Assassins of Alamut

(historical) The followers of Hasan-i Sabbah, the Sheikh of Alamut.


roads

Hampton Roads

(nautical, occasionally in the singular) A roadstead.


trappings

Ornamental coverings or harnesses for a horse; caparisons.

koristeloimi

ornamental coverings or harnesses for a horse


folks

Coined by California historian Kevin Starr.

coin

McPherson's healing ministry, in fact. was at the core of her success, since so many of the Folks had come to Southern California in late middle or old age in the hope of regaining lost health.

2007, Kevin Starr, California: A History, Modern Library, →ISBN, page 182:

(California) Late 19th and early 20th century migrants to California from Iowa and other parts of the Midwestern United States.


communications

David Cameron insists that his latest communications data bill is “vital to counter terrorism”. Yet terror is mayhem. It is no threat to freedom. That threat is from counter-terror, from ministers capitulating to securocrats.

2012 December 14, Simon Jenkins, “We mustn't overreact to North Korea boys' toys”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 188, number 2, page 23:

Telecommunications, the science and technology of communicating, especially by electronic means.

information and communications technology


seven deadly sins

From Middle English dedly synnes sueyn, vij dedly synnes.

(Catholicism) The cardinal sins enumerated by medieval philosophers and theologians: pride (or vanity, vainglory), envy, gluttony, greed (or avarice), lust, sloth (or acedia), and wrath (or anger).


mists of time

lost in the mists of time

Far back in the mists of ancient time, in the great and glorious days of the former Galactic Empire, life was wild, rich and largely tax free.

1979 October 12, Douglas Adams, chapter 15, in The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, London: Pan Books, →ISBN, page 89:

Any time so long ago that history is no longer clear, as though lost in a mist or fog.


fauxtatoes

Blend of faux (“artificial, fake”) + potatoes.

blend

Cauliflower Purée (a.k.a. "Fauxtatoes") This is a wonderful substitute for mashed potatoes with any dish that has a gravy or sauce.

2010, Dana Carpender, “Sides”, in 1,001 Low-Carb Recipes: Hundreds of Delicious Recipes from Dinner to Dessert that Let You Live Your Low-Carb Lifestyle and Never Look Back, Beverly, Mass.: Fair Winds Press, →ISBN, page 209:

Are your kids begging for mashed potatoes with their grilled chicken and Brussels sprouts (hooray for you if your kids eat Brussels sprouts!)? Make a healthier choice by switching to faux-tatoes, a blend of pureed cauliflower and coconut milk.

2014, J. J. Virgin, “Top Swaps and the Virgin Plate”, in The Virgin Diet Cookbook: 150 Easy and Delicious Recipes to Lose Weight and Feel Better Fast, New York, N.Y.: Grand Central Life & Style, →ISBN:

Fauxtatoes are a great stand-in for mashed potatoes, especially if you have a super tasty gravy to soak up.

2015, Dana Carpender, “Hot Vegetable Sides”, in Paleo/Primal in 5 Ingredients or Less: More than 200 Sugar-Free, Grain-Free, Gluten-Free Recipes, Beverly, Mass.: Fair Winds Press, →ISBN, page 128:

A dish of mashed cauliflower used as an alternative to potatoes by followers of a low-carbohydrate diet.


studies

My boyfriend is taking media studies.

(plural only) An academic field of study concerning the given subject.

ศึกษา, ศาสตร์, วิชา

Ṣ̄ụks̄ʹā, ṣ̄ās̄tr̒, wichā


spirits

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Mélange a trois-spirits.wav

(chiefly UK) Distilled alcoholic beverages.

كُحُول

strong alcoholic drink derived from fermentation and distillation


regions

/ˈɹiːd͡ʒənz/

Tom Clancy of Elan Recruitment thinks that staff shortages in the regions could be as severe as in Dublin.

2000 November 7, Emer Hughes, “Fair city losing out to the regions”, in Sunday Business Post:

Three government departments may be named for a move from London to the regions.

2003 September 10, Peter Hetherington, “Study points civil servants towards the regions”, in The Guardian:

(Ireland, British, definite: the regions) the rest of the country excluding the capital city or metropolitan region


obsequies

Plural of obsequy; from Middle English obsequias, obsequies, obsequyes, from Latin obsequiae.

A murmur of astonishment ran through the chapel. It was hushed instantly, for, at a sign from Lord Avonleigh, the coffin was carried into the vault; and again the voice of the priest was the only sound, breathing the last and solemn benediction of the mournful obsequies.

1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter XIX, in Francesca Carrara. […], volume III, London: Richard Bentley, […], (successor to Henry Colburn), →OCLC, page 163:


balls

Douglas: You've got spunk. And balls. And I like that in a woman.

2007 September 28, Graham Linehan, The IT Crowd, Season 2, Episode 6

He must have a lot of balls to talk to his boss that way.

He's the guy with the big balls in that group.

Balls is all that it takes to succeed.

Balls is all it takes to handle these people

1960, Carlos Fuentes, Sam Hileman, Where the Air is Clear, page 80:

“Balls, gentlemen, balls is what you need to win at this game"

2006, Leonardo Padura, Havana Blue, page 137:

(uncountable, vulgar, colloquial) Masculinity, particularly strength, courage, and force of will; chutzpah; brazenness.

дупе

slang for masculinity, inclusive of strength, courage, and force of will

That's a load of balls.

(uncountable, UK, Ireland, Commonwealth, Hawaii, vulgar, colloquial) Synonym of bollocks, nonsense.

Don't make a balls of it!

(UK, Ireland, Commonwealth, Hawaii, vulgar) A balls-up; a botched job.


oyakata

(sumo) retired rikishi who have reached a certain standing; they either become shisho or help train in others' heya


backwoods

about that time, you may[…]reckon, if like me you belong to the back-woods, that I began to make up my acquaintance with hard times, and a plenty of them.

1834, David Crockett, A Narrative of the Life of, Nebraska, published 1987, page 22:

It was not far from the house; but the ground sank into a depression there, and the ridge of it behind shut out everything except just the roof of the tallest hayrick. As one sat on the sward behind the elm, with the back turned on the rick and nothing in front but the tall elms and the oaks in the other hedge, it was quite easy to fancy it the verge of the prairie with the backwoods close by.

1879, R[ichard] J[efferies], chapter 1, in The Amateur Poacher, London: Smith, Elder, & Co., […], →OCLC:

A remote or sparsely inhabited region, especially in North America; away from big towns and from the influence of modern life.


reasons

The appellants sought at the hearing of the appeal, for the first time, to file the reasons of the Federal High Court of Nigeria for dismissing the respondent's motion to strike. Although the reasons were released February 2, 2015 and the motion before Perell J. was heard March 2, 2015, the reasons were not before the motion judge.

2015 November 17, Jean L. MacFarland, “James Bay Resources Limited v. Mak Mera Nigeria Limited, 2015 ONCA 781”, in CanLII, retrieved 2024-06-05:

(law, plural only) A written judgment or ruling by a judge or similar decision maker.


ladies' fingers

From a supposed resemblance to women's fingers.

Synonym of okra: the edible capsules of the okra plant.


masu-seki

(sumo) The expensive seats, holding four people, on the ground floor of the arena.


shimpan

From Japanese 審判 (shinpan, しんぱん), from Middle Chinese 審判 (ʃim-pʰàn "to judge", "to try") (compare Mandarin shěnpàn 审判).

(sumo) the four judges, sitting at each cardinal point


depths

The burning ship finally sank into the depths.

(literary) The deepest part. (Usually of a body of water.)

Into the depths of the jungle...

In the depths of the night,

to plumb the depths of despair

to stir someone to his depths

(of an emotion, mystery) The lowest point, all-time low, nadir.


surroundings

The area surrounding someone or something, together with the objects and circumstances in the vicinity; the environment or ambiance.

(physics) All parts of the universe that are not within the thermodynamic system of interest.


kalends

My book with Professor [John Ronald Reuel] Tolkien – any book in collaboration with that great but dilatory and unmethodical man – is dated, I fear, to appear on the Greek Kalends!

1950 January 12, C[live] S[taples] Lewis, “Letters: 1950 [To Sister Penelope CSMV (BOD)]”, in Walter Hooper, editor, The Collected Letters of C. S. Lewis, volumes III (Narnia, Cambridge and Joy 1950–1963), New York, N.Y.: HarperSanFrancisco, HarperCollins, →ISBN, pages 5–6:

The interesting thing about these ceremonies is that they must have originated in a period when the Romans were using true lunar months based on the observation of the crescent moon. The Kalends then would have been the day after the evening on which the crescent had been first sighted, the Nones would have been the first day when the moon was at the first quarter [...] In the calendar of the late Republic the lunar months have disappeared and the days have been fixed into a rigid pattern.

1967, Agnes Kirsopp Michels, “The Pre-Julian Calendar”, in The Calendar of the Roman Republic, Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, →OCLC, part I (The Calendar of the First Century B.C.), page 21:

[March, May, Quintilis, and October] also have their Nones on the seventh, as Numa [Pompilius] ordained, because Julius [Caesar] changed nothing about them. As for January, Sextilis, and December, they still have their Nones on the fifth, though they began to have thirty-one days after Caesar added two days to each, and it is nineteen days from their Ides to the following Kalends, because in adding the two days Caesar did not want to insert them before either the Nones or the Ides, lest an unprecedented postponement mar religious observance associated with the Nones or Ides themselves, which have a fixed date.

2011, Macrobius, chapter 14, in Robert A. Kaster, transl., Saturnalia (Loeb Classical Library), Cambridge, Mass., London: Harvard University Press, →ISBN, book I, section 9, page 171:


shikiri-sen

Borrowed from Japanese 仕切り線 (shikiri-sen).

(sumo) The two enamel lines, embedded in the dohyo, behind which the rikishi crouch in preparation for the tachiai.


toku-dawara

Borrowed from Japanese 徳俵 (tokudawara, “special rice bale”).

bor

In fact, the sumo ring is not exactly round. Instead, the ring is broadened at four points by the width of a small rice bag (see fig. 1). These four rice bags placed at the cardinal points of the ring are called toku-dawara (lucky straw bags).

Just outside the circle the cardinal directions are marked by four tokudawara. It is only on these that the contestant can step outside the ring and not be deemed to have lost.

2000, Tony Allan, Realm of the Rising Sun: Japanese Myth, page 51:

(sumo) Small enlargements at the cardinal points of the dohyo; originally the entry and exit points.


lyrics

The words to a song (or other vocal music).

เนื้อร้อง

nʉ́ʉa-rɔ́ɔng


calends

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Mélange a trois-calends.wav

From Middle English calendes, calendas, calendis, kalandes, kalendas, kalendes, kalendez, kalendis, kalendus (also in the singular forms calende, kalend, kalende), from Latin kalendās, accusative plural of kalendae (“first day of a Roman month”), an archaic variant of calandae, from calandus (“which is to be called or announced solemnly”), the future passive participle of calō (“to call, announce solemnly”) (referring to the Roman practice of proclaiming the first days of the lunar month upon seeing the first signs of a new crescent moon), from Proto-Indo-European *kelh₁- (“to call, cry, summon”). Although the singular form calend (now obsolete, rare) appeared in English (and compare Old English calend, kalendus (“calends; a month”)), no singular form was used in Latin as recurring days of the calendar were always referred to in the plural.
Sense 2 (“a day for settling debts and other accounts”) refers to the Roman practice of fixing the calends as the day for debts to be paid.

nb...

