use a sledgehammer to crack a nut

en-verb

use a sledgehammer to crack a nut (third-person singular simple present uses a sledgehammer to crack a nut, present participle using a sledgehammer to crack a nut, simple past and past participle used a sledgehammer to crack a nut)

uses a sledgehammer to crack a nut (present singular third-person)
using a sledgehammer to crack a nut (participle present)
used a sledgehammer to crack a nut (participle past)
used a sledgehammer to crack a nut (past)

/ˌjuːz‿ə ˈslɛd͡ʒhæmə tə ˌkɹæk‿ə ˈnʌt/

/ˌjuz‿ə ˈslɛd͡ʒhæmɚ tə ˌkɹæk‿ə ˈnʌt/

En-au-use a sledgehammer to crack a nut.ogg

The analogy dates back to at least the middle of the 19th century: see, for example, this quotation from Levi Carroll Judson’s work Sages and Heroes of the American Revolution (1851): “He at once became the nucleus around which a band of patriots gathered and formed a nut too hard to be cracked by the sledgehammer of monarchy.”

nb...

In Two Parts: Including the Signers of the Declaration of Independence. Two Hundred and Forty Three of the Sages and Heroes are Presented in Due Form: And Many Others are Named Incidentally.

This last mentioned consideration involves the concept in Community law (derived principally from German law) called "proportionality". In plain English it means "You must not use a steam hammer to crack a nut, if a nutcracker would do."

[1983 January 20, Lord Diplock [i.e., Kenneth Diplock, Baron Diplock], Lord of Appeal in Ordinary, House of Lords, “Regina, respondent, and Goldstein, appellant [[1983] 1 W.L.R. 151]”, in The Weekly Law Reports, volume 1, London: Incorporated Council of Law Reporting for England and Wales, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 155:

Today, Mr [Anthony] Worthington, an engineer, said: 'Sending three officers over simply to give a warning about kids playing football in the street is like using a sledgehammer to crack a nut.[…]'

2010 September 21, “‘A sledgehammer to crack a nut’: Three police officers and a patrol car rush to … children playing football in the street”, in Daily Mail, London: DMG Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2023-03-06:

In our view the Public Order Bill is an attempt by the Government to use a sledgehammer to crack a nut. At a time when we should be focusing on rebuilding trust in the police, this Bill risks stoking further mistrust and undermining their vital role in protecting the public.

2022 December 17, Martin Evans, quoting Mike Barton et al., “Law to curb Just Stop Oil protests ‘a sledgehammer to crack a nut’, say ex-police chiefs”, in Chris Evans, editor, The Daily Telegraph, London: Telegraph Media Group, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2023-02-18:

(intransitive, Australia, British, New Zealand, idiomatic, informal) To use disproportionate or significantly excessive force to carry out an action; to do something overzealously.

to use disproportionate or significantly excessive force to carry out an action

高射炮打蚊子 (gāoshèpào dǎ wénzi, literally “to use an anti-aircraft gun to hit a mosquito”)

割雞焉用牛刀 /割鸡焉用牛刀 (gējī yān yòng niúdāo, literally “when killing a chicken, why use an ox cleaver?”)

牛鼎烹雞 /牛鼎烹鸡 (niúdǐngpēngjī, literally “to use a cauldron for a cow to cook a chicken”)

ಗುಬ್ಬಿ ಮೇಲೆ ಬ್ರಹ್ಮಾಸ್ತ್ರ (gubbi mēle brahmāstra, literally “to strike a sparrow with the brahmāstra”)

пали́ть из пу́шки по воробья́м impf (palítʹ iz púški po vorobʹjám, literally “to fire a cannon at sparrows”)

పిచ్చుక మీద బ్రహ్మాస్త్రము (piccuka mīda brahmāstramu, literally “to strike a sparrow with the brahmāstra”)

ขี่ช้างจับตั๊กแตน (kìi-cháang-jàp-dták-gà-dtɛɛn, literally “to ride an elephant to catch a grasshopper”)

when your only tool is a hammer, every problem looks like a nail


treddle

From Middle English tridel, tyrdel, from Old English tyrdel (“dropping, small piece of excrement”), diminutive of Old English tord (“piece of excrement, dung”), equivalent to turd + -le.

der

(UK dialectal) The dung of sheep or hares.


guttler

Here it was the generosity of men of property contributing to the means of giving pleasure to meritorious labourers; and there it is a set of impudent guzzlers and guttlers, swallowing the earnings of working people, which they have no more right to swallow then they have to take the skins off our bodies.

1832 July 8, William Cobbett, Political Register:

(British, dialect) One who guttles; a greedy eater; a glutton.


radiophonics

(UK, dated) radiophonic sounds and music, or the techniques used to produce them


lungie

a kittywake's and lungie's nest

1816, [Walter Scott], The Antiquary. […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), Edinburgh: […] James Ballantyne and Co. for Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, →OCLC:

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


intercommonage

(law, UK, obsolete) The right or privilege of intercommoning.


elsin

From Middle English aslen, elsen (“an awl or some other pointed instrument or tool”), either from Middle Dutch elsene, alsene, from Old High German alansa, from Proto-Germanic *alasnō, or from an unrecorded Old English form.

(UK, dialect, obsolete) A shoemaker's awl.


nash

en-adj

nash (comparative more nash, superlative most nash)

more nash (comparative)
most nash (superlative)

(UK, dialect) Alternative spelling of nesh


twilt

en-verb

twilt (third-person singular simple present twilts, present participle twilting, simple past and past participle twilted)

twilts (present singular third-person)
twilting (participle present)
twilted (participle past)
twilted (past)

(UK, dialect, obsolete) To cross-stitch in quincunx fashion so as to connect two thicknesses together.


gemminess

An infinite gemminess of flowers scintillates .along its course

1859, Theodore Winthrop, A Companion to the Heart of the Andes, page 41:

(UK, slang, archaic) The state or quality of being gemmy; spruceness; smartness.


nall

Either from Icelandic nál (“needle”), or from an awl, like newt, from ewt.

, And apron, and scissars for head and for tail,
Whole bridle and saddle, whitleather, and nall,
With collars and harness, for thiller and all[…]

1557 February 13 (Gregorian calendar), Thomas Tusser, A Hundreth Good Pointes of Husbandrie, London: […] Richard Tottel, →OCLC; republished London: […] Robert Triphook, […], and William Sancho, […], 1810, →OCLC:


whinnock

From whine + -ock or from whin, wheen (“small amount or number”) + -ock.

(UK, dialect) The smallest pig in a litter; the runt.


shagged out

en-adj

shagged out (comparative more shagged out, superlative most shagged out)

more shagged out (comparative)
most shagged out (superlative)

(UK, slang) exhausted (as if with sexual activity)


laitand

laitand (comparative more laitand, superlative most laitand)

more laitand (comparative)
most laitand (superlative)

From Middle English laitande, present participle of laiten (“to seek, look for”), equivalent to lait + -and.


burghal

In Scotland, parishes are either burghal, i.e. those comprised wholly within a burgh royal; landward, those forming a rural district; or mixed, i.e. a burgh with a rural district attached.

1867, John Guthrie Smith, A Digest of the Law of Scotland Relating to the Poor, the Public Health, and Other Matters Managed by Parochial Boards, 2nd edition, Edinburgh: T&T Clark, Introduction, p. 2:

There is a pleasant smell of cooking about, and a hum of compact and contented life. Add the excitement of an election, and you have that busy burghal hive which is the basis of all human society—a snug little commune intent on its own affairs, a world which for the moment owes allegiance to no other.

1930 July, John Buchan, “Portaway—Red Davie”, in Castle Gay, Boston, Mass.; New York, N.Y.: Houghton Mifflin Company; Cambridge, Mass.: The Riverside Press, →OCLC, page 202:

It is true that Frome is not called a borough, nor are burgesses recorded for it, but the payment of the ‘third penny’ suggests burghal status […]

1986, H. C. Darby, chapter 10, in Domesday England, Cambridge University Press, page 290:


tied oil

(UK, law) Any oil that is either a light oil, or a heavy oil that falls into the excise definition of gas oil, fuel oil or kerosene.


do me a lemon

"Do me a favour" (rhyming with "lemon flavour") in Cockney rhyming slang.

(UK, idiomatic, humorous) Expresses disbelief.


witts

the clean witts contain native oxide of tin, black or rosin-tin, and wolfram[…]

1852, Charles Tomlinson, Cyclopædia of Useful Arts, Mechanical and Chemical:

(mining, UK, dialect, Cornwall) Tin ore freed from earthy matter by stamping.


slobberer

(UK, dialect, obsolete) A slovenly farmer.

(UK, dialect, obsolete) A jobbing tailor.


sus law

(UK, informal) A law that permitted a police officer to stop, search and potentially arrest people on suspicion of being in breach of section 4 of the Vagrancy Act 1824.


mortling

en-noun

mortling (countable and uncountable, plural mortlings)

(UK, dialect, archaic) An animal, such as a sheep, that has died of disease or privation.

(UK, archaic) Wool taken from a dead sheep.


fen cricket

(UK, dialect, archaic) The mole cricket.


gibfish

When a gib fish has found a stream that he likes , he makes a hole as a swine works in the ground with his nose , his mouth being nailed with the gib in its socket

1834, Thomas Medwin, The Angler in Wales: Or, Days and Nights of Sportsmen:

In Northumberland the male [salmon] is called a summercock, or gibfish

1885, Edward Hamilton, Recollections of Fly Fishing for Salmon, Trout, and Grayling:


twagger

And I have brought a twagger for the nones,
 A bunting lamb; nay, pray, you feel no bones.

1581, George Peele, The Arraignment of Paris:


elsen

From Middle English elsen, elsyn, alsene (“an awl or some other pointed instrument or tool”), either from Middle Dutch elsene, alsene, from Old Dutch *elisna, *alasna, from Proto-West Germanic *alisnu, *alasnu, from Proto-Germanic *alasnō, or from an unrecorded Old English form.

piercing with an elsen


grindery

grindery (countable and uncountable, plural grinderies)

(UK, dialect, uncountable) The materials used by leatherworkers.


bite in the arse

en-verb

bite in the arse (third-person singular simple present bites in the arse, present participle biting in the arse, simple past bit in the arse, past participle bitten in the arse)

bites in the arse (present singular third-person)
biting in the arse (participle present)
bit in the arse (past)
bitten in the arse (participle past)

After the kitten had died, Robins sent a text message to Knutton saying: "Remember the saying: 'What goes around comes around?' It has started already to bite you in the arse. The cat? Karma."

2011 December 14, Steven Morris, “Devon woman jailed for 168 days for killing kitten in microwave”, in The Guardian:

come back to bite
come back to bite#English

(transitive, slang, vulgar, UK) Synonym of come back to bite.


shruff

(obsolete, UK, dialect) Light, dry wood, or material used for fuel.


hedgebote

From Middle English hege botte; equivalent to hedge + bote.


seasoner

(UK) A conker that has been stored for a whole year and allowed to harden.


deed poll

I changed my name by deed poll.

(law, UK, Ireland) A deed that effects a change of an individual's name.


bobbish

en-adj

bobbish (comparative more bobbish, superlative most bobbish)

more bobbish (comparative)
most bobbish (superlative)

"The pigs is well," said Mr. Squeers, "the cows is well, and the boys is bobbish. Young Sprouter has been a-winking, has he? I'll wink him when I get back."

1852 March – 1853 September, Charles Dickens, Bleak House, London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1853, →OCLC:

“How do you do, Mr. Huxter,” the Prince of Fairoaks said in his most princely manner—“I hope you are very well.”
“Pretty bobbish, thanky.”

