stone

en-noun

stone (countable and uncountable, plural stones or (UK colloquial, as unit of mass) stone)

stones (plural)
stone (UK colloquial plural)

Sranan Tongo: ston

→ Esperanto: ŝtono

From Middle English ston, stone, stan, from Old English stān, from Proto-West Germanic *stain, from Proto-Germanic *stainaz, from Proto-Indo-European *steyh₂- (“to stiffen”).
See also West Frisian stien, Saterland Frisian Steen, Dutch steen, German Stein, Danish and Swedish sten, Norwegian stein; also Russian стена́ (stená, “wall”), Ancient Greek στία (stía, “pebble”), στέαρ (stéar, “tallow”), Albanian shtëng (“hardened or pressed matter”), Sanskrit स्त्यायते (styāyate, “it hardens”)). Doublet of stein.

cog

Seven pounds make a clove, 2 cloves a stone, 2 stone a tod, 6+¹⁄₂ tods a wey, 2 weys a sack, 12 sacks a last. […] It is to be observed here that a sack is 13 tods, and a tod 28 pounds, so that the sack is 364 pounds.

Generally, however, the stone or petra, almost always of 14 lbs., is used, the tod of 28 lbs., and the sack of thirteen stones.

1882, James Edwin Thorold Rogers, A History of Agriculture and Prices in England, volume IV, page 209:

Weighed myself at the gym and have hit 10st 8lb, a sure sign of things getting out of control—so I can’t even console myself with a chocolate biscuit.

(British) A unit of mass equal to 14 pounds (≈6.3503 kilograms), formerly used for various commodities (wool, cheese, etc.), but now principally used for personal weight. Abbreviated as st.


set

From Middle English set, sete, sette (“that which is set, the act of setting, seat”), from Old English set (“setting, seat, a place where people remain, habitation, camp, entrenchment, a place where animals are kept, stall, fold”) and Old English seten (“a set, shoot, slip, branch; a nursery, plantation; that which is planted or set; a cultivated place; planting, cultivation; a setting, putting; a stopping; occupied land”), related to Old English settan (“to set”). Compare Middle Low German gesette (“a set, suite”), Old English gesetl (“assembly”). According to Skeat, in senses denoting a group of things or persons, representing an alteration of sept, from Old French sette (“a religious sect”), from Medieval Latin secta (“retinue”), from Latin secta (“a faction”). See sect. It is quite possible that the modern word is more of a merger between both, however.

cog

Looking at pupil attainment, the study found that students with the same Key Stage 3 scores could have their GCSE grade raised or lowered by up to half a grade as a result of being placed in a higher or lower set.

2012 April 26, “Themes: Pupil grouping and organisation of classes”, in (Please provide the book title or journal name), Department for Education, archived from the original on 2012-06-14:

(UK, education) A class group in a subject where pupils are divided by ability.


set

en-verb

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

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

In setted classes, students are brought together because they are believed to be of similar 'ability'. Yet, setted lessons are often conducted as though students are not only similar, but identical—in terms of ability, preferred learning style and pace of working.

2008, Patricia Murphy, Robert McCormick, Knowledge and Practice: Representations and Identities:

At Amber Hill, setting was a high-profile concept, and the students were frequently reminded of the set to which they belonged.

2002, Jo Boaler, Experiencing School Mathematics: Traditional and Reform Approaches and Their Impact on Student Learning:

Imagine a country where children do nothing but play until they start compulsory schooling at age seven. Then, without exception, they attend comprehensives until the age of 16. Charging school fees is illegal, and so is sorting pupils into ability groups by streaming or setting.

2013 July 19, Peter Wilby, “Finland spreads word on schools”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 6, page 30:

(UK, education) To divide a class group in a subject according to ability


wide

en-adj

wide (comparative wider or more wide, superlative widest or most wide)

wider (comparative)
more wide (comparative)
widest (superlative)
most wide (superlative)

PIE word
 *dwóh₁
From Middle English wid, wyd, from Old English wīd (“wide, vast, broad, long; distant, far”), from Proto-Germanic *wīdaz, from Proto-Indo-European *h₁weydʰh₁- (“to separate, divide”), a dissimilated univerbation from *dwi- (“apart, asunder, in two”) + *dʰeh₁- (“to do, put, place”).
Cognate with Scots wyd, wid (“of great extent; vast”), West Frisian wiid (“broad; wide”), Dutch wijd (“wide; large; broad”), German weit (“far; wide; broad”), Danish vid (“wide”), Swedish vid (“wide”), Icelandic víður (“wide”), Latin dīvidō (“separate, sunder”), Latin vītō (“avoid, shun”). Related to widow.

compound

But the first visitor to penetrate from the outside world proved to be Sergeant Williams; large and pink and scrubbed-looking; and for a little while Grant forgot about battles long ago and considered wide boys alive today.

1951, Josephine Tey, The Daughter of Time, page 31:

(British, slang, only in "wide boy") Sharp-witted.


worship

en-noun

worship (usually uncountable, plural worships)

Inherited from Middle English worschippe, worthschipe, from Old English weorþsċiepe. Cognate with Scots worschip (“worship”).

inh+

“I beg your worship’s pardon,” said Mr. Bumble, incredulous of his having heard aright,—“did your worship speak to me?”

1837 March, Boz [pseudonym; Charles Dickens], “Relates How Oliver Twist Was Very Near Getting a Place, Which Would Not Have Been a Sinecure”, in Oliver Twist; or, The Parish Boy’s Progress. […], volume I, London: Richard Bentley, […], published 1838, →OCLC, page 48:

'Your Worships, I have a submission to put before the court. As Your Worships are aware, it is the duty of the court under Section thirty-nine of the Children and Young Persons Act to protect the identity of minors who are victims of offences […]

1999, Val McDermid, A Place of Execution, London: HarperCollins, →ISBN, →OCLC, page 209:

(chiefly British) Used as a title or term of address for various officials, including magistrates


nut

→ Japanese: ナット (natto)

From Middle English nute, note, from Old English hnutu, from Proto-West Germanic *hnut, from Proto-Germanic *hnuts (“nut”), from a root *knu- possibly shared with Proto-Celtic *knūs and Latin nux (“nut”). Based on the form of the nouns and the restriction of the root to Germanic, Celtic and Italic, it has been argued to be of non-Indo-European (substrate) origin.
See also West Frisian nút, Dutch noot, German Nuss, Danish nød, Swedish nöt, Norwegian nøtt.

dió

walnut in particular and an element in the name of some other nuts

dióféle

literally: ’walnut-like’, the family of this fruit

walnuts, hazelnuts/peanuts, chestnuts, and related fruits

even a blind squirrel can find a nut once in a while

‘You are not going to be what they call a Nut, are you?’ she inquired with some anxiety, partly with the idea that a Nut would be an extravagance which her sister's small household would scarcely be justified in incurring ….

1914, "Saki", ‘The Dreamer’, Beasts and Superbeasts, Penguin 2000 (Complete Short Stories), p. 323

(UK, Ireland, slang, dated) An extravagantly fashionable young man.


nut

en-verb

nut (third-person singular simple present nuts, present participle nutting, simple past and past participle nutted or (nonstandard) nut)

nuts (present singular third-person)
nutting (participle present)
nutted (participle past)
nutted (past)
nut (nonstandard participle past)
nut (nonstandard past)

One night, we were fumbling each other out by the toilets when a Rocker in full leathers came out of the Gents and, without breaking stride or saying a word, nutted me square between the eyes. I went down as though shot...

1999, Nik Cohn, Yes we have no: adventures in the other England:

(UK, transitive, slang) To hit deliberately with the head; to headbutt.


lift

en-noun

lift (countable and uncountable, plural lifts)

→ Cantonese: 𨋢 /䢂 (lip¹)

→ Dutch: lift
→ Papiamentu: left

→ Malay: lif

desctree

→ Russian: лифт (lift)
→ Armenian: լիֆտ (lift)
→ Georgian: ლიფტი (lipṭi)
→ Kazakh: лифт (lift)
→ Mongolian: лифт (lift)
→ Uyghur: لىفت (lift)
→ Uzbek: lift
→ Yakut: лифт (lift)

→ Swahili: lifti

→ Swedish: lift

From Middle English liften, lyften, from Old Norse lypta (“to lift, air”, literally “to raise in the air”), from Proto-Germanic *luftijaną (“to raise in the air”), related to *luftuz (“roof, air”), perhaps from Proto-Indo-European *lewp- (“to peel, break off, damage”) or from a root meaning roof (see *luftuz). Cognate with Danish and Norwegian Bokmål løfte (“to lift”), Norwegian Nynorsk and Swedish lyfta (“to lift”), German lüften (“to air, lift”), Old English lyft (“air”). See above. 1851 for the noun sense "a mechanical device for vertical transport".
(To steal): For this sense Cleasby suggests perhaps a relation to the root of Gothic 𐌷𐌻𐌹𐍆𐍄𐌿𐍃 (hliftus) "thief", cognate with Latin cleptus and Greek κλέπτω (kléptō)).

der

Take the lift to the fourth floor.

(UK, Australia and New Zealand, puristic elsewhere) Mechanical device for vertically transporting goods or people between floors in a building.

hysbak

mechanical device for vertically transporting goods or people


lift

en-noun

lift (usually uncountable, plural lifts)

From Middle English lifte, luft, lefte (“air, sky, heaven”), from Old English lyft (“atmosphere, air”), from Proto-West Germanic *luftu, from Proto-Germanic *luftuz (“roof, sky, air”), from Proto-Indo-European *lewp- (“to peel, break off, damage”).
Cognate with Old High German luft (“air”) (German Luft), Dutch lucht (“air”), Old Norse lopt, loft (“upper room, sky, air”). Doublet of loft and luft.

cog

No, no, Leddy! the sun maun be up in the lift whan I venture to her den.

1836, Joanna Baillie, Witchcraft, act 1, page 13:

(UK dialectal, chiefly Scotland) The sky; the heavens; firmament; atmosphere.

atmosphere

firmament, ethereal region surrounding the earth


stick

en-verb

stick (third-person singular simple present sticks, present participle sticking, simple past and past participle stuck or (archaic) sticked)

sticks (present singular third-person)
sticking (participle present)
stuck (participle past)
stuck (past)
sticked (archaic participle past)
sticked (archaic past)

From Middle English stiken (“to stick, pierce, stab, remain embedded, be fastened”), from Old English stician (“to pierce, stab, remain embedded, be fastened”), from Proto-Germanic *stikōną (“to pierce, prick, be sharp”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)tig-, *(s)teyg- (“to pierce, prick, be sharp”).
See also the related Proto-Germanic *stikaną, whence West Frisian stekke, Low German steken, Dutch steken, German stechen; compare also Danish stikke, Swedish sticka.
Cognate with the first etymology (same PIE root, different paths through Germanic and Old English), to stitch, and to etiquette, via French étiquette – see there for further discussion.

inh

throw enough mud at the wall and some of it will stick

throw things at the wall and see what sticks

would lose one's head if it wasn't stuck on

(intransitive, blackjack, chiefly UK) To stand pat: to cease taking any more cards and finalize one's hand.


stick

Possibly a metaphorical use of the first etymology ("twig, branch"), possibly derived from the Yiddish schtick.

I got some stick personally because of my walking attire. I arrived to training fully kitted out in sturdy walking boots.

2008 May 3, Chris Roberts, “It’s a stroll in the park!”, in Huddersfield Daily Examiner:


penguin

→ Assamese: পেঙ্গুইন (peṅguin)

→ Burmese: ပင်ဂွင် (panggwang)

→ Hawaiian: penekuina

→ Japanese: ペンギン (pengin)

→ Khmer: ភេនឃ្វីន (pheinkhviin)

→ Korean: 펭귄 (penggwin)

→ Thai: เพนกวิน (pen-gwîn)

→ Welsh: pengwin

Etymology tree
Proto-Celtic *kʷennom
Proto-Brythonic *penn
Welsh pen?
Proto-Indo-European *weyd-der.?
Proto-Celtic *windos
Proto-Brythonic *gwɨnn
Welsh gwyn?
Proto-Indo-European *peyH-der.
Proto-Indo-European *bʰenǵʰ-influ.?
Latin pinguisder.?
English penguin
Unknown; first attested in the 16th century in reference to the auk of the Northern hemisphere; the word was later applied to the superficially similar birds of the Southern hemisphere (as was woggin). Possibly from Welsh pen (“head”) and gwyn (“white”), or from Latin pinguis (“fat”). See citations and the Wikipedia article.
(nun): Because of the often black-and-white habit, resembling the bird's colors.

etymon

Although it is a permanent R.A.F. station (pre-war, that is), we meander about, even in the Mess, in battle dress and flying boots, sweaters, etc., much to the disgust of some of the more dignified 'penguins' […]

1942, Hermann Hagedorn, Sunward I've Climbed, page 143:

Notwithstanding his elevated status as the wing’s Senior Intelligence Officer, Monty, too, was a “penguin,” equal in that respect to an armament assistant, airframe mechanic, pigeon loftsman or any of the seventy-odd ground trades listed by the Royal Canadian Air Force at the war’s end.