Containing an Account of Their Manners, Customs, Diversions, Religious Rites, Philosophy, Festivals, Oracles, Laws, Arts, Engines of War, Weights, Measures, Money, Medals, Computation and Division of Time, Chronological Terms, Heresies in the Primitive Church, &c. &c.

The feasts of the Israelites were the Sabbath; the first day of each month, called in our translations calends, or new-moon; the three great feasts of the passover, pentecost, and tabernacles, instituted in memory of the three greatest blessings they received from God, […]

1809, Claude Fleury, “Their Religion”, in Adam Clarke, transl., The Manners of the Ancient Israelites; […], 3rd edition, London: Sold by William Baynes, […]; J[oseph] Butterworth, […]; and T. Blanshard, […], →OCLC, page 147:

חֹדֶשׁ m. […] the new moon, the day of the new moon, the calends of a lunar month which was a festival of the ancient Hebrews, Num[bers] 29:6; 1 Sam[uel] 20:5; 18:24; Ex[odus] 19:1, […]

1846, [Wilhelm] Gesenius, “חֹדֶשׁ”, in translated by Samuel Prideaux Tregelles, Gesenius’s Hebrew and Chaldee Lexicon to the Old Testament Scriptures. Translated, with Additions and Corrections from the Author’s Thesaurus and Other Works, London: Samuel Bagster and Sons, […], →OCLC, page CCLXIII, column 1:

(by extension, biblical, Judaism, obsolete) Synonym of Rosh Hodesh (“the Jewish festival of the new moon, which begins the months of the Hebrew calendar”)


bones

The house don't fall when the bones are good.

(plural only) The framework or foundation of something.


stocks

(plural only) A device, similar to a pillory, formerly used for public humiliation and punishment.

կոճղ

device for public humiliation and punishment

(nautical, plural only) The frame upon which a ship is built, and from which it is launched.


fusa

(sumo) The four knotted tassels hanging from the roof of the dohyo; symbolising the four seasons.


digerati

/dɪdʒɪˈɹɑːti/

Blend of digital + literati, modeled after glitterati.

The digerati Wired reader is a demographic dream: a 34-year-old man in upper management with a household income of more than $80,000 and a job that includes recommending or actually buying expensive digital equipment.

1995 May 21, Paul Keegan, “The Digerati!”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

(colloquial) People who are considered the elite in using computers and the Internet.


chops

Inflected forms. The jazz slang sense “musical ability” is a reference to the use of the lips to blow instruments.

Alternative form: chaps

[…]who knows but ſome fine lady of St. James's pariſh might admit into her delicate mouth thoſe very cherries, which had been rolled and moiſtened between the filthy, and, perhaps, ulcerated chops of a St. Giles's huckſter[…]

1771, [Tobias Smollett], The Expedition of Humphry Clinker […], volume I, London: […] W. Johnston, […]; and B. Collins, […], →OCLC, page 174:

If we'd a had a second-hand crystal ball to look into, we’d have seen the lean and gripy times ready to smack us in our chops by the year the depression rolled around, when the big commercial outfits got complete control of the popular-music business.

1946, Milton “Mezz” Mezzrow, Bernard Wolfe, “Forgottenest Man in Town”, in Really the Blues, New York, N.Y.: Random House, book 2 (1923–1928: Chicago, Chicago), page 139:

Although the bass player had no experience playing in New Orleans, the crowd's enthusiastic response showed that he had the chops to make it in the very particular Crescent City jazz scene.

Recently, I have taken up the double bass again, but because time and neglect erode ability, calluses turn soft, and muscle memory fades, I need to woodshed (practice) to get back into shape and build up my chops.

1999 June, Al Stevens, “Jukebox: Covering the Basses”, in Dr. Dobb's Journal, volume 24, number 6, San Francisco, Calif.: Miller Freeman, Inc., →ISSN, page 115:

(originally US jazz slang) One's skill at musical interpretation and delivery; musical performance ability.

Although he did not know all of the ins and outs of the newsroom, he had the writing chops to become a regular contributor.

["]If you don't have a guy who gives you that, despite the greatest acting chops in the world, the show is not going to succeed," Gilligan adds.

2009 March 6, Alan Sepinwall, quoting Vince Gilligan, “Sepinwall on TV: Bryan Cranston talks 'Breaking Bad' season two”, in The Star-Ledger, archived from the original on 2011-11-16:

In Sean Hannity's interview with Herman Cain, the Fox News host asks, with his signature slow-pitch softball style, whether the former CEO has the necessary foreign policy chops to be president.

2011 October 27, Conor Friedersdorf, “A Dare for Herman Cain: Prove Your Foreign-Policy Chops”, in The Atlantic:

If you're a Python guru, you can look for ideas to apply your craft to penetration testing, or if you are a newbie Pythonist with some penetration testing chops, then this module serves as a perfect ending to your search for some hands-on experience in pentesting.

2016, Christopher Duffy et al., Python: Penetration Testing for Developers, Packt Publishing Ltd, →ISBN:

Former Governor and UN Ambassador Nikki Haley and Senator Tim Scott have governing chops and personal appeal, and they have been shrewd about keeping Trump at a distance without seeming to attack him, but they are relative newbies and unknown quantities in national politics—high-risk propositions against an incumbent.

2023 August 16, Jonathan Rauch, “Why Not Pence?”, in The Atlantic:

His portfolio expanded as he honed his SEO chops—he was assigned to the Ubisoft account to help launch an Assassin’s Creed title, for example, and he produced YouTube content for Telemundo during the 2018 World Cup.

2023 October 19, Brendan I. Koerner, “Watch This Guy Work, and You’ll Finally Understand the TikTok Era”, in Wired, →ISSN:

(informal, by extension) One's skill at any endeavor; ability, talent; competency.


fine arts

en-noun

fine arts pl (normally plural, singular fine art)

The purely aesthetic arts, such as music, painting, and poetry, as opposed to industrial or functional arts such as architecture or carpentry.


skivvies

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

My skivvies disappeared in surgery, a sinister conjunction of circumstance.

1993, William S. Burroughs, edited by Oliver Harris, The Letters of William S. Burroughs, 1945–1959, New York: Penguin, →ISBN, page 149:

Then she pulled his pants down around his knees. He had a pair of old gray-and-white tight skivvies on. They were worn and threadbare and tight around his groin.

2001, Joe Meno, How the Hula Girl Sings, published 2005, page 165:

“I brought some jeans, a sweater, a heavy shirt, some thermal socks and some skivvies.” He replied.
“Skivvies?” A questioning look wrinkled her forehead.
“Undershirts and underpants.” He explained.

2002, Chuck Frazier, Decades, iUniverse, page 89:

Everyone in 2nd platoon had two pairs of boots, two pairs of utilities and several pair of skivvies, which served no purpose in Nam. No one wore skivvies because of the intense heat and it took only one case of heat rash, affectionately named “crotch rot,” to impress on us that skivvies were better suited as rags to clean weapons and tools.

2002, James R. Kelly, Casting Alpha: Amtracs in Vietnam, page 86:

And the ceiling is so low that the man dancing on the bar, in nothing but his skivvies, was hunched over like a gorilla.

2005 March 13, Denny Lee, “Looking for Mr. Right Now”, in New York Times:

(US, colloquial) Underwear, especially men's underwear and especially men's underpants.


typographica

(plural only) Examples of fine printing (as in a collection).


bakchoi

From Ancient Greek βάκχοι (bákkhoi), from Βάκχος (Bákkhos).

(Ancient Greece) In the Eleusinian Mysteries, the branches that initiates swung along the ground along the Sacred Way, the 22-kilometer pilgrimage from Athens to Eleusis.


juvenilia

From Latin iuvenīlia, neuter plural of iuvenīlis (“of or pertaining to youth”).

...rhyme was not his [Milton's] talent; he had neither the ease of doing it, nor the graces of it: which is manifest in his "Juvenilia" or verses written in his youth, where his rhyme is always constrained and forced,...

1693, John Dryden, A Discourse on the Origin and Progress of Satire:

Lewis’s juvenilia is childlike, and the way it has been handled is childish.

1996, Kathryn Lindskoog, Light in the Shadowlands:

Though there is a large body of criticism on Brontë’s novels, there are very few interpretations of the juvenilia, […]

1997, Tomoko Kuribayashi with Julie Tharp edd., quoting Susan Anne Carlson, “Incest and Rage in Charlotte Brontë’s Novelettes,”, quoted in Creating Safe Space,:

The last line, adapted from Coleridge, reminds us that we are never such kleptomaniacs as in our juvenilia.

2003, James Fenton, The Strength of Poetry:

(chiefly literature) Works produced during an artist's or author's youth.


blix

(photography) In color photography, a combination of bleach and fixer, which removes both the silver crystals and silver halides, leaving behind the color dyes, which form the negative image.


boonies

Clipping of boondocks + -ies, as if a singular *boony (“remote place (singular)”). It was shortened as such by 1964 originally among U.S. troops serving in the Vietnam War in reference to the rural areas of Vietnam, as opposed to Saigon.


bigfeet

(plural only) snowblades; a smaller version of skis.


soft hands

(chiefly sports) The hands in a relaxed state, especially for a batsman to play with a dead bat, or for a fielder to catch the ball without it bouncing out.


dog's bollocks

That new flat screen TV you bought is the dog's bollocks.

(UK, Ireland, Commonwealth, vulgar, slang) Something that is outstandingly good.


bilboes

Unknown. Purported to have been invented in Bilbao, Spain, yet the device's name predates the Spanish Armada that supposedly imported it.

… me thought I lay
Worse then the mutines in the Bilboes, rashly,

c. 1600, William Shakespeare, Hamlet, line 2505 (Folio 1, 1623)

The bilboes looked like handcuffs that went around the ankles. The prisoner lay flat on his back, in the dirt, his feet suspended in the air by a length of iron bar to which the bilboes were fastened.

2001, Glen David Gold, Carter Beats The Devil:

An iron bar fitting around the ankles of prisoners, and having sliding shackles.


weeds

From Old English wǣd, wǣde, from Proto-Germanic *wēdiz (“piece of cloth, garment”).

inh

Come, let us hence, and put on other weeds;

1598–1599 (first performance), William Shakespeare, “Much Adoe about Nothing”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene iii]:

Nor can the judicious reader be at a greater loss on account of Mrs Bridget Blifil, who, he may be assured, conducted herself through the whole season in which grief is to make its appearance on the outside of the body, with the strictest regard to all the rules of custom and decency, suiting the alterations of her countenance to the several alterations of her habit: for as this changed from weeds to black, from black to grey, from grey to white, so did her countenance change from dismal to sorrowful, from sorrowful to sad, and from sad to serious, till the day came in which she was allowed to return to her former serenity.

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

What sight is this? What company of women
Is wending hitherward, in sable weeds
Conspicuous?

1886, Aeschylus, Choephori, translated by Anna Swanwick, lines 10–12


ambages

From Middle English ambages, from Old French ambages (modern French ambages), from Latin ambāges, from ambi- + agere (“to drive”).

Thus from her cell Cumæan Sibyl sings / Ambiguous ambages, the cloyster rings / With the shrill sound thereof, in most dark strains.

1632, Vicar's Virgil, (Please provide the book title or journal name):

Having thus briefly anatomized the body and soul of man,[…]I may now freely proceed to treat of my intended subject, to most men's capacity; and after many ambages, perspicuously define what this melancholy is[…].