1848 November – 1850 December, William Makepeace Thackeray, chapter 47, in The History of Pendennis. […], volume (please specify |volume=I or II), London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1849–1850, →OCLC:

(UK, slang, dated) hearty; in good spirits


newing

en-noun

newing (countable and uncountable, plural newings)


tufthunting

(UK, slang, archaic) The practice of seeking after, and hanging on, noblemen, or persons of quality, especially in English universities.


essoin

en-verb

essoin (third-person singular simple present essoins, present participle essoining, simple past and past participle essoined)

essoins (present singular third-person)
essoining (participle present)
essoined (participle past)
essoined (past)

Inherited from Middle English essoyne, from Old French essoignier, from Medieval Latin exoniō, essoniō (“excuse oneself; accept an excuse”), from ex- + sonium + -ō, sonium being from Proto-West Germanic *sunnju (“care, need”).

der

I'll not essoin thee.

(UK, law, transitive) To excuse for failure to appear in court.


essoin

[W]ith Rejoinders and Replies, / Long Bills, and Anſvvers, ſtuft vvith Lies, / Demurr, Imparlance, and Eſſoign, / The Parties ne'er could Iſſue join: / For Sixteen Years the Cauſe vvas ſpun, / And then ſtood vvhere it firſt begun.

1726, [Jonathan Swift], Cadenus and Vanessa. A Poem, London: […] J. Roberts […], →OCLC, page 9:

(UK, law, obsolete) An excuse for not appearing in court at the return of process; the allegation of an excuse to the court.


geason

en-adj

geason (comparative more geason, superlative most geason)

more geason (comparative)
most geason (superlative)

From Middle English geson, gesene (“rare, scarce”), from Old English gǣsne (“deprived of, wanting, destitute, barren, sterile, dead”), from Proto-West Germanic *gaisnī (“barren, poor”), from Proto-Indo-European *gʰē- (“to be gaping, yawn”). Cognate with North Frisian gast (“barren”), Low German güst (“barren”), Old High German geisini, keisini (“lack”).

der

(UK dialectal) Difficult to procure; scant; sparing.


gozzard

(UK, dialectal) Archaic form of gooseherd.


pinnock

Unknown. Perhaps from a base pin, of unknown origin + -ock (diminutive suffix).


escambio

From Latin escambium, excambium. See excamb.

(UK, law, obsolete) A licence formerly required for the making over a bill of exchange to another person overseas.


stull

Related to German Stollen (“stull”), ultimately from Proto-Germanic *stullô (“support, post, beam”), but its route into English is uncertain. Perhaps borrowed from Middle High German stolle. Doublet of stollen. Compare also stum.

(UK, dialect, mining) A framework of timber covered with boards to support rubbish or to protect miners from falling stones.


tupman

(UK, obsolete) A man who breeds, or deals in, tups (rams)


shrowd

en-verb

shrowd (third-person singular simple present shrowds, present participle shrowding, simple past and past participle shrowded)

shrowds (present singular third-person)
shrowding (participle present)
shrowded (participle past)
shrowded (past)

(UK, dialect) Alternative form of shrood


preaudience

From pre- + audience, i.e. the right to be heard before another.

A patent of precedence is sometimes granted cedence to barristers , which entitles them to such rank and preaudience as are assigned in their respective patents

1765–1769, William Blackstone, Commentaries on the Laws of England, (please specify |book=I to IV), Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] Clarendon Press, →OCLC:

(historical, UK, law) Precedence of rank at the bar among lawyers.


wharp

(UK, archaic) A fine sand from the banks of the Trent, used as a polishing powder.


sea pudding

(UK, archaic) Any of various sea cucumbers.


fouter

From French foutre (“to lecher”), Latin futuere. Compare fouty.

The astonish'd tailor
[…]swearing he was better stuff
Than sick a fouter.


blates

Clipping of blatantly + -s (hypocoristic suffix). Compare obvs (“obviously”).

LOST IS WELL CRAP. GO WATCH RAVEN ON BBC1 FOR PROP ENTERTAINMENT.blates.xx.

2006, daniel.g.read@googlemail.com, “LOST IS 4 LOSERS!”, in alt.tv.lost (Usenet):

>There have been far more abominations than great games based on popular
>films, but what are your 5 favourites?
5) Er.
4) Um.
3) Erm.
2) Batman the Movie (Spectrum)
1) Goldeneye (N64). Blates, innit.

2008, deKay, “Tuesday Top 5: Movie Licences”, in uk.games.video.misc (Usenet):

(UK, slang) Blatantly; certainly, obviously.


costning

From Middle English costning, costnunge, from Old English costnung (“temptation, testing, trial, tribulation”), from Old English costnian, variant of Old English costian (“to tempt, try, prove, examine”), from Proto-Germanic *kustōną (“to try, taste”), from Proto-Indo-European *ǵews- (“to enjoy, taste”), equivalent to cost + -ing. Cognate with German kosten (“to taste”). Related to choose.


coath

en-noun

coath (countable and uncountable, plural coaths)

From Middle English cothe, from Old English coþu (“disease, sickness, pestilence”), from Proto-Germanic *kuþō.

inh

(UK dialectal) Sickness; disease; pestilence.

(UK dialectal) An attack of illness, such as swooning, pangs of childbirth, etc.

(UK dialectal) A disease affecting sheep or cattle.


Gary Glitter

Rhyming slang for shitter, referring to Gary Glitter, British glam rock singer.

Just because we like to take it up the Gary Glitter, darling, it doesn't mean we have to grow fat to satisfy the fears of our friends

"...and I bet she's dirty, and all. She's bound to take it up the Gary Glitter.”
“I'm sure that Mel's a nice church-going lass,” I countered, almost managing a straight face, “who has never been kissed, let alone done up the arse.”

(UK, vulgar, slang, idiomatic) The anus, especially in the context of anal sex.


scooterist

(UK) A member of a scooter-riding subculture, associated especially with the 1960s Mod movement and its various revivals.


bent as a nine-bob note

In pre-decimal English money, a nine-bob (nine-shilling) note would obviously be fraudulent, since there was no such denomination.

(simile, UK, slang) Extremely dishonest or criminally-minded.

(simile, UK, slang) Ostentatiously homosexual.


fit as a butcher's dog

Based on the assumption that a butcher's dog is likely to be well fed because of the ready supply of its master's meat.

This time not only is Gooch as fit as a butcher's dog but England, through their efforts at Headingley and Lord's, are mentally attuned to the process of both winning and, crucially in the second match, not losing.

1991 July 4, Mike Selvey, The Guardian, "Cricket: England out to make it seventh time lucky"

In my eyes, Nick Nairn is still in his early 20s, invincible and as fit as a butcher's dog.

2000 April 16, Nick Nairn, “Sunday Herald”, in Food for Thought:

"I had my midlife crisis at 31 but here I am at 48 and as fit as a butcher's dog," he said.

2010 July 12, “Runner launches Nottinghamshire's first ultra marathon”, in BBC News:

(chiefly British) Very fit; in good shape.


fieldsman

The batsmen took an easy single as the ball approached the fieldsman but Gambhir called for a second on the throw and Franklin uprooted the non-striker's stumps.

2009 March 19, AAP, “India 4-278 at stumps”, in Herald Sun:

Radley pulled it, as a great laugh went up, to the very spot from which the fieldsman had been removed.

I timed it successfully, and had no doubt of having added four to my score, when, to my astonishment, I saw a fieldsman running from the direction of the hedge.

1920, Various, Punch, or the London Charivari, Vol. 159, July 14th, 1920:

Watch the flying fieldsman, Keen to save the fourer, Gallop past the wooden box Sacred to the scorer!

William Grey, 1; Samuel Long, 2; James Brown, 3; George and John Simmons, one capital, the other so-so--an uncertain hitter, but a good fieldsman, 5; Joel Brent, excellent, 6; Ben Appleton--here was a little pause, for Ben's abilities at cricket were not completely ascertained, but then he was a good fellow, so full of fun and waggery!

1873, Various, The World's Greatest Books, Vol VI.:

(cricket, chiefly Australia, dated in UK) fielder


fario

From Latin fario (“salmon trout”), possibly from late Proto-Indo-European *sr̥Hyón-, akin to English sturgeon.

As you walk along the main street which runs parallel with the river, an angler is busy "swishing" his rod violently in the air to "dry" the fly, ere he essays to drop it over the nose of one of the speckled fario which abound; so be careful to step down off the path which runs alongside the stream, in case you should put the fish "down" and spoil the sport.

1918, J. Arthur Gibbs, A Cotswold Village:

A collection of Scotch red deer and fallow deer heads testified to the magnificent hunting that is obtained among the virgin forests of New Zealand, and specimens of trout--rainbow, salmon, fario, and fontinalis--taken from the mountain-fed streams that intersect the country from one end to the other appealed to the fishing enthusiast.

1906, Louisiana Purchase Exposition Commission, Final Report of the Louisiana Purchase Exposition Commission:


spotted dog

en-noun

spotted dog (countable and uncountable, plural spotted dogs)

" Are there any raisins in the store-cupboard ? " I next asked weakly. " I noticed there were not many in the spotted dog pudding we had the other day."

1905, Mabel Barnes-Grundy, The Vacillations of Hazel, page 173:

Fine—I've got a spotted dog about baked done in the oven, now.

1906, The Pacific Monthly: A Magazine of Education and Progress:

If you don't know what spotted dog is, it's one of those beastly steamed pudding things with an occasional raisin in it that boarding schools feed their inmates on because it's cheap, not in the least nourishing, and nearly guaranteed to keep them contented until tea time.

1962, Denis Glover, Hot Water Sailor, page 31:

The source of the trouble was the spotted dog. Spotted dog is a sort of pudding, made from dough with currants embedded.

(UK) A steamed pudding with embedded currants or raisins


jackarse

Blend of American English jackass with British English arse.

(UK, Ireland, Commonwealth) A jackass (foolish or obnoxious person).


bump supper

‘I once got clap after a bump supper,’ said Blanford gloomily, ‘and it wasn't gay at all. It took ages to get itself cured.’

1978, Lawrence Durrell, Livia (Avignon Quintet), Faber & Faber, published 1992, page 442:

(UK) A supper given in celebration of the making of a ‘bump’ by a college boat.


matie

(UK and Scotland, archaic) A fat herring with undeveloped roe.


teagle

(UK, dialect) A hoisting apparatus; an elevator, crane, or lift.


teagle

en-verb

teagle (third-person singular simple present teagles, present participle teagling, simple past and past participle teagled)

teagles (present singular third-person)
teagling (participle present)
teagled (participle past)
teagled (past)

(UK, dialect, transitive) To hoist or raise by means of a teagle.


frabbit

en-adj

frabbit (comparative more frabbit, superlative most frabbit)

more frabbit (comparative)
most frabbit (superlative)

When last I went she was so frabbit with me, that I really thought she wished I'd keep away.


wheelbird

From wheel + bird, from the sound of its cry?

(UK, dialect, dated) The European goatsucker.


horsemint

en-noun

horsemint (countable and uncountable, plural horsemints)

From Middle English horsmynte, from Old English horsminte, equivalent to horse + mint.

(UK) Wild mint (Mentha sylvestris, now Mentha longifolia).


disbench

en-verb

disbench (third-person singular simple present disbenches, present participle disbenching, simple past and past participle disbenched)

disbenches (present singular third-person)
disbenching (participle present)
disbenched (participle past)
disbenched (past)

The benchers also have the power to disbench and disbar for misconduct.

1991, John H. Baker, The Inner Temple: A Brief Historical Description:

(transitive, UK, law) To deprive (a bencher) of his privileges.


no duff

From the RAF slang expression "duff gen" meaning bad information; no duff, by extension means accurate, also: stop operations until ordered otherwise.

“Sunray, No Duff, No Duff, No Duff. We need a medic, we’ve got a man down. Wound to the upper arm, and major blood loss. Over.” ¶ All the other chatter on all the radios went dead with the ‘No Duff.’ It was the signal for a medical emergency.

2001, Ska Child, David Harris, Skavoovee, Victoria, B.C.: Trafford Publishing, page 152:

“Someone grabbed me from behind and said ‘No duff,’ which means this is real,” said LCdr. Wong. “That’s what everybody heard, ‘Plane crash, 737,’ and all of us started running to our posts,” he told reporters after Prime Minister Stephen Harper arrived here to commend those who raced to the scene.