1994, Monty Berger, Invasions without tears: the story of Canada's top-scoring Spitfire wing in Europe during the Second World War, →ISBN, →LCCN, page xi:

She may have been a “penguin”—an Air Force service member who didn't fly—but it sure beat being at home, as Brady had pointed out.

2015 June 1, Kate Christie, In the Company of Women, Bella Books, →ISBN, →OCLC:

This was to be my home for three months where ground officer cadets, referred to colloquially as ‘penguins’ were trained.

2019 November 5, Derek Esp, An Adventure in Education: The Autobiography of an Accidental Career in Education, Troubador Publishing Ltd, →ISBN, →OCLC, page 46:

(UK, military, slang) A member of the air force who does not fly aircraft.


fear

en-noun

fear (countable and uncountable, plural fears)

From Middle English feer, fere, fer, from Old English fǣr, ġefǣr (“calamity, sudden danger, peril, sudden attack, terrible sight”), from Proto-Germanic *fērō, *fērą (“danger”), from Proto-Indo-European *per- (“to attempt, try, research, risk”). Cognate with Dutch gevaar (“danger, risk, peril”), German Gefahr (“danger, risk, hazard”), Swedish fara (“danger, risk, peril”), Latin perīculum (“danger, risk, trial”), Albanian frikë (“fear, danger”), Romanian frică. Doublet of peril.
The verb is from Middle English feren, from Old English fǣran (“to frighten, raven”), from the noun. Cognate with the archaic Dutch verb varen (“to fear; to cause fear”).

inh

Her feeling of humiliation had intensified as the day had gone on and her hangover had worsened. She now also had 'the fear' to contend with, […]

2019, Ruth Kelly, The Little Vineyard in Provence:

He had the fear, that feeling of dread that you've done something really embarrassing. The fear was a hundred times worse than the hangover. No, a thousand times worse.

2020, Mark Ratcliffe, The Step Down: A Very Scottish Crime:

(UK, with definite article, "the fear") A feeling of dread and anxiety when waking after drinking a lot of alcohol, wondering what one did while drunk.


handle

desctree

→ Japanese: ハンドル (handoru)
→ Hokkien: 捍多路 (hăn-tó͘-luh)
→ Sakizaya: handulu

From Middle English handel, handle, from Old English handle (“a handle”), from handlian (“to handle, feel, deal with, discuss”). See verb below. Cognate with Danish handel (“a handle”).

(UK, informal) A traditional dimpled glass with a handle, for serving a pint of beer.


leader

→ Catalan: líder

→ Czech: lídr

→ Galician: líder

→ Japanese: リーダー (rīdā)

→ Korean: 리더 (rideo)

→ Polish: lider

→ Portuguese: líder

→ Romanian: lider

→ Russian: ли́дер (líder)

→ Spanish: líder

→ Turkish: lider

→ Ukrainian: лі́дер (líder)

From Middle English leder, ledere, from Old English lǣdere (“leader”), from Proto-West Germanic *laidijārī (“leader”), equivalent to lead + -er. Cognate with Scots ledar, leidar (“leader”), West Frisian lieder (“leader”), Dutch leider (“leader”), German Leiter (“leader, conductor, manager”), Danish leder (“leader, manager”), Swedish ledare (“leader, conductor, director”), Icelandic leiðari (“leader, conductor”).

cog

(music, UK) The first violin in a symphony orchestra; the concertmaster.

Someone or something that leads or conducts.

(UK, journalism) The first, or the principal, editorial article in a newspaper; a leading or main editorial article; a lead story.


mop

en-noun

mop (countable and uncountable, plural mops)

→ Canadian French: moppe

→ German: Mopp

→ Spanish: mopa

From Middle English mappe (also as mappel), perhaps borrowed from Walloon mappe (“napkin”), from Latin mappa (“napkin, cloth”). Believed to be from a Semitic source, variously claimed as Phoenician or Punic (the latter by Quintilian). Compare Modern Hebrew מַפָּה (mapá, “a map; a cloth”) (shortened from מַנְפָּה (manpah, “fluttering banner, streaming cloth”)). Doublet of map, nape, and nappe.

The Mop Fairs attracted the attention of moralists. The hiring system was seen as a means to acquire girls for prostitution; although there is no evidence that this occurred in Stratford, where girls plying for hire were generally accompanied by their formidable mothers.

2014 August 15, Nicholas Fogg, Stratford-upon-Avon: The Biography:

Mop Fairs: Today's annual events are the modern version of the old hiring fairs, where people attended seeking employment or to change it. They are named after the practice of hopefully skilled employees carrying tassels, known as mops, in their buttonholes indicating their occupation. Those who had no trade carried a mop head. At the end of the following week, they could change employers or employees, at what was called the Runaway Mop.

2022, Graham Sutherland, Secret Warwick:

(British, dialect, West Midlands) An annual fair where servants were historically hired.

(British, obsolete) A tassel worn in a buttonhole to indicate ones occupation in such a fair.


mop

From Middle English moppe (“fool, simpleton; derisive gesture; child, baby, doll”), of obscure origin, but compare Proto-West Germanic *mauwu (“pout, protruding lip”).
Compare Low German mop, mops (“simpleton; pugnosed dog”), Dutch mop, mops (“pugnosed dog”), and the verb mope.

unc

obscure

cog

(British, dialect, obsolete) The young of any animal.

(British, dialect, obsolete) A young girl; a moppet.


pub

→ Dutch: pub

→ Estonian: pubi

→ Finnish: pub, pubi

→ French: pub

→ German: Pub

→ Greek: παμπ (pamp)

→ Gujarati: પબ (pab)

→ Hindi: पब (pab)

→ Icelandic: pöbb

→ Italian: pub

→ Japanese: パブ (pabu)

→ Korean: 퍼브 (peobeu)

→ Norwegian: pub

→ Polish: pub

→ Russian: паб (pab)

→ Mongolian: паб (pab)

→ Spanish: pub

→ Swedish: pub

→ Thai: ผับ (pàp)

Reg liked a chat about old times and we used to go and have a chinwag in the pub.

1963, Margery Allingham, “Foreword”, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC:

From the ground, Colombo’s port does not look like much. Those entering it are greeted by wire fences, walls dating back to colonial times and security posts. For mariners leaving the port after lonely nights on the high seas, the delights of the B52 Night Club and Stallion Pub lie a stumble away.

2013 June 8, “The new masters and commanders”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8839, page 52:

(UK, Ireland, Commonwealth) A public house where beverages, primarily alcoholic, may be bought and consumed, also providing food and sometimes entertainment such as live music or television.


content

From Middle English contenten (“to satisfy”), from Latin contentus (“contained; satisfied”), past participle of continēre (“to contain”).

der

(UK, House of Lords) An expression of assent to a bill or motion; an affirmative vote.

(UK, House of Lords, by metonymy) A member who votes in assent.


long

en-adj

long (comparative longer or more long, superlative longest or most long)

longer (comparative)
more long (comparative)
longest (superlative)
most long (superlative)

low

antonym(s) of “having much distance from one point to another”

From Middle English long, lang, from Old English long, lang (“long, tall, lasting”), from Proto-West Germanic *lang, from Proto-Germanic *langaz (“long”), from Proto-Indo-European *dlongʰos (“long”).
Cognate with Scots lang (“long”), North Frisian long, lung (“long”), Saterland Frisian loang (“long”), Norwegian, West Frisian, Dutch and German lang (“long”), Swedish lång (“long”), Icelandic langur (“long”), Portuguese longo (“long”), Spanish luengo (“long”), French long, Latin longus (“long”), Russian дли́нный (dlínnyj), до́лго (dólgo), Sanskrit दीर्घ (dīrgha, “long”).
The word exceptionally retains the Old English darkening of -a- before nasals. Though there are other such examples in Middle and Modern English (e.g. bond, song, throng, wrong), the o-form may have been reinforced by Old French long, from Latin longus, from the same Indo-European word. Doublet of lungo and lunge.

ау

he who sups with the devil should have a long spoon

the candle that burns twice as bright burns half as long

The colonel and his sponsor made a queer contrast: Greystone [the sponsor] long and stringy, with a face that seemed as if a cold wind was eternally playing on it.

1908, W[illiam] B[lair] M[orton] Ferguson, chapter I, in Zollenstein, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, →OCLC:

Bless ’em all, bless ’em all, the long, the short and the tall.

1940, Fred Godfrey (lyrics and music), “Bless 'Em All”performed by George Formby:


t

Abbreviations.
t
# (stenoscript) Abbreviation of at
# (stenoscript) Abbreviation of to and homophone too.

ng

and homophone <i class="Latn mention" lang="en">too</i>.

(UK) Alternative letter-case form of T, tonne.


dump

(UK, archaic) A thick, ill-shapen piece.

The capons were leaden representations of cocks and hens pitched at by leaden dumps.

(UK, archaic) A lead counter used in the game of chuck-farthing.


p

The 25p stamp shows an ultrasound image, the 35p stamp shows a magnetic resonance image and the 41p stamp shows an X-ray CT image.

2001, Steve Webb, Intensity-modulated radiation therapy:


rate

en-verb

rate (third-person singular simple present rates, present participle rating, simple past and past participle rated)

rates (present singular third-person)
rating (participle present)
rated (participle past)
rated (past)

From Middle English rate, from Old French rate, from Medieval Latin rata, from Latin prō ratā parte (“according to a fixed part”), from ratus (“fixed”), from rērī (“think, deem, judge, estimate", originally "reckon, calculate”).

der

(transitive, chiefly British) To evaluate a property's value for the purposes of local taxation.


salt

en-noun

salt (countable and uncountable, plural salts)

Bislama: sol

Tok Pisin: sol

PIE word
 *séh₂ls
From Middle English salt, from Old English sealt, from Proto-West Germanic *salt, from Proto-Germanic *saltą, from Proto-Indo-European *séh₂ls (“salt”). Doublet of sal, ultimately from Latin sāl (“salt”), which it superseded as the general term for "salt".

(UK, historical, uncountable) The money demanded by Eton schoolboys during the montem.


lash

en-adj

lash (comparative more lash, superlative most lash)

more lash (comparative)
most lash (superlative)


floor

non-rhotic, without the horse–hoarse merger

non-rhotic, dough–door merger, African-American Vernacular

From Middle English flor, flore, from Old English flōr (“floor, pavement, ground, bottom”), from Proto-West Germanic *flōr, from Proto-Germanic *flōraz (“flat surface, floor, plain”), from Proto-Indo-European *pleh₂ros (“floor”), from Proto-Indo-European *pleh₂- (“flat”).
Cognate with Scots flair, Scots flure, fluir (“floor”), Saterland Frisian Floor (“floor”), West Frisian flier (“floor”), Dutch vloer (“floor”), German Low German Floor (“entry hall”), German Flur (“field, floor, entrance hall”), Swedish flor (“floor of a cow stall”), Irish urlár (“floor”), Scottish Gaelic làr (“floor, ground, earth”), Welsh llawr (“floor, ground”), Latin plānus (“level, flat”).

cog

After stepping off the bus, my wallet fell on the floor.


me

There don't seem much to say just now. / (Yer what? Then don't, yer ruddy cow! / And give us back me cigarette!)

a. 1918, Wilfred Owen, “The Letter”, in Douglas Kerr, editor, The Works of Wilfred Owen, page 54:

I want me money back!

1994, John Hodge, Shallow Grave, spoken by Alex Law (Ewan McGregor):

Get off me cheese! Get off! Get off!

"What have I ever done to prove me worth, or where I could at least say as I'd made a difference?"

