calisthenics

From Ancient Greek κάλλος (kállos, “beauty”) + σθένος (sthénos, “strength”) + -ics.

(in the plural) Physical exercises with the participation of a multitude of muscles and often minimal equipment (thus, usually bodyweight exercises); strength training aspects and cardio aspects are both involved, and stamina is often a focus.

cal·listènia

in the plural: physical exercises under the participation of a multitude of muscles and often minimal equipment (thus, usually bodyweight exercises) with a stress on stamina


shants

convertible pants
convertible pants#English


Morocco agencies

(philately, historical) The British post offices in Morocco; used as an overprint on British stamps.


backstairs

Here I diſcovered the ſecret Cauſes of many great Events that have ſurprized the World, how a Whore can govern the Back-ſtairs, the Back-ſtairs a Council, and the Council a Senate.

1726 October 28, [Jonathan Swift], “A Further Account of Glubbdubdrib. […]”, in Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World. […] [Gulliver’s Travels], volume II, London: […] Benj[amin] Motte, […], →OCLC, part III (A Voyage to Laputa, Balnibarbi, Glubbdubdribb, Luggnagg, and Japan), page 111:

1905, Ernest William Hornung, “The Spoils of Sacrilege” in A Thief in the Night,
Other feet were already in the lower flight of the backstairs; but the upper flight was the one for me, and in an instant we were racing along the upper corridor […]

A staircase at the rear of a building or one normally only used by servants and tradesmen.


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

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


It was cocaine. I snorted Blow a couple of times. It was the perfect 80s drug after all.

2014, Laura Di Battista, If It Bleeds It leads, page 125:


The decade beginning in '90 and ending in '99 of a century.

the decade of the 1990s — see also nineties


Tens, written as a number but in plural form.


Darkinjung

No. 4 represents the country occupied by the tribes speaking the Darkinung, Wannerawa, Warrimee, Wannungine, Dharrook and some other dialects.

1898, R. H. Mathews, “Initiation in Australian Tribes”, in Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society Held at Philadelphia for Promoting Useful Knowledge, volume 37:

The Darkiñung speaking people adjoined the Kamilaroi on the south-east and occupied a considerable range of country in the counties of Hunter, Northumberland and Cook, extending from Wilberforce and Wiseman’s Ferry on the Hawkesbury river, to Jerry’s Plains and Singleton on the Hunter, and including the basins of the Colo and Macdonald rivers, Wollombi Brook and other streams.

1903, R. H. Mathews, “Languages of the Kamilaroi and other Aboriginal tribes of New South Wales”, in The Journal of the Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland, volume 33:

Aboriginal languages spoken in the settled areas of the Cumberland Plain, which lies to the east of the Blue Mountains in the immediate vicinity of Syndey, included speakers of Dharuk, Iyora, Guringgai, Dharawal, Gundungura, Darkinyung and Awabakal.

1996, Atlas of Languages of Intercultural Communication in the Pacific, Asia, and the Americas:

Four languages are recognised as being spoken across the study area at contact: Darginyung, Guringai, Dharuk and Dharawal.

Old materials on O1, Dharuk, give 1du as ŋala or ŋalu and there is no explanation for the final vowel (note, though, that ŋali is found in the closely related language O2, Darkinjung).

2002, R. M. W. Dixon, Australian Languages: Their Nature and Development:

(linguistics) The extinct language of the people of that region.


ups and downs

[...] speed barely exceeded 30 m.p.h. until well beyond Kelty and from the front end the ups-and-downs of the track occasioned by pitfalls are very noticeable.

1960 August, Cecil J. Allen, “Locomotive Running Past and Present”, in Trains Illustrated, page 463:


prayer beads

A string of beads used by members of various religions to count prayers, chants or devotions.


the whole world and his dog

en-noun

the whole world and his dog pl (plural only)

I'd love to go to the Harry Potter opening, but the whole world and his dog will be there and I don't like crowds

(British, idiomatic) Everybody; too many people; a huge crowd.


strides

2004, Marion Houldsworth, Red Dust Rising: The Story of Ray Fryer of Urapunga, Central Queensland University Press, 2011, Boolarong Press, page 97,
So he gave him one boot. I said, ‘One boot′s no bloody good! Give him two boot[s]!’ So he chucks over another boot, and a pair of strides.

He went upstairs and changed into a fresh pair of strides, nipped into the bathroom and gave his hands and face a quick rinse and threw on a clean pullover.

2006, Smiley Brymer, The Universal Naked Linesman, AuthorHouse, page 173:

His mother used to have to buy two pair of strides for him, cut the legs off one and sew them onto the other.

2007, Antony Agar, Queensland Ringer, page 211:

I thought of Des and May′s daughters, then of Gleaves, and resolved to borrow a pair of strides from Cliff, to keep the tie-wearing penile-challenged toss-bag oaf ma case.

1994, Irvine Welsh, The Acid House, published 2008, unnumbered page:


Canadiana

2007, Derick Chetty, "Made ... in Canada, eh!," Toronto Star, 30 Jun. (retrieved 25 Spe. 2008),
Some of the pieces wink slyly at traditional elements of Canadiana. Like up-and-coming designer Stephen Lindsay's coat hanger: two hockey sticks fused together.

(chiefly Canada) Things, ideas, or activities distinctive of Canada or Canadians, especially works of literature and other cultural products.


industrial arts

The practical arts, such as engineering, metalworking or carpentry.


Wiradjuri

Mr. Günther’s and Mr. Watson’s treat of the same language, the Wīrādhurri, or, as some aborigines pronounce it, Wīrāgĕrĕ, a language spoken over a wide extent of country, from the Upper Namoi, the Castlereagh and Liverpool Plains in the north and east, to the Bawun or Darling west, and the Lachlan in the south. [...] I suppose this “Northerumberland dialect” was not spoken over more than one-fiftieth of the extent of country over which Wiradhuri or Kamilaroi is known.

1873, William Ridley, “Australian Languages and Traditions”, in The Journal of the Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland, volume 2:

The Wirradhuri dialect, or as I call it, the Wirádhari, covers the whole heart of N. S. Wales; [...]

1892, John Fraser, An Australian Language:

The native tribes speaking the Wiradyuri language occupy an immense region in the central and southern portions of New South Wales.

1904, R. H. Mathews, “The Wiradyuri and other languages of New South Wales”, in The Journal of the Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland, volume 34:

We can recognise Wiradhurri and Ngiyambaa as constituting a branch within the subgroup, [...]

The Pama-Nyungan Australian Aboriginal suffixing language spoken by the Wiradjuri.


auspices

The project took place under the auspices of the local church.

"You are of the old school, Sir Robert, I know; but, still, even you must allow that a fancy fair does good—many a sinking charity has been revived under its auspices, many a principle of care for our humble classes been implanted in the young heart, and—"

1842, [anonymous collaborator of Letitia Elizabeth Landon], chapter XXXVII, in Lady Anne Granard; or, Keeping up Appearances. […], volume II, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, page 169:

Lynch added: "Our findings from our FOI requests on ticket office closures shows the whole process to be a stitch-up between the train operators, under the auspices of the Rail Delivery Group[,] and ministers.

2023 October 18, Mel Holley, “Network News: Harper attacks Labour over strikes... but unions hit back”, in RAIL, number 994, page 18:


donkey's years

1876 or earlier. Possibly chosen because donkeys can be long-lived animals. Despite the similarity, pre-dates and likely not directly related to donkey's ears, a less frequently used rhyming slang term for years.

Didn't you ask him how long it had been in his possession?
I can't recollect that. I might have done so.
Didn't he say for years and years and donkey's years?

With a heavy make-up, you’ll be the cutest vamp I’ve seen in donkey’s years.

(UK, Ireland, Commonwealth, idiomatic) A long time, years and years.


cold cuts

cold cuts pl (normally plural, singular cold cut)

Cooked, sliced meat served cold, as in a sandwich or a tray of finger food.


dangerous goods

The Rail Accident Investigation Branch has issued urgent safety advice on maintenance arrangements for wagons which primarily carry dangerous goods, following the derailment of an oil train near Llangennech in South Wales on August 26.

2020 November 18, Andrew Roden, “Network News: RAIB issues urgent advice for dangerous goods wagons”, in Rail, page 26:

Substances, natural or man-made, which are intrinsically dangerous or otherwise pose a safety hazard. Examples include explosives, poisons, and corrosives.

危險物品

substances that are intrinsically dangerous


Datiwuy

An aboriginal people from Arnhem Land, Australia.


Duwal

A group of aboriginal peoples of Northern Territory, Australia.


Cubs

Abbreviation of "Cub Scouts" or "Chicago Cubs".


Blair's babes

Members of Parliament
Member of Parliament

(British, colloquial) The large number of female Labour Members of Parliament elected at the general election of 1997 in the UK.


Turan

From Classical Persian توران (tūrān), originally meaning "the Land of Tur".

Light was happiness; and the people of Iran, the land of light, were the favourites of heaven; while those of Turan, the gloomy region beyond the mountains to the north, were its enemies.

1828, Thomas Keightley, The Fairy Mythology, volume I, London: William Harrison Ainsworth, page 25:

(historical) A region of Central Asia, originally populated by Iranian Central Asian nomads; later, Iranians came to identify Turkic neighbours as Turanians.


RL

RL (countable and uncountable, plural RLs)

(plural only) Initialism of royal letters.


bravest

New York's bravest


crostini

From Italian crostini (“little crusts”).

starters of savoury toppings on toasted or fried bread


Chenoua

The indigenous peoples living in and around Mt. Cheoua.


Chenoua

A Berber language spoken around Mt. Chenoua in Tipasa, Algeria.


Badaga

A Dravidian language spoken primarily in the Nilgri Hills of southern India.


Dolgan

A Turkic people, who inhabit the Taymyria region in the Krasnoyarsk Krai (Красноя́рский край) in Russia.


Pandavas

Derived from Pandu, the mytho-historical figure represented as the father of the members of this group.

A mytho-historical group of archetypes of perfection, the five acknowledged sons of Pandu, according to the Indian epic Mahabharata.


inwards

en-adv

inwards (comparative more inwards, superlative most inwards)

more inwards (comparative)
most inwards (superlative)

As well as their obvious novelty value, the Class 313s offered fast acceleration, those power-operated sliding doors, non-opening passenger windows, closed ventilators to prevent any body part, head or limbs reaching out, drivers' and guards' doors opening inwards, and end doors for emergency exit.

2023 February 22, Howard Johnston, “Southern '313s': is the end now in sight?”, in RAIL, number 977, page 42:


hot coppers

[…] gets drunk, he wakes up in the morning with a bad headache or with what, in the colonies, are called "hot coppers."

1892, Harold Brodrick, The Son of Man, volume 2, page 40:

The drunkard’s mouth a-wash for something drinkable,
The drunkard’s eye alert for casual toppers,
The drunkard’s neck stooped to a lot scarce thinkable,
A living, crawling blazoning of Hot-Coppers […]

In those days the doctor was often half-seas over when he attended his drunken patient; the parson was often drunk in the pulpit; judge, counsel and attorneys pursued their avocation in court in a prevailing atmosphere of hot coppers.

