nait

en-adj

nait (comparative naiter or more nait, superlative naitest or most nait)

naiter (comparative)
more nait (comparative)
naitest (superlative)
most nait (superlative)

From Middle English nait, nayt, from Old Norse neytr (“in good order, fit, fit for use”), from Proto-Germanic *nautiz (“useful, helpful”). Compare Old English nyttol (“useful”).

der

(UK dialectal, Northern England, Scotland) Useful; good at need; fit; able.

(UK dialectal, Northern England, Scotland) Quick and effective; deft; skilful.

(UK dialectal, Northern England, Scotland) In good order; trim; tidy; dainty; clean.


drey

(British) A squirrel’s nest, built of twigs in a tree.


barking mad

(British, New Zealand, informal) Completely insane.


truck

en-noun

truck (countable and uncountable, plural trucks)

Belizean Creole: chrok

→ Bengali: ট্রাক (ṭrak)

→ Bislama: trak

→ Cebuano: trak

→ French: truck

→ Hindi: ट्रक (ṭrak)

→ Indonesian: truk

→ Japanese: トラック (torakku)

→ Korean: 트럭 (teureok)

→ Maguindanao: trak

→ Malay: trak

desctree

→ Spanish: troca
→ Southeastern Tepehuan: trooka

→ Polish: trak

→ Tagalog: trak

→ Taos: tròkiʼína

→ Tausug: tarak

→ Tok Pisin: trak

→ Urdu: ٹْرَک (ṭrak)

Perhaps a shortening of truckle, related to Latin trochus (“iron hoop, wheel”) from Ancient Greek τροχός (trokhós).

(UK, rail transport) A railroad car, chiefly one designed to carry goods.


truck

en-verb

truck (third-person singular simple present trucks, present participle trucking, simple past and past participle trucked)

trucks (present singular third-person)
trucking (participle present)
trucked (participle past)
trucked (past)

From dialectal truck, truk, trokk, probably of North Germanic origin, compare Norwegian dialectal trokka, trakka (“to stamp, trample, go to and fro”), Danish trykke (“to press, press down, crush, squeeze”), Swedish trycka. More at thrutch.

cog

(transitive, UK dialectal, Scotland) To tread (down); stamp on; trample (down).


bar

en-noun

bar (countable and uncountable, plural bars)

→ Albanian: bar m

→ Arabic: بَار m (bār)

→ Armenian: բար (bar)

→ Bulgarian: бар (bar)

→ Burmese: ဘား (bha:)

→ Chichewa: bála

→ Cantonese: 吧 (baa¹)

→ Czech: bar m

→ Danish: bar c

→ Dutch: bar m

→ Esperanto: baro

→ Estonian: baar

→ French: bar m
→ Romanian: bar

→ Galician: bar m

→ Georgian: ბარი (bari)

→ German: Bar f

→ Greek: μπαρ n (bar)

→ Gulf Arabic: بار (bār)

→ Hebrew: בָּר (bar), בָּאר (bár)

→ Hungarian: bár (also via German)

→ Icelandic: bar m

→ Irish: beár m

→ Italian: bar m

→ Japanese: バー (bā)

→ Khmer: បារ (baa)

→ Korean: 바 (ba)

→ Lithuanian: bãras m

→ Macedonian: бар m (bar)

→ Malagasy: ba

→ Mandarin: 吧 (bā)

→ Norwegian:

Bokmål: bar m

Nynorsk: bar m

→ Persian: بار (bâr)

→ Polish: bar m

→ Portuguese: bar m

→ Russian: бар m (bar)

→ Serbo-Croatian: ба̑р m, bȃr m

→ Slovene: bȃr m

→ Spanish: bar m

→ Swahili: baa

→ Swedish: bar c (see there for further descendants)

→ Thai: บาร์ (baa)

→ Turkish: bar

→ Xhosa: íbhári

→ Zulu: ibha

From Middle English barre, from Old French barre (“beam, bar, gate, barrier”), from Vulgar Latin *barra, of uncertain origin. Doublet of barre.

der

(UK, Parliament) A dividing line (physical or notional) in the chamber of a legislature beyond which only members and officials may pass.

(UK, law) The railing surrounding the part of a courtroom in which the judges, lawyers, defendants and witnesses stay.


skid

(UK, slang, obsolete) A sovereign (old coin).


rand

From Middle English rand, from Old English rand (“edge, border, margin, rim, shore”), from Proto-Germanic *randaz, *randō (“edge, rim, crust”), from Proto-Indo-European *rem- (“to rest, prop or support oneself”). Cognate with Dutch rand (“edge, border, outskirts, rim”), German Rand (“edge, border, margin, rim, outskirts”), Swedish rand (“rand, stripe, edge, verge”). Related to rind.

cog

They quarrelled an' fought 'mang the clippin's an' rands, / The tailor insistin' the colour was blue.

(UK, dialect, rare) A border, edge or rim; a strip, as of cloth.


keen

en-adj

keen (comparative keener or more keen, superlative keenest or most keen)

keener (comparative)
more keen (comparative)
keenest (superlative)
most keen (superlative)

From Middle English kene (“bold, brave, sharp”), from Old English cēne (“keen, fierce, bold, brave, warlike, powerful; learned, clever, wise”), from Proto-Germanic *kōniz (“knowledgeable, skilful, experienced, clever, capable”), from Proto-Indo-European *ǵneh₃- (“to know”).
Cognate with Danish køn (“handsome, pretty”), Dutch kien (“smart, wise, able”), koen (“daring, valiant, doughty, courageous”), German kühn (“bold, daring, audacious, hardy, valiant, venturesome”), Icelandic kænn (“wise, crafty, clever, able”), Faroese kønur (“expert (in, on), experienced, skilful, able, capable”), Scots keen (“lively, brisk; avaricious”). Related to Old English cunnan (“to know how to, be able to”). More at cunning, can.

cog

(British) Of prices, extremely low as to be competitive.


pretty

en-adj

pretty (comparative prettier, superlative prettiest)

prettier (comparative)
prettiest (superlative)

desc

→ Japanese: プリティー (puritī), プリティ (puriti), プリチー (purichī)

From Middle English prety, preti, praty, prati, from Old English prættiġ (“tricky, crafty, sly, cunning, wily, astute”), from Proto-West Germanic *prattug, from Proto-Germanic *prattugaz (“boastful, sly, slick, deceitful, tricky, cunning”), corresponding to prat (“trick”) + -y. Doublet of pratty.
Cognate with Dutch prettig (“nice, pleasant”), Low German prettig (“funny”), Icelandic prettugur (“deceitful, tricky”). For the semantic development, compare canny, clever, cute.


front

en-noun

front (countable and uncountable, plural fronts)

Tok Pisin: fran

→ Japanese: フロント (furonto)

→ Korean: 프런트 (peureonteu)

From Middle English front, frunt, frount, from Old French front, frunt, from Latin frōns, frontem (“forehead”). Doublet of frons.


snog

en-verb

snog (third-person singular simple present snogs, present participle snogging, simple past and past participle snogged)

snogs (present singular third-person)
snogging (participle present)
snogged (participle past)
snogged (past)

2016 Alya, "Gamer", Miraculous
This is about stepping up and representing, not snuggling up and snogging. This is serious business.

(UK, Ireland, Commonwealth, colloquial) To kiss passionately.


snog

And that was that. Where had I gone wrong? First night: park, fag, snog. Second night: ditto.

1995, Nick Hornby, High Fidelity, London: Victor Gollancz, →ISBN, page 13:

(British, Australia, colloquial) A passionate kiss.


estate

From Middle English estat, from Anglo-Norman estat and Old French estat (French: état), from Latin status. Doublet of state and status.

Professor Loretta Lees from King's College London's geography department says, "The word 'estate' has become synonymous with the term 'ghetto'. It's become a dirty word. Back in the '20s and '30s it didn't carry the same stigma."

2012 October 19, Josephine McDermott, “London's new housing loses the 'dirty word'”, in BBC News:

(UK, sometimes derogatory) A housing estate.

(UK, automotive) A station wagon; a car with a tailgate (or liftgate) and storage space to the rear of the seating which is coterminous with the passenger compartment (and often extensible into that compartment via folding or removable seating).


farm

farm (third-person singular simple present farms, present participle farming, simple past and past participle farmed)

farms (present singular third-person)
farming (participle present)
farmed (participle past)
farmed (past)

From Middle English fermen, from Old English feormian (“to clean, cleanse”), from Proto-West Germanic *furbēn (“to clean, polish, buff”). Doublet of furbish.

inh

Farm out the stable and pigsty.

(UK, dialectal) To cleanse; clean out; put in order; empty; empty out


wrench

From Middle English wrench, from Old English wrenċ, from Proto-Germanic *wrankiz (“a turning, twisting”). Compare German Rank (“plot, intrigue”).

(UK) An adjustable spanner used by plumbers.


joey

Unknown. Older and more general sources state that joey comes from an Australian aboriginal language (cited as joè), but newer sources that focus on Australian English and aboriginal languages say the origin is unknown. The Australian National Dictionary includes a sense of “young possum” with citations predating the earliest “young kangaroo” citations.

"Visit in two days though," said Tommo. "Hang in there mate, got a joey coming, we'll be sweet then."

2012, John Hoskison, Inside: One Man's Experience of Prison:

(UK, Ireland, prison slang) A parcel smuggled in to an inmate.


joey

(UK, military, slang) A member of the Royal Marines.


joey

From British TV personality Joey Deacon (1920–1981), who was the focus of Blue Peter's 1981 charity campaign. The programme was aimed at children, who then picked the term up and used it as an insult.

(dated, slang, derogatory, offensive in British) A person with cerebral palsy.

(dated, slang, derogatory, offensive in British) A stupid person.


joey

Said to have been named after Scottish politician Joseph Hume (1777–1855).

a joey of brandy

(UK, slang, obsolete) A fourpenny piece, or its value; fourpence worth.


detonator

Warning messages were relayed to the signalmen at Slough East and Dolphin Junction boxes with such celerity that the up main signals were replaced to danger in front of the express before it finally stopped. The signalman at Dolphin Junction just had time to replace the down main signals and pull the emergency lever to lay detonators in front of the fast approaching 7 p.m. Paddington-Reading train.

1960 March, “Talking of Trains: The Slough Derailment”, in Trains Illustrated, page 132:

(rail transport, UK) A small explosive device attached to the railhead to provide an audible warning when a train passes over it.

響墩 /响墩

rail transport: small explosive warning device


gar

Belone belone
Belone belone#Translingual

(especially UK, Ireland) A garfish, Belone belone.


gar

en-verb

gar (third-person singular simple present gars, present participle garring, simple past and past participle gart)

gars (present singular third-person)
garring (participle present)
gart (participle past)
gart (past)

From Middle English garren, gerren, from Old Norse gera, gerva (Swedish göra, Danish gøre), from Proto-Germanic *garwijaną. Compare yare; but also Old Cornish gorra (“put, place, set”).

I shall firste begyn at Sandwyche, and there I shall go in my shearte, barefoote, and at every ten myles ende I shall founde and gar make an house of religious, of what order that ye woll assygne me [...].

1485, Sir Thomas Malory, Le Morte Darthur, Book XX:

Time gars me tremble. Ah, how sore the baulk! / While Time in pride of strength cloth ever stalk [...].

1885, Sir Richard Burton, The Book of the Thousand Nights and One Night, Night 15:

(now chiefly UK dialectal) To make, compel (someone to do something); to cause (something to be done).


form

en-noun

form (countable and uncountable, plural forms)

→ Korean: 폼 (pom)

→ Norwegian Bokmål: form

From Middle English forme (“shape, figure, manner, bench, frame, seat, condition, agreement, etc.”), borrowed from Old French forme, from Latin fōrma (“shape, figure, image, outline, plan, mold, frame, case, etc., manner, sort, kind, etc.”).
In sense "division grouping school students" (now dated), derived from public school nomenclature later adopted by state schools. It is sometimes said to be from the sense of "bench", where students of certain ages would sit together, though this is disputed, or alternatively from the sense of "established method of expression or practice".

der

imitation is the sincerest form of flattery

It's fair to say she has form on this: she has criticised David Cameron's proposal to create all-women shortlists for prospective MPs, tried to ban women wearing high heels at work as the resulting pain made them take time off work, and tried to reduce the point at which an abortion can take place from 24 to 21 weeks.

2011 May 4, Jane Martinson, The Guardian:

As for the notion that it’s not how Sunak would have won, that doesn’t mean a whole lot coming from a guy whose recent form includes losing to Liz Truss.

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

(social) To do with structure or procedure.

(UK) Past history (in a given area); a habit of doing something.

(UK, education) A class or year of school pupils.

To do with structure or procedure.
A class or year of school pupils.

Nathaniel: Maister, there is nobody to teach in the sixth form.
Maister: What a thing is this?
N: He is sick in bed.
M: How do you know?
N: One of the scholars in his house told me so.

1653, Corderius, Colloquia scholastica Anglo-Latina, […] 1653, page 220:

I am a very weak, insufficient scholar, sitting on the lowest form in Thy great school-house, which is the whole world, and trying to spell out the mere letters of Thy alphabet […]

1880, Charles Kingsley, Out of the Deep: Words for the Sorrowful, London: Macmillan & Co., page 190:

One other day after afternoon school, Mr. Percival came behind me and put his hand on me. "Let me see, what's your name? Which form are you in?[…]"

1928, George Bickerstaff, The mayor, and other folk:

From the sixth form will come the scholars and the administrators.

1976, Ronald King, School and college: studies of post-sixteen education:

(UK, education, dated) A numbered division grouping school students (usually every two years) in education between Years 1 and 13 (often preceded by an ordinal number to specify the form, as in sixth form).


slip

From Middle English slippen, probably from Middle Low German slippen, from Old Saxon *slippian, from Proto-West Germanic *slippjan, from Proto-Germanic *slipjaną (“to glide”), an iterative form of *slīpaną (“to slip, slide”), from Proto-Indo-European *sleyb- (“slimy; to slide”). Possibly ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *slewbʰ- (“slip, slide”), or related to Proto-Germanic *slībaną (“to split”); related to Old English slipor (“slippery”).
Cognate with Saterland Frisian slipje (“to slip”), Dutch slippen (“to slip”), German Low German slippen, slupen (“to slip”), German schlüpfen (“to slip”).

there's many a slip between the cup and the lip

there's many a slip twixt the cup and the lip

(UK, dated) A narrow passage between buildings.


great

en-adj

great (comparative greater, superlative greatest)

greater (comparative)
greatest (superlative)

→ Welsh: grêt

From Middle English greet (“great, large”), from Old English grēat (“big, thick, coarse, massive”), from Proto-West Germanic *graut, from Proto-Germanic *grautaz (“big in size, coarse, coarse grained”), from Proto-Indo-European *gʰrewd-, *gʰer- (“to rub, grind, remove”).
Cognate with Scots great (“coarse in grain or texture, thick, great”), West Frisian grut (“large, great”), Dutch groot (“large, stour”), German groß (“large”), Old English grēot (“earth, sand, grit”). Related to grit. Doublet of gross.

cog

behind every great man there stands a woman

a dirty great smack in the face

Great Scott!

(informal, British) Intensifying a word or expression, used in mild oaths.


beast

en-verb

beast (third-person singular simple present beasts, present participle beasting, simple past and past participle beasted)

beasts (present singular third-person)
beasting (participle present)
beasted (participle past)
beasted (past)

From Middle English beeste, beste, from Old French beste (French bête), from Latin bēstia (“animal, beast”); many cognates – see bēstia.

(British, military) To impose arduous exercises, either as training or as punishment.


traveller

From Middle English traveler, travelour, travailere, travailour (“worker", also "traveller”), equivalent to travel + -er. Compare Anglo-Norman travailur, travailour, Old French travailleor, travelleeur, travelier.

(British) Someone who lives (particularly in the UK) in a caravan, bus or other vehicle rather than a fixed abode.


rob

rob (third-person singular simple present robs, present participle robbing, simple past and past participle robbed)

robs (present singular third-person)
robbing (participle present)
robbed (participle past)
robbed (past)

From Middle English robben, from Anglo-Norman robber, from Late Latin raubāre, from Frankish *raubōn (compare Dutch roven) and Old High German roubōn, raubōn (“to rob, steal, plunder”), from Proto-Germanic *raubōną. Doublet of reave.

That bloke robbed my phone!


tube

From Middle French tube, from Latin tubus (“tube, pipe”), related to tuba (“long trumpet; war-trumpet”), of obscure ultimate origin, but possibly connected to tībia (“shinbone, reed-pipe”), see there.

you can't put the toothpaste back in the tube

you can't put the toothpaste back into the tube

I took the tube to Waterloo and walked the rest of the way.

The economist also observed that some of the Victoria Line's cost should be debited to existing lines, as they would benefit from the rebuilding of their interchange stations with the new tube.

1962 October, “The Victoria Line”, in Modern Railways, page 217:

(British, colloquial, often capitalised as Tube, a trademark) The London Underground railway system, originally referred to the lower level lines that ran in tubular tunnels as opposed to the higher ones which ran in rectangular section tunnels. (Often the tube.)

And thus it came about that on that October morning I found myself in the deep level tube with the Professor speeding to the North of London in what proved to be one of the most singular experiences of my remarkable life.

1929, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, The Disintegration Machine:

(obsolete) One of the tubular tunnels of the London Underground.


jam sandwich

(UK, Ireland, slang) (from the common UK colour scheme of white with a red reflective horizontal band) A police car.


on sale

In 1866 Colonel J. F. Meline noted that the rebozo had almost disappeared in Santa Fe and that hoop skirts, on sale in the stores, were being widely used.

1948, Carey McWilliams, North from Mexico / The Spanish-Speaking People of The United States, J. B. Lippincott Company, page 75:

(British, Australia) Available for purchase.


kip

1760–70, probably related to Danish kippe (“dive, hovel, cheap inn”) and Middle Low German kiffe (“hovel”). From the same distant Germanic root as cove.

(informal, chiefly UK, Ireland) A place to sleep; a rooming house; a bed.

I’m just going for my afternoon kip.

(informal, chiefly UK, Ireland, Commonwealth) Sleep, snooze, nap, forty winks, doze.

(informal, chiefly UK, Ireland) A very untidy house or room.

(informal, chiefly UK, Ireland, dated) A brothel.


kip

kip (third-person singular simple present kips, present participle kipping, simple past and past participle kipped)

kips (present singular third-person)
kipping (participle present)
kipped (participle past)
kipped (past)

Don’t worry, I’ll kip on the sofabed.

"Steady on, mate. How was I to know this was your gaff? I was lookin' for somewhere to kip."

1971, Richard Carpenter, Catweazle and the Magic Zodiac, Harmondsworth: Puffin Books, page 56:

He took off his thick black coat and threw it to Harry.
"You can kip under that," he said. "Don' mind it if wriggles a bit, I think I still got a couple o' dormice in one o' the pockets."

1997, J. K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, New York: Arthur A. Levine Books, published 1998, page 60:

(informal, chiefly UK) To sleep; often with the connotation of a temporary or charitable situation, or one borne out of necessity.

přespat

to sleep, in a temporary, charitable, or necessary situation


apple pie

en-noun

apple pie (countable and uncountable, plural apple pies)

[ˌæp.ɫ̩ˈpaɪ]

/ˌæp.əlˈpɑɪ/

[ˌæp.ɫ̩ˈpɑɪ]

(dialectal, UK) Any of various willowherbs.


ton

→ Tokelauan: tone, tane

Variant of tun (“cask”), influenced by Old French tonne (“ton”).

ton

various units of mass notionally equivalent to a tun

Any of various units of volume, originally notionally equal to the contents of a tun, particularly:

The measurement ton of (US) 40 or (UK) 42 cubic feet (about 1.1 or 1.2 m³).

(colloquial, chiefly UK) Synonym of hundred, particularly

Synonym of hundred, particularly
100 pounds sterling.

Synonym of hundred, particularly
100 points.

Synonym of hundred, particularly
100 runs.

Speed along the lane / Do a ton or a ton and twenty-five

1970, Mungo Jerry (lyrics and music), “In The Summertime”, in In The Summertime:

Neil: How fast can this thing go then, do you reckon?
Simon: Well, it's the special edition, so I reckon it could probably top a ton.
Neil: Bollocks!

2008, Damon Beesley, Iain Morris, “Caravan Club”, in The Inbetweeners, Series 1, Episode 5, E4:

The HSDT team, however, had some work to do, although by the end of 1972 the power car interior had been adjusted and BR had agreed to 'double-manning' with extra pay when speeds topped the ton.

2021 October 6, Greg Morse, “A need for speed and the drive for 125”, in RAIL, number 941, page 50:

Synonym of hundred, particularly
A speed of 100 mph.

satanen (note that km/h is used in Finland and thus satanen is generally understood as 100 km/h or about 60 mph; 100 mph is around 160 km/h)


hop

From Middle English hoppen, from Old English hoppian (“to hop, spring, leap, dance”), from Proto-Germanic *huppōną (“to hop”), from Proto-Indo-European *kewb- (“to bend, bow”). Cognate with Dutch hoppen (“to hop”), German hopfen, hoppen (“to hop”), Swedish hoppa (“to hop, leap, jump”), Icelandic hoppa (“to hop, skip”).

der

1896, Benjamin Brierley, James Dronsfield, "Ab-o'th'-Yate" Sketches and Other Short Stories
One singing-room we had closed, and so damaged a "twopenny hop" that it could not have survived another season had our own prosperity continued unchecked.

(UK, US, slang, dated) A dance; a gathering for the purpose of dancing.


carriage

en-noun

carriage (countable and uncountable, plural carriages)

From Middle English cariage, from Old Northern French cariage, from carier (“to carry”).

When the long, hot journey drew to its end and the train slowed down for the last time, there was a stir in Jessamy’s carriage. People began to shake crumbs from their laps and tidy themselves up a little.

1967, Barbara Sleigh, Jessamy, Sevenoaks, Kent: Bloomsbury, published 1993, →ISBN, page 7:

(rail transport, British, Abbreviation of railway carriage) A railroad car


geography

geography (countable and uncountable, plural geographies)

⇒ Malay: geografi

/dʒiˈɒɡɹəfi/

/d͡ʒiˈɑɡɹəfi/

From Middle French géographie, from Latin geōgraphia, from Ancient Greek γεωγραφία (geōgraphía, “a description of the earth”), from γῆ (gê, “earth”) + γράφω (gráphō, “write”).
Use in reference to lavatories derives from the mid-20th century euphemism "show one the geography of the house" in reference to pointing out the toilets.

uder

The physical arrangement of any place, particularly (UK, slang) a house.

The Business Man Jocular: ‘I say, where's the geography, old son?’

1967 December 21, The Listener, page 802:

(chiefly upper-class UK, euphemistic) The lavatory: a room used for urination and defecation.


lady

⇒ Afrikaans: haar ladyskap

→ Arabic: لِيدِي (līdī)

Egyptian Arabic: ليدي (lēdī)

→ Belarusian: лэ́дзі (lédzi)

→ Bulgarian: ле́йди (léjdi)

→ French: lady

→ German: Lady

→ Greek: λαίδη (laídi), λέδη (lédi)

→ Italian: lady

→ Japanese: レディ (redi), レディー (redī)

→ Korean: 레이디 (reidi)

→ Latvian: lēdija

→ Macedonian: леди (ledi)

→ Polish: lady

→ Romanian: lady

→ Russian: ле́ди (lédi)

→ Spanish: lady

→ Swedish: lady

→ Tongan: leitī

→ Ukrainian: ле́ді (lédi)

→ Volapük: läd

From Middle English lady, laddy, lafdi, lavedi, from Old English hlǣfdīġe (“mistress of a household, wife of a lord, lady”, literally “bread-kneader”), from hlāf (“bread, loaf”) + dīġe (“kneader”), related to Old English dǣġe (“maker of dough”) (whence dey (“dairymaid”)). Compare also lord. More at loaf, dairy, dough. Unrelated to lad.

inh

(UK, slang) A five-pound note. (Rhyming slang, Lady Godiva for fiver.)


wanker

tlb

(UK, Ireland, Commonwealth, slang, vulgar)

merchant banker Rhyming slang often contracted as in He is a right merchant

Someone who shows off too much, a poser or poseur; someone who is overly self-satisfied.


wanker

UK 1890s. From stwanker, from stinker. Used at Felsted School, Essex.

My name it is "wanker";
 a leaner or lanker,
 Salter or ranker,
 fish never swam.

He sniffs. "'Eugh, wankers again."

(obsolete, British, school slang) A salted, and lightly smoked herring or mackerel; a bloater.


alright

→ Afrikaans: ôraait

→ Dutch: olrijt

[ɒː(ɫ)ˈɹəi̯t]

Univerbation from all + right. Compare Old English eallriht (“all-right, just, exactly”), equivalent to al- (“all”) + right.

cog

(UK, informal) A generic greeting; hello; how are you.


same

en-adv

same (comparative more same, superlative most same)

more same (comparative)
most same (superlative)

From Middle English same, samme, samen, (also ysame, isame), from Old English samen (“together”), from Proto-Germanic *samanai (“together”), from Proto-Indo-European *sem- (“one, together”). Cognate with Scots samin (“together”), Dutch samen (“together”), German zusammen (“together”), Swedish samman (“together”), Icelandic saman (“together”).


buck

From Middle English bukke, bucke, buc, from Old English buc, bucc, bucca (“he-goat, stag”), from Proto-West Germanic *bukk, *bukkō, from Proto-Germanic *bukkaz, *bukkô (“buck”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰuǵ- (“ram”). Doublet of puck (billy goat).
Currency-related senses hail from American English, a clipping of buckskin as a unit of trade among Indians and Europeans in frontier days (attested from 1748).
The idea of rigidly standing implements is instilled by Dutch bok (“sawhorse”) as in zaagbok (“sawbuck”).
The sense of an object indicating someone’s turn then occurred in American English, possibly originating from the game poker, where a knife (typically with a hilt made from a stag horn) was used as a place-marker to signify whose turn it was to deal. The place-marker was commonly referred to as a buck, which reinforced the term “pass the buck” used in poker, and eventually a silver dollar was used in place of a knife, which also led to a dollar being referred to as a buck.

This pusillanimous creature thinks himself, and would be thought, a buck.

1808, Alexander Chalmers, editor, The Connoisseur: The British Essayists, volume 32, page 93:

The Captain was then a buck and dandy, during the reign of those two successive dynasties, of the first rank of the second order ; the characteristic of which very respectable rank of fashionables I hold to be, that their spurs impinge upon the pavement oftener than upon the sides of a horse.

1825, Constantine Henry Phipps, I Zingari: The English in Italy, volume II, page 153:

three and a buck ― three shillings and sixpence

A unit of a particular currency
(UK, slang, obsolete) A sixpence.

A unit of a particular currency
A sixpence.

An implement the body of which is likened to a male sheep’s body due maintaining a stiff-legged position as if by stubbornness.

(UK, dialect) The body of a post mill, particularly in East Anglia. See Wikipedia:Windmill machinery.

(UK, obsolete, slang) An unlicensed cabman.


buck

From Middle English bouk (“belly, trunk, body, hull of a ship, fishtrap, container”), from Old English būc (“belly, bottle, jug, pitcher”), from Proto-West Germanic *būk, from Proto-Germanic *būkaz. Doublet of bucket.

inh

(UK, dialectal) The body of a cart or waggon, especially the front part.

(UK, dialectal, anatomy) Belly, breast, chest.


buck

en-verb

buck (third-person singular simple present bucks, present participle bucking, simple past and past participle bucked)

bucks (present singular third-person)
bucking (participle present)
bucked (participle past)
bucked (past)

(UK, dialectal, intransitive) To swell out.


dragon

→ Fijian: drekoni

→ Japanese: ドラゴン (doragon)

desc

→ Korean: 드래곤 (deuraegon), 드래건 (deuraegeon)

→ Marathi: ड्रॅगन (ḍrĕgan)

→ Marshallese: tūrāikōn

→ Niuean: tarākoni

→ Swahili: dragoni

→ Tamil: டிராகன் (ṭirākaṉ)

→ Yoruba: dírágónì

From Middle English dragoun, borrowed from Old French dragon, from Latin dracō(n), from Ancient Greek δράκων (drákōn, “a serpent of huge size, a python, a dragon”), probably from δέρκομαι (dérkomai, “I see clearly”). Displaced native Old English draca—a doublet of dragon, as are Draco, dracone, and dragoon.

taniwha

Maori mythological creature similar to a dragon

(UK, slang, rare, derogatory) An unattractive woman.


dandy

→ Dutch: dandy

→ Esperanto: dando

→ Finnish: dandy

→ French: dandy, → French: dundee

→ German: Dandy

desc

→ Japanese: ダンディ, ダンディー

→ Japanese: ダンディ, ダンディー

→ Limburgish: dèndie

→ Polish: dandy

→ Spanish: dandy

Borrowed from Scots dandy (“a fop; one who is well-dressed”). Of uncertain origin.
Possibly from Dandy, a diminutive of Andrew, yet the Scots word is used also in reference to women. Alternatively, possibly a back-formation of Scots dandilly, dandillie (“one who is spoiled or pampered; a "pet"”). Compare English dandle and dander.

bor

(British, nautical) A yawl, or a small after-sail on a yawl.

Somebody quite as notorious as Brummell, but whose follies have been far more mischievous; whose eloquence is great, but certainly not always refined; and to whose health many a dandy of whisky has been tossed off.

1844, William Jesse, The life of George Brummell, page 57:

(UK, Ireland, slang, archaic) A small glass of whisky.


tom

From generic use of the proper name Tom.


tom

Toms 90p a pound

“I'd like sausage, eggs, bacon, toms, mushies, beans – oh, and some fried bread,” said Mike.

2009, Mark Penny, Jonathan Penny, The Golden Pig, page 160:

(British, greengrocers' slang) A tomato (the fruit).


Oxbridge

On the previous night he had taken the manuscript out of a long neglected chest, containing old shooting jackets, old Oxbridge scribbling books, his old surplice, and battered cap and gown, and other memorials of youth, school, and home.

1848 November – 1850 December, William Makepeace Thackeray, chapter III, in The History of Pendennis. […], volume II, London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1850, →OCLC:

"Of course she is clever," said Mrs. Pope. "Or we shouldn't have sent her to Oxbridge. There she's doing quite well—quite well. Everyone says so. I don't know, of course, if Mr. Magnet will let her finish there."

1912, H[erbert] G[eorge] Wells, Marriage, London: Macmillan and Co., Limited […], →OCLC, book the first (Marjorie Marries), page 152:

In another, he says: “Why has the BBC allowed the format of this programme to treat all other universities in the UK apart from Oxbridge as second class?”

2023 March 26, Matthew Weaver, “BBC rejects charge of elitist Oxbridge bias in University Challenge”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:

(UK, education) The University of Oxford and the University of Cambridge collectively.


job

→ Antillean Creole: djòb

→ French: job

→ Louisiana Creole: djòb

From the phrase jobbe of work (“piece of work”), of uncertain origin. Perhaps from a variant of Middle English gobbe (“mass, lump”); or perhaps related to Middle English jobben (“to jab, thrust, peck”), or Middle English choppe (“piece, bargain”). More at gob, jab, chop.

der

“He was ex-job, Beavis. Detective sergeant out of County, Banbury, retired in ‘59.”

2018 February 11, Colin Dexter, Russell Lewis, 14:17 from the start, in Endeavour(Cartouche), season 5, episode 2 (TV series), spoken by DS Endeavour Morse (Shaun Evans):

But there it was on the screen: The personal details of his old colleague from Kennington station in the late nineties.[…]She’s job. We used to work together.

2018 July 24, Chris Merritt, Last Witness:A Gripping Crime Thriller You Won’t Be Able To Put Down:

“I’m job, D.S Townsend. I have to report a missing person.”

2022 February 9, Daragh Carville, Richard Clark, Furquan Akhtar, 01:33 from the start, in The Bay, season 3, episode 5, spoken by D.S Jenn Townsend (Marsha Thomason):

The New Partridge Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English

w:A Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English

(UK, slang, law enforcement) The police as a profession, act of policing, or an individual police officer.


rub

Inherited from Middle English rubben, of unknown origin; possibly ultimately from Proto-Germanic *rubbōną, related to *reufaną (“to tear”).
Cognate with Saterland Frisian rubje (“to rub, scrape”), German Low German rubben (“to rub”), Low German rubblig (“rough, uneven”), Dutch robben, rubben (“to rub smooth; scrape; scrub”), Danish rubbe (“to rub, scrub”), Icelandic and Norwegian rubba (“to scrape”).
More at reave.

растира́ние

any substance designed to be applied by rubbing


peg

From Middle English pegge, from Middle Dutch pegge (“pin, peg”), from Old Dutch *pigg-, *pegg-, from Proto-Germanic *pig-, *pag- (“peg, stake”), from Proto-Indo-European *bak-, *baḱ- (“club, pointed stick, peg”). Cognate with Dutch dialectal peg (“pin”), Low German pig, pigge (“peg, stick with a point”), Low German pegel (“post, stake”), Swedish pigg (“tooth, spike”), Danish pig (“spike”), Norwegian Bokmål pigg (“spike”), Irish bac (“stick, crook”), Latin baculum (“staff”), Latvian bakstît (“to poke”), Ancient Greek βάκτρον (báktron, “staff, walking stick”). Related to beak.
This is one of the very few English words that begin with a p and come from Proto-Germanic. Proto-Germanic *p, when not in a consonant cluster beginning with *s, developed by Grimm's law from the Proto-Indo-European consonant *b, which was very rare.
(To indicate or ascribe an attribute to):: Assumed to originate from the use of pegs or pins as markers on a bulletin board or a list.

sense

This over, the club will be visited for a "peg," Anglice drink.

1898, unknown author, Harper's Magazine:

The name had come to mean any aromatic essence of herbs by the time the first thirsty colonial poured a peg of Who-shot-John into his mint water.

1953, S. S. Field, The American drink book, page 65:

(UK) A small quantity of a strong alcoholic beverage.

didalet

a small quantity of a strong alcoholic beverage

The price of a case (five shillings piece bad) from the smasher is about one shilling; an alderman (two and sixpence) about sixpence; a peg (shilling) about threepence; a downer or sprat (sixpence) about twopence.

1859, Snowden's magistrates assistant, page 90:


peg

en-verb

peg (third-person singular simple present pegs, present participle pegging, simple past and past participle pegged)

pegs (present singular third-person)
pegging (participle present)
pegged (participle past)
pegged (past)

I was pegging a hack when the horse started limping. I got down to see if he'd picked up a stone and he lashed out at me.

2014, Robert Newman, The Case of the Somerville Secret:

(UK, slang, obsolete, transitive) To drive (a hackney carriage).


main

en-adv

main (comparative more main, superlative most main)

more main (comparative)
most main (superlative)

From Middle English mayn, main, maine, mæin, meyn, from main (noun) (see further at etymology 2); compare Old English mæġen (“strong, main, principal”) (used in combination) and Old Norse megn, megenn (“strong, main”).
The word is cognate with Old High German megīn (“strong, mighty”) (modern German Möge, Vermögen (“power, wealth”)), and also akin to Old English magan (“to be able to”). See also may.

cog

Suck[y]. A Draught of Ale, Friend, for I'm main dry. / Pen[elope]. Fie! fie! Niece! Is that Liquor for a young Lady? Don't disparage your Family and Breeding!

1754, Samuel Foote, “The Knights”, in The Knights. A Comedy, in Two Acts. […], Dublin: Printed by Richard James, […], →OCLC, act II, page 35:

Why, it's main jolly to be sure, and all that so fair.

1778, Richard Brinsley Sheridan, “The Camp: A Musical Entertainment”, in The Dramatic Works of Richard Brinsley Sheridan. With a Memoir of the Author (Dove’s English Classics), London: Printed and published by J. F. Dove, […], published c. 1813–1828, →OCLC, act I, scene ii, page 309:

It was main hot, and the windy was open, and I hear that old song comin’ out as clear as clear […]

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

(British, dialectal) Exceedingly, extremely, greatly, mightily, very, very much.


candy floss

en-noun

candy floss (usually uncountable, plural candy flosses)

(UK, Ireland) Heated sugar spun into thin threads and collected into a mass, usually on a stick.


sauce

sauce (countable and uncountable, plural sauces)

→ Japanese: ソース

→ Scottish Gaelic: sabhs

PIE word
 *séh₂ls
From Middle English sauce, from Old French sause, from Vulgar Latin *salsa, noun use of the feminine of Latin salsus (“salted”), past participle of saliō (“I salt”), from sal. Doublet of salsa.
For the meaning development compare Ancient Greek ἥδυσμα (hḗdusma) ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *swéh₂dus (whence also English sweet).

source (non-rhotic, horse–hoarse merger)

what's sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander

[meat] pie and [tomato] sauce

(UK, Australia, New Zealand, India) Tomato sauce (similar to US tomato ketchup), as in:

Roots, herbs, vine fruits, and salad flowers […] they dish up various ways, and find them very delicious sauce to their meats, both roasted and boiled, fresh and salt.

1705, Robert Beverley, The History of Virginia:

The first night of our expedition, we boiled our meat; and I asked the landlady for a little sauce, she told me to go to the garden and take as much cabbage as I pleased, and that, boiled with the meat, was all we could eat.

1830, Joseph Plumb Martin, “Ch. VIII”, in A Narrative of Some of the Adventures, Dangers and Sufferings of a Revolutionary Soldier:

(obsolete, UK, US, dialect) Any garden vegetables eaten with meat.


neg

en-verb

neg (third-person singular simple present negs, present participle negging, simple past and past participle negged)

negs (present singular third-person)
negging (participle present)
negged (participle past)
negged (past)

(slang, British) To annoy or irritate deliberately.


leger

leger (third-person singular simple present legers, present participle legering, simple past and past participle legered)

legers (present singular third-person)
legering (participle present)
legered (participle past)
legered (past)

/ˈlɛd͡ʒə(ɹ)/

Night-lines are made of water-cord, with the hooks about half-a-yard apart, baited with worms, loach, gudgeons, &c.; a brick is fastened to each end of the line to sink it, or a peg at one end and a brick at the other, and laid obliquely across the stream. They are also often taken when Legering for Barbel, […]

1864, “Otter” [pseudonym; H. Jervis Alfred], “Eel, Lamprey and Lampern”, in The Modern Angler, Containing Instructions in the Art of Fly-fishing, Spining and Bottom-fishing, […], London: Alfred & Son, […], →OCLC, part I, page 68:

Messrs. E. Frost and Tomkins, at Monkey Island, in two days, caught 80 lbs. weight of chub, dace, and roach with the fly and cheese paste, and in legering a trout of 2¼ lbs.

1878, “The Fishing Season”, in Once a Week, volume VIII (Fourth Series), London: Published at the offices, 19, Tavistock Street, W.C., →OCLC, page 95, column 1:

The added advantage of legering a small bait rather than freelining one is that you can tighten up harder to the bait and so spot runs earlier.

1997, Paul Gustafson, “Rigs”, in How to Catch Bigger Pike from Rivers, Lochs and Lakes, London: Collins Willow, HarperCollins Publishers, →ISBN; republished as How to Catch Big Pike: All the Insight and Technique You Need to Catch Bigger Pike, whatever the Location, London: Robinson, an imprint of Little, Brown Book Group, 2016, →ISBN, page 160:

The flounder spends its life between the tideline and the 25 to 30 fathoms mark, but they are often caught several miles upstream in freshwater rivers by anglers legering worms or gentles.

1998, Martin James, “Flounder”, in Paul Morgan, editor, Saltwater Flyfishing: Britain and Northern Europe, Machynlleth, Powys: Coch-y-Bonddu Books, published 2006, →ISBN, page 156:

(transitive, intransitive, British, fishing) Alternative form of ledger (“to use (a certain type of bait) in bottom fishing; to engage in bottom fishing”)


lire

From Middle English lire, lyre, from Old English līra (“any fleshy part of the body, muscle, calf of the leg”), from Proto-Germanic *ligwizô, *lihwizô (“thigh, groin”), from Proto-Indo-European *lekʷs-, *lewks- (“groin”). Cognate with Dutch lies (“groin”), Swedish lår (“thigh”).

inh

(UK dialectal, Northern England, Scotland) Flesh, brawn, or muscle; the fleshy part of a person or animal in contradistinction to the bone and skin.

(UK dialectal, Scotland) The fleshy part of a roast capon, etc. as distinguished from a limb or joint.


lire

From Middle English lire, lyre, from Old Norse hlýr (“cheeks”, plural). Compare Middle English lere, from Old English hlēor (“cheek, countenance, complexion”). More at leer.

cog

(UK dialectal, Scotland) Face; appearance of the face or skin; complexion; hue.


lire

From Old Norse líri. Cognate with Norwegian lira.

(UK dialectal, Scotland, Orkney, Shetland, ornithology) The Manx shearwater (bird).


pee

Spelling of the abbreviation p of pence.

I bought these carrots for fifty pee.

I can't afford that — I'm one pee short.

(British, Ireland, colloquial) Pence; penny (a quantity of money)


snug

From dialectal English snug (“tight, handsome”), perhaps from Old Norse snøggr, from Proto-Germanic *snawwuz (“short, quick, fast”). Compare Icelandic snöggur (“smooth”), Danish snög (“neat”), Swedish snygg (“handsome, nice-looking”).

cog

(British) A small, comfortable back room in a pub.


adrift

en-adj

adrift (comparative more adrift, superlative most adrift)

more adrift (comparative)
most adrift (superlative)

The team were six points adrift of their rivals.

The Czech Republic in 1994-95, with a pegged nominal exchange rate and nominal deposit rates of 7 percent, was several percentage points adrift of the interest parity condition.

1996, David H. Begg, Monetary Policy in Central and Eastern Europe: Lessons After Half a Decade, International Monetary Fund, →ISBN:

He did well, coming second, but Toyota and Mitsubishi were now neck-and-neck, with the Subaru team 38 points adrift of the leaders.

2006, Brian Long, Subaru Impreza: The Road Car & WRC Story, →ISBN, page 56:

Boro were left needing snookers after a toothless goalless draw with Dead Men Walking Doncaster left them well adrift and fading in the chase for a Championship play-off place.

2012 April 18, Anthony Vickers, “Boro 0 Doncaster Rovers 0”, in The Evening Gazette (Teesside):

Brendan Rodgers's team moved into the top 10 in the Premier League table, but they are nine points adrift of West Ham in fourth place, while Arsenal are sixth.

2014 December 21, Phil McNulty, “Liverpool 2 - 2 Arsenal”, in BBC:

Treasury could also ask why High Speed 2's finances are so adrift from what was promised. The answers will make for difficult DfT reading, because it can't escape the fact that it has been the government department overseeing rail spending for the past 20 years.

2024 September 4, Philip Haigh, “Can public-private partnerships be made to deliver?”, in RAIL, number 1017, page 53:

(chiefly UK, often with of) Behind one's opponents, or below a required threshold in terms of score, number or position.


admittance

en-noun

admittance (countable and uncountable, plural admittances)

(British, law) The act of giving possession of a copyhold estate.


admission

admission (countable and uncountable, plural admissions)

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

Borrowed from Latin admissio, admissionis; compare French admission. See admit.

(British, ecclesiastical law) Declaration of the bishop that he approves of the presentee as a fit person to serve the cure of the church to which he is presented.


miaow

(chiefly dated) British spelling of meow


miaow

en-verb

miaow (third-person singular simple present miaows, present participle miaowing, simple past and past participle miaowed)

miaows (present singular third-person)
miaowing (participle present)
miaowed (participle past)
miaowed (past)


advert

This was a wonderful advert for the Premier League, with both Chelsea and United intent on all-out attack - but Ferguson will be concerned at how his side lost their way after imperiously controlling much of the first period.

2011 March 1, Phil McNulty, “Chelsea 2 - 1 Man Utd”, in BBC:

When I was writing my 'Tube Talk' column, a man sent me a letter complaining about the advertisement of cars on the Underground. Why would the Underground masochistically promote a rival transport mode? The answer, I discovered, was that the adverts on the network must not 'harm the brand', and a car advert per se was not deemed to do that. However, a car advert that said 'Why are you using this horrible Tube when you could be driving one of our lovely cars?' would not be allowed.

2012, Andrew Martin, Underground Overground: A passenger's history of the Tube, Profile Books, →ISBN, page 41:

In America alone, people spent $170 billion on “direct marketing”—junk mail of both the physical and electronic varieties—last year. Yet of those who received unsolicited adverts through the post, only 3% bought anything as a result.

2013 May 25, “No hiding place”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8837, page 74:

(British, informal) An advertisement, an ad.


toss

toss (third-person singular simple present tosses, present participle tossing, simple past and past participle tossed or (obsolete) tost)

tosses (present singular third-person)
tossing (participle present)
tossed (participle past)
tossed (past)
tost (obsolete participle past)
tost (obsolete past)

From Middle English tossen (“to buffet about, agitate, toss; to sift or winnow”), of uncertain origin. Perhaps from Old Norse (compare dialectal Norwegian tossa, dialectal Swedish tossa (“to strew, spread”)), or perhaps from an alteration of Middle English tosen (“to tease, pull apart, shred; to wound, injure”). Compare also Dutch tassen (“to pile or heap up, stack”).
The Welsh tos (“a quick jerk”) and tosio (“to jerk, toss”) are probably borrowed from the English.

cog

Their modest stole, to garish looser weed,
 Deck'd with love-favours their late whoredoms' meed:
 And where they wont sip of the simple flood,
 Now toss they bowls of Bacchus' boiling blood,

1597, Joseph Hall, “Satire II”, in Satires, Chiswick: C. Whittingham, published 1824, page 7:

Why, forſooth, an you think ſo, you had beſt go to bed. For my part, I mean to toſs a Can, and remember my Sweet-Heart, afore I turn in; may-hap I may dream of her.

1695, [William] Congreve, Love for Love: A Comedy. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC, Act III, scene xv, page 54:

(UK, slang) To drink in large draughts; to gulp.


adder

From Middle English nadder, addere, rebracketing of “a naddere” as “an addere”, from Old English nǣdre (“snake”), from Proto-West Germanic *nadrā, from Proto-Germanic *nadrǭ, from pre-Germanic *néh₁treh₂, variant of Proto-Indo-European *n̥h₁trih₂, from *(s)neh₁- (“to spin, twist”).
See also West Frisian njirre, Dutch adder, German Natter, Otter; also Welsh neidr, Latin natrīx (“watersnake”), Dutch naaien.

Entirely filled with the image of another, her heart, indeed, had the deaf ear of the adder, which heedeth not the voice of the charmer, charm he never so wisely.

1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter XXX, in Francesca Carrara. […], volume III, London: Richard Bentley, […], (successor to Henry Colburn), →OCLC, page 245:

These include the county's [Cumbria's] only venomous snake - the adder - which relies on exposed elements to successfully breed its young.

2021 August 25, Nick Brodrick, “Flourishing Flora and Fauna”, in RAIL, number 938, page 51:

A name loosely applied to various snakes more or less resembling the viper.

(chiefly British) A small venomous serpent of the genus Vipera

common European adder
common European adder

The common European adder (Vipera berus).


cricket

→ Afrikaans: krieket

→ Albanian: kriket

→ Arabic: الكريكت (al krīkit)

→ Assamese: ক্ৰিকেট (kriket)

→ Burmese: ကရစ်ကက် (ka.rackak)

→ Catalan: criquet

→ Czech: kriket

→ Danish: kricket, cricket

→ Dutch: cricket

→ French: cricket

→ Galician: crícket

→ German: Cricket

→ Greek: κρίκετ (kríket)

desc

→ Hebrew: קְרִיקֶט

→ Hebrew: קְרִיקֶט

→ Hindi: क्रिकेट (krikeṭ)

→ Hungarian: krikett

→ Icelandic: krikket

→ Irish: cruicéad

→ Italian: cricket

→ Japanese: クリケット (kuriketto)

→ Korean: 크리켓 (keuriket)

→ Malay: kriket

→ Pashto: کرکټ (krikiṭ)

→ Persian: کریکت (krekit)

→ Polish: krykiet

→ Portuguese: críquete

→ Russian: кри́кет (kríket) (see there for further descendants)

→ Scottish Gaelic: criogaid

→ Serbo-Croatian: krìket, крѝкет

→ Spanish: críquet, cricket

→ Swahili: kriketi

→ Swedish: cricket

→ Thai: คริกเก็ต (krík-gèt)

→ Urdu: کرکٹ (krikiṭ)

→ Welsh: criced

Perhaps from a Flemish dialect of Dutch met de krik ketsen (“to chase a ball with a curved stick”).

der

Robbins went on, "Henry wouldn't do anything that wasn't cricket. Me, I was raised in a river ward and I'm not bothered by niceties. […]

1954, The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, volume 7, page 81:

(chiefly British, chiefly in the negative) An act that is fair and sportsmanlike.


gel

Imitative of upper-class British pronunciation of girl.

"Now pray don't be troublesome, my dear gel," said Uncle Andrew.

1955, C[live] S[taples] Lewis, The Magician’s Nephew, London: The Bodley Head, →OCLC:


layoff

(British, soccer) A short pass that has been rolled in front of another player for them to kick.


hen

From Middle English hen, from Old English henn (“hen”), from Proto-West Germanic *hannju, from Proto-Germanic *hanjō (“hen”), from Proto-Indo-European *kan-, *kana- (“to sing”).
Cognate with Saterland Frisian Hanne (“hen”), West Frisian hin (“hen”), Dutch hen (“hen”), German Low German Heen (“hen”), German Henne (“hen”), Danish høne (“hen”), Swedish höna (“hen”), Icelandic hæna (“hen”). Related to Old English hana (“cock, rooster”). Also cognate to Latin cicōnia (“stork”), Latin canō (“to sing”), Russian каню́к (kanjúk, “buzzard”). Compare Russian пету́х (petúx, “rooster, cock”) from Russian петь (petʹ, “to sing”).

Weibchen

generic term for the female of any animal

(UK, informal) A bride-to-be, particularly in the context of a hen night.


overalls

/ˈoʊvəɹɔːlz/

(UK) A loose-fitting garment worn over regular clothes to protect them.

工裝褲 /工装裤

loose fitting garment worn over regular clothes to protect them

(UK, military) Trousers traditionally worn by cavalry.


draught

en-noun

draught (countable and uncountable, plural draughts)

From Middle English draught, draght, draȝt, from Old English *dreaht, *dræht (related to dragan (“to draw, drag”)), from Proto-Germanic *drahtuz, noun form of *draganą; equivalent to draw + -t.

(British) A checker: a game piece used in the game of draughts.

(UK, medicine, obsolete) A mild vesicatory.

And therefore, for the whole process, and full representation, there must be more than one draught; the one representing him in station, the other in session, another in genuflexion.

1650, Thomas Browne, chapter V, in Pseudodoxia Epidemica: […], 2nd edition, London: […] A[braham] Miller, for Edw[ard] Dod and Nath[aniel] Ekins, […], →OCLC, 1st book, page 22:

drawing sudden draughts upon the enemy when he looketh not for you

1596 (date written; published 1633), Edmund Spenser, A Vewe of the Present State of Irelande […], Dublin: […] Societie of Stationers, […], →OCLC; republished as A View of the State of Ireland […] (Ancient Irish Histories), Dublin: […] Society of Stationers, […] Hibernia Press, […] [b]y John Morrison, 1809, →OCLC:

(UK, obsolete) A sudden attack upon an enemy.


murder

en-verb

murder (third-person singular simple present murders, present participle murdering, simple past and past participle murdered)

murders (present singular third-person)
murdering (participle present)
murdered (participle past)
murdered (past)

From Middle English murder, murdre, mourdre, alteration of earlier murthre (“murder”) (see murther), from Old English morþor (“secret slaying, unlawful killing”) and Old English myrþra (“murder, homicide”), both from Proto-West Germanic *morþr, from Proto-Germanic *murþrą (“death, killing, murder”), from Proto-Indo-European *mr̥tro- (“killing”), from Proto-Indo-European *mer-, *mor-, *mr̥- (“to die”). Akin to Gothic 𐌼𐌰𐌿𐍂𐌸𐍂 (maurþr, “murder”), Old High German mord (“murder”), Old Norse morð (“murder”), Old English myrþrian (“to murder”) and morþ.
The -d- in the Middle English form may have been influenced in part by Anglo-Norman murdre, from Old French murdre, from Medieval Latin murdrum (whence the English doublet of murdrum), from Frankish *morþr, *murþr (“murder”), from the same Germanic root, though this may also have been wholly the result of internal development (compare burden, from burthen).
(crows): Attested at least since 1475.

inh

I could murder a hamburger right now.

“Is that so? Well, I could murder a cup of tea,” said Auntie Flip.

2017, David Walliams [pseudonym; David Edward Williams], Bad Dad, London: HarperCollins Children’s Books, →ISBN:

(figuratively, colloquial, British) To devour, ravish.


cotton wool

en-noun

cotton wool (usually uncountable, plural cotton wools)

Coordinate term: cotton swab

(UK) Soft, absorbent cotton for medical or cosmetic use, protective padding, etc.


fairy

fairy (countable and uncountable, plural fairies)

From Middle English faierie, fairie, from Old French faerie, from fae + -erie, from Latin fāta (“goddess of fate”). Equivalent to fey + -ry. Attested in English from about 1330, in King Alisaunder, first in the sense of "enchantment, illusion, dream" ("that thou herdest is fairye") and shortly thereafter "realm of the fays, fairy-land" and "the inhabitants of fairyland, collectively". The re-interpretation of the term as a countable noun denoting individual inhabitants of fairy-land can be traced to the 1390s, but became common only in the 16th century, perhaps due to reinterpreting phrases like faerie knight.

"When are we going to see this fairy?" demanded Algy.
"You, personally, never. You're far too immoral. I might let the others look at her from a distance in a year or two."

1920, H. C. McNeile "Snapper", 'Bulldog Drummond':

As she took out her key she was quite unaware that three pairs of eyes were watching her with interest from across the street. [...]
‘Strewth–’e ain’t ‘arf got a fairy this time,’ remarked the husky Mr. Clegg.

1942, Dennis Wheatley, 'Gunmen, Gallants and Ghosts':

(British, obsolete, colloquial) An attractive young woman.


marigold

/ˈmæɹ.ɪˌɡəʊld/

/ˈmæɹ.ɪˌɡoʊld/

/ˈmɛɹ.ɪˌɡoʊld/

From Middle English marigolde, marygoldye, from Mary (referring to the Virgin Mary) + Middle English golde (“marigold”).

compound

(UK, slang, obsolete) A million pounds sterling.


tap

The noun is derived from Middle English tappe (“hollow device for controlling the flow of liquid from a hole, cock, faucet, spigot; hole through which the liquid flows; the liquid which thus flows”), from Old English tæppa, from Proto-West Germanic *tappō, from Proto-Germanic *tappô (“a plug, tap; peg; tapering stick”), from Proto-Indo-European *deh₂p- (“to lose; to sacrifice”).
The verb is derived from Middle English tappen (“to obtain (liquid, chiefly liquor) from a tap; to obtain and sell (liquor)”), from Old English tæppian (“to provide (a container) with a stopper; to obtain (liquid) from a tap”), and then either:
* from Old English tæppa (see above) + -ian (suffix forming verbs); or
* from Proto-Germanic *tappōną, from *tappô (noun) (see above).
Verb sense 1.3.5 (“to turn over (a playing card or playing piece) to remind players that it has already been used in that round”) alludes to the abilities or resources of the card or piece having been drawn on to the point of temporary exhaustion: see verb sense 1.3.2.

rubinet

hollow device used to control the flow of a fluid — see also faucet

[H]ere has been nothing but canting and praying ſince the fellovv entered the place.—Rabbit him! the tap vvill be ruined—vve han't ſold a caſk of beer, nor a dozen of vvine, ſince he paid his garniſh—the gentlemen get drunk vvith nothing but your damned religion.— […]

1771, [Tobias Smollett], “To Sir Watkin Phillips, Bart. of Jesus College, Oxon.”, in The Expedition of Humphry Clinker […], volume II, London: […] W. Johnston, […]; and B. Collins, […], →OCLC, pages 72–73:

Guard emerges from the tap, where he prefers breakfasting, […]

1857, [Thomas Hughes], chapter IV, in Tom Brown’s School Days. […], Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: Macmillan & Co., →OCLC, part I, page 87:

For the rest, both the tap and parlor of the Six Jolly Fellowship-Porters gave upon the river, and had red curtains matching the noses of the regular customers, and were provided with comfortable fireside tin utensils, […]

1864 May – 1865 November, Charles Dickens, “Cut Adrift”, in Our Mutual Friend. […], volume I, London: Chapman and Hall, […], published 1865, →OCLC, book the first (The Cup and the Lip), page 47:

(British) Short for taphouse or taproom (“place where alcoholic beverages are served on tap”).

taphouse or taproom

The system was barely keeping pressure due to all of the ill-advised taps along its length.

(British, electrical engineering, mechanical engineering) A connection made to an electrical or fluid conductor without breaking it; a tapping.

electrical engineering
electrical engineering

mechanical engineering
mechanical engineering


tap

en-verb

tap (third-person singular simple present taps, present participle tapping, simple past and past participle tapped)

taps (present singular third-person)
tapping (participle present)
tapped (participle past)
tapped (past)
tap (infinitive)

The verb is derived from Middle English tappen, teppen (“to give (something) a knock or tap; to hit (something) lightly, pat, tap”), either:
* imitative of the making of a tapping sound; or
* from Old French tapper, taper (“to tap”) (modern French taper), from Frankish *tappōn, *dabbōn (“to strike”), or from Middle Low German tappen, tapen (“to rap, strike, tap”), both ultimately from Proto-Germanic *dab- (“to strike”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰebʰ- (“to beat, strike; to stun; to be speechless”). Doublet of dab.
Verb sense 1.1.1 (“to arrest (someone)”) and sense 1.6 (“to choose or designate (someone) for a duty, etc.”) allude to a police officer or other person tapping someone on their shoulder to catch their attention or to select them.
The noun is derived from Middle English tap, tappe (“light blow or hit”), and then either:
* from Middle English tappen (verb) (see above); or
* from Old French tape (“light slap or touch, pat”) (modern French tape), from tapper, taper (verb) (see above).
cognates
* German tappen (“to fumble; to grope”)
* Icelandic tappa, tapsa, tæpta (“to tap”)

der

to tap shoes

(British, dialectal or US) To repair (an item of footwear) by putting on a new heel or sole, or a piece of material on to the heel or sole.


tap

en-noun

tap (countable and uncountable, plural taps)

She had a good figure, was twenty-one, five-feet-five, hair probably brown (dyed blond), brown cloth coat, rabbit-skin collar, cotton print dress, brown calf shoes (heel taps a little run over), scuff on the right toe.

1954 June 10, John Steinbeck, “Enter Suzy”, in Sweet Thursday, 1st British edition, London: William Heinemann, →OCLC, page 33:

(British, dialectal or US) A piece of leather or other material fastened upon the bottom of an item of footwear when repairing the heel or sole; also (England, dialectal) the sole of an item of footwear.


scale

en-verb

scale (third-person singular simple present scales, present participle scaling, simple past and past participle scaled)

scales (present singular third-person)
scaling (participle present)
scaled (participle past)
scaled (past)

From Middle English scale, from Old French escale, from Frankish and/or Old High German skala, from Proto-Germanic *skalō. Cognate with Old English sċealu (“shell, husk”), whence the modern doublet shale. Further cognate with Dutch schaal, German Schale, French écale.

(UK, Scotland, dialect) To scatter; to spread.


stove

→ Japanese: ストーブ (sutōbu)

From Middle Dutch stove and/or Middle Low German stove (compare Dutch stoof, German Low German Stuve, Stuuv), both from Proto-West Germanic *stubu, *stubō, from Proto-Germanic *stubō (“room, living room, heated room”), further origin uncertain. Cognate with Old English stofa (“bathroom, bathhouse”), stufbæþ (“hot-air bath”), Old High German stuba (whence German Stube), Old Norse stofa (whence Icelandic stofa (“living room”), Norwegian stove, Danish and Norwegian stue and Swedish stuga). The Germanic words are very old, and are the source of the Slavic and Romance terms. It is often speculated that the Germanic terms were borrowed from Vulgar Latin *extūfa, *extūfāre (“to heat with steam”), from Latin ex- + *tūfus (“hot vapor”), from Ancient Greek τῦφος (tûphos, “fever”).
Doublet of stufa.

cog

There existed only one specimen of this sacred tree in all Mexico, at least to the knowledge of the Mexicans; […] In spite, however, of the firmest convictions of the indivisibility of this tree — the Manitas, as it is commonly called — it has been propagated by cuttings, some of which are at this moment thriving in some of the larger stoves of our modern collectors.

1850, M. A. Burnett, Plantae utiliores: or illustrations of useful plants, employed in the arts and medicine, part 8:

Let but these facts lie contrasted with the treatment they usually receive in the stoves of this country, and the reason why they never grow to any considerable size, attain to any degree of perfection, or flourish to any extent […]

1854, The Horticultural Review and Botanical Magazine, volume 4, page 208:

(chiefly UK) A hothouse (heated greenhouse).


administration

en-noun

administration (usually uncountable, plural administrations)

/ədˌmɪnəˈstɹeɪʃən/

From Middle English administracioun, from Old French administration, from Latin administratio, from administrare; see administer; compare French administration.

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

The company went into voluntary administration last week.

The other ambitions, and much of Prescott's plan, foundered just south of Hatfield that October, when a GNER express derailed on a shattered rail […], plunging the railway into a crisis that led to private track owner Railtrack being put into administration.

2024 September 4, Philip Haigh, “Can public-private partnerships be made to deliver?”, in RAIL, number 1017, page 52:

(uncountable, law, UK) An arrangement whereby an insolvent company can continue trading under supervision.


cup

→ Farefare: kɔpɩ

→ Hebrew: קאפ (kap)

→ Japanese: カップ (kappu)

desc

→ Kashubian: kopsa (Canada, United States)

→ Korean: 컵 (keop)

→ Maori: kapu

Inherited from Middle English cuppe, coppe, from the merger of Old English cuppe (“cup”) and Old English copp (“cup, vessel”).
Old English cuppe is a borrowing from Late Latin cuppa, itself of obscure origin, but probably from earlier Latin cūpa (“tub, cask”), from Proto-Indo-European *kewp- (“a hollow”). Old English copp, however, is from Proto-West Germanic *kopp (“round object, bowl, vessel, knoll, summit, crown of the head”), from Proto-Germanic *kuppaz, from Proto-Indo-European *gew- (“to bend, curve, arch”) (whence also obsolete English cop (“top, summit, crown of the head”), German Kopf (“top, head”)).
The Middle English word was further reinforced by Anglo-Norman cupe and Old French cope, coupe, from Latin cuppa. Compare also Saterland Frisian Kop (“cup”), West Frisian kop (“cup”), Dutch kop (“cup”), German Low German Koppke, Köppke (“cup”), Danish kop (“cup”), Swedish kopp (“cup”). Doublet of coupe, hive, and keeve.

unk

obscure

cog

that and a dollar will get you a cup of coffee

that and a nickel will buy you a cup of coffee

that and twenty-five cents will get you a cup of coffee

(UK, dated) A British unit of measure equal to ¹⁄₂ imperial pint (10 imperial ounces; 284 mL) or 300 mL.


whey

He swayed over to the door, peered out, shouted "whey!" and came back, looking severe.

1928, Ruth Manning-Sanders, Waste Corner:

somebody who was more or less to their senses, shouted... ' Whey! ... Had on lads!' and everybody was trying to get wocken up and sorted out.

1982, Frank Entwisle, Abroad in England:

... apart from Max, who rode his pallet like a surfboard with a huge grin plastered across his face. “Wheyyyyyyy!” Max yelled with delight.

2011 September 1, Case File 12: The Case of the Messy Mucked Up Masterpiece, Hachette UK, →ISBN:

Several drunken men shouted from the corner. “Wheyyyy, showtime! Go on, go on!”

2016 December 30, Hahn Moo-Sook, The House of Pomegranate Trees, Literature Translation Institute of Korea, →ISBN:

12. Smashing a glass and the whole bar choruses "WHEYYYY".

2014 February 18, Catriona Harvey-Jenner, “25 things only bar staff will understand”, in Cosmopolitan UK:

If they don't shout "wheyyy" when you smash a glass, did it even smash?

2020 February 10, Claire Galloway, “15 things only people who have worked in an Edinburgh pub will understand”, in Edinburgh Live:

the sloshed post-work boozers all shout "Wheyyyyyyy!' at a glass that's smashed on the floor

2024 May 9, Oisín McKenna, Evenings and Weekends, HarperCollins UK, →ISBN:

(UK) Shouted when someone drops a glass or other crockery, especially in a pub.


overall

/ˌəʊvəɹˈɔːl/

From Middle English overall, overal, from Old English ofer eall, ofer ealle (“over all”), equivalent to over + all. Compare Saterland Frisian oural, uural (“everywhere”), West Frisian oeral (“everywhere”), Dutch overal (“everywhere”), German Low German overall, överall (“everywhere; all over”), German überall (“all over; everywhere”), Danish overalt (“everywhere”), Swedish överallt (“everywhere; overall”).

(British) A garment worn over other clothing to protect it; a coverall or boiler suit. A garment, for manual labor or for casual wear, often made of a single piece of fabric, with long legs and a bib upper, supported from the shoulders with straps, and having several large pockets and loops for carrying tools.


tape

en-noun

tape (countable and uncountable, plural tapes)

→ Danish: tape

→ Dutch: tape

→ Hausa: têf

→ Hindi: टेप (ṭep)

→ Irish: téip

→ Japanese: テープ (tēpu)

→ Korean: 테이프 (teipeu)

→ Norwegian:

Bokmål: tape, teip

Nynorsk: tape, teip

→ Swahili: tepe, tepu

→ Swedish: tape, tejp

→ Thai: เทป (téep)

→ Tibetan: ཊེབ (ṭeb)

→ Turkish: teyp

→ Urdu:

→ Phalura: ṭeép

→ Welsh: tâp

From Middle English tape, tappe, from Old English tæppa, tæppe (“ribbon, tape”); further origin unclear. Probably akin to Old Frisian tapia (“to pull, rip, tear”), Middle Low German tappen, tāpen (“to grab, pull, rip, tear, snatch”), Middle High German zāfen, zāven (“to pull, tear”).

cog

white tape, Holland tape, blue tape (gin); red tape (brandy or wine)

Madam Gin has been christened by as many names as a German princess : every petty chandler's shop will sell you Sky-blue, and every night-cellar furnish you with Holland tape, three yards a penny. Nor can I see the difference […]

1827 (originally 1755?), Connoisseur, page=223

[…] who is now puffing his pipe and sipping his grog, as unconcerned as a Dutch fiddler at a merry-making, has no business here selling his cheese and candles in the day-time, and his yards of tape in the evening: […] and now then for the tape-shop. […]

1817, The White Dwarf: A London Weekly Publication, page 222:

A tumbler of blue ruin fill, fill for me! / Red tape those as likes it may drain, / But whatever the lush, it a bumper must be. / […] / Oh! those jovial days are ne'er forgot! But the tape lags—When I be's dead, you'll drink one put To poor old Bags!

1830, [Edward Bulwer-Lytton], Paul Clifford. […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), London: Henry Colburn and Richard Bentley, […], →OCLC:

(possible, obsolete, UK, slang) Liquor, alcoholic drink, especially gin or brandy. (Especially in prison slang or among domestic servants and women.)


gig

The noun is derived from Middle English gigg, gigge, gygge (“spinning object; a top”); further origin uncertain, possibly:
* from Old Norse [Term?] (compare Danish gig (“a top”), dialectal Norwegian giga (“to shake about”)), from Proto-Germanic *gīganą (“to move, wish, desire”), from Proto-Indo-European *gʰeyǵʰ-, *gʰeygʰ- (“to yawn, gape, long for, desire”); or
* ultimately onomatopoeic.
Senses 2–4 are thought to derive from sense 1 (“whipping-top”), but their exact relationship is unclear.
The verb is derived from the noun.

uder

(chiefly British, school slang (Eton College), archaic or dialectal) A person with an odd appearance; also, a foolish person.

Such was his toil, when one night coming home, / Such swell uncivil, who'd been out to roam / In search of lark, or some delicious gig / The mind delights in, when 'tis in prime twig,—

1820, Richard Ranger, “Randall; a Fragment. With Notes”, in Jack Randall’s Diary of Proceedings at the House of Call for Genius. […], London: […] [J. Brettell] for W[illiam] Simpkin and R[ichard] Marshall, […], →OCLC, page 62:

(slang, archaic or British, dialectal) Fun; frolics.

Senses relating to enjoyment.
Fun; frolics.


allotment

en-noun

allotment (countable and uncountable, plural allotments)

From Old French alotement (modern French allotement).

The fallout of this unexpected turn of events was that it was Saturday morning, the first day of the Easter holidays, before the thought of my allotment even entered my head. Goodness only knew how big my carrots were going to be by the time I got round there!

(British) A plot of land rented from the council for growing fruit and vegetables.

siirtolapuutarha

with the right to build a small cabin for summer use


agricultural

en-adj

agricultural (comparative more agricultural, superlative most agricultural)

more agricultural (comparative)
most agricultural (superlative)

/ˌæɡɹɪˈkʌltjʊəɹəl/

/ˌæɡɹɪˈkʌlt͡ʃəɹəl/

(UK, euphemistic, derogatory) Coarse or uncultured.

(UK, euphemistic, sports) Clumsy or tactless.


analyse

en-verb

analyse (third-person singular simple present analyses, present participle analysing, simple past and past participle analysed)

analyses (present singular third-person)
analysing (participle present)
analysed (participle past)
analysed (past)


imp

From Middle English impe, ympe (“tree branch; shoot, sprig; graft, scion; young tree, sapling, seedling; tree”) [and other forms], from Old English impa, impe (“shoot, sprig; graft, scion; young tree, sapling, seedling”), from impian, ġeimpian (“to graft”) (see etymology 1).

(British, colloquial) A supporter (or less commonly, a player) of the Lincoln City Football Club.

(British, dialectal) Something added to or united with another to lengthen it out or repair it (such as an eke or small stand on which a beehive is placed, or a length of twisted hair in a fishing line).


numpty

Borrowed from Scots numpty (“fool, idiot”).

Trust me, he's Pakistani, because that's the average numpty's shorthand for Muslim.

2010, Mick Herron, Slow Horses, page 119:

(UK, Ireland, Commonwealth, derogatory) An idiot, dolt or fool.


meow

en-noun

meow (countable and uncountable, plural meows)

Alteration of earlier mew, from Middle English mewen, mouwen (“to mew, meow”), of onomatopoeic origin.
Compare Saterland Frisian mauje, miauje (“to meow”), West Frisian miaukje (“to meow”), Dutch miauwen (“to meow”), Middle Low German mauwen, mawen, mouwen (“to meow”) (whence modern German Low German mauen, miauen (“to meow”)), Middle High German mouen, modern German miauen (“to meow”). Some spellings were modelled on French miaou.
Meow and its spelling variants entered widespread currency in the 19th century, mostly replacing mew. Possibly because phonetic change meant that word had ceased to approximate a cat's cry. Contrast the pronunciation of Middle English mewen /ˈmɛu̯ən/ compared to modern /ˈmjuː/).

(UK, slang, uncountable) The drug mephedrone.


Mohican

From their self-designation in Mahican [Term?] (literally “people of the estuary”).

bor

(British) A hairstyle where both sides are shaved, with the hair in the centre kept long and made to stand on end.


ambulance

→ Baharna Arabic: عمبلوص (ʕambalūṣ)

→ Hindi: एम्बुलेंस (embulẽs)

→ Malay: ambulans

→ Swahili: ambulensi

African-American Vernacular, also Southern American English

Borrowed from French ambulance, which replaced hôpital ambulant (“moving hospital”) via the suffix -ance, from Latin ambulō (“to walk; to go about”).

EtymOnLine

Douglas Harper (2001–2025) “ambulance”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.

(UK) A vehicle used for the transportation of dead people, typically to a mortuary.

(chiefly UK, obsolete) Synonym of stretcher, a litter used for medical transport.


bray

en-verb

bray (third-person singular simple present brays, present participle braying, simple past and past participle brayed)

brays (present singular third-person)
braying (participle present)
brayed (participle past)
brayed (past)

From Middle English brayen (“to break or crush into pieces”), from Anglo-Norman breier, Old French breie, breier, broiier (modern French broyer (“to crush, grind”)), possibly from Frankish *brekan (“to break”), from Proto-Germanic *brekaną (“to break”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰreg- (“to break”); thus making the English word a doublet of break.

der

If anything he brayed him all the harder – the old family bull recognising his fighting days were close to over.

2011, Sarah Hall, “Butcher’s Perfume”, in The Beautiful Indifference, London: Faber and Faber, →ISBN, page 25:

(transitive, British, chiefly Yorkshire, by extension) To hit (someone or something).


perambulator

The reapers were slowly trooping back to their work. The nurse-girl slapped one of her charges and then began to push the perambulator up the hill.

1913, Arthur Conan Doyle, “(please specify the page)”, in The Poison Belt […], London; New York, N.Y.: Hodder and Stoughton, →OCLC:

"That will be all this afternoon," he said to the nurse, who got up with the baby and decanted it into a perambulator which was standing in the fairway.

On Queen Victoria buying numerous perambulators in 1846, their popularity soared, especially among the affluent in society. Faced with carrying growing numbers of them, railways began charging separately for their carriage from the late 1850s. […] Perambulator tickets remained until the late 20th century, although they came to be seen as a restriction on family travel.

2023 October 18, Dr David Turner, “Family values...”, in RAIL, number 994, page 46:


grunt

en-verb

grunt (third-person singular simple present grunts, present participle grunting, simple past and past participle grunted)

grunts (present singular third-person)
grunting (participle present)
grunted (participle past)
grunted (past)

From Middle English grunten, from Old English grunnettan (“to grunt”), from Proto-West Germanic *grunnattjan, from Proto-Germanic *grunnatjaną (“to grunt”), frequentative of Proto-Germanic *grunnōną (“to grunt”), from Proto-Indo-European *gʰrun- (“to shout”).
Cognate with German grunzen (“to grunt”), Danish grynte (“to grunt”). The noun senses are all instances of zero derivation from the verb.

der

Who just grunted?

(intransitive, UK, slang) To break wind; to fart.


stodge

en-noun

stodge (countable and uncountable, plural stodges)

Late 17th century, of "symbolic" origin, suggested by stuff and podge. Compare stog.

(British) Heavy, dull, often starchy food, such as a steamed pudding


wipe

From Middle English wipen, from Old English wīpian (“to wipe, rub, cleanse”), from Proto-West Germanic *wīpōn (“to wipe”), from Proto-Indo-European *weyp- (“to twist, wind around”). Cognate with German wippen (“to bob”), Swedish veva (“to turn, wind, crank”), Gothic 𐍅𐌴𐌹𐍀𐌰𐌽 (weipan, “to wreathe, crown”), Old English swīfan (“to revolve, sweep, wend, intervene”), Sanskrit वेपते (vépate, “to tremble”). More at swivel, swift.

cog

"Now, my kiveys, shy up your castors, tie your bird's-eye wipes to the stakes, and go to work."

1883, London Society, volume 43, page 101:

All fighting coves you too must know, / Ben Caunt as well as Bendigo, / And to each mill be sure to go, / […] And you must sport a blue billy, / Or a yellow wipe […]

1859, Ducange Anglicus, The Vulgar Tongue, page 54:

He rode close up to a French officer, and so much in advance of his men that the Frenchman thought he was going to surrender, and dropped his sword, when Penrice gave him a wipe over his head.

1894, William Tomkinson, James Tomkinson, The Diary of a Cavalry Officer in the Peninsular and Waterloo Campaigns 1809-1815, page 48:

(UK, slang, obsolete) A blow or swipe; the act of striking somebody or something.


top

en-verb

top (third-person singular simple present tops, present participle topping, simple past and past participle topped)

tops (present singular third-person)
topping (participle present)
topped (participle past)
topped (past)

From Middle English top, toppe, from Old English top (“top, highest part; summit; crest; tassel, tuft; (spinning) top, ball; a tuft or ball at the highest point of anything”), from Proto-West Germanic *topp, from Proto-Germanic *tuppaz (“braid, pigtail, end”), of unknown ultimate origin.
Cognate with Scots tap (“top”), North Frisian top, tap, tup (“top”), Saterland Frisian Top (“top”), West Frisian top (“top”), Dutch top (“top, summit, peak”), Low German Topp (“top”), German Zopf (“braid, pigtail, plait, top”), Swedish topp (“top, peak, summit, tip”), Icelandic toppur (“top”).
The sense of a spinning toy is separated from this, obscurely related to Dutch top and dop in this sense, against Standard Dutch tol, and French toupie having this sense.

cog

Depression causes many people to top themselves.

(British, slang, reflexive) To commit suicide.

(British, slang, rare, chiefly archaic) To murder or execute.


superficial

en-adj

superficial (comparative more superficial, superlative most superficial)

more superficial (comparative)
most superficial (superlative)

Borrowing from Late Latin superficiālis (“of or belonging to the surface”), from superficiēs (“top, surface”) + -ālis (“-al”, adjectival suffix).

pintapuolinen

not thorough, concerned with the obvious or apparent

one superficial foot

(British, architecture) Denoting a quantity of a material expressed in terms of area covered rather than linear dimension or volume.


interval

From Middle English interval, intervalle, from Old French intervalle, entreval, from Latin intervallum (“space between, interval, distance, interval of time, pause, difference; literally, space between two palisades or walls”), from inter (“between”) + vallum (“palisade, wall”).


dial

The original meaning was 'sundial' and/or 'clock dial'; from Middle English diall, from Middle French dyal, from Latin diālis (“daily, concerning the day”), because of its use in telling the time of day, from Latin diēs (“day”). Compare Spanish dial and día (“day”).

der

“Well, all I can say is that if yer don't take yer dial outer the road I'll bloomin' well take an' bounce a gibber off yer crust.”

1918, Norman Lindsay, The Magic Pudding, page 90:

At the sound of the old familiar voice he spun around with something of the agility of a cat on hot bricks, and I saw that his dial, usually cheerful, was contorted with anguish, as if he had swallowed a bad oyster.

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

Old Mona Lisa would have looked like a sour lemon beside Angel Day on the rare days she put a smile on her dial, laughing with her friends when some new man was in town.

2006, Alexis Wright, Carpentaria, Giramondo, published 2012, page 137:


den

From Middle English den, from Old English denn (“den, lair (of a beast), cave; a swine-pasture, a woodland pasture for swine”), from Proto-West Germanic *dani (“threshing-floor, barn-floor”). Cognate with Scots den (“den, lair”), Middle Dutch denne (“burrow, den, cave, attic”), Dutch den (“ship's deck, threshing-floor, mountain floor”), Middle Low German denne, danne (“threshing-floor, small dale”), German Tenne (“threshing-floor, barn for threshing”).

cog

I have made several visits of late to the Den of Rubislaw

1806, Sir William Forbes, An Account of the Life and Writings of James Beattie, LL.D., including many of his Original Letters:

(UK, Scotland, obsolete) A narrow glen; a ravine; a dell.


Happy Christmas

en-noun

Happy Christmas (plural Happy Christmases)

desc

→ Japanese: ハッピークリスマス (happī kurisumasu)

(Ireland, UK) Alternative form of Merry Christmas


roar

en-verb

roar (third-person singular simple present roars, present participle roaring, simple past and past participle roared)

roars (present singular third-person)
roaring (participle present)
roared (participle past)
roared (past)

non-rhotic, without the horse–hoarse merger

From Middle English roren, raren, from Old English rārian (“to roar; wail; lament”), from Proto-West Germanic *rairōn, from Proto-Germanic *rairōną (“to bellow; roar”), from Proto-Indo-European *rey- (“to shout; bellow; yell; bark”), perhaps of imitative origin.
Cognate with Saterland Frisian roorje (“to roar”), German röhren (“to roar”).

onomatopoeic

imitative

Tom, Tom, the piper's son,
Stole a pig, and away he run!
The pig was eat, and Tom was beat,
And Tom went roaring down the street.

1886, James Orchard Halliwell, “Third Class: Tales: LX”, in The Nursery Rhymes of England:

(British Yorkshire, North Midlands, informal) To cry.


aid

en-noun

aid (countable and uncountable, plural aids)

From Middle English aide, eide, ayde, from Old French eide, aide, from aidier, from Latin adiūtō, adiūtāre (“to assist, help”). Cognates include Spanish ayuda, Portuguese ajuda and Italian aiuto.

aide

aide-de-camp; obsolete except in sense of

In this parliament was granted to the king for defence against the Scots two aids and two quindecims, the which two aids did not extend over two quindecims.

2019, Julia Boffey, Henry VII's London in the Great Chronicle, page 71:

(countable, British) An historical subsidy granted to the crown by Parliament for an extraordinary purpose, such as a war effort.

bede

subsidy granted to the crown by parliament


jam

en-noun

jam (countable and uncountable, plural jams)

→ Armenian: ջեմ (ǰem)

→ Azerbaijani: cem

→ Belarusian: джэм (džem)

→ Bengali: জ্যাম (jêm)

→ Bulgarian: джем (džem)

→ Cantonese: 占 (zim1, zem1)

→ Czech: džem

→ Dutch: jam

→ Estonian: džemm

→ Finnish: jamit

→ French: jam

→ Georgian: ჯემი (ǯemi)

→ Hindi: जाम (jām)

→ Japanese: ジャム (jamu)

→ Kazakh: джем (djem)

→ Korean: 잼 (jaem)

→ Kyrgyz: джем (djem)

→ Macedonian: џем (džem)

→ Malay: jem

→ Polish: dżem

→ Romanian: gem

→ Russian: джем (džem)

→ Saanich: ĆÁM

→ Serbo-Croatian:

Latin script: džȅm

Cyrillic script: џе̏м

→ Sinhalese: ජෑම් (jǣm)

→ Slovak: džem

→ Swahili: jemu

→ Swedish: jam

→ Tajik: джем (džem)

→ Thai: แยม (yɛɛm)

→ Ukrainian: джем (džem)

→ Urdu: جام (jām)

→ Welsh: jam

First attested in the early 18th c. as a verb meaning “to press, be pressed, be wedged in”. Compare dialectal jammock (“to press, squeeze, crush into a soft mass, chew food"; also "a soft, pulpy substance”). Perhaps from Middle English chammen, champen ("to bite upon something, gnash the teeth"; whence modern champ, chomp), of uncertain origin; probably originally onomatopoeic.
The "performance" sense is first attested with regards to jazz in 1929, and its origin, though uncertain, is likely metaphorical, "something sweet made by the combination of many things", with influence from jamboree.

onomatopoeic

onomatopoeic

He's got more jam than Waitrose.


ken

Ben mort, shall you and I heave a bough, mill a ken, or nip a bung, and then we'll couch a hogshead under the ruffmans, and there you shall wap with me, and I'll niggle with you.

1611, Thomas Middleton, “The Roaring Girl”, in Arthur Henry Bullen, editor, The Works of Thomas Middleton, volume 4, published 1885, act 5, scene 1, pages 128–129:

Ah, Bess, my covess, strike me blind if my sees don't tout your bingo muns in spite of the darkmans. Egad, you carry a bene blink aloft. Come to the ken alone—no! my blowen; did not I tell you I should bring a pater cove, to chop up the whiners for Dawson?

1828, Edward Bulwer-Lytton, Pelham: or The Adventures of a Gentleman, page 383:

Up she goes to any likely ken, where she knows there are women that are married or expect to get married, and commences begging.

1851, Henry Mayhew, London Labour and the London Poor, volume 1, page 351:

(slang, UK, obsolete, thieves' cant) A house, especially a den of thieves.


leer

From Middle English ler, leor (“face, cheek”), from Old English hlēor (“face, cheek, profile”), from Proto-West Germanic *hleuʀ, from Proto-Germanic *hleuzą (“ear, cheek”), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱlews- (“temple of the forehead, cheek”), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱlew- (“to hear”). Cognate with Scots lire, lere (“face, appearance, complexion”), Dutch lier (“cheek”), Swedish lyra (“pout”), Norwegian lia (“hillside”), Icelandic hlýr (“the face, cheek, countenance”). Related to Old English hlyst (“sense of hearing, listening”) and hlysnan (“to listen”). More at list, listen.


leer

en-adj

leer (comparative more leer, superlative most leer)

more leer (comparative)
most leer (superlative)

From Middle English lere, from Old English ġelǣr, *lǣre (“empty, void, empty-handed”), from Proto-Germanic *lēziz, *lēzijaz (“empty”), from Proto-Indo-European *les- (“to collect, pick”). Cognate with Dutch laar (“a clearing in the woods”), German leer (“empty”). Related to Old English lesan (“to gather, collect”). More at lease.


gateau

en-noun

gateau (countable and uncountable, plural gateaux or gateaus)

Borrowed from French gâteau. Doublet of wastel.

Determined on keeping up my strength for what the night might bring, I ate heartily—enjoying every morsel, especially of the two slices of gateau I didn’t feel it wrong to take as my share, since there was still one good-sized piece left for Judy.

2009, Dorothy Cannell, She Shoots to Conquer, Alibi, published 2016, →ISBN:

(chiefly UK) A rich, usually iced, cake.


pepper

pepper (countable and uncountable, plural peppers)

Tok Pisin: pepa

→ Hawaiian: pepa

→ Marshallese: pepa

From Middle English peper, piper, from Old English piper, from Proto-West Germanic *pipar, from Latin piper, from an Indo-Aryan source; compare Sanskrit पिप्पलि (pippali, “long pepper”). The name was given to the capsicum fruit because of its unusual spicy taste, not unlike the Old World spice. Cognate with Scots pepar, Saterland Frisian Pieper, West Frisian piper, Dutch peper, German Low German Peper, German Pfeffer, Danish peber, Swedish peppar, Icelandic pipar. Doublet of falafel and peepul.

cog

(UK, US, Ireland and Canada) A fruit of the capsicum plant: red, green, yellow or white, hollow and containing seeds, and in very spicy and mild varieties.


candlestick

Sranan Tongo: kandratiki

From Middle English candelstik, candelstikke, from Old English candelsticca (“candlestick”), equivalent to candle + stick. Cognate with Scots candilsteke, candilstik (“candlestick”). Compare Old Norse kertastika, kertistika (“candlestick”).

inh

Inside the shrapnel shell was an iron bar with a flattened, broad nose. When the shell burst in the air this iron object fell to the ground and, since it came often from a great height, its fall was dangerous. The men called these candlesticks, which they much resembled.

1930, Ford Madox Ford, No More Parades, Grosset & Dunlap, page 20:

(British, military slang, historical) The central ignition tube connecting the fuse and charge of a WWI shrapnel shell, shaped like a candle stick.


turn

→ Japanese: ターン (tān)

Partly from Anglo-Norman *torn, from Latin turnus, from Ancient Greek τόρνος (tórnos), and partly an action noun from the verb turn.

պտույտ

movement about an axis ending up with the same orientation

360° turn

movement about an axis returning to the original orientation

the first turn of the screw pays all debts

There are usually at least two jobbers who specialise in the leading stocks, and this acts to keep the jobber's turn to a reasonable amount […]

1977, Michael Arthur Firth, Valuation of Shares and the Efficient-markets Theory, page 11:

(UK, finance, historical) The profit made by a stockjobber, being the difference between the buying and selling prices.

siivu

finance: profit made by a stockjobber, difference between the buying and selling prices


agree

en-verb

agree (third-person singular simple present agrees, present participle agreeing, simple past and past participle agreed)

agrees (present singular third-person)
agreeing (participle present)
agreed (participle past)
agreed (past)

From Middle English agreen, from Old French agreer (“to accept or receive kindly”), from a gré (“favorably”), from Latin ad (“to”) + gratum (“pleasing”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *gʷerH- (“to welcome, greet, praise”).

der

... and there, after a good while in discourse, we did agree a bargain of £5,000 with Sir Roger Cuttance for my Lord Sandwich for silk, cinnamon, ...

1666, Samuel Pepys, The Diary of Samuel Pepys, page 88:

The essential idea is that parties should enter the market, choose their contractors, set their own terms and agree a bargain.

2005, Paddy McNutt, Law, economics and antitrust: towards a new perspective, page 59:

Bishops agree sex abuse rules

2011 April 3, John Burke, The Sunday Business Post:

(transitive, UK, Ireland) To yield assent to; to approve.


chap

Pennsylvania German: Tschaepp (“guy”)

Clipping of chapman (“dealer, customer”) in 16th-century English.

clipping

Who’s that chap over there?

“Now when I was a little chap I had a passion for maps.”

1899 February, Joseph Conrad, “The Heart of Darkness”, in Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine, volume CLXV, number M, New York, N.Y.: The Leonard Scott Publishing Company, […], →OCLC, part I, page 194:

A chap named Eleazir Kendrick and I had chummed in together the summer afore and built a fish-weir and shanty at Setuckit Point, down Orham way. For a spell we done pretty well.

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

‘No. I only opened the door a foot and put my head in. The street lamps shine into that room. I could see him. He was all right. Sleeping like a great grampus. Poor, poor chap.’

1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 20, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC:

(dated outside UK and Australia) A man, a fellow.

If you have Blacks of any kind, brought in of late; Mantoes--Velvet Scarfs--Petticoats--Let it be what it will--I am your Chap--for all my Ladies are very fond of Mourning.

1728, John Gay, The Beggar's Opera, Act 3:


up

down

antonym(s) of “away from the centre of the Earth”

down

antonym(s) of “towards the principal terminus”

From Middle English up, from Old English upp, from Proto-Germanic *upp, see more there.

She's going up to read Classics this September.

The son of the Dean of Lichfield was only three years older than Steele, who was a lad of only twelve, when at the age of fifteen, Addison went up to Oxford.

1867, John Timbs, Lives of wits and humourists, page 125:

Others insinuated that women 'crowded up to Cambridge', not for the benefits of a higher education, but because of the proximity of 2,000 young men.

1998, Rita McWilliams Tullberg, Women at Cambridge, page 112:

A precocious mathematician, Babbage was already well versed in the Continental mathematical notations when he went up to Cambridge.

2002, Peter Harman, Cambridge Scientific Minds, page 79:

Indicating movement in any other direction visualised as "up".

(UK, academia, dated) To university, especially to Cambridge or Oxford.


up

down

antonym(s) of “traveling towards a major terminus”

When I was up (1965–68) I had a group of idle friends who occupied their time and mine betting on horses, getting drunk and sprawling about telling creepy tales.

2002, Philip Pullman, “Dreaming of Spires”, in Daemon Voices, Vintage, published 2017, page 98:

(UK, dated) At university (especially Oxford or Cambridge).


sketch

→ German: Sketch

→ Italian: sketch

desc

→ Portuguese: esquete (Brasilian), sketch (European)

→ Turkish: skeç

From Dutch schets or German Skizze, from Italian schizzo, from Latin schedium, from Ancient Greek σχέδιος (skhédios, “made suddenly, off-hand”), from σχεδόν (skhedón, “near, nearby”), from ἔχω (ékhō, “I hold”). Compare scheme.

скеч

brief musical, dramatic or literary work etc.

A very capable journalist, he wrote the Parliamentary sketch for the Pall Mall and the Westminster Gazette for several years.

1901, Sketch: A Journal of Art and Actuality:

The Daily Telegraph sketch concentrated on the Bishop's attack and included rebutting remarks from Lord Longford, describing the attack as monumentally unfair because Mr. Cook could not reply.

1978, Robin Callender Smith, Press law, Sweet and Maxwell:

Frank had won a reputation while writing the Times sketch as one of the wittiest writers and talkers in England.

2012, Andrew Gimson, Boris: The Rise of Boris Johnson, Simon and Schuster, →ISBN:

(UK) A humorous newspaper article summarizing political events, making heavy use of metaphor, paraphrase and caricature.


shark

en-noun

shark (countable and uncountable, plural sharks)

Shark meat
Thomas Beckington
shark
shark (moth)

From Middle English shark (used by Thomas Beckington in 1442 to refer to a kind of fish), of uncertain origin. Most likely from a semantic extension of the German-derived shark (“scoundrel”), see below. The fish was originally called a dogfish or haye in English and Middle English.
alternative theories
Some older dictionaries derived the word from Latin c(h)archarias, c(h)acharus (from Ancient Greek), but admit that "the requisite [Old French] forms intermediate between E. shark and L. carcharus are not found, and it is not certain that the name [shark] was orig. applied to the fish; it may have been first used of a greedy man".
Other older authorities speculated that the word might derive from Yucatec Maya xok (“fish”) (/ʃok/), as John Hawkins brought a specimen from the area where Mayan was spoken to England in the 1560s. However, the 1442 use rules out a New World origin for the word.

shock (non-rhotic, father-bother merger)

(UK, university slang, countable) A university student who is not a fresher that has engaged in sexual activity with a fresher; usually habitually and with multiple people.


shark

en-verb

shark (third-person singular simple present sharks, present participle sharking, simple past and past participle sharked)

sharks (present singular third-person)
sharking (participle present)
sharked (participle past)
sharked (past)

(UK, university slang) Of a university student who is not a fresher, to engage in sexual activity with a fresher, or to be at a bar or club with the general intention of engaging in such activity.


rubber

en-noun

rubber (usually uncountable, plural rubbers)

desc

→ Kashubian: roberk (Canada, United State)

→ Sikaiana: lapa

From rub + -er.
The sense of the substance comes from its ability to function as an eraser, displacing earlier caoutchouc. The senses not having to do with rubbing or erasing are secondarily derived from the name of the substance.

For example, they may use paddle pop sticks, hand span, pencils, rubbers, mathematics equipment (i.e. base 10 material) or anything else the teacher can find to measure the lengths of nominated objects.

2006, Lisa Kervin, Research for Educators, page 148:

Drawing materials, he thought, I used to love drawing as a lad. I can afford some plain paper and pencils, surely? And a rubber, too. He smiled at the memory of an elderly uncle, also fond of drawing, who′d always called rubbers ‘lead eaters’.

2010, Anna Jacobs, Beyond the Sunset, unnumbered page:

Stan stole a diary and some pens, pencils, ink and rubbers during his early days as a POW working on the Singapore docks.

2011, Patrick Lindsay, The Spirit of the Digger, Revised edition, unnumbered page:

(countable, Australia, India, Brunei, New Zealand, UK) An eraser.


blog

en-verb

blog (third-person singular simple present blogs, present participle blogging, simple past and past participle blogged)

blogs (present singular third-person)
blogging (participle present)
blogged (participle past)
blogged (past)

(British, slang) To blag, to steal something; to acquire something illegally.


DAC

en-noun

DAC (countable and uncountable, plural DACs)

deputy assistant commissioner
deputy assistant commissioner#English

(UK, law enforcement) Initialism of deputy assistant commissioner, a police rank used in London's Metropolitan Police.


ASA

Advertising Standards Authority
w:Advertising Standards Authority

(UK) Initialism of Advertising Standards Authority.


private

en-adj

private (comparative more private, superlative most private)

more private (comparative)
most private (superlative)

→ Punjabi: ਪ੍ਰਾਈਵੇਟ (prāīveṭ)

→ Welsh: preifat

From Latin prīvātus (“bereaved, deprived, set apart from, release”), perfect passive participle of prīvō (“I bereave, deprive, release”), from prīvus (“private, one's own, peculiar”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *per; compare prime, prior, pristine. Doublet of privy.

der

(UK, of schools) Financially reliant on fees rather than government funding.


brilliant

en-adj

brilliant (comparative more brilliant, superlative most brilliant)

more brilliant (comparative)
most brilliant (superlative)

Borrowed from French brillant (late 17th century), present participle of the verb briller, from Italian brillare, possibly from Latin berillus, beryllus (“a beryl, gem, eyeglass”), from Ancient Greek βήρυλλος (bḗrullos, “beryl”).

der

The actor's performance in the play was simply brilliant.

փայլուն

magnificent or wonderful (primarily UK usage)


rounders

From round + -er + -s, presumably for the circuit that batters make around the field.

(UK, Ireland) A team sport played with bat and ball with one fielding side and one batting side. It is similar to softball and baseball.


stuff

en-verb

stuff (third-person singular simple present stuffs, present participle stuffing, simple past and past participle stuffed)

stuffs (present singular third-person)
stuffing (participle present)
stuffed (participle past)
stuffed (past)

From Middle English stuffen (“to equip, furnish”), borrowed from Old French estoffer, estofer (“to provide what is necessary, equip, stuff”), borrowed from Old High German stoffōn, from Proto-West Germanic *stoppōn (“to clog up, block, fill”). More at stop.

der

He skidded off the road and totally stuffed his brand new car.

(transitive, British, Australia, New Zealand) To break; to destroy.

His wife came home early and found him on the couch stuffing the maid.

(transitive, vulgar, British, Australia, New Zealand) To sexually penetrate.