2011 August 24, Gloria Galloway, “When troops heard ‘no duff,’ they knew Resolute Bay rescue wasn’t an exercise”, in The Globe and Mail:

(UK, Ireland, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, military slang, radio voice procedure) Indicating that this is not a drill or training exercise.


no duff

“Get him in here, and radio a ‘no duff’ [casualty] to HQ.”

1999, Scott Taylor, Canada at War and Peace: A Millennium of Military Heritage, volume 3, Ottawa: Esprit de Corps Books, page 140:

[p 224] I called on the radio and — this was the most horrifying part of this — I couldn’t reach my observation post where my guys were. But I did get the command post in the middle of Srebrenica. I told them, “This is a no duff situation. You’ve got two men down and we’re on the trail.’
[p 236, glossary] No duff The radio code words used to get people off the air because a serious incident has occurred.

2003, “Jordie Yeo: Master Corporal” in John Wood ed., The Chance of War: Canadian Soldiers in the Balkans, 1992–1995, Dundurn Press

(UK, Ireland, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, military slang, radio voice procedure) An incident that is not a drill or training exercise; an emergency. Also end of exercise. Stop drill immediately. As a ‘tap out’ called by during physical training. Sim munitions training in Australian Swat ‘end ex’.


tallwood

(UK, obsolete) Firewood cut into billets of a certain length.


forlagen

en-adj

forlagen (comparative more forlagen, superlative most forlagen)

more forlagen (comparative)
most forlagen (superlative)

Origin obscure, but apparently akin to Scots forlegen, forlagen (“utterly worn out, completely exhausted”), Danish and Norwegian forlegen (“embarrassed, perplexed”), Dutch verlagen (“abashed, degraded, soiled, abased”), equivalent to for- + lain. The sense development may be due to Scandinavian influence, compare Faroese leggjask firi (“to become exhausted”), Old Norse leggjask fyrir (“to give up hope”).


frab

en-verb

frab (third-person singular simple present frabs, present participle frabbing, simple past and past participle frabbed)

frabs (present singular third-person)
frabbing (participle present)
frabbed (participle past)
frabbed (past)

Dunna think we'll sit siking and frabbing, because hur's took up with that dainty doll

"I did not make him as happy as I might ha' done," murmured she, in a low, sad voice of self-reproach. "Th' accident gave a jar to my temper it's never got the better of; and now he's gone where he can never know how I grieve for having frabbed him as I did."

1848, [Elizabeth Gaskell], Mary Barton: A Tale of Manchester Life. […] (Chapman and Hall’s Series of Original Works of Fiction, Biography, and General Literature), volume (please specify |volume=I or II), London: Chapman and Hall, […], →OCLC:

Oh! I can nearly say it all off by heart, for many a time when I am frabbed by bad debts, or Osborne's bills, or moidered with accounts, I turn the ledger wrong way up, and smoke a pipe over it, while I read those pieces out of the review which speak about you, lad!'

1864 August – 1866 January, [Elizabeth] Gaskell, Wives and Daughters. An Every-day Story. […], volume (please specify |volume=I or II), London: Smith, Elder and Co., […], published 1866, →OCLC:

(UK, dialect, archaic) To scold, nag, or harass.


kick the tyres

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

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

The tests give the market the chance to kick the tyres of some of Europe's weaker financial institutions, so you might expect the City to be enthusiastic about them.

2011 July 15, Harry Wilson, “Stress tests are a chance for market to kick the tyres of Europe's banks”, in The Telegraph:

(Australia, New Zealand, UK, idiomatic) Alternative form of kick the tires


yepsen

From Middle English yespon, yepson, ȝespon, ȝespen, ȝispon (“a measure of volume equivalent to that contained in a person’s hands cupped together”), probably from Old English *ġēapsponn, *ġēapspann, from Old English *ġēap (“bent, curved”) + spann (“measure of the palm or hand”), equivalent to gap + span. Compare West Frisian gasp (“buckle, clasp”), Dutch gesp (“buckle, clasp”), Middle Low German gespe (“the cavity between the hands when held together”), Old Norse gaupn (“hollow made by cupped hands”). Doublet of gowpen.

cog

(obsolete, UK, dialect) Amount that can be held in two hands cupped together.

(obsolete, UK, dialect) Two hands cupped together.


fike

From Middle English fiken, fyken (“to fidget, move about restlessly, hasten away”), from Old Norse fíkjast (“to be eager or restless”), from fíka (“to climb, move”). Cognate with Scots fyke (“to move about restlessly, fidget, itch”), Norwegian fika (“to strive, take trouble”), Icelandic fikinn (“eager, greedy”). Related to fig and fidget.

cog

(UK dialectal) Any trifling peculiarity in regard to work which causes unnecessary trouble; teasing exactness of operation.


fike

From Middle English fike, from Old English fīc (“fig, fig-tree, fig-disease, venereal ulcer, hemorrhoids”), from Proto-Germanic *fīkaz, *fīgō (“fig”), from Latin fīcus, fīca (“fig, fig-tree”). Cognate with Dutch vijg (“fig”), German Feige (“fig”), Swedish fikon (“fig”), Icelandic fikja (“ficus”). More at fig.

inh

(UK dialectal) A sore place on the foot.


showhome

(UK) A house that is furnished and shown to prospective home-buyers as an example of the kind of house they may buy.


wariangle

From Middle English wariangel, weryangle, possibly from Old English *weargincel with the second element reanalyzed as *weargengel. Compare Old English wearg (“outlaw, criminal”), German würgengel (“destroying angel, destroyer, killer”), -incel (“diminutive suffix”) and English worry.

cog

Lanius collurio
Lanius collurio#Translingual

(UK, obsolete or dialect) The red-backed shrike (Lanius collurio).


ringlestone

(UK, obsolete) The ringed dotterel, or ringed plover.


theatre blues

Blue clothing is worn in an operating theatre.


atself

"Ach sure, there's no harm in the one drink atself, but wasn't Mrs. Farrell telling us Father had an extra twelve last night after his tay?"

(UK dialectal, Ireland) Actually; really.

(UK dialectal, Ireland) Merely; even; only so much as.


attern

en-adj

attern (comparative more attern, superlative most attern)

more attern (comparative)
most attern (superlative)

From Middle English attern, from Old English ǣtren (“poisoned, poisonous, venomous”), from Proto-West Germanic *aittrīn (“poisonous”). Equivalent to atter + -en.

inh

(UK dialectal, of people) Cruel; fierce; ill-natured.


cartbote

(UK, law, obsolete) Wood to which a tenant is entitled for making and repairing carts and other instruments of husbandry.


wisket

a workman is constantly employed, with a perforated ladle, to take out the marine salt, which now begins to form, and fall to the bottom of the boiler; this, being thrown into a wisket, drains into the boiler

a. 1794, Thomas Green Fesseden, A Treatise on Saltpetre:

(UK, obsolete, dialect) A whisket, or basket.


allotmenteering

(UK, informal) The growing of crops in an allotment.


allotmenteer

(UK, informal) a person who grows crops in an allotment


muxy

en-adj

muxy (comparative more muxy, superlative most muxy)

more muxy (comparative)
most muxy (superlative)

I couldn't and wouldn't live in such a muxy kitchen.

1913, Amanda Minnie Douglas, A Modern Cinderella:

(UK, dialect, archaic) soft, sticky, or dirty


gawn

(obsolete, UK, dialect) A small tub or lading vessel.


mulley

Leave milking and dry up old mulley, thy cow.

1573, Thomas Tusser, Five Hundred Points of Good Husbandry:

Little brother must be good, little brother mustn't cry, little brother's going to get a drop of milk from his good old Mulley.

2020, Steigrumur J. Porsteinsson, Einar H. Kvaran, Jón Trausti, 7 best short stories - Iceland:

Although not remarkably up in the world himself, yet he took care that the "mulley," at least, should occupy an elevated position in life; and so he had his stable on the flat roof, at the very top of the house, which is a high one; and he used to walk up and down the long flights of stairs which connected his home with the street below, "like a Christian," as we were once informed.

1864, Kingsbridge Estuary, with Rambles in the Neighbourhood, page 56:

Being but a little lad, I felt much afraid; With the hazel-rod I had, On the "mulley laid; Donkey kicked and ran away, And to get out of my way Turned into a field of hay, Where awhile he stayed.

1866, Samuel Wills, The British Chief and Other Poems, page 45:

'What is a mulley, father?' 'Why a thing, Jan, what had a jack-ass for his father and a 'oss for his mother.'

1933, Report and Transactions - The Devonshire Association for the Advancement of Science, Literature and Art, page 346:


menseless

Borrowed from Scots menseless, equivalent to mense + -less.

(UK dialectal, Northern England, Scotland) destitute of grace, propriety, or moderation; uncivil; immoderate


feodary

(UK, law) An ancient officer of the Court of Wards


ferk

en-verb

ferk (third-person singular simple present ferks, present participle ferking, simple past and past participle ferked)

ferks (present singular third-person)
ferking (participle present)
ferked (participle past)
ferked (past)

(UK) To rummage, in order to search for something; to dig amongst articles or move things aside in order to try and find something.


tithingman

(UK, law) A peace officer; an underconstable.


frine

frine (third-person singular simple present frines, present participle frining, simple past and past participle frined)

frines (present singular third-person)
frining (participle present)
frined (participle past)
frined (past)

Of North Germanic origin, akin to Swedish dialectal fryna (“to wrinkle up one's nose, make a wry face”), Norwegian frøyna (“to wrinkle up one's nose, make a wry face”). Perhaps related to frown.

cog

(intransitive, UK dialectal) To grumble, whine, or whimper; fret; show discontent; murmur; complain.


play gooseberry

en-verb

play gooseberry (third-person singular simple present plays gooseberry, present participle playing gooseberry, simple past and past participle played gooseberry)

plays gooseberry (present singular third-person)
playing gooseberry (participle present)
played gooseberry (participle past)
played gooseberry (past)

"Well, new experiences are broadening. Come along, and you'll be able to sympathize with all poor souls who have to play gooseberry often.

1915, Lucy Maud Montgomery, “In the Park”, in Anne of the Island:

(dated, UK slang) To be an unwanted third party accompanying two lovers, to serve as a chaperon.

κρατώ το φανάρι (krató to fanári, literally “to hold the lamp”)


kick bollocks scramble

en-noun

kick bollocks scramble (plural kick bollocks scrambles)

As the project came to an end, it was all a bit of a kick bollocks scramble.

So it's a kick bollocks scramble to try and get funding in place, to get all the contracts, to get everything agreed.

2013, David Hesmondhalgh, Sarah Baker, Creative Labour: Media Work in Three Cultural Industries, page 99:

(idiomatic, slang, British) A free for all or panic situation.


fristing

From Middle English fristing, frestynge, equivalent to frist + -ing.

(UK dialectal) A delay; suspension; postponement.


preedy

en-adv

preedy (comparative more preedy, superlative most preedy)

more preedy (comparative)
most preedy (superlative)


murth

From Middle English murth, morth, from Old English morþ (“death, destruction, homicide, murder; deadly sin”), from Proto-West Germanic *morþ, from Proto-Germanic *murþą (“death, murder”), from Proto-Indo-European *mr̥tós (“dead”), from Proto-Indo-European *mer- (“to die”).
Cognate with Saterland Frisian Moort (“murder”), West Frisian moard (“murder”), German Low German Moord (“murder”), German Mord (“murder”), Danish mord (“murder”), Swedish mord (“murder”), Icelandic morð (“murder”).


tonguey

From Middle English tungy, tungi, equivalent to tongue + -y. Compare Old English tynġe (“fluent, eloquent, skillful”).

cog

Give me a kiss. No, open your mouth, I want a tonguey.

1992, Louis Nowra, Così, Sydney: Currency Press, published 1994, act 2, scene 5, page 86:

He walked her to her house and received one last lingering Christmas tonguey under the mistletoe that hung above the door.

2004, Ben Elton, chapter 20, in Past Mortem, London: Bantam, page 200:

(Australia, UK) An act or an instance of kissing that involves the use of one's tongue.


bix

I was just wondering what everyone else has in their respective Coffee/Tea […]
please specify what food stuffs that you have been known to dunk.