2016, Alan Moore, Jerusalem, Liveright, page 99:

(UK regional, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, colloquial) Alternative form of my


wind

en-verb

wind (third-person singular simple present winds, present participle winding, simple past and past participle winded or (proscribed) wound)

winds (present singular third-person)
winding (participle present)
winded (participle past)
winded (past)
wound (participle past proscribed)
wound (past proscribed)

⇒ Tok Pisin: winim

From Middle English wynd, wind, from Old English wind (“wind”), from Proto-West Germanic *wind, from Proto-Germanic *windaz, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂wéh₁n̥tos (“wind”), from earlier *h₂wéh₁n̥ts (“wind”), derived from the present participle of *h₂weh₁- (“to blow”).
Cognates
Cognate with Dutch wind, German Wind, West Frisian wyn, Norwegian and Swedish vind, Icelandic vindur, Latin ventus, Welsh gwynt, Sanskrit वात (vā́ta), Russian ве́тер (véter), perhaps Albanian bundë (“strong damp wind”). Doublet of athlete, vent, weather and nirvana.

lyödä ilmat pihalle

verb can be substituted for something else

(transitive, British) To cause a baby to bring up wind by patting its back after being fed.

(transitive, British) To turn a boat or ship around, so that the wind strikes it on the opposite side.

geblaas

wind oneself: exhaust oneself to the point of being short of breath


mash

en-noun

mash (countable and uncountable, plural mashes)

From Middle English mash, from Old English mǣsċ, māsċ, māx, from Proto-Germanic *maiskaz, *maiskō (“mixture, mash”), from Proto-Indo-European *meyǵ-, *meyḱ- (“to mix”). Akin to German Meisch, Maische (“mash”), (compare meischen, maischen (“to mash, wash”)), Swedish mäsk (“mash”), and to Old English miscian (“to mix”). See mix.


mash

en-verb

mash (third-person singular simple present mashes, present participle mashing, simple past and past participle mashed)

mashes (present singular third-person)
mashing (participle present)
mashed (participle past)
mashed (past)

From Middle English mashen, maschen, meshen, from Old English *māsċan, *mǣsċan, from Proto-Germanic *maiskijaną. Cognate with German maischen. Compare also Middle Low German meskewert, mēschewert (“beerwort”).

He took the kettle off the fire and mashed the tea.

1913, D[avid] H[erbert] Lawrence, “Chapter 10”, in Sons and Lovers, London: Duckworth & Co. […], →OCLC:

(transitive, UK, chiefly Northern England) To prepare a cup of tea in a teapot; to brew (tea).


stop

stop (third-person singular simple present stops, present participle stopping, simple past and past participle stopped)

stops (present singular third-person)
stopping (participle present)
stopped (participle past)
stopped (past)
stop (infinitive)

continue

antonym(s) of “to cause to cease moving”

continue

antonym(s) of “to cause to come to an end”

→ Finnish: stop

→ French: stop

→ Greek: στοπ (stop)

→ Hungarian: stop

→ Irish: stop

→ Italian: stop

→ Latvian: stop

→ Ottoman Turkish: استوپ (istop)

→ Polish: stop

→ Portuguese: stop

→ Russian: стоп (stop)

→ Spanish: stop

→ Welsh: stopio

→ Tok Pisin: stap

From Middle English stoppen, stoppien, from Old English stoppian (“to stop, close”), from Proto-West Germanic *stoppōn, from Proto-Germanic *stuppōną (“to stop, close”), *stuppijaną (“to push, pierce, prick”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)tewp-, *(s)tewb- (“to push; stick”), from *(s)tew- (“to bump; impact; butt; push; beat; strike; hit”).
Cognate with Saterland Frisian stopje (“to stop, block”), West Frisian stopje (“to stop”), Dutch stoppen (“to stop”), Low German stoppen (“to stop”), German stopfen (“to be filling, stuff”), German stoppen (“to stop”), Danish stoppe (“to stop”), Swedish stoppa (“to stop”), Icelandic stoppa (“to stop”), Middle High German stupfen, stüpfen (“to pierce”). More at stuff, stump.
Alternative etymology derives Proto-West Germanic *stoppōn from an assumed Vulgar Latin *stūpāre, *stuppāre (“to stop up with tow”), from stūpa, stīpa, stuppa (“tow, flax, oakum”), from Ancient Greek στύπη (stúpē), στύππη (stúppē, “tow, flax, oakum”). This derivation, however, is doubtful, as the earliest instances of the Germanic verb do not carry the meaning of "stuff, stop with tow". Rather, these senses developed later in response to influence from similar sounding words in Latin and Romance.

megakadályoz

to cause to cease progressing, to prevent

if you find yourself in a hole, the first thing to do is stop digging

When they have finished the milk they must be patted and squeezed to stop them exploding.

1988, Jeanne Willis, Tony Ross, Dr Xargle's Book of Earthlets:

(causative, transitive, chiefly UK) To end someone else's activity.


stop

(UK, grammar, informal) Short for full stop.


stop

From Middle English stoppe, from Old English stoppa (“bucket, pail, a stop”), from Proto-Germanic *stuppô (“vat, vessel”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)teub- (“to push, hit; stick, stump”). See stoup.
Cognates
Cognate with Norwegian stopp, stoppa (“deep well, recess”), Middle High German stubech, stübich (“barrel, vat, unit of measure”) (German Stübchen). Related also to Middle Low German stōp (“beaker, flask”), Middle High German stouf (“beaker, flask”), Norwegian staupa (“goblet”), Icelandic staupa (“shot-glass”), Old English stēap (“a stoup, beaker, drinking vessel, cup, flagon”). Cognate to Albanian shtambë (“amphora, bucket”).

cog

(UK dialectal) A small well-bucket; a milk-pail.


note

en-noun

note (usually uncountable, plural notes)

From Middle English note (“use, usefulness, profit”), from Old English notu (“use, enjoyment, advantage, profit, utility”), from Proto-West Germanic *notu, from Proto-Germanic *nutō (“enjoyment, utilisation”), from Proto-Indo-European *newd- (“to acquire, make use of”). Cognate with West Frisian not (“yield, produce, crop”), Dutch genot (“enjoyment, pleasure”), Dutch nut (“usefulness, utility, behoof”), German Nutzen (“benefit, usefulness, utility”), Icelandic not (“use”, noun). Related also to Old English notian (“to enjoy, make use of, employ”), Old English nēotan (“to use, enjoy”), Old High German niozan (“to use, enjoy”) (Modern German genießen (“to enjoy”)), Modern German benutzen (“to use”). Related to nait.

cog

And have thou that for thy note !

1838, William Marriott, “The Deluge”, in A Collection of English Miracle-Plays or Mysteries, Basel: Schweighauser & Co, page 11:

Tha'll keep me at this noit all day... Om always at this noit.

1897 May 27, Halifax Courier, quoted in 1903, Joseph Wright, English Dialect Dictionary, volume IV, London: Henry Frowde, page 302

Thou canst do thy note; that have I espied.

1962, Arthur C. Cawley, Everyman, and Medieval Miracle Plays, page 125:

(uncountable, UK dialectal, Northern England, Ireland, Scotland) That which is needed or necessary; business; duty; work.

The supply of horned cattle at this fair was great, but the business done was confined to fleshy barreners of feeding qualities and superior new-calved heifers, and those at early note, with appearance of being useful; [...]

For sale, a Kerry cow, five years old, at her note in May.

A cow is said to be in note when she is in milk.

1888, S. O. Addy Gloss, Words Sheffield, page 160:

A man who drank spring water when his one cow was near note.

1922, P. MacGill, Lanty Hanlon, page 11:

Be at her note, be near note, come forward to her note, of a cow or sow, be near the time for calving or farrowing.

1996, C. I. Macafee Conc., Ulster Dict. at Note:

(UK dialectal, Northern England, Ireland, Scotland) The giving of milk by a cow or sow; the period following calving or farrowing during which a cow or sow is at her most useful (i.e. gives milk); the milk given by a cow or sow during such a period.


home

From Middle English hōm, from Old English hām, from Proto-West Germanic *haim, from Proto-Germanic *haimaz (“home, village”), from Proto-Indo-European *tḱóymos (“village, home”), from the root *tḱey-. Doublet of heyem.
cognates
Germanic cognates: see *haimaz.
Cognate with Irish caoimh (“dear”), Lithuanian kaimas (“village”), šeima (“family”), Albanian komb (“nation, people”), Old Church Slavonic сѣмь (sěmĭ, “seed”), Ancient Greek κώμη (kṓmē, “village”), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱey- (“to lie”) (compare Hittite [script needed] (kittari, “it lies”), Ancient Greek κεῖμαι (keîmai, “to lie down”), Latin civis (“citizen”), Avestan 𐬯𐬀𐬉𐬙𐬈 (saēte, “he lies, rests”), Sanskrit शये (śáye, “he lies”)).

cog

2004, Tottenham 4-4 Leicester, BBC Sport: February,
Walker was penalised for a picking up a Gerry Taggart backpass and from the resulting free-kick, Keane fired home after Johnnie Jackson's initial effort was blocked.


start

→ German: Start

→ Persian: استارت (estârt)

From Middle English stert, from the verb sterten (“to start, startle”). See below.

“It's a rum start, old John Madingley's coming down to Tunnleton,” said Grafton, one evening in the smoking-room; […]

1887, Hawley Smart, A False Start, volume 2, page 69:

(UK, slang, archaic) A happening or proceeding.


mask

From Middle English maske, from Old English max, masċ (“net”), from Proto-West Germanic *maskā (“mesh, netting, mask”). Doublet of mesh and mask above.

inh

(UK dialectal, Scotland) The mesh of a net; a net; net-bag.


mask

From Middle English *mask, masch, from Old English māx, māsc (“mash”). Doublet of mash.


mask

en-verb

mask (third-person singular simple present masks, present participle masking, simple past and past participle masked)

masks (present singular third-person)
masking (participle present)
masked (participle past)
masked (past)

(transitive, UK dialectal) (brewing) To mix malt with hot water to yield wort.

(UK dialectal, Scotland) To prepare tea in a teapot; alternative to brew.


mask

From Middle English masken, short for *maskeren, malskren (“to bewilder; be confused, wander”). More at masker.

(transitive, UK dialectal) To bewilder; confuse.


want

en-noun

want (countable and uncountable, plural wants)

From Middle English wanten (“to lack”), from Old Norse vanta (“to lack”), from Proto-Germanic *wanatōną (“to be wanting, lack”), from *wanô (“lack, deficiency”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₁weh₂- (“empty”). Cognate with Middle High German wan (“not full, empty”), Middle Dutch wan (“empty, poor”), Old English wana (“want, lack, absence, deficiency”), Latin vanus (“empty”). See wan, wan-.

cog

(UK, mining) A depression in coal strata, hollowed out before the subsequent deposition took place.


mark

en-verb

mark (third-person singular simple present marks, present participle marking, simple past and past participle marked)

marks (present singular third-person)
marking (participle present)
marked (participle past)
marked (past)

From Middle English mark, merk, merke, from Old English mearc (“mark, sign, line of division; standard; boundary, limit, term, border; defined area, district, province”), from Proto-West Germanic *marku, from Proto-Germanic *markō (“boundary; boundary marker”), from Proto-Indo-European *marǵ- (“edge, boundary, border”).
Compare march.
cognates
* Dutch mark, merk (“mark, brand”)
* German Mark (“mark; borderland”), Marke (“brand”)
* Swedish mark (“mark, land, territory”)
* Icelandic mark (“mark, sign”)
* Latin margo (“edge, margin”)
* Persian مرز (marz, “limit, boundary”)
* Sanskrit मर्या (maryā, “limit, mark, boundary”), मार्ग (mārga, “mark, section”).

cog

The teacher had to spend her weekend marking all the tests.

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

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

(Canada, UK) To indicate the correctness of and give a score to (a school assignment, exam answers, etc.).


stroke

The noun is derived from Middle English strok, stroke (“blow from a weapon, cut”), from Old English strāc, from Proto-West Germanic *straik, from Proto-Germanic *straikaz (“stroke”), from Proto-Indo-European *streyg- (“to rub, stroke; to shear; to strike”).
Sense 3.6.2.2 (“the oblique, slash, or virgule (‘/’)”) is a contraction of oblique stroke, a variant of oblique which was originally used in telegraphy.
The verb is derived from the noun.
cognates
* German Streich (“stroke”)
* Middle Low German strēk (“stroke, trick, prank”)
* Scots strak, strake, straik (“blow, stroke”)

isku

one of a series of beats or movements against a resisting medium, by means of which movement through or upon it is accomplished

ход

single movement or thrust of a part (such as a piston) of a machine that moves back and forth; length of this movement

خَطّ

line or mark made on a surface by an implement for drawing, writing, etc.

