hoi polloi

/ˌhɔɪ pəˈlɔɪ/

Learned borrowing from Ancient Greek οἱ πολλοί (hoi polloí, “the many”).

learned borrowing

The clientele is a select species of hoi polloi, intermixed with writers, painters and politicos and the more sophisticated American tourists.

1942 April 5, Elizabeth Fagg, “Cafeteria in Mexico”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

But what, pray tell, is a “librarian”? Consult the same infallible source and you will learn: “One who has the care or charge of a library.” And where does that leave the most of us, hoi great unwashed polloi who have neither the “care” nor the “charge” of a library?

1953 January, District of Columbia Library Association in Washington, D.C. Libraries, volume 24, number 1, page 1

Holding the meeting in Egypt is a Machiavellian way to look international but in reality to prevent hoi Interent polloi from attending the meeting.

2000 March 6, Arthur T. Murray, “Proletarians of the World Wide Web, unite against ICANN!”, in sci.econ (Usenet), message-ID <38c3d0ce@news.victoria.tc.ca>:

Naturally, the anthropological society did not wish to share its business with hoi polloi, so Herr Hagenbeck kindly offered them a private viewing.

2010, Guy Deutscher, Through the Language Glass, Arrow, published 2011, page 59:

The extension caused fury in Hampstead, where southbound trains began to arrive fully loaded with the hoi polloi of rapidly growing Edgware, Burnt Oak, Colindale, Hendon, Brent and Golders Green.

2012, Andrew Martin, Underground Overground: A passenger's history of the Tube, Profile Books, →ISBN, page 178:

Given the behaviour of the members, who do normally come to Lord’s, this seemed a bizarre attempt to offload the unpleasantness on hoi polloi taking advantage of some rare £25 tickets.

2023 July 4, Marina Hyde, “Who’s for political Bazball with Rishi? Voters? Tories? Anyone?”, in The Guardian:

Now, we have in Rishi Sunak a prime minister who is happier letting helicopters take the strain for even the shortest journeys (he popped down to Portsmouth in one recently), rather than risking mixing with hoi polloi on a train.

2023 July 26, Christian Wolmar, “Closing ticket offices to lead to 'catch-22' for passengers”, in RAIL, number 988, page 43:

(collective) The common people; the masses. (Used with or without the definite article.)


genitals

Small wonder that the old medieval paintings of Genesis emphasize the genitals by covering them with fig leaves. Genesis is the story of the genitals.

1981, William Irwin Thompson, The Time Falling Bodies Take to Light: Mythology, Sexuality and the Origins of Culture, London: Rider/Hutchinson & Co., page 72:


birds and bees

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-birds and bees.wav

I had the birds and bees with your mother.

(euphemistic, idiomatic) Informal (by analogy) sex itself.


Hmong

Of or relating to the Hmong, their culture, or their lect.


GFX

(computing, informal) Abbreviation of graphics.


gnocchi

en-noun

gnocchi (countable and uncountable, plural gnocchis)

gnocchi pl (normally plural, singular gnocco)

gnocchi (canonical)
gnocchi (canonical plural)
gnocchis (plural)
gnocco (singular)

From Italian gnocchi, plural of gnocco (“dumpling”, literally “lump”), related to nocchio (“knot (in wood)”), a borrowing from Lombardic knohha (“knuckle, bone, knot”), from Proto-Germanic *knukô (“bone”), *kneukaz (“tuber, knuckle”), from Proto-Indo-European *gnew- (“knot, bundle”). Cognate with Middle High German knoche (“bone, knot”) (modern German Knochen), Middle Dutch knoke (“knuckle, knob, knot”), Swedish knoge (“knuckle”). More at knuckle.

cog

Dip each gnocco into the flour, shaking off excess. Carefully lower the gnocchi, one at a time, into the simmering water. Cook a few at a time since they must not touch each other while cooking. The gnocchi will be cooked when they rise to the surface; this should take 2 to 3 minutes, depending on the gnocchi.

1978, Nika Hazelton, The Regional Italian Kitchen, M. Evans and Company, Inc., →ISBN, page 129:

Test one gnocchi by placing it in a large pot of rapidly boiling lightly salted water.

1999, Thomas Keller, The French Laundry Cookbook, Artisan, →ISBN, page 119:

Silky, feather-light and with an other-worldly texture, home-made gnocchi is one of the most spoiling things you can make for someone, yet it is surprisingly simple to put together, especially when just for two.

2017, Thomasina Miers, Home Cook: Over 300 Delicious, Fuss-Free Recipes, London: Guardian Books; Faber & Faber Ltd, →ISBN, page 159:

Italian pasta-like dumpling(s) made of potato or semolina.


doldrums

Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

From obsolete doldrum (“slothful or stupid person”) plus the plural suffix -s. Doldrum is possibly derived from dull or Middle English dold (past participle of dullen, dollen (“to make or become blunt or dull; to make or become dull-witted or stupid; to make or become inactive”), from dul, dol, dolle (“not sharp, blunt, dull; not quick-witted, stupid; lethargic, sluggish”); see further at dull), modelled after tantrum.

I was in the doldrums yesterday and just didn’t feel inspired.

[T]aken very ill in Cheapside—three pennyworth of brandy, and got home to bed at nine, in the doldrums.

1827, “[Varieties.] Extracts from the Common-place Book of a Newspaper-reporter of Accidents.”, in Meyer’s British Chronicle, a Universal Review of British Literature, &c., volume II, number 4, Gotha, Thuringia, New York, N.Y.: The Bibliographic Institution, →OCLC, column 125:

[H]e would sit over the fire with a book in his hand, staring over it into the red glow with his brows knit, and a dogged, almost sullen look about his mouth. [...] One evening about this time Mrs. Gray, who was a woman of determination, and who had a horror of what she called 'the doldrums,' made up her mind that she had had enough of this kind of thing, and must come to the bottom of this affliction, or temper, or money embarrassment of her son's without further delay.

1878, E. S. Maine, “‘The Doldrums’”, in Angus Gray … In Three Volumes, volume II, London: Smith, Elder, & Co., […], →OCLC, pages 114–115:

1987 The economic doldrums from oil prices continue to affect the state, causing many to lose their jobs and leave, banks to foreclose on property, and businesses to go bankrupt.

1995 January, A Look Back at Alaska, [Anchorage, Alaska?]: [United States Department of Agriculture], →OCLC, page [4]:

It is typical for adolescents to respond to the doldrums, feeling dead or numb inside, by sleeping a lot, watching hours upon hours of television, holing up in their room for days on end.

1998, Richard Frankel, “Life and Death Imagery in Adolescence”, in The Adolescent Psyche: Jungian and Winnicottian Perspectives, London, New York, N.Y.: Routledge, →ISBN, part II (Adolescence, Initiation, and the Dying Process), page 79:

At mid-career, though, boredom has a more insidious effect. [...] It can be a devastating experience to no longer feel excited by what you do or to feel you're not an integral part of an organization. That's when the doldrums set in.

2008, Marcia L. Worthing, Charles A. Buck, “Assess the Underlying Cause of Your Boredom, Burnout, Retirement, or Firing”, in Escaping the Mid-career Doldrums: What to Do next when You’re Bored, Burned Out, Retired or Fired, Hoboken, N.J.: John Wiley & Sons, →ISBN, page 64:

What’s the terrible part of the sailor’s life ask ye, lad? T’ain’t Cap’n, workin’ ‘em double-tide. Nay, no. ‘Tis when the workin’ stops when yer twixt wind and water. Doldrums. Doldrums. Eviler than the Devil. Boredom makes men to villains... And the water goes quick, lad... vanished. And what’s the answer? What be the cure? The only med’cine is drink.

2019, Robert Eggers, Max Eggers, The Lighthouse (motion picture), spoken by Thomas Wake (Willem Dafoe):

Usually preceded by the: a state of apathy or lack of interest; a situation where one feels boredom, ennui, or tedium; a state of listlessness or malaise.

[F]rom the bluff-head, where I watched to-day, / I saw her in the doldrums; for the wind / Was light and baffling.

1823, Lord Byron, “Canto II”, in The Island, or Christian and His Comrades, London: […] John Hunt, […], →OCLC, stanza XXII, page 44, lines 507–509:

(nautical) Usually preceded by the: the state of a sailing ship when it is impeded by calms or light, baffling winds, and is unable to make progress.

Flaute

Mr. Ralph Abercromby has made special observations on the upper wind currents over the equator in the Atlantic Ocean. [...] With respect to the general circulation of the atmosphere we know that the surface trades either die out at the doldrums or unite into one moderate east current; that the low and middle currents over the doldrums are very variable, but that the winds at these low and middle levels, 2,000 to 20,000 feet, come usually from the southeast over the northeast trade, and from the northeast over the southeast trade, and that the highest currents—over 20,000 feet—move from east over the doldrums, from southwest over the northeast trade, and from northwest over the southeast trade.

1890, George E. Curtis, “[General Appendix to the Smithsonian Report for 1889] Progress of Meteorology in 1889”, in Annual Report of the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution, Showing the Operations, Expenditures, and Condition of the Institution to July, 1889, Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, →OCLC, section VII (Winds and Ocean Currents; General Atmospheric Circulation), page 245:

Hurricanes are known to develop in the belt of doldrums in the southern North Atlantic Ocean and also in the western Caribbean Sea when the Pacific doldrum belt extends into that area. However, many tropical storms of the Gulf, Caribbean, and southern North Atlantic have not with certainty been traced to a place of origin, and it cannot be said with assurance that they do not develop occasionally in other areas.

1938, I[van] R[ay] Tannehill, “Places of Origin”, in The Hurricane: (Revised 1938) (United States Department of Agriculture Miscellaneous Publication; no. 197), Washington, D.C.: United States Government Printing Office, published February 1939, →OCLC, page 2, column 2:

[...] The High Encounter entered the doldrums near the equator, where the ship ended up in the captain's effort to avoid the British. Without wind to move the ship, The High Encounter waffled in the slow-moving sea.

2001, Douglas Berry, chapter 41, in A Ship Called Grace, Lincoln, Neb.: Writer’s Showcase, iUniverse, →ISBN, page 313:

(nautical, oceanography, by extension) Usually preceded by the: a part of the ocean near the equator where calms, squalls, and light, baffling winds are common.


developments

A group of building complexes or apartments. Often used for low income housing.


stats

What do the stats tell us?

(informal, in the plural, plural only) Clipping of statistics. (data, figures)


bits

It seemed less awkward then stripping her the right way, as he didn't care to see her bits, and though he couldn't help but see a few things while slipping her into a long shirt, he felt like he did rather well considering[…]

2016, Brandy Gaye, Goddess Particle, Lulu.com, →ISBN, page 55:

Orange Dog
The orange dog licks your face
 Showing that she loves you
 Right after she licked her bits
 Giving them a good clean
 But her wagging tail and smile
 Are enuff[…]

2021 June 22, Nick Armbrister, Major Insomnia Corporal Sleep, nick's poetry books:

“The accent really took over when I started watching the show,” she said. “It blew the accent the fuck up, and everyone was obsessed with their cute little sayings, like ‘doing bits’.” (For the uninitiated, that means getting intimate but not having sex.)

2023 May 15, Alaina Demopoulos, “Why are so many young Americans adopting fake British accents?”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:


congrats

You were cast in the show? Congrats!


oodles

en-noun

oodles pl (normally plural, singular oodle)

Uncertain; perhaps from scadoodles (“unspecified large amount, number, or quantity”) (US, slang) (although the Oxford English Dictionary notes this is attested slightly later), or from boodle (“whole collection or lot”) (US, dialectal), caboodle (“large collection of people or things”) (US, slang) + -s (suffix forming pluralia tantum).