1624, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], The Anatomy of Melancholy: […], 2nd edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] John Lichfield and James Short, for Henry Cripps, →OCLC, page 169:

(archaic) Indirect or roundabout ways of talking; circumlocution.


readies

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

(British, informal) Cash, especially bank notes.


pictures

We go to the pictures every Saturday night.


flinders

Probably of North Germanic/Scandinavian origin; see flinder.

The heat brought sweat and the sweat blinded. Black flinders gyrated in the fiery air like bats.

1985, Anthony Burgess, Kingdom of the Wicked:


opening credits

The credits shown at the beginning of a film, TV program, etc.


nates

Enderby watched her warily as she lay prone, having kicked the clothes off the bed, her nates silvered by the Roman moonlight to the likeness of a meringue.

1963, Anthony Burgess, Inside Mr Enderby:

He sat cross-legged on a damask pillow and scrutinized the pale puckered nates with the air of an epicure examining a fly in his vichyssoise.

1982, TC Boyle, Water Music, Penguin, published 2006, page 3:


delicatessen

First attested 1864. From German Delikatessen, plural of Delikatesse (“delicacy, fine food”), at the time also spelt Delicatesse(n), from French délicatesse, from délicat (“fine”), from Latin delicatus (“alluring”).
The sense of store is much more recent, originating in ellipsis from the common attributive use, as in delicatessen shop, delicatessen store, etc.


Guianas

A collective name for Guyana, Suriname and French Guiana; sometimes also including the Guayana region of Venezuela and Amapá, Brazil.


mirrorshades

sunglasses with a reflective coating on the outside of the lenses


edges

i never could keep my edges and kitchen / straight / even after / supercool/straighterPerm had burned / whiteness onto my scalp

1969, Carolyn M. Rodgers, Songs of a Black Bird, For Sistuhs Wearin Straight Hair:

Her edges were thick and dry and the ends of her hair just as thirsty.

2015, Meesha Mink, All Hail the Queen: An Urban Tale:

(plural only, African-American Vernacular) The fine hairs at the edge of someone's (usually a black woman's) hairline; baby hairs.


stations

This tradition dates back to the Penal Laws, when it was forbidden for Catholic priests to say Mass in public. To get around the problem, the Mass was often celebrated secretly in people's homes, and afterwards, those in attendance stayed on for breakfast. This was often followed by a full day of merriment - but only after the priest had finished his breakfast and taken his leave! As the years went by, and the Penal Laws were repealed, the custom of The Stations continued, especially in Ireland's more rural areas.

c. 2000-2005, Bridget Haggerty, “An old custom that still exists...The Stations”, in Irish culture and customs:

(plural only, Ireland, sometimes capitalised) An infrequent religious gathering of family and friends spread over a few days, where Mass and the Rosary will be said in the home.


heuristics

From heuristic, from German heuristisch, from New Latin heuristicus by irregular formation from Ancient Greek εὑρίσκω (heurískō, “I discover”).

der

(psychology, by extension) Simple, efficient rules which people often use to form judgments and make decisions.

(engineering, by extension) Experience-based methods used to reduce the need for calculations pertaining to equipment size, performance, or operating conditions.


northern lights

A common and beautiful side-effect of high solar activity is the Aurora Borealis - the northern lights that dance across Arctic skies. […] Ships' logs noted observations of the northern lights as far south as the Caribbean, and telegraph systems across the world were disrupted as electrical currents were induced in the copper lines.

2023 November 15, Prof. Jim Wild, “This train was delayed because of bad weather in space”, in RAIL, number 996, page 30:

แสงเหนือ

sɛ̌ɛng-nʉ̌ʉa


Nguni

From Zulu noun stem as in umNguni (“member of Nguni people”), isiNguni (“Nguni language group”).

The group of Southern African peoples comprising the Zulu, Xhosa, Swazi, Mpondo and Ndebele nations.


sour grapes

From Aesop's fable The Fox and the Grapes, in which a fox, unable to reach grapes it is seeking, convinces itself that they must have been unripe (therefore, sour) all along and so not worth trying for in the first place.

I think his comments about that new car are just sour grapes because he can't afford it.

Despite the egos of individual scientists, the jealousies and the sour grapes, science had worked pretty much the way it was supposed to.

2010, Naomi Oreskes, Erik M. Conway, chapter 2, in Merchants of Doubt:

His absence was a grievous setback for Liverpool, who had looked the more dangerous team until that point, and it would not be sour grapes for the losers to think that was the moment the game started to swing away from them.

2018 May 26, Daniel Taylor, “Liverpool go through after Mohamed Salah stops Manchester City fightback”, in The Guardian (London):

(idiomatic) A putting down or expression of disdain about something that one desires but cannot have.

sure rønnebær

expression of disdain for something one cannot have


suburbs

(urban studies, plural only) The populated area surrounding a city.


dozens

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

[…] black communities, this “snap” or example of the “dozens” (the clever form of insult also known as signifying and dissin') appears: “Your father's so black that when he falls down, people hop over him for fear of falling in.”

2013, Lewis R. Gordon, Existentia Africana: Understanding Africana Existential Thought, page 34:

(usually with "the", African-American Vernacular) A verbal game in which two or more people exchange witty insults.


Jacobs

An English surname originating as a patronymic derived from Jacob.

A southern neighbourhood of Louisville, Kentucky.

A town in Ashland County, Wisconsin, named after William H. Jacobs.

Former name of Port Providence, Pennsylvania.


Jacobs

Cockney rhyming slang - Jacob's Cream Crackers (a brand of crackers) = knackers

He has also provided some of the show's funniest moments - when enjoying a bath with Three Degrees star Sheila Ferguson he told her: 'I'm comfortable with anything, love, but you don't want to see my 'Jacobs' hanging out.'

2004 December 8, Sherna Noah, “Joe's jungle 'experience'”, in The Birmingham Post:

I used to have a Velo seat, which is pretty similar to the KH in design, and I got rid of it for the same reason. The padding was so deep and spongey that my Jacobs used to float to the top as I rode along.

2005 July 2, Mikefule [username], “Re: Nut buster seat”, in rec.sport.unicycling (Usenet):

Horseshit every match matters and Alex Ferguson would drag his players out of the club by their Jacobs if they made such a statement.

2008 November 25, Baldoni, “Re: Amazing...”, in alt.sports.soccer.manchester.united (Usenet):

(UK, slang) Testicles (sometimes spelt Jacob's).


heights

A neighborhood or other development built on a hill or mountain.


pincers

From Middle English pynsours, from Old French pinceure, pinchure, from pincier (“to pinch”).

Milk formed their chief diet, and this they were supposed to imbibe from the witch herself, from a third "teat" which had been made beneath the arm by a nip from the Devil's pincers.

1936, Rollo Ahmed, The Black Art, London: Long, page 107:

A gripping tool, pivoted like a pair of scissors, but with blunt jaws.


fives

(chiefly British) a ball game, somewhat like tennis, played against a wall.


fives

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

Look what the funds were on the 1st of March—what the French fives were when I bought for the count. And what they're at now.

1847 January – 1848 July, William Makepeace Thackeray, Vanity Fair […], London: Bradbury and Evans […], published 1848, →OCLC:

(finance, archaic) Shares at a rate of five percent.


swimming trunks

A pair of shorts or briefs worn for swimming or bathing.

مايوه رِجالي

a pair of shorts or briefs worn for swimming or bathing


nuts and bolts

It's really not so hard, once you know the nuts and bolts of the editing process.

Perhaps those who analyze the prospects for government in an Islamic state based on the works of these theorists forget that, after the revolution, lofty ideals and Utopias are discarded for the nuts and bolts of day-to-day governing.

1999, Daniel E. Price, Islamic Political Culture, Democracy, and Human Rights: A Comparative Study, page 31:

It also involves working with the nuts and bolts of management and leadership.

2010, Virginia A. Walter, Twenty-First-Century Kids, Twenty-First-Century Librarians, page 77:

The information presented in the previous chapters gives the nuts and bolts of the most common and basic techniques used to prove the truth of mathematical results.

2011, Antonella Cupillari, The Nuts and Bolts of Proofs: An Introduction to Mathematical Proofs, page 71:

(idiomatic) The basic inner workings of something; the fundamentals; that which makes something operate.


martial arts

Collectively, the traditional East Asian fighting styles, and their derivatives


The ’80s were fun, at least for me. With great pride, I can now claim to have been the first mainstream critic on the mailing list of SST Records, writing, of their initial Black Flag issue, "This record, a relentless wall of noise that is never less than noisy, sounds unlike anything else I've heard this year."

2004, Neal Pollack, Never Mind the Pollacks: A Rock and Roll Novel, page 205:

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

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


Prominent in the 1980s and 1990s for the part it played in Postmodernism and then in Deconstruction, in the 2000s AD has leveraged a depth and level of scrutiny not currently offered elsewhere in the design press.

2008, Julieanna Preston, Interior Atmospheres, Academy Press, →ISBN:

When asked about how many planes Epstein owned […] [Maxwell] answered "in the '90s he had one plane and at some point in the 2000s he had two planes," demonstrating a clear understanding of how decades are described.

2021 February 5, Jacob Shamsian, “Ghislaine Maxwell's lawyers say an indictment should be thrown out because she wasn't sure what 'sexual activities' meant during a deposition”, in Insider:

The decade that began on January 1, 2000 and ended on December 31, 2009.


Tsonga

A large group of people who live in northern South Africa and southern Mozambique.


On the Alxa Plateau of Inner Mongolia, Gaxun Nur Lake (262 km²) dried in the 1970s and the Sogo Nur Lake in the 1980s.

2008, Robert Jellison, William D. Williams, Brian Timms, Javier Alcocer, Nikolay V. Aladin, “Salt lakes: values, threats and future”, in Nicholas V. C. Polunin, editor, Aquatic Ecosystems: Trends and Global Prospects, Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 99, column 2:

Mr. Zhang said a main goal of moving people from Xihaigu was to turn the hills green, with a parallel planting program. More than two million acres have been converted to forest and pasture land, he said, citing the Guyuan area, where forest coverage was 22 percent last year, up from 4 percent in the 1980s.

2016 October 25, Edward Wong, “Resettling China’s ‘Ecological Migrants’”, in The New York Times, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2016-10-27, World:

The decade beginning in 1980 and ending in 1989.


Tom, Dick and Harry

Three common first names; many languages have similar formations, see translations.

(business, programming, uncommon) Three hypothetical customers, user personas, or similar constructs.


glitterati

en-noun

glitterati pl (normally plural, singular glitteratus)

Fifty Seven Fifty Seven—The country's entertainment-industry glitterati make themselves right at home at I. M. Pei's monumental dining room.

1997 June 2, “Restaurants”, in New York, volume 30, number 21, page 132:

Celebrities or people with a lot of money; the smart set.


hydrozoa

From Ancient Greek ὕδρος (húdros, “water snake”) (from Ancient Greek ὕδωρ (húdōr, “water”)) + ζῷον (zôion, “animal”).

uder

A large group of marine animals, of the class Hydrozoa, whose life cycles contain a sexual and asexual stage


bygones

en-noun

bygones pl (normally plural, singular bygone)

[…] if you spare me, bygones are bygones, and when you fellows are in court for piracy, I'll save you all I can.

1881–1882, Robert Louis Stevenson, Treasure Island, London; Paris: Cassell & Company, published 14 November 1883, →OCLC:


horsefeathers

The "nonsense" sense, a euphemism for horseshit, is horse + feathers, a nonexistent item as only birds have feathers. Compare hen’s teeth.
The "horse hair" sense notes the similarity of that hair to bird feathers.
Regarding the roofing sense, compare feathering strip and horsefeathers.

The exterior of the court is entirely of sheathing and wood shingles applied over "horsefeathers."

1940, New York lumber trade journal, volumes 108-9, page 26:

In summary, the record establishes that to produce horsefeathers one starts by sawing a log (longitudinally) into boards or planks, which are then likewise center resawn (longitudinally); that the original boards, as well as the center resawn boards, have at least two approximately parallel longitudinal sawed surfaces; that the resawn boards are simply resawn again longitudinally at an angle or bevel to produce horsefeathers; and that the only other sawing required is the crosscutting of the boards to length.

1968 United States Customs Court, First Division, A. N. DERINGER, INC. v. UNITED STATES 287 F.Supp. 1016 (1968) August 8, 1968

Feathering strips, called horsefeathers, can be used to level cedar-shingle roof before reroofing with asphalt shingles

1978 April, Joseph R. Provey, “How to reroof your house like a pro”, in Popular Mechanics, page 160:

To install shakes or shingles over beveled siding, fill in the low points of the existing wall with lumber or plywood strips (called horse feathers).

2005, Daniel Benn Atcheson, Roofing Construction and Estimating, Craftsman Book Company, page 192:


ascii

From Latin asciī, plural of ascius, from Ancient Greek ἄσκῐος (áskios, “shadowless”).


tatters

Cognate with Old English tættec, tætteca.

The universe is finished; the copestone is on, and the chips were carted off a million years ago. Poor Lazarus there, chattering his teeth against the curbstone for his pillow, and shaking off his tatters with his shiverings, he might plug up both ears with rags, and put a corn-cob into his mouth, and yet that would not keep out the tempestuous Euroclydon.

1851 November 14, Herman Melville, “The Carpet-Bag”, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC, page 10:

(plural only) Ragged clothing or fabric, paper, etc.


itchy feet

(idiomatic) A strong desire to travel; wanderlust.


Highland games

Festivals held throughout the year and in many countries of the world, involving competitive events, whose purpose is to celebrate the culture and heritage of Scotland and especially the Scottish Highlands.


monkey bars

1955, in reference to the climbing habits of monkeys.

A row of bars, found on playgrounds, under which one hangs by the arms and crosses by brachiation (swinging between bars, legs dangling down).


vitals

(plural only) Those organs of the body that are essential for life.

(plural only, figuratively) Those parts of a system without which it cannot function.


chambers

From chamber + -s (suffix forming pluralia tantum and regular plurals of nouns, and the third-person singular simple present indicative forms of verbs).

suffix

Chiefly in in chambers: a judge's private office which is used for hearings that do not need to be held in open court.

tuomarin toimisto

judge’s private office which is used for hearings that do not need to be held in open court

[B]e you mannerly to her, becauſe you are to pretend only to be her Squire, to arm her to her Lavvyers Chambers; but I vvill be impudent and baudy, for ſhe muſt love and marry me.

1676 December 11 (first performance), [William] Wycherley, The Plain-Dealer. A Comedy. […], London: […] T[homas] N[ewcomb] for James Magnes and Rich[ard] Bentley […], published 1677, →OCLC, Act II, page 32:

[…] I dismissed my coach at the gate, and tripped it down to my counsel's chambers; for lawyer's fees take up too much of a small disputed jointure to admit any other expenses but mere necessaries.

1712 July 1 (Gregorian calendar), [Thomas Tickell], “FRIDAY, June 20, 1712”, in The Spectator, number 410; republished in Alexander Chalmers, editor, The Spectator; a New Edition, […], volume V, New York, N.Y.: D[aniel] Appleton & Company, 1853, →OCLC, page 25:

They rapped violently at the door of his [Samuel Johnson's] chambers in the Temple, till at laſt he appeared in his ſhirt, vvith his little black vvig on the top of his head, inſtead of a nightcap, and a poker in his hand, imagining, probably, that ſome ruffians vvere coming to attack him.

1791, James Boswell, “[1752]”, in The Life of Samuel Johnson, LL.D. […], volume I, London: […] Henry Baldwin, for Charles Dilly, […], →OCLC, page 134:

Nevertheless, these venerable Inns which have the Lamb and Flag and the Winged Horse for their ensigns, have attractions for persons who inhabit them, and a share of the rough comforts and freedom, which men always remember with pleasure. I don't know whether the student of law permits himself the refreshment of enthusiasm, or indulges in poetical reminiscences as he passes by historical chambers, […] but the man of letters can't but love the place which has been inhabited by so many of his brethren, […] old Samuel Johnson rolling through the fog with the Scotch gentleman [James Boswell] at his heels on their way to Dr. [Oliver] Goldsmith's chambers in Brick Court; […]

1848 November – 1850 December, William Makepeace Thackeray, “The Knights of the Temple”, in The History of Pendennis. […], volume I, London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1849, →OCLC, page 290:

To be well in chambers is melancholy, and lonely and selfish enough; but to be ill in chambers— […] —this, indeed, is a fate so dismal and tragic, that we shall not enlarge upon its horrors, and shall only heartily pity those bachelors in the Temple, who brave it every day.

1848 November – 1850 December, William Makepeace Thackeray, “Which Had Nearly Been the Last of the Story”, in The History of Pendennis. […], volume II, London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1850, →OCLC, page 120:

(British) Originally, a set of rooms at an Inn of Court used by one or more barristers as an office and residence; now, the office of one or more barristers in any building.

asianajajan toimisto

originally, a set of rooms at an Inn of Court used by one or more barristers as an office and residence; now, the office of one or more barristers in any building

[W]e cannot be ſecure, vvhile ſuch huge Fleets of Men of VVar, both Spaniſh, French, Dutch, and Dunkirkeers, ſome of them laden vvith Ammunition, Men, Arms, and Armies, do daily ſail on our Seas, and confront the Kings Chambers; […]

1633 February 9 (Gregorian calendar), James Howell, “XI. To Sir Arthur Ingram, at York.”, in Epistolæ Ho-Elianæ. Familiar Letters Domestic and Forren. […], 3rd edition, volume I, London: […] Humphrey Mos[e]ley, […], published 1655, →OCLC, section VI, page 233:

The exclusive territorial jurisdiction of the British Crown over the enclosed parts of the sea along the coasts of the island of Great Britain, has immemorially extended to those bays called the King's Chambers; i.e. portions of the sea cut off by lines drawn from one promontory to another.

1845, William Whewell, “International Rights of Property”, in The Elements of Morality, including Polity […], volume II, London: John W[illiam] Parker, […], →OCLC, book VI (International Jus. Rights and Obligations between States.), article 1170, page 378:

Considerable areas of sea were thus enclosed within the Chambers, particularly on the west coast.

1974, Christopher Lloyd, editor, The Mariner’s Mirror: The Journal of the Society for Nautical Research, volume 60, London: Society for Nautical Research, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 96:

(British, historical) In full king's chambers: parts of the sea next to the coast of England and Wales delimited by imaginary lines connecting headlands, over which the Crown asserted exclusive jurisdiction; these have now been superseded by the concept of the territorial sea.


tweezers

17th century (1645–55): plural of tweeser (on the model of nippers, pincers, pliers or scissors), from obsolete tweese (“case for small instruments”) (or alternatively, alteration of plural form tweeses), aphetic form of earlier etweese (plural of etwee), from French étuis, plural of étui (“case, box, cover”) (from Old French estui (“container, prison”, noun), derivative of étuier (earlier spelling, estuier (“to shut up, guard, keep, preserve, save, enclose, place in a cover”), probably from Vulgar Latin *estudiāre (“to keep, treat with care”) or *studiāre, from Latin studēre (“to care about”).

der

A small pincerlike instrument, usually made of metal, used for handling or picking up small objects (such as postage stamps), plucking out (plucking) hairs, pulling out slivers, etc.

pincetë

small pincer-like instrument, usually made of metal, used for handling small objects


Xingu

A cultural reservation in central Brazil, in the state of Mato Grosso.


Western Apache

The Southern Athabascan language spoken by the Western Apache people.


East Indies

From east + Indies, a qualification added to distinguish the original lands and islands of "India" (inclusive of areas from Subsaharan Africa to Indonesia and Japan) from the "West Indies".

Island Southeast Asia
Island Southeast Asia

Southeast Asia, especially Island Southeast Asia or Indonesia, but also including India, Indochina, Malaya and the Malay Archipelago, from the Philippines to Indonesia.


bangs

en-noun

bangs pl (normally plural, singular bang)

From bang (“to cut [hair], dock [an animal's tail]”), probably from the sudden manner in which docked hair appears to burst out explosively when it's cut (i.e. "with a bang"). Ultimately from bang (“to strike noisily, explode”).

(chiefly US, Philippines) Hair hanging over the forehead.


pediatrics

From Ancient Greek παῖς (paîs, “child”) + -iatrics.

(American spelling, medicine) The branch of medicine that deals with the treatment of children and adolescents.


Salish

Synonym of Salishan; Of or relating to the Salish people or their languages.


Pyrénées

The Pyrénées form a chain of rocks continuing without any interruption from the ocean to the Mediterranean, and are the most considerable of Europe after the Alps.

1842, A[lexander] Taylor, On the Curative Influence of the Climate of Pau, and the Mineral Waters of the Pyrenees, on Disease. […], London: John W. Parker, […], page 107:

The Pyrénées were only about eleven hundred meters high at the point where we were to begin the climb on foot. But already there was a lot of snow.

2010, Max Ciampoli, Linda Ciampoli, Churchill’s Secret Agent: A Novel Based on a True Story, New York, N.Y.: Berkley Books, →ISBN:

The Pyrénées, rising at their highest to just over 11,000 feet, though rather less on the western end towards Hendaye, provided a naturally magnificent backdrop. It was as though God had had second thoughts about making Spain and France such close neighbours and had shovelled the rocky Pyrénées into place to keep the two countries apart.

2010, Derek Shuff, Evader: The Epic Story of the First British Airman to Be Rescued by the Comète Escape Line in World War II, Stroud, Glos.: The History Press, →ISBN, page 120:


tons

I have tons of pens, but none of them work.

Tons of people attended the game.

(colloquial) Lots; large quantities or numbers (of people or things).


quarter nettings

(nautical, obsolete) Hammock nettings along a ship's quarter rails.


Qashqai

From Persian قشقایی, from the name in Qashqai, قشقایی.


literati

literati pl (normally plural, singular literatus or literato)

literatus (singular)
literato (singular)

/ˌlɪt.əˈɹɑː.tiː/

/ˌlɪtəˈɹɑti/

From Latin līterātī, plural of līterātus (“lettered, literate”).

First, to Counsellor Fitzclabber, who, he told me, was then employed in compiling a history of the kings of Minster, from Irish manuscripts; and then to his friend Mr. Gahagan, who was a profound philosopher and politician, and had projected many excellent schemes for the good of his country. But it seems these literati had been very ill rewarded for their ingenious labours; for, between them both, there was but one shirt, and half a pair of breeches.

1748, Tobias George Smollett, The Adventures of Roderick Random, Forgotten Books, published 2008, →ISBN, page 301:

He is not of the people, this lordly magistrate. He is one of the privileged literati. His literary degrees are high and numerous.

1883, Isabella L. Bird, The Golden Chersonese and The Way Thither, BiblioBazaar, published 2008, →ISBN, Letter IV (Continued), page 83:

Just like every other human organization, the selection of political leaders through the parties has its weaknesses, but these have been exposed ad nauseam by German literati during the last decades.

1968, Max Weber, “Bureaucracy and Political Leadership”, in Reinhard Bendix, editor, State and Society: A Reader in Comparative Political Sociology, University of California Press, published 1973, →ISBN, page 307:

Eighteenth-century Scottish intellectuals, the literati, had substantial interests in America. Yet no one has ever noticed just how extensive the ties were that bound the literati to the new world, or how relatively novel those were for Scots in the eighteenth century, and how they were formed and shaped.

2001, Roger L. Emerson, “The Scottish Literati and America, 1680–1800”, in Ned C. Landsman, editor, Nation and Province in the First British Empire: Scotland and the Americas,1600–1800, Bucknell University Press, →ISBN, page 183:

Well-educated, literary people; intellectuals who are interested in literature.


Woodward-Hoffmann rules

Woodward-Hoffmann rules pl (plural only)

From Robert Burns Woodward and Roald Hoffman, American chemists.

(chemistry) A set of three rules that invoke the conservation of orbital symmetry to predict the stereochemistry of pericyclic reactions.

Roald Hoffman
Robert Burns Woodward
Woodward-Hoffmann rules


Guugu Yimidhirr

/ˌɡuɡu ˈjɪmədʒɪə/

An Australian Aboriginal people who live in northern Queensland.


Guugu Yimidhirr

/ˌɡuɡu ˈjɪmədʒɪə/

The Pama-Maric Australian Aboriginal suffixing language spoken by those people.


Lars

Formed within English as a plural form of lar, q.v.

Alternative form of Lares, the classical Roman household deities


doubles

→ Japanese: ダブルス (daburusu)

Seeing as we've got four people, let's play doubles.

(sports, plural only) a game between pairs of players

A quarter peal of plain bob doubles was rung.

(campanology, plural only) bell changes rung on five bells


whites

A set of white clothes, especially as a uniform.


Indies

The East Indies, including India, Southeast Asia, Indonesia, and adjacent lands.

The West Indies, including Cuba, Puerto Rico, and other islands of the Caribbean.

(historical) The Western Hemisphere, during the early period of European colonization and exploration.


penetralia

The innermost, secret or hidden parts; mysteries.

I believe, had I been in the inmost recesses of my habitation—the very penetralia—your eagerness would have surmounted bolts, bars, decency, and everything.

1748, [Tobias Smollett], The Adventures of Roderick Random. […], volume (please specify |volume=I or II), London: […] [William Strahan] for J[ohn] Osborn […], →OCLC:

He wished to be what he called "safe" with all those whom he had admitted to the penetralia of his house and heart.

1857, Anthony Trollope, “Mrs. Bold is Entertained by Dr. and Mrs. Grantly at Plumstead”, in Barchester Towers. […], copyright edition, volume II, Leipzig: Bernhard Tauchnitz, published 1859, →OCLC, page 12:

[…] Bob's countenance was sublimed by his recent interview, like that of a priest just come from the penetralia of the temple.

1880, Thomas Hardy, “A Discovery Turns the Scale”, in The Trumpet-Major […], volume III, London: Smith, Elder, & Co., […], →OCLC, page 94:

The innermost parts of a building, such as a shrine, recess or a sanctuary within a temple.


freedom fries

Originated at Cubbie's, a restaurant in Beaufort, North Carolina (owner Neal Rowland) in February 2003.
"It was never about politics," Rowland said of his initial decision to rename french fries "freedom fries." "It was about supporting our troops. Nothing has changed here. We still support our troops, and we still call them freedom fries."

[Q.]“Freedom fries” is a symbol of anti-French feeling. Does that sort of thing gall you?
[A.]Higonnet: […] Again, one has to distinguish between the public situation, in which a sense of hostility to things French is quite severe, and the private situation inside the university world where, when people talk about freedom fries, it's a big joke.

2003 March 22, Joseph Rosenbloom, quoting Patrice Higonnet, “Europeans in America: Freedom fries and raw nerves”, in International Herald Tribune:

Upset by the failure of the French government to support the war, however, the chairman of the House Administration Committee announced on March 11 that he had ordered “French toast” and “French fries” stricken from the menu of the House cafeteria. In their place would be “freedom toast” and “freedom fries.”

2006, Andrew Rudalevige, The New Imperial Presidency, page 3:

French Toast Egg Bagels Served as French Toast
Freedom Fries
Irish Nachos Freedom Fries, Bacon Bits, Chedder^([sic]) & Jack Cheese

2013 June 24, Dave Lieberman, quoting the menu of Bagel Me! restaurant, “Restaurant in Villa Park Still Sells “Freedom” Fries, But Doesn't Have a Problem with “French” Toast”, in OC Weekly:

Republican House members then ordered that “French fries” on the menus of all congressional restaurants be renamed “Freedom fries.” In response, a French Embassy spokesperson noted that fries had originated in Belgium.

2021 September 17, Karen DeYoung, “France recalls its ambassadors to the United States and Australia over submarine dispute”, in Washington Post:

(rare, US politics, sometimes humorous) French fries.


abuttals

The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles

Oxford University Press
w:Oxford University Press

The boundaries of lands with respect to adjacent lands; buttals.


fire dogs

The metal frame in a fireplace, used to hold the logs, or to support the poker and other tools.


digits

Sure she seemed interested — but did you get those digits though?

Muddah called every now and then, and I dialed her digits a few times too, but shit just felt funny when I talked to her.

2006, Noire [pseudonym], Thug-A-Licious: An Urban Erotic Tale, New York, N.Y.: One World, Ballantine Books, →ISBN, page 132:

telephone number
telephone number#English

(US slang, dated) Synonym of telephone number; especially, the one that belongs to a potential dating partner.


sniffles

Many people have suffered from colds, the sniffles and other childhood illnesses.

Danny has been having the sniffles and the sneezes all week.

(colloquial, plural only) Any minor ailment causing a runny nose; the symptom of a runny nose itself.


goolies

goolies pl (normally plural, singular gooly)

Probably from Hindi गोली (golī, “ball; pill; bullet”) or a cognate in other Indian languages.

"My oath," he said, "here's a man got his goolie chit. And I left mine behind. How fat can you get?"
"I've got mine," said Ward quietly, tapping his pocket."
"It's not your goolies I'm worried about," said Curnow.

Marcus: Sorry, your "gooly"?
Stylax: Yeah.
Marcus: You can't have one "gooly". It's just your "goolies".
Stylax: No, no, no, no. The whole thing is your goolies, all three of them, but if you're talking about one in particular, you say "gooly".

2013 April 8, “The Herpes Cat”, in Plebs:

(UK, Ireland, Commonwealth, vulgar slang, usually in the plural) The testicles.


golden handcuffs

The stock plan really served as golden handcuffs for the executives.

(idiomatic) Any arrangement or agreement designed to provide extremely favorable benefits or pay, so as to discourage a participant from choosing to leave it, especially to retain a choice employee in a role that is unpleasant to them.


sweet nothings

sweet nothings pl (normally plural, singular sweet nothing)

Hearing such words as these, in the sweetest, tenderest voice that ever caressed a lover's senses, Basil knew not how to word all that was in his heart. . . . Side by side, forgetful of all but their recovered peace, they talked sweet nothings.

1904, George Gissing, chapter 28, in Veranilda:

[T]he facts, to make matters worse, were made public with the usual affectionate letters that passed between them, full of sweet nothings.

1922 February, James Joyce, “[Episode 16]”, in Ulysses, Paris: Shakespeare and Company, […], →OCLC:

It is difficult to know how accurate this portrait is, and how much of it consists of sweet nothings whispered into the author's ear by loyal retainers.

2004 April 25, Joe Klein, “Does Bush Really Get Us?”, in Time, archived from the original on 2010-11-03:

(idiomatic) Insubstantial or romantic words that are only meant to flatter, woo, or seduce.

甜蜜情話

insubstantial or romantic words that are only meant to flatter, woo or seduce


Kepler's laws

Kepler's laws pl (normally plural, singular Kepler's law)

For Johannes Kepler, German mathematician and astronomer.

(astronomy) The three laws of planetary motion discovered by Kepler in the early 17th century, stating that (i) the orbit of a planet is an ellipse with the Sun at one of the two foci, (ii) a line segment joining a planet and the Sun sweeps out equal areas during equal intervals of time, and (iii) the square of the orbital period of a planet is proportional to the cube of the semi-major axis of its orbit.

Johannes Kepler
Kepler's laws of planetary motion


Kirchhoff's circuit laws

Kirchhoff's circuit laws pl (plural only)

From Gustav Kirchhoff, German physicist.

(physics) A pair of fundamental natural laws dealing with the relations of currents at a junction and the voltages around a loop.


high heels

high heels pl (normally plural, singular high heel)

→ Japanese: ハイヒール (hai hīru)

I look sexier in high heels.


assets

assets pl (normally plural, singular asset)

From Anglo-Norman asetz, from Old French assez (“enough”). Originally singular, with the meaning "enough to meet liabilities"; later reanalyzed as a plural form.

His assets are much greater than his liabilities.

(finance) Any property or object of value that one possesses, usually considered as applicable to the payment of one's debts.


sixes

six of one, half a dozen of the other#English

Short for six of one, half a dozen of the other.


Lagrange's equations

From Joseph Louis Lagrange, French mathematician and astronomer.

(mathematics) a set of equations of motion of a mechanical system which relate the kinetic energy of the system to its generalized coordinates


Reg Grundys

Rhyming slang from the name of Australian businessman and media mogul Reg Grundy.

If this kept up, I′d get dizzy and pass out. And then Ken would start to go through my pockets and find what I had in my Reg Grundys.

2001, Shane Maloney, chapter I, in The Brush-Off, page 286:

But Lasjoz kept his T-shirts, sox, Reg Grundys and hankies folded tidily and separated from each other.

2007, Robert G Barrett, Les Norton and the Case of the Talking Pie Crust, HarperCollins Australia, published 2010, unnumbered page:

What makes my children′s faces blaze hotter than crimson French knickers and matching suspender belt, is catching their parents walking around the house dressed only in their Reg Grundys.

2009, Sonia Neale, Death by Teenager, HarperCollins Australia, published 2011, unnumbered page:


cuts

‘I′ll give you something to keep you awake, McFadyen!’ Ape shouted.
Meat was taken off to the staff room and given the cuts.

1995, Bill Marsh, Ape: Old Yanconian Daze, page 110:

He reckons that about 80% of the boys in the school regularly received the cuts from Mr Saunders so he didn′t feel as if he was being unduly picked on.

2001, Lyall Ford, Poorhouse to Paradise: The Adventures of a Pioneering Family in a North Queensland Country Town, page 55:

My greatest happiness is that Sebastian is having a good time at school and has never been given the cuts.

2008, Gaynor McGrath, Lemniscate, page 250:

(Australia, New Zealand, dated or historical, with "the") Corporal punishment at school.


bucks

Casual oxford shoes made of buckskin, often white or a neutral colour.


cartesian coordinates

Cartesian coordinates
Cartesian coordinates#English

(US) Alternative letter-case form of Cartesian coordinates


viaticals

From Latin viaticum (“provisions for a long journey”).

der

Life insurance policies which are sold at a discount to the face amount, or death benefit, of people who have been medically determined to have life expectancies of less than two years.


secateurs

Borrowed from French sécateurs, plural of sécateur, from Latin secō + -ateur.

To start with, I'm going to arm myself with a saw, shears and secateurs to radically prune some of what's there.