Subject: Fire. Dear Sir-stroke-Madam: I am writing to inform you of a fire which has broken out at the premises of … No. That's too formal.

2006 February 3, Graham Linehan, “Calamity Jen”, in The IT Crowd, season 1, episode 2:

A single movement of a paintbrush, chisel, pen, pencil, or similar implement; a line or mark made by such an implement.

(UK, Ireland, Commonwealth) The oblique, slash, or virgule ("/").


penultimate

From Latin paenultimus (“penultimate”) + -ate (adjective-forming suffix), from paene (“almost”) + ultimus (“last”). Equivalent to pene- + ultimate. Compare French pénultième.

af

[…] they [the sounds of an echo] next strike the ultimate secondary object, then the penultimate and antepenultimate; […]

1677, Robert Plot, “Of the Heavens and Air”, in The natural history of Oxford-shire: Being an Essay Toward the Natural History of England, page 15:

But it should frequently happen that offspring should resemble its penultimate rather than its latest phase, and should thus be more like a grand-parent than a parent.

1878, Samuel Butler, chapter 10, in Life and Habit:

“Your clothes don't weigh more'n seven pounds. And seven from—hum—say one hundred an' twenty-three—one hundred an' sixteen is your stripped weight.”
But at the penultimate word, Mary cried out with sharp reproof:
“Why, Billy Roberts, people don't talk about such things.”

1913, Jack London, chapter 3, in The Valley of the Moon:

(UK, in US usually formal, literary or scholarly) Next to last, second to last; immediately preceding the end of a sequence, list, etc.


hun

Clipping of honey with pronunciation spelling.

Answer: you are a hun – but a high-end hun, one who knows her wine, her music, her interiors and her labels, and whose reluctance to do Dry January, or go vegan makes her such great company, this month and every month.

2023 January 25, Laura Craik, “They’re glamorous, ageless and British – the rise of the high-end hun”, in The Telegraph:

It’s no wonder she’s become a central figure in “hun culture” – an online subculture that idolises a certain strata of famous working-class British women, while also taking the mick out of her leopard print kettle and weakness for a premixed gin-in-a-tin cocktail.

2024 March 29, Louis Staples, “Natalie Cassidy: ‘I’m very proud to be a hun’”, in i:

(UK, slang) A woman perceived as basic, brash, working class and fond of alcohol.


wee

en-verb

wee (third-person singular simple present wees, present participle weeing, simple past and past participle weed)

wees (present singular third-person)
weeing (participle present)
weed (participle past)
weed (past)

Onomatopoeic for the sound of urination. The noun derives from the verb.

I need to wee! I can't hold it any longer!

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

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

пи́сать

homograph with писать (pisát’) - to write


wallah

Either from Hindi -वाला (-vālā, “pertaining to”) or from Hindi वाला (vālā, “person in charge”).


sarnie

From sarn- (“perhaps from a dialectal pronunciation of the first syllable of sandwich”) + -ie. Alternatively, perhaps a misreading or an intentional dissimilation of samie (i.e. sammie), where the 'm' is mistaken for or replaced with 'rn'.

suffix

perhaps from a dialectal pronunciation of the first syllable of <i class="Latn mention" lang="en">sandwich</i>

Hello my flower, shall I fix up a cheese sarnie for you?

With their jock-straps pinching, they slouch to attention
While queueing for sarnies at the office canteen.

1972, “Thick As A Brick”, Ian Anderson (lyrics), performed by Jethro Tull:

In fact no one was playing bingo, 10p or otherwise. Nor had the patrons been enticed by the complimentary shrink-wrapped sarnies and packets of cheese-and-onion on offer in the roped-off ‘Over 18s VIP area’, with its £500-jackpot fruit machines.

2012, Tim Moore, You Are Awful (But I Like You): Travels Around Unloved Britain, Vintage, →ISBN, page 7:

Just like Marple, there's a plaque at the London terminus [Paddington] commemorating a fictional character - a polite, friendly little bear from darkest Peru who has a penchant for marmalade sarnies.

2021 September 22, Stephen Roberts, “The writings on the wall...”, in RAIL, number 940, page 74:


brat

en-noun

brat (countable and uncountable, plural brats)

Early Modern English (c. 1500) slang term meaning "beggar's child". Possibly from Scots bratchet (“bitch, hound”). Another possibility is that it was originally a dialectal word, from northern and western England and the Midlands, for a "makeshift or ragged garment," from Old English bratt (“cloak”), which is from a Celtic source (Old Irish brat (“cloak, cloth”)). In the sense "characteristic of a confident and assertive woman", coined by English singer and songwriter Charli XCX in her 2024 album Brat.

coinage

[She] had still on the rough worsted apron of nappy homespun wool, called a "brat".

1882, John Strathesk, “pp. 135”, in Blinkbonny^([The English Dialect Dictionary... brat]):

(obsolete, UK, Scotland, dialect) A coarse kind of apron for keeping the clothes clean; a bib.


cornet

From Middle English cornet, from Old French cornet, a diminutive of a popular reflex of Latin cornū (“horn”).

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

A pastry shell to be filled with ice-cream, hence (UK, dated) an ice cream cone.


size

en-verb

size (third-person singular simple present sizes, present participle sizing, simple past and past participle sized)

sizes (present singular third-person)
sizing (participle present)
sized (participle past)
sized (past)

Attested since the 14th century, originally meant a “law or regulation that determines the amount to be paid”, from Middle English syse, sise (“regulation, control, limit”), from Old French cise, sise, aphetism of assise (“assize”), from the verb asseoir (“to sit down”), from Latin assidēre, composed of ad- (“to, towards, at”) + sedeō (“sit; settle down”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *sed-. Displaced native Old English miċelnes (literally “bigness”).

ncog

(UK, Cambridge University, obsolete) To order food or drink from the buttery; hence, to enter a score, as upon the buttery book.


mare

stud and gelding refer to adult male horses

Danish language
Dutch language
German language
Icelandic language
Middle English language
North Frisian language
Old English language
Proto-Germanic language
Proto-West Germanic language
Scots language
Swedish language
West Frisian language

From Middle English mare, mere, from Old English mīere (“female horse, mare”), from Proto-West Germanic *marhijā, from Proto-Germanic *marhijō (“female horse”), from *marhaz (“horse”).
Cognates
See also Scots mere, meir, mear (“mare”), North Frisian mar (“mare, horse”), West Frisian merje (“mare”), Dutch merrie (“mare”), Danish mær (“mare”), Swedish märr (“mare”), Icelandic meri (“mare”), German Mähre (“decrepit old horse”)), Old English mearh.

inh-lite

The silly mare phoned your mother, talking about applying for a mortgage, and we don't want that, do we?

2007, Hester Browne, Little Lady, Big Apple:

(UK, Ireland, derogatory, slang) A foolish woman.


mare

Albanian language
Czech language
Danish language
Greek language
Old English language
Old Irish language
Old Norse language
Polish language
Proto-Germanic language
Proto-Indo-European language
Proto-West Germanic language
Swedish language

From Old English mare (“nightmare, monster”), from Proto-West Germanic *marā, from Proto-Germanic *marǭ (“nightmare, incubus”), from Proto-Indo-European *mor- (“feminine evil spirit”). Doublet of mara.
Cognates
Akin to Dutch (dial.) mare, German (dial.) Mahr, Old Norse mara ( > Danish mare, Swedish mara (“incubus, nightmare”); also Old Irish Morrígan (“phantom queen”), Albanian merë (“horror”), Polish zmora (“nightmare”), Czech mura (“nightmare, moth”), Greek Μόρα (Móra).

I'm having a complete mare today.

(UK, Ireland, Commonwealth, colloquial) A nightmare; a frustrating or terrible experience.


quadrillion

→ Welsh: cwadriliwn

From French quadrillion, from quadri- (“four”) + -illion.

Previous: trilliard. Next: quadrilliard.

(dated, UK, Australia, long scale) A million trillion (logic: 1,000,000⁴): 1 followed by twenty-four zeros, 10²⁴.

քառիլիոն

a million trillion, 1024 — see also septillion


Andrew

en-proper noun

Andrew (countable and uncountable, plural Andrews)

[ˈeᵊnˌd̠ɹ̠˔ʷʊ̈u]

[ˈænˌd̠ɹ̠ʷ˔ʊ̈u]

From Ancient Greek Ἀνδρέας (Andréas), cognate with ἀνδρεῖος (andreîos, “manly”), both from ἀνήρ (anḗr, “man”). Doublet of André, Andreas, Andrei, and Andrey.

doublet

A common British catch phrase is, "You shouldn't have joined Andrew if you couldn't take a joke."

1984, Robert Hendrickson, Salty Words, page 19:

“Me muvver always said I should a joined the Andrew.” (Royal Navy.)

2011, Johannes H. L. Bosman, The Plough & the Sword, page 257:


boob

Clipped form of booby (“fool”). Appeared near the beginning of the twentieth century; more information at booby § Etymology 1.


garden

Sranan Tongo: dyari

→ Nafaanra: yaadi

From Middle English gardyn, garden, from Anglo-Norman gardin, from Frankish *gardin-, oblique stem of *gardō (“enclosure, yard”), from Proto-Germanic *gardô (“enclosure, garden, house”), whence also inherited English yard. (compare Old French jart alongside jardin, Medieval Latin gardīnus). Doublet of jardin. Displaced Old English wyrttūn.
Cognates
Cognate with West Frisian gard, Low German Goorn, Dutch gaard, gaarde, German Garten, Icelandic garður, French jardin, Spanish jardín, Italian giardino, Sicilian jardinu.

tuin

piece of land outside with flowers and plants

gumno

area behind a barn for fruits and vegetables

This house has a swimming pool, a tent, a swing set and a fountain in the garden.

We were drinking lemonade and playing croquet in the garden.

Our garden is overgrown with weeds.

(British, Ireland, Appalachia, New York City) The grounds at the front or back of a house.


TOC

train operating company
train operating company#English

(UK, rail transport) Initialism of train operating company.


game

en-noun

game (countable and uncountable, plural games)

→ Brazilian Portuguese: game

→ Dutch: gamen, game

→ Irish: géim

→ Japanese: ゲーム

→ Korean: 게임 (geim), 겜 (gem)

→ Norman: gamme

→ Norwegian: gamen, game

→ Spanish: game

→ Welsh: gêm

→ Finnish: geimit

From Middle English game, gamen, gammen, from Old English gamen (“sport, joy, mirth, pastime, game, amusement, pleasure”), from Proto-West Germanic *gaman, from Proto-Germanic *gamaną (“amusement, pleasure, game", literally "participation, communion, people together”), from *ga- (collective prefix) + *mann- (“man”); or alternatively from *ga- + a root from Proto-Indo-European *men- (“to think, have in mind”).
Cognate with Old Frisian game, gome (“joy, amusement, entertainment”), Middle High German gamen (“joy, amusement, fun, pleasure”), Swedish gamman (“mirth, rejoicing, merriment”), Icelandic gaman (“fun”). Related to gammon, gamble.

cog

From time to time tracksuited boys ran past them, with all the deadly purpose and humourless concentration of those who enjoyed Games.

1991 September, Stephen Fry, chapter 1, in The Liar, London: Heinemann, →ISBN, →OCLC, section III, page 26:

(UK, in the plural) A school subject during which sports are practised.


paper

en-noun

paper (countable and uncountable, plural papers)

Tok Pisin: pepa
→ Rotokas: pepa

→ Dutch: paper

→ Eastern Arrernte: pipe

→ Esperanto: papero
Ido: papero

→ Hawaiian: pepa

→ Japanese: ペーパー (pēpā)

→ Malay: kertas (semantic loan)

→ Malayalam: പേപ്പർ (pēppaṟ)

→ Maori: pepa

→ Marshallese: peba

→ Mokilese: peipa

→ Niuean: pepa

→ Scottish Gaelic: pàipear

→ Southern Ndebele: iphepha

→ Spanish: paper

→ Swazi: líphepha

→ Xhosa: iphepha

→ Yoruba: bébà, pépà

→ Zulu: iphepha

From Middle English paper, from Anglo-Norman paper, from Old Catalan paper, borrowed from Latin papȳrus (and given the Catalan suffix -er), from Ancient Greek πάπυρος (pápuros).

