005, “Fish & Shellfish”, in Lori Fox, Cheri Olerud, Kristi Hart, editors, Betty Crocker Cookbook: Everything You Need to Know to Cook Today, 10th edition, Hoboken, N.J.: Wiley Publishing, →ISBN, page 257:

Remove the shrimp from the marinade and set them on a cutting board. Using a sharp, thin knife, cut each shrimp in half lengthwise, working from head to tail. Stick each halved shrimp onto the end of a cocktail fork.

2005, Carolyn Miller, Sharon Smith, “North Beach/Chinatown”, in Savoring San Francisco: Recipes from the City’s Neighborhood Restaurants, 2nd edition, San Francisco, Calif.: Silverback Books, →ISBN, page 72:

My mother had always eaten straight out of jars and cans, with a cocktail fork as her sole utensil. It was one of her peculiarities. / "Hi, Ma." / Her cocktail fork was balanced between her thumb and index finger, close to her mouth, as if a joint that had just been passed to her and she wasn't sure what to do with it.

2017, Alison McGhee, Never Coming Back, New York, N.Y.: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, →ISBN, page 10:

A small fork usually with two or three tines, used for eating dishes served as appetizers (such as fruit cocktails and shrimp cocktails), and for picking up olives and other small snacks.

widelczyk

small fork used for eating dishes served as appetizers, and for picking up small snacks


egg spoon

From egg + spoon. Known to be attested since at latest 1759.

[T]he egg spoon must also be untarnishable—stainless steel, or horn. I've never seen a gold egg spoon, but I'm sure it would do. Whatever the material, the spoon has to have a small bowl with a fine edge on it: a thick edge can't coax all the egg white off the inside of the shell. The handle is short, for good balance and easy handling. An egg spoon is a tiny implement that, like the Viennese breakfast, cannot be improved.

2017, Ursula K[roeber] Le Guin, “Without Egg”, in No Time to Spare: Thinking about What Matters, New York, N.Y.: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, →ISBN, part 4 (Rewards), page 176:

A spoon, usually smaller than a teaspoon, which is used for eating a boiled egg from a hole made in the shell; the bowl of the spoon is shaped to make it easier to scoop out the contents of the eggshell.

cuillère à œuf

spoon used for eating a boiled egg from a hole made in the shell


smartsize

en-verb

smartsize (third-person singular simple present smartsizes, present participle smartsizing, simple past and past participle smartsized)

smartsizes (present singular third-person)
smartsizing (participle present)
smartsized (participle past)
smartsized (past)


rail trail

As railroads fell into disuse, they left behind thousand of miles of corridor and, of course, potential trails. Today, the Great Lakes region of the Midwest boasts 381 rail-trails, and Wisconsin and Michigan are constantly vying for the most rail-trail miles of all 50 states and the more than 1500 rail-trails across the United States […]

2009, Rails-to-Trails Conservancy, Rail-Trails Midwest Great Lakes: Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio and Wisconsin, Wilderness Press, →ISBN, page 1:

(rail transport) A former railway track converted into a multi-use path, typically as a greenway for walking and cycling.


mossyback

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

From mossy + back (in sense 2 (“person who stayed hidden to evade conscription during the American Civil War”) probably a variant of mossback, which is attested earlier), alluding to someone or something that is so old or has remained so unmoving that it is as if moss has grown on them or it.
Sense 3.2 (“menhaden”) may be influenced by mossbunker.

(informal, historical, obsolete) Synonym of mossback (“a person who stayed hidden to evade conscription (especially by the Confederate States Army) during the American Civil War (1861–1865)”)


repple depple

Cartoonist and commentator Bill Mauldin, who served in the war, explains: When a soldier gets out of an army hospital he will most likely be thrown into a “repple depple.”

2006, Peter Karsten, Encyclopedia of War and American Society, page 1115:


repo depo

(military, slang) Alternative form of repo depot


gender mender

(electronics) Synonym of gender changer (“electronic coupling device”)


peach fuzz

If she was slightly more attractive, I believe that the peach fuzz on the bottom of my nut sack would have tingled just slightly then, watching her cry like that.

2006, Keith Malinsky, Burying Ronald: A Confession by Mortimer J. Pentowski, page 37:

(figuratively) Lightly or sparsely grown hair, especially facial hair.


pink tea

en-noun

pink tea (countable and uncountable, plural pink teas)

From pink (“pale red; (rare) fashionable, smart”) + tea (“drink made by infusing dried leaves or buds of the tea plant in hot water; light midafternoon meal”).

compound

At the expiration of the solemn ceremonies connected therewith Private Flanagan of the Irish tent arose, and, after congratulating the learned doctors of the Keeley Club on the success of the meeting, invited all present to attend a pink tea that would be held in his tent that evening at eight p.m.

1895, “The Vigilantes at the Capitol Grounds”, in The “City Guard”: A History of Company “B”, First Regiment Infantry, N.G.C. [National Guard of California]: During the Sacramento Campaign, July 3 to 26, 1894 […], San Francisco, Calif.: Filmer-Rollins Electrotype Co. […], →OCLC, pages 79–80:

They might lose their reverence for our pretentious Senate when they see how Senators spend their mornings reading novels and their afternoons attending pink teas, instead of studying questions of public welfare.

1896 April, Hazen Stuart Pingree, quotee, “Two Interesting Suggestions from Mayor Pingree”, in William O. Krohn, Alfred Bayliss, editors, The Child-Study Monthly, volume I, number 10, Chicago, Ill.: The Werner Company, →OCLC, page 405:

(by extension) Any exclusive social gathering.


boomer remover

From being an agent that removes baby boomers from the living population, i.e. kills them, as older people are more susceptible to the virus. (See quotations below.)

We’re being instructed to return COVID possible patients back to their “3 per room” SNF prior to receiving test results. […] Fuck, they're taking #boomerremover seriously

2020 March 16, SliverMcSilverson, “Anyone else seeing this”, in Reddit:

On February 29 this year, Twitter user @nurselietv posted the tweet “I heard someone call the coronavirus the ‘boomer remover’.”

2020 March 17, Anne Acuña, “Internet riled up over cruel new Gen-Z, Millennial clapback calling COVID-19 as ‘Boomer Remover’”, in InqPop!:

Ageism has been blamed for islands of death in nursing homes (Mueller, 2020), and for a spike in intergenerational animosity, as captured in internet epithets such as “grandma/grandpa killer,” “boomer remover,” and “boomer doomer” (pre-Covid-19; “coffin dodger”).

2021, Bronwen Lichtenstein, “From “Coffin Dodger” to “Boomer Remover”: Outbreaks of Ageism in Three Countries With Divergent Approaches to Coronavirus Control”, in The Journals of Gerontology, series b, →DOI:

This was supposed to be the #BoomerRemover .... they truly are the worst generation.

2021 March 30, Surgical Sister, Twitter, archived from the original on 2021-03-30:

(slang, humorous, derogatory) COVID-19 (“the disease”) or SARS-CoV-2 (“the virus”).


both-sides

en-verb

both-sides (third-person singular simple present both-sideses, present participle both-sidesing, simple past and past participle both-sidesed)

both-sideses (present singular third-person)
both-sidesing (participle present)
both-sidesed (participle past)
both-sidesed (past)

2019, Deember 30, Greg Sargent, "Explosive New Revelations Just Weakened Trump's Impeachment Defense", The Washington Post Plum Line blog.
"McConnell badly needs the media's both-sidesing instincts to hold firm against the brute facts of the situation."

2020, February 4, "Lisa Murkowski Sick of All the Corruption, Will Vote to Let It Continue", Wonkette.
"Once she'd adequately both-sidesed Congress and Tump, she fell back to more comfortable Republican talking points […] "

It’s certainly true that there are unhinged people across the political spectrum and politicians from both sides have been targeted for violence. However, “both-sidesing” this issue is dangerously dishonest.

2022 November 2, Arwa Mahdawi, “Jokes about Paul Pelosi aren’t just in bad taste. They normalize political violence”, in The Guardian:

(derogatory) To engage in bothsidesism, to treat a policy debate or controversy as a conflict between two equally valid (or equally dangerous, etc) viewpoints.


elbow bump

Adaljiza Magno
Barack Obama
Dominique Hasler
President of the United States
United Nations Human Rights Council

From elbow + bump, modelled on fist bump.

A hit to the elbow; also, an injury to the elbow caused by such a hit.

isku kyynärpäähän

hit to the elbow; injury to the elbow caused by such a hit

To the pantheon of social arbiters who came up with the firm handshake, the formal bow and the air kiss, get ready to add a new fashion god: the World Health Organization, chief advocate of the "elbow bump." […] The bump, a simple touching of elbows, is a substitute for the filthy practice of shaking hands, in which a person who has politely sneezed into a palm then passes a virus to other hands, whose owners then put a finger in an eye or a pen in a mouth.

2006 February 12, Donald G[erard] McNeil, Jr., “Elbows to the ready if outbreak emerges: Bird flu would rule out handshakes”, in International Herald Tribune, Paris: International Herald Tribune, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2007-02-17:

Instead of handshakes or high-fives, U.S. Surgeon General Jerome Adams introduced the elbow bump at a news conference in Connecticut as a possible alternative to avoid the coronavirus. He showed reporters how it was done by demonstrating the elbow bump with Sen. Richard Blumenthal and Gov. Ned Lamont.

2020 March 4, Adrianna Rodriguez, “Goodbye, handshake. Hello, elbow bump? Greetings to avoid during the coronavirus outbreak”, in USA Today, McLean, Va.: Gannett Co., →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2020-03-17:

When greeting people, best to avoid elbow bumps because they put you within 1 meter of the other person. I like to put my hand on my heart when I greet people these days.

2020 March 8, Marthe Fourcade, Thomas Mulier, quoting Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, “Even Elbow-bumping is Too Intimate to Ward Off Coronavirus”, in Bloomberg News, archived from the original on 2020-03-26:

The touching of elbows between two people, sometimes as an alternative to a handshake, fist bump, or other form of contact when attempting to avoid the spread of germs.


reply guy

reply guy (third-person singular simple present reply guys, present participle reply guying, simple past and past participle reply guyed)

reply guys (present singular third-person)
reply guying (participle present)
reply guyed (participle past)
reply guyed (past)

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

(Internet, informal, derogatory) To reply to a social media post as a reply guy.


pickcheese

From pick + cheese. The bird is so called because it would steal from dairies.

(UK, dialect, obsolete) The fruit of the mallow.


almondmilk

en-noun

almondmilk (countable and uncountable, plural almondmilks)


one pump chump

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-one pump chump.wav

Chosen for the rhyme. From the tendency of people suffering from premature ejaculation to ejaculate after a very short time, perhaps even after a single pelvic thrust or “pump”, during sexual intercourse.

premature ejaculator
premature ejaculator

premature ejaculation
premature ejaculation#English

(informal) A premature ejaculator (person suffering from premature ejaculation).


fail whale

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

The fail whale originated on Twitter; the term was coined by web designer Jen Simmons in 2007 in a tweet.

coinage

(Internet slang) An image of a whale that formerly accompanied certain error messages on the Twitter microblogging website.


mutt's nuts

Rhyming variant of dog's bollocks; nuts in the sense of testicles.

(British, vulgar slang) Something regarded as outstandingly good.


Vulcan salute

From Vulcan (“(attributively) inhabitant of the fictional planet Vulcan in the television series Star Trek”) + salute. The gesture was devised by the American actor Leonard Nimoy (1931–2015) who portrayed the half-Vulcan character Spock in the television series Star Trek (originally broadcast 1966–1969); he first used it in “Amok Time”, the first episode of the second season aired on September 15, 1967.

compound

Sarek turned to the others, now offering the Vulcan salute. "Captain Kirk, Dr. McCoy, may you live long and prosper." / "Thank you, and the same to you, Mr. Ambassador," said Kirk, managing to force his hand into the proper position.

[1984 November, Jean Lorrah, chapter 3, in The Vulcan Academy Murders (Star Trek; 20), New York, N.Y.: Pocket Books, →ISBN, page 22:

Hang on: You are being beamed to one of those Star Trek conventions, where grownups greet each other with the Vulcan salute and offer in reverent tones to pay $100 for the autobiography of Leonard Nimoy.

1986 December 22, Charles Leerhsen, “Star Trek’s Nine Lives”, in Newsweek, New York, N.Y.: Newsweek, Inc., →ISSN, →OCLC, page 66; quoted in Henry Jenkins III, “Star Trek Rerun, Reread, Rewritten: Fan Writing as Textual Poaching”, in Constance Penley, Elisabeth Lyon, Lynn Spigel, Janet Bergstrom, editors, Close Encounters: Film, Feminism, and Science Fiction (A Camera Obscura Book), Minneapolis, Minn.: University of Minnesota Press, 1991 (1993 printing), →ISBN, page 171:

[W]e found a stalwart model [of glove]: Kombi's Lobster, a high-tech marvel with a unique clawlike design. […] The split-finger design combines the warmth of a mitten with added dexterity, making it easier for riders to grip their boards. As a bonus, it also lets them give other riders the split-finger Vulcan salute, just like Mr. Spock on the original Star Trek.

1995 March–April, Bill Grout, “Trial Run”, in Rick Kahl, editor, Skiing, volume 47, number 7, New York, N.Y.: Times Mirror Magazines, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 24, column 2:

For what would soon become known as the Vulcan salute, I borrowed a hand signal from Orthodox Judaism. During the High Holiday services, the Kohanim (who are the priests) bless those in attendance. As they do, they extend the palms of both hands over the congregation, with thumbs outstretched and the middle and ring fingers parted so that each hand forms two vees. This gesture symbolizes the Hebrew letter shin, the first letter in the word Shaddai; in the Jewish Qabala, shin also represents eternal Spirit.

1995 October, Leonard Nimoy, “Vulcanalia or The Vulcan Grows Up”, in I am Spock, New York, N.Y.: Hyperion, →ISBN, pages 67–68:

They may exchange Vulcan salutes in greeting as a sign of in-group status—the in-group being Star Trek fans rather than Vulcans.

2005, Henry Bial, “Fiddling on the Roof, 1964–1971”, in Acting Jewish: Negotiating Ethnicity on the American Stage & Screen, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan Press, →ISBN, page 69:

Ooh! The Vulcan Salute! It is easy! [She demonstrates the Vulcan Salute again.] Peace and long life. Y'all supposed to respond back to me with; "Live long and prosper."

2017, Nicholas H. Kovacs, She Wants to Dance with Me: A Script for a Theatrical Play, [Morrisville, N.C]: [Lulu.com], →ISBN, scene vi, page 35:

[B]oth he [George Takei] and [Grace Lee] Whitney […] waved and offered Vulcan salutes to the fans assembled to the south, while also doing their due diligence for the professional photographers to the north.

2019, Sherilyn Connelly, “Prologue: Star Trek—The MacArthur Premiere”, in The First Star Trek Movie: Bringing the Franchise to the Big Screen, 1969–1980, Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland & Company, →ISBN, page 20:

A gesture of greeting among Star Trek fans, consisting of a raised hand with the palm forward and the thumb extended, and the fingers parted between the middle finger and ring finger.

Amok Time
International Space Station
Leonard Nimoy
Samantha Cristoforetti
Spock


nope rope

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

Chosen for the rhyme. Rope suggests the snake's shape and nope that it inspires fear or aversion, prompting someone to nope out.

There are tons of danger noodles, nope ropes, and long bois throughout our streams, our forests, and our backyards;[…]

2019, David A. Steen, Secrets of Snakes: The Science beyond the Myths, Texas A&M University Press, →ISBN, page 4:

The next time you're startled by a nope rope in your yard, perhaps you can appreciate the remarkable way it moves without limbs or even the way its mouth quirks up in what could be called a smile with a certain stretch of the imagination.

2020, Erica Wright, Snake, Bloomsbury Publishing USA, →ISBN:


Claydon with Clattercote

A civil parish in Cherwell district, Oxfordshire, England.


pumpkin chunkin'

Modified from chucking to form an approximate rhyme. Compare punkin.

The informal sport of hurling a pumpkin as far as possible by mechanical means.


punch dialogue

From punch + dialogue, with dialogue used loosely to mean a spoken line. The term possibly compares the force of the line to a punch (similar to punch line), or because many of these lines are delivered immediately preceding a fight scene (compare fighting words).

‘Meen aviyal enthayo entho’ – the comic number by Sreenivasan in the movie, ‘Akkare Akkare Akkare’, ‘Thomas Kutty Vittoda’ by Mukesh in ‘Harihar Nagar’ series, ‘Gafoor Ka Dosth’ are other punch dialogues that are printed on the T-shirts, […]

2011 October 18, “Malayalam punch dialogues now on t-shirts”, in The New Indian Express, Chennai, Tamil Nadu: Express Publications, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2023-04-25:

Apart from intense fight sequences and glamourous^([sic]) songs, one of the most important ingredients of a masala enetertainer^([sic]) in Tollywood – is its punch dialogues. For instance, a Nandamuri Balakrishna film is incomplete without punch dialogues – those with attitude, catchy slogans, rhymes and alliterations.

2016 March 2, Suhas Yellapantula, “Punch patakas for men only”, in The New Indian Express, Chennai, Tamil Nadu: Express Publications, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2022-09-16:

Rajinikanth didn't invent the punch dialogue, but it is safe to say that nobody has popularised the delivery of sharply written lines aimed for maximum effect better than the Tamil screen icon.

2016 July 17, Nandhu Sundaram, “Where there is Rajinikanth, there is Punch Dialogue”, in Scroll.in, archived from the original on 2023-02-14:

The poster is coupled with a punch dialogue which has given a fillip to his [Puneeth Rajkumar's] appearance in the movie and given fans a high.

2020 August 1, Manjula, “Puneeth Rajkumar’s punch dialogue in Yuvarathnaa motion poster”, in The Hans India, Hyderabad, Telegana: Hyderabad Media House, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2023-04-02:

(South India) Chiefly in a film: a retort or a witty line, commonly written to be spoken by the protagonist to excite fans of the actor delivering them.


medcouple

From med (“median”) + couple, as the median of a kernel function over pairs ("couples") of data points. The original paper also introduced a similar concept medtriple that has not seen wide use.

(statistics) A scaled median difference between the two halves of a distribution.


fascine knife

From fascine + knife, from one use of such knives which was to cut wood for fascines and gabions (“cylindrical wicker baskets or cages filled with earth or stones and used in fortifications, etc.”).

2000 Canteens. 600 Camp Kettles. 200 Fascine Knives. […] It is to be presumed the troops will be provided with these articles.

1779 March 2 (date written), George Washington, “To Major General Nathanael Greene”, in John C[lement] Fitzpatrick, editor, The Writings of George Washington from the Original Manuscript Sources 1745–1799 […], volume 14 (January 12, 1779 – May 5, 1779), Washington, D.C.: United States Government Printing Office, published August 1956, →OCLC, page 178:

The [artillery] men have a short rifle and bayonet, and carry also a fascine knife; 10 rounds of ammunition in the pouch.

[1876], W[illiam] S[mith] Cooke, compiler, “Servia”, in The Ottoman Empire and its Tributary States (Excepting Egypt), with a Sketch of Greece, London: W[illiam] Clowes and Son, […], →OCLC, page 162:

The private should have a side arm of the following description: A short sword, about 20 inches long and 2½ inches wide at the grip; the blade to be ground sharp on one side and provided with saw teeth on the other; have a brass guard and buckhorn grip, and to be carried in a leather scabbard on a frog and common black belt. This is called in Europe a fascine knife, and a very useful implement it is in camp and on the field.

1888 September 29, “Toujours Pret” [pseudonym], “The Hospital Corps [letter to the editor]”, in The United States Army and Navy Journal, and Gazette of the Regular and Volunteer Forces, volume XXVI, number 5 (number 1316 overall), New York, N.Y.: [Army and Navy Journal, Inc.], →OCLC, page 93, column 3:

Verily the man must feel as though he were in a dream; only a short time before, at a shoemaker's ordinary work, the knocking of his hammer mingling with the sighs of a sick wife, and now, fascine knife on hip, helmet on closely cropped head, officers' commands in ear, crowds of people, drums, music, and the shrill whistle of the locomotive!—to march far away to Bohemia; […]

1889, Cornelia McFadden, chapter V, in The Seamstress of Stettin, Cincinnati, Oh.: Curtis & Jennings; New York, N.Y.: Eaton & Mains, →OCLC, pages 141–142:

[I]f he were furnished with a hundred natives—whom he would get from the population on the coast—supplied with axes and fascine-knives, he would undertake to lead a caravan of beasts of burden to the Kenia without any delay worth mentioning.

1891, Theodor Hertzka, chapter II, in Arthur Ransom, transl., Freeland: A Social Anticipation, London: Chatto & Windus, […], →OCLC, book I, page 10:

Sappeur sections carry in addition a mattock or a pick apiece, and each ammunition carrier also carries a pick, a fascine knife, or a saw.

1911, [William] Balck, “The Formal Tactics of Infantry”, in Walter Krueger, transl., Tactics […], 4th edition, volumes I (Introduction and Formal Tactics of Infantry), Fort Leavenworth, Kan.: United States Cavalry Association, →OCLC, footnote ‡, page 39:

Later, some military fascine knives were made with saw-toothed backs, notably the Prussian M1810, M1841 and M1855 Faschinenmesser. Fascine knives were widely issued to engineers, pioneers and foot-artillerymen; smaller numbers were issued to other arms as circumstances dictated.

2021, Bill Harriman, “Development: Blades for Firearms”, in Martin Pegler, editor, The Bayonet (Weapon; 78), Oxford, Oxfordshire: Osprey Publishing, →ISBN, page 28:

(military, weaponry, historical) A large, heavy knife or short sword used by 17th- to 19th-century artillery and infantry soldiers as a sidearm and a tool for cutting fascines (“cylindrical bundles of small sticks of wood, used for strengthening purposes”) and other things.

hukari

large, heavy knife or short sword formerly used by artillery and infantry soldiers as a sidearm and tool

砲兵刀 (ほうへいとう, hōhei gatana, literally “artilleryman’s knife”)


peachy keen jelly bean

(informal, humorous) Synonym of peachy keen


Fauci ouchie

Named after Anthony Fauci (born 1940), chief medical advisor to US president Joe Biden since 2021. Chosen for the rhyme, ouchie because a vaccine injection may be painful.

Meanwhile… some people are lining up to get their “Fauci Ouchie.” CNN reports: “Vaxxies” are the new selfies…taken with a needle in your arm. In the CNN clip, we see Biden, Harris, Pence, and Fauci given the vaccine.

2021 January 9, Mary Pearson, “Covid-19 Vaccine”, in Co-op City Times, volume 56, number 2, page 8:

To Joey Gilbert, a Reno criminal trial attorney, former professional boxer and now one of a dozen (and counting) Republican candidates for governor, COVID-19 vaccination shots are still “Fauci ouchies,” masks are “face diapers,” and actions Democratic Gov. Steve Sisolak undertook to fight the pandemic were, and remain, “criminal.”

2022 March 11, Bill Dentzer, “‘Trump from the jump:’ Reno lawyer and ex-boxer fights to become governor”, in Las Vegas Review-Journal:

The new ideas face scientific, developmental, manufacturing, financial and regulatory hurdles, and must clear clinical trials. But the government would be wise to do everything possible to help. The Fauci “ouchie” was just short of a miracle. Now, we need another.

2022 July 27, “The Fauci ‘ouchie’ was a near miracle. We need another.”, in The Washington Post:

(US, slang, humorous) A COVID-19 vaccination.

Anthony Fauci
Chief Medical Advisor to the President
Joe Biden


crazy cake

en-noun

crazy cake (countable and uncountable, plural crazy cakes)


merge-purge

en-verb

merge-purge (third-person singular simple present merge-purges, present participle merge-purging, simple past and past participle merge-purged)

merge-purges (present singular third-person)
merge-purging (participle present)
merge-purged (participle past)
merge-purged (past)

(computing, dated) To combine two lists of data, removing any duplicate entries.


fag tag

The idea that the textile sense has been connected with the anti-gay sense since its inception may be a folk etymology.

(slang, derogatory, dated) Such a textile tag, or any other mark or feature on one's person or one's clothing, that allegedly labels one as gay (homosexual), especially in the notional playground lore of schoolchildren raised in a cultural milieu of anti-gay ideology.


Clerk of the Closet

en-noun

Clerk of the Closet (plural Clerks of the Closet)

(obsolete) an ecclesiastic privately attending upon a monarch, a royal confessor.


trash truck

Trash truck coming up the road
Picking up the trash

2000, Mark O. Everett (lyrics and music), “Wooden Nickels”, in Daisies of the Galaxy, performed by Eels:


pod mod

electronic cigarette
electronic cigarette

A kind of electronic cigarette used to vape nicotine through a mouthpiece connected to the body of the device by magnets.


contact card

A small card containing information on how to contact a person, usually with phone number, email, as well as fax or social network information.


biodiversity hotspot

biodiversity hotspot (plural biodiversity hotspots)

From biodiversity + hotspot. The word hotspot to describe such regions appears to have been first used by the British environmentalist Norman Myers (1934–2019) in a 1988 article in The Environmentalist.

Conservationists are far from able to assist all species under threat, if only for lack of funding. This places a premium on priorities: how can we support the most species at the least cost? One way is to identify ‘biodiversity hotspots’ where exceptional concentrations of endemic species are undergoing exceptional loss of habitat.

2000 February 24, Norman Myers, Russell A[lan] Mittermeier, Cristina G[oettsch] Mittermeier, Gustavo A. B. da Fonseca, Jennifer Kent, “Biodiversity Hotspots for Conservation Priorities”, in Nature, volume 403, number 6772, London: Nature Research, →DOI, →ISSN, →OCLC, abstract, page 853:

(ecology) A place with a significant level of biodiversity, particularly if the flora and fauna are threatened with loss of their habitat.

Norman Myers
Springer Science+Business Media

生物多様性ホットスポット

せいぶつたようせいホットスポット