2000 January 5, "blackbat" <XXXbtinternet.com>, "Re: the spy who loved tea", message-ID <38760635.2776140@news.btinternet.com>, alt.2eggs.sausage.beans.tomatoes.2toast.largetea.cheerslove, Usenet

Make sure you have plenty of tea/coffee and choccy bix on hand when they show up!

2003 March 3, Chris Comley <Chris_@spamdeath.kill.die.wizards.co.uk>, "Re: Home Highway - ADSL", message-ID <1oq76vo4gduo15ukcgrdr7e0cecibp8bs2@4ax.com>, uk.telecom.broadband, Usenet

btw, the bix are Albert (NAITUK), Lincoln, Jammie Dodger, (Jaffa Cake - NAB), Thin Arrowroot, Malted Milk, Nice, Hobnob.

2005 September 10, Adrian Bailey <dadgehotmail.com>, "Re: [=SDC=] Q46. A cup of tea's too wet without one....", message-ID <kLwUe.16493$k22.12458@fe2.news.blueyonder.co.uk>, alt.usage.english, Usenet


rescussor

(law, UK, obsolete) One who makes an unlawful rescue; a rescuer


fleaking

A narrow eaves-board being nailed across the feet of the spars, and some fleaking scattered on, the thatcher begins to “set his caves,” by laying a coat of reed[…]

1787, John Collier, A View of the Lancashire Dialect, or, Tummus and Mar:

(British, dialectal, obsolete) In a thatched building: a light covering of reeds, over which the main covering is laid.


mootman

(law, UK, obsolete) One who argued moot cases in the inns of court.


teinland

(UK, law, obsolete) Land granted by the crown to a thane or lord


sarplar

(UK, obsolete) A large bale or package of wool, containing eighty tods, or 2,240 pounds, in weight.


hatchboat

(nautical, UK, historical) A type of fishing boat found mostly in southern England in the 19th century, whose deck consisted of many movable hatches.


inceptor

And in the year 1576. Febr. 23. Mr. Hookers Grace was given him for Inceptor of Arts, Doctor Herbert Weſtphaling, a man of note for Learning, being then Vice-chancellour [of the University of Oxford].

1670, Izaak Walton, “The Life of Mr. Rich[ard] Hooker, the Author of Those Learned Books of the Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity”, in The Lives of Dr. John Donne, Sir Henry Wotton, Mr. Richard Hooker, Mr. George Herbert. […], volume III, London: […] Tho[mas] Newcomb for Rich[ard] Marriott, […], →OCLC, pages 21–22:

(UK) One who is on the point of taking a Master of Arts degree at an English university.


bencher

There is Pump Court and Fountain Court, with their hydraulic apparatus, but one never heard of a bencher disporting in the fountain; and can’t but think how many a counsel learned in the law of old days might have benefited by the pump.

1848 November – 1850 December, William Makepeace Thackeray, chapter 30, in The History of Pendennis. […], volume (please specify |volume=I or II), London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1849–1850, →OCLC:

(British, obsolete, law) One of the senior governing members of an Inn of Court.

ten of them Aldermen, or chief Benchers

1719, Elias Ashmole, The Antiquity of Berkshire:

(UK, obsolete) An alderman of a corporation.


pingle

Matthew Smith, by his will, bearing date 20th February 1713, left two alms-houses which he had built, and four closes of land, part freehold and part copyhold, lying in the Hoppings, near Hopping-hill, in the liberty of Belper, containing, by estimation, 13 acres: and a pingle, containing half an acre, to George Gregory, esq. of Nottingham, and Thomas Goodwin, esq. of Derby, and their heirs, to the intent that the yearly rents and profits thereof should be faithfully employed by them, for and towards the relief of two poor people, to be fifty years of age when placed in the said alms-houses, the same to be paid to them quarterly.

1833, Stephen Glover, Thomas Noble, The History, Gazetteer, and Directory of the County of Derby, page 104:

In 1619, John Chipsey and his wife Ellen surrendered lands in Scotter at le Clowehole," and "a pingle at the woodside," Manor Records, sub anno.

This was the case with a pingle wall erected on the waste c. 1750 by the then owner of the Throckmorton—Murcott—Wheeler—Smith holding.

1914, Sydenham Henry Augustus Hervey, Ladbroke and Its Owners, page 272:

Martyn Browne, Esq., paid a fat turkey, or two shillings, in rent for a 'pingle'—a small piece of enclosed land—there.

2014, Caitlin Green, The Streets of Louth, page 279:

(obsolete, UK, dialect) A small piece of enclosed ground.


pingle

en-verb

pingle (third-person singular simple present pingles, present participle pingling, simple past and past participle pingled)

pingles (present singular third-person)
pingling (participle present)
pingled (participle past)
pingled (past)

all this while when we haue beene at the Lords spirituall feasts, wee haue but pingled, and neuer made a good meale.

1616, Thomas Stoughton, Two Profitable Treatises, page 188:

The Liberal and Conservative rivals of the Socialist whole hoggers may nibble at Socialism as John Browdie pingled with the crust of the Yorkshire pie, but dry nurse and coddle the electors as they will, neither Free Traders nor Tariff Reformers can approach the large, divine, and comfortable creed of the Socialist whole hogger.

1911, Arnold White, The Views of 'Vanoc,': An Englishman's Outlook, page 319:

This man complained of burning pains in the stomach, he pingled his food.

1952, Homoeopathic World - Volume 87, page 121:

(intransitive, UK, dialect) To eat with a feeble appetite.

He pingled his wey tae the first o the moontain's three fause peaks an wis hauf-roads tae the second when a voice rang oot across the hills like a thunder plump.


SEP

Surrendered Enemy Personnel
w:Surrendered Enemy Personnel

(UK, military) Initialism of Surrendered Enemy Personnel.


PCT

en-noun

PCT (countable and uncountable, plural PCTs)

(UK, medicine) Initialism of primary care trust.


haybote

From Middle English haibote, haybote, heibote, heyboote, heybote; equivalent to hay (“hedge”) + bote; compare hedgebote.

haybote or hedgebote is wood for repairing of hays,

1765–1769, William Blackstone, Commentaries on the Laws of England, (please specify |book=I to IV), Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] Clarendon Press, →OCLC:

(UK, law, obsolete) An allowance of wood to a tenant for repairing his hedges or fences; hedgebote.


gavelet

(law, UK, obsolete or historical) A certain kind of writ historically used in Kent and London for the recovery of rent.


staithman

(UK) A man employed in weighing and shipping at a staith.


muffetee

Worsteds are more suitable for men's and women's stockings . Wools for children's stockings , or for muffetees , ruffs , and other lighter articles of wear , which should be soft and warm

(UK, dialect) A small muff worn over the wrist.


strenth

(archaic or UK dialectal, Scotland) Alternative spelling of strength


hemmel

From Scots hemmel, hammel, dialectal English hemble (“hovel, stable, shed”), perhaps allied to Dutch hemel (“heaven, canopy”), German Himmel. Compare English heaven.

Cattle kept in hemmels should always have their food may be stated that the roofs of all the buildings should given to them in the sheds

1864 June, John Ewart, “The Profitable Management of Farms in the Vicinity of Large Towns”, in The Farmer's Magazine:

(UK, dialect, Northumbria) A shed or hovel for cattle.


hemmel

Compare dialectal Swedish hammel (“little bar or beam”).

The bridge was narrow, with barely enough room for one to cross at a time. So they barred her way, the leader clutching the hemmel (handrail) on either side.

(UK, dialect, Yorkshire) A handrail, especially one fitted on one side of a planked or wooden bridge.


snift

snift (countable and uncountable, plural snifts)

An' if thou'll make a shift effort
To tak thi time a bit, owd lass,
Thou's have him in a snift!

An ' if thou'll make a shift To tak thi time a bit, owd lass, Thou's have him in a snift!”

1982, Brian Hollingworth, Songs of the People: Lancashire Dialect Poetry, page 71:

(UK dialectal, Lancashire, obsolete) A moment; a while.

Good Lorjus, Meary ! theawrt so hasty; so I clum th' steeigh in o snift, shoavt th' awts eawt, an smackt me riddle oth' hoyle.

1746, Samuel Bamford, Tim Bobbin's Tummus, page 15:

He frowned, and sent snifts of snow and symptoms of rain that dampened the ardor of the golf contingent and made things murky and dreary outside.

1914, “Progress in the Mvement to Promote the Brick Industry”, in The Clay-worker, volume 61, page 652:

Mingled labdanum w'fine snift of myrrh, to enhaunt her nautical J-chamois

(UK dialectal, uncountable) A light dusting, as of snow.


scrage

en-verb

scrage (third-person singular simple present scrages, present participle scraging, simple past and past participle scraged)

scrages (present singular third-person)
scraging (participle present)
scraged (participle past)
scraged (past)

(UK, transitive, Bristol, Birmingham) To scrape or graze (typically one's knee).

Bristol; Birmingham; Bristol; Birmingham


scrage

(UK, Bristol, Birmingham) A scrape or graze.


elisor

French éliseur, from élire to choose, from Latin ēligō. See elect.

Maryland Rules of Court, 1985: When the sheriff is a party to or interested in an action so as to be disqualified from serving or executing process, the court, on application of any interested party, may appoint an elisor to serve or execute the process.

(law, chiefly UK) An elector or chooser; one of two persons appointed by a court to return a jury or serve a writ when the sheriff and the coroners are disqualified.


water-gang

Forty shillings per acre is the price taken for banks, ditches, and water gangs

1832, Joseph and Edward Parker (editors), The Edinburgh Encyclopædia:

(UK, law, obsolete) A passage for water, such as was usually made in a sea wall, to drain water out of marshes.


sibberidge

(UK dialectal) The banns of marriage, or the act of publishing thereof.


toadly

en-adj

toadly (comparative more toadly, superlative most toadly)

more toadly (comparative)
most toadly (superlative)

From a corruption of towardly (“comely, nice, pleasant, queem”).

(UK dialectal) Quiet; gentle; docile; easily managed; kindly; well-contented.


roostcock

No matter whether his nag have the stringhalt, and steps like a roostcock, or has wind-galls the size of bladders, or has been fired till his legs resemble a scored griskin, the BUTCHER's Boy braves every competitor in the race

(UK, dialect, obsolete) The male of the domestic fowl; a cock.


swainmote

From swain + mote. Compare Latin swanimotum.

The court of sweinmote is to be holden before the verderors, as judges, by the steward of the sweinmote, thrice in every year, the sweins or freeholders within the forest composing the jury.

1766, William Blackstone, Commentaries on the Laws of England, page 71:

(UK, law, obsolete or historical) A court held before the verderers of the forest as judges, by the steward of the court, three times a year, the swains or freeholders of the forest composing the jury.


roughings

(UK, dialect) rowen; a second crop of hay


seat sale

(Canada, British) A sale of reduced-price airline tickets.


forktail

(UK, dialect, obsolete) A salmon in its fourth year of growth.


stulp

From Middle English stulp, stulpe, from Old Norse stólpi (“post, pillar”), from Proto-Germanic *stulpô (“post, pole, pillar”), from Proto-Indo-European *stel- (“to be stiff”). Cognate with Icelandic stólpi, Swedish stolpe, Danish stolpe.

der

Or 'neath the hazel's leafy thatch, On a stulp or mossy ground

1821, John Care, The Village Minstrel: And Other Poems:

(UK, dialect) A short stout post used for any purpose, such as the marking of a boundary.


bink

From Middle English bink, binke, variants of Middle English benk, benke, from Old English benc (“bench”), from Proto-West Germanic *banki, from Proto-Germanic *bankiz. More at bench.

He bouns him to the house, An' sits him doon upo' the bink, An' plaits a theet, or mends a mink, To sair an aifter use .

1877, William Alexander, “Domestic Industries and Out-door Labour”, in Notes and Sketches Illustrative of Northern Rural Life in the Eighteenth Century, page 144:

In comes the tod (fox) whiskin, whiskin, an he sits doon o' the green bink.