(British, Hong Kong) A set of examination questions to be answered at one session.


queer

en-adj

queer (comparative queerer, superlative queerest)

queerer (comparative)
queerest (superlative)

→ German: queer, Queer

→ Russian: квир (kvir)

→ Swedish: queer

Attested since about 1510, at first in Scots. Usually taken to be from Middle Low German (Brunswick dialect) queer (“oblique, off-center”) or the related German quer (“diagonal”), from Old Saxon thwerh, from Proto-West Germanic *þwerh, from Proto-Germanic *þwerhaz, from Proto-Indo-European *terkʷ- (“to turn, twist, wind”); compare Latin torqueō, and see more at thwart. The OED argues against this due to the semantic differences and the date at which the word appears in Scots.
Began to be used to describe gay people in the late 1800s, see usage notes for more.

der

An old long-faced, long-bodied servant, gave a queer look

1824, Geoffrey Crayon [pseudonym; Washington Irving], Tales of a Traveller, (please specify |part=1 to 4), Philadelphia, Pa.: H[enry] C[harles] Carey & I[saac] Lea, […], →OCLC:

“I wish I hadn’t cried so much!” said Alice, as she swam about, trying to find her way out. “I shall be punished for it now, I suppose, by being drowned in my own tears! That will be a queer thing, to be sure! However, everything is queer to-day.”

1865 November (indicated as 1866), Lewis Carroll [pseudonym; Charles Lutwidge Dodgson], “The Pool of Tears”, in Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, London: Macmillan and Co., →OCLC, pages 23–24:

One thing has struck me as a bit queer. During my two terms of office the whole Democratic press, and the morbidly honest and 'reformatory' portion of the Republican press, thought it horrible to keep U.S. troops stationed in the Southern States, and when they were called upon to protect the lives of negroes–as much citizens under the Constitution as if their skins were white–the country was scarcely large enough to hold the sound of indignation belched forth by them for some years. Now, however, there is no hesitation about exhausting the whole power of the government to suppress a strike on the slightest intimation that danger threatens.

1877, Ulysses S. Grant, The Papers of Ulysses S. Grant: November 1, 1876-September 30, 1878, page 252:

It looked queer to me to see boxes labeled "His Excellency, Jefferson Davis, President of the Confederate States of America." The packages so labeled contained Bass ale or Cognac brandy, which cost "His Excellency" less than we Yankees had to pay for it. Think of the President drinking imported liquors while his soldiers were living on pop-corn and water!

1885, David Dixon Porter, Incidents and Anecdotes of the Civil War, page 274:

Of all the queer collections of humans outside of a crazy asylum, it seemed to me this sanitarium was the cup winner. […] When you're well enough off so's you don't have to fret about anything but your heft or your diseases you begin to get queer, I suppose.

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

“’Tis a queer book - here, leave me git on my spectacles - ” The old man fumbled among his rags, producing a pair of dirty and amazingly antique glasses (...)

1920, H. P. Lovecraft, w:The Picture in the House:

1927, J. B. S. Haldane, “Possible Worlds” in Possible Worlds and Other Papers, London: Chatto & Windus,
Now, my own suspicion is that the universe is not only queerer than we suppose, but queerer than we can suppose.

A queer look came over John Arable's face. He seemed almost ready to cry himself.

1952, E. B. White, Charlotte's Web, page 3:

Though it may seem very queer,
we've got no jobs to give you here,
so we are sending you to Vietnam.

1965, “Lyndon Johnson Told the Nation”, Tom Paxton (lyrics), Tom Paxton (music):

(dated outside UK, Ireland, Scotland) Weird, odd, or different; whimsical.

Of all the queer collections of humans outside of a crazy asylum, it seemed to me this sanitarium was the cup winner. … When you're well enough off so's you don't have to fret about anything but your heft or your diseases you begin to get queer, I suppose.

"Well, I'm—I'm jiggered," said Peter, and his voice also sounded queer.

1951, C. S. Lewis, Prince Caspian: The Return to Narnia:

VLADIMIR: Hope deferred maketh the something sick, who said that? / ESTRAGON: Why don't you help me? / VLADIMIR: Sometimes I feel it coming all the same. Then I go all queer.

1954, Samuel Beckett, Waiting for Godot, →ISBN, page 3:

(British, informal, dated) Slightly unwell (mainly in "to feel queer").

mal fichu (to feel queer se sentir mal fichu)

un po' male (to feel queer stare un po' male, sentirsi poco bene)


queer

en-verb

queer (third-person singular simple present queers, present participle queering, simple past and past participle queered)

queers (present singular third-person)
queering (participle present)
queered (participle past)
queered (past)

"But lor-a-mussy, Jacob, how could a woman get away from here with all her boxes in the middle of the night?"
"That's what queered me," and Spink slowly shook his head, "and queered a good many; for of course it got newsed about […]"

1887, G. W. Appelton, chapter II, in A Terrible Legacy: A Tale of the South Downs, London: Ward and Downey, page 12:

"Where do you come from?" Stanley queered.

1894, Ivan Dexter, Talmud; A Strange Narrative of Central Australia, published in serial form in Port Adelaide News and Lefevre's Peninsula Advertiser (SA), Chapter V, http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks16/1600641.txt

w:Webster's Dictionary#Webster's New International Dictionary 1909


squelch

squelch (third-person singular simple present squelches, present participle squelching, simple past and past participle squelched)

squelches (present singular third-person)
squelching (participle present)
squelched (participle past)
squelched (past)

Unknown. Perhaps a blend of squash + quell + quench. Compare also English squolsh, English squoosh.

The mud squelched underfoot; it had been raining all night.

[After they both fell into the lake.] Reaching the mainland some moments later and squelching back to the house, accompanied by Bobbie, like a couple of Napoleons squelching back from Moscow, [...]

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

(intransitive, British) To make a sucking, splashing noise as when walking on muddy ground.

The mud was thick and sticky underfoot, but we squelched through it nonetheless.

(intransitive, British) To walk or step through a substance such as mud.

čvachtat se

to walk or step through a substance such as a mud


put down

put down (third-person singular simple present puts down, present participle putting down, simple past and past participle put down)

puts down (present singular third-person)
putting down (participle present)
put down (participle past)
put down (past)

BP are putting petrol and diesel down in what could be the start of a price war.

(UK, Ireland) To make prices, or taxes, lower.


hanger

From Middle English hanger, haunger, hangere, equivalent to hang + -er. Compare West Frisian hinger (“hanger”), Dutch hanger (“hanger”), German Hänger and Henker.

About the tenth of July in the same Summer a pair of sparrow-hawks bred in an old crow's nest on a low beech in the same hanger; and as their brood, which was numerous, began to grow up, became so daring and ravenous, that they were a terror to all the dames in the village that had chickens or ducklings under their care.

1789, Gilbert White, The Natural History of Selborne, Page 187:

'Twould blow like this through holt and hanger

1896, A. E. Housman, A Shropshire Lad, On Wenlock Edge the wood's in trouble:


spider

en-noun

spider (countable and uncountable, plural spiders)

[ˈspʌɪ̯ɾə(ɹ)]

From Middle English spiþre, spydyr, spider, spiþer, from Old English spīþra (“spider”), from Proto-West Germanic *spinþrijō, from Proto-Germanic *spinnaną (“to spin”). Mostly displaced attercop (“spider, unpleasant person”), now a dialectal term.

Cut slices and lay them in cold water in the spider; boil them up two or three minutes, then pour off the water and set the spider again on the coals and brown the slices on each side.

1846, Mary Hooker Cornelius, The Young Housekeeper's Friend, page 146, recipe 28 “To fry salt pork”

In spider pan or deep skillet set over hot coals, quickly fry a few at a time in deep lard until brown.

2005, Marty Davidson, Grandma Grace's Southern Favorites, recipe for “strawberry coconuts”, Rutledge Hill Press, page 193

2008, Corona Club (San Francisco, California), Corona Club Cook Book, page 202,
Melt ½ the dry sugar in the spider, stirring with knife until all is melted.

(cooking, US, UK, chiefly historical and now dialectal) A cast-iron frying pan with three legs, once common in open-hearth cookery.


covey

From cove + -y (diminutive suffix). Cove is derived from Romani kodo (“this one; him”) or kova (“that person”).

I don't know what would become of these here young chaps, if it wasn't for such careful old coveys as we are— […]

1821 September (first performance), William T[homas] Moncrieff, “Tom and Jerry; or, Life in London”, in Selection from the Dramatic Works of William T. Moncrieff. […], volume III, London: Hailes Lacy, […], published 1851, →OCLC, Act II, scene ii, page 43:

Hullo! my covey, what's the row?

1837 May, Boz [pseudonym; Charles Dickens], “Oliver Walks to London, and Encounters on the Road a Strange Sort of Young Gentleman”, in Oliver Twist; or, The Parish Boy’s Progress. […], volume I, London: Richard Bentley, […], published 1838, →OCLC, page 123:

'Pooh!' said he, 'you are as easily wounded as an unfledged dove—don't mind what an old covey like me says—I understand it all.'

1846, Justin Jones, The Prince and the Queen; or, Scenes in High Life: A Romance of the Court of St. James, Boston, Mass.: U.S. Pub. Co., →OCLC:

There vas an old covey as lived in Wapping, at the time I'm telling you of, who vas connected vith us by ties of common interest.

1850, Waldo Howard, “The Burglar’s Story”, in The Mistake of a Life-time: or, The Robber of the Rhine Valley. […], Boston, Mass.: F. Gleason, […], →OCLC, page 140, column 2:

(British, familiar, slang, dated) A male person, a man; a chap, a chappie.


ABC

ABC (countable and uncountable, plural ABCs or ABC's)

From Middle English abece, ABC, from the first three letters of the Latin alphabet, standing for the whole alphabet.

For this reason his heart sank when, emerging from his study into the great hall at quarter to eleven, he met Beaver already dressed and prepared to be entertained; it was only a momentary vexation, however, for while he wished him good morning he noticed that his guest had an A.B.C. in his hands and was clearly looking out a train.

1934, Evelyn Waugh, A Handful of Dust, Chapman & Hall:

(UK, rail transport) A British alphabetized guidebook listing trains and their stations.


ABC

Alternative form: A.B.C.

It was not worth while to go back to Barnes for the interval between the closing of the Museum and his meal in an ABC shop, and the time hung heavily on his hands.

1915, W. Somerset Maugham, chapter 37, in Of Human Bondage:

He turned into an A.B.C. shop and ordered eggs and bacon and coffee.

1922, Agatha Christie, “Chapter 17”, in The Secret Adversary:

Aerated Bread Company
w:Aerated Bread Company

(UK, now historical) Initialism of Aerated Bread Company, which ran a network of shops and cafeterias


sango

1824, Alexander Gerard, Journal of an Excursion through the Himalayah Mountains, from Shipke to the Frontiers of Chinese Tartary, David Brewster (editor), The Edinburgh Journal of Science, Volume 1: April—October, page 219,
We crossed it and another stream a little above their union by a couple of bad sangos, and ascended from its bed by a rocky footpath, winding amongst extensive forests of oak, yew, pine, and horse chesnut, to Camp.

Four large mountain torrents, the Dangalee, Dubrane, Loarnad, and Rindee Gadh, join the Ganges from the left bank, and have to be crossed by sangos.

1865, Henry Astbury Leveson, The Hunting Grounds of the Old World, page 459:

(UK) A rudimentary wooden bridge in India.


kick off

en-verb

kick off (third-person singular simple present kicks off, present participle kicking off, simple past and past participle kicked off)

kicks off (present singular third-person)
kicking off (participle present)
kicked off (participle past)
kicked off (past)

When she called him a drunk, it was the last straw. He just kicked off.

The chap opposite seems to be trying to pull a fast one, and having seen the guard is trying to buy a ticket online... but doesn't succeed. The guard helpfully sells him one, but not quite at the price of one purchased in advance. In fairness he doesn't kick off, nor does the guard treat him like some common criminal. It's a fair cop - or should that be a fare cop?

2024 April 17, “Rural railways: do they deliver?”, in RAIL, number 1007, page 57:

(intransitive, UK, idiomatic, colloquial) To be overcome with anger, to start an argument or a fight; to behave aggressively.

It really kicked off in town when the team lost.

Suddenly it all kicked off on the terraces as horrendous violence and disgraceful scenes were picked up by television cameras.

2010, Kenny Sansom, To Cap It All, John Blake Publishing, →ISBN:

(intransitive, UK, idiomatic, colloquial, impersonal) To have a fight or argument start; to fight or argue.


fast

From Middle English fast, fest, from Old English fæst (“firm, secure”), from Proto-West Germanic *fast, from Proto-Germanic *fastuz; see it for cognates and further etymology.
The development of “rapid” from an original sense of “secure” apparently happened first in the adverb and then transferred to the adjective; compare hard in expressions like “to run hard”. The original sense of “secure, firm” is now slightly archaic, but retained in the related fasten (“make secure”). Also compare close meaning change from Latin rapiō (“to snatch”) to Latin rapidus (“rapid, quick”), from Irish sciob (“to snatch”) to Irish sciobtha (“quick”).

(British, rail transport) A train that calls at only some stations it passes between its origin and destination, typically just the principal stations.


kick

en-noun

kick (countable and uncountable, plural kicks)

→ German: Kick

→ Irish: cic

From Middle English kyken (“to strike out with the foot”), from Old Norse kikna (“to sink at the knees”) and keikja (“to bend backwards”) (compare Old Norse keikr (“bent backwards, the belly jutting forward”)), from Proto-Germanic *kaikaz (“bent backwards”), of uncertain origin. Perhaps from Proto-Germanic *kī-, *kij- (“to split, dodge, swerve sidewards”), from Proto-Indo-European *ǵeyH- (“to sprout, shoot”). Compare also Dutch kijken (“to look”), Middle Low German kīken (“to look, watch”). See keek.

cog

Two and a kick—two shillings and a kick.

1912, French's Acting Edition of Plays, Dramas, Extravaganzas, Farces etc., page 12:

That's the stuff that will do the trick / Sold at every chemist for one and a kick

1941, Eddie Latta, George Formby (lyrics and music), “Auntie Maggie's Remedy”, performed by George Formby:

(British, historical, dated, colloquial) Sixpence.


NRA

w:National Rifle Association of the United Kingdom

(UK) Initialism of National Rifle Association (of the United Kingdom).


wand

From Middle English wand, wond, from Old Norse vǫndr (“switch, twig”), from Proto-Germanic *wanduz (“rod”), from Proto-Indo-European *wendʰ- (“to turn, twist, wind, braid”). Cognate with Icelandic vendi (“wand”), Danish vånd (“wand, switch”), German Wand (“wall, septum”), Gothic 𐍅𐌰𐌽𐌳𐌿𐍃 (wandus, “rod”).

der

Without question, he is the best left-footed player I've ever played with. Along with his wand of a left foot he also has great pace and can be as hard as nails.

2013 October 17, Lee McCulloch, Simp-Lee the Best: My Autobiography, Black & White Publishing, →ISBN:

Shortly afterwards, Thomas lined up a corner and with his wand of a right foot, landed it on the head of Campbell to get Everton's second.

2019 February 15, Chris Sweeney, Mad Dog Gravesen, eBook Partnership, →ISBN:

Cresswell also had a wand of a left foot, which was a threat from open play and set-pieces – though his quality in the latter category wasn't used as often in 2015/16 due to Payet's presence.

2021 May 10, Danny Lewis, Boleyn's Farewell, eBook Partnership, →ISBN:

(UK, soccer, figurative, informal) A player's foot used especially skillfully in football.


dummy

мор

bridge: the partner of the winning bidder, who shows his or her hand

The baby wants her dummy.

Then on the fifth day, at the first sleep of the day, remove the dummy and follow my settling guide for your baby′s age. You should throw all her dummies in the bin to ensure you are not tempted to use them again – even outside sleep times.

2006, Tizzie Hall, Save Our Sleep: A Parents′ Guide Towards Happy, Sleeping Babies from Birth to Two Years, MacMillan, published 2009, page 200:

No Fairy baby has ever been seen to suck its thumb or to use a dummy.

2008, Bern, Bern's Fairy Tales, page 15:

We′ve found that going cold turkey works best – you check that your baby isn't ill or teething, then throw all dummies away. When your baby cries for her dummy, you can look her in the eye and say, ‘It′s gone,’ and really mean it.

2011, Simone Cave, Caroline Fertleman, Baby to Toddler Month by Month, page 85:

(Australia, UK, New Zealand) A "dummy teat"; a plastic or rubber teat used to soothe or comfort a baby; a pacifier.

Raul Meireles was the victim of the home side's hustling on this occasion giving the ball away to the impressive David Vaughan who slipped in Taylor-Fletcher. The striker sold Daniel Agger with the best dummy of the night before placing his shot past keeper Pepe Reina.

2011 January 12, Saj Chowdhury, “Blackpool 2 - 1 Liverpool”, in BBC:

(sports, UK) A bodily gesture meant to fool an opposing player; a feint.


seize

en-verb

seize (third-person singular simple present seizes, present participle seizing, simple past and past participle seized)

seizes (present singular third-person)
seizing (participle present)
seized (participle past)
seized (past)

Earlier seise, from Middle English seisen, sesen, saisen, from Old French seisir (“to take possession of; invest (person, court)”), from Early Medieval Latin sacīre (“to lay claim to, appropriate”) (8th century) in the phrase ad propriam sacire, from Old Low Frankish *sakjan (“to sue, bring legal action”), from Proto-Germanic *sakjaną, *sakōną (compare Old English sacian (“to strive, brawl”)), from Proto-Germanic *sakaną (compare Old Saxon sakan (“to accuse”), Old High German sahhan (“to bicker, quarrel, rebuke”), Old English sacan (“to quarrel, claim by law, accuse”). Cognate to sake and Latin sāgiō (“to perceive acutely”).

cog

(UK, intransitive) To submit for consideration to a deliberative body.


pitch

From Middle English picchen, pycchen (“to thrust in, fasten, settle”), from Old English *piċċan, from Proto-West Germanic *pikkijan, a variant of Proto-West Germanic *pikkōn (“to pick, peck”), whence Middle English pikken, picken (“to pick, pierce”), modern English pick.

nyökkääminen

rotation angle about the transverse axis

килово клатене

nautical: measure of extent to which a vessel's bow and stern go up and down

The teams met on the pitch.

(sports, UK, Australia, New Zealand) The field on which cricket, soccer, rugby, gridiron or field hockey is played. (In cricket, the pitch is in the centre of the field; see cricket pitch.) (Not often used in the US or Canada, where "field" is the preferred word.)

camp

Alba the emperor was crook-backed, Epictetus lame; that great Alexander a little man of stature, Augustus Cæsar of the same pitch […].

1624, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], The Anatomy of Melancholy: […], 2nd edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] John Lichfield and James Short, for Henry Cripps, →OCLC, partition II, section 3, member 2:

So like in person, garb, and pitch,
'Twas hard t' interpret which was which

1662 (indicated as 1663), [Samuel Butler], “[The First Part of Hudibras]”, in Hudibras. The First and Second Parts. […], London: […] John Martyn and Henry Herringman, […], published 1678; republished in A[lfred] R[ayney] Waller, editor, Hudibras: Written in the Time of the Late Wars, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: University Press, 1905, →OCLC:

(now British, regional) A person's or animal's height.


dame

60th British Academy Film Awards
Judi Dench
Order of the British Empire

From Middle English dame, dam (“noble lady”), from Old French dame (“lady; term of address for a woman; the queen in card games and chess”), from Latin domina (“mistress of the house”), feminine form of dominus (“lord, master, ruler; owner of a residence”), or from Latin domus (“home, house”). Doublet of domina and donna.

der

Dame Edith Sitwell

The cover of the modern cd, issued by EMI Classics with Dame Janet Baker and Sir John Barbirolli in 1965, carries a portrait of Dame Janet wearing a long coral necklace in reference to the song 'Where the Corals lie' to words by Richard Garnett (1835–1906).

2009, Marcia Pointon, “Something Rich and Strange”, in Brilliant Effects: A Cultural History of Gem Stones and Jewellery, New Haven, Conn., London: Published for the Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art by Yale University Press, →ISBN, part 1 (Stories Touching Stones), page 144:

(British) Usually capitalized as Dame: a title equivalent to Sir for a female knight.

daami

Even though the dames’ houses were being gradually phased out at Eton, [John Henry] Newman was enthusiastic about the arrangement since it met one of the promoters’ key demands; besides, he had experienced something similar as a boy at Ealing School, where the boarding houses were also under the jurisdiction of dames. The Ealing dames ensured that boys were properly dressed and cared for them when sick, and they also ran the tuck shops.

2005, Paul Shrimpton, “Darnell’s School”, in A Catholic Eton?: Newman’s Oratory School, Leominster, Herefordshire: Gracewing, →ISBN, page 88:

As he [Fréderic Guyaz] worked for Topham [Beauclerk] while he was at Eton, it is likely that Topham was a day-boarder there, living at home in Windsor. His Eton "dame" was Mrs. Bland; day-boarders were allocated to a dame at whose house they took their meals.

2016, David Noy, “Parents, Childhood, Youth (1739–1760)”, in Dr Johnson’s Friend and Robert Adam’s Client Topham Beauclerk, Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, →ISBN, page 14:

(British) A matron at a school, especially Eton College.

[page 73, column 2] Mother Goose was produced on the 29th of December; Simmons playing the Old Dame; […] [page 74, column 1] Bugle condemns her to the ducking-stool, a sentence opposed by Colin, who espouses the cause of the Old Dame, who, escaping from her persecutors, puts an end to the wedding festivities by raising the ghost of the Squire's first wife.

1870 January 29, “English Pantomime. In Two Parts.—Part II.”, in William, Robert Chambers, editors, Chambers’s Journal of Popular Literature, Science and Art, volume VII (Fourth Series), number 318, London, Edinburgh: W. & R. Chambers, →OCLC, chapter X, pages 73 and 74:

The Dame in a Panto is generally a large, gregarious and out-going man who plays the part of a large, gregarious and out-going woman. […] Every successful actor who plays the part of Dame in Panto knows that the secret of his success is that it should be obvious that it is a man playing a part, for this is not a Drag act; the intention is not to be as womanly as possible, but always to be 'a feller in a frock'. […] Oh how everyone loves the Panto Dame for she is Panto.

2013, Maureen Hughes, “Welcome to the Magical World of Pantomime”, in A History of Pantomime, Barnsley, South Yorkshire: Pen & Sword History, →ISBN, page 34:

(British, theater) In traditional pantomime: a melodramatic female often played by a man in drag.


half and half

en-noun

half and half (countable and uncountable, plural half and halfs)

A mixture of two things, generally in about equal proportions.

(UK, Ireland) A combination of both rice and chips as an accompaniment to a curry, as opposed to one or the other.

(UK) A combination of beer and ale (or similar alcoholic drinks) in equal quantities.


CD

CD (countable and uncountable, plural CDs)

Abbreviation of various terms and phrases.

(UK, law) Initialism of controlled drug.


legend

legend (countable and uncountable, plural legends)

From Middle English legende, from Old French legende, from Medieval Latin legenda (“a legend, story, especially the lives of the saints”), from Latin legenda (“things which ought to be read”), from lego (“I read”).

legende

any person of extraordinary accomplishment

I've lost my pen! —Here mate, borrow mine. —You legend.

A person related to a legend or legends.

A person of extraordinary fame or accomplishments.

(UK, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, colloquial, slang) A cool, nice or helpful person, especially one who is male.


dunch

en-verb

dunch (third-person singular simple present dunches, present participle dunching or dunchin, simple past and past participle dunched)

dunches (present singular third-person)
dunching (participle present)
dunchin (participle present)
dunched (participle past)
dunched (past)

From Middle English dunchen, of uncertain origin. Possibly from the noun (see below); or of North Germanic origin, related to Old Swedish diunga (“to hit, knock”), dialectal Swedish dunka (“to beat”); or from Middle English dengen, from Old English denġan, denċġan (“to knock, ding”), from Proto-Germanic *dangijaną (“to bang, knock”). Compare English dinge.

inh

(British) To jog, especially with the elbow.


division

en-noun

division (countable and uncountable, plural divisions)

PIE word
 *dwóh₁
From Middle English divisioun, from Old French division, from Latin dīvīsiō, dīvīsiōnem, noun of process form from perfect passive participle dīvīsus (“divided”), from dīvidō (“divide”). Doublet of divisio.

remainder left over if divisor does not divide dividend


moo

You silly moo! What did you do that for?

'Aurora House does not expel,' said the sanctimonious moo, 'but you will be medicated, if your behaviour warrants it, for your own protection.'

2004, David Mitchell, Cloud Atlas, London: Hodder and Stoughton, →ISBN:

(UK, slang, mildly derogatory) A foolish woman.


lavatory

From Middle English lavatorie, from Late Latin lavātōrium, from Latin lavāre (“to wash”) + -ium (forming places related to an activity). Doublet of lavatorium. As a place to pan gold, via Spanish lavadero. See also lave.

In a traditional German lavatory, the hole in which shit disappears after we flush water is way in front, so that the shit is first laid out for us to sniff at and inspect for traces of some illness; in the typical French lavatory, on the contrary, the hole is in the back - that is, the shit is supposed to disappear as soon as possible; finally, the Anglo-Saxon (English or American) lavatory presents a kind of synthesis, a mediation between these two opposed poles - the basin is full of water so that the shit floats in it - visible, but not to be inspected.

1997, Slavoj Žižek, The Plague of Fantasies, page 4:

(UK, New England) A plumbing fixture for urination and defecation: a toilet.


mot

Probably from Dutch mot (“woman”). See also mort (“woman”) and moth (“girlfriend”).

Come wed, my dear, and let's agree, / Then of the booze-ken you'll be free; / No sneer from cully, mot, or froe / Dare then reproach my Bess for Joe; / For he's the kiddy rum and queer, / That all St. Giles's boys do fear.

1789, G. Parker, “The Sandman's Wedding”, in Farmer, John Stephen, editor, Musa Pedestris, published 1896:

And we shall caper a-heel-and-toeing, / A Newgate hornpipe some fine day; / With the mots, their ogles throwing, / Tol lol, &c. / And old Cotton humming his pray.

1829 July 14, Vidocq, Eugène François with Maginn, William, transl., “Noctes Ambrosiana [En roulant de vergne en vergne]”, in Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, number 45, translation of En roulant de vergne en vergne, page 133:

After some altercation with the "mot" of the "ken" (mistress of the lodging-house) about the cleanliness of a knife or fork, my new acquaintance began to arrange "ground," &c., for the night's work.

1851, Henry Mayhew, London Labour and the London Poor, volume 1, page 217:


Ltd.

limited liability company
limited liability company#English

(British, Canada, Ireland) Abbreviation of limited liability company.


tentacle

From New Latin tentāculum, from tentō. Doublet of tentaculum.

A joint RAF/Army staffed Air Support Control (ASC) headquarters was established at each army corps and each armoured division, linked to the forward brigades by a 'tentacle' equipped with two-way wireless telegraphy.

2013, Dr Ian Gooderson, Air Power at the Battlefront, page 26:

(UK, military, historical) An officer employed to drive out to troops and transmit back requests for support via a special radio link.


plaintiff

From Middle English plaintif, from Anglo-Norman, from Old French plaintif (“complaining”; as a noun, “one who complains, a plaintiff”) from the verb plaindre. Doublet of plaintive.

der

(law, UK historical, otherwise current) A party bringing a suit in civil law against a defendant; accuser.


NFL

Soon after Boston and London were over, two other dramatic races were playing out in my head [...] just as we enjoy the long term implications of a match result in baseball, NFL or soccer.

In a neo-conservative era where parents have regressed by dressing their daughters as pink princesses, where toy stores segregate their merchandise according to ‘gender’, where women playing NFL in bikinis is ‘sport’, and where Miss Universe is every adolescent girl’s ambition, was I really that gullible to believe that Gen Y would radically commit engagement rings – and, hence, elaborate weddings – to the dumpster?

2017 March 16, Pearl Bullivant, “Shine Bright like a Diamond”, in The Beast:


beverage

en-noun

beverage (countable and uncountable, plural beverages)

list of English words with dual French and Anglo-Saxon variations

/ˈbɛv(ə)ɹɪd͡ʒ/

From Middle English beverage, from Old French beverage, variant of bevrage, from beivre (“to drink”), variant of boivre (“to drink”), from Latin bibō. Related to imbibe.

(British, slang, archaic) (A gift of) drink money.


cor

A minced oath or dialectal variant of God.

[…] She perused it with an interested eye and having mastered its contents said, “Cor chase my Aunt Fanny up a gum tree,” adding that you never knew what was going to happen next these days.

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


tank

→ Afrikaans: tenk

→ Albanian: tank

→ Assamese: টেংকি (teṅki)

→ Asturian: tanque

→ Azerbaijani: tank

→ Bashkir: танк (tank)

→ Belarusian: танк (tank)

→ Bengali: ট্যাংক (ṭêṅko)

→ Burmese: တင့်ကား (tang.ka:)

→ Buryat: танк (tank)

→ Catalan: tanc

→ Chechen: танк (tank)

→ Chinese:

Mandarin: 坦克 (tǎnkè)

→ Chuvash: танк (tank)

→ Czech: tank

→ Danish: tank

→ Dutch: tank

→ Dzongkha: ཏེངཀ (tengk)

→ Eastern Mari: танк (tank)

→ Estonian: tank

→ Fiji Hindi: tanki

→ Finnish: tankki

→ French: tank

→ Galician: tanque

→ Georgian: ტანკი (ṭanḳi)

→ German: Tank

→ Greek: τανκ (tank)

→ Greenlandic: tanki

→ Hebrew: טנק (tank)

desctree

→ Hindi: टंकी (ṭaṅkī)
→ Burmese: တိုင်ကီ (tuingki)

→ Indonesian: tank

→ Italian: tank, tanca

→ Japanese: タンク (tanku)

→ Kazakh: танк (tank)

→ Korean: 탱크 (taengkeu)

→ Kumyk: танк (tank)

→ Kyrgyz: танк (tank)

→ Latvian: tanks

→ Lezgi: танк (tank)

→ Lithuanian: tankas

→ Macedonian: тенк (tenk)

→ Malay: tank

→ Maori: taika

→ Norwegian: tank, tanks

→ Ossetian: танк (tank)

→ Persian: تانک (tânk)

desc

→ Portuguese: tanque (“armored vehicle”)

→ Quechua: tanki

→ Romanian: tanc

→ Romansch: tanc

desctree

→ Russian: танк (tank), танкъ (tank) — Pre-reform orthography (1918)
→ Armenian: տանկ (tank)
→ Kazakh: танк (tank)
→ Mongolian: танк (tank)

→ Carpathian Rusyn: танк (tank)

→ Serbo-Croatian:

Cyrillic script: тенк

Latin script: tenk

→ Sidamo: tanke

→ Slovak: tank

→ Slovene: tank

→ Swahili: tangi

→ Tajik: танк (tank), тонк (tonk)

→ Tamil: தாங்கி (tāṅki)

→ Tatar: танк (tank)

→ Tokelauan: tane

→ Turkish: tank

→ Turkmen: tank

→ Ukrainian: танк (tank)

→ Upper Sorbian: tank

→ Urdu: ٹینک (ṭaink)

→ Uzbek: tank

→ Vietnamese: xe tăng

→ Walloon: tank

→ Welsh: tanc

→ Yakut: тааҥка (taañka)

→ Yiddish: טאַנק (tank)

From Portuguese tanque (“tank, liquid container”), from an Indo-Aryan language such as Gujarati ટાંકી (ṭā̃kī, “cistern”) or Marathi टांकी (ṭāṅkī). Compare the Arabic verb اِسْتَنْقَعَ (istanqaʕa, “to become stagnant, to stagnate”).
In the sense of armoured vehicle, first attested in 1915, prototypes were described as tanks for carrying water to disguise their nature as well as due to physical resemblance.

der

(UK, slang, dated, by extension) A bouncer or doorman.


STID

(UK, slang, used in graffiti) Initialism of still true if destroyed.


daily

From Middle English dayly, from Old English dæġlīċ, from Proto-West Germanic *dagalīk, from Proto-Germanic *dagalīkaz (“daily”), equivalent to day + -ly. Cognate with Scots dayly, daly (“daily”), German Low German dagelk, dagelik (“daily”), Dutch dagelijks (“daily”), German täglich (“daily”), Danish daglig (“daily”), Swedish daglig (“daily”), Icelandic daglegur (“daily”).

Something that is produced, consumed, used, or done every day.


ADA

Association of Drainage Authorities
w:Association of Drainage Authorities

(UK) Initialism of Association of Drainage Authorities.


bicycle

→ Burmese: ဘိုင်စကယ် (bhuingca.kai)

→ Central Dusun: bosikol

desc

→ Kashubian: bajsykla (Canada, United States)

→ Malay: basikal

→ Maltese: bajsikil

→ Papiamentu: baiskel

→⇒ Serbo-Croatian: bajs

→ Sranan Tongo: baisigri

Aukan: baisigii

Saramaccan: baisígi

→ Kari'na: paisiki

→ Swahili: baiskeli

→ Tausug: basikul

→ Urdu: بائیسِکَل (bāīsikal)

Borrowed from French bicycle (modern bicyclette), from bi- (“bi-”) + cycle (“cycle”). First attested in English in 1868, and in French in 1847.
(promiscuous woman): From double meaning of ride ("to transport oneself upon" vs. "to mount someone to have sex with them"). A communal bicycle would have many riders.

a woman needs a man like a fish needs a bicycle

a woman without a man is like a fish without a bicycle

(British, Australia, New Zealand) A motorbike.


TM

en-noun

TM (countable and uncountable, plural TMs)

(UK, telecommunications, historical) Initialism of telephone manager.


AAA

Allied Artists Association
w:Allied Artists Association

(UK, art, historical) Initialism of Allied Artists Association.


rook

rook (countable and uncountable, plural rooks)

* Inherited from Middle English rok, roke, from Old English hrōc, from Proto-West Germanic *hrōk, from Proto-Germanic *hrōkaz (compare Old Norse hrókr, Saterland Frisian Rouk, Dutch roek, obsolete German Ruch), from Proto-Indo-European *kerk- (“crow, raven”) (compare Old Irish cerc (“hen”), Old Prussian kerko (“loon, diver”), dialectal Bulgarian кро́кон (krókon, “raven”), Ancient Greek κόραξ (kórax, “crow”), Old Armenian ագռաւ (agṙaw), Avestan 𐬐𐬀𐬵𐬭𐬐𐬀𐬙𐬀𐬝 (kahrkatat̰, “rooster”), Sanskrit कृकर (kṛkara, “rooster”)), Ukrainian крук (kruk, “raven”).
* (parson): Probably from the resemblance in plumage to a parson's garments.

cog

sometimes in Northern England; otherwise obsolete

ruck (most accents without the foot-strut split)

(British) A type of firecracker used by farmers to scare birds of the same name.


bishop

Tok Pisin: bisop

→ Hawaiian: pīhopa

→ Japanese: ビショップ

→ Kannada: ಬಿಷಪ್ (biṣap)

→ Korean: 비숍 (bisyop)

→ Maori: pīhopa

→ Thai: บิชอป (bì-chɔ́p)

From Middle English bischop, bishop, bisshop, biscop, from Old English bisċop (“bishop”), from Proto-West Germanic *biskop, from Vulgar Latin (e)biscopus, from classical Latin episcopus (“overseer, supervisor”), from Ancient Greek ἐπίσκοπος (epískopos, “overseer”), from ἐπί (epí, “over”) + σκοπός (skopós, “watcher”), used in Greek and Latin both generally and as a title of civil officers. Cognate with all European terms for the position in various Christian churches; compare bisp.

аҷҟәандар

church official, supervisor of priests and congregations

titular bishop

as over a diocese without a congregation

Here; tak him, an wesh him; an' put him a clen bishop on.

1874, Evelyn Waugh in Lanc. Gloss. (E.D.S.)

(UK, dialectal, archaic) A children's smock or pinafore.


bishop

en-verb

bishop (third-person singular simple present bishops, present participle bishoping or bishopping, simple past and past participle bishoped or bishopped)

bishops (present singular third-person)
bishoping (participle present)
bishopping (participle present)
bishoped (participle past)
bishoped (past)
bishopped (participle past)
bishopped (past)

If the porage be burned to, or the meate ouer rosted, we say the bishop hath put his foote in the potte or the bishop hath played the cooke, because the bishops burn who they lust and whosoever displeaseth them.

It will be as bad as the Bishops foot in the broth.

1641, John Milton, Animadversions, section 9:

The Cream is burnt to.
Betty. Why, Madam, the Bishop has set his Foot in it.

1738, Compl. Coll. Genteel Conversat., Jonathan Swift, section 10:

She canna stomach it if it's bishopped e'er so little.

1863, E. C. Gaskell, Sylvia's Lovers, I. 64:

Th' milk's bishopped again!

(UK, dialectal) To permit food (especially milk) to burn while cooking (from bishops' role in the inquisition or as mentioned in the quotation below, of horses).


bishop

I Burked the papa, now I'll Bishop the son.

1840, R.H. Barham, Some Account of a New Play in Ingoldsby Legends 1st series, 308

There were no more Burking murders until 1831, when two men, named Bishop and Williams, drowned a poor [14-year-old] Italian boy in Bethnal Green, and sold his body to the surgeons.

1870, Walter Thornbury, Old Stories Re-told:

John Bishop and another grave-robber called Thomas Williams had drowned the boy, a woman and another boy in a well in John Bishop's garden in Bethnal Green... Bishop and Williams were hanged outside Newgate Prison in December 1831 in front of an angry crowd of 30,000.

2002, Helen Smith, Grave-Robbers, Cut-throats, and Poisoners of London, section 66:

(UK, colloquial, obsolete) To murder by drowning.


mint

From Middle English mynt, münet (“money, coin”), from Old English mynet (“coin”), from late Proto-West Germanic *munit, from Latin monēta (“place for making coins, coined money”), from the temple of Juno Moneta (named for Monēta mother of the Muses), where coins were made. Doublet of money and manat.
The verb is from the noun; Old English mynetian (“to mint”) is a parallel formation.

der

(UK, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, slang) Attractive; beautiful; handsome.


metre

en-verb

metre (third-person singular simple present metres, present participle metring, simple past and past participle metred)

metres (present singular third-person)
metring (participle present)
metred (participle past)
metred (past)

From French mètre, from Ancient Greek μέτρον (métron, “measure, rule, length, size, poetic metre”). Doublet of meter, metron, and mether.

der

(UK, rare) Alternative spelling of meter


metre

en-noun

metre (countable and uncountable, plural metres)

From Old English, from Latin metrum, from Ancient Greek μέτρον (métron, “measure, rule, length, size, poetic metre”).

(UK, Canada) The rhythm or measure in language (especially verse) and musical composition.

metro

rhythm or measure in verse and musical composition


subway

At Nairobi the mail waits an hour-and-a-half. The station has three long platforms, mostly covered in awnings, the island connected with the main platform (which is used by the mails in both directions) by a subway.

1950 April, Timothy H. Cobb, “The Kenya-Uganda Railway”, in Railway Magazine, page 265:

Heading beneath the tracks via the subway to the immediate north of the station takes us to the Didcot Railway Centre.

2021 December 29, Stephen Roberts, “Stories and facts behind railway plaques: Didcot (1932)”, in RAIL, number 947, page 60:

pedestrian underpass
pedestrian underpass

(British) An underground walkway, tunnel for pedestrians (called pedestrian underpass in US).


tort

en-adj

tort (comparative more tort, superlative most tort)

more tort (comparative)
most tort (superlative)

(British, dialectal) Synonym of tart (“sharp- or sour-tasting; (figuratively) keen, severe, sharp”)


tort

tort (comparative torter, superlative tortest)

torter (comparative)
tortest (superlative)

Yet holds he them with tortest rein, / That they may seize and entertain / The glance that to their glance opposes, / Like fiery honey sucked from roses.

1847, R[alph] W[aldo] Emerson, “Initial, Dæmonic, and Celestial Love”, in Poems, Boston, Mass.: James Munroe and Company, →OCLC, part I (The Initial Love), page 158:

Synonym of taut (“stretched tight; under tension”)


natural

/ˈnæt͡ʃ(ə)ɹəl/

From Middle English natural, borrowed from Old French natural, naturel, from Latin nātūrālis, from nātus, the perfect participle of nāscor (“be born”, verb). Displaced native Old English ġecynde. By surface analysis, nature + -al.

‘Sergeant-Major Robinson came in in the middle of it, and you've never seen a man look more surprised in your natural.’

1929, Frederic Manning, The Middle Parts of Fortune, Vintage, published 2014, page 155:


nick

The noun is derived from Late Middle English nik (“notch, tally; nock of an arrow”). Its further etymology is unknown; a connection with nock (“notch in a bow to hold the bowstring; notch at the rear of an arrow that fits the bowstring; cleft in the buttocks”) has not been clearly established.
The verb appears to be derived from the noun, though the available evidence shows that some of the verb senses predate the noun senses. No connection with words in Germanic languages such as Danish nikke (“to nod”), Middle Dutch nicken (“to bend; to bow”) (modern Dutch knikken (“to nod”)), Middle Low German nicken (“to bend over; to sink”), Middle High German nicken (“to bend; to depress”) (modern German nicken (“to nod”)), Middle Low German knicken (“to bend; to snap”) (modern German knicken (“to bend; to break”), Old Frisian hnekka (“to nod”), and Swedish nicka (“to nod”), has been clearly established.

unknown

further etymology is unknown

cog

The car I bought was cheap and in good nick.

[F]urther south in Kent, there was St. Mildred, whose mother [Domne Eafe], in 670, founded the minster that still stands there in good nick, with nine nuns who are an ever-present help in trouble to all religions and none.

2014 July 20, Jane Gardam, “Give us a bishop in high heels [print version: ‘Give us a high-heeled bishop’, International New York Times, 22 July 2014, page 11]”, in The New York Times, archived from the original on 2015-11-07:

[…]considering they've abused their bodies with everything from M and G to crystal meth over the course of the last day or so, some longer, they look in pretty good nick.

2017, James Wharton, Something for the Weekend, Biteback Publishing, →ISBN:

More unexpectedly, older tech and hardware stocks seem in decent nick, Mr Ives notes.

2022 May 14, “Tech bubbles are bursting all over the place”, in The Economist, →ISSN:

(UK, Ireland, Commonwealth, colloquial) Often in the expressions in bad nick and in good nick: condition, state.

He was arrested and taken down to Sun Hill nick [police station] to be charged.

He’s just been released from Shadwell nick [prison] after doing ten years for attempted murder.

I recall too that the chats in the back of the [police] van weren't too bad as they dispatched me to the nick.

2014, Russell Brand, “I am an Anarchist-a”, in Revolution, New York, N.Y.: Ballantine Books, →ISBN, page 81:

Poor Billy, he got seven years and he died in the nick in Liverpool in January 1958. Tragedy, he was such a good man, the best. He had a big funeral back in Clerkenwell. Eva went to it. I was in the nick down south at the time.

2019 June 6, Frankie Fraser, James Morton, Mad Frank's Diary: The Confessions of Britain’s Most Notorious Villain, Random House, →ISBN:

“They say he's a friend of Stuart's who he met in the nick down south. No one in Brisbane knows him.” “Not that anyone would admit to it anyway.”

2021 March 23, William Stokes, The Riddle Exposed:: The Whiskey Firebombing's Link to the McCulkin Family Murders, Interactive Publications, →ISBN, page 80:

(UK, Ireland, Commonwealth, law enforcement, slang) A police station or prison.


nick

en-verb

nick (third-person singular simple present nicks, present participle nicking, simple past and past participle nicked)

nicks (present singular third-person)
nicking (participle present)
nicked (participle past)
nicked (past)

unknown

further etymology is unknown

Someone’s nicked my bike!

As I'm on the ground, my bat and one of the stumps are grabbed out of my hands. [...] At that point, I look up and see Adrian [Dale] – with two stumps in his hands! Hugh [Morris] has given him one and his brother Gary, who is a policeman, has seen the bloke who nicked it off me and wrestled it off him and given [it] to Adrian. He didn't get my bat back, though.

2013, Ian Botham, with Dean Wilson, “Steve James – Fine Dining”, in Beefy’s Cricket Tales: My Favourite Stories from On and Off the Field, London: Simon & Schuster, →ISBN, pages 145–146:

(transitive, UK, Ireland, Commonwealth, colloquial) To steal.

The police nicked him climbing over the fence of the house he’d broken into.

Flick knives were pulled on us, and the group demanded we give them all our money, and passports and everything else we had. [...] They [the police] had nicked the knife gang, (who had stayed there, beating the shit out of Nick), and found our passports.

2012, T. Appleby, “Die in Dunkirk or Somewhere in France”, in Life in the Harsh Lane: The Nine Lives, Mishaps, and Adventures of a No-body, [Bloomington, Ind.]: Xlibris, →ISBN, page 113:

[...] I was always getting nicked when I was a junkie, so I've had my fair share of skirmishes with the law.

(transitive, UK, Ireland, Commonwealth, law enforcement, slang) To arrest.


premier

Borrowed from Middle French premier (adjective), from Latin prīmārius. Doublet of primary.

prime minister

parliamentary leader of government and leader of cabinet in a national parliament

prime minister

head of government in a non-Westminster system

1871 July 29, “Our Tyrant”, The Spectator, Volume 303, Issues 9308-9315, page 910,
Mr. Gladstone had literally no option. Not to coerce the Lords was to coerce the Commons to continue purchase in spite of their repeated votes for its abolition, and this the Premier had as little the power as the will to do.

(politics, UK, Westminster system) The head of government in parliament and leader of the cabinet.

(politics, UK parliament) The prime minister.

More surprising than the company′s activities and interests were those of the premier of Ontario, Mitchell Hepburn.

1974, Irving M. Abella, On Strike; Six Key Labour Struggles in Canada, 1919-1949, page 96:

The major concern of most of the premiers who attended the 1887 conference was, as Macdonald well understood, to put pressure upoon Ottawa to amend the B.N.A. Act to increase the subsidies paid to the provinces by tying them to current population levels rather than those of 1860.

1986, R. Kenneth Carty, National Politics and Community in Canada, page 116:

John Forrest had dominated the fledgling state of Western Australia, serving as premier for the previous decade.

2007, Patrick Moray Weller, Cabinet Government in Australia, 1901-2006: Practice, Principles, Performance, page 1:

In 1890 it was South Australian Premier Charles Cameron Kingston who first proposed a system of compulsory conciliation and arbitration to deal with industrial unrest.

2009, Andrew Stewart, edited by John Spoehr, Chapter 16: Industrial Relations: State of South Australia: From Crisis to Prosperity?, page 302:

In 2009 Kristina Keneally became Labor premier in NSW in similar circumstances to her predecessors in Western Australia and Victoria - a Labor government that was in deep trouble because of mismanagement and corruption scandals.

2011, Jennifer Curtin, Marian Sawer, “4: Oceania”, in Gretchen Bauer, Manon Tremblay, editors, Women in Executive Power: A Global Overview, page 56:

(politics, Australia, Canada, South Africa) The leader of a state or provincial government and cabinet.

省長 /省长

Australia, Canada: head of a state or provincial government

first minister

parliamentary leader of government and leader of cabinet in a state or provincial parliament


zinc

en-noun

zinc (countable and uncountable, plural zincs)

Borrowed from German Zink, related to Zinke (“point, prong”), from Middle High German zinke, from Old High German zinko (“prong, tine”), allied to zint (“a jag, point”), from Proto-Germanic *tindaz (“prong, pinnacle”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₃dónts (“tooth, projection”). Cognate with Old English tind (“tine, prong”), Middle Low German tinde, Icelandic tindur (“spike, tooth of a rake or harrow, pinnacle, peak, battlement”). See also Dutch tinne (“battlement”), German Zinne (“pinnacle, battlement”), Danish tinde (“pinnacle, battlement”), Swedish tinne (“tooth of a rake”), More at tine. Doublet of zincum.

cog

Then, three workmen throwing dice for drinks. And their heads come sharply together as they count the scores. And so violently do they throw the dice that they shoot off "the zinc" on to the floor.

1904, The Saturday Review of Politics, Literature, Science and Art:

Even if there were a Chef and Brewer near Marble Arch, the name suggests a pint and pie, not a prawn and tomato sandwich and “a dock glass of white port off the zinc”; i.e., a small glass of a fine aperitif, at the counter […]

2010, Chris Ackerley, Demented Particulars, page 44:

(UK, dated, colloquial) A zinc countertop.