2023 August 5, Diarmuid Gavin, “It's time to give my garden a makeover”, in Irish Independent Magazine, page 28:

(chiefly UK, Ireland, Commonwealth) Small, handheld pruning shears.


reserved powers

(US) Powers reserved for the states under the 10th Amendment of the United States Constitution.


unmentionables

Victorian Era euphemism, specifically the category of euphemism known as indirection (compare privates, behind, sleep together). First intended meaning was "trousers", attested from 1823. Meaning "underwear" is recorded from 1910.

(plural only) undergarments, underwear, drawers

The show understands that implied nudity is worlds funnier than actual nudity, and goes to delightful lengths to keep Marge and Homer’s unmentionables out of view.

2016 January 24, Les Chappell, “TV: Review: The Simpsons (Classic), “Natural Born Kissers” (season nine, episode 25, originally aired 05/17/1998)”, in The Onion AV Club:

His little man-o'-war top and unmentionables were full of sand but Cissy was a past mistress in the art of smoothing over life's tiny troubles and and^([sic]) very quickly not one speck of sand was to be seen on his smart little suit.

1922 February, James Joyce, “[Episode 13: Nausicaa]”, in Ulysses, Paris: Shakespeare and Company, […], →OCLC, part II [Odyssey], page 332:

(plural only, obsolete) breeches, trousers


leavings

The leavings were thrown to the dogs.

The poor survive on the leavings of the rich and wasteful.

A worthless and incidental residuum, such as scraps from a meal, or shavings or sawdust from wood.


have nots

en-noun

have nots pl (normally plural, singular have not)


court costs

(law) Expenses other than attorney's fees associated with the prosecution or defense of a lawsuit for which, in some jurisdictions, the prevailing party may demand repayment.


lees

From Old French lies, from Medieval Latin lias (“lees, dregs”) (descent via winemaking common in monasteries), from Gaulish *ligyā, *legyā (“silt, sediment”) (compare Welsh llai, Old Breton leh (“deposit, silt”)), from Proto-Celtic *legyā (“layer”), from Proto-Indo-European *legʰ- (“to lie”).

Methinks my body is but the lees of my better being.

1851, Herman Melville, Moby Dick, Chapter 7:

Kipper drained his glass to the lees and seemed to become calmer.

1960, P. G. Wodehouse, Jeeves in the Offing, chapter X:

The sediment that settles during fermentation of beverages, consisting of dead yeast and precipitated parts of the fruit.

մրուր

the sediment that settles during fermentation of beverages, consisting of dead yeast and precipitated parts of the fruit


tagliatelle

tagliatelle (usually uncountable, plural tagliatelles)

tagliatelle pl (normally plural, singular tagliatella)

tagliatelle (canonical)
tagliatelle (canonical plural)
tagliatelles (plural)
tagliatella (singular)

Unadapted borrowing from Italian tagliatelle, from tagliare (“to cut”).

unadapted borrowing

When the tagliatelle are al dente, drain thoroughly and transfer to a warm bowl.

1985, Fred Plotkin, “[Recipes] Emilia-Romagna”, in The Authentic Pasta Book: Regional Italian Recipes for Great Classic and Contemporary Dishes From Great Chefs and Fine Home Cooks, New York, N.Y.: Simon and Schuster, →ISBN, page 182:

And the tagliatelle are topped with shrimp and accompanied by a plate of good hot French bread made before your eyes in the restaurant’s small glass-walled bakery.

1992, Clint Hall, Tokyo Dining Out: A Budget Restaurant Guide, Tokyo: The Japan Times, →ISBN, page 25:

Stir the ham into the sauce; if the tagliatelle are not quite ready, remove the ham and the peas from the heat.

1993, Sarah Freeman, “Pasta with Sauces”, in The Student Pasta Cook Book: Eating Well Without Mixer, Microwave or Money, London: Collins & Brown, →ISBN, page 82:

Fry gently over a low heat, stirring from time to time, until the tagliatelle are ready (it’s fine if the beans go slightly fuzzy at the edges, just as long as they don’t burn!).

2001, Sophie Grigson, “[Pasta, Rice and Grains] Pasta”, in The Complete Sophie Grigson Cookbook: Over 440 Classic Recipes from Sophie Grigson, London: BBC Worldwide Limited, →ISBN, page 284:

Long, flat ribbons of egg pasta, originally from Emilia-Romagna, sliced from a rolled-out sheet.

tajadèli (Carpigiano, Modenese, Reggiano)


sordes

→ Welsh: siwrwd (“fragments”)

→ Welsh: sorod (“dregs”)

Fresh sheets, sponging, a spoonful of animal soup, sordes removed from his cracked lips, black in the candlelight.

Deposits of dirt or bacteria on the body, discharges; bacterial deposits on the teeth or tongue.


soft dollars

A rebate or commission paid with goods or services, rather than cash.


tormina

From Latin, ultimately from torqueō (“twist, turn”).

Clonfert’s tormina exercise my mind; for by whatever private scale of pain one may measure them, they must come tolerably high.

1977, Patrick O'Brian, The Mauritius Command:

(medicine) acute pain in the abdomen; colic, gripes


ground forces

(military) The military units operating on the ground, including tanks, soldiers, artillery, etc.

陸軍

all military units operating on the ground


linens

Household textiles made of linen-like cloth (such as cotton fabric), including tablecloths and bed sheets. The singular, linen, of this sense is rare.


fauces

Borrowing from Latin faucēs (“the upper part of a throat”).

bor

(zoology) That portion of the interior of a spiral shell which can be seen by looking into the aperture.


auricularia

From Latin auriculāria (“ear-shaped things”).

(zoology) The larvae of the sea cucumber.


poliorcetics

/ˌpəʊlɪɔːˈsɛtɪks/

Partly:
* borrowed from Late Latin poliorcetica (“siege engines”) + English -s (suffix forming pluralia tantum) (poliorcetica is derived from Koine Greek πολιορκητικά (poliorkētiká, “things related to sieges”), the neuter plural of πολιορκητικός (poliorkētikós, “relating to poliorcetics, poliorcetic”), from Ancient Greek πολῐορκέω (poliorkéō, “to besiege, blockade”) (from πόλις (pólis, “city”) + ἕρκος (hérkos, “enclosure; fence”)) + -τῐκός (-tikós, suffix forming adjectives meaning ‘of or relating to’)); and
* from poliorcetic (“relating to poliorcetics”) + -s (suffix forming pluralia tantum).

der

πολιορκητικά

suffix

The grand battles of the Archaic and early Classical periods were replaced by the new art of poliorcetics.

1992, Lars Karlsson, Fortification Towers and Masonry Techniques in the Hegemony of Syracuse, 405–211 B.C. (Skrifter Utgivna av Svenska Institutet i Rom [Publications of the Swedish Institute in Rome]; 49), Stockholm: Svenska Institutet i Rom [Swedish Institute in Rome], →ISBN, →ISSN, page 11, column 1:

(military) The art of siege warfare, namely, that of conducting or resisting a siege; siegecraft.


riff-raff

en-noun

riff-raff (usually uncountable, plural riff-raffs)


volk

Borrowed from Afrikaans volk. Doublet of folk.

The lover, Tertius […] is a journalist regarded by many of his family as a traitor to the volk.

2012, Nadine Gordimer, No Time Like the Present, Bloomsbury, published 2013, page 22:


shirts and skins

A method of indicating team membership, typically when played by boys or men in informal sporting contests, in which the members of one team (the "skins") remove their shirts and play shirtless, while the others (the "shirts") leave their shirts on.

Any game (especially basketball) played using the above method.


mixed doubles

(sports) A game played between two teams, each consisting of a female and a male.


lederhosen

Borrowed from German Lederhose (literally “leather trousers”). The final -n probably from the German plural; alternatively influenced by Bavarian Lederhosn (singular and plural).

der

A pair of knee-breeches made of leather, typical of Bavaria and Austria.


trews

From Scottish Gaelic triubhas, from Middle Irish triubus.

(British) Trousers, especially if close-fitting and tartan.


Bermuda shorts

A type of knee-high shorts reminiscent of cut formal trousers.


nachos

Borrowed from Mexican Spanish nachos, from Nacho. Nacho is a common diminutive form of Ignacio (“Ignatius”) in Spanish. The Mexican creator of the dish, Ignacio Anaya (1895–1975), named it after himself in 1943.

A Mexican dish of tortilla chips, covered in melted cheese and sometimes other ingredients.

my very educated mother just served us nachos


gate receipts

The amount of money earned by selling tickets for a concert or a sports event.


letters patent

From letters patents (archaic), from Late Middle English lettres patentes, lettres patent (“document or documents granting a privilege, power, or right, making an appointment or decree, etc.”) [and other forms], from Anglo-Norman lettres patentes (the plural of lettre patente), from Latin litterae patentēs, the plural of littera patēns (so called because they were written on open sheets of parchment), from littera (“letter”) + patēns (“accessible, open”) (the present active participle of pateō (“to be accessible or open; to be clear or evident”), from Proto-Indo-European *peth₂- (“to spread out; to fly”)). The English term is analysable as letters + patent (“open, unconcealed; (archaic) open to public perusal”).

nb...

letres patentes, letters patentes, lettirs patentes, lettre patent, lettres patents, patent lettre, patente lettres

compound

(law) A type of legal document in the form of an open letter issued by an authority to direct that some action be taken; to grant a monopoly, right, status, or title to a person or organization; or to record a contract.

patentbrief

英皇制诰 (Yīnghuáng zhìgào, literally “decree of the United Kingdom monarch”)


Albigenses

The inhabitants of Albi, a city in southern France.

Roman Catholic Church
Roman Catholic Church

(historical, Christianity) A sect of reformers opposed to the Roman Catholic Church in the 12th century AD, considered heretics who were subject to the Albigensian Crusade; a branch of the Catharists, distinct from the Waldenses.


stockings

(Philippines, Australia, New Zealand, plural only) Pantyhose


dog's

This room is the dog's.

(UK, mildly vulgar) shortened form of dog's bollocks.


marginalia

en-noun

marginalia pl (normally plural, singular marginale)

From New Latin marginālia (cf. margināle (neuter singular (adjective / noun)), from Medieval Latin neuter plural of marginālis (“on the periphery”), from Latin margō (“border, edge”). Compare margin.

We know what the composer was thinking as he wrote the piece because we can read his handwritten marginalia on the manuscript.

забележка в полето

notes in the margin of document — see also marginal note


twenties

My roommates said they were hosting a party inspired by the twenties which I assumed meant the 1920s but it turned out the theme was the 1120s BCE.

The decade of the 1820s, 1920s, 2020s, etc.

She shivered; twenties by the water felt different than twenties in the mountains.

(temperature, rates, plural only) The range between 20 and 29.


thirties

It says here on your resume that your last job was as a streetcorner apple vendor―that's quite a thirties profession!

The Road to Glory, while not the best, was likewise not the least of the thirties films which may justly be called "anti-war" in both intent and execution.

1975, Michael T. Isenberg, “An Ambiguous Pacifism: A Retrospective on World War I Films, 1930–1938”, in Journal of Popular Film, volume 4, number 2, →DOI, page 109:

A decade starting with the year xx30, most usually the decade from 1930 to 1939.


thirties

Yearslong droughts? How thirties!

'Something light and airy for this last burst of summer, non?' said Madame, and held up a dress in creamy pink crêpe-de-Chine. 'Very thirties, n'est-ce pas? I adore this fabric—so fluid, so graceful.'

1990, Catherine George, Come Back to Me, Harlequin Books, →ISBN, page 58:

From or evoking the 31st through 40th years of a century (chiefly the 1930s).


forties

What to wear when the weather is in the forties really depends on whether you're talking fahrenheit or celsius.

(temperature, rates, plural only) The range between 40 and 49.


sixties

Alternative letter-case form of Sixties (The decade of the 1860s, 1960s, etc.)

Highs in the mid sixties.

(temperature, rates, plural only) The range between 60 and 69.


sixties

She coughed as she exhaled. Sixties weed had been nowhere near this strong.

Historians do not rely on single bits of evidence, but are always seeking corroboration, qualification, correction. These novels, set in context, are in themselves interesting fragments of sixties culture.

1993, Arthur Marwick, “Six Novels of the Sixties — Three French, Three Italian”, in Journal of Contemporary History, volume 28, number 4, →DOI, page 588:

From or evoking the 61st through 70th years of a century (chiefly the 1960s).


seventies

Our readers — and contributors — are apt to elect a good deal according to years. The seventies and eighties, we may suppose, are concerned for the large educational and cultural interests of their Alma Mater; the nineties are deep in the practical and business activities; the noughties are not naughty, but still young enough to sport a fantastic costume at reunion and let the college wag as it will; the oneties are the really wise as to what the college ought to be, especially on its athletic side, but as contributors modest.

1914, Amherst College, Amherst Graduates' Quarterly, volume 4, page 6:

'The Bride' [a snowdrop variety], found in the early Seventies at Foxcote Farm near Cheltenham, was his first discovery. It's a poculiform (cup-shaped) G. elwesii with six pure white petals of the same length.

2015 February 7, Val Bourne, “The quiet man of the world of snowdrops”, in The Daily Telegraph (London), page G8:

(temperature, rates, plural only) The range between 70 and 79.


fifties

It can't snow tonight; it's forecast to be in the fifties!

(temperature, rates, plural only) The range between 50 and 59.


nineties

My ideal bracket of temperature ranges from the sixties up to the nineties.

(temperature, rates, plural only) The range between 90 and 99.


nineties

the nineties (canonical plural singular)

1914, Amherst College, “Amherst graduates' quarterly”, in (Please provide the book title or journal name), volume 4, page 6:

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.

The line was doubled in the nineties and Hillfoot station added for suburbanites in 1900.

1959 October, G. H. Robin, “Railways to Helensburgh—a pre-electrification prospect”, in Trains Illustated, page 541:

While PSB [public service broadcasting] has always been subject to multiple influences there is no question that the nineties was a period of massive structural transformation.

2001, Gay Hawkins, “The ABC and Rhetorics of Choice”, in Tony Bennett, David Carter, editors, Culture in Australia: Policies, Publics and Programs, Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, page 176:


nineties

I found myself attracted to his mullet even though it struck me as needlessly nineties.

Nineties kids are honestly "fired up" about their environment. Students are aware and worried that their world is being destroyed, and teachers only need to tap into that hidden stream of interest.

1997, Catherine M. Scharle, “Environmental Children's Books Created by the Hearts and Hands of High School Students”, in The English Journal, volume 86, number 7, →DOI, pages 86–90:

From or evoking the 91st through 100th years of a century (chiefly the 1990s).


eighties

(temperature, rates, plural only) The range between 80 and 89.


mulligrubs

From 16th century. Origin unknown. Perhaps based on mull (“dirt”) + grub.

(regional) low spirits, mild depression, the blues


fits and starts

Progress in this project has come in fits and starts.

We act by fits and starts, like drowning men,
But just peep up, and then pop down again.

1681, John Dryden, Epilogue for ‘The King's House’, lines 1–2:

T'other day as Apollo sat pitching his darts, / Through the clouds of November, by fits and by starts, / He began to consider how long it had been, / Since the bards of Old England a session had seen.

1811 December, [Leigh Hunt], “Art. X.—The Feast of the Poets.”, in [Leigh Hunt], editor, The Reflector, […], volume II, number IV, London: […] John Hunt, […] sold by J. Carpenter, […], →OCLC, page 314:

I spent the night in fits and starts, getting up and lying down full twenty times, and dreaming the same dream over and over again.

1841, Charles Dickens, chapter 2, in Master Humphrey's Clock:

It is a stammered, sleazy chronicle, told by fits and starts in bits and pieces, and constantly interrupted by the director and actors.

1955 December 26, “Old Play in Manhattan”, in Time:

2007, "Australian Premier vows troops pullout," Gulf Daily News (Bahrain), 22 Dec.,
Paying for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan in fits and starts undermines US military planning and risks the gains made by US troops.

(idiomatic) Activity which is intermittent, variable in intensity, and prolonged by interruptions.


Pays de la Loire

administrative region
administrative region

An administrative region of France, near Brittany.


rompers

He is wearing the last clean rompers I had for him and they are getting dirtier by the minute.

A one-piece garment for babies and small children, consisting of a top and trousers. A romper suit.


big bucks

The new managing director must be making big bucks after his promotion.

Ohio always was home, where his family and friends were, and such is the man’s allegiance to Ohio State that he once donated the equivalent of a full scholarship back to the school—and this was before he was making the big, big bucks.

1992 October, Steve Buckley, “Boss Hog: Jim Lachey is the best offensive lineman in football playing on the best team in football”, in Sport, volume 83, number 10, →ISSN, page 64:

But he was unable to get a gun permit and make the big bucks of an armed security guard, so he made minimum wage as a seasonal-hire watchman

After all the carping about how little teachers are paid, if someone enters the teaching profession for the big bucks aren't they too stupid to be teaching our kids?


hell's bells

From hell + -’s + bells, possibly an elaboration of hell (used to express anger, discontent, or unhappiness) with bells chosen to rhyme with hell’s.
The noun sense (Datura stramonium) may allude to the often spiny seed capsules of the poisonous plant which somewhat resemble bells when they mature and split open; compare devil's cucumber, devil's snare, devil's trumpet, and devil's weed which are other common names for the plant.

Datura stramonium
Datura stramonium#Translingual


apples

* (stairs): From Cockney rhyming slang apples and pears.
* (nice): From Australian rhyming slang apples and spice or apples and rice.

Cockney rhyming slang
Cockney rhyming slang

apples and pears
apples and pears#English

(Cockney rhyming slang) Stairs. Clipping of apples and pears.


apples

Day like today, perfect. Wind's right, sea's easy, everything's apples. Anybody can sail today.

1988, Sandra Dengler, Code of Honor (Australian Destiny Book #1)

(Australia, Australian rhyming slang) Nice, fine.


Gamilaraay

/ɡəˈmɪlərɔɪ/

From Gamilaraay Gamilaraay (“having not”), from gamil (“not”) and -(b)araay (“having”). Other dialects and languages were similarly named after their respective words for no, e.g. the Wailwan say wayil.

An Indigenous people of New South Wales in Australia.


Gamilaraay

/ɡəˈmɪlərɔɪ/

The extinct Pama-Nyungan Australian Aboriginal suffixing language, within the Wiradjuric group, formerly spoken by these people.


halcyon days

From halcyon, from Latin Alcyone, from Ancient Greek Ἀλκυόνη (Alkuónē), daughter of Aeolus and wife of Ceyx. When her husband died in a shipwreck, Alcyone threw herself into the sea whereupon the gods transformed them both into halcyon birds (kingfishers). When Alcyone made her nest on the beach, waves threatened to destroy it. Aeolus restrained his winds and kept them calm during seven days in each year, so she could lay her eggs. These became known as the "halcyon days," when storms do not occur. Today, the term is used to denote a past period that is being remembered for being happy and/or successful.

halcyon days of yore

halcyon days of youth

Expect Saint Martins summer, Halcyon dayes, / Since I haue entred into theſe Warres.

1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The First Part of Henry the Sixt”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene ii], page 98:

And, by the way, during those halcyon days (the halcyon was there, too, chattering above every creek, as he is all over the world) we fought another battle.

Then for the teeming quietest, happiest days of all! / The brooding and blissful halcyon days!

1891, Walt Whitman, “Halcyon Days”, in Leaves of Grass:

It was a halcyon day, and as they neared the shore and the salt breezes scurried by, he began to picture the ocean and long, level stretches of sand and red roofs over blue sea.

1920, F. Scott Fitzgerald, chapter 2, in This Side of Paradise, book 1:

And the ragged rock in the restless waters, / Waves wash over it, fogs conceal it; / On a halcyon day it is merely a monument, / In navigable weather is always a seamark / to lay a course by: but in the sombre season / Or the sudden fury, is what it always was.

1941, Thomas S. Eliot, “The Dry Salvages”, in Four Quartets:

(idiomatic) A period of calm, usually in the past and often nostalgic.


Garinagu

Endonym of the Garifuna people, a corruption of Kalinago Kalinago.

An ethnic group in the Caribbean area, descended from a mix of Amerindian and African people, many of whom have migrated to Central America and the United States.


Perioikoi

/ˌpɛɹiˈɔɪkɔɪ/

Transliteration of Ancient Greek Περίοικοι (Períoikoi).

The ancient inhabitants of Laconia who were free residents of the mountains and the beaches of Laconia.


base communications

(telecommunications, military, US) Communications services, such as the installation, operation, maintenance, augmentation, modification, and rehabilitation of communications networks, systems, facilities, and equipment, including off-post extensions, provided for the operation of a military post, camp, installation, station, or activity.


Napier's bones

(arithmetic) A set of numbered rods used for multiplication and division (see the Wikipedia article for a fuller explanation).

àbac neperià

a set of numbered rods used for multiplication and division


McNaughton rules

1843, from the trial of Daniel McNaughton, who shot and murdered Edward Drummond, the Private Secretary to the then British Prime Minister Sir Robert Peel.

(criminal law) A test of criminal insanity by which "it must be clearly proved that, at the time of committing the act, the party accused was labouring under such a defect of reason, from disease of the mind, as not to know the nature and quality of the act he was doing, or, if he did know it, that he did not know he was doing what was wrong".


melodramatics

Overemotional, exaggerated behavior calculated for effect.


Dene

Probably from Chipewyan, though most Athabaskan languages have a similar word meaning "person" that's often used as the name for the people who speak the language and/or the language itself.

Northwest Territories
Northwest Territories

An Athabascan people of Canada, especially of the Northwest Territories and Nunavut.


Cowboys

(poker slang) two kings as a starting hand in Texas hold 'em


Levi's

From the Levi's brand of blue jeans, named after the company's founder, Levi Strauss (1829–1902).

It is the prelapsarian Polynesia of free love, noble savagery, Kon Tiki rafting and Easter Island statuary, not the Levi’s-wearing, Toyota-driving, pédalo-pushing, efflorescent-cocktails-in-a-split-coconut-serving pseudo-paradise that awaits latter-day travellers.

2001, Stephen Brown, Marketing – the Retro Revolution, London: SAGE Publications, →ISBN, page 139:


blue jeans

blue jeans pl (normally plural, singular blue jean)

→ French: bluejean

→ Romanian: blugi

→ Spanish: bluyín

My mother was a tailor / She sewed my new blue jeans / My father was a gamblin' man / Down in New Orleans

1964, “The House of the Rising Sun”, performed by The Animals:

A pair of trousers made from denim cotton and dyed dark blue.


pussy lips

pussy lips pl (normally plural, singular pussy lip)


ancients

The people of classical antiquity, especially such writers and philosophers.


grains

Pigeons' dung used in tanning. See grainer.


halls

He was chatting to a couple of girls so I went over and introduced myself, said, "Hello, I er... I’m in the same halls as you." He just looked at me and said, "And?"