1885, “The Lion, The Leper, and the Tod”, in The Folk-lore Journal - Volume 3, page 269:

Sitting here in the park bink, Alane - yet no aa that alane.

1987, Alexander Scott, Voices of Our Kind: An Anthology of Modern Scottish Poetry, page 64:

(UK, Northern England, Scotland, dialect) A bench.

According to the most painstaking among our etymologist, the name was first conferred upon one who, in his attendance upon weddings and other convivial occasions, rendered himself so agreeable to the company by his skill in whistling, that he was allowed to sit at the bink, or board , and partake of the good things free of all expense; an honour , in the early ages of our history , which was only conferred on the highest degree of merit.

1832, “Whistle-binkie: a Collection of Comic and Sentimental Songs”, in Literary Gazette and Journal of Belles Lettres, Arts, and Sciences, page 501:

In front of the entrance to Alexander's booth there used to stand "a stane bink" which was employed "for outsetting of stands affore the buith."

1891, Alexander Maxwell, Old Dundee, page 193:

His wife may ay sit foremost doun, At either buird or bink, Gang foremost in at door or yett, And ay the first guid-day wald get, With all men honourit and weel-tret As ony heart wald think.

1908, Frederick William Watkeys, Old Edinburgh, page 234:

(UK, Northern England, Scotland, dialect) A table or similar surface for laying out items.

We have it in a manuscript; the good-man keeps it, as we think, Behind a dish, upon the bink.

1684, John Colvil., “Mock Poem”, in The Teares of the Muses:

The bink took the place of the modern dresser , and on it were arranged the bowls and tinnies for family use, while underneath were placed the pails, pots, and other cooking utensils.

1911, Old-lore Miscellany of Orkney, Shetland, Caithness, and Sutherland,- Volume 4:

His wife on the one side, in her pearlings and pudding sleeves, put the last finishing touch to her holiday's apparel, while she contemplated a very handsome and good-humored face in a broken mirror, raised upon the bink (the shelves on which the plates are disposed ) for her special accommodation.

1999, Sir Walter Scott, Rob Roy. A legend of Montrose. The bridge of Lammermoor. The monastery, page 375:

(UK, Northern England, Scotland, dialect) A sideboard or shelf unit for holding dishes.

Up thro' the cleughs, where bink on bink was set, Scrambling wi' hands and feet she taks the gate,

1842, Alexander Ross, Helenore; or, The fortunate shepherdess, page 17:

We peer over the edge—it is far more pleasant to kneel down on one knee and steady oneself with one hand, besides being safer, in the event of the edge being rotten or should a wind be blowing—we peer over the edge, and see the fox run lightly along a slightly projecting crag, from which with a sidelong scramble up a rough rock face, it reaching a narrow grassy "bink" ledge, and there it is binked as safe as the Church of England ( just about ) .

1902, Claude Ernest Benson, Crag and Hound in Lakeland, page 240:

Without a stick a man would climb down sideways from bink to bink.

1902, Claude Ernest Benson ·, Crag and Hound in Lakeland, page 18:

There was a man did that up on that bink, a hundred years or more ago, two hundred more like, for there was no gun in Nardale then.

1911, Abraham Wren Rumney, The Dalesman, page 127:

(UK, Northern England, Scotland, dialect) A mountain ledge.

They carry on the section, or the bink as they term it, of a convenient depth for easier cutting, frequently using the moss of least value above, and leaving that which is of much greater value.

1811, William Aiton, A Treatise on the Origin, Qualities, and Cultivation of Moss-earth, page 145:

We go on in this manner until the bink is out, that is, taken out down to the level of last year's hole. Bink after bink is excavated until the whole block that was turred is removed, and now as the most valuable part is under our feet we have to commence to "sink."

1892, “Peat, Its Use and Value for Fuel”, in Report of the Bureau of Mines - Volumes 1-4, page 188:

Och, an' I ken folk mysel' that found an iron pot o' doubloons in the peat bink; but aul ' Tchonie, he just takes what he will be needin', and he takes it at night when the folks are abed.

2022, John Sillars, The McBrides: A Romance of Arran:

(UK, Northern England, Scotland, dialect) A long cut in peat moss, marking a section from which blocks of peat are cut.

This splendid attire, however, saves them not from being rudely handled; and we remember the day when an artificial bink, that is , a little box made of clay , with a piece of glass at one end , and a sprinkling of sugar at the other , contained as many captives in proportion to its size as the black hole at Calcutta .

1840, James Duncan, The Natural History of Bees, page 240:

Just that –no that I'm sure that there are ony honey-bees in Arthur's seat, but there's plenty of bum-bees, and aiblins a wasp bink. "

1856, Archibald Boyd, The Crown Ward - Volume 3, page 143:

On 19th July I examined old hive, turned it completely up on its side: combs nearly black, two at one side as musty as an old wasp's bink: decided to clear them out on Monday.

(UK, Northern England, Scotland, dialect) A hive.


bink

en-verb

bink (third-person singular simple present binks, present participle binking, simple past and past participle binked)

binks (present singular third-person)
binking (participle present)
binked (participle past)
binked (past)

On June 2nd, the last day of this season, Bowman spent six hours extricating as many hounds who had got themselves binked on Catle Crag in Mardale.

1902, A. G. Bradley, “Fox-hunting in the Lake Country”, in Macmillan's Magazine, volume 86, page 196:

We peer over the edge—it is far more pleasant to kneel down on one knee and steady oneself with one hand, besides being safer, in the event of the edge being rotten or should a wind be blowing—we peer over the edge, and see the fox run lightly along a slightly projecting crag, from which with a sidelong scramble up a rough rock face, it reaching a narrow grassy "bink" ledge, and there it is binked as safe as the Church of England (just about).

A fox gets 'binked,' as they call it, or banked, and some one must go up on an almost inaccessible crag to put in the terrier; and a man must know the country, and the probable run of every fox that gets up in front of the hounds .

1903, Hardwicke Drummond Rawnsley, Lake Country Sketches, page 196:

The hounds drove him into Dead Crag, where he binked.

1903 January 10, West Cumberland Times, page 2:

(UK, Northern England, Scotland, dialect, foxhunting) To shelter or become trapped on a ledge or crag.

On June last he caused his servants cast a number of "peittis for elding unto his hous in the mosse of belonging to him heritablie, and they having binked the same and left thame in the mosse , " returned home to their master's house at night .

1900, The Register of the Privy Council of Scotland - Volume 2, page 516:

(UK, Northern England, Scotland, dialect) To cut a bink in peat moss.


famulist

(UK, Oxford University) A collegian of inferior rank or position, corresponding to the sizar at Cambridge.


furzeling

Sylvia undata
Sylvia undata#Translingual

(UK, archaic, dialect) An English warbler, Sylvia undata, the furze wren or Dartford warbler.


BOBFOC

Acronym of "body off Baywatch, face off Crimewatch".

Female Threes can be less than a Two and more than a Four for a variety of reasons: many MILFs* and GILFs* are Threes, as are BOBFOCs* and their opposite, FFTBBBs*.

2009, Kate Copstick, Jamie Maclean, Sex and the Recession, page 31:

She had never been a stunner, but she had had height and good legs and a good walk, and those three can take you a long way. These days she was what the boys on the squad call a BOBFOC: body off Baywatch, face off Crimewatch.

'So she was a BOBFOC?'
'A what?'

2011, Anita Notaro, Take A Look At Me Now, page 47:

(UK, colloquial, derogatory) Synonym of butterface (“a person with an attractive body but ugly face”).


FFA

Faculty of Actuaries
w:Faculty of Actuaries

(British) Initialism of Fellow of the Faculty of Actuaries (professional qualification).


my Lord

your Grace

dukes, archbishops, the bishop of Meath and Kildare in Ireland, other bishops apart from British English

peers of the realm
peers of the realm#English

(UK) Used in direct address to peers of the realm, usually now excluding dukes and the Lords Spiritual.

(UK) Used in direct address to bishops, particularly Anglican ones.

(UK) Used in direct address to the Lord Mayors of certain important cities, including London and Canterbury.

(UK) Used in direct address to certain judges, particularly High Court Judges and above.


nutil

en-adj

nutil (comparative more nutil, superlative most nutil)

more nutil (comparative)
most nutil (superlative)

From or related to Middle English nytelen (“to struggle”). Cognate with North Frisian næteln, nöteln (“to hesitate, procrastinate, dawdle, work slowly”).


golding

head

golding (plural goldings or (obsolete) goldinges)

goldings (plural)
goldinges (obsolete plural)

First attested circa 1580; formed as gold + -ing.

(UK, North Midlands dialects) The corn marigold (Glebionis segetum).


firebote

(law, obsolete, UK) In Medieval England, an allowance of fuel.


wallbird

From wall + bird, from its frequent choice of nesting site.

(UK, dialect, obsolete, Norfolk, Suffolk) A bird, the spotted flycatcher.


mundic

The ores and minerals to be treated according to my invention are those containing sulphur, particularly mundics, or iron pyrites, copper ores, lead ores, tin ores, zinc ores […]

1870, Oliver Byrne, Ernest Spon, Spons' Dictionary of Engineering, Civil, Mechanical, Military, and Naval:

(mining, UK, dialect, Cornwall) iron pyrite or arsenic pyrite


roky

en-adj

roky (comparative more roky, superlative most roky)

more roky (comparative)
most roky (superlative)

They walked around in the roky damp, in silence.

1993, Annie Proulx, The Shipping News, Scribner, published 1999, →ISBN, page 40:


dudder

(UK, dated) A peddler or hawker, especially of cheap and flashy goods pretended to be smuggled; a duffer.


volyer

(UK, dialect, Cornwall) A smaller boat that follows the main fishing boat.


soal

From Middle English sol, sule, from Old English sol (“mud, wet sand, wallowing-place, slough, a mire or miry place”), from Proto-Germanic *sulą (“mire, mud”), from Proto-Indo-European *sūl- (“thick liquid, muck”). Compare sully. More at soil.

der

(UK, dialect) Alternative spelling of sole


shooty

en-adj

shooty (comparative more shooty, superlative most shooty)

more shooty (comparative)
most shooty (superlative)

Increases of auxin up to 12 mg L–1 did not alter the shooty morphology of the callus.

2020, W. T. Frankenberger Jr., Muhammad Arshad, Phytohormones in Soils Microbial Production & Function:

(UK, dialect) Sprouting or coming up freely and regularly.


feoffment

From Old French feoffement, fieffement. Compare Latin feoffamentum.

(law, UK) A gift or conveyance in fee of land or other corporeal hereditaments, accompanied by actual delivery of possession


bumder

Blend of bummer + bender, both derogatory terms for a male homosexual.

oh you rigth what a bumder

1999 May 9th, SHS, 3dfx.products.voodoo3, “Re: Oh Well…” (see the original message)

Will McKenzie: Oh, you’d like my lip, wouldn’t you? Right round your bell-end! If Mr Chippy doesn’t get there first! What’s he gonna knock up? A closet for you to hide in? You… bumder!

2008 May 1, Damon Beesley, Iain Morris, The Inbetweeners, I:ii: “w:Bunk Off”, 11:35-11:45:

(UK, rare, derogatory slang) A male homosexual.


sweepage

en-noun

sweepage (countable and uncountable, plural sweepages)

This right is defined by Lord Coke to extend to the enjoyment of the corn, grass, underwood, sweepage (i.e. everything which falls to the sweep of the scythe), and the like, but not to houses, timber, trees, or mines, .or inany way to the land itself

2011, Robert Hunter, The Preservation of Open Spaces, and of Footpaths, and Other Rights of Way, →ISBN, page 61:

(UK, dialect) The crop of hay obtained from a meadow.


nudle

en-verb

nudle (third-person singular simple present nudles, present participle nudling, simple past and past participle nudled)

nudles (present singular third-person)
nudling (participle present)
nudled (participle past)
nudled (past)

Wierus tells of a Souldier, out of whose mouth whilest he was asleep a thing in the shape of a Weasel came, which nudling along in the grass, […]

1662, Henry More, An Antidote Against Atheism, Book III, A Collection of Several Philosophical Writings of Dr. Henry More, p. 123

(intransitive, archaic, British) To walk quickly with the head bent forward.


subinfeudation

en-noun

subinfeudation (countable and uncountable, plural subinfeudations)

(UK, law, obsolete) The practice by which tenants, holding land under the king or other superior lord, carved out new and distinct tenures in their turn by subletting or alienating a part of their lands.