1913, Wine and Spirit News and Australian Vigneron, volume 24, page 206:


scants

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


boxers

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

Across the street was the well-adorned window of an underwear store. In amongst the displays of briefs, boxers and boxer-briefs, Forrest detected a square-jawed man staring straight back at him.

2011, Damon Norko, The Delilah Factor, page 157:

But right now I'm waiting at the bus stop, waiting to go to work, bundled in two jackets and a coat, briefs under boxers under sweat pants under jeans.

2015, Max Reagan, Thoughts of Ink, page 46:


boxer shorts

en-noun

boxer shorts pl (plural only, attributive boxer-short or boxer short)

boxer-short (attributive)
boxer short (attributive)

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

Named after the shorts worn by those who engage in boxing, as their elasticity is comparable to that of what boxers must wear for unhindered leg movement (footwork).

The average man's wardrobe holds eight pairs of boxer shorts or briefs; the average woman's, twice as many undies.

1985 April 29, New York Magazine, page 28:

Bosun grabbed the car key on the bookshelf in his bedroom and ran to the door, only to realize at the door that he should not go to the state police headquarters in boxer shorts, socks, and this white V-neck shirt.

2020, Feyisayo Anjorin, One Week in the Life of a Hypocrite, page 59:


iron filings

small fragments of iron, filed from a bar; used to visualize the presence of a magnetic field, and as a food additive


ching

A pair of small bowl-shaped finger cymbals made of thick and heavy bronze, used in the music of Thailand and Cambodia.


briefs

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

I fetched my briefs, pulled them on, and we left the changing room.

2012, Luis Algorri, You’ll Hear From Me: A Gay Story about Passion and Love:


ditalini

From Italian ditalini, a diminutive of ditale (“thimble”).


crespelle

Borrowed from Italian crespelle, plural of crespella.

(plural only) Small, folded pancakes, with a savoury (or sweet) filling, sometimes served with a sauce.


lumache

a type of pasta shaped like snail shells


Osci

From Latin Osci, worshippers of Ops (“earth goddess, fertility deity”), from ops (“plenty”). Known by the Greeks as Ὀπικοί (Opikoí), Ὀσκοί (Oskoí).

An ancient Italic people from Campania in Italy.


manicotti

From Italian manicotti (“muffs”), plural of manicotto (“muff”), from manica (“sleeve”) + -etto (“meliorative suffix”).

Wide tubes of pasta filled with a savoury stuffing and baked in the oven.


penne rigate

A form of penne with a ribbed surface (to hold the sauce better).


orecchiette

Borrowed from Italian orecchiette (literally “little ears”).

bor

A type of pasta, made with the thumb from a small disk, typically from Puglia.


Kaurna

The once extinct language spoken by the Kaurna people.


cannelloni

en-noun

cannelloni pl (normally plural, singular cannellone)

From Italian cannelloni, from Latin canna (“reed”).


rigatoni

rigatoni (usually uncountable, plural rigatonis)

rigatoni pl (normally plural, singular rigatone)

rigatoni (canonical)
rigatoni (canonical plural)
rigatonis (plural)
rigatone (singular)

/ɹɪɡəˈtoʊni/

From Italian rigatoni, literally an augmented form of rigato (“striped”).

I think some of my rigatoni are still alive. I don’t like to eat them till they’re dead.

1992, Dean R[ay] Koontz, Hideaway, New York, N.Y.: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, →ISBN, page 316:

We had spoken briefly before dinner, just as Willy’s Christmas rigatoni were seeping up the stew sauce.

1993, Camilla T. Crespi [pseudonym; Camilla Trinchieri], chapter 16, in The Trouble with Thin Ice, New York, N.Y.: HarperCollins, →ISBN, page 127:

The large rigatoni are perfect for sopping up the creamy sauce.

2016 July 28 – August 3, Lauren Mifsud, “Chicken riggies”, in The Hippo, volume 15, number 30, Manchester, N.H.: Hippo Press, page 47, column 2:

A ribbed tubular form of pasta, larger than penne but with square-cut ends, often slightly curved.


tortelloni

From Italian tortelloni, plural of tortellone.


trottole

A type of pasta in a shape supposed to resemble spinning tops.


trenette

Unadapted borrowing from Italian trenette.

ubor

A form of pasta from Liguria, similar to narrow, thick tagliatelle.


pappardelle

/ˌpæpɑːˈdɛleɪ/

/ˌpæpɑɹˈdɛleɪ/

Borrowed from Italian pappardelle, plural of pappardella, from pappare (“to gobble up, tuck into (food)”).

Place the pappardelle (the strips of paste) on a hot dish, grate a little Parmesan cheese over them, add the hare condiment, and serve hot.

1899, Janet Ross, “Pappardelle with Hare”, in Leaves from Our Tuscan Kitchen or How to Cook Vegetables, London: J[oseph] M[alaby] Dent and Co., 29 & 30 Bedford Street, W.C., →OCLC, page 66:

In season one can enjoy spitted and skewered versions of such appetizing game as Larks (Allodoline), Thrushes (Tordi), Pheasant (Fagiano), and Partridges (Pernice), or the popular wide noodles with game or hare sauce known as Pappardelle.

[1957], Richard Hammond, George Martin, Eating in Italy: A Pocket Guide to Italian Food and Restaurants, New York, N.Y.: Scribner, →OCLC, page 83, column 1:

For the table a big platter of artichoke alla giudia, prosciutto with melon, and eggplant with ricotta affumicata. Then spaghetti alla carbonara, pappardelle with ragu of rabbit, and linguini with clams.

2010 August 13, Ryan Murphy, Jennifer Salt, 44:36 from the start, in Eat Pray Love:

A broad form of fettuccine, or a narrow form of lasagne, traditionally eaten with a meat sauce (especially one made with hare).


fresh legs

The tired France were unable to break down the German defence, so they brought on some fresh legs.

Arsenal had the ideal fresh legs for extra time in Theo Walcott, and though he was sent on after 10 minutes he was uninvolved in the winning goal.

18 April 2015, Paul Wilson, “Alexis Sánchez sends Arsenal into final after gallant Reading go the distance”, in The Guardian:

But they survived some real pressure as David Murphy flashed a header inches wide of Rob Green's right-hand post and then struck the killer blow on the night - and, they hope, the tie - after introducing the fresh legs of Cole and Zavon Hines.

2011 January 11, Jonathan Stevenson, “West Ham 2 - 1 Birmingham”, in BBC:

(sports, idiomatic) A substitute who has yet to play in the match, and therefore has more energy than those already on the field.


braies

From French braies, from Old French braies, plural of braie, from Latin braca.

Braccae, breeches; an undergarment worn in medieval Europe.


tools of ignorance

Jones straps on the tools of ignorance.


four fingers

Four fingers are up for Jones because the weak-hitting Smith will follow.

(baseball) The sign made by the manager directing the pitcher to issue an intentional walk.


spikes

A pair of athletic shoes equipped with spikes on the sole and heel for better traction.

piikkitossut

A pair of shoes equipped with spikes on the sole


small hours

From the small number used to identify such hours (e.g. 1 o'clock, 2 o'clock).

Cologne Hauptbahnhof is reached in the small hours, and the traveller new to postwar Germany is spared the sight of the devastated city.

1949 September and October, “The "Nord Express"”, in Railway Magazine, page 336:

Then follows a quiet period during the small hours, marked by the departure of the other newspaper trains and some van trains, and by the arrival of the mail train from Weymouth.

1962 April, J. N. Faulkner, “Summer Saturday at Waterloo”, in Modern Railways, page 265:

...the writer conjured up a dystopian fantasy more berserk than anything you might find yourself listening to in the small hours at the Stone Circle.

2017 June 26, Alexis Petridis, “Glastonbury 2017 verdict: Radiohead, Foo Fighters, Lorde, Stormzy and more”, in the Guardian:

The very early morning, just after midnight, when most people are asleep.


Azzurri

(rugby union) the Italy national rugby union team


hold-ups

Yet the conventions of cheating possess an odd kind of romance, of the love affair perpetually stalled in its first stages, when no one on the platform at Paddington knows you're only wearing hold-ups under your mac and you can briefly return to the drama of being the woman you thought had died of boredom somewhere on the thousand-and-eleventh trip to Waitrose.

2007 July 8, Lisa Hilton, “I cheated...”, in The Observer:

(UK, colloquial) Women's stockings designed to be worn without suspenders.


nightclothes

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

The disturbance brought out many of the neighbors in their nightclothes.

Clothing worn while sleeping in bed, such as pyjamas or a nightgown, and, when worn over nightclothes, a robe.


dickies

His hair was liftin with dickies

(Geordie, derogatory) Head lice or nits.


stakes

These are the stakes: to make a world in which all of God's children can live or to go into the dark. We must either love each other, or we must die.
Vote for President Johnson on November 3rd. The stakes are too high for you to stay home.

1964 September 7, Lyndon B. Johnson, 0:43 from the start, in "Daisy" Ad (1964): Preserved from 35mm in the Tony Schwartz Collection, National Archives and Records Administration, archived from the original on 2018-05-05:

Holloway has unfinished business in the Premier League after relegation last year and he will make a swift return if he can overcome West Ham a week on Saturday. Sam Allardyce, the West Ham manager, will be acutely aware that when the stakes are high, Blackpool are simply formidable.

2012 May 9, John Percy, “Birmingham City 2 Blackpool 2 (2-3 on agg): match report”, in the Telegraph:

I have reviewed the exhibits submitted in this case. I also have carefully considered the arguments proffered by the parties. I take my role in this proceeding extremely seriously, given both the stakes and the novel constitutional questions at issue. For the reasons that follow, I conclude that Mr. Trump's primary petition is invalid.

2023 December 28, Shenna Bellows, “Ruling of the Secretary of State”, in State of Maine Secretary of State, archived from the original on 2023-12-29, pages 5-6:


Yindjibarndi

A Pama-Nyungan Australian Aboriginal language spoken in and around Roebourne and Onslow in the Pilbara region of Western Australia.


devil sticks

en-noun

devil sticks pl (normally plural, singular devil stick)

A juggling prop consisting of two hand or control sticks (dowels) and a third larger, hourglass-shaped stick (baton or center stick).


split cameras

(military) An assembly of two cameras disposed at a fixed overlapping angle relative to each other.


nine lives

He was badly hurt many times but seems to have nine lives.

(especially of a cat) Durability; near immunity to damage; remarkable ability to survive.


Highlands

Specific application of highlands, equivalent to high + lands.

The mountainous northern area of Scotland.


Erie

From an Erie word rendered in French as Erieehronon, Eriechronon, and Riquéronon and said to mean “long tail” or “long-tailed”, in reference to the eastern cougar (Puma concolor cougar).

A small city, the county seat of Neosho County, Kansas, United States.


black babies

Jim met his wife when she was collecting for the black babies.

(Ireland, UK, idiomatic, potentially offensive) Third-world charities, the missions.


vital signs

Read between the lines / What's fucked up, and everything's alright / Check my vital signs / To know I'm still alive, and I walk alone

2004, Billie Joe Armstrong, Mike Dirnt, Tré Cool, “Boulevard of Broken Dreams”, in American Idiot, performed by Green Day:

(medicine) A set of measurements of a patient's condition taken regularly to assess the state of bodily functions: CSM, skin signs, lung sounds, temperature, pulse, blood pressure, and respiration.


numbles

From Middle French nombles (“loin of meat”), alteration (with dissimilation) of Old French and Anglo-Norman lumbles (“loins”), from Latin lumbulus, diminutive of lumbus (“loin”).