2004, K. Woodley, quoting an anonymous student, “Let the data sing: representing discourse in poetic form”, in Oral History, volumes 31-32, page 49:

'I had a massive argument with my parents about moving into halls and they even tried to bribe me a bit and said, "You know, if you don't go into halls we'll give you the money that you would have paid in halls as a gift."

2008, Anshuman Ahmed Mondal, Young British Muslim Voices, page 15:

Once B started University he did really well; the structured environment provided by his university suited him well and he loved it so much that by the end of the first term he decided he did want to live in halls after all.

2009, an anonymous Disability Advisor, quotee, Supporting people with autism through adulthood, National Audit Office, page 30:

'Yes. The first year he was in halls but was glad to leave for digs after that.'

2010, Julius Falconer, Tempt Not the Stars, page 127:


snaparazzi

Citizen journalists (passers-by) who are witness to a newsworthy event and capture it as a photograph or on video.


beggar-ticks

Any of several plants, of the genus Bidens, having yellow flowers and prickly fruit.

The barbed fruit of these plants, which sticks to clothing and to animal fur.


FMCG

(advertising) Initialism of fast-moving consumer goods.


hysterics

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

Her hysterics are uncontrollable.

The jokes had me in hysterics.

But when they went to tread down the earth, it seemed to her like sacrilege; and, forgetting every thing in one strong emotion, she sprang forward to prevent it. The effort was too much; and, for the first time, she sank back in the arms of the servants in strong hysterics!

1837, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], “The Last Night with the Dead”, in Ethel Churchill: Or, The Two Brides. […], volume II, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, page 317:


joganosh

From Ojibwe zhaaganaash/ᔖᑲᓈᐦᔑᐝ (“white person”).

(slang, derogatory, among the Ojibwe) White people or (more recently) any non-native people.


diplomatic relations

Diplomatic intercourse between nations, including the mutual presence of diplomatic missions.


tailings

(mining) The waste that remains after the minerals have been extracted from an ore by ore dressing.

尾礦

[…] and it is made into a mash which is fermented and distilled in the same way that an ordinary grain mash is handled in a whisky distillery. The tailings from the still are first compressed to extract the water, and[…]

1910, Chemical News and Journal of Industrial Science, page 42:

(alcohol production) The feints, the last fraction of product obtained at the end of distillation.

(agriculture) Inferior or damaged grain, as well as seeds of other plants (weeds), removed from grain before milling or sowing.


Catholic twins

Catholic twins pl (normally plural, singular Catholic twin)

“Aunt Sissy!” a young voice screeched, then Sissy was besieged by five kids who looked barely a year apart. What his mom would call Catholic Twins.

2008, Shelly Laurenston, The Mane Attraction, page 139:

(slang) Siblings born within twelve months of each other.


cousins

From cousin + -s (suffix forming pluralia tantum, regular plurals of nouns, and the third-person singular indicative present tense forms of verbs).
The plural noun sense 1 (“American or British intelligence services”) was popularized in the works of the English author John le Carré (David John Moore Cornwell; 1930–2020).

suffix

[T]he grounded fieldmen, the trainers and the case officers who made their own murmured caucus always – they saw the question solely in operational terms. […] They saw the shotgun marriage with the Cousins as just another skilful bit of tradecraft in a long and delicate poker game.

1977, John le Carré [pseudonym; David John Moore Cornwell], chapter I, in The Honourable Schoolboy, London: Hodder and Stoughton, →ISBN, page 16:

(espionage, slang) The American intelligence services (from a British perspective) or the British intelligence services (from an American perspective).


sherryvallies

/ʃɛɹɪˈvælɪz/

From Polish szarawary (cognate with Russian шаровары ‘wide trousers’), ultimately from Persian شلوار (šalvâr). Doublet of shalwars.

Many years ago, when the facilities for travelling were not as great as now, and when journeys were made on horseback, sherryvallies were indispensable to the traveller.

1860, John Russell Bartlett, Dictionary of Americanisms, Brown Little, published 1860, page 399:

(historical) Thick loose riding-trousers, fastened on the outside of each leg.


speculative damages

Claims made by a plaintiff for losses that may occur in the future, but are highly improbable. They can not be used as a basis for recovery in tort or contract cases.


pinks

The traditional scarlet jacket(s) worn by fox-hunters in the United Kingdom.


Downey Heads

(philately) British stamps with the image of King George V, based on a photograph by the court photographers W & D Downey.


Daisy Dukes

From the apparel of Daisy Duke, a fictional character in the television series The Dukes of Hazzard.

On the shorter side, short-shorts and hot pants are very on trend right now—denim ones are called Daisy Dukes, after the sex symbol on the TV show The Dukes of Hazzard—but you need to be a certain age and have a certain body type to pull them off.

[2012, Tim Gunn, Tim Gunn’s Fashion Bible, page 95:

Of course, there are lots of ways in which this happens anyway—you may have the gait of a sprightly gazelle or impala at sixty-eight, you may have the enviable figure of a teenager, you may be wearing Daisy Dukes (please don't be wearing Daisy Dukes).

2014, India Knight, In Your Prime: Older, Wiser, Happier, Penguin UK, →ISBN:

A middle-aged waitress wearing “Daisy Dukes” whisked by and gave Ham a wink, “Hon, you eatin' or drinkin'?”

2017, S. C. Sherman, Lone Wolf Canyon, Post Hill Press, →ISBN:

Bralettes, itty-bitty bandeaus and crocheted bikinis are everywhere. So, too, are Daisy Dukes cut high enough to expose buttocks curvature.

2021 July 22, Guy Trebay, “Suddenly It’s Bare Season”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

Very short denim shorts worn by women, ending at the upper thighs.


family jewels

The whole crowd cringed as he got hit right in the family jewels.

But what do three testicles mean? A mystical trinity illuminating some absurd need to procreate? A symbol suggesting a metaphysic of pawnbroking? Likely as not, it is simply an animation of the familiar euphemism, "the family jewels."

1971 July 5, R. Z. Sheppard, “Three's a Crowd”, in Time:


Warlpiri

A widespread Pama-Nyungan Australian Aboriginal language, mainly spoken in the central region of the Northern Territory.


chitlins

What was the twist—that it was soul food made by white people? Chitlins with some pale pickled thing on top?

2019, Colson Whitehead, The Nickel Boys, Fleet, page 184:

Pronunciation spelling
pronunciation spelling


collard greens

Brassica oleracea
Brassica oleracea#Translingual

Brassica oleracea var. acephala#Translingual

A form of Brassica oleracea, sometimes called Brassica oleracea var. acephala or Brassica oleracea var. viridis, similar to kale, that is a popular food in the rural southern United States.


grits

(Western Hemisphere) Coarsely ground hominy which is boiled and eaten, primarily in the Southern United States.


hot pants

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

‘That goddamned little hot pants!’ he shouted.

1939, Raymond Chandler, The Big Sleep, Penguin, published 2011, page 89:

“I don’t wish to hurt your feelings, but KC has always been something of a hot pants.”
“Damn,” I said, “I thought maybe you had told her what a Roscoe I was in bed.”

2012, Robert B. Parker, Hush Money, page 112:

(now rare) Someone (especially a woman) with a high sexual appetite.


heroics

/hɪˈɹəʊ.ɪks/

Of if we have an elderly person who is unconscious and not responding, we discuss using heroics with the family, and they often say no heroics.

1976, Ronald E. Alexander, Lawrence P. Wilkins, Medical-legal dilemmas in the care of the critically ill:

Her daughters argue that no heroics should be used to prolong her life.

1988, American College of Legal Medicine, Legal Medicine: Legal Dynamics of Medical Encounters, page 122:

No Heroics. Do not use respirators, ventilators or administer medication other than those medications necessary to prevent infection, provide comfort or alleviate pain.

1998, George Watson, Emily Watson, The Calling: A Journey on the Path of Parent Care, page 29:

(US, medicine) Emergency intervention to save a patient's life.


greener pastures

He worked there for two years before leaving for greener pastures.

After years of dating Scott Disick and causing everyone to be in a constant state of side-eye, Sofia Richie has moved onto greener relationship pastures and is officially married (!!!) to her family friend Elliot Grainge—who also happens to be a fancy record executive.

2023 May 19, Mehera Bonner, “Sofia Richie and Elliot Grainge's Relationship Timeline Is Equal Parts Romantic and Rich”, in Cosmopolitan:

(idiomatic) Any place or condition that is more favorable or beneficial.


domestics

(dated) Articles manufactured within a country rather than being imported, especially home-made cotton cloths.


aloes

Aquilaria malaccensis
Aquilaria malaccensis#Translingual

(plural only) The resin of the tree Aquilaria malaccensis (syn. Aquilaria agallocha), known for its fragrant odour.


bananas Foster

The dish was created in 1951 by Paul Blangé at Brennan's Restaurant in New Orleans, Louisiana, and named for Richard Foster, a friend of Owen Brennan's who was then New Orleans Crime Commission chairman.

(plural only) A dessert made of sliced bananas which are sautéed in rum, brown sugar, and banana liqueur. Served with ice cream and often flambéed at the table.


tori

(plural only) A protective, epidermal thickening derived from the stratum corneum and found in high friction areas (such as the foot sole of a dog).


metals

It was appropriate that 'King' number 6000 began the return to steam on British Rail metals in 1971.

Now and again a night train roared along the metals within twenty feet of him; but he had all the Oriental’s indifference to mere noise, and it did not even weave a dream through his slumber.

1900 December – 1901 October, Rudyard Kipling, “chapter 8”, in Kim (Macmillan’s Colonial Library; no. 414), London: Macmillan and Co., published 1901, →OCLC:

They stood on the foot-bridge over Boathouse Station and looked at the metals gleaming coldly.

1913, D[avid] H[erbert] Lawrence, “chapter 7”, in Sons and Lovers, London: Duckworth & Co. […], →OCLC:

Steam services began running over NR [Network Rail] metals from Grosmont to the traffic objective of Whitby in 2007, with operations enhanced by opening of the second platform at the terminus in 2014.

2019 October, James Abbott, “Esk Valley revival”, in Modern Railways, pages 77, 78:

(rail transport) the rail tracks owned by a company or organisation; a rail network


back blocks

A "brush" with natives in the "back blocks" would have speedily convinced them that they had come to the wrong country in order to escape warfare of a certain kind.

1887, Harriet W. Daly, Digging, Squatting, and Pioneering Life in the Northern Territory of South Australia, page 223:


swaddling clothes

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

A garment, made of strips of cloth, used to bind an infant and restrict movement of its limbs.


Gusii

The Bantu language spoken in this tribe.


Gweno

The Bantu language spoken by this tribe.


shepherd kings

Translating Greek βασιλείς ποιμένες, a mistranslation of Egyptian heqa khoswe ‘foreign rulers’.


panpipes

From Pan (“Greek god of nature”) + pipes.

(music) An instrument consisting of a series of ten or more tubes of different lengths, typically closed at the bottom and open at the top, and is played by blowing across the open end at the top.


Brahui

Borrowed from Persian براهویی / браҳуӣ, from Baluchi براهوئی, ultimately from Saraiki براہوئی (brāho'ī).

der

Baluchi براهوئی

A pastoral people of Eastern Baluchistan.


Brahui

Baluchi براهوئی


dandelion greens

(plural only) The leaves of the dandelion, eaten as a vegetable.