TPE

Transpennine Express
w:Transpennine Express

(UK, rail transport) Abbreviation of Transpennine Express.


thrashel

Divested of their coats, with flail in hand,
At proper distance, front to front they stand;
And first, the thrashel's gentle swing to prove,
Whether with just exactness it will move

1828, William Vincent Moorhouse, The Thrasher:

(obsolete, UK, dialect) Alternative form of threshel


witchuck

(UK, dialect, obsolete) The sand martin, or bank swallow.


little-ease

[W]as not this fellovv's preaching a cauſe of all the trouble in Iſrael? VVas he not vvorthy to be caſt into bocardo or little eaſe?

1550, Hugh Latimer, “Sermon XIV. Preached before King Edward the Sixth and His Most Honourable Council, in His Court at Westminster, in the Year 1550.”, in The Sermons of the Right Reverend Father in God, Master Hugh Latimer, Bishop of Worcester. […], volume I, London: […] J. Scott, […], published 1758, →OCLC, page 277:

(British, idiomatic, slang, obsolete) The pillory, stocks, etc., of a prison.


beenship

Origin obscure. Perhaps from been, bene (“prayer, petition”) + -ship, and/or from dialectal bein, bien (“in good condition, well-to-do, cosy”) + -ship. More at bene, bein, bain.

(UK, obsolete, dialectal) Worship; goodness.


tronator

(UK, obsolete) An officer responsible for weighing wool.


Con-Dem

Labour leadership approves the Con-Dem cuts (Dave Reid, Socialist Party website)

(derogatory, UK) Of or pertaining to the Conservative/Liberal Democrat government.


whinyard

Compare English dialect and Scots whingar, whinger; perhaps from Old English winn (“contention, war”) + geard, gyrd (“a staff, rod, yard”); or compare Old English [Term?] (“whistle”, verb), English whine.

(UK, dialect, obsolete) The shoveler, a type of duck.

(UK, dialect, obsolete) The pochard, a type of duck.


have the painters in

en-verb

have the painters in (third-person singular simple present has the painters in, present participle having the painters in, simple past and past participle had the painters in)

has the painters in (present singular third-person)
having the painters in (participle present)
had the painters in (participle past)
had the painters in (past)

(UK, slang, euphemistic, humorous) To menstruate; to be on one's period.


slutchy

en-adj

slutchy (comparative more slutchy, superlative most slutchy)

more slutchy (comparative)
most slutchy (superlative)

a. 1801, Thomas Pennant, quoted in The Natural History of British Shells
Mytilus pellucidus. Thin , transparent , with purple and blue longitudinal fasciæ. Inhabits England . Found in Anglesea , sometimes in oyster beds, sometimes in trowling over slutchy bottoms


cloam

en-verb

cloam (third-person singular simple present cloams, present participle cloaming, simple past and past participle cloamed)

cloams (present singular third-person)
cloaming (participle present)
cloamed (participle past)
cloamed (past)

From Middle English *clom, from Old English clām (“paste, mortar, mud, clay, poultice”), from Proto-West Germanic *klaim, from Proto-Germanic *klaimaz (“clay”), from Proto-Indo-European *gleym- (“to stick, smear”). Related to cleam, claim, clem.

der

(intransitive, UK dialectal) To gutter (as a candle).


skaddon

Borrowed from Ancient Greek σχαδών (skhadṓn, “larva of the bee or wasp”).

bor+

The reaſon is, that the vveather keeping them in, they can doe nothing but breed and hatch their schadons: and when they goe abroad, they bring in groſſe Bee meat, Ambroſia and vvater, vvherewith to feed them; but can finde nothing fit to lay vp in ſtore.

1623, Charles Butler, The Feminine Monarchie, London: Joseph Haviland, page 92:

This is a way hath been practised by the Ancients, and hath been much endeavoured after to be revived again, though not with any good success; for if you take away any part of their Combs in the Spring, they are then full of Skaddons, which spoil the Honey, and also destroy the breed of your Bees.

1669, John Worlidge, Systema Agriculturae, London: J. C., published 1675, page 186:

One ſays, in September, or any Time after they have done breeding (elſe the Honey will be corrupted by the Shaddens in the Combs) […]

1742, William Ellis, The Modern Husbandman, London: T. Osborne; M. Cooper, published 1744, page 107:

(UK, dialect, obsolete) The larva of a bee.


tolsester

From Latin tolsestrum. Compare toll (“a tax”).

If any Alewife brewed Ale to sell, she was bound to satisfy the Lord for Tolsester.

1679, Thomas Blount, Fragmenta Antiquitatis: Ancient Tenures of land, and jocular customs of some manners:

(law, UK, obsolete) A toll or tribute of a sextary of ale, paid to the lords of some manors by their tenants in exchange for permission to brew and sell ale.


twigger

[G]oe ye vvagge, / Youle be a tvvigger vvhen you come to age.

1594, Christopher Marlowe, Thomas Nash[e], The Tragedie of Dido Queene of Carthage: […], London: […] Widdowe Orwin, for Thomas Woodcocke, […], →OCLC, Act IV, signature F, verso:


mobey

(British, informal) Alternative form of moby (“a mobile phone”)


flight-shot

half a flight-shot from the king's oak

1826, [Walter Scott], Woodstock; Or, The Cavalier. […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), Edinburgh: […] [James Ballantyne and Co.] for Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown, and Green, →OCLC:

a very swift and clear stream run within a flight-shot from it in the valley

1680 April 28 (Gregorian calendar), John Evelyn, “[Diary entry for April 18 1680]”, in William Bray, editor, Memoirs, Illustrative of the Life and Writings of John Evelyn, […], 2nd edition, volume I, London: Henry Colburn, […]; and sold by John and Arthur Arch, […], published 1819, →OCLC:

(UK, Scotland, dialect, dated) The distance to which an arrow or flight may be shot; bowshot; about a fifth of a mile.


sea drake

The gardener found birds frozen to their branches, yet at the base of the same tree, a flock of sea-drakes and hens were perfectly unharmed!

2024, David Marcum, The MX Book of New Sherlock Holmes Stories - Part XLIV:

(UK) The pewit gull, or sea cormorant (Corvus marinus)


burghmaster

(UK, mining, historical) An officer who directs and lays out the meres or boundaries for the workers.


tittlebat

“Speculations on the Source of the Hampstead Ponds, with Some Observations on the Theory of Tittlebats;”.

1836 March – 1837 October, Charles Dickens, “Chapter 1”, in The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club, London: Chapman and Hall, […], published 1837, →OCLC, page 1:

(UK, dialect, archaic) The three-spined stickleback.


meresman

(UK, historical) An officer who ascertains meres, or boundaries on maps.


stonehatch

(UK, dialect, archaic) The ringed plover.


drag up

en-verb

drag up (third-person singular simple present drags up, present participle dragging up, simple past and past participle dragged up)

drags up (present singular third-person)
dragging up (participle present)
dragged up (participle past)
dragged up (past)

It is said that the children of the very poor are not brought up, but dragged up.

(transitive, UK, figurative) To raise a child with insufficient discipline or instillment of social etiquette.


do for

do for (third-person singular simple present does for, present participle doing for, simple past did for, past participle done for)

does for (present singular third-person)
doing for (participle present)
did for (past)
done for (participle past)

Smoking did for him in the end.

She's done for!

"He's a cheery old card," muttered Harry to Jack / As they slogged up to Arras with rifle and pack. / * * * * * / But he did for them both by his plan of attack.

1918, Siegfried Sassoon, “The General”, in Counter-Attack and Other Poems:

—That bitch, that English whore, did for him, the shebeen proprietor commented. She put the first nail in his coffin.

1922 February, James Joyce, “[16]”, in Ulysses, Paris: Shakespeare and Company, […], →OCLC, part III [Nostos], page 604:

(transitive, British) To doom; to bring about the demise of someone; to injure or harm someone.

He was done for murder.

The police did him for conspiracy to commit burglary.

(transitive, British) To prosecute someone for a criminal offence.

I've left my key in my office in Manchester, my family are at Bournemouth, and the old woman who does for me goes home at nine o'clock.

1915, Frank Thomas Bullen, Recollections:

(UK, dated, intransitive) To work as a domestic servant for.


gapesing

(UK, dialect, West Country, Herefordshire, archaic) The act of gazing about; sightseeing.


corsepresent

It was anciently usual to bring the mortuary to church along with the corpse when it came to be buried ; and thence it is sometimes called a corsepresent: a term which bespeaks it to have been once a voluntary donation

1765–1769, William Blackstone, Commentaries on the Laws of England, (please specify |book=I to IV), Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] Clarendon Press, →OCLC:

(UK, law, historical) An offering made to the church at the interment of a dead body.


tinet

(UK, obsolete) Brushwood and thorns for making and repairing hedges.


fair crack of the whip

en-noun

fair crack of the whip (plural fair cracks of the whip)

We believe it is our duty to help these people, because we don't think they are getting a fair crack of the whip.

1927 March 7, “Mr. J. H. Thomas And Trade Unions”, in The Times, London, England, page 16:

1993, William Trethowan, interviewed, in Greg Wilkinson (editor) Talking About Psychiatry, page 43,
I never thought the Department of Psychiatry had a fair crack of the whip during my time in Birmingham. I was promised facilities, a new unit for psychiatry, none of which came to pass.

Yet style for Stoppard is not, as he feels it was for Oscar Wilde, the means and the end: ‘I′m not a writer who doesn′t care what things mean ... but despite myself I am a kind of writer who doesn′t give a fair crack of the whip to that meaning’ (Delaney, p.99).

2001, Terry Hodgson, The Plays of Tom Stoppard: For Stage, Radio, TV and Film, page 86:

2010, House of Lords, The British Film and Television Industries: Decline Or Opportunity? 1st Report of Session 2009-10, Volume II: Evidence, page 91,
Lord Inglewood: Then you intimated that you felt that your members were not getting a fair crack of the whip. Is that right?
Mr McVay: I think that previously we do not think that we were getting a fair crack of the whip. I think we have every chance now to exploit our content.

(UK, colloquial, informal) An equitable opportunity to achieve something; a fair go.


infang

en-verb

infang (third-person singular simple present infangs, present participle infanging, simple past and past participle infanged)

infangs (present singular third-person)
infanging (participle present)
infanged (participle past)
infanged (past)

From in- + fang. Compare Old English onfōn (past participle onfangen; "to take, receive, perceive, comprehend, accept, take to one’s self, sponsor, harbor, favor unrighteously, take hold of, undertake, undergo, begin, conceive").

gloss

past participle <i class="Latn mention" lang="ang">onfangen</i>; "to take, receive, perceive, comprehend, accept, take to one’s self, sponsor, harbor, favor unrighteously, take hold of, undertake, undergo, begin, conceive"

(transitive, UK dialectal, Scotland) To draw or take in.


scottering

(UK, dialect, West Country, Herefordshire, obsolete) The burning of a wad of pea straw at the end of harvest.


unalist

I do not deny but there are pluralists of great ecclesiastical merit; but I do deny that in general pluralists have greater merit than unalists […]

1795, Vicesimus Knox, The Spirit of Despotism:

(archaic, UK) A churchman who holds only one benefice.


bord service

bordar (or perhaps bord (“a board”)) + service

(UK, law, obsolete) Service due from a bordar; bordage.


billyboy

Most of these billyboys were small craft, seldom carrying more than 100 tons; but there were larger craft schooner rigged.