"Along the lake where I went camping once there were oodles of a bright purple thing." / "I don't know what that was," my mother said. "I've never lived near the water. The purplest thing around here is joe-pye weed. We can look him up and see if he has any relatives. Come to think of it, the book had a color index."

1965, John Updike, Of the Farm, Ipswitch edition, London: André Deutsch, published April 1973, →ISBN, page 121:

Minimalist yet soothing décor, private pools and steam rooms […] and simply oodles of class make this one of the island's top choices. Honeymoon, anyone?

2008, Andrew Burke et al., Thailand’s Islands & Beaches, 6th edition, Footscray, Vic.: Lonely Planet, →ISBN, page 323:

(originally US, informal) Chiefly followed by of: an unspecified large amount, number, or quantity; lots, tons.

rúgva

unspecified large amount, number, or quantity — see also lots


teens

The final syllable of the numbers from thirteen to nineteen. More at teen.

teens · twenties · thirties · forties · fifties · sixties · seventies · eighties · nineties

Gay Nineties · Naughty Nineties · Roaring Twenties · Dirty Thirties · Swinging Sixties

She is in her teens.

The time of life between thirteen and nineteen years old; the teenage years.

teenageår

time of life between 13 and 19 years old

Although it was a scorching desert by day, temperatures could drop as low as the teens at night.

(temperature, rates, plural only) The range between 10 and 19.


six perfections

In Mahayana Buddhism, the six virtues which the bodhisattva must practice in their avowed pursuit of bringing all beings to enlightenment through bodhicitta; they are dana (munificence), sila (ethicality), ksanti (patience), virya (determination), dhyana (meditation), and prajna (wisdom).


semester hours

The number of credit hours a student takes in a semester, usually for a college or university to count towards a degree.


wellies

wellies pl (normally plural, singular welly or wellie)

(UK, New Zealand, informal) Wellington boots


feels

hit me right in the feels

If I could remember exactly, then I would know for sure whether or not my feels are real or not.

2003, Brenda A. Donahue, C.G. Jung's Complex Dynamics and the Clinical Relationship: One Map for Mystery, →ISBN, page 100:

My feels were hurt.

2012, Hisoka Takara, Child Support, →ISBN, page 109:

(colloquial) Feelings; emotions; especially, tender sentiment.


smellies

(informal, British, as "the smellies") Cinema enhanced with odours.


Akan

The Niger-Congo language spoken by these people.


condolences

From Latin condoleo (“I feel another's pain”).

uder

I sent her a card expressing my condolences after her mother passed away.

comfort, support, or sympathy offered especially to the family and friends of somebody who has died.


condolences

"What were you doing at the cemetery?"
 "Burying my father."
 "Oh." Rodionov grunted as if he had expected a more imaginative excuse. "Condolences."

1992, Martin Cruz Smith, Red Square, page 120:

Let's get another caller on the line. This is Camille. Camille with us from Visalia in California.
 Visalia, California that's correct.
 Go ahead please.
 Hi. I'm an African-American woman and when I first saw the cover – let me preface this. I'm in central California, which is very conservative. And...
 Condolences.

2008 July 15, NPR, “When Does It Go Too Far?”, in Talk of the Nation:

Expressing sympathy to someone, especially after learning of a close death.


spring greens

(plural only, chiefly British) the dark green leaves of the borecole plant, Brassica oleracea acephala, used as a vegetable; collard greens


ragged red fibers

irregular muscle fibers in some DNA disorders.


red goods

The colors here have to do with the rate of consumption, as opposed to the genre (as in white goods or brown goods).

Products that are consumed and replaced quickly, such as food, as opposed to items that have moderate (orange goods) or long-term (yellow goods) lifespans.


first e-rights

2003, Technically you have used "first e-rights" and can no longer sell it as an unpublished story/article ... Once a story is printed on the web, first e-rights have been used but first print rights are still available. — Tina Morgan Know Your Rights, appearing in Fiction Factor: The online magazine for fiction writers.

(copyright law) The right to publish a work for the first time in electronic form.


kith and kin

From Middle English kith and kynne.
Literally, friends (“kith”) and family (“kin”).

I had neither kith nor kin in England, and was therefore as free as air—or as free as an income of eleven shillings and sixpence a day will permit a man to be.

1891, A[rthur] Conan Doyle, A Study in Scarlet. A Detective Story, 3rd edition, London, New York, N.Y.: Ward, Lock, Bowden, and Co., […], published 1892, →OCLC:

Surely all those abominable rebels must see that their obstinacy and treachery redounds upon their own kith and kin.

1916, Baroness Orczy, Leatherface: A Tale of Old Flanders:

آل

this may or may not include friends; if friends to be specifically added then use "الصحب والآل". Note this is the old Arabic equivalence to Kith and Kin, for modern formal usage "الأصدقاء والأقارب" is typically used

hozzátartozók (this may or may not include friends; if not, "és barátok" can be added)


afterings

All that was left in the cow were the afterings.

The last milk that is obtained when milking a cow. Often considered the poorest quality of milk.

Nachgemelk

the last milk that is obtained when milking a cow

(by extension) The last of any substance that is of a poorer quality than the earlier substance, e.g. the dregs of coffee.

Neige

the last of any substance that is of a poorer quality than the earlier substance


meals on wheels

Meals on wheels are served at noon on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. Twenty-four volunteers delivered approximately 1,000 meals in 1989, for an average of about 6 or 7 clients per day.

1992, Gallatin National Forest (N.F.), East Boulder Mine Project:


Rohingya

/ɹoʊˈhɪŋ.jə/

/ɹoʊˈhɪŋ.d͡ʒə/

/ɹoʊˈhɪŋ.ɡə/

/ɹoʊˈhɪn.d͡ʒə/

/ˈɹəʊhɪŋ.jə/

/ˈɹəʊhɪŋ.d͡ʒə/

/ɹəʊˈhɪŋ.jə/

/ɹəʊˈhɪŋ.d͡ʒə/

/ɹəʊˈhɪŋ.ɡə/

/ɹəʊˈhɪn.d͡ʒə/

Borrowed from Rohingya ruáingga, from Rohingya Rohing + ya (“the people of Rohing”). Rohang is the old kingdom name of Arakan in present-day Myanmar (formerly known as Burma).

The Indo-European language spoken in Arakan, Myanmar, closely related to Chittagonian.


tights

→ Japanese: タイツ (taitsu)

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

A close-fitting, sheer or non-sheer skin-tight garment worn principally by women and girls that covers the body completely from the waist down, usually including the feet.

(dance) A similar, non-sheer garment worn by dancers of either sex, especially by ballet dancers.

(wrestling) A garment, similar to briefs, worn chiefly by professional wrestlers.


Bobo

A people indigenous to Burkina Faso, Africa.


bristols

Cockney rhyming slang, from Bristol City (a football team) rhyming with titty.

Cockney rhyming slang
Cockney rhyming slang


French fries

en-noun

French fries pl (normally plural, singular French fry)

Alternative letter-case form of french fries


Ana

From various languages including Spanish, Portuguese, Romanian, Bulgarian, Serbo-Croatian, Slovene, and Macedonian, all derived—sometimes via Late Latin Anna in the Vulgate—from Koine Greek Ἄννα (Ánna, “Anna”), chiefly in reference to St Anne the apocryphal mother of Mary mother of Jesus but appearing in the New Testament in reference to Anna the Prophetess, from Hebrew חַנָּה (Ḥanâ, “Hannah”), from חַנָּה (ḥanâ, “grace, gracious, graced with child”). As an Oregonian river, named for Ana Byars, daughter of the surveyor W.H. Byars. Doublet of Ann, Anne, Anna, and Hannah.

A female given name, equivalent to English Anna or Hannah.


Ana

Ana Island and a strip of flat land below the steep banks bordering the Euphrates, some 350 km (220 miles) due east of Palmyra, were occupied for millennia by the buildings of a succession of important settlements...

2012, David Kennedy et al., Rome's Desert Frontier from the Air, page 114:

Alternative spelling of Anah, a city in Anbar, Iraq.


Ana

An ethnicity within the Yoruba people, mostly living in Benin and Togo in West Africa.

The language within the Niger-Congo family spoken by the Ana people.


Bari

Borrowed from Italian Bari, ultimately from Latin Barium.

The Metropolitan City of Bari, a region of Apulia, Italy.


Bari

A tribe of Karo, Nilotic people inhabiting South Sudan, who speak the Bari language.


Fang

The dominant Bantu language of Gabon and Equatorial Guinea, spoken by 1.3 million people, also called Pahouin.

Fang

the language of Guinea which is also called Pahouin

A Beboid language of Cameroon, spoken by only 2400 people, so called because it is spoken in the village of Fang.


Ho

A Central-Eastern Indian Adivasi tribe numbering around 1 million, mainly following the religion of Sarna Dhorom


Lords

(British, UK politics, plural only) Ellipsis of House of Lords.


Ewe

The Niger-Congo language, belonging to the Gbe family, spoken by these people.


Noughties

Alternative letter-case form of noughties


Magi

/ˈmeɪˌd͡ʒaɪ/

Adoration of the Magi
Historical Museum Bamberg
Lucas Cranach the Elder

From magi (plural of magus (“magician; (derogatory) conjurer or sorcerer, especially one who is a charlatan or trickster; Zoroastrian priest”)), from Middle English mages, magi or Magi, magy or Magy (“men possessing occult knowledge; astrologers, philosophers, sorcerers”), from Latin magī, from magus (“magician; (derogatory) conjurer or sorcerer, especially one who is a charlatan or trickster; Zoroastrian priest”) + -ī (suffix forming nominative or vocative masculine plurals). Magus is derived from Ancient Greek μάγος (mágos), Μάγος (Mágos, “magician; (derogatory) conjurer, sorcerer; Zoroastrian priest”) (plural μᾰ́γοι (mágoi), Μᾰ́γοι (Mágoi)), from Old Iranian (compare Avestan 𐬨𐬊𐬕𐬎 (moġu), Old Median and Old Persian 𐎶𐎦𐎢𐏁 (m-gu-u-š /maγu-/, title of a person?)), possibly from Proto-Indo-European *megʰ- (“to be able, have power; power; sorcerer”).

ref

From the collection of the Historical Museum Bamberg in Bamberg, Upper Franconia, Germany.

der

A rich Tabernacle where is kept the head of Saint Euſtorgio, and the Tomb of the three Magi, with this inſcription. Sepulchrum Trium Magorum, where lay the Bodies of thoſe Magi, which were brought hither by Saint Euſtorgio, in Anno 330. when he came laſt out of the Eaſt, but many yeers after, this City being deſtroyed by Fedrick Barbaroſſa, in Anno 1163.

1660, Edmund Warcupp, transl., Italy, in its Original Glory, Ruine and Revival, London, →OCLC, page 70:

(Christianity) Chiefly preceded by the (three): the wise men who visited and gave gifts to the baby Jesus at the Epiphany (traditionally considered to be three in number and sometimes named Balthazar, Caspar, and Melchior, but the Bible does not state how many there were or their names).


Ndebele

And look, that’s you a few years later, holding up a package at a prize-giving ceremony — throughout primary you always came first in English and Ndebele class.

2022, NoViolet Bulawayo, Glory, Chatto & Windus, page 191:

Any of the languages spoken by these two peoples: Northern Ndebele and the not closely related Southern Ndebele.