In the kitchens the famous cooks were preparing menus which included, for one course alone: ballock broth, caudle ferry, lampreys en gelatine, oysters in civey, eels in sorré, baked trout, brawn in mustard, numbles of a hart, pigs farsed [...].

(archaic) The entrails of a deer or other animal, used for food.


affreux

As one Belgian journalist wrote: The affreux ["frightful ones"] are outstanding in combat.

1972, Jean-Claude Willame, Patrimonialism and Political Change in the Congo, →ISBN, page 74:

I could no longer find anything affected in that long smooth white face but an extreme kindness and a sort of obstinate candour; Vian was as Herv in his detestation of the affreux [the frightful ones] as in loving what he loved.

1998, John Sturrock, The Word from Paris: Essays on Modern French Thinkers and Writers, →ISBN:

These were mostly, but not exclusively, members of the Baluba tribe and had fled the persecution of Munongo's mercenary affreux and their black rank-and-file.

2003, Máire O'Brien, The same age as the state, page 249:

It takes a rather wilful ignorance to refuse to recognize the essential difference between, say, the affreux of mid-twentieth-century Africa and the Royal Gurkha Rifles, though both could loosely be described as mercenaries.

2010, Martin Windrow, Our Friends Beneath the Sands, →ISBN:

He had once been one of the dreaded affreux, the “frightful ones,” the white freelance soldiers who helped keep dictators in power throughout Africa and Asia.

2014, Joseph Finder, The Zero Hour, →ISBN:

France's return to Comoros was, above all, conspicuous through the actions of the mercenary leader Bob Denard and his team of affreux ('dreadful').

2015, Tor Sellström, Africa in the Indian Ocean: Islands in Ebb and Flow, →ISBN, page 169:

A group of particularly brutal mercenaries who were active in Africa and Asia during the 1960s.


needlenose pliers

A variety of pliers with long, narrow extensions of the gripping faces, used to reach into narrow spaces.

尖嘴鉗

a variety of pliers with long, narrow extensions


Comcáac

en-adj

Comcáac (comparative more Comcáac, superlative most Comcáac)

more Comcáac (comparative)
most Comcáac (superlative)

From Seri comcaac, plural of cmiique "person; Seri".


Comcáac

The Comcáac or “Seri,” as they are commonly called in Mexico, number fewer than 600 individuals residing in two permanent villages and several temporary fishing camps on the Sea of Cortez coast of Sonora, Mexico near Tiburón Island, which is also part of their aboriginal territory.

2000, Gary Nabhan, Interspecies relationships affecting endangered species recognized by O’odham and Comcáac cultures, in Ecological Applications, Vol. 10, No. 5

2003, Gary Nabhan, Singing the Turtles to Sea: The Comcáac (Seri) Art and Science of Reptiles
Although they do not embrace an agricultural tradition per se, the Comcáac have likely been moving plants around for many decades.

The Seris, an indigenous group of Sonora, Mexico.


old folks

We're hoping to see all our old folks at the wedding reception.

Let's plan a block party that's just as fun for the old folks as the younger folks.

(informal) The old people of a particular place or social situation.

Some old folks prefer the amenities of 55+ communities, while others prefer a cabin in the woods.

see also Thesaurus:old person § Holonyms


beestings

From Old English bȳsting, derived from bēost, from Proto-West Germanic *beust.

He took a jug of ‘beestings’ milk from the press, the milk of a cow that has recently calved, and drank it down in six big gulps.

2002, Joseph O'Connor, Star of the Sea, Vintage, published 2003, page 54:

The first milk drawn from an animal (especially a cow) after it has given birth.


public works

Technical projects, often construction or engineering, carried out by the government on behalf of the community.


jellied eels

A dish of eels, cooked and then allowed to cool in their own juices.


kreplach

From Yiddish קרעפּלאַך (kreplakh), a regional plural form of קרעפּל (krepl, “meat dumpling”).

(plural only) Small dumplings of Eastern European origin, filled with meat or cheese and served usually in soup.


Forteana

A monthly “Journal of Strange Phenomena”, founded in 1973 as a primary forum for news, discussion, links and archives to core and fringe forteana.

2000, Bob Rickard, John Michell, Unexplained Phenomena: A Rough Guide Special, →ISBN, page 367:

Fortean (supernatural or anomalous) phenomena.


letters close

(law, plural only) A sealed legal document, once issued by a monarch or government, granting a right, title etc to a person or corporation.


kicks-and-giggles

Amusement without any serious purpose; fun.


apologies

/əˈpɒləd͡ʒiːz/

/əˈpɑləd͡ʒiːz/

A list of people unable to attend a meeting, typically presented as the first item on the agenda.


Maragoli

A subdivision of the Luhya tribe. The Maragoli speak Luragooli, a language belonging to the Luhya group and very similar to Luganda, Kikuyu, Gishu and several languages in Eastern, Central and Southern Africa.


Makonde

From Chimakonde or Makonde, the Makonde name of the language.

A people of southeast Tanzania and northern Mozambique.


Makonde

The Bantu language spoken by the Makonde.


jockeys

Standing in the cavernous barracks clad only in my jockeys, shivering next to other miserable schlubs and being handled like a piece of beef with "mad cow" disease did nothing to improve my mood.

2004, Dan Peek, An American Band, page 131:

"Are you for real? I’d think with those green eyes you'd be peeling the chicks off your jockeys before they peeled your jockeys off you!"

2010, Angelo J. Lagana III, Me Island, page 368:


products of conception

(medicine) The human fetus, placenta and other such by-products of a miscarriage or abortion.


caliper

(often plural only) Alternative form of calipers


calipers

"Good, good for there," he mumbled, and then with a certain eagerness asked me whether I would let him measure my head. Rather surprised, I said Yes, when he produced a thing like calipers and got the dimensions back and front and every way, taking notes carefully.

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:

A device used to measure dimensions, especially for small or precise measurements.


Amanab

Papua New Guinea
Papua New Guinea#English

A district of Sandaun, Papua New Guinea.


nylons

She sheathed her legs in the sheerest of the nylons that her father had brought back from the Continent, and slipped her feet into the toeless, high-heeled shoes of black suède.

1954, Alexander Alderson, chapter 17, in The Subtle Minotaur:


metazoa

(zoology) The multicellular eukaryotes of the kingdom Metazoa considered collectively.


brown goods

From their colour. Consumer electronics equipment formerly had a brown wooden veneer.

In the U.S., there has been a gradual shift from “brown goods” (darker colored drinks, such as whiskey and brandy) to “white goods” (lighter colored drinks, such as gin and vodka).

2012, Dwight B. Heath, “To every thing there is a season: When do people drink?”, in Drinking Occasions: Comparative Perspectives on Alcohol and Culture, Routledge, →ISBN, page 35:

(beverage industry) spirits which are brown in colour, such as whiskey


white goods

Domestic textiles, such as tablecloths, bedding, towels, etc. that were traditionally white in color.

At one time major appliances (white goods), washer, dryer, and refrigerator stores would last more than 20 years.

2005, Donald F. Blumberg, Introduction to Management of Reverse Logistics and Closed Loop Supply Chain Processes, page 121:

Fridges contain gases that can cause serious environmental damage and are among the most toxic white goods if not disposed of correctly, along with freezers and air conditioning units.

2019 August 6, Stephen Burgen, “Man caught fly-tipping fridge in ravine fined and made to drag it back”, in The Guardian:

The large household appliances such as refrigerators, stoves, washing machines and driers as a group.

2012, Dwight B. Heath, Drinking Occasions: Comparative Perspectives on Alcohol and Culture, Routledge, →ISBN, page 35:

(beverage industry) Colorless spirits, such as gin and vodka.


Amalek

Via Late Latin Amālēc or Koine Greek Ἀμᾱλήκ (Amālḗk) from Biblical Hebrew עֲמָלֵק (ʾĂmālēq).

The nation said to be descended from him, living mostly in the Negev and some later migrating to Israel.


ejecta

Distal ejecta are, by definition, those ejecta that occur at considerable distances from the source crater (>5 crater radii from the crater rim; see, e.g., Melosh 1989). They either consist of (usually fine-grained) rock and mineral fragments or are of glassy consistency.

2006, Alessandro Montanari, Christian Koeberl, Impact Stratigraphy: The Italian Record, Springer, →ISBN, page 57:

(geology) Material which has been ejected, especially from a volcano or an impact crater.

噴出物

material which has been ejected, especially from a volcano


mirabilia

Unadapted borrowing from Latin mīrābilia. Doublet of marvel.

ubor

Wonderful or extraordinary things; marvels.


HE-double-hockey-sticks

en-noun

HE-double-hockey-sticks pl (plural only)

"Hell" spelled out, referring to the fact that capital "L" looks like a hockey stick.

His voice rose about an octave, actually just short of a scream, and he said something to the effect that "it's an HE-double-hockey-sticks-week at work."

2002, Eric G. Stephan, R. Wayne Pace, Powerful Leadership: How to Unleash the Potential in Others and Simplify Your Own Life:

He's made the mother's life a living HE-double-hockey-sticks, my daughter says.

2003, Susan Neville, Iconography: A Writer's Meditation:

She knew Kate didn't have a snowball's chance in HE-Double hockey-sticks, with Angelina's Zee-Zee and Bud's Mister Dobson winning everything.

2005, Mike Joens, Blood Reins: A Detective Sandra Cameron Mystery:


Gabi-Gabi

Australian Aboriginal
Australian Aboriginal

An Australian Aboriginal people of southwest Queensland.


thanx

X is pronounced /ks/ in English. thanks + -x.

What can I say? THANX It was wild!

1982 December 25, “Jack In Berserkely (personal advertisement)”, in Gay Community News, volume 10, number 23, page 14:

(slang, intentional) Alternative spelling of thanks


thanx

Please accept my thanx and gratitude as a small token of appreciation.

1995, Tupac Shakur, letter to Lori; published in Molly Monjauze, Gloria Cox, Staci Robinson, editors, Tupac Remembered: Bearing Witness to a Life and Legacy, San Francisco, Calif.: Chronicle Books, 2008, →ISBN:

I, Stephen Repace, leave my thanx to all the teachers who helped me get through high school in a fun and exciting manner, without you I’d be lost.

2002 June 5, “Senior Wills”, in The News-Ledger, 38th year, number 42, West Sacramento, Calif., →OCLC:

My thanx also to contributors and research participants whose pieces were unable to be included, only because of word limits: […]

2005, Maria Pallotta-Chiarolli, “Acknowledgements”, in When Our Children Come Out: How to Support Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgendered Young People, Sydney, N.S.W.: Finch Publishing, →ISBN, page 231:

Since I’ll be walking over hill and dale etc I won’t get a chance to write so please drop a note to H & V, Cindy E. and Joan expressing my thanx for their BD greetings and why I can’t write now—have much to do and little time.

2008, Evelyn Sweet-Hurd, His Name Was Donn: My Brother’s Letters from Vietnam, Denver, Colo.: Outskirts Press, Inc., →ISBN, page 213:


embers

Looking beyond the embers of bridges glowing behind us / To a glimpse of how green it was on the other side

1994, Polly Samson, David Gilmour (lyrics and music), “High Hopes”, in The Division Bell, performed by Pink Floyd:

The smoldering or glowing remains of a fire, smoldering ash.

prush

the smoldering or glowing remains of a fire, smoldering ash


Paakantyi

An aboriginal people of New South Wales.


publands

Sense 1: short for public lands.
Sense 2: pub + lands.

warn the young — / keep from the publands in the port / or into sewerage you'll be flung.

Part love story, part thriller, and set in the publands of London's Earls Court, […]

1985, Roger Omond, The Apartheid Handbook:

[…] publands of Earls Court , Hangover Square's protagonist , semi - alcoholic George Harvey Bone ,

2007, John Harding, Patrick Hamilton: His Life and Work : a Critical Study, page 46:


long purples

There with fantastic garlands did she come / Of crowflowers, nettles, daisies, and long purples, / That liberal shepherds give a grosser name, / But our cold maids do dead men's fingers call them.

c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, (please specify the act number in uppercase Roman numerals, and the scene number in lowercase Roman numerals):

The early-purple orchid, Orchis mascula.


thunder thighs

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

From the idea of a heavy person making thunderous noise while walking.

How much art and science would it take to sculpt her formless putty into a classically chiseled profile, to raise her pendulous breasts, thin her thunder thighs, flatten her wattled stomach, remake her into the image that men called beautiful?

2014, Olivia Goldsmith, Flavor of the Month, Diversion Publishing Corp., →ISBN:

The bulging biceps were exposed and his thunder thighs showed through his fitted black slacks; it made me want to touch him all over to see if he was real.

2015, Mary B. Morrison, If I Can't Have You, Kensington Books, →ISBN:

(often derogatory) Fat thighs or thighs of great cellulite or stretch marks.


five w's

The questions who, what, when, where and why, useful in gathering information and solving problems.


dramatis personae

dramatis personae pl (normally plural, singular dramatis persona)

From Latin dramatis personae (literally “characters of the play”).

bor

(The Devil enters like a sapphire wasp
That flickers mica wings. He lifts a hand
To brush away a disrespectful smile.
Job’s wife sits up.)
Job’s Wife ➢ Well, if we aren’t all here.
Including me, the only Dramatis
 Personae needed to enact the problem.

Marx created a narrative populated by workers, capitalists, officials and scientists who were history’s dramatis personae.

2015 February 18, Yanis Varoufakis, “Yanis Varoufakis: How I became an erratic Marxist”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:

A list of characters in a play or story, usually arranged in order of first appearance.


smells and bells

From the use of incense and altar bells.

(informal) The characteristics of the Anglo-Catholic or "high" Anglican Church.


spats

→ Japanese: スパッツ (supattsu)

form-fitting shorts covering the waist to mid- or lower thigh usually worn for athletic situations, compression shorts


funnies

And I'm turning to the horoscope and looking for the funnies / When I'm feeling someone watching me and so I raise my head

1987, “Tom's Diner”, in Suzanne Vega (lyrics), Solitude Standing:

(comics) The section of a newspaper containing comic strips.


suspenders

(British) Small straps, attached to a suspender belt, that hold up a woman's stockings.


ponies

I wanted that car. Also, these things are crazy on the road. Front wheel suspension, tons of ponies, but best of all, it has a tape deck.

2016, Greg Universe, “Beach City Drift”, in Steven Universe:


gym clothes

Clothing, specifically athletic wear, worn to a gym, fitness center or health club for the purpose of physical activity.

Clothing worn by students during physical education class at school.


camiknickers

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

Blend of camisole + knickers. The term was coined in the 1920s when camiknickers were introduced as a briefer garment than combinations. The garment reappeared in the lingerie market in the 1990s under the name teddy or body.

(dated) A women's undergarment covering the torso, worn for example under short dresses or slacks.


dead media

Media formats which are no longer used because they have become outdated or outmoded.


Visayas

Borrowed from Spanish Visayas, plural form of bisaya, from Cebuano Bisaya.


flowers of sulfur

(chemistry) yellow flakes of elemental sulfur, either as mined from a fumarole etc, or obtained by distillation


15 minutes of fame

1968, misattributed to Andy Warhol, in a catalogue of an exhibition of his art in Stockholm: “In the future everyone will be world-famous for 15 minutes.”

[…] Paula [Jones] was, even to her lawyers, a loose cannon—as prepared to risk her marriage and her well-being to get the president to confess his original sin as she was intent on making big money and getting her fifteen minutes of fame.

2007, Nigel Hamilton, Bill Clinton: Mastering the Presidency, New York: PublicAffairs, →ISBN, page 274:

In the next chapter, we'll meet twenty-five hopefuls who have already begun to experience their fifteen minutes of fame as a result of exposure on YouTube.

2008, Frederick Levy, 15 Minutes of Fame: Becoming A Star In The YouTube Revolution, Alpha Books, →ISBN:

By the time we went to Central Park, someone walking in the park said they had just seen us on Fox that morning. It was like being a rock star with a whole fifteen minutes of fame. So it was fun for a time.

2014, Kip Harding, Mona Lisa Harding, chapter 19, in The Brainy Bunch […] , Simon and Schuster, →ISBN, page 188:

After just a month on television, this ordinary chap from Catford, south London, was an overnight superstar, ready to milk his 15 minutes of fame.

2016 January 31, Anna Williamson, “The flip side of instant fame”, in The Guardian:

One day in early January 1970, Michael James Brody Jr. stepped off a Pan Am jet at John F. Kennedy Airport and into what would be one of the new decade’s shortest, strangest 15 minutes of fame.

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

(idiomatic) A very short time in the spotlight or brief flurry with fame, after which the person or subject involved is quickly forgotten.


Tofinu

An indigenous people of Togo and Benin who live in houses on piles in lakes.


horse's doovers

Fanciful corruption of hors d'oeuvres. Apparently British/Australian prison or POW slang.

None of us is likely to stray so far from the correct pronunciation as the legendary new-rich oil millionaire who demanded “horses′ doovers”...

1962, William Morris, Mary Morris, Dictionary of Word and Phrase Origins:

On a couple of our little occasional tables - we′ve got three - they′ve got horse′s doovers set out. Things on cracker biscuits.

1973, John O'Grady, Survival in the Doghouse, page 86:

1982, George MacDonald Fraser, 1993, HarperCollins, page 290,
“How! We eat now, together. Horse′s doovers and large snow puddings that make the tongue dead. Joll-ee good!”

...everyone throws their hats in the air and shouts “hoorah!” and then it′s all over bar the drinks and horses′ doovers and findin′ your own hat.

As we were all sampling the horse′s doovers, one of the guests, evidently thirsting for a deep philosophical discussion, asked me for my views on the meaning of life.

2004, Gene McDougall, My Letters to David Letterman, Texas: Virtualbookworm.com, page 38:

2009, Glenn Ickler, A Deadly Vineyard, StirlingHouse Publisher, Pennsylvania, page 109,
“ […] He wants us there by 6:30 for cocktails and, as he said it, horse′s doovers.”

(UK, Australia, humorous, slang) hors d'oeuvres


fifteen minutes of fame

en-noun

fifteen minutes of fame pl (plural only)

15 minutes of fame
15 minutes of fame#English


shakes

[Recovering video game addicts] also have sleep disorders, the shakes and numbness in their hands. http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/07/05/china_net_addicts/

When researchers either stopped the diet or administered an opioid blocker, the rats showed signs common to drug withdrawal, such as teeth-chattering and the shakes. http://apu.sfn.org/index.cfm?pagename=brainBriefings_sugarAddiction

(plural only) A pattern of behavior including twitches, tics and spasms typical of withdrawal from addiction; usually following the.


Canaries

/kəˈnɛəɹiːz/

The Canaries went ahead when the home defence failed to clear their lines and Pilkington was on hand to slide in his eighth goal of the campaign.

2012 April 9, Mandeep Sanghera, “Tottenham 1 - 2 Norwich”, in BBC Sport:

Norwich City Football Club
w:Norwich City F.C.

(UK) Nickname of Norwich City Football Club.


X's and O's

Derived from the use of the letters X and O as common stand-ins for other concepts.

The college co-ed signed her letter to her mother with X's and O's.


schlieren

schlieren pl (normally plural, singular schliere)

From German Schlieren, plural of Schliere (“streak”). Compare with Latin calere, whence English scald.

(geology) Irregular streaks of different composition in some igneous rocks.


Canary Islands

Partial calque of Spanish Islas Canarias, itself likely a partial calque, with the plural of isla (“island”), of Latin Canāriae Īnsulae (literally “Islands of the Dogs”), from the feminine plural of canārius (“of or pertaining to dogs”) + the plural of īnsula f (“island”). Perhaps so named because monk seals or sea dogs were abundant, a name that was evidently generalized from the ancient name of one of these islands, Canaria – presumably Gran Canaria. According to the historian Pliny the Elder, the island Canaria contained “vast multitudes of dogs of very large size”. The connection to dogs is retained in the autonomous community’s coat of arms, which is also included in its flag. The canary was named after the islands, not vice versa.

der

autonomous community
autonomous community

An archipelago off the coast of northwestern Africa, near Morocco and belonging to Spain as an autonomous community.

الجُزُرُ الخَالِدَات

an archipelago off the coast of north-western Africa


holidays

Where will you be spending the holidays?

(Canada, US) The season around Christmas, Hanukkah, and New Year's Day.


Kalenji

An indigenous people of Northern Kenya. This tribe is reputed to be the origin of many of Kenya's successful endurance runners.


neuticles

If you prefer a “natural look” for your male Poodle, ask your vet about a vasectomy or implanting artificial testicles (called neuticles).

2007, Susan M. Ewing, Poodles for Dummies, Wiley publishing, Inc., page 206:

So plastic neuticles were invented to take their place. The vet is supposed to install them — they come in pairs, you understand — when the originals are removed.

2007, Sam Venable, Some Day I May Find Honest Work: A Newspaper Humorist's Life, The University of Texas Press, page 194:

Her husband refused to have the dog neutered unless neuticles were implanted, and the wife complied.

2008, Bonnie Berry, The Power of Looks: Social Stratification of Physical Appearance, Ashgate Publishing, page 104:

If you feel bad for neutering your pet, you can purchase neuticles--fake implants to restore what was lost.

2009 October 15, Jenna Goudreau, “The Pet Culture”, in Forbes, Forbes.com LLC:

Because there's a whole lot more on the table when it comes to building better pets via the business end of a scalpel. Consider the neuticles (testicular implants) some owners clamor for.

2010 July 29, Patty Khuly, “Vet's view: I'll nip/tuck your pet, but only for the right reasons”, in USA Today, Gannett Co. Inc.:

Owners invest in pet face lifts, tummy tucks, nose jobs, breast reductions, and the newest craze, “neuticles”—testicular implants designed to give neutered dogs a more “masculine” look.

2012, Karen A. Cerulo, Janet M. Ruane, Second Thoughts: Sociology Challenges Conventional Wisdom, Sage Publications, Inc., page 88:


atmospherics

Other projects in progress at CRPL involve the study of audiofrequency tellurics (current induced in the earth) and earth conductivity measurements using atmospherics.

1964, United States. National Bureau of Standards, Technical News Bulletin, volumes 48-49, page 131:

electromagnetic radiation
electromagnetic radiation

radio interference caused by pulses of electromagnetic radiation in the atmosphere as the result of lightning and other events (both natural and man-made)


fabids

(botany) Introduced as a more user-friendly alternate for eurosids I.


campanulids

Presumably based on subclass Campanulidae


lamiids

en-noun

lamiids pl (normally plural, singular lamiid)


sferics

A Sferics Locating System has been developed to determine the geographical location of lightning strokes...

1920: Wilbur H. Paulsen (American Meteorological Society pub.), Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society http://books.google.com/books?vid=0myaFW4os6gDX0JMkJ&id=_IEOAAAAIAAJ&q=sferics&dq=sferics&pgis=1

...an artificial sferics generator was used as a known source of EM pulses.

1965 (pub.): Mitre Corporation, Research & Experimentation 1960-1964 http://books.google.com/books?vid=0womdjATmZ-KMq2Hz5&id=KqTvgTb9FlAC&q=sferics&dq=sferics&pgis=1

1987: Barbara Tufty, 1001 Questions Answered About Hurricanes, Tornadoes and Other Natural Air Disasters http://books.google.com/books?vid=ISBN0486254550&id=LpVoN0gmVKcC&pg=RA2-PA38&lpg=RA2-PA38&dq=sferics&sig=BapiarKgnm1NVr9NDBl1Xcgtp-A
Researchers have thought that possibly these sferics could be used to track hurricanes—but so far, they have been only marginally successful.

Sferics are classified normally by the frequency of the receiver used to detect them.

1998, Donald R. MacGorman, W. David Rust, The Electrical Nature of Storms:

This circuit generates a bipolar pulse waveform that closely approximates the main features of sferics.

1999, Rudolf F. Graf, William Sheets, The Encyclopedia of Electronic Circuits:

The second common theoretical approach of the propagation of sferics involves viewing the Earth-ionosphere cavity as a waveguide...

2003: Rakov, Vladimir A. Rakov, Martin A. Uman, Lightning: Physics and Effects http://books.google.com/books?vid=ISBN0521583276&id=NviMsvVOHJ4C&pg=PA446&lpg=PA446&dq=sferics&sig=X0H-Fg7yaFTa7xnvGjFpMCvXmXM#PPA446,M1

Electromagnetic pulses caused by atmospheric phenomena, such as lightning. plural of sferic


privates

She was kicked in the privates! It must have hurt.

Her privates were undamaged.

(informal) The genitalia; those body parts that are not normally displayed; private parts.


brass knuckles

Jacob always carried a set of brass knuckles, just in case he ever got caught up in a bar fight.

A weapon consisting of a metal reinforcement for the clenched fist, with finger holes molded in.


deuces

Nigga! You got until tonight to get your shit, deuces nigga!

(African-American Vernacular, slang) peace; goodbye (because of the associated gesture holding up two fingers)


Cliff notes

From the given name Clifton. Derived from Cliff's notes, a series of literature study guides published by Clifton Hillegass.

Ryker stepped forward and blurted out the cliff notes of the current crisis.

2012, Gary Wayne Clark, The Devolution Chronicles: Rise of the Chimera, Lulu.com, →ISBN, page 105:

Well, of course there's more, a lot more. But that's the cliff notes of what faces us once we find Sanderson.

2014, CP Moore, Legacy of the Gods, CP Moore, →ISBN:

“If this is you being serious, I'll just give you the cliff notes of the plan for tonight,” said Ray.

2015, Jack Fisher, The Escort and the Gigolo, Lulu Press, Inc, →ISBN:

Can you give us the, the Cliff notes version of that?

2017, “What North Korea Wants”, in Reuters War College:

(US) A rundown (rough outline) of a situation, event, etc.


hash browns

Potatoes that have been finely chopped (i.e. hashed) and fried until browned.


sistren

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form. Analysable as sister + -en (plural ending).

nonlemma

[…] teachers, parents, and above all his classmates the seething masses of dutiful zombies and sistren of the Evervirgin Sorority.

1997, Enrico Brizzi, Jack Frusciante Has Left the Band:

(figuratively) The (female) body of members, especially of a sorority or religious order.


ruby slippers

From the red shoes worn by Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz, that had magic properties unknown until the end of the story.

(idiomatic) A valuable feature (of software, etc.) overlooked by the user.


Pascuense

Borrowed from Spanish pascuense, from Pascua + -ense, from Isla de Pascua (“Easter Island”).


pinking shears

(sewing) A pair of scissors with zigzag cutting edges, used to cut fabric: the zigzag edge helps keep the fabric from fraying.


Santa Cruz

From Spanish and Portuguese Santa Cruz (“Holy Cross”), various places named in honor of the True Cross upon which Jesus was crucified. Doublet of Holy Cross and Saint Croix.

A barangay of Cebu City, Metro Cebu, Philippines.

census-designated place
census-designated place

A census-designated place in Pinal County, Arizona, United States.

A locality in Pima County, Arizona, United States.

Santa Barbara County
Santa Barbara County#English

An island in Santa Barbara County, California, off the coast, one of the Channel Islands.

A census-designated place in Santa Fe County, New Mexico, United States; suburb of Santa Fe.

A former census-designated place in Starr County, Texas, United States, now split into the El Chaparral and Santa Rosa CDP's.

A census-designated place in Starr County, Texas, United States, unrelated to the former CDP of the same name.


vertical blinds

A series of thin slats that hang in front of a window, which can be turned as a group close with a slight overlap to block the window.


Hershey squirts

In reference to Hershey's, an American chocolate company.

It wasn't any kind of physical illness, not measles or chicken pox or even the Hershey Squirts, the most humiliating and debilitating of them all.

But if the Goddess chose to help you by giving Miss Hoover the Hershey squirts, such is her divine wisdom.

2009 November 29, “Rednecks and Broomsticks”, in The Simpsons, season 21, episode 7, spoken by Gwendolyn Nightshadow (Neve Campbell):


Dieri

A Pama-Nyungan Australian Aboriginal suffixing language spoken by the Dieri people in the Lake Eyre region of South Australia.


greets

greets to […]

I was just considering the term 'lamer' (because of all these ROM D00DZ who I think of as 'emulamers') and I was wondering: is 'lamer' a term that is unique to the C64 scene? I haven't seen in used it other circles, but it sure used to crop up a hell of a lot in demos, cracktro greets, etc.

1998, andreww, “C64 slang”, in comp.emulators.cbm (Usenet):

At this time, I do not really think it was hypocrisis^([sic]) to write "no greets to", or "fucking greets goes to"... The immediate effect was to release some other demoes^([sic]), proving you're not lame, and that you can beat your "fucker" :)

1999, Mickael Pointier, “Oldskool”, in comp.sys.ibm.pc.demos (Usenet):

(demoscene) Greetings sent to other demosceners, often included in the scrolltext of a demo.


sounder

From Middle English soundar, sownere, equivalent to sound + -er.

(medicine, dated, plural only) A stethoscope.


baggies

But if you are going to say hello or wave to other riders, don't make distinctions based on whether they are riding fat tyres or thin, wear their socks above or below their knee warmers, or wear Lycra or baggies.

2021, Hannah Reynolds, 1001 Cycling Tips: The essential cyclists' guide:


egesta

The waste which is carried out from a cell or an organism; the result of egestion; excrement


goings-on

She sent a long letter detailing all the recent goings-on in her life.

Enkidu is appalled at such goings-on and rises immediately to go to Uruk.

1981, William Irwin Thompson, The Time Falling Bodies Take to Light: Mythology, Sexuality and the Origins of Culture, London: Rider/Hutchinson & Co., page 191:

Phoenix's finest watch the goings-on with jaws agape. Machines on thick metal legs with big jangling teeth.

1996 July, Bruce Sterling, “Is Phoenix Burning”, in Wired, →ISSN:

The_Donald wasn’t a place to debate the presidential election, or discuss the latest goings-on with their preferred candidate. “What I’m interested in is letting Donald Trump supporters speak among themselves,” a moderator of the subreddit told me in early 2016.

2021 January 29, John Herrman, “Everything’s a Joke Until It’s Not”, in The New York Times:

Occurrences; things that go on, occur, or happen; events; activities.


claves

en-noun

claves pl (normally plural, singular clave)

Borrowed from Latin American Spanish claves (plural), from Latin clāvis (“a key; a lever, bar”).

(music) A percussion instrument, consisting of two sticks or blocks, in which one is struck against the other in order to produce a sound.


walking wounded

(plural only, in triage) Those casualties whose wounds do not require them to be moved on a stretcher but that can walk to medical treatment.


pleasantries

Signora Caterina thought it could. Weak, yet cunning—vain, yet conscious of having outlived her attractions—with one of those tempers which we conceive to be the true interpretation of the old fairy tale, where out of the mouth of the party proceeded snakes, toads, locusts, and other pleasantries.

1831, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter XI, in Romance and Reality. […], volume III, London: Henry Colburn and Richard Bentley, […], →OCLC, page 221:


first fruits

From Middle English firste fruytes, fyrste frutes, furste frutes (“first fruits”), equivalent to first + fruits.

The first part of a harvest; sometimes made into an offering


alarums and excursions

From a Shakespearean stage direction, indicating that soldiers should march across the stage, blowing bugles and beating drums, etc.

He had been well aware ever since his coming to Hathelsborough of an atmosphere of intrigue and mystery; every development that occurred seemed to thicken it. . . . It puzzled him, being still a stranger to the habits and customs of these people, to see that life in Hathelsborough went on, amidst all these alarums and excursions.

1922, J. S. Fletcher, chapter 19, in In the Mayor's Parlour:

The various alarums and excursions in The Rock that early evening did not dent attendance at these meetings very much […]

(idiomatic, by extension) Any frantic activity.


pantaloons

Etymology tree
Greek Παντελεήμων (Panteleḯmon)bor.
Spanish Pantaleónder.
Italian Pantaloneder.
French pantalonbor.
English pantaloon
English pantaloonsFrom pantaloon.

etymon

An article of clothing covering each leg separately, that covers the area from the waist to the ankle.

calces

an article of clothing covering each leg separately


finished goods

Goods whose manufacture has been completed, but which are not yet on sale or distributed to the end-user.


fafrotskies

Condensation of falls from the skies, coined by cryptozoologist Ivan T. Sanderson.

Objects precipitated from the sky that are not normally expected, e.g. frogs, fish, coins etc.


nuptials

From nuptial, borrowed from Latin nūptiālis (“pertaining to marriage”), from nūptiae (“wedding”) (also plural only), from nūpta, from nūbō (“to marry, to take as husband”), from Proto-Indo-European *sneubho-, *snewbʰ- (“to marry, wed”). Cognate with French noces and Italian nozze.

bor

To Night, to Night, this fatal Moment, novv / Our dreadful Father's Nuptials are preparing, / And I muſt loſe bright Monima for ever.

1678, Nat[haniel] Lee, Mithridates King of Pontus, a Tragedy: […], London: […] R[obert] E[veringham] for James Magnes and Rich[ard] Bentley, […], →OCLC, Act I, scene i, page 1:

I hope you will not think it is any manner of disrespect to your person or merit, that the intended nuptials between us are interrupted. My father says he has a much better offer for me than you can make, and has ordered me to break off the treaty between us.

1712 March 7 (Gregorian calendar), [Joseph Addison; Richard Steele et al.], “MONDAY, February 25, 1711–1712”, in The Spectator, number 310; republished in Alexander Chalmers, editor, The Spectator; a New Edition, […], volume IV, New York, N.Y.: D[aniel] Appleton & Company, 1853, →OCLC, page 47:

[O]f five talents he had, gave two and a half in marriage with an only daughter he had of his own, and two and a half in marriage with the daughter of Eudamidas, and in one and the same day solemnized both their nupitals.

1842, Michael de Montaigne [i.e., Michel de Montaigne], [Antoine] Jay, [Abel-François] Villemain, “Of Friendship”, in [Charles] Cotton, transl., edited by William Hazlitt, The Works of Michael de Montaigne; Comprising; the Essays (Translated by Cotton); the Letters; the Journey into Germany and Italy; Now First Translated; a Life, by the Editor; Notes from All the Commentators; the Critical Opinions of Eminent Authors on Montaigne; the Élodies of MM. Jay and Villemain; a Bibliographical Notice of All the Editions; and Copious Indexes, London: John Templeman, 248, Regent Street, →OCLC, page 82, column 1:

This Sultan [Abdul Hamid II], who [Pierre] Loti always admired, had, according to the author, graciously and magnanimously permitted both women to choose their husbands. The cousins celebrated their nupitals together, and then moved into adjoining palaces which the Sultan had built for them.

1990, X. Türk Tarih Kongresi: Ankara, 22–26 Eylül 1986: Kongreye Sunulan Bildiriler [10th Turkish History Congress: Ankara, 22–26 September 1986: Reported to the Congress] (Türk Tarih Kurumu Yayınları [Turkish Historical Society Publications]; 9, 10a), volume 2, Ankara: Türk Tarih Kurumu Basımevi [Turkish Historical Society Printing House], →ISBN, page 2318:

We got hitched many years back / […] / The rains were severe that day / and the wild winds inclement / but the nuptials still took place.

2015, John Ngong Kum Ngong, “Nuptials at Vespers”, in Nuptials at Vespers & Other Strains: Poems, Mankon, Bamenda, Cameroon: Langaa Publishing & Research Common Initiative Group, →ISBN, page 7:


have-nots

en-noun

have-nots pl (normally plural, singular have-not)

The poor or underprivileged, contrasted with those who have possessions, power or wealth: the haves.


Anakim

A race of giants, the sons of Anak, who were living in Canaan at the time of the arrival of Moses and the Israelites.

most versions of the Bible translate it as gigantes


hormones

If the doctor gives the OK, I should be able to start hormones by the end of the month.

Hormone replacement therapy
hormone replacement therapy

(chiefly transgender slang) Hormone replacement therapy.


runners

(Canadian Prairies, British Columbia, Australia, Ireland) running shoes, sneakers, trainers


grades

I planned to have each girl, as soon as she had finished the grades, spend a year at home with me. Before going on to high school my girls were to take a year off, to assume the responsibility with me as chief adviser or prime ministers.

1926, Agnes Bostonne, “A Mother's Success Depends on her Daughters”, in Relief Society Magazine:

Grammar school, primary school, or the years of school prior to high school.


refried beans

Calque of Spanish frijoles refritos (literally “well-fried beans”).

calque

A dry to mushy paste made by boiling, mashing, and then frying particularly pinto or black beans, included in or served as anything from a main dish in Central America to a dip in the Southern US and a side dish in Mexico.

aja̱yo̱tapitzco̱ltatzoyo̱n

bean paste eaten in Central America and Southern US


fours

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


calas

Possibly borrowed from Nupe kara (“fried cake”).

Dumplings made with a deep-fried batter of rice, yeast, sugar, eggs, and flour, part of Creole cuisine.


cates

I had rather live / With cheese and garlic in a windmill, far, / Than feed on cates and have him talk to me / In any summer house in Christendom.

a. 1597, William Shakespeare, Henry IV, Part 1, act 3, scene 1, lines 155–158:

Hath any rival glutton got the start, / And beat him in his own luxurious art; / Bought cates for which Apicius could not pay, / Or drest old dainties in a newer way?

I tempted his blood and his flesh, / Hid in roses my mesh, / Choicest cates and the flagon's best spilth— / Still he kept to his filth!

1855, Robert Browning, “Instans Tyrannus”, in Men and Women, lines 19–22:

(archaic) Provisions; food; viands; especially, luxurious food; delicacies; dainties.


eye-drops

a saline liquid, used to administer medication to the eye


hymeneals

“Indeed she will have to do without me,” he added, thinking rather of his studies in Carrara, than of his Barchester hymeneals.

1857, Anthony Trollope, Barchester Towers, Volume the Second, →ISBN, page 165:

To this he wrote an answer as short, expressing his ardent wishes that those winter hymeneals might produce nothing but happiness, and saying that he would not be in town many days before he knocked at the door of No. 52, Grosvenor Place.

1869, Anthony Trollope, Phineas Finn, the Irish Member, 2006 Gutenberg eBook Edition:


classics

classical studies
classical studies#English

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


ABCs

Do you know your ABC? (U.S.: Do you know your ABCs?)

The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles

Oxford University Press
w:Oxford University Press

(US, usually plural only, countable) The alphabet.

He was busy learning his ABCs.

(plural only) Letters; writing; the skill of literacy.

The alphabet, especially the English alphabet.


multimillions

Like Buckley, she came from an extremely social family worth multimillions of dollars: The Taylors of Vancouver could match bank accounts with the Buckleys of Connecticut any day.

This is a lame duck administration, and if it is going to pass out political favors worth multimillions of dollars per year, it must move.

1968 October 3, Congressional Record, page 29513, column 2:

I recommended a research project on one of the best river systems in North America today as far as salmon is concerned, this is the Gander Lake tributary and river system, a system worth multimillions of dollars, where the salmon population has been dropping off tremendously and the Department came back and said, “We know nothing about it, but we do not have any money”.

1969, Minutes of Proceedings and Evidence of the Standing Committee on Fisheries and Forestry, Parliament of Canada, page 13-23:


brights

From bright (adjective) + -s (suffix forming pluralia tantum).

suffix

Your brights are on.

Drop your brights as soon as approaching lights appear.

1963 July, Morton J. Schultz, “Keeping Your Headlights on the Beam”, in Popular Mechanics, →ISSN, page 161:

You can turn your brights on and that helps quite a bit, but you can not leave them on. So you end up driving beyond your headlights more than half the time.

2004 July 18, Rocky Roads, “Re: big rig out of control (Photo)”, in misc.transport.trucking (Usenet), message-ID <cdearo$ufn@library2.airnews.net>:

The moment I flashed my brights this animal started to run across the road.

2006 March 31, Linda S. Godfrey, Hunting the American Werewolf: Beast Men in Wisconsin and Beyond, Madison: Trails Books, →ISBN, →OL, page 139:

(US, road transport) Synonym of high-beams.


torts

From tort + -s (suffix forming pluralia tantum, and regular plurals of nouns).

(law) Synonym of tort law (“the area of law dealing with wrongful acts, whether intentional or negligent, regarded as non-criminal and unrelated to contracts, which cause injuries and can be remedied in civil courts, usually through the awarding of damages”)


worts

From wort + -s (suffix forming pluralia tantum and regular plural forms of nouns).

(obsolete) A soup or stew made with worts (“vegetables”) and other ingredients such as meat.


studs

Many US states have outlawed studs due to the damage they cause to paved roads.

Tires with metal protrusions used for improved traction on snow and ice in winter.


fundamentals

Coordinate term: technicals

While this stock has been trading at a low P/E multiple lately, I think its fundamentals are sound, and consider it a good buy for long-term investors.

Fundamentals can be poor indicators of the future. Financial statements are backward-looking, meaning they tell you how a company did in the past, not necessarily how it will do in the future.

2009, Matthew Krantz, Fundamental Analysis For Dummies, John Wiley & Sons, →ISBN:

fundamental analysis
fundamental analysis

(finance) The fundamental analysis data.


blackouts

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

Coordinate term: twilights

[…] her blackouts. When the Officer inspected everything went well. The only thing was that two of our WAAF were not wearing any knickers at all!

1995, Beryl E. Escott, Our Wartime Days: The WAAF in World War 2, page 35:

We had what were called the ‘blackouts’ and ‘twilights’. The blackouts were a dark sort of long-legged knickers, dark wintry ones, and the twilights were a lighter blue in a sort of Celanese material.

2011 December 13, Peter Liddle, Captured Memories, 1930–1945: Across the Threshold of War: The Thirties and the War, Casemate Publishers, →ISBN, →OCLC:

(military, slang, historical) Long, dark-coloured underwear worn by the WAAF in winter.


twilights

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

Coordinate term: blackouts

(military, slang, historical) Long, light-coloured underwear worn by the WAAF.


shards

methamphetamine hydrochloride
methamphetamine hydrochloride

(slang, plural only) The drug methamphetamine hydrochloride (crystal meth).


thrusters

Both the thrusters and the cautionaries thought the war would end with a massive naval battle involving the battleships of both fleets.

2002, Jean Heffer, The United States and the Pacific: History of a Frontier:

(US, historical, World War II) Those who are for military engagement.


nut huggers

So-called due to their propensity to compress (hug) the nuts (testicles).

(slang, vulgar) Men's swimming briefs, tight-fitting jeans or similar, especially tight, lower-body garments.


Low Countries

The countries on low-lying land around the delta of the Rhine, Scheldt, and Meuse (Maas) rivers.

低地國家

countries around the Rhine, Scheldt and Meuse rivers


excretes

excreta; matters discharged from the animal body


cacks

From earlier kicks (“breeches”). Cognate with English kecks.


cleats

A pair of athletic shoes equipped with cleats.


excreta

en-noun

excreta pl (normally plural, singular excretum)

From Latin excrēta, neuter plural of excrētus, past participle of excernere.

Human excreta are made up mostly of urine and excrement that include diverse complex molecules derived from foods and bodily processes – carbohydrates, sugars, fats, etc.

2009, Ronald J. LeBlanc, Peter Matthews, Roland P. Richard, Global Atlas of Excreta, Wastewater Sludge, and Biosolids Management, page 24:

Bodily waste which is excreted from the body.


southern lights

The Southern Lights were again seen last night.

1772, James Cook, The Journals, Second Voyage, 18 February


Miao

With the help of KMT Miao representatives like Shi Honggui, Changsha drew up its plans for a permanent advance into the West: the Reconstruction Program of July 3, 1936, which called on the Miao people to learn Chinese, intermarry with the Han, and give up their traditional sacrifices, “undesirable marriage customs,” and “improper amusements.” The Miao were to be educated, but also pacified and culturally assimilated.

1987, Jeffrey C. Kinkley, “Fighting for Autonomy”, in The Odyssey of Shen Congwen, Stanford University Press, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 239:

The Miao peoples (including Hmong, Hmu, A-Hmao, Qo Xiong, etc.), an ethnic group of China and Vietnam speaking the Hmong-Mien language family.


labras

Word of denial in thy labras here.

c. 1597 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merry Wiues of Windsor”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene i]:


earphones

A pair of small loudspeakers worn inside each outer ear or covering all or part of the ear, without a connecting band worn over head.


menses

From Latin mēnsis (“month”), the plural being mēnsēs (“months”), corresponding to the monthly courses of women. Compare month.

The discharge of blood mixed with pieces of cellular tissue from the uterus out through the vagina, which occurs roughly every month in uninseminated women; menstrual flow.


principia

1776, Thomas Pownall, in a letter to the economist Adam Smith
I do really think, that your book […] might become an institute, containing the principia of those laws of motion, by which the system of the human community is framed and doth act […]

They were her principia, her rudiments; the elementary atoms; the little steps by which she pressed forward to perfection.

1833, Elia [pseudonym; Charles Lamb], “Barbara S——”, in The Last Essays of Elia. […], London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC, page 116:

(archaic) first principles; elementary material


manes

From Latin manes (“spirits of the dead”).

this was the Ustrina or place of burning their bodies, or some sacrificing place unto the Manes

1658, Sir Thomas Browne, Urne-Burial, Penguin, published 2005, page 9:

Still may the manès of thy children rise
To chase calm slumber from thy wearied eyes;
Still may their voices on the haunted air
In fearful whispers tell thee to despair,

1819, Felicia Hemans, The Wife of Asdrubal, Tales and Historic Scenes, page 171:

At this instant the trappings of his attire caught the glaring eye-balls of a dying yeoman, who exerted his wasting strength to sacrifice one more worthy victim to the manes of his countrymen.

1869, J[ames] Fenimore Cooper, “Moral Tales and Sketches § Battle of Bunker Hill”, in H. A. Cleveland, editor, Golden Sheaves Gathered from the Fields of Ancient and Modern Literature: A Miscellany of Choice Reading for the Entertainment of the Old and the Young in Hours that Are Lonely and Weary, Zeigler, McCurdy & Co., page 24:

The souls or spirits of dead ancestors, conceived as deities or the subjects of reverence, or of other deceased relatives.


oses

(colloquial) The various sugars ending in -ose, such as sucrose, lactose, glucose, and fructose.


witches' knickers

(slang, British) Plastic bags snagged in trees and bushes.


pj's

But a spate of articles and social media posts on the glories of staying home in one’s pj’s suggests that I am not the only one who went overboard once the “introvert” label came to imply a deep thinker with a rich inner life rather than a lone gunman.

2016 September 25, Kj Dell’Antonia, “Am I Introverted, or Just Rude?”, in New York Times:


wee hours

wee hours pl (normally plural, singular wee hour)

When I was young, I was up every night until the wee hours. Now I'm up every hour at night to wee.

2011 March 15, Tom Armstrong, Marvin (comic):

The very early morning; the early morning hours; the nighttime hours following midnight, when most people are asleep.


oilskins

A waterproof garment, made from oilskin, used especially at sea.


Knights Templar

(historical) A chiefly military order of medieval knights that existed for nearly two centuries during the Crusades


civvies

(military slang, plural only) Civilian clothes.


bottoms

The bottom (trouser) part of clothing, as in pyjama bottoms, tracksuit bottoms, bikini bottoms.


stair railings

The international building code mandates a standard minimum height for stair railings.

The angled part of a staircase used for handholding. Usually on both sides of the staircase, sometimes it is put only on one side.


last orders

A pint of lager, please. - Sorry, mate, you missed last orders.

(British) A short period of time, which is usually announced by ringing a bell and is between 5 and 15 minutes long, just before closing time. This is normally before the public house is no longer allowed to serve alcoholic beverages due to licensing laws.


pick up stitches

en-verb

pick up stitches (third-person singular simple present picks up stitches, present participle picking up stitches, simple past and past participle picked up stitches)

picks up stitches (present singular third-person)
picking up stitches (participle present)
picked up stitches (participle past)
picked up stitches (past)

(idiomatic) To add stitches to the knitting needle that were previously bound off, or that belong to the selvage, during the process of knitting or entrelac.


growing pains

emotional or social problems associated with adolescence


necessaries

These exclamations continued till they were interrupted by the lady, who now proceeded to execute the commission given her by her brother, and gave orders for providing all necessaries for the child, appointing a very good room in the house for his nursery.

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

Life is full of strange contrasts; and who that could have seen—weary, yet walking as fast as she could, for she had a long way to go; faint, for of late she had debarred herself common necessaries; cold, for the rain soon pierced her thin cloak—who would have believed that she was the brilliant actress who, not an hour since, was the gaze of every eye, while the whole house rang with applause?

1837, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], “Poverty”, in Ethel Churchill: Or, The Two Brides. […], volume III, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, page 274:

Mechanically he returned home, gathered together a few small necessaries and special treasures he was fond of, and put them in a satchel; acting with slow deliberation, moving about the room like a sleep-walker; listening ever with parted lips.

1908 October, Kenneth Grahame, The Wind in the Willows, New York, N.Y.: Charles Scribner’s Sons, →OCLC:


Lak

A North Caucasian language spoken by the Lak people. It is written with a Cyrillic alphabet.


tight lips

After M. de Kercadiou came M. de Vilmorin, very pale and self-contained, with tight lips and an overcast brow.

1921, Rafael Sabatini, chapter II, in Scaramouche:

(idiomatic) Of a person, silence or reticence.


two bits

Based on the old monetary bit, which was one eighth of an old Spanish dollar (or 12½ cents in more modern usage).

(US, slang) Twenty-five cents, or a quarter.


crudités

(plural only) Raw vegetables often served as an appetizer before a main dish; sometimes including fruits.


punx

en-noun

punx pl (normally plural, singular punk)

(slang, eye dialect) Punks (members of punk subculture).


Yuwaaliyaay

(plural only) An Australian Aboriginal people of New South Wales.


kecks

(Northern English dialect, Scotland) Trousers.

- See if the feelings transfer tae yir everyday life, then call it love. Love's no jist for weekenders.
- The things is, Nukes, ah'm changin the keks everyday^([sic]) and cleanin under the helmet.
Nukes raised his eyebrow and smiled, - Must be love then, he said, then he added, - Oan your side, right enough.

1996, Irvine Welsh, Ecstasy: Three Tales of Chemical Romance:

(Northern English dialect, Scotland) Underpants.


bloomers

bloomers pl (plural only, attributive bloomer)

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

Named after American women's-rights activist Amelia Bloomer (1818–1894).

named-after

Fanny, knowing this, had made up her mind to go straight to Horn & Udell. Now, Horn & Udell are responsible for the bloomers your small daughter wears under her play frock, in place of the troublesome and extravagant petticoat of the old days.

Moreover, the family realized perfectly that Alix would have clipped her thick hair, and taken to bloomers or knickerbockers outright, […]

c. 1920, Kathleen Thompson Norris, Sisters:

Yet so radioactive were her nerves[…] that she was more energetic than any of the hulking young women who, with calves bulging in heavy-ribbed woolen stockings beneath decorous blue serge bloomers, thuddingly galloped across the floor of the “gym” in practise for the Blodgett Ladies' Basket-Ball Team.

1920, Sinclair Lewis, chapter 1, in Main Street: The Story of Carol Kennicott, New York, N.Y.: Harcourt, Brace and Howe, →OCLC:

Ladies’ grey flannelette bloomers, three shillings a pair, astonishing bargain. Plain and loved, loved for ever, they say.

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

(dated) Any of several forms of women’s divided garment for the lower body.

(informal) Women’s underpants with short legs; knickers or drawers.


charades

See charade. As a game, originally a clipped form of acting charades or, without talking, dumb charades but now usually understood as a plurale tantum.

[…] it looked like a house where they played charades, where there would be long streamers of evergreen and dozens of wreaths of holly at Christmas-time, where there were tearful, happy weddings and great throwings of rice after little brides […]

1909, Booth Tarkington, Beasley's Christmas Party:

A game in which each player acts out a word or phrase, usually based on puns of each syllable and without speaking, for the others to guess.


culottes

en-noun

culottes pl (normally plural, singular culotte)

A type of loose shorts which look like a skirt; a divided skirt.


last rites

Anointing of the Sick
Anointing of the Sick

(religion) Final treatment of a dead man.

The Catholic sacrament of Anointing of the Sick.


confidence limits

confidence limits pl (normally plural, singular confidence limit)

A sample of 1000 showed that the correlation between weight and height was 0.0167, with 95% confidence limits of 0.0142 and 0.0183.

(statistics) For a statistical sample a pair of values that delimit the interval for which there is a certain probability that the true value of some deduced variable lies between those values.


true colours

The organisation was officially concerned with economic development, but after the memo was leaked people began to see them in their true colours.

But I see your true colors / Shining through / I see your true colors / And that's why I love you / So don't be afraid to let them show

1986, Billy Steinberg, Tom Kelly (lyrics and music), “True Colors”, performed by Cyndi Lauper:

The real character, belief or intent of a person or group who present a dishonest picture of their nature to the world.


cold feet

Idiomatic sense possibly from a calque of German kalte Füße bekommen (“to get cold feet”), or of Lombard avegh minga frecc i pee (“to have no money”, literally “to be cold in the feet”) (Italian aver freddo ai piedi), said by a person who wishes to stop gambling, allegedly because the person now has cold feet due to being too poor to afford proper footwear.

calque

The groom got cold feet before his wedding.

The sale was almost agreed, but now the prospective purchasers seem to be suffering from a bad case of cold feet.

"Eh, what!" cried Kurz, who had been winning [the card game] lately, "how can he get cold feet?" / "So?" said the rector, hotly, for he was determined to retain his winnings, "haven't I as good a right to cold feet as you? Don't you always get cold feet, at our club, when you have had good luck?" and he carried it out, he kept his cold feet, and his winnings, […]

1871 March 18, Fritz Reuter, “Seed-time and Harvest: Or, During My Apprenticeship. Part XII. […]”, in Katharine Tyler, transl., Littel’s Living Age, volume XX (Fourth Series; volume CVIII overall), number 1398, Boston, Mass.: Littel & Gay, →OCLC, chapter XXII, pages 727–728:

"It isn't our line of work; we're mountain-men," the old man faltered. […] "Aw! What you getting cold feet for now, when we've got a good job?" the long-legged youth whined. "I'm just getting onto the ropes. Bet I could make a lot of money in this country after I got acquainted. I think I'm going to like Seattle."

1918 June, Chart Pitt, “The Law of the Wolf”, in The Black Cat: Clever Short Stories, volume XXIII, number 9, Salem, Mass.: Shortstory Publishing Company, →OCLC, page 7:

Had not these courageous sailors put up such a thoroughgoing battle, and had not the Japanese admiral commanding gotten cold feet, we would have been dealt a crushing defeat.

1959 February, Robert F. Cocklin, “A Moral Pledge Fulfilled: LEYTE JUNE 1944–JANUARY 1945 (Volume XII of History of United States Naval Operations in World War II) By Samuel Eliot Morison; Little, Brown & Company, 1958; 445 Pages; Illustrated; Maps; Index; $6.50 [book review]”, in Walter L[eo] Weible, editor, Army: Magazine of the Association of the United States Army, volume 9, number 7, Arlington, Va.: Association of the United States Army, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 96, column 3:

The member for West Coast has introduced the Bill because the Government got cold feet. It got cold feet even after a select committee had heard a great deal of evidence and reported the evidence back to the House. […] The Government got cold feet. The Bill was stopped in its tracks, because entrenched interests in Federated Farmers began to twitch.

1980 October 24, W[allace] E[dward] Rowling, “Land Purchase Bill”, in Parliamentary Debates (Hansard): First Session, Thirty-ninth Parliament (House of Representatives), volume 426, Wellington: P. D. Hasselberg, government printer, published 1981, →OCLC, page 3757:

It's getting close to Easter, and Rodger's getting cold feet about his promise to get married in the spring. In fact, it's not just his feet that are cold. His feelings for me seem to be cooling down too.

1990, James F. Masterson, “The False Self: The Internal Saboteur”, in The Search for the Real Self: Unmasking the Personality Disorders of Our Age, 1st paperback edition, New York, N.Y.: The Free Press, →ISBN, page 2:

I would be surprised if 10 years from now we're not using electronic currency in some way, now that we know a way to do it that won't inevitably get dumbed down when the trusted third party gets cold feet.

2015, Pedro Franco, quoting Satoshi Nakamoto, “The Origins of Bitcoin”, in Understanding Bitcoin: Cryptography, Engineering, and Economics, Chichester, West Sussex: Wiley, →ISBN, part 3 (The Cryptocurrencies Landscape), section 10.6 (Satoshi Nakamoto), page 169:

(originally US, informal, frequently in the phrase 'get cold feet') A feeling of nervousness or anxiousness causing one to reconsider a decision about an upcoming event.


boxcars

From the resemblance of the six (“6”) on a die to a boxcar.

Coordinate term: snake eyes

(slang, dice games) Double six in a dice game with two dice.


headwaters

... but when his brows began to wrinkle with time, and he stood alone, the last of his family, and his particular tribe, the few Delawares, who yet continued about the head-waters of their river, gave him the mournful appellation of Mohegan.

1823, James Fenimore Cooper, The Pioneers:

Driver Thornhill beckoned me across the cab and pointed out some two miles ahead as we looked across the headwaters of the Eden Valley, the summit cabin at Ais Gill itself, with the summit point and altitude conspicuously indicated.

1949 March and April, F. G. Roe, “I Saw Three Englands–2”, in Railway Magazine, page 82:

The source of a river, the set of streams that feed into the river's beginning.

capçalera

the set of streams that feed into the beginning of a river


esoterica

/iːsəˈtɛɹɪkə/

/ɛsɵˈtɛɹəkə/

Helder was also a visionary given to muddled, passionate harangues on immortality, astral projection and other esoterica.

2002 May 20, “Luke Helder's Bad Trip”, in Time:

However, if you really want to try to communicate sophisticated things from your field to a general audience, really the best thing may be for you to simply do it yourself — to augment your skillset with the ability to take esoterica and translate it into an article or a video that lots of normal people will want to watch.

2020 December 21, Adam Ragusea, 28:15 from the start, in How I became the Mariah Carey Christmas chord guy (and why I hate it), archived from the original on 2024-07-31:

Things that are esoteric; things that are impractical or specialised.


memorabilia

head

memorabilia pl (normally plural; rarely, singular memorabile)

Since 1800–1810. Borrowed from Latin memorābilia (“things to be remembered”), the neuter plural of the word memorābilis (“memorable”).

bor

George has a collection of World War II memorabilia.

I can't remember / Give me a reminder / I collect, I reject / Memorabilia / Memorabilia

1981, “Memorabilia”, in Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret, performed by Soft Cell:

Objects that are connected to or remind their owner of past events.

紀念品

objects that are connected to past events


Aghul

The Lezghian language spoken by these people.


keks

(Northern English dialect, Scotland) Alternative spelling of kecks


terms and conditions

According to the terms and conditions, we're allowed to make a single copy of the software for backup purposes.

Variously abbreviated as T&C, T&Cs, Ts & Cs

(law) A specification of restrictions for the use of goods or services.


bumsters

Low-cut trousers that reveal the top of the buttocks


track pants

Active apparel is no longer limited to track pants and basketball shorts.

2008, Janet Engle, How to Open & Operate a Financially Successful Fashion Design Business, Atlantic Publishing, page 57:

The defence alleged that Benji had a pistol down inside his track pants, the weapon that Gatto finally killed him with. If the gun had been in Benji′s track pants or briefs there would be oil, dust and gunshot residue on the inside of the fabric.

2010, Adam Shand, Big Shots: Inside Melbourne′s Gangland Wars, Revised edition, page 319:

A pair of grey, flannel track pants outlined the lad′s bottom very nicely indeed.

2011, Ken Smith, Run Naked, Run Free, page 66:

(Australia, Canada, New Zealand, US) Sweatpants.


oughts

1919, Harry Hamilton Johnston, The Gay-Dombeys: A Novel, Macmillan, page 172,
He and his clever staff of minor blackguards exploited to the full every weakness and caries in the London Society of the 'eighties, 'nineties, and 'oughts.

2000, John Maxtone-Graham, Liners to the Sun, Sheridan House, Inc., →ISBN, page xii,
And for the oughts—by which I suppose we must identify our new millennium's first decade—projected tonnage figures keep up the mind-boggling pace.

2006, Mark Steyn, America Alone: The End of the World as We Know It, Regnery Publishing, →ISBN, page 13,
The "experts" of the Western world are slower to turn around than an ocean liner, and in Europe they were still yakking about the "population explosion" even as their 1970s schoolhouses, built in anticipation of traditional Catholic birth rates, were emptying through the nineties and oughts.

Alternative spelling of aughts (“first decade of a century”)


blue devils

Originally apparitions supposed to be seen by sufferers of delirium tremens.

"[…] the disease is either extinct, or exists in such a mild form that a short course of aperient medicine carries it off. It is sometimes called the Blue-devils now or the Mulleygrubs. Queer names, ain't they?"

1890, William Morris, News from Nowhere, in the journal The Commonweal. (First published in book form 1890.)

зелёная тоска́ f (zeljónaja toská, literally “green melancholy”)


backup vocals

(music) The chorus and other words and sounds sung by backup vocalists to provide accompaniment to a song


lead vocals

(music) The primary words of a song, sung by the lead vocalist to the same tune as the primary melody


vocals

(music) The words of a song together with other sounds sung by a vocalist


pretty pictures

He forgot to include pretty pictures in his project documentation.

(idiomatic) Image supplements in a presentation: graphs, charts, etc.


comely maidens

Incorrectly attributed to a speech by Irish statesman Éamon de Valera. A longer version is often misquoted as "comely maidens, dancing at the crossroads". The actual phrase, delivered in a radio broadcast on St. Patrick's Day 1943, mentions "the laughter of happy maidens, whose firesides would be forums for the wisdom of serene old age." See Wikipedia article.

He was surprised to see so many women workers. What did he expect, comely maidens?

(plural only, Ireland) An outdated stereotype of Irish women; used as a reference to misogynistic opinions.


Y-fronts

Setting a spatted foot on the bench that ran down the middle of the changing-room with elegant distain, Adrian began to flip through a pile of Y-fronts and rugger shorts with his cane.

1991 September, Stephen Fry, chapter 1, in The Liar, London: Heinemann, →ISBN, →OCLC, section I, page 6:

I did the latter, so in writing this I have put it on record that I am one of the few men who has spent Christmas Eve running across a Kentish marsh in his Y-fronts with two horses trotting after him in close company.

2013, Mike Peyton, Mike Peyton’s Floating Assets, page 4:

(plural only, UK, Ireland, Commonwealth, informal) Men's or boys' briefs that have a fly as part of an inverted Y formed by the seams.


jocks

"Please, Ryan. I don't want to come downstairs every morning and find you lounging around in your jocks on my couch. It's too ... studenty."

2015, Marian Keyes, The Woman Who Saved My Life: A Novel:


radiolaria

Radiolaria, which are single-celled plankton, are abundant in all regions of the world ocean and older than multicellular life.

2012, Caspar Henderson, The Book of Barely Imagined Beings, Granta Books, published 2013, page 137:

The members of the taxonomic subclass Radiolaria; radiolarians.


cracker jacks

(English pluralia tantum) Popcorn coated in molasses.


ship's bells

The strokes on a ship's bell, every half hour, to mark the passage of time. In each of the day's six watches of four hours, one bell marks the end of the first half hour, eight bells marks the end of the watch.


ackers

Probably from Egyptian Arabic قرش (ʔerš, “piastre, Ottoman penny”). See also smackers, smackeroo, smackeroonies.

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


Guards

(UK) Any of several regiments in the Household Division of the British Army


railings

(British) railing (a horizontal rail with vertical supports)


suds

From the plural of sud, a variant of sod (“a bubbling or boiling”), equivalent to sud + -s. Related to seethe.

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

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

(countable, uncountable) Lather; foam or froth formed by mixing soap and water.


suds

en-verb

suds (third-person singular simple present sudses, present participle sudsing, simple past and past participle sudsed)

sudses (present singular third-person)
sudsing (participle present)
sudsed (participle past)
sudsed (past)

We sudsed the car before washing it down until it gleamed like new.

(transitive) To cover with, or as if with, soapsuds.


merfolk

Mythical creatures that are human from the waist up and fish from the waist down.


three skips of a louse

’Tis not that I value the money three skips of a louse:
But the thing I stand upon is the credit of the house.

1719, Jonathan Swift, Mrs Frances Haris's Petition:

(idiomatic, archaic) The worth of some trifling or insignificant matter; a whit or jot of value.


MIPS

(computing) Initialism of Microprocessor without Interlocked Pipelined Stages, a RISC-style instruction set architecture.


dead men

en-noun

dead men pl (normally plural, singular dead man)

Remove eyes, dead men (gills), and sand sack if necessary.

1992 April 26, Nathalie Dupree, “A craving for crabs”, in The Record, Bergen County, NJ, page F1:

“I call these the lungs,” says Colleton, pointing to the gills with the dripping, short-handled knife. “The old people call them ‘dead men.’”

2003 September 26, Michael Gartland, “Drought Forces Awendaw, S.C., Crab Festival to Import from Louisiana”, in Knight Ridder Tribune Business News, page 1:

Once the shell is off, the crab’s gills or lungs, variously called “devil’s fingers” or “dead men” are exposed. These are gray-white, feathery-looking parts that are inedible and must be scraped off and thrown away.

2007 August 3, John Geiser, “Take rusties over jimmies when hunting for good-eatin’ crabs”, in Asbury Park Press, Asbury Park, New Jersey:

(informal, US) The gills of edible crabs.


fors

fors and againsts
fors and againsts#English


findings

Small tools and materials used by artisans and craftsmen


air rights

The right to fly an aircraft over a certain territory.


obliques

The good news. Three weeks into the programme I am rediscovering bits of my body I had forgotten existed; biceps, triceps, hamstrings and those funny muscles on the sides of the abdomen called obliques, the toning of which is supposed to eliminate the love handle.

2017 November 16, Jo Ellison, “Help: the gym has turned us into slobs”, in Financial Times:

Collectively, the abdominal muscles responsible for rotation of the trunk.


enterics

(biology) Gram-negative eubacteria that inhabit intestines.


cold chips

(Australia, New Zealand) potato chips, crisps.


Cairngorms

A mountainous region in the Scottish Highlands.


Brecon Beacons

A mountain range and national park in south-east Wales