1951, Basil Greenhill, The Merchant Schooners, volume 2, page 94:

(UK, historical) A flat-bottomed river barge or coasting vessel, used for trade along the east coast.of England in the 19th century.


aleconner

From ale + con + -er, from Old English cunnen (“to test”), from cunnian (“to test”).

(historical, UK) An officer appointed yearly at the leet of ancient English communities to ensure the goodness and wholesomeness of bread, ale, and beer.

(historical, UK) One of the officers chosen by the liverymen of London, England for the sinecure of inspecting the measures used in public houses.


scrimption

There's not a scrimption left - not so much as the full of a thimble.

1859, Timothy Shay Arthur, Trials and Confessions of a Housekeeper, page 31:

(UK, dialect, archaic) A small portion; a little bit; a scrap.


proproctor

So it is the University that must go into action in defence of peace: and the University, its full strength mustered, consists of two Proctors, four Proproctors and eight or ten University police

1962, John Percy Vyvian Dacre Balsdon, Oxford Life:

(UK) An assistant proctor in a university.


McAlpine's Fusiliers

After Sir Robert McAlpine, a major employer of Irish workmen, and (possibly) the military appearance of a group of men with shovels over their shoulders.

He'd left his homeland at fifteen, seeking his fortune on the motorways of Britain with McAlpine's Fusiliers before migrating to Sydney.

2006, Kevin Noble, Baghdad Trucker, Durham: Northern Writers, page 92:

(Ireland, UK, informal) The Irish immigrant labour force in Britain in the early 20th century.


titterel

(UK, dialect, obsolete) A bird, the whimbrel.


sea cob

lesser black-backed gull
lesser black-backed gull

great black-backed gull
great black-backed gull

(obsolete, UK) The gull (either the lesser black-backed gull or great black-backed gull)


piccage

Latin piccadium, from French piquer (“to prick”).

(law, UK, obsolete or historical) Money paid at fairs for permission to break ground for booths.


droitural

droitural actions

(UK, law, obsolete) Relating to the mere right of property, as distinguished from the right of possession.


esnecy

When, in the fourteenth century, the estates of the Corbets were divided amongst their co-heirs, Caus Castle, being of the esnecy of the elder sister, passed to the Barons Stafford.

1862, Collectanea Archæologica: Communications Made to the British Archaeological Association, volume 1, page 43:

In 1224 Walter de Besebroc and Joan his wife, Richard de Dunuar (or Dunnewer) and Agnes his wife were parceners of land in (Little) Newton, Northants.,[…]Walter and Joan had the esnecy; the inheritance extended into Rushton and Geddington, Northants.

1925, William Farrer, Honors and Knights' Fees, page 261:

[…]touching the purparty of Maud of the inheritance of William de Brehusa, father of Maud and Eleanor, whose heirs these are; of which inheritance the said Roger and Maud required esnecy, and thereof there was a plea in the said court[…].

1971, Calendar of the Patent Rolls, Preserved in the Public Record Office: 1258-1266, Great Britain: Public Record Office, page 13:

(UK, law, obsolete or historical) A prerogative given to the eldest coparcener (or whomever of the coparceners is so entitled by a court) to choose first after an inheritance is divided.


stalder

Probably from Old Norse stallr (“a stall, pedestal, shelf”), from the same root as stall. Compare Danish stald (“a stall”).

uder

(UK, dialect) A wooden frame to set casks on.


feaberry

Probably for *theveberry, from Middle English theve (“copse”). Compare feabe, theabe, thape, which is probably a clipping of this word (interpreted as *theabe-berry).

The best sauce for green geese is the juice of sorrel and sugar, mixed together with a few scladed feaberries and served upon sippets

1615, Gervase Markham, The English Huswife:


opponency

This is only a Trick to turn off the Opponency

1699, Mr. Chandler, A True Narrative of the Portsmouth Disputation:

The chairman of the committee will be very glad to give you the opportunity to express your views, whether of proponency or opponency.

1935, “letter”, in Department of science, art and literature: Hearings before the Committee on Patents, page 112:

(UK) The act of opening an academic disputation; the proposition of objections to a tenet, as an exercise for a degree.


lishey

en-adj

lishey (comparative more lishey, superlative most lishey)

more lishey (comparative)
most lishey (superlative)

(UK dialectal, Kent) Flexible; limber; bendsome.


thricecock

(UK, dialect, obsolete) the mistle thrush


shippen

From Middle English schipne, schepne, schüpene, from Old English scypen (“cow-shed, stall, shippen”), from Proto-Germanic *skupīnō (“stall”), diminutive of *skup- (“shed, barn”). Related to shop, shepen.

inh

(UK, archaic, dialectal) A stable; a cowhouse.


waly

O waly, waly, but love be bonnie

(archaic, UK, Scotland, dialect) An exclamation of grief.


ungain

en-adj

ungain (comparative more ungain, superlative most ungain)

more ungain (comparative)
most ungain (superlative)

From Middle English ungain, ungayn, ungein, equivalent to un- + gain (“suitable; convenient”). See ungainly.

she take th ' ungain'st weas she can

c. 1607–1611, Francis Beaumont, John Fletcher, “Cupid’s Revenge”, in Comedies and Tragedies […], London: […] Humphrey Robinson, […], and for Humphrey Moseley […], published 1679, →OCLC, (please specify the act number in uppercase Roman numerals, and the scene number in lowercase Roman numerals):

(obsolete or UK, dialect) ungainly; clumsy; awkward

(obsolete or UK, dialect) troublesome; inconvenient


snet

Compare German Schnitt (“that which is cut”), from schneiden (“to cut”). Compare English snath.

deer's, goat's, or lamb's snet

1825, Samuel Adams and Sarah Adams, The Complete Servant:

(UK, obsolete, dialect) The fat of a deer.


scatch

From French escache, from Italian scaccia.


stokey

stokey (comparative more stokey, superlative most stokey)

more stokey (comparative)
most stokey (superlative)


stowboard

(UK, dialect, mining) A place into which rubbish is put.


wrastle

en-verb

wrastle (third-person singular simple present wrastles, present participle wrastling, simple past and past participle wrastled)

wrastles (present singular third-person)
wrastling (participle present)
wrastled (participle past)
wrastled (past)

From Middle English wrastlen. See wrestle.

[H]e [the Earl of Essex] was to wraſtle with a Queens declyning, or rather with her very ſetting Age (as we may term it,) which, beſides other reſpects, is commonly even of it ſelfe the more umbratious and apprehenſive, as for the moſt part all Horizons are charged with certain Vapours towards their Evening.

c. 1635 (date written), Henry Wotton, “Of Robert Devereux, Earl of Essex; and George Villiers, Duke of Buckingham: Some Observations by Way of Parallel in the Time of Their Estates of Favour”, in Reliquiæ Wottonianæ. Or, A Collection of Lives, Letters, Poems; […], London: […] Thomas Maxey, for R[ichard] Marriot, G[abriel] Bedel, and T[imothy] Garthwait, published 1651, →OCLC, page 11:

And the laws of your wrastling are that neither shall strangle his adversary with his hands, nor bite him, nor claw nor scratch his flesh, nor poach out his eyes, nor smite him with his fists, nor do any other unfair thing against him, but in all other respects ye shall wrastle freely together. And he that shall be brought to earth with hip or shoulder shall be accounted fallen.

1922, E[ric] R[ücker] Eddison, The Worm Ouroboros, London: Jonathan Cape, page 20:

(transitive, intransitive, obsolete or British, dialectal or US, informal) To wrestle (someone or something).


rosland

en-noun

rosland (countable and uncountable, plural roslands)

From Welsh rhos (“a meadow, a moor”) + land.

(UK, dialect) Heathland; land full of heather.

Oh, Melanie […] You used to love […] The billowing of the green marsh-grass, […] You used to love the tinging, cool / Plash of the heron in the pool / Of the wide roslands by Bel' Île, […]

1899, Florence Wilkinson, “Melanie à Melançon”, in The Century Illustrated Monthly Magazine, volume 58, page 435:


hawm

en-verb

hawm (third-person singular simple present hawms, present participle hawming, simple past and past participle hawmed)

hawms (present singular third-person)
hawming (participle present)
hawmed (participle past)
hawmed (past)

Guzzlin' an' soäkin' an' smoäkin' an' hawmin' about i' the laanes, […]

1880, Tennyson, Ballads and Other Poems, The Northern Cobbler:


socman

(UK, law, obsolete) One who holds lands or tenements by socage; a socager.


shackly

en-adj

shackly (comparative more shackly, superlative most shackly)

more shackly (comparative)
most shackly (superlative)

Probably from dialectal shackle (“to shake, rattle”) + -y.

when I got to that old shackly brick store by the Temperance Tavern, I backed up agin the wall to have another think.

1876, Mark Twain, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, page 228:

(UK, US, colloquial, dated) Shaky, rickety, ramshackle.


laidly

laidly (comparative more laidly, superlative most laidly)

more laidly (comparative)
most laidly (superlative)

From Middle English laithlie (“ugly”), equivalent to loath+-ly.

(UK, Scotland, dialect, archaic) ugly; loathsome


scroggy

scroggy (comparative more scroggy, superlative most scroggy)

more scroggy (comparative)
most scroggy (superlative)

O 'tis a lonely scroggy Glen!

(UK, Scotland, dialect) Abounding in scrog.

(UK, Scotland, dialect) twisted; stunted


hidage

en-noun

hidage (countable and uncountable, plural hidages)

From hide (“unit of land used for tax assessment”) + -age.

suf

1898, Hannis Taylor, The Origin and Growth of the English Constitution, Part 2: The After-growth of the Constitution,
In the case of the towns, to which the reckoning by hides could not be applied, the Danegeld or hidage was probably compounded for, and such composition represents no doubt the later talliage.⁴ In the ninth year of Henry II. the Danegeld as such finally disappeared from the Rolls, but only to reappear as aid or hidage, and in the reign of Richard I. as carucage.

What seems to have been a still later addition gives the hidages of Worcestershire and Warwickshire.

1992, Cyril Hart, The Danelaw, page 298:

The moment has now come when we may tender in evidence an ancient document which professes to state the hidage of certain districts.

2013, F. W. Maitland, Domesday Book and Beyond: Three Essays in the Early History of England, page 455:

(UK, law, obsolete or historical) A tax formerly paid to the kings of England for every hide of land.


taplash

(obsolete, UK, dialect) Small beer of bad quality.

Fac'd with the tap-lash of strong Ale and Wine

(obsolete, UK, dialect) The refuse or dregs of liquor.


brantail

From bran + tail, from the red colour of its tail.

(UK, dialect, Yorkshire) The common redstart.


tick tack

en-noun

tick tack (countable and uncountable, plural tick tacks)

(UK, uncountable) Alternative form of tic-tac, a sign language used by bookmakers.


tinkler

Sometimes a herd from the hills would pass by with sheep, sometimes a tinkler or a wandering merchant, and once in a long while the laird of Heriotside on his grey horse riding to Gledsmuir.

1902, John Buchan, The Outgoing of the Tide:


undergrub

en-verb

undergrub (third-person singular simple present undergrubs, present participle undergrubbing, simple past and past participle undergrubbed)

undergrubs (present singular third-person)
undergrubbing (participle present)
undergrubbed (participle past)
undergrubbed (past)

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

Sexton beetles, corpse-eating buriers who delve and undergrub him and howk out the trench his sausagy form settles into.

2006, Galway Kinnell, Strong Is Your Hold:


deforciant

From Old French deforciant, present participle of deforcier. See deforce.

(obsolete, UK, law) One who keeps out of possession the rightful owner of an estate.

(obsolete, UK, law) One against whom a fictitious action of fine was brought


ODN

(UK) Initialism of ordnance datum Newlyn. Used to judge the height above/below sea level in England, from the MSL (mean sea level) in Newlyn between 1915 and 1921.


gripple

en-adj

gripple (comparative more gripple, superlative most gripple)

more gripple (comparative)
most gripple (superlative)

From Middle English gripel, from Old English gripol, gripul (“able to grasp much; capacious”); equivalent to grip + -le.