Ps

How long have you been living in the Ps?

everyone in the hood had a lawsuit except me i wish i lived in the Ps so i could've been eating wild led paint chips i would've been up at least a mil right now

2018 September 2, @heirmeg, Twitter, archived from the original on 2024-05-05:

Clearly not a lot of people from the hood on this thread. Every hood got a couple white kids that came up in the Ps and talks just like everyone else around.

2020 September 29, u/stormfather86, “Recently dropped the one friend who tried it. She really thought...”, in Reddit, r/BlackPeopleTwitter, archived from the original on 2024-05-05:

Not everyone who lives in the Ps is immediately gang affiliated, you monumental herb. Quit presenting classist stereotypes as fact.

2020 November 17, “Red Hook Housing Projects”, in Reddit, r/nyc, archived from the original on 2024-05-05:

Of course the numbers is like this. Its more people. Here's a broader view. A street in Compton, 20 to 30 houses, generally 3 to 5 ppl per household. Now a street in the Tremont section, bout 40 5 or 6 story buildings in one block, apts A-G, 3 to 5 ppl per household, and I haven't even mentioned big developments such as (RPT, Twin Parks, the Ps). We packed in this bitch like sardines.

2023 June 1, u/TheKwyetRoom, “Some of NYC most dangerous & active hoods compared to Los Angeles”, in Reddit, r/NYStateOfMind, archived from the original on 2024-05-05:

(New York City, slang) Abbreviation of projects (“multi-story low-income housing development”).


So

A Mon-Khmer-speaking people of Laos and Thailand.


Mari

Borrowed from Western Mari мари (mari, “Mari language term for the Mari”).


Tigre

A Semitic language of northern Eritrea, closely related to Tigrinya.


Zia

(Arabic name): Borrowed from Arabic ضِيَاء (ḍiyāʔ, “light”) via Spanish.

A male given name from Arabic popular among Muslims.


Zo

A language spoken in Myanmar and India, especially in Chin State, Mizoram and Manipur, and adjoining parts of Bangladesh.


Yuki

Probably from Wintu yu·keh (“enemies; Yuki”)


Yi

An ethnic group who live primarily in mountainous areas of southwest China.


Yi

Any of a family of Tibeto-Burman languages spoken by this people.


San

As a synonym of Bushmen introduced into ethnology from the 1960s, from Khoekhoe saan (singular saa) "foragers; people without wealth", via back-formation from Khoisan. Occasional citation as the Nama term for "Bushmen" from the 1880s.

(regionally, offensive, ethnic slur) Any of the foraging non-Bantu ethnic groups of southwestern Africa.


sortes

From Latin plural of sors (“lot, fate, oracular response”).

Book oracles, called sortes (from the Latin sors = lot, indicating that one would obtain the answers by casting lots), allowed for consultation on the spot; the oracle could even come to the petitioner!

2014, AnneMarie Luijendijk, “Introduction”, in Forbidden Oracles? The Gospel of the Lots of Mary (Studien und Texte zu Antike und Christentum / Studies and Texts in Antiquity and Christianity; 89), Tübingen, Germany: Mohr Siebek, →ISBN, page 3:

divination, or the seeking of guidance, by chance selection of a passage in the Bible or another text regarded as authoritative.


shreddies

1995, Joe Simpson, This Game of Ghosts, The Mountaineers Books, →ISBN,
As Mark came out of the bathroom, I remembered my underpants. ¶ ‘Hey Mark, have you got my shreddies?’

2001, Irvine Welsh, Glue, W. W. Norton & Company, →ISBN, page 40,
As ah stand up n pill oan ma shreddies, then ma jeans in T-shirt, she's staring oaf intae space, then wrappin her clathes roond her.

2004, Harry Foxley, Marking Time: A Soldier's Story, Trafford Publishing, →ISBN, page 165,
So adept did I become, in fact, that I could shower, shave and wash out socks and shreddies on as little as three penn’orth remaining on the meter (which had not yet been decimalized).

2004, Toby Bishop, Cry Havoc: A Trip to Hell for a Group of Ageing Mercenaries Who Should Have Known Better, iUniverse, →ISBN, page 43,
Their luggage was minimal, as he would have expected—shirts, Shreddies, socks, trousers and the rest of the basics of self-maintenance.

2006, Brian Carlin, Boy Entrant, Lulu Press, Inc., →ISBN, page 61,
“Drawers, cellular, six”—that was six pairs of loose-legged underwear that would come down to mid-thigh made from a cellular cotton fabric. We would later learn that the RAF slang name for these garments was “shreddies” because of their tendency to become threadbare and shred at the crotch where they rubbed against the harsh worsted material of our trousers.


heels

She wore a short skirt and heels.

dig in one's heels

firmly or stubbornly keep ideas when opposed


squits

Likely a portmanteau of squirt and shit.

‘Caroline Graham said you couldn’t make it back upstairs. She laid it on as thick as anything for Gibson―said you’d been taken by surprise by something. Now word’s gone round you’ve got the squits.’

2006, Sarah Waters, The Night Watch, Virago Press, page 290:

(plural only, British, colloquial) diarrhoea.


jimmy

*
* (chocolate sprinkles): Unknown. There is much speculation that they were named after Jim Crow, but there is little, if any, evidence to support this theory.

chocolate jimmies

rainbow jimmies

“What kind of sissy eats strawberry-frosted donuts?” I said. ¶ “With jimmies,” Belson said. ¶ “I had too much respect for you,” I said, “even to mention the jimmies.”

2009, Robert B. Parker, The Professional, Berkley Books, published 2010, →ISBN, page 232:

The crispy pastry tube was overflowing with sweetened, whipped ricotta and dotted with chocolate jimmies.

2017 September 22, Suzanne Loudermilk, “Dining review: At Giovanni's, hearty Italian fare and an old-fashioned feel”, in The Baltimore Sun, archived from the original on 2018-11-18:

(plural only, dialectal, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Maine, Mid-Atlantic US) Sprinkles used as a topping for ice cream, cookies, or cupcakes.

Rhode Island; Massachusetts; Rhode Island; Massachusetts


death futures

(finance, slang) Trading life assurance policies of terminally ill people, bought by a third party as an investment.


EST

(plural only) Initialism of English subtitles.


airwaves

Radio-frequency electromagnetic waves, usually used in the context of wireless communication; radio waves.


Roman square capitals

The form of writing used in ancient Rome for inscriptions.


willies

The meaning "spell of nervousness", recorded since 1896, stems perhaps from the woollies, a dialectal term for "nervous uneasiness", probably in reference to the physical itchiness of wool garments.
Or it might be a play on words relating to the ballet Giselle, performed 1846 in Paris, where the stage is flooded by the Wilis, who are the spooky, ephemeral, beautiful but evil ghosts of virgins who died before their wedding day. Watching the Wilis in Giselle is meant to give you the willies. Most English speakers pronounce 'Wilis' as 'willies'.

Staying in the haunted house gave me the willies.

I get the willies when I see closed doors. Even at work, where I am doing so well now, the sight of a closed door is sometimes enough to make me dread that something horrible is happening behind it, something that is going to affect me adversely.

1974, Joseph Heller, Something happened, page 3:

(colloquial, with "the") A feeling of nervousness or fear.


rounds

The practice of medical doctors visiting patients in a hospital or in their homes according to a predetermined order.

(campanology) A descending diatonic scale played on a ring of bells.


hols

Where are you off to on your hols this year?

"A lot of queer things happened to me in the hols," said Eustace mysteriously.

1953, C. S. Lewis, chapter 1, in The Silver Chair, Collins, published 1998:

(UK, Ireland, informal) Holidays (time off work or time spent travelling).


beer goggles

/ˈbɪə ˌɡɒɡl̩z/

/ˈbɪɚ ˌɡɑɡ(ə)l/

Originally 1980s US college slang, from the notion that consumption of beer and other alcoholic beverages causes people to see things differently, as if wearing a type of goggles.

“Their findings essentially suggest that while intoxication may not have resulted in beer goggles, it did seem to increase liquid courage, in that people were more likely to indicate a desire to interact with attractive others,” said Monk, whose previous research had found some evidence to support the beer goggles effect.

2023 August 30, Linda Geddes, “‘Beer goggles’ study finds alcohol does not make people seem better looking”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:

(idiomatic, originally US, humorous, informal) The illusion that people are more sexually attractive, brought on by alcohol consumption.

bierbril

wyższa atrakcyjność spodowowana przez alkohol


frequently asked questions

en-noun

frequently asked questions pl (normally plural, singular frequently asked question)

An online document containing a list of the questions most often asked about a particular subject, together with answers.

gyakori kérdések és válaszok (gyűjteménye)

ceistean àbhaisteach (abbreviation CÀBHA)


withers

withers pl (normally plural, singular wither)

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

From dialectal English wither (“against”) (compare wither-) + -s; see with. So-named because it is the part of the horse that pushes against a load. Compare German Widerrist (“withers”), from wider (“against”) + Rist (“wrist”).

The part of the back of a four-legged animal that is between the shoulder blades; in many species the highest point of the body and the standard place to measure the animal's height.


house points

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

(usually in the plural) Point awarded to a member of the house of a grammar school or public school for sporting and other achievement.

bon point

Points awarded to a member of a grammar school for some achievement

(humorous) "Points" awarded in jest in a domestic environment for performing chores.


loose ends

loose ends pl (normally plural, singular loose end)

I would have liked to stay later and tie up some of the loose ends.

(idiomatic) Leftover items that have not been addressed or attended to.


gesture politics

Actions by a politician for the purpose of publicity or to influence public opinion.


heebie-jeebies

The earliest found occurrences of spelling variants (it is not established whether the first one coined the term or committed to print an earlier oral expression):
* In 1923, the spelling "heeby jeebys" was used by U.S. cartoonist Billy De Beck in his comic strip Barney Google (New York American, 26 October 1923).
* In 1925, the spelling "heebee-jeebees" was used in U.S. magazine Ladies' Home Journal (Vol. 42, Part 2, p. 44).
* In 1926, the spelling "heebie jeebies" was used by U.S. singer Louis Armstrong for his single "Heebie Jeebies" (written by Boyd Atkins).
* In 1928, the spelling "heebee-geebees" was used in U.S. article "We All Have the Heebee-Geebees" by G. M. Keller of Swift & Company (Modern School Store, Vol. 11, p. 269 via Google Books).
* In 1956, the spelling "heeby jeebies" was used by U.S. singer Little Richard on the cover of his homonymous SP record (and the hyphenated spelling "heeby-jeebies" on its vinyl disc itself).

I don't mind worms, but spiders give me the heebie-jeebies.

When I see that weird house, I get the heebie-jeebies.

(informal) A general feeling of anxiety, fear, uneasiness, or nausea.

Barney Google
Billy De Beck
Boyd Atkins
Heebie Jeebies (composition)
Ladies' Home Journal
Little Richard
Louis Armstrong
New York American
Swift & Company
heebie-jeebies

Angstzustände

a general feeling of anxiety, fear, uneasiness, or nausea


ballocks

ballocks pl (normally plural, singular ballock)

"Turn to gangsterism."
"Sebastian, I couldn't."
"Tone, pride has you at its mercy."
"Has me by the very ballocks."
"Tony, I think a pint would see us right."
"I think you're right for the first time since you last said that."

1955, J P Donleavy, The Ginger Man, published 1955 (France), pages 277–278:

JANET. How could you three conspire behind my back –
MRS PAT. Men conspired behind your back. I didn't.
JANET. Oh, ballocks.
MRS PAT. I don't see why we need to keep bringing ballocks into this.

2009, Don Nigro, Rat Wives and Other Plays, →ISBN, page 23:

With his other hand, he palmed Henry's ballocks. “And big ballocks.” He rolled the egg-shaped testicles in his hand, lightly rubbing them together. Henry shuddered, gasped for breath.

2009, Ava March, Object of His Desire, →ISBN, page 55:


ballocks

en-verb

ballocks (third-person singular simple present ballockses, present participle ballocksing, simple past and past participle ballocksed)

ballockses (present singular third-person)
ballocksing (participle present)
ballocksed (participle past)
ballocksed (past)


United States minor outlying islands

en-noun

United States minor outlying islands pl (plural only)

A collection of islands and archipelagos, consisting of various dependent territories of the United States, including: Baker Island, Howland Island, Jarvis Island, Johnston Atoll, Kingman Reef, the Midway Islands, Navassa Island, Palmyra Atoll, and Wake Island.

合衆国領有小離島

がっしゅうこくりょうゆうしょうりとう

Alabama · Alaska · Arizona · Arkansas · California · Colorado · Connecticut · Delaware · Florida · Georgia · Hawaii · Idaho · Illinois · Indiana · Iowa · Kansas · Kentucky · Louisiana · Maine · Maryland · Massachusetts · Michigan · Minnesota · Mississippi · Missouri · Montana · Nebraska · Nevada · New Hampshire · New Jersey · New Mexico · New York · North Carolina · North Dakota · Ohio · Oklahoma · Oregon · Pennsylvania · Rhode Island · South Carolina · South Dakota · Tennessee · Texas · Utah · Vermont · Virginia · Washington · West Virginia · Wisconsin · Wyoming

American Samoa · Guam · Northern Mariana Islands · Puerto Rico · United States minor outlying islands · United States Virgin Islands


strings

(music) Collectively, the stringed instruments in an orchestra.

It looks like a good offer, but there are strings attached.

(figuratively) Conditions, especially undesirable ones.


trots

I've had the trots all morning and haven't been able to go out.

A lot of people used to go out to the trots at Wayville. You′d see them all dressed up in their beads and bonnets and looking all flash, going off to the trots.

2002, Veronica Brodie, Mary-Anne Gale, My Side of the Bridge: The Life Story of Veronica Brodie as Told to Mary-Anne Gale, South Australia: Wakefield Press, page 49:

‘Russ drank two bottles of Coruba rum at the races then demanded to be driven to the Auckland night trots. We hadn′t been that keen on going to the trots, but when we dropped him there we figured we might as well stay for a couple of races.[…]’

2006, Mike Dillon, From The Horses Mouth: The Keith Haub Story, HarperCollins New Zealand, published 2010, unnumbered page:

I like both kinds of racing, thoroughbred and standardbred. Despite their lower social status, I like betting the trots just as much as I do the flats.

2008, J. D. Carpenter, Twelve Trees, Canada: Dundurn Press, page 24:

“[…]It is a fact that thousands come, pay their fee, and go straight to the amphitheater to see the trots, without whose fees premiums could not be paid to other classes.”

2008, Drake Hokanson, Carol Kratz, Purebred & Homegrown: America′s County Fairs, US: Terrace Books, page 45:

2011, Mike Walsh, 8: From Hollywood to the Garden Suburb (and Back to Hollywood): Exhibition and Distribution in Australia, Richard Maltby, Daniel Biltereyst, Philippe Meers, Explorations in New Cinema History: Approaches and Case Studies, Wiley, page 164,
The introduction of harness racing on Saturday nights at nearby Wayville in 1934 caused serious consequences for the rest of the 1930s as ‘the trots’ regularly attracted crowds of 20 000. When the trots began to offer free admission to children accompanying their parents, the state Exhibitors′ Association, of which Thompson was then chair, tried to agitate against this on moral grounds.

(Australia, New Zealand, US, informal, with "the") A trotting race meet; harness racing.


Hashshashin

From Arabic حَشَّاشِين (ḥaššāšīn, “hashish smokers”), from حَشِيش (ḥašīš, “hashish”)

der

A religious group who used hashish to create mystic visions; they later became associated with the assassination of invading Christian leaders during the Crusades; their descendants are the Khojas.


ahl al-kitab

Transliteration of Arabic أَهْل اَلْكِتَاب (ʔahl al-kitāb, “people of the book”).

translit

أَهْل اَلْكِتَاب

(Islam) Christians and Jews; tolerated by Islam.


Quraysh

Transliteration of Arabic قُرَيْش (qurayš).

When the message arrived the Quraysh were already preparing for war with Medina. It did not take them long to set out from Mecca with 1,000 men in arms, augmented by 100 cavalry. All the grandees of Mecca were there, including Abu Jahl.

2014 September 25, Ziauddin Sardar, Mecca: The Sacred City, Bloomsbury Publishing, →ISBN:

An ancient Bedouin tribe that controlled Mecca at the time of Muhammad.


ulama

Borrowed from Arabic عُلَمَاء (ʕulamāʔ).

There he […] became disillusioned with much of the Islamic clerical establishment, and first expressed his contempt for what he called ‘religious secularists’, those foolish ulama who attempt to separate politics from religion.

2000, Zadie Smith, White Teeth, London: Penguin Books, published 2001, →ISBN, page 469:


loins

(biblical, euphemistic) The pubic region.

Neuertheleſſe, thou ſhalt not build the houſe, but thy ſonne that ſhall come foorth out of thy loynes, hee ſhall build the house vnto my Name.

1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, 1 Kings 8:19, column 1:

The pubic region.
The reproductive organs.


arkan

en-noun

arkan pl (normally plural, singular rukn)

(Islam) The five "pillars", requirements or devotional duties of Islam: shahada, salat, zakat, saum and hajjh.


cosmetics

From French cosmétique, from Ancient Greek κοσμητική (kosmētikḗ, “the art of dress and ornament”), from κοσμητικός (kosmētikós), an adjective of κοσμέω (kosméō, “to order, to arrange, to rule, to adorn, to equip, to dress, to embellish”).

der

In the great fishbowl that we're doing everything in it's kind of unfortunate, but the cosmetics of the thing are more important than what's accomplished — in a great many ways.

2004, Lewis Sorley, Vietnam Chronicles: The Abrams Tapes, 1968-1972, page 194:

The way something looks; superficial appearance.


avionics

(aviation) The devices used in avionics.


Ural Mountains

a range of mountains in Russia that stretch from the Arctic to the Caspian Sea; traditionally, the border between Europe and Asia


NSF

(banking) Initialism of nonsufficient funds: the alert generated by a bounced check or an ACH transaction failure due to not enough money being in the account.


druthers

From the expression I'd rather (“I would prefer to”), often pronounced "I druther" in some dialects.

"If I had my druthers, I would not be a king. I'd druther be just what I am than any other thing."

1929, Harry McClintock, "If I Had My Druthers":

"If you had your druthers—" Old Lew was always saying, "If I had my druthers, gimme one of them there Shevrolics."

1950, Alice Walworth Graham, The Natchez Woman:

"If I had my druthers," he informs us, "I'druther be myself — not because I'm anythin' special, just because it's convenient."

1957, Society of Arts and Crafts, Theatre Arts, volume 41, page 29:

If I'd had my "druthers," our engagement would not have been two and one half years long. But schooling made our druthers invalid.

1977, Carole Mayhall, From the Heart of a Woman:

If I had my "druthers," I'd screw a chimpanzee. Call it, pointless.

(US, informal, often humorous) Wishes, preferences.


apples and oranges

Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see apples, and, oranges.


hearth and home

Much as advertisers do today, some railways tried to sell the idea of returning to the hearth and home for a 'traditional' Christmas.

2022 December 14, David Turner, “The Edwardian Christmas getaway...”, in RAIL, number 972, page 34:

Traditional family values and home life.


lumps

He's taken his lumps over the years.

Trudeau has suffered the lumps any politician who has held office for ten years can expect to accumulate

1978, Time, volume 111, number 1, page 37:


doors

non-rhotic, without the horse–hoarse merger

[The loudspeaker] only has sound coming out of the left side, can we please do something about this, Don? It's 10 minutes before doors.

2012, The Onion Book of Known Knowledge, page 67:


opening hours

The regular times of day when a shop, office or similar is open to the public.

營業時間

the regular times of day when a shop is open


manners

When you come to this time of abatement, / To this passing from Summer to Fall, / It is manners to issue a statement / As to what you got out of it all.

1936, Dorothy Parker, “The Little Old Lady in Lavender Silk”, in The collected poetry of Dorothy Parker, page 170:


teething troubles

A reference to teething (“the eruption, through the gums, of the milk teeth”) and the accompanying discomfort, which occur during early life.

No doubt the new form of drive will have its teething troubles and this may be expected; but even if each ship manages to unload one cargo where it is badly needed and then it is beached, mechanical troubles will be comparatively unimportant provided all the crew are safe.

1941 October, “Novel Armed Freighter Adopted by Navy”, in T. Orchard Lisle, editor, The Log, volume 36, number 13, San Francisco, Calif.: Miller Freeman, Inc., →OCLC, page 58, column 1:

But we think that, for something which is so new, it is far better and easier for them to recoup if it is only a 16,000 run. If it is up in the millions it is a bigger problem, and it is far better to get your teething troubles out of the way on a smaller one.

1961 October 16, R. Emerick, “Mr. R. Emerick, Mr. S. Clegg, Mr. T. Warburton, on Behalf of the Amalgamated Society of Lithographic Printers”, in Royal Commission on the Press: Minutes of Oral Evidence […] (Cmnd. 1812), volumes II (Witnesses: Trades Unions and Associations, […]), London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, published September 1962, →OCLC, paragraph 9041, page 25:

He admitted that in their early days these units suffered a number of teething troubles, which, he said, "one may now look back upon with some wonder", as their causes were not hard to find.

1961 November, “Talking of Trains: Diesel performance improving”, in Trains Illustrated, page 642:

They have survived four nights in the forest, and after a few teething troubles they are getting on surprisingly well.

2015, Paula Lichtarowicz, “The Nice New Brotherhood and Sisterhood of Ape-ish Folk”, in Creative Truths in Provincial Policing, paperback edition, London: Windmill Books, Penguin Random House, →ISBN, page 293:

He was on his way to Cleveland, Ohio to visit the steelworks there, review their working practices and sort out any problems. He knew there would be some, they had recently installed a new casting system that he had helped to develop, and the plant back home had experienced some teething troubles.

2015, Liz Vincent, chapter 14, in Meddling Mother Madge + Dutiful Daughter Alice = Malice, Kibworth Beauchamp, Leicestershire: Matador, →ISBN, page 135:

Teething troubles with software forced the brief return of the old Class 507/508 stock at the beginning of March, but the issues are understood to have been quickly resolved.

2023 March 22, “Network News: New Class 777s make inroads on Merseyside”, in RAIL, number 979, page 12:

(idiomatic) Problems that are to be expected with any new and untried product, system, or venture.

dětské nemoci

problems that are expected with any new and untried product, venture, etc.


armed forces

en-noun

armed forces pl (normally plural, singular armed force)

What dictators fear most is losing the support of the armed forces, and when this happens, it's as if a ferocious beast has lost its teeth.

2020 September 23, Shi Chuan, “When Police Officers No Longer Work for Dictators”, in Minghui:

The military forces of a nation, such as the army, navy, air force, marines, and sometimes, coastguard or border guard, which are tasked with the defence of the nation and its citizens, if necessary through use of deadly force.

weermag

the military forces of a nation — see also army


digs

For example, when “army digs” are in, the Jocks wear them; when designer jeans are fashionable, those who can afford them wear them.

1992, R. Patrick Solomon, Black Resistance in High School: Forging a Separatist Culture, page 41:

I donned my new digs and found a trash can in which to dump my stinky old clothes.

2014, Stephanie Caffrey, Vegas Stripped, page 95:


bestial

en-adj

bestial (comparative more bestial, superlative most bestial)

more bestial (comparative)
most bestial (superlative)

From Middle English bestial, from Old French bestial, from Late Latin bēstiālis, from Latin bēstia (“beast”) (whence English beast).

Reputation, reputation, reputation! O, I have lost my reputation! I have lost the immortal part of myself, and what remains is bestial.

c. 1603–1604 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Othello, the Moore of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene iii]:

By thee adulterous lust was driven from men /
Among the bestial herds to range […]

1667, John Milton, “Book IV”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC, lines 753-4:

This familiar that I called out of my own soul, and sent forth alone to do his good pleasure, was a being inherently malign and villainous; his every act and thought centered on self; drinking pleasure with bestial avidity from any degree of torture to another; relentless like a man of stone.

1886 January 5, Robert Louis Stevenson, Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., →OCLC:

His was a bestial face, a face that bore the stamp of Nature's eternal injustice.

1900 April, Willa Cather, “Eric Hermannson's Soul”, in Cosmopolitan:

The Game of Thrones novels were best sellers without fleshed-out Dothraki; the languages in Star Wars, one of the most successful franchises ever, are mostly gibberish, even if Han Solo claims to understand Chewbacca’s bestial warbling.

2022 December 31, Matteo Wong, “Hollywood’s Love Affair With Fictional Languages”, in The Atlantic:


bestial

From Middle Scots bestiall, from Middle English bestaile, from Old French bestaille, from Late Latin bēstiālia; later reinforced and remodelled on Middle French bestial, itself from Late Latin bēstiālis.

[…] much must depend upon the way in which bestial are bought or reared, and the state of the markets when they are sold.

1845, The New Statistical Account of Scotland: Forfar, Kincardine, page 94:


lights

But forst him gape and gaspe, with dread aghast, / As if his lungs and lites were nigh asunder brast.

1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book IV, Canto III”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:

[…] / hard puffing breasts and dance-o'erwearied lungs. / And truly had the crier will'd to shout / The doughty Piper's name through polish's trump, / His breath had not suffic'd to twang it out, / So did the poor man's lights puff, pant, and jump: / Wherefore to rest them from that dancing-bout, / […]

1838, William Tennant, Anster fair, a poem, page 22:

A hog's lights (or lungs), spleen, and brain found their way into dishes, as did the heart, liver, kidneys, and head, all considered delicacies. Even the feet, ears, and tail were eaten. The hooves were boiled to make glue.

2013, Dean King, The Feud: The Hatfields and McCoys: The True Story, Little, Brown, →ISBN:

The lungs, now chiefly of an animal (being lighter than adjacent parts).


quarters

“I have visited my quarters, and find them very comfortable.[…]Steerage is like everything else maritime[…]vastly improved since Robert Louis Stevenson took his trip third class to New York.”

1913, Robert Barr, chapter 1, in Lord Stranleigh Abroad:

"Yeah." It was him, alright; if the world's weariest pair of workboots hadn't tipped her off, his world-weary voice certainly would have. "Where were you?"
"My quarters. We've got a full ticket set today, and techs work best without oversight." Neither of these things was untrue, though the curation was more than a little dishonest.
"Maybe yours do." Nascimbeni rolled out, back flat against a neon orange creeper, and sat up with an audible wince. "Mine fuck the dog."

2022 September 19, HarryBlank, “Beyond Repair”, in SCP Foundation, archived from the original on 2024-09-15:

(plural only, originally military) Housing, barracks, or other habitation or living space. Compare cuarto.


hives

en-noun

hives pl (normally plural, singular hive)

Uncertain, but frequently connected with heave, even if such a derivation is phonologically difficult.

So when I was diagnosed with a fairly difficult-to-treat disease called idiopathic angioedema and chronic urticaria (a fancy way of saying we don’t know why you swell and hey, enjoy the 24/7 hives) six months ago, I wasn't quite sure how to cope.

2014 January 20, Simona Supekar, “How the Internet Helped Me Cope With My Rare Disease”, in The Atlantic:

When she recovers enough to look down at her arms [...] she blinks to see them covered in faint, but rising, puffy welts. Hives. She's breaking out in hives.

2020, N. K. Jemisin, The City We Became, Orbit, page 108:

Itchy, swollen, red areas of the skin which can appear quickly in response to an allergen or due to other conditions.


Hausa

A people living in Nigeria and part of Niger.


DT's

delirium tremens, symptoms of alcohol withdrawal.


Aghori

From Sanskrit अघोर (aghora, “fearless”).

A tribe of Hindu ascetics who are or were thought to eat the flesh of corpses.


line and length

(cricket) The direction (line) and point at which a delivery hits the pitch (length) of a delivery considered as a whole, especially that of a group of a particular bowler's deliveries.


brethren

From Early Modern English brethren, plural of brother, from Middle English brethren, from Middle English brethere, brether + -en (plural ending). Ultimately from Old English brōþor, brōþru (“brothers, brethren”), influenced by Old English brēþer, dative singular of brōþor (“brother”). Equivalent to brother + -en (plural ending). Compare German Brüder (“brothers, brethren”). More at brother. The vowel change (from o to e) is called umlaut.


brethren

(figuratively) The body of members, especially of a fraternal, religious or military order.


brethren

en-adj

brethren (comparative more brethren, superlative most brethren)

more brethren (comparative)
most brethren (superlative)

The principle still sounds good, but our astronomical knowledge is limited, and we haven't yet discovered any such brethren solar systems.

2009, Seth Shostak, Confessions of an Alien Hunter:


FLOPS

An acronym for floating-point operations per second.


Cayuse

Adapted from French cailloux, a pre-existing French word. The reason this word came to be used for the tribe is unknown; see the Wikipedia article for theories.


extra innings

And we go to extra innings.

(baseball) Additional innings needed to break a tie.


early innings

We have an early innings deficit to make up.

(baseball) The first, second, and third innings.


small arms

en-noun

small arms pl (normally plural, singular small arm)

The helicopter was attacked by small arms fire.

Firearms designed to be carried and fired by a single person, and often held in the hand.


screaming abdabs

...not noticing the sud smells anymore or belts over my head that gave me the screaming ab-dabs when I first came in the factory at fifteen...

1959, Alan Sillitoe, Saturday Night and Sunday Morning, page 34:

1971, New Scientist, page 80, by the EBSCO Publishing Firm,
Meanwhile, down the road a piece, another British firm has had an attack of the abdabs.

... Robert played all the time on his dummy keyboard and it drove Edna near mad, gave her the screaming abdabs as she put it.

1986, Anthony Burgess, The Pianoplayers, page 201:

‘This place doesn't ‘aif give me the screaming ‘abdabs.’ ‘And how!’ I agreed. All those small creatures that had once vibrated with life, now frozen ...

2003, Marian Babson, The Cat Who Wasn't a Dog:

It's a nice night, and I’da darned sight rather take a walk out than see you work yourself into a fit of the screaming abdabs. I don't blame you, ...

(British, slang) A state of extreme nervousness.


props

(obsolete) A game of chance using four seashells (each called a prop).


props

From proper, as in "proper respect" or "proper recognition".

I've got to give props to Roger for the way he handled that situation.

I also want to acknowledge state senator Elaine Alquist who is here... I always want to give her her props.

2007, Barack Obama (speaking at Google on November 14, 2007Candidates at Google: Barack ObamaPublic Policy Blog. Candidates at Google: Barack Obama)

(slang) Respect for, or recognition of, another person; an expression of approval or a special acknowledgment; accolades; praise.


stairs

At length, one night, when the company by ſome accident broke up much ſooner than ordinary, ſo that the candles were not half burnt out, ſhe was not able to reſiſt the temptation, but reſolved to have them ſome way or other. Accordingly, as ſoon as the hurry was over, and the ſervants, as ſhe thought, all gone to ſleep, ſhe ſtole out of her bed, and went down ſtairs, naked to her ſhift as ſhe was, with a deſign to ſteal them […]

1762, Charles Johnstone, The Reverie; or, A Flight to the Paradise of Fools, volume 2, Dublin: Printed by Dillon Chamberlaine, →OCLC, page 202:

We tiptoed into the house, up the stairs and along the hall into the room where the Professor had been spending so much of his time.

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

A contiguous set of steps connecting two floors.


late innings

He is at his best in the late innings.

(baseball) The seventh, eighth, and ninth innings of a game.


pantyhose

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

(Canada, US) Thin nylon tights worn over the legs, usually tan in color.


thereabouts

/ðɛəɹəˈbaʊts/

/ˈðɛəɹəbaʊts/

/ˈðɛɹəˌbaʊts/

/ˌðɛɹəˈbaʊts/

The adverb is derived from Middle English there-aboutes, þare aboutes (“of a place or an object: around there, in its vicinity; of time: about then, around that time”) [and other forms], from ther (“in that place, in those places, there; on that; thither, to that place; from there, thence; at that time; thereupon; in that situation, under those circumstances; in that case, with regard to that”) (from Old English þǣr (“there”)) + aboutes (“in all directions, around”, adverb), aboutes (“in all directions from, on all sides of; near; concerned with”, preposition) (from aboute, abouten (“so as to surround; so as to cover; on the border or edge; as measured around the outside; to as to travel around something; so as to revolve about an axis or centre; aside; in all directions; in the vicinity; in connection with something; in several places; everywhere, throughout; to all or everyone; almost, approximately; concerning; in succession; so as to be or happen”, adverb), aboute, abouten (“surrounding; covering; over; upon; on the border of; in all directions; in the vicinity of, near to; in several places; everywhere, throughout; almost, approximately; concerning; engaged in; on behalf of”, preposition) (from Old English abūtan, onbūtan (“about; round about; on; on the outside”)) + -s (suffix forming adverbs)); see further at thereabout. The English word is analysable as thereabout + -s (suffix forming adverbs).
The noun may result from a confusion of thereabouts with whereabouts.
The word is attested later than thereabout.

suffix

Cam. [i.e., Canidus.] Our Fortune on the Sea is out of breath,
And ſinkes moſt lamentably. Had our Generall
Bin what he knew himſelfe, it had gone well:
Oh his [i.e., he] ha's giuen example for our flight,
Moſt groſſely by his owne.
Eno[barbus]. I, are you thereabouts? Why then goodnight indeede.

c. 1606–1607 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Anthonie and Cleopatra”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene x], page 355, column 2:

Canidus. Our fortune [in the battle] on the sea is out of breath,
And sinks most lamentably. Had our general
Been his old self, it would have gone well.
Oh, he has given us an example for our desertion,
Most grossly by his own.
Enobarbus. Ay, are you near that situation [i.e., also considering desertion]? Why, then we must be at the end indeed.

Cam[illo]. I dare not know (my Lord.)
Pol[ixenes]. How, dare not? doe not? doe you know, and dare not?
Be intelligent to me, 'tis thereabouts:
For to your ſelfe, what you doe know, you muſt,
And cannot ſay, you dare not.

c. 1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Winters Tale”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene ii], page 280, column 2:

Amid[eo]. […] [D]o not work
Upon my pity; for I feel already
My ſtout heart melts.
Hip[polito]. Oh! are you thereabouts?

1675, John Driden [i.e., John Dryden], The Rival Ladies. A Tragi-comedy. […], London: […] T[homas] N[ewcomb] for Henry Herringman, […], →OCLC, Act IV, scene iii, page 46:

(figuratively) Near to that activity or situation.

Synonym of thereabout:
Near to that activity or situation.


German measles

First described and distinguished from rubeola, red measles by the German doctor Friedrich Hoffmann in 1740

(pathology, now possibly offensive) Rubella


undies

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

I hope so because I can't wear the suit without the shirt. I went to go look in my dresser. I found it and got out my undies and socks.

2004, T. Fulton, Da Joka: Frisco’s Finest, page 59:

Some of us prevent this needless chaotic surge as we hand-wash our uniforms in our sinks or while we shower and, especially, our undies because in this way we are sure of its soapy cleanliness, chlorine scent, microbe safe and heartfelt snuggly sporty.


special needs

The school has introduced provisions for pupils with special needs.

(idiomatic) Needs for special care, services or accommodations for disabilities.

sajátos nevelési igény

needs for special care, services or accommodations for disabilities


Norse

en-adj

Norse (comparative more Norse, superlative most Norse)

more Norse (comparative)
most Norse (superlative)

Partly from Dutch Noorsch (now Noors (“Norwegian”)), from noordsch (“northern; nordic”); and partly from Danish norsk (“Norwegian”). Both equivalent to north + -ish. Doublet of Norsk.

Of or relating to the people, language and culture of Scandinavia.

Of or relating to the North Germanic group of languages.


Norse

Speakers of any of the North Germanic languages.


Norse

(US printing, rare, dated) A size of type between Saxon and excelsior, 2+¹⁄₂-point type.


twos

(UK, prison slang) The cells located on the first floor.


cake crumbs

Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see cake, crumbs.


Gummy Bears

Calque of German Gummibärchen, the name of the confectionery in Germany.

A kind of gummy candy, a type of confectionery made from gelatine, in the miniature form of a toy bear.


seven-league boots

en-noun

seven-league boots pl (normally plural, singular seven-league boot)

The Count strode away as if he had secured seven-league boots, and in less time than it seemed possible, though it was an age to Lady Anne (...), he returned with two bank of England notes in his hand, which he put into the bailiff's, saying,—"There's your money for yourself and all. You have proper behavour, and will make no say of this littel matter."

1842, [anonymous collaborator of Letitia Elizabeth Landon], chapter XL, in Lady Anne Granard; or, Keeping up Appearances. […], volume II, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, page 211:

(folklore, fairy tale) A pair of boots enabling the wearer to cross seven leagues at one stride.


representations

The British government has already made representations to the Spanish government concerning this matter.

Formal statements made to an authority to express discontent.


proceedings

/ˈpɹəʊˌsiːd.ɪŋz/

(law, plural only) The course of procedure in the prosecution of an action at law.

The published record of the actions of a society, or of things done at its meetings.


odds

She beat me with knight odds but lost with rook odds.

The grandmaster gave his opponents significant time odds, of one minute versus ten minutes.

The resulting match of fourteen games was won by Mr. Maurian, who had scored all the Knight-odds parties and the majority of the even-term ones!

1913, The British Chess Magazine, volume 33, Trubner & Company, page 51:

Nowadays, giving material odds in this way is rather rare, but the advent of the chess clock has made it possible for strong players to give time odds — taking one or two minutes for all their moves, for example, and allowing their opponents five minutes or more.

1989, Raymond Keene, The Simon & Schuster Pocket Book of Chess, Simon and Schuster Books for Young Readers, →ISBN, page 183:

Harry Golombek, who had returned from Argentina with the British chess team but spent two years in the infantry before joining B.P., occasionally played chess with Turing, giving Queen odds in order to make the game more equal.

1998, George W. Atkinson, Chess and Machine Intuition, Intellect, →ISBN, page 35:

And finally, if those are tied, they'll play a final sudden-death game, using a format known as armageddon. In armageddon, black gets "time odds": White gets five minutes while black gets just four, but a draw counts as a win for black.

2016 November 27, Oliver Roeder, “The World Chess Championship Comes Down To The Final Game”, in FiveThirtyEight, archived from the original on 2022-05-26:

Fischer described all female professionals' play at his time to be that of "beginners", and went on to boast about hypothetically beating any female chess player with knight odds (when challenged to the same, though, he didn't respond).

2018 September 23, Binit Priyaranjan, “Queens on the Board, Pawns in the Sport – the Underrepresentation of Women in Chess”, in The Wire, archived from the original on 2021-05-06:

The most important handicap historically is knight odds, because it produces play more similar to a normal game than handicaps like f7 and multiple moves, while still being a suitable handicap for rather strong players.

2021, Larry Kaufman, Chess Board Options, New in Chess, →ISBN:

Here, Nakamura took the white pieces and the time odds with the mandatory win requirement, and managed to break Nepomniachtchi's resistance to clinch the title.

2022 October 31, Luci Kelemen, “Nakamura wins 2022 Fischer Random Chess Championship, Carlsen slides to top-four finish”, in Dot Esports, archived from the original on 2022-12-17:

(chess) An advantage given to a weaker opponent in order to equalize the game when playing casually, usually by removing one of the stronger player's pieces or by giving the weaker player more time.


specifications

A set of requirements defining an exact description of an object or a process.


masses

[…] the ignorant masses […]


gfx

(computing, informal) Abbreviation of graphics.


neotropics

Tropical America: the tropical areas of North, Central and South America; the tropics of the New World.


fisticuffs

So he obſerves that all ſimple Governments are apt to ſome evil that is peculiar and conſequential to their Nature, as he inſtanceth in a Kingdom changed into Monarchy abſolute, by which he means that which we now call Tyranny; Ariſtocracy into Oligarchy, and Democracy into Beſtial Chirocracy, when the Seditious of people prevail more by Fiſticuffs than reaſon: […]

1686, Nathaniel Johnston, “III: That the People are not the Original of Authority and Government”, in The Excellency of Monarchical Government, Eſpecially of the Engliſh Monarchy […] , London: T. B. for Robert Clavel, page 19:

People who share a cell in the Basti[l]le […] if they do not immediately fall to fisticuffs, will find some possible ground of compromise.

1881, Robert Louis Stevenson, “Virginibus Puerisque”, in Virginibus Puerisque, and Other Papers:

[…], his head all scarred with the sticks and fisticuffs which he had got in the taverns at Utrecht, […]

1890, Edmondo de Amicis, translated by Caroline Tilton, Holland and Its People, Chapter XII:

(plural only, informal) An impromptu fight with the fists, usually between only two people.

In his college days of athletic exercises, Mr. Crisparkle had known professors of the Noble Art of fisticuffs, […]

1870 April–September, Charles Dickens, “Chapter XVII”, in The Mystery of Edwin Drood, London: Chapman and Hall, […], published 1870, →OCLC:

(plural only, sports, dated) Bare-knuckled boxing, a form of boxing done without boxing gloves or similar padding.


palaeotropics

The tropics of "the old world", the tropical areas of both Africa and Asia. Used in biology (rare), pertaining to area of geographical occurrence.


ablutions

(plural only, UK, military) The location or building where the showers and basins are located.


morbilli

Translingual: Morbillivirus

From Medieval Latin morbillus, from Latin morbus (“disease”) + -illus (“diminutive suffix”).


rabbit ears

He wrangled the rabbit ears to the best place for channel 4.

2019, Colson Whitehead, The Nickel Boys, Fleet, page 139:

An indoor dipole antenna consisting of two usually extensible rods connected to a base to form a V shape.


britches

Alteration of breeches (“trousers, pantaloons”) in use since at least the 18th century in Britain and British colonies.

And Tom Bowles told him, says, "Go up to the store and get you a free pair of britches [on me]." Says, "Them damned old britches you wearing ain't fittin' to wear to town."

2003, Thad Sitton, Harder than hardscrabble: oral recollections of the farming life ..., page 124:

(chiefly Appalachia, Southern US) Alternative form of breeches (pants, trousers).


realia

From Late Latin realia, neuter plural of realis (“real”).

(linguistics) Words and expressions for culture-specific material elements.


the bee's knees

Attested since 1922, of unclear origin. There are several suggested origins, but it most likely arose in imitation of the numerous animal-related nonsense phrases popular in the 1920s such as the cat's pyjamas, cat's whiskers, cat's meow, gnat's elbow, monkey's eyebrows etc.
A popular folk etymology has the phrase referring to the world champion dancer Bee Jackson. Another suggestion is that the phrase is a corruption of business but this may be a back-formation. The singular bee's knee is attested from the late 18th century meaning something small or insignificant in the phrase big as a bee's knee. Also as weak as a bee's knee is attested in Ireland (1870). It is possible that the bee's knees is a deliberate inversion of this meaning but is not attested. Another possibility is that this is a reference to the (visible) blobs of pollen in bees' corbiculae.

Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see bee, -'s, knee. Corbiculae.


Abdals

From Arabic أَبْدَال (ʔabdāl, “replacements”).

der

(Islam) a group of saints responsible for the continuing existence of the world


alternate angles

(geometry) the internal angles made by two (parallel) lines with a third, on opposite sides of it.

the internal angles made by two (parallel) lines with a third, on opposite sides of it.
If the parallels AB, CD, are cut by the line EF, intersecting at points G and H, then the angles AGH, GHD, are called alternate angles (as also are the angles BGH and GHC).


jaws

snatch defeat out of the jaws of victory

Open the jaws of the wrench and wide as possible.

The red wobbled in the jaws of the pocket, but didn't go down.

(plural only) The borders of anything which has a mouthlike aspect.


particulars

The overall plan is well understood, but we still have to work out the particulars.


innards

He took the cover off his computer and looked at the innards.

The inner workings of something; the insides or guts.


salad days

Coined by William Shakespeare in Antony and Cleopatra around 1607, see quotations.

Cleo. Did I Charmian, euer loue Caeſar ſo?
[…]
Char. By your moſt gracious pardon,
I ſing but after you.
Cleo. My Sallad dayes,
When I was greene in iudgment, cold in blood[…]

c. 1606–1607 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Anthonie and Cleopatra”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene v], page 344, column 2:

The season of salad days has been rightly called a season of folly—rightly, because nature wisely intended salad days for folly, and we are wise to regard them as a time for folly. But are we wise when, halting upon the crutches age finds convenient after the gambols of youth have lost their attractions, we condemn this season of harmless folly to perpetual reprobation?

1874 October, “Salad Days”, in The American Educational Monthly, page 462:

But it must be in solitude. I do not need or desire to hobnob artificially with other old men in order to revisit them in their salad days, and to renew my own.

1952 May, George Santayana, “I Like to Be a Stranger”, in The Atlantic:

“I'll bet he was swiping things as a small boy.” “Only biscuits.” “I beg your pardon?” “Or crackers you would call them, wouldn't you? He was telling me he occasionally pinched a cracker or two in his salad days.”

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

Do you know I've not been to a ball in ages? I used to be quite the dancer in my salad days, if you can believe such a thing.

2015, 23m30s from the start, in Penny Dreadful, season 2, episode 6, spoken by Sir Malcolm Murray (Timothy Dalton):

Liz: Derek, remember when I used to want to fuck all the time?
Derek: Ah, yes. The salad days.
Liz: Mmh. Now, my sex window is between 3 and 3:20 pm and Derek needs not to have annoyed me that day.
Derek: Doesn't happen often.

2023 February 24, Annie Mebane, Shrinking, season 1, episode 6:

A period of inexperienced youthful innocence accompanied by enthusiasm and idealism.

Antony and Cleopatra
William Shakespeare
salad days


curtains

Marangoni effect
Marangoni effect#English

(colloquial, oenology) A ring of clear liquid, forming into drops, near the top of a glass of fortified wine; the result of differential evaporation of alcohol and subsequent changes in surface tension; an example of the Marangoni effect.


metes and bounds

(surveying) A description of a piece of land consisting of both measurements (metes) of the land and owners of land which is adjacent to (bounds) it.


tears of wine

(oenology) A ring of clear liquid, forming into drops, near the top of a glass of fortified wine; the result of differential evaporation of alcohol and subsequent changes in surface tension; an example of the Marangoni effect.


high spirits

They stayed together during three dances, went out on to the terrace, explored wherever they were permitted to explore, paid two visits to the buffet, and enjoyed themselves much in the same way as if they had been school-children surreptitiously breaking loose from an assembly of grown-ups. The boy became volubly friendly and bubbling over with unexpected humour and high spirits.

1909, Archibald Marshall [pseudonym; Arthur Hammond Marshall], “A Court Ball”, in The Squire’s Daughter, New York, N.Y.: Dodd, Mead and Company, published 1919, →OCLC, page 9:

Apart from yachting and the cross-Channel steamer it was her first experience of being at sea and she was in high spirits.

2000, Mary S. Lovell, A Rage to Live: A Biography of Richard and Isabel Burton, W. W. Norton & Company, →ISBN, page 415:

gleusta

"cheerful", translating "in high spirits"


marbles

Egyptian boys played marbles before the days of Moses.

Any of several children's games played with small balls (made of marble or more commonly glass).

Some corners are littered with marbles, off the racing line.

2014, Amen Zwa, Going Nowhere Fast In Assetto Corsa (2015-05-01), →ISBN, page 395:

(motor racing) Bits of rolled-up rubber shed by the tires of race cars that accumulate at the edges of the track, especially at the corners.


ins and outs

After a few months, you will know all the ins and outs of the system thoroughly.

(idiomatic) The details or fine points of something.


Graces

From Latin Gratiae, from gratia (“grace”), from Ancient Greek χᾰ́ρῐς (kháris, “grace, charity”).

<i class="Latn mention" lang="en">grace</i>, charity

(Greek mythology) Three sister goddesses in Greek mythology (Euphrosyne, Aglaia, and Thalia), in whom beauty was deified.


shenanigans

en-noun

shenanigans pl (normally plural, singular shenanigan)

Shanti and Tom are playing noisily upstairs again. They’re up to their usual shenanigans.

Well, I'm not the woman to stand any shenanigans from a child of mine. I could name you dead loads of women that are just completely walked over by their children.

1890, Kate Chopin, “Perplexing Things”, in At Fault. A Novel, St. Louis, Mo.: Nixon-Jones Printing Co., →OCLC, page 159:

(uncountable) Mischievous play, especially by children.


blinkenlights

Mock German from blink and lights; see the Wikipedia article for history.

The back of the NIRT truck was crowded with consoles and flashing panels of blinkenlights, battered laptops plastered with security inventory stickers...

2007, Charles Stross, The Merchants' War:

I am talking about — of course — LED blinkenlights, the usually-blue glowing pimples that pepper routers, speakers, computers and even USB hubs.

2011 June 6, Charlie Sorrel, “LightDims: Tiny Sunglasses for Blinkenlights”, in Wired, archived from the original on 2011-06-08:

Through a friend at hswaw [Warsaw Hackerspace], I have obtained a launchpad mini while working on this project (thanks drozdziak1!). ar jokingly suggested that I should velcro it to the [computer's] case and use it as blinklichter, and.. that was too good of an idea not to.

2023 August 27, sdomi, “Building a luggable computer (for absolutely no reason)”, in sdomi's webpage (weblog), archived from the original on 2023-09-03:

(computing, slang) The flashing lights on an electronic device such as a modem, router, or network hub (originally the front-panel lights on old computers).


bariatrics

From bary- (“weight”) + -iatrics, coined by physician Raymond E. Dietz in 1961.

coin

(medicine) The branch of medicine dealing with obesity and weight problems.


scales

The butcher put the sausages on the scales.


fireworks

From fire + work(s). The similarity with Dutch vuurwerk and German Feuerwerk, both “fireworks”, is hardly coincidental. Since the word was apparently first attested in English circa 1575, probably from the Dutch (1540), from the German (sense early 16th c.), from Middle High German viurwerc (14th c. as “fuel, firewood”). A spread from the south northwards is also in line with the fact that the first European fireworks were produced in Italy in the late 14th century.

5000 Marrons in Battery, which continue firing to the End of the Fireworks.

1749, A Description of the Machine for the Fireworks, with All Its Ornaments, and a Detail of the Manner in which They are to be Exhibited in St. James's Park, Thursday, April 27, 1749, on Account of the General Peace, Signed at Aix La Chappelle, October 7, 1748. Published by Order of His Majesty's Board of Ordnance, London: Printed by W[illiam] Bowyer [for Gaetano Ruggieri and Gioseppe Sarti], sold by R[obert] Dodsley at Tully's Head in Pall Mall, and M. Cooper in Pater-Noster-Row, and the booksellers in London and Westminster, →OCLC, page 13:

By now, a great many people were walking towards the fireworks but their steps fell so softly and they chatted in such gentle voices there was no more noise than a warm, continual, murmurous humming, the cosy should of shared happiness, and the night filled with a muted, bourgeois yet authentic magic. Above our heads, the fireworks hung dissolving earrings on the night. Soon we lay down in a stubbled field to watch the fireworks.

1974, Angela Carter, “A Souvenir of Japan”, in Fireworks: Nine Profane Pieces, London: Quartet Books, →ISBN:

[T]he fireworks were irretrievably connected with the establishment and political success, and tried to bridge the gap to public favour; just as Water Music helped keep the King's image sweet, so Fireworks Music celebrated the national benefit from the power this generated. […] [T]he fireworks were run as a successful commercial enterprise as well as a symbol of monarchical power. The prudent George [II of Great Britain] would surely have been pleased equally by both.

2005, Christopher Hogwood, “Politics and Power”, in Handel: Water Music and Music for the Royal Fireworks (Cambridge Music Handbooks), Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, page 77:

(plural only) An event or a display where fireworks are set off.

I left the room after John came home drunk but before the fireworks went off.

Legal fireworks began yesterday in Benin at the pre-hearing of the petition by the People's Democratic Party, PDP, governorship candidate in the September 28, 2016 election in Edo State, Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu, challenging the declaration of Mr. Godwin Obaseki of All Progressives Congress, APC, by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, as winner of the election.

2016 December 2, Simon Ebegbulem, Gabriel Enogholase, “Legal fireworks as Edo gov election tribunal begins hearing”, in Vanguard, Lagos, Nigeria, archived from the original on 2016-12-08:

Bedlam started slow, but fireworks started in the second quarter as Oklahoma State took a 17–10 lead to the break.

2016 December 3, Spenser Davis, “Oklahoma football: Sooners, Cowboys knotted at 17 in de facto Big 12 Championship game”, in The Oklahoma Daily, archived from the original on 2016-12-26:

(plural only, figuratively) A boisterous or violent event or situation.


Seven Sages

(historical) Seven Ancient Greek men renowned for their wisdom: Thales, Solon, Periander, Cleobulus, Chilon, Bias, and Pittacus.


snake eyes

From the resemblance of the two single pips to the eyes of a snake.


abandons

Charles G[odfrey] Leland
w:Charles Godfrey Leland

(plural only, archaic, British slang) Abandoned children; foundlings.

(plural only, archaic, British slang) Prostitutes.


humanities

Appendix:Roget MICRA thesaurus/Class IV § 560. Language

classical studies
classical studies#English

(obsolete) Synonym of classical studies: the study of Ancient Greek and Latin, their literature, etc.

classical studies

The study of language, literature, the arts, history, and philosophy, sometimes including religion.


Russies

Wilde Irish are as ciul [civil] as the Russies in theyr kinde,
Hard choice which is the best of both, ech bloudy, rude and blinde.

1568, George Turberville, Poems describing the Places and Manners of the Country and People of Russia:


Hamar

Borrowed from Norwegian Hamar, from Old Norse Hamarr, identical to hamarr (“rocky hill”).

A town and municipality in Innlandet, Norway, previously in Hedmark (until 1 January 2020).


materia medica

From Latin materia (“material”) + medica (“curative, medical”).

(medicine, archaic or historical) Synonym of pharmacology, particularly its development in early modern Europe.


materia medica

CHIAN earth, in pharmacy, one of the medicinal earths of the ancients, the name of which is preſerved in the catalogues of the materia medica but of which nothing more than the name has been known for many ages in the ſhops...

1771, Encyclopaedia Britannica, 1st ed., volume II, page 183:

(medicine, archaic or historical) Synonym of medicine: the substances so used, particularly traditional cures prepared from animals and plants such as herbal medicines but inclusive of early drugs.


methylated spirits

en-noun

methylated spirits pl (normally plural, singular methylated spirit)

methylated spirit
methylated spirit#English


hepatica

Tufts of primroses grew under the still leafless trees; the hepatica had succeeded the snowdrop.

1842, [Katherine] Thomson, chapter XIII, in Widows and Widowers. A Romance of Real Life., volume I, London: Richard Bentley, […], →OCLC, page 281:

Any of the herbaceous plants in the genus Hepatica of the buttercup family, notably the common hepatica.


nines

He drew nines from the deck.


outskirts

He lived on the outskirts of Paris for a time.

The village borders on the Hakka district of Wanluan on the southeastern outskirts of Chaozhou, and its temple is modest in size, with a front and rear chamber and two larger temporary extensions front and side. Yet its members (unaware of similarly named temples in Pingdong as well as Donggang) insist that it is the City God of the county of Pingdong.

2003, Donald S. Sutton, “Places: Nine Troupes in Their Local Settings”, in Steps of Perfection: Exorcistic Performers and Chinese Religion in Twentieth-Century Taiwan, Harvard University Press, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 63:

More than 100 men, wearing white T-shirts and wielding sticks and clubs, stormed the station in Yuen Long, on Hong Kong’s northwestern outskirts, and assaulted people, including passengers on a subway car.

2021 July 23, Vivian Wang, Joy Dong, Tiffany May, “Men Who Beat Hong Kong Protesters in Mob Attack Are Sentenced to Prison”, in The New York Times, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2021-07-23, Asia Pacific:

The area surrounding a city or town; suburb.

ucqar

the edges or areas around a city or town


heartstrings

heartstrings pl (normally plural, singular heartstring)

/ˈhɑɹtˌstɹɪŋz/

PIE word
 *ḱḗr
From Late Middle English hartestrynges, hert strynges, from Middle English herte (“heart”) + strenges, strynges (“cords, strings”). The English word is analysable as heart + strings.

The atrioventricular valves are prevented from turning inside out by strands of connective tissue, which run from their underside to the walls of the ventricle. These are the so-called heartstrings or chordae tendin[e]ae.

2002, “Applied Physiology A”, in Beryl Stretch, editor, BTEC National Health Studies, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Heinemann Educational Publishers, →ISBN, page 481:

Joined to the free ends of the AV [atrioventricular] valves are a number of cords called chordae tendineae (heart strings) attaching them to muscles in the wall of the ventricle. The heart strings keep the AV flaps pointing in the direction of the blood flow, stopping them being turned "inside out" and forced through the atria. The semilunar valves do not have heart strings. Blood flowing the wrong way makes the cusps balloon out so that their edges seal tight.

2005, “Section 2: Heart”, in The Facts on File Illustrated Guide to the Human Body: Heart and Circulatory System, New York, N.Y.: Facts on File, →ISBN, page 40:

[M]y precious Toby Chihuahua, soon to be twelve years old, had a heart attack. As a result, one or more of his chordae tendineae, or heartstrings, ruptured. Until very recently, this condition was curtains for a dog, but new meds are keeping him alive for now.

2014 February 15, Crissy Shreve, chapter 5, in BMom: Lovely Weeds, Bloomington, Ind.: AuthorHouse, →ISBN, page 56:

chordae tendineae
chordae tendineae#English

(by extension) Synonym of chordae tendineae (“the cord-like tendons that connect the papillary muscles to the tricuspid valve and the mitral valve in the heart”)


ephemera

Borrowed from Ancient Greek ἐφήμερᾰ (ephḗmera), neuter plural form of ἐφήμερος (ephḗmeros).

(library science) Published single-sheet or single page documents which are meant to be thrown away after one use.


pp

pp (countable and uncountable, plural pps)


pros and cons

From Latin prō (“for, on behalf of”) and contrā (“against”).

(plural only) The positive and negative attributes of arguments.


plebs

From Latin plēbs (“the plebeian class”), variant of earlier plēbēs. Later also understood as the plural of pleb.

Why I am going with my pidgeons to the tribunall Plebs.

c. 1588–1593 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Lamentable Tragedy of Titus Andronicus”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene iv], line 92:

(historical) The plebeian class of Ancient Rome.


Mutt and Jeff

From characters in a comic strip by U.S. cartoonist Harry Conway ("Bud") Fisher, first published in 1908.

1962, "Facial Farceur" (film review of A Matter of WHO), Time, 10 Aug.,
The bowler-hatted Terry-Thomas and Cooper's gangling American business partner (Alex Nicol) team up, Mutt-and-Jeff fashion.

(chiefly US, slang) Names given to a pair of companions, usually male, of whom one is tall and the other short.


parts

He was a man of great parts but little virtue.

(euphemistic) The genitals, short for private parts.


Enets

The Samoyedic language spoken by these people.


cinders

(geology, plural only) Fragments of lava; scoria.


histrionics

I’m tired of Mary’s histrionics.

Exaggerated, overemotional behaviour, especially when calculated to elicit a response; melodramatics.


liberal arts

The academic course of instruction intended to provide general knowledge and usually comprising the arts, humanities, natural sciences, and social sciences, as opposed to professional or technical subjects.


bell-bottoms

After landing, Brody, wearing bell-bottoms and large green sunglasses, announced to assembled reporters that he would be giving away his $25 million fortune to ordinary people to spread love and “cure the problems of the world.”

2022 April 27, Jennifer Schuessler, “An Heir, a $25 Million Giveaway and 30,000 Unopened Letters”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

(plural only) Pants that are flared from the knee downwards, a characteristic style of the 1970s.

klokbroek

pants that are flared from the knee downwards


tropics

The day was ending; night comes on very quickly in the tropics, and as yet there was no moon visible.

1887, Harriet W. Daly, Digging, Squatting, and Pioneering Life in the Northern Territory of South Australia, page 165:

‘In the tropics one must before everything keep calm.’...He lifted a warning forefinger...‘Du calme, du calme.’

1899 February, Joseph Conrad, “The Heart of Darkness”, in Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine, volume CLXV, number M, New York, N.Y.: The Leonard Scott Publishing Company, […], →OCLC, part I, page 201:

(geography) The region of the Earth centred on the equator and lying between the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn and characterized by a hot climate.


Lom

A nomadic people related to the Rom and Dom, with origins in India, who reside in Transcaucasia; Caucasian Gypsies.


steps

She followed the steps of the girl beside her

Her mother was a writer and Con had always determined to follow in her steps.

a course followed by a person in walking or as walking

He clumped up the steps.

a flight of stairs, especially out of doors


core hours

The fixed block of time during which an employee is expected to be at work; excludes flexitime and leave.

kiinteä työaika

time when employee is expected to be at work


fusilli

From Italian fusilli, plural of fusillo, diminutive of fuso (“spindle”).

Fusilli is very good served with classic tomato sauces.

2010, Christine Ingram, “Pasta, Noodles and Wrappers”, in Cooking Ingredients: A Practical Guide to Choosing and Using World Foods, London: Hermes House, →ISBN, page 329, column 3:


glia

From Ancient Greek γλία (glía), γλοία (gloía, “glue”), γλοιός (gloiós, “a glutinous substance, gum”)

(anatomy) The network of glial cells that supports nervous system tissue.


foreign affairs

Policy of a government in dealing with other countries or with activities overseas.


liner notes

Does it have the lyrics in the liner notes?

Commentary or supplemental information, usually printed on the back of the cover or in an insert, of recorded media; such as record albums, CDs, videos, or DVDs.


chattering classes

chattering classes pl (normally plural, singular chattering class)

Those advocating permanent WFH [working from home] most vocally tend to be salaried, with 'nice houses', gardens, partners and families, and probably a home office. They are the same chattering class which will crucially decide, how others (who maybe live in small flats, laptop on a kitchen table, 23 floors from the ground) will work.

2021 April 7, Nigel Harris, “Comment: Challenge traditional beliefs”, in RAIL, number 928, page 3:

(chiefly British) Educated people with liberal opinions and attitudes.


BCG

Bacille Calmette-Guérin
Bacille Calmette-Guérin

(medicine) Initialism of bacillus of Calmette and Guérin (“Bacille Calmette-Guérin”)., a vaccine for tuberculosis developed by Albert Calmette and Camille Guérin


pan pipes

pan pipes pl (normally plural, singular pan pipe)


Hagiographa

From Middle English agiogrofa, Agiogropha, from Medieval Latin hagiographa, from Ancient Greek ἁγιόγραφα (hagiógrapha), from ἅγιος (hágios, “holy, saintly”) + γρᾰ́φω (gráphō, “to write”).

(Judaism) The third division of the Hebrew scriptures; the Ketuvim.


togs

'Look at his togs, Fagin!' said Charley, putting the light so close to his new jacket as nearly to set him on fire. 'Look at his togs! Superfine cloth, and the heavy swell cut! Oh, my eye, what a game! And his books, too! Nothing but a gentleman, Fagin!'

1838, Boz [pseudonym; Charles Dickens], chapter 16, in Oliver Twist; or, The Parish Boy’s Progress. […], volume (please specify |volume=I, II, or III), London: Richard Bentley, […], →OCLC:

And the costumes looked like workout togs.


pythons

Apparently originating from an analogy between the distention of the arm muscles and the distended belly of a python that has swallowed a large animal.

I read in another magazine about a workout that can put a whole inch on your arms in just one day! Obviously that sounds awesome, because my guns are only 15 inches. I figure I could do this workout every couple months and within a year, I will have the big 20-inch pythons!

2010, Mark Alvisi (quote from a reader), "Mark of a Champion", Muscular Development 47(1): 350

(bodybuilding, slang) Large and well-developed muscles in the upper arm.


anecdata

anecdata pl (normally plural, singular anecdatum)

Blend of anecdotal + data; also compare this to the plural of anecdote is not data, upon which this term likely plays.
Equally, analysable as a blend of anecdote + data.

A handful of stores, just one mall, not what you'd call a statistically significant sample. In fact, the most recent government report was that retail sales rose in January, which just goes to show why the journalist's approach to reality, what you might call "anecdata," may be the flimsiest form of forecasting.

1992 March 6, “Guessing Game [show #4285]”, in The MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour, Paul Solman (actor):

Anecodotal evidence strongly suggests that this is just the high profile expression of a much larger problem of misogynistic violence. / Ah, yes. Anecdata. Fortunately, real honest studies which are peer-reviewed and critiqued suggest otherwise.

1997 October 2, Chris Doherty, “Re: Take Back the Night 1997”, in uw.general (Usenet), message-ID <EHFr1r.CpH@undergrad.math.uwaterloo.ca>:

That is one of those stories that I call “anecdata”—these horror stories over which we try to construct theories about how something is or is not working in IP law and policy.

2003, Justin Hughes, “Legal Pressures in Intellectual Property Law”, in Julie M. Esanu, Paul F. Uhlir, editors, The Role of Scientific and Technical Data in the Public Domain: Proceedings of a Symposium, Washington, D.C.: National Academies Press, →ISBN, page 97:

I have read interviews with people (yeah, I know, anecdata) who have said that they wanted an apology for a mistake being made and ended up going to court over it. And invariably winning.

2005 July 18, Lindsay Endell, “Re: Roy Meadow”, in uk.misc (Usenet), message-ID <dbfuq1$29gg$1@godfrey.mcc.ac.uk>:

Metcalfe notes the same general pattern, though he gives no anecdata to support his contention.

2017, Kory Stamper, Word By Word, Vintage, published 2018, →ISBN, page 213:

(usually humorous or derogatory) Anecdotal evidence.


Greek numerals

Greek numerals pl (normally plural, singular Greek numeral)

A system of numerals represented by letters of the Greek alphabet. These are used for special purposes, where in English Roman numerals might be used. The numerals are formed by the addition of a mark to the upper or lower case letter, i.e. Γ΄, δ΄, θ΄. In addition to the usual Greek letters three additional symbols are used: stigma (ϛ), koppa (ϟ) and sampi (ϡ); stigma (Ϛ or ϛ) may also be represented by ΣΤ΄ or στ΄.


pigs in a blanket

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-pigs in a blanket.wav

(chiefly US) a dish of ground pork and/or beef cooked in cabbages

a dish of sausage or hot dog wrapped in dough or bacon and baked.


kegs

(Northern England) Clothes worn next to the skin, underneath outer clothing. Underwear.

(Northern England) A bit of clothing that covers the part of the body between the waist and the ankles or knees, and is dealt into a separate bit for each leg.


earnings

(finance) Gains on investments; returns.


dogs

Time to let the dogs out to play. (While taking off shoes.)


Proverbs

head

(the) Proverbs pl or sg (singular Proverb)

The Proverbs are an excellent springboard for broad-ranging Bible study. If you study Solomon’s pearls of wisdom, you will find the Spirit of God leading you (by chain references or quiet remembrance) all over the Old and New Testaments for confirming, clarifying examples.

2005, Greg Hinnant, “May I Recommend the Proverbs?”, in Precious Pearls from the Proverbs, Creation House, →ISBN, page 6:

Erman’s remark (1924) that a decent wisdom book was destroyed when it was absorbed into the book of Proverbs coheres well with the scholarly consensus that Proverbs is a clumsy accretion of ill-digested material.

2008, Peter T.H. Hatton, “Unity and Diversity in Proverbs”, in Contradiction in the Book of Proverbs: The Deep Waters of Counsel (Society for Old Testament Study Series), Ashgate Publishing, →ISBN, page 47:

A book of the Old Testament of Bible, and of the Tanakh, being a collection of moral maxims.


viscera

From Latin viscera (“internal organs; bowels”).

bor

Collectively, the internal organs of the body, especially those contained within the abdominal and thoracic cavities, such as the liver, heart, or stomach.


entrails

From Middle English entraille, entrailles, from Old French entrailles, from Vulgar Latin intrālia, from Latin interānea, from interāneus, from inter. Compare Spanish entraña.

Elizabethan audiences relished shocks and surprises as much as they did trumpets, thunder and savage realism in bloody scenes of torture and death which were made all the more horrible by the use of animals’ entrails.

1987, Christopher Hibbert, The English: A Social History, 1066-1945, →ISBN, page 244:

The internal organs of an animal, especially the intestines. [from 14th c.]