(UK dialectal, Northern England, Scotland) Griping; tenacious; gripping.

Still as he rode, he gnasht his teeth to see
Those heapes of gold with griple Covetyse

1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book I, Canto IV”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:

It is easy to observe, that none are so gripple and hard fisted, as the childless […]

(UK dialectal, Northern England, Scotland) Grasping; greedy; snatchy; mean; niggardly; avaricious, covetous.


spuller

(obsolete, UK, dialect) One employed to inspect yarn, to see that it is well spun, and fit for the loom.


tosheroon

From 19th-century British slang, developed from or alongside tusheroon, of uncertain derivation from British slang caroon (“crown, a 5-shilling silver coin”), from Sabir and (originally) Italian corona (“crown”). The term was either derived from or influenced by madza caroon, the British slang for the Sabir and Italian mezzo corona (“half-crown”), possibly under influence from tosh (“copper items; valuables”) above or from the half-crown's value of two shillings & sixpence.

“’Ere y'are, the best rig-out you ever ’ad. A tosheroon [half a crown]^([sic]) for the coat, two ’ogs for the trousers, one and a tanner for the boots, and a ’og for the cap and scarf. That's seven bob.”

1933 January 9, George Orwell [pseudonym; Eric Arthur Blair], chapter XXIX, in Down and Out in Paris and London, London: Victor Gollancz […], →OCLC, pages 214–215:

tush or tosh. Money: Cockney: late C.19–20. Ex: tusheroon... But H. errs, I believe: he should mean half-a-crown, for tusheroon and its C.20 variant tossaroon (2s. 6d.) are manifest corruptions of Lingua Franca MADZA CAROON.

1961, Eric Partridge, The Routledge Dictionary of Historical Slang:

(British, archaic slang) A half-crown coin; its value

Half-a-crown is known as an alderman, half a bull, half a tusheroon, and a madza caroon; whilst a crown piece, or five shillings, may be called either a bull, or a caroon, or a cartwheel, or a coachwheel, or a thick-un, or a tusheroon.

1859, J.C. Hotten, A Dictionary of Modern Slang, Cant, and Vulgar Words:

‘Tush’, for money, would be an abbreviation of ‘tusheroon’, which in old cant, and also in tinker dialect, signified a crown.

1912, J.W. Horsley, I Remember, xii. 253:

(British, obsolete slang) A crown coin; its value


drengage

(obsolete, law, UK) The tenure by which a drench held land


classman

(UK, Oxford University) A candidate for graduation in arts who is placed in an honour class, as opposed to a passman, who is not classified.


haffle

en-verb

haffle (third-person singular simple present haffles, present participle haffling, simple past and past participle haffled)

haffles (present singular third-person)
haffling (participle present)
haffled (participle past)
haffled (past)

Compare German haften (“to cling, stick to; (dialect) to stop, stammer”).

cog

the clergy were haffling and timid

(UK, dialect) To stammer; to speak unintelligibly; to prevaricate.


child benefit

Near-synonym: family allowance

(UK) A regular government payment made to parents or guardians for each child up to a certain age.


hinderling

"Worthless person" sense: from Middle English hinderling (“a laggard, coward”), from Old English hinderling (“a mean wretch, a sneak”), equivalent to hinder + -ling. Compare hilding.

inh

How say you, my lusty compeers; shall we permit a hinderlin to sit at board with us, and brand us with the name of cowards?

1808, Joseph Strutt, [Walter Scott], “Section VII. Chapter II.”, in [Walter Scott], editor, Queenhoo-Hall, a Romance: And Ancient Times, a Drama. […], volume III, Edinburgh: […] [James Ballantyne & Co.] for John Murray, […]; and Archibald Constable & Co. […], →OCLC, page 155:

An animal you deem good for nothing, you may term a hinderling.

1813, Joseph Neef, The Method of Instructing Children Rationally in the Arts of Writing and Reading:

[…] from which the West Saxons, namely the men of Exeter have a saying of the greatest contempt, in that when moved by the highest wrath they call one another a hinderling, that is, one sunk down from all honor.

1889, John Milton Stearns, The germs and developments of the laws of England:

"How? How do I know? Know that you are there or know that you are a rossamünderling? An ouranin? A manikin? A hinderling? A pink-lips? A fake-foe? […]"

(British, dialectal) A worthless, degenerate person or animal.


tharcake

From Middle English þerf cake; equivalent to tharf (“unleavened”) + cake.

(UK dialectal) A cake made from meal, treacle, and butter, eaten on the night of the fifth of November.


Thunderbird

The railway sense is derived from the 1960s TV series Thunderbirds, about a secretive high-tech rescue organization, ultimately from thunderbird.

(UK, rail transport) A locomotive stored at a strategic point on the network so as to be available to quickly rescue a failed train.


tharf

en-adj

tharf (comparative more tharf, superlative most tharf)

more tharf (comparative)
most tharf (superlative)

From Middle English therf, from Old English þeorf (“unleavened, fresh, skim”), from Proto-West Germanic *þerb, from Proto-Germanic *þerbaz (“unleavened, simple”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)terbh-, *(s)trebh- (“rigid, stiff, tight”).
Cognate with German derb (“rough, coarse, rude”), Old Frisian therve, Middle Dutch derf, Middle High German derp, Icelandic þjarfur (“unleavened”) and Ancient Greek τέρπω (térpō).

inh

a tharf person

(obsolete, regional British) Stiff, unsocial, rough in manner.


wanty

From Middle English waynte, equivalent to womb + tie.

(UK, dialectal) A girth or belly-band for a horse's harness.

(UK, dialect) A surcingle, or strap of leather, used for binding a load upon the back of an animal.

(UK, dialect) A leather tie; a short wagon rope.

(UK, dialectal) A stretch of fishing-lines shot in the water.


wanty

en-adj

wanty (comparative more wanty, superlative most wanty)

more wanty (comparative)
most wanty (superlative)

(UK dialectal) Possessing or indicating lack; deficient.


powdike

Scots pow, pou (“a pool, a watery or marshy place”), from pool.

cut down or break up the Powdike in Marshland

1628–1644, Edw[ard] Coke, (please specify |part=1 to 4), London:

Powdikes or other Banks in Marsh-land

1705, Michael Dalton, The Country Justice, page 383:

Therefore Marshland (as Things now stand) runs a double Risque of Inundation. - First, from the Land Waters, wich overflow the Fens, and rise high against the Powdike in time of Floods, whereby the said Powdike is in danger to be rent and torn, undermin'd and blown up. [...] raise such violent Waves against the Powdike, as will break and tear it to pieces.

1725, John Colonel Armstrong, The History Of The Ancient and Present State Of The Navigation Of The Port of King's-Lyn, And Of Cambridge, page 92:

[…] perversely and maliciously to cut down or destroy the powdike, in the fens of Norfolk and Ely, is felony[…]

1845, Encyclopaedia Metropolitana; Or, Universal Dictionary of Knowledge on an Original Plan Comprising the Twofold Advantage of a Philosophical and an Alphabetical Arrangement, with Appropriate Engravings Edited by Edward Smedley, Hugh James Rose, Henry John Rose: Miscellaneous and lexicographical, vol. 10, page 519:

(UK, obsolete) A dike around a marsh or fen.


easy meat

(UK, informal) Something easily done or obtained.

(UK, informal) Someone easily seduced, fooled, victimized, etc.


coal-whipper

[W]e were in among the tiers of shipping […] [H]ere, were colliers by the score and score, with the coal-whippers plunging off stages on deck, as counterweights to measures of coal swinging up, which were then rattled over the side into barges […]

1860 December – 1861 August, Charles Dickens, Great Expectations […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), London: Chapman and Hall, […], published October 1861, →OCLC:

(UK, dated) One who raises coal out of the hold of a ship.


drumly

drumly (comparative more drumly, superlative most drumly)

more drumly (comparative)
most drumly (superlative)

Now we cross the Arrow, swift as its name portends; roaring and foaming deep down in its drumly channel.

1887, James Inglis, chapter 15, in Our New Zealand Cousins:

But salmon may escape the coquettish charms of the trolling-hook, may safely run the gauntlet of the parallel canoes and their howling, tamanous-cap wearers; the spear, misguided in the drumly gleam, may glance harmless from scale-armed shoulders: still other perils await them.

1853, Theodore Winthrop, chapter 3, in The Canoe and the Saddle:

Ye banks, and braes, and streams around
The castle o’ Montgomery,
Green be your woods, and fair your flowers,
Your waters never drumlie!

1786, Robert Burns, “Highland Mary”, in Songs and Ballads:

(obsolete, dialect, UK, Scotland) turbid; muddy


smicket

Chase her, and praise her, if fair or brown,
Sooth her , and smooth her,
And teaze her , and please her ,
And touch but her Smicket, and all's your own

1719, Thomas D'Urfey, Wit and Mirth; Or, Pills to Purge Melancholy:

(obsolete, UK, dialect) A woman's undergarment; a smock.


filacer

From Old English filace (“a file or thread on which the records of the courts of justice were strung”), from French filasse (“tow of flax or hemp”), from Latin fīlum (“thread”).

der

When actions are brought in the Courts of King's Bench or Common Pleas, founded upon original writs issuing out of the Courts of Chancery (which writs, as stated in the Report of the 9th of April 1816, it is the duty of the Cursitors to make out) it has been the practice in certain cases for the Filacers of the Courts of King's Bench and Common Pleas respectively, to receive from the Suitors the King's fines (if any) and also the fees payable to the Cursitors in respect of such original writs, and afterwards to account to the Cursitors for the fines and fees so received.

1817 December 20, House of Commons of the United Kingdom, “Second Report of the Commissioners for Examining into the Duties, Salaries and Emoluments, of the Officers, Clerks and Ministers, of the Several Courts of Justice, in England, Wales, and Berwick-upon-Tweed;—as to the Court of Chancery”, in Reports from Committees: Fever; Ireland; Courts of Justice: Session 27 January – 10 June, 1818, volume VII, [London]: [s.n.], published 6 April 1818, →OCLC, page 172:

(British, law, obsolete) A former officer in the English Court of Common Pleas and the Court of King's Bench, so called because he filed the writs on which he made out process


waggel

Larus marinus
Larus marinus#Translingual

(UK, dialect) The young of the great black-backed gull (Larus marinus), formerly considered a distinct species.


inlagation

From Law Latin inlagatio, from inlagare (“to restore to law”). See in and law.

(UK, law, obsolete) The restitution of an outlawed person to the protection of the law; inlawing.


lummy

en-adj

lummy (comparative more lummy, superlative most lummy)

more lummy (comparative)
most lummy (superlative)

(UK, slang, obsolete) jolly, first-rate.


telerecording

en-noun

telerecording (countable and uncountable, plural telerecordings)

(television, UK, Ireland, Commonwealth) A recording of a television broadcast made while it is being transmitted, especially by filming the picture from a monitor screen; the process of making such a recording.


darr

Possibly from dorrhawk (“the nightjar”), from its similar diet and appearance in flight.

(UK, dialect, Norfolk, archaic) A bird, the black tern.


tubman

(UK, law, obsolete) One of the two most experienced barristers in the Court of Exchequer (the other being the postman).


bay yarn

bay yarn (countable and uncountable, plural bay yarns)

subsidy was granted on the importation of woollen or bay yarn in proportion to the said rate


sloomy

en-adj

sloomy (comparative more sloomy, superlative most sloomy)

more sloomy (comparative)
most sloomy (superlative)

"Besides, if you get, you'll never be able to hold it down — a sloomy gal like you."
The applicant was only too much afraid that it must be so. She had very little confidence in herself.

1929, John Collis Snaith, Cousin Beryl, page 100:

[…] we would gladly soodle a sloomy way home with a burred moon over us and the fern-owls chittering in the pingles and the holts.

1934, Life and Letters and the London Mercury, volumes 11-12, page 722:

He moaned and complained in a sloomy way, but was too slurry-witted to do more. With his head down, his eyes closed, he muttered her name […]

2008, Gregory Frost, Lord Tophet, page 115: