stick on

en-verb

stick on (third-person singular simple present sticks someone on, present participle sticking someone on, simple past and past participle stuck someone on)

sticks someone on (present singular third-person)
sticking someone on (participle present)
stuck someone on (participle past)
stuck someone on (past)

[…] took him to the nick, stuck him on, and he spent the night in the flowery.

1931, The Police Journal, volume 4, page 501:

You can be stuck on for anything from serious misconduct to minor infringements of the police's absurdly draconian and catch-all disciplinary codes, which make it possible for a senior officer with a grudge against a junior to stick him on for almost anything. For example, the PC may have been caught slipping unobtrusively into a restaurant or pub on his ground to scrounge […] a drink or a meal.

1995, Verbatim, volume 22, number 3, page 13:

But because you're under pressure for numbers and it looks good on your report that you done x number of processes, you can't come in and say 'Well, I didn't stick him on because I felt that it was a better result just to tell him off.'

quoted in 2005, Mike McConville, Dan Shepherd, Watching Police, Watching Communities (page 200)

(transitive, UK, law enforcement, slang) To charge (someone) with an offence.


SEND

(UK, education) Acronym of special educational needs and disability.


multi-academy trust

en-noun

multi-academy trust (plural multi-academy trusts)

(UK, education) A trust that operates more than one academy school.


academy chain

multi-academy trust
multi-academy trust#English

(UK, education) Synonym of multi-academy trust


gizzit

Corruption of give us it. Compare gissa, gizza.

[…] spent the day chatting to people and selling Air Force 'gizzits' - pens, pencils, posters and other souvenirs - for the RAF Benevolent Fund.

1995, John Peters, John Nichol, Neil Hanson, Team Tornado: Life on a Front-Line Squadron, page 212:

The population of stuffed toys in the gulches on Ardent's Junior Messdeck exploded during the 48 hours the ship was in Narvik. But, even if they were bought, many were soon seen off, destined to become 'gizzits' borrowed from their original […]

2001, Mark Higgitt, Through Fire and Water:

A last visit to Gibraltar for those all-important last minute gizzits (gifts) had ended up being the usual last foreign run ashore before the constraints of home and family conspired to calm the men down a little.

(UK, military, slang) Any item that is stolen, appropriated, or acquired cheaply or for free; loot; swag.


third age

(UK) The age after retirement but while one is still young enough to be active; young old age.


lift the lid

en-verb

lift the lid (third-person singular simple present lifts the lid, present participle lifting the lid, simple past and past participle lifted the lid)

lifts the lid (present singular third-person)
lifting the lid (participle present)
lifted the lid (participle past)
lifted the lid (past)

In the 10 months since the Romanian revolution lifted the lid off Transylvania's ancient national rivalries, the Romanians and Hungarians who have shared this land for centuries have been living in a state of tense alert, ready for the next spark to fly.

1990 November 12, Celestine Bohlen, “Ethnic Rivalries Revive in East Europe”, in The New York Times, section A, page 1:

One of the darkest aspects of Myanmar’s political transition is a surge in religious intolerance, especially toward Muslims. Liberalization has lifted the lid on many pent-up grievances, and old-timers in the government and the monkhood are stoking these sentiments.

2014 June 6, Min Zin, “The People vs. The Monks”, in The New York Times:

(intransitive) (chiefly UK, informal, figuratively) To reveal or expose something, especially information. [with on or off]


dehellenise

dehellenise (third-person singular simple present dehellenises, present participle dehellenising, simple past and past participle dehellenised)

dehellenises (present singular third-person)
dehellenising (participle present)
dehellenised (participle past)
dehellenised (past)


jonnock

en-adj

jonnock (comparative more jonnock, superlative most jonnock)

more jonnock (comparative)
most jonnock (superlative)


jonnock

(UK, regional, obsolete) Used to emphasise that one is telling the truth.


spag bog

en-noun

spag bog (usually uncountable, plural spag bogs)

Once the furore had been dampened, the minuscule snick on Billy's knee covered in a Superman plaster, black marks placed on Mabel's Consequences Chart, and spag bog placed in their stomachs, I found my mind flashing through multiple matters, like that of a drowning person, only more optimistic.

2013, Helen Fielding, Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy, →ISBN:

(Australia, New Zealand, UK, Ireland, South Africa, slang) Alternative form of spag bol


snow up

en-verb

snow up (third-person singular simple present snows up, present participle snowing up, simple past and past participle snowed up)

snows up (present singular third-person)
snowing up (participle present)
snowed up (participle past)
snowed up (past)

(UK, usually passive) To prevent (an event) from occurring due to snow

Midway between these stations a plough with two engines, which had been keeping the line open throughout the Sunday, became completely snowed up, and another engine sent from the Arrochar direction with men to assist in digging out the plough itself was caught in a drift south of Glen Douglas.

1941 April, “Notes and News: Railwaymen and Snow”, in Railway Magazine, page 177:

(UK, usually passive) To prevent (a person or thing) from leaving (a place) or using (a road or path) due to snow.


May gosling

Coordinate term: April fool

(UK, regional) A person subjected to a practical joke on May Day.


milk monitor

(UK, historical) A schoolchild assigned the duty of handing out servings of milk to the other children.


resleeper

resleeper (third-person singular simple present resleepers, present participle resleepering, simple past and past participle resleepered)

resleepers (present singular third-person)
resleepering (participle present)
resleepered (participle past)
resleepered (past)

The last winter's bad weather meant that only 1,500 sleepers were renewed but it is hoped that the increased programme will see the line resleepered in about seven years' time.

1979 August, Michael Harris, “A line for all reasons: the North Yorkshire Moors Railway”, in Railway World, pages 411–412:

(rail transport, transitive, UK) To replace the sleepers of (a track).


Waspi

Waspi turn up at every political event and tail each Department for Work and Pensions secretary relentlessly to protest about pension changes that left many in penury.

2019, Polly Toynbee, “This brutal judgment on pensions is blind to the reality of older women’s lives”, in The Guardian, Journal:

(UK) Women Against State Pension Inequality


WASPI

(UK) Alternative letter-case form of Waspi


smell like a tart's handbag

smell like a tart's handbag (third-person singular simple present smells like a tart's handbag, present participle smelling like a tart's handbag, simple past and past participle smelt like a tart's handbag or smelled like a tart's handbag)

smells like a tart's handbag (present singular third-person)
smelling like a tart's handbag (participle present)
smelt like a tart's handbag (participle past)
smelt like a tart's handbag (past)
smelled like a tart's handbag (participle past)
smelled like a tart's handbag (past)

I dropped a perfume bottle on the floor and now the house smells like a tart's handbag.

(UK, idiomatic, slang, derogatory, simile) To smell strongly of perfume.


dhobi dust

(UK, naval slang) Laundry detergent in powder form.


in rag order

He looks to be in rag order, one hand on the wall to hold himself up, the other one on his trousers, to hold them up by the looks of it. It's fairly cold out and he's making slow progress to wherever he's headed.

2003, Donal Ruane, Tales in a Rearview Mirror, page 80:

We took over the plant in rag order but had to hand it over as per BAOR standards. So light bulbs that weren't working on the dashboard had to be replaced, an A type job, or Operator job.

2009, Julian Beirne, Diary of a Sapper, page 289:

Our parents left the world in reasonably good shape but I've a horrible feeling we'll be leaving it in rag order. And I'm in rag order, myself. I'm halfway down the stairs in the morning before I'm convinced that I'm awake, that I'm actually alive.

(UK, Ireland, military, slang) In a state of mess or chaos.


goon suit

After lunch we were all togged up in the most incredible gear, known as goon suits. Orange rubber with welded seams, no shape except for two arms and two legs with feet rather like a rubber baby-grow and just about as difficult to put on […]

1983, Maria Buxton, Antarctic Diary: A Letter to Her Family, page 16:

(UK, military, slang) A waterproof rubber coverall worn by pilots.


pissedness

(UK, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Canada, colloquial) Drunkenness.


sarbut

If a sarbut suddenly went bent, then it was only to be expected. He walked across to a desk set beside the doorway of the crime squad office, leafed through the pages of the duty book and absently wrote in Shakespeare's name and rank […]

1973, Roger Busby, Pattern of Violence, page 20:

Rowley nodded. 'Put it on paper, Kate. But don't call him an informant. It's sarbut up here. And I tell you, though I hate to admit it, we don't often get women managing sarbuts.'


dog and maggot

[…] a bit of fried bacon for his breakfast, some 'dog and maggot' (biscuit and cheese) for his dinner, and 'rooty' and 'pozzy' (bread and jam) for his tea.

2009, Alan Weeks, Tea, Rum & Fags: Sustaining Tommy, 1914-18, page 8:

(UK, military, slang, dated, derogatory) Cheese and crackers.


octogintillion

From Latin octōgintā (“eighty”) + -illion.

For quotations using this term, see Citations:octogintillion.

(rare, US, modern British and Australia, short scale) 10²⁴³


BPI

British Phonographic Industry
w:British Phonographic Industry

(UK, music) Initialism of British Phonographic Industry.


Dick Whittington

en-noun

Dick Whittington (plural Dick Whittingtons)

After Richard Whittington (c. 1354–1423), English merchant and politician who served as Lord Mayor of London and financed various public projects. He is remembered in a pantomime called Dick Whittington and His Cat, in which he sets out for London to make his fortune.

"Fine! Ye couldn't beat it. And you'd go off to London, or some such place—"
"I should like it to be London."
"Oh, of course; there's plenty of Dick Whittingtons left yet. But there's more petrol than pearls about the London pavement now. […]

Britain's twenty-somethings have become iPod-carrying Dick Whittingtons, drawn to London by the prospect of large salaries and hopes of a vibrant social life.

(UK) Somebody who moves to London in the hope of better prospects.

Dick Whittington and His Cat
Richard Whittington


Brixton shuffle

In reference to HM Prison Brixton and its exercise yard.

[…] bearing unmistakably that scrubbed, carbolic look which is the hallmark of people who have lived in institutions. This institutional aura is as easy to detect as is the Brixton shuffle which characterises the gait of a man who has been 'inside'.

1978, Mark Goulden, Mark My Words!, page 189:

You got into the Brixton shuffle. Shove, step, fuck off. Shove, step, fuck off, until you were clear. She didn't know what it was about Brixton; it was over some fault and allowed a strange brew, a ghost beer, to snake out from the earth's entrails: […]

2001, Tibor Fischer, Don't Read this Book If You're Stupid, page 238:

They looked great, no more Brixton shuffle. From A wing there were shouts of support from shadows moving at the barred windows.

2006, John Barker, Bending the Bars, page 15:

(UK, slang) A shuffling style of walking associated with former prisoners.


right-away signal

right-away signal (plural right-away signals)

Travelling porters do not ride in the trains at off-peak times, when guards supervise boarding and alighting and give the right-away signal if no station staff is available, for if only there is only one station porter on duty he may be on the opposite platform.

1963 October, “News and Comment”, in Modern Railways, page 228:

(rail transport, UK) A signal given to a train driver by the guard of the train, or a member of station staff, that the train is ready to depart.


STUFT

(UK, military) Acronym of ship taken up from trade: a civilian ship requisitioned for government use.


ee aye addio

We won the cup, we won the cup, ee aye addio, we won the cup!

(UK) A meaningless refrain traditionally used in football crowd chants.


metropolitan elite

metropolitan elite (plural metropolitan elites)


Coalie

Subsequently, the 'Coalie Libs' have suffered a consistently dismal reputation.

1971, Alan John Percivale Taylor, Lloyd George: Twelve Essays, page 225:

The 'Coalie' Macnamara was opposed by a 'Wee Free' in a triangular contest.

(UK, politics, historical, slang) A supporter of the proposed coalition between the Liberal and Conservative Parties.


thin as a yard of pump water

en-adj

thin as a yard of pump water (not comparable)

A stream of water falling approximately three feet from a water pump into a bucket is both straight and thin.

Her mother was betwixt and between, and her father the same; but Rosie was as thin as a yard of pump-water, and could—and did—eat like a beagle without ever putting-on an extra ounce. Maybe she was abusing her good-fortune.

1947, Lynn Doyle, Green Oranges: Stories:

She wadn't no summer morning to look at, poor soul, and her mistress kept her so thin as a yard of pump water. But there Providence knows best! There were a old fellow over by Aisholt, and he were such a upstanding courageous man he'd a […]

1965, Publications of the Folk-lore Society:

[…] managed, but they all went on looking so thin as a yard of pump water except Dicky — and he grew fat.

1968, Katharine M. Briggs, Folktales of England, University of Chicago Press, →ISBN, page 74:

[…] puts away enough food to satiate a pack of ravenous hyenas and remains as thin as a yard of pump water. It's the injustice of the whole thing that infuriates me.

2014, Daniel P Mannix, Freaks: We Who Are Not As Others, eNet Press, →ISBN, page 139:

'Mmm. You're as pale as a lily and as thin as a yard of pump water. Mind you, a month or two out working in all weathers should pink you up, and rationing or no, I'll find something to put a bit of weight on you.'

2018, Gloria Cook, Never Just a Memory, Canelo, →ISBN:


Captain's Cloak

“Growl you may, but go you must,” Lewrie laughed, clapping him on the shoulder in parting. “Old Navy proverb. Might be the Thirty-Seventh Article of War, hey, right after 'The Captain's Cloak'?”

Pigot then opened a copy of the Articles of War, and started reading from number thirty-six (the so-called 'Captain's Cloak') which covered 'All other crimes not capital […]

(colloquial, UK, naval, historical) The 36th and last of the Articles of War, effectively giving the ship's captain free rein in disciplining the crew: "All other crimes not capital committed by any person or persons in the fleet, which are not mentioned in this act, or for which no punishment is hereby directed to be inflicted, shall be punished by the laws and customs in such cases used at sea."


Branch Sunday

(Christianity, UK, obsolete) Synonym of Palm Sunday


drawk

en-verb

drawk (third-person singular simple present drawks, present participle drawking, simple past and past participle drawked)

drawks (present singular third-person)
drawking (participle present)
drawked (participle past)
drawked (past)

From Middle Scots drawken, perhaps akin to Old Norse drukna.


hire car

Mr. Raymond said that he had been encouraged by the number of tourists in Britain who had been making their long-distance journeys to holiday or touring centres by rail and picking up self-drive hire cars at the further rail terminal.

1963 December, “News and Comment: Door-to-door travel planning”, in Modern Railways, page 366:

(UK) A car that is hired, or available for hire.


point heater

Measures adopted by B.R. to offset the effects of another hard winter include modifications to steam heating and water pipes on main-line ordinary coaches and sleeping cars, and to diesel locomotive steam-generators, the supply of additional point heaters and the provision of larger and more effective snowploughs. [...] This winter B.R. will have 2,180 point heaters in operation, at a cost of roughly £105 a unit, compared with 766 last year, and the Board hope to install another 300 during the course of the winter.

1963 December, “News and Comment”, in Modern Railways, pages 369, 370:

(rail transport, UK) A heating device used in freezing weather to keep points (US: switches) free of ice and snow.


labour share

(economics) British standard spelling of labor share.


labour-value theory

labor-value theory
labor-value theory#English

(economics, political science) UK standard spelling of labor-value theory.


labour theory of value

labor theory of value
labor theory of value#English

(economics, political science) UK standard spelling of labor theory of value.


take the Chiltern Hundreds

take<,,took,taken> the Chiltern Hundreds

take the Chiltern Hundreds (third-person singular simple present takes the Chiltern Hundreds, present participle taking the Chiltern Hundreds, simple past took the Chiltern Hundreds, past participle taken the Chiltern Hundreds)

takes the Chiltern Hundreds (present singular third-person)
taking the Chiltern Hundreds (participle present)
took the Chiltern Hundreds (past)
taken the Chiltern Hundreds (participle past)

(UK, politics) To vacate one's seat in the House of Commons (since resignation is not permitted), under the legal fiction of being appointed to an "office of profit under the Crown": the ancient office of Crown Steward for the Chiltern Hundreds, in modern times a mere sinecure.


Duke of Exeter's daughter

the Duke of Exeter's daughter (canonical)

After Henry Holland, 3rd Duke of Exeter, who served as constable of the Tower of London during the period when the rack was in use there.

If we hadn't lagged you when we had, they'd be stretching you now on the Duke of Exeter's Daughter where they racked Guy Fawkes, and you'd be bleating out everything you know and a lot you don't know.

2022, Thomas B. Costain, For My Great Folly:

(UK, obsolete, slang) The rack (torture device).


Black Act

(UK, historical) An act of the Parliament of Great Britain passed in 1723 in response to a series of raids by two groups of poachers, known as the Blacks. It greatly strengthened the criminal code and specified over 200 capital crimes.


pony-trekker

/ˈpəʊniˌtɹɛkə/


pony-trekking

/ˈpəʊniˌtɹɛkɪŋ/

(UK) The practice of riding for pleasure across country on a pony or horse


black cap

(UK, historical) A square of black fabric worn on the head by a judge delivering a death sentence.


ferry van

More than one exporter had complained that ferry vans were in desperately short supply and that the B.R. fleet of 400 new vans (over 150 of which are now in service) would fall far short of immediately foreseeable requirements. [...] The solution to the exporters' demand for more stock of this kind, it was said, lay in the quicker turnround of the Continental ferry wagons bringing imports to this country.

1964 January, “News and Comment: Dr. Beeching and the exporters”, in Modern Railways, page 2:

A grey morning in Tonbridge in 1977 sees No. 33208 rattle through the station with a long train of ferry vans and wagons from the train ferry at Dover.

2018, Andy Gibbs, The Southern Region in the 1970s and 1980s, Amberley Publishing →ISBN https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=oK-IDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA1975&lpg=PA1975&dq=%22ferry+vans%22+%22train+ferry%22&source=bl&ots=ZbB1tER9GV&sig=ACfU3U15HhlmwEplxh66aMkzkE8upxS6Cg&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwixvtWXjKToAhXKYcAKHRarCToQ6AEwEXoECAoQAQ#v=onepage&q=%22ferry%20vans%22%20%22train%20ferry%22&f=false:

(rail transport, UK, dated) A railway goods van intended for train ferry traffic to and from continental Europe.


weather-gleam

(UK, regional, archaic) A bright aspect of the sky at the horizon.


the knives are out

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-the knives are out.wav

(informal, chiefly UK) People are angry.


as one

in agreement [with with ‘someone’]


be a one

be a one (third-person singular simple present is a one, present participle being a one, simple past was a one, past participle been a one)

is a one (present singular third-person)
being a one (participle present)
was a one (past)
been a one (participle past)

(UK, dated, informal) To be amusing in a slightly challenging way.


have one's heart in one's boots

have<has,,had> one's heart in one's boots

have one's heart in one's boots (third-person singular simple present has one's heart in one's boots, present participle having one's heart in one's boots, simple past and past participle had one's heart in one's boots)

has one's heart in one's boots (present singular third-person)
having one's heart in one's boots (participle present)
had one's heart in one's boots (participle past)
had one's heart in one's boots (past)

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-have one's heart in one's boots.wav


hold to ransom

hold to ransom (third-person singular simple present holds to ransom, present participle holding to ransom, simple past and past participle held to ransom)

holds to ransom (present singular third-person)
holding to ransom (participle present)
held to ransom (participle past)
held to ransom (past)

(UK, transitive) To hold (someone) hostage until a ransom is paid.


Chel

(UK, slang, soccer) A supporter of the English football club Chelsea F.C..


RCM

Royal College of Midwives
w:Royal College of Midwives

(UK) Initialism of Royal College of Midwives.


troons

For quotations using this term, see Citations:troons.


look<> as if one has<has,has,had> been dragged through a hedge backwards

look as if one has been dragged through a hedge backwards (third-person singular simple present looks as if one has been dragged through a hedge backwards, present participle looking as if one has been dragged through a hedge backwards, simple past and past participle looked as if one had been dragged through a hedge backwards)

/ˌlʊk‿əz‿ɪf ˈwʌn həz bɪn ˈdɹæɡd θɹuː‿ə hɛd͡ʒ ˈbækwɜːdz/

/ˌlʊk‿əz‿ɪf ˈwʌn həz bɪn ˈdɹæɡd θɹu‿ə hɛd͡ʒ ˈbækwɝdz/

Bill is right, for I heard him say myself she [a racehorse] couldn't stay; he'd eat her if she won: drawn too fine; was on the go; done too much work; had a bad night, and looked as if she was dragged through a hedge backwards, and hadn't eaten a feed of corn for a month.

1865, R. H. Copperthwaite, “Turf Topics”, in The Turf and the Racehorse […], London: Day and Son, […], →OCLC, pages 78–79:

"Papa wants you in the library," she said, coldly; "but I advise you not to go downstairs till you have smoothed your hair. You look as if you had been dragged through a hedge backwards."

1875, Mary Neville, “[A Little Heiress.] Chapter VI. Leaves from an Old Diary.”, in Alice Godolphin and A Little Heiress. Two Stories. […], volume II, London: Samuel Tinsley, […], →OCLC, page 57:

"I want the waist to be narrow," I told the tailor at Huntsmans, "I don't want to look as if I've been dragged through a hedge backwards."

2004, Harry Turner, “High Fashion 1947 Style”, in Growing Up in Fulham: Memories of SW6 1940–1953, London: Janus Publishing Company, published 2006, →ISBN, page 215:

Fasten that top button, Kosh. […] And tidy up that bearskin! You look like you've been dragged through a hedge backwards.

[2018, Brian Luff, Jack and the Magical Beanstalk: A Traditional Family Pantomime, [London]: Fit2Fill, →ISBN, act I, scene ii, page 22:

A nail technician was mortified after splurging £500 on 'princess hair' only to end up looking like she'd been "dragged through a hedge backwards" – after getting in a hot tub. […] The teen confesses that advice is to avoid chlorinated water, wearing your hair in a bun or sleeping with wet hair after having extensions fitted – and she managed to do all three in one night.

[2021 August 18, Martha Cliff, “Hair scare: I spent £500 on ‘princess hair’ – but as soon as I got it wet I looked like I’d been ‘dragged through a hedge backwards’”, in The Sun, London: News Group Newspapers, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2021-11-15:

(intransitive, British, simile, humorous, informal) To look extremely dishevelled.


underbum

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

From under- + bum, by analogy with underboob.

Now, no one is pretending this is an easy look to pull off, but whereas the whale tail was shaming because it was a fail – the byproduct of you scrabbling in the bottom of your bag for your Oyster card – the underbum is at least bold and brazen, in a lollipoppy, Katy Perry or Rihanna kind of a way.

2014 July 5, Jess Cartner-Morley, “The rise of the underbum: how to flash the flesh this summer”, in The Guardian:

They’ve always been a big hit at the box office: ethnically diverse, incredibly loyal, keen wearers of white vests (for the men) and underbum-showcasing hotpants (for the ladies).

2015 April 14, Catherine Shoard, “The strange case of Fast & Furious star Paul Walker”, in The Guardian:

Not done with just showing underbum, the front of the star's shorts featured distressed holes which the top her thighs showed through.

2015 November 5, Chelsea White, “Cheeky display! Kesha flashes some underbum in a pair of very short denim cut-offs as she heads to lunch”, in Daily Mail:

(UK, slang) The lower part of the buttocks, as revealed by certain clothing such as skimpy shorts.


barnight

Another RSMU event, a South African barnight, was also cancelled last term, again after numerous press enquiries.

1985 January 11, “Rector acts on indecent show”, in Felix:

On Wednesday last week at ACC Barnight it is reported that a member punched a member of Rugby for “pick-ing up one of [our] pints”.

2009 February 20, Andrew Lavery, “Andrew Lavery, Gaelic Football Captain, responds to allegations”, in Felix:

(countable, UK, Imperial College slang) An evening party, normally for a society


box and cox

box and cox (third-person singular simple present boxes and coxes, present participle boxing and coxing, simple past and past participle boxed and coxed)

boxes and coxes (present singular third-person)
boxing and coxing (participle present)
boxed and coxed (participle past)
boxed and coxed (past)

If any single production staked his claim to greatness it was John Barton’s 1973 RSC production of Richard II, in which Pasco and Ian Richardson boxed and coxed the roles of the King and Bolingbroke.

2014 November 26, Richard Pasco – obituary, The Daily Telegraph:

(transitive, intransitive, UK) To alternate with each other, often in the same post or location.

Although he meets von Humboldt by the end of the first chapter, it will take the whole book for there to be a meeting of minds between these two giants of the German intellect, with Kehlmann boxing and coxing between the two chapter by chapter.

2007 April 14, Giles Foden, “The long and the short of it: Measuring the World by Daniel Kehlmann”, in The Guardian:

(transitive, intransitive, UK) To alternate between two people.


CRA

Consumer Rights Act 2015
w:en:Consumer Rights Act 2015

(UK, law) Initialism of Consumer Rights Act 2015.


all over the gaff

All over the place
all over the place#English


London-centric

en-adj

London-centric (comparative more London-centric, superlative most London-centric)

more London-centric (comparative)
most London-centric (superlative)

Maybe the authors are London-centric, as some believe? Liverpool gets tagged with a mis-placed 'Street' at one point, while the WCML is described as "the main route for passengers to major cities in the Midlands and North West; Birmingham, Manchester and Liverpool". No mention of southbound travel or Glasgow or Scotland. [Liverpool Street is a major rail terminus in London.]

2020 May 6, Jim Steer, “Full Business Case offers fresh insight into HS2's prospects”, in RAIL, page 51:

Decisions made at the DfT inevitably reflect a London-centric experience, with a comparison being made with the closure of ticket offices throughout the London Underground network. This is not judged to have been detrimental, but there is a simple zonal fares system that is hardly comparable with the range of ticket types used on the national rail network.

2023 July 26, 'Industry Insider', “Ticket offices RIP?”, in RAIL, number 988, page 68:

(UK) Centred on or based in London, England.


Dane-hole

In this manner, likewise, the numerous so-called “Dane-holes” in Kent and Essex were worked for some purpose not yet distinctly ascertained."

1871, The Archaeological Journal - Volume 28, page 238:

We may add that a “Dane-hole” partly filled up is to be found in the Stifford chalk quarry.

1872, William Palin, More about Stifford and Its Neighbourhood, Past and Present, page 40:

...both the gold and the money were hidden in the Tin-hole or Dane-hole.

1990, Gerald Massey, A Book of the Beginnings, page 376:

“A Dane-hole? Here?” asked Carolus, the history master in him almost as interested as the detective.

2014, Leo Bruce, Death at Hallows End, page 190:


headcode

Another appendix elucidates the S.E.C.R. headcode system.

1961 July, “New reading on railways: The Locomotives of the South Eastern & Chatham Railway, by D. L. Bradley”, in Trains Illustrated, page vii:

Gaining a new headcode, it is then rebranded as the 2103 Carmarthen-Fishguard Harbour - a place I'd never visited by rail.

2022 November 2, Paul Bigland, “New trains, old trains, and splendid scenery”, in RAIL, number 969, page 59:

(rail transport, UK) A code used to distinguish classes of train for the benefit of signalmen, formerly by using white oil lamps (or white discs) placed on brackets on the front of the locomotive. The various lamp positions defined the class of train.


cuzzer

'You can't just walk out of a Heston Blumenthal restaurant!' I whispered.
Sam studied me. 'Swear on your mother's life that you wouldn't prefer a cuzzer,' he said, 'and I'll stay.'

2013, Lucy Robinson, A Passionate Love Affair with a Total Stranger:

(UK, slang) Alternative form of cuzza (“a curry”)


special licence

en-noun

special licence (plural special licences)

Coordinate term: common licence

(UK, historical) A marriage licence, granted by the Archbishop of Canterbury or his officials, permitting the marriage of two specified persons without banns, and at a place and time other than those prescribed by law.


be a devil

Just after a woman announcer had read the weather forecast before the BBC's 10 o'clock radio news last night a man was heard to say: “Go on. Be a devil. Give us a bit." The BBC was inundated with calls and letters wishing the happy couple every happiness in their future together.

You don't need to lose any, but try it. Be a devil.

1987, Susan Musgrave, The Dancing Chicken: A Novel, page 48:

I used to say to him, “Wouldn't you care for a sandwich just today, Mr Main? Come on, be a devil. Strike new ground. '

1995, Freda Bream, Sealed and Despatched, page 107:

(UK, informal) Used to encourage someone to do something when they are unsure whether they should.


catasterise

en-verb

catasterise (third-person singular simple present catasterises, present participle catasterising, simple past and past participle catasterised)

catasterises (present singular third-person)
catasterising (participle present)
catasterised (participle past)
catasterised (past)

British standard spelling of catasterize.


MacDonaldism

From MacDonald + -ism after Ramsay MacDonald, founder of the British Labour Party.

Initially substance was limited but, eventually, moves to resolve this issue came with the publication of For Socialism and Peace which proposed a move away from MacDonaldism towards a highly planned economy and large state.

2012, Matt Cole, Political Parties in Britain, page 29:

The allegation of 'MacDonaldism' would still be spat at Jenkins himself as late as the 1980s.

In a sense this pretence is a form of 'intellectual MacDonaldism'. Where 'MacDonaldism' consists in the betrayal of the needs of the movement for personal position, the 'doctrine' commentators betray the party in a more subtle and more fundamental way.

2018, H. M. Drucker, Doctrine and Ethos in the Labour Party:

(chiefly UK) The centrist political policies of Ramsay MacDonald, especially after his split with the Labour Party in 1931.


kilometre zero

(UK) A location, usually in a nation's capital city, from which distances are conventionally measured.


warm storage

However, operators including LNER, Chiltern Railways and East Midlands Railway have already indicated that some of their fleets will be temporarily placed into warm storage until the Coronavirus crisis is over.
What does warm storage mean?
Warm storage means that trains are maintained and kept powered at all times in order to keep all systems working.

2020 April 8, “Network News: COVID-19: Questions and Answers”, in Rail, page 10:

(rail transport, UK) Storage of a train taken out of service temporarily, which is kept powered and maintained.


be not to know

be not to know (third-person singular simple present is not to know, present participle being not to know, simple past was not to know, past participle been not to know)

is not to know (present singular third-person)
being not to know (participle present)
was not to know (past)
been not to know (participle past)

You weren’t to know. ― You couldn’t have known.

(UK, especially in the past) To not have the required information.


catch points

Many freights were not fully braked, and catch points were provided on steep gradients to derail runaway wagons. The points cost money to maintain and were a hassle when wrong-line working was needed. With the Settle-Carlisle Line available as an alternative, all catch points were removed over Shap, which meant only fully braked trains could traverse the route.

2020 April 8, David Clough, “How the West Coast wiring war was won”, in Rail, page 63:

(rail transport, UK) A set of points provided to derail rail vehicles out of control on a steep gradient.


Bill of Rights

(UK) An Act of Parliament enacted in 1689 that guarantees certain human rights and regulates the succession to the British Crown.


zilliard

See -illiard. Possibly modeled on zillion.

That a Merkin show? And still running? Coz if so, I will have the opportunity to watch it soon for I'm going to spend three months in San Francisco. Yeah! You DO have one zilliard TV-Programmes over there, don't you?

1996 November 23, Tim Mueller, “Re: FREE GIFT!!! Just for reading this post!”, in alt.fan.pratchett (Usenet):

No, I cannot be raised yet, to read the umpteen zilliards of finely honed postings, and cringe at wot I might have sent some xxxweeks ago to gawd-noes-wear, and read the indignant responses, and then get thoroughly upset about them, so whinge orft another mindless reply).

1999 October 18, Fruitbat, “Re: Y'leave the blunnin' country for five minits and...”, in uk.rec.sheds (Usenet):

Yes, repeatedly, as Po said. He deserves at least a zilliard points for this, but I'll be restrained and only give him two.

2008 July 13, solar penguin, “Re: [OT] Ping Agamemnon!”, in rec.arts.drwho (Usenet):

(slang, UK, hyperbolic) An unspecified large number (of).


tumour necrosis factor

en-noun

tumour necrosis factor (plural tumour necrosis factors)

tumor necrosis factor
tumor necrosis factor#English

(chiefly British) Alternative spelling of tumor necrosis factor


pickcheese

From pick + cheese. The bird is so called because it would steal from dairies.

(UK, dialect, obsolete) The fruit of the mallow.


master of the schools

master of the schools (plural masters of the schools)

(UK, historical) At the University of Oxford, one who conducted the first examination (responsions) for the Bachelor of Arts degree.


set the world to rights

en-verb

set the world to rights (third-person singular simple present sets the world to rights, present participle setting the world to rights, simple past and past participle set the world to rights)

sets the world to rights (present singular third-person)
setting the world to rights (participle present)
set the world to rights (participle past)
set the world to rights (past)

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-set the world to rights.wav

(chiefly UK) To talk about improving the world.


change of air

change of scenery
change of scenery#English

(chiefly UK) Synonym of change of scenery


woolly woofter

“Eddie Stone junior is the other side of the coin, when it comes to violence he's a woolly woofter, you know bent like a nine-bob note”.

2012, Linda Pye, Joseph Pye, The Steven Price Mysteries Part 3: The Murder in the Red Jacket, Xlibris, →ISBN:

Cockney rhyming slang
Cockney rhyming slang

(UK, Australia, New Zealand, Cockney rhyming slang) A male homosexual; poofter.

MediaWorks said ‘Woolly woofter’ is a term typically used colloquially in New Zealand as a mild and light-hearted insult for a cowardly or simpering person.

2019, New Zealand Law Society, ‘Woolly woofter’ not offensive says broadcasting watchdog, NZ Law Society

(UK, Australia, New Zealand) A cowardly or foolish person.


wow-wow sauce

(UK, obsolete) A sauce made with parsley, butter, vinegar, etc. to be served with beef.


groaty dick

(UK, obsolete) A kind of beef stew thickened with groats.


Whitley goose

To make Whitley Goose, an excellent old country recipe, I allow two large onions for each person […]

1953, The Listener, volume 49, page 491:

Whitley goose might disappoint carnivores expecting succulent fowl — it is a mixture of boiled onions, cheese and milk baked in an oven.

2012, Jane Peyton, Brilliant Britain, page 167:

(UK, obsolete) A dish of boiled onions with cheese and cream, baked until brown on top.


EIIR

(UK) Abbreviation of Elizabeth II Regina; the royal cypher of Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom, queen regnant.


Co-op mix

We found one once, 550lbs of Co-Op mix — and we found the firing position, on our side of the border. So I stood on this bloody thing […]

1985, Desmond Hamill, Pig in the Middle: The Army in Northern Ireland, 1969-1984, page 198:

Disrupting Co-op mix devices by burning off the mixture by the use of low-velocity bullets proved ineffective […]

2008, A. R. Oppenheimer, IRA, The Bombs and the Bullets: A History of Deadly Ingenuity:

(UK, Ireland) A mixture of sodium chlorate and nitrobenzene used in making improvised bombs during The Troubles in Northern Ireland.


switch out

switch out (third-person singular simple present switches out, present participle switching out, simple past and past participle switched out)

switches out (present singular third-person)
switching out (participle present)
switched out (participle past)
switched out (past)

Switch the lights out at bedtime.

The PSB [power signal box] was switched out by engineers in December, marking the end of 56 years of duty. At its peak in the 1960s, it controlled up to 1,200 trains per day.

2023 March 22, “Network News: One-off tours of New Street PSB”, in RAIL, number 979, page 10:

(UK, transitive) To switch off; to turn off.


Tets

Clipping of Tetley's, the brewery which formerly produced the beer, from Tetley + -'s (possessive suffix).

A good pint of Tetleys pulled through the auto vac system, which meant pulling three or four pints to create a single pint, was second to none. Outside Yorkshire, and going south, this system was used infrequently and, consequently, a pint of Tets served elsewhere would be very ordinary.

1990 October 6, Osman, “Re: The North - South Divide”, in free.uk.pubs (Usenet):

(UK, informal) A bottle or serving of Tetley's beer.


dust-coloured

en-adj

dust-coloured (comparative more dust-coloured, superlative most dust-coloured)

more dust-coloured (comparative)
most dust-coloured (superlative)

British standard spelling of dust-colored.


congestion charge

en-noun

congestion charge (plural congestion charges)

In a paper published for an emergency finance committee meeting on May 12, TfL says it costs around £600 million a month to run its network, but that income has fallen by 90% since the lockdown began. As well as a decline in public transport revenue, London's congestion charge has been suspended to allow key workers to use the road network.

2020 May 20, Andrew Roden, “Transport for London fears £3.2bn funding gap”, in Rail, page 8:

(UK, transport) A charge made on the vehicles of road users who enter a designated zone where traffic congestion can occur, in order to discourage this congestion, typically in the centre of a large city such as London.


fixed penalty notice

fixed penalty notice (plural fixed penalty notices)

How will these rules be enforced?
[…] Fines for first-time offenders who breach regulations have been increased from £60 to £100 (reducing to £50 if the fixed penalty notice is paid within 14 days), […]

2020 May 20, “Social distancing: Questions and answers”, in Rail, page 9:

(UK, Hong Kong) A notice served on an offender by an authorised person, which is usually for committing a minor offence. It requires the offender to pay a fixed fine within a certain period of time, or appeal against it, possibly in court.


salty liquorice

salty liquorice (countable and uncountable, plural salty liquorices)

UK and Ireland standard spelling of salty licorice.


stabling siding

stabling siding (plural stabling sidings)

The area now has an even more impressive web of railway junctions and lines than ever - especially as new stabling sidings have been added to take the pressure of [sic] the cramped Overground depot site at New Cross, which is hemmed in between running lines ([...]).

2020 May 20, Paul Bigland, “East London Line's renaissance”, in Rail, page 48:

(rail transport, UK) A storage siding for rolling stock, in particular passenger trains not being used in service.


post lady

(informal, chiefly British) A female postal worker.


CCT

CCT (countable and uncountable, plural CCTs)

(UK, historical, uncountable) Initialism of compulsory competitive tendering.


nobber

* (fool, idiot): Likely a variant of nobhead.
* (fellatio): See knob (“penis”).

Jock, I hate to have to tell you this, mate, but you slaughtered a perfectly healthy hound. A whippet is like a miniature greyhound and they're used for dog racing on the track or chasing hares and rabbits in fields. They are meant to be lean, you nobber!

2010, Marc Wilder, Superyacht X-Rated, Kings Road Publishing, →ISBN:

Mum, if a bloke is intimidated by me because I happen to have the good fortune to have a job, then he is probably a complete nobber anyway.' 'Don't talk that way, Bryony, it's so coarse and unladylike!

2014, Bryony Gordon, The Wrong Knickers - A Decade of Chaos, Hachette UK, →ISBN:

Pisspot was bangin her all along, and she curlin and filin and buffin herself for the Garda with the bag of urine. Had no idea! He's at her grave every mornin at six before duty with daisies and shit – the nobber!

2014, Pat Kinevane, Silent and Forgotten, A&C Black, →ISBN, page 19:

Shut your mouth you nobber or I'll stick that table up your fucking pooh hole.

2016, Anna Maxted, Getting Over It, Random House, →ISBN, page 266:

'Eat your heart out, Jenson Button!' shouted Dean as he yanked the steering wheel of his blue fifteen-year-old Ford Mondeo to the left. 'SHIT!' shouted James as he flinched and curled into a ball. 'You are such a nobber,' Dean yelled as the Mondeo flew out of the bend, waving his hand with exuberance to push his point home.

2018, Simon Farrant, Newdon Killers Box Set: Books 1 -3 plus bonus short story, Farrant Fiction, →ISBN:

(British, slang, derogatory) A fool, idiot.

“I'm sure they'd pass her a note from you, as long as it's got a Yard seal and has been sprayed for nits. Not like you're a nobber, right?” Doyle shook his head.

2014, Lynn Viehl, Disenchanted & Co., Simon and Schuster, →ISBN, page 61:

Was he a nobber?' 'He's not a nobber,' said DuTroy from the corner. 'He might be a nobber,' I said. 'I don't know him well enough.' 'What's he like with the mask off?' I paused. For a long time. Gertie was my best friend in the entire world.

2017, Jenny T. Colgan, Spandex and the City, Hachette UK, →ISBN, page 49:


shunting engine

shunting engine (plural shunting engines)

Seven shunting engines are employed in Euston sidings and are responsible for the transfer trips.

1960 February, R. C. Riley, “The London-Birmingham services - Past, Present and Future”, in Trains Illustrated, page 99:

(rail transport, UK) A locomotive that carries out shunting duties.


stoll

(obsolete, UK, thieves' cant) To understand.


gozz

en-verb

gozz (third-person singular simple present gozz, present participle gozzing, simple past and past participle gozzed)

gozz (present singular third-person)
gozzing (participle present)
gozzed (participle past)
gozzed (past)

He had had the privilege of being gozzed on by Johnny Rotten. A night to treasure. He hadn't washed for three days after.

2013, Nick Oldham, Bad Tidings, Severn House Publishers, →ISBN, page 164:

One of them gozzed at him, which was a thing you'd see at a gig back then. Disgusting I know, but that's the way it was.

2014, Joseph O'Connor, The Thrill of it All, Random House, →ISBN, page 119:

Unfortunately it quite often sidelined any democratic processes and became an integral part of the general mayhem as some unfortunate misfit of the moment was held down and gozzed on.

2018, Roger Smith, Tell Me Why, Troubador Publishing, →ISBN, page 120:


Poplarism

(UK, politics, historical) The situation where a local council contravenes national directives and offers more generous welfare payments to citizens, as in the Poplar Rates Rebellion in Poplar, London, England, in 1921.


deserialisation

en-noun

deserialisation (countable and uncountable, plural deserialisations)


secondman

The secondman looks back from 'Slim Jim' Class 33 No. 33211 as it trundles through Gravesend station with a permanent way train in 1977. The first wagon's sides are literally bulging at the seams with ballast spoil.

2018, Andy Gibbs, The Southern Region in the 1970s and 1980s, Amberley Publishing →ISBN, page 12, photo caption:

And instead of carrying commuters, the only people on many evening trains between Hatfield and St Albans were the driver and secondman.

2023 March 8, Howard Johnston, “Was Marples the real railway wrecker?”, in RAIL, page 50:

(rail transport, UK) A driver's assistant on a diesel or electric locomotive.


Hitler moustache

Hitler moustache (plural Hitler moustaches)

(UK) Alternative spelling of Hitler mustache.


Charlie Chaplin moustache

Charlie Chaplin moustache (plural Charlie Chaplin moustaches)

Charlie Chaplin mustache
Charlie Chaplin mustache#English

(UK) Alternative spelling of Charlie Chaplin mustache.


Zapata moustache

Zapata moustache (plural Zapata moustaches)

(UK) Alternative spelling of Zapata mustache.


block instrument

block instrument (plural block instruments)

The line is signalled with upper quadrant semaphores and Sykes lock and block three-wire two-position block instruments. [...] The Inspecting Officer concludes that both signalmen must share responsibility for the accident by the irregular release of the block instrument, but remarks that the two-position Sykes instruments, although ample for maintaining safety under normal working, do not show clearly the state of the block section ahead.

1960 March, “Talking of Trains: Collision at Slade Green”, in Trains Illustrated, page 133:

(rail transport, UK) An instrument installed in a cabinet, used in block signalling installations.


one engine in steam

There are eight 4-wheel coaches of the open toastrack type, but provided with roofs, and during the holiday season, usually beginning at Whitsuntide, trains are run as required on the one-engine-in-steam principle.

1941 July, “The Isle of Man Railways”, in Railway Magazine, page 315:

A change seems likely on the Axminster-Lyme Regis branch [...]. We hear also that one-engine-in-steam operation will probably be introduced on this line.

1960 March, “Talking of Trains: S.R. branch report”, in Trains Illustrated, page 135:

(rail transport, UK) A principle in railway signalling where only one train or locomotive is allowed to run on a section of single-track line, such as a branch line, at any one time.


cantrail

As was briefly reported last month, the S.R. is experimenting with the Continental method of making the class of train accommodation more conspicuous by painting a coloured strip below the cantrail of the coaches.

1960 March, “Talking of Trains: "Rainbow" trains on the S.R.”, in Trains Illustrated, page 135:

(rail transport, UK) A length of metal (earlier timber) supporting the outer edge of the roof of a railway carriage; also found on locomotives, buses and coaches.


go short

en-verb

go short (third-person singular simple present goes short, present participle going short, simple past went short, past participle gone short)

goes short (present singular third-person)
going short (participle present)
went short (past)
gone short (participle past)

My parents were very poor, and we often went short of food.

(UK, intransitive) To have an insufficient amount. [with of ‘something’]


GVR

George V of the United Kingdom
w:en:George V

(UK) Abbreviation of George V Rex; the royal cypher of George V of the United Kingdom, king regnant.


mutt's nuts

Rhyming variant of dog's bollocks; nuts in the sense of testicles.

(British, vulgar slang) Something regarded as outstandingly good.


Wolseley

en-proper-noun

Wolseley (countable and uncountable, plural Wolseleys)

From Middle English Ulselei, from Old English Wulfsieslega, from the personal name Wulfsiġe (“wolf victory”) in the genitive case Wulfsiġes + lēah (“wood, clearing”).

An aristocratic name
(UK) A baronetcy house.

An aristocratic name
(UK) A viscountcy title.

An aristocratic name
A viscountcy title.


babylon

Popularized by Sacha Baron Cohen in his satirical television show Da Ali G Show (2000-2004).


speat

Many of these devices leave unsightly holes in the fish, and wooden tenter sticks, metal speats, etc., are difficult to keep clean.

2012, Georg Borgstrom, Fish As Food V3: Processing: Part 1, page 93:

(UK, regional) One of the rods on which fish are placed to drain before being smoked.


jerkum

(UK, dialect) A kind of cider made with plums.


fidget pie

(UK) A kind of pie filled with bacon, apple, onion, potato, etc. sweetened and spiced.


shirtlifter

(UK, Ireland) Alternative spelling of shirt lifter


gate box

This 142-year-old tiny ex-LNWR SB [signal box, at Batley] is an amazing survivor, probably owing its longevity to its location alongside a level crossing. Indeed it started life as a gate box with the delightful name of Lady Ann's Crossing.

2020 July 1, David Allen, “Signalling from Leeds along the S&C”, in Rail, page 74:

(rail transport, UK) A signal box that controls a level crossing.


OPSS

w:Office for Product Safety and Standards

(UK, government) Initialism of Office for Product Safety and Standards.


piggin bottoms

(UK, obsolete) Spiced biscuits made in small tins.


Dunmow flitch

(UK) A flitch of bacon awarded to a married couple who convince a local "jury" of bachelors and maidens that, for a year and a day, they have never wished themselves unwed, as part of a traditional four-yearly ritual at Great Dunmow, Essex, England.


bare navy

"Three weeks we had been at sea on bare Navy, when we dropped anchor off Porthaven," said Long Jim. "Bare Navy, you understand, is regulation rations and nothing else, the canteen having run dry; […]

1914, Leslie Cope Cornford, Echoes from the Fleet, page 62:

A tragic memory of Edwardian times, when butter or even margarine was a luxury in the Navy. Living on bare Navy symbolized having to exist on the coarse fare supplied by the Service.

1946, Edwin Radford, Unusual Words and how They Came About, page 15:

Far too often, indeed, it was a case of 'bare Navy', the maritime equivalent to the soldier's 'hard-tack'; […]

1959, Reginald Hargreaves, The Narrow Seas, page 296:

(UK, naval slang) The situation where available food is limited to basic service rations.


Ofcom

Love Island viewers have made 1,509 complaints to the media regulator, Ofcom, over allegedly misogynistic behaviour by male contestants towards their female counterparts.

2022 July 27, Jim Waterson, “Love Island draws 1,500 complaints to Ofcom over alleged misogyny”, in The Guardian:

(UK) Acronym of Office of Communications.


twat about

en-verb

twat about (third-person singular simple present twats about, present participle twatting about, simple past and past participle twatted about)

twats about (present singular third-person)
twatting about (participle present)
twatted about (participle past)
twatted about (past)

(UK, Ireland, Commonwealth, slang, vulgar) To mess around; to engage in idle foolish behaviour.


twat around

twat around (third-person singular simple present twats around, present participle twatting around, simple past and past participle twatted around)

twats around (present singular third-person)
twatting around (participle present)
twatted around (participle past)
twatted around (past)


youth custody centre

en-noun

youth custody centre (plural youth custody centres)

youth custody centres and juvenile facilities all over the world, are one of the most effective methods ever invented to increase rates of reoffending and worsen levels of crime by young people.

2020 July 23, Chris Daw, “'A stain on national life': why are we locking up so many children?'”, in The Guardian:

(UK) (dated) A young offender institution (YOI).


knife crime

knife crime (countable and uncountable, plural knife crimes)

Despite all the media coverage around antisocial behaviour, knife crime and young people, we have actually seen a sharp decline in the overall number of recorded crimes committed by children.

(UK) Criminal activity involving knives, especially when gang-related.


earn one's corn

en-verb

earn one's corn (third-person singular simple present earns one's corn, present participle earning one's corn, simple past and past participle earned one's corn or earnt one's corn)

earns one's corn (present singular third-person)
earning one's corn (participle present)
earned one's corn (participle past)
earned one's corn (past)
earnt one's corn (participle past)
earnt one's corn (past)

(UK, informal) Synonym of earn one's keep


texturizing shears

(UK) A type of shears used in hairstyling. One edge is serrated, like a hair comb.


bruery

There may also have been areas consisting of bruery and heath located in the adjacent parish of Gunton.

2016, David Butcher, Medieval Lowestoft, page 67:

(UK, regional) heathland for grazing animals


Coalite

Invented by Thomas Parker in 1904: coal + -ite

(UK, trademark) a form of coke that is a smokeless fuel, used as an alternative to coal


LACC

Area Control Centre
area control centre#English

(UK, aviation) Abbreviation of London Area Control Centre.


bonk-on

Tell you what, there's nothing more frustrating than having a bonk on and getting myself worked up into a bother and not getting any sex, because wanking becomes boring after a while.

[…] learn to do when they don't want the whole world to know they've got a bonk on.

2017, John Stewart, The Green Line Runner:


Lady Amherst

I would have guessed that the Lady Amherst (Chrysolophus amherstiae) would have been similar in its inclinations to the Golden (C. pictus), with which it will interbreed.

1999 January 27, Dan Cowell, “Re: Free-ranging pheasants”, in sci.agriculture.poultry (Usenet):

Lady Amherst's pheasant
Lady Amherst's pheasant#English

(British) Ellipsis of Lady Amherst's pheasant..


camping coach

All regions of British Railways are offering camping coach accommodation to holidaymakers this summer. Since the war until this year, camping coaches (24 in number) have been available only on the Southern Region, but a programme of converting 89 vehicles has enabled coaches to be sited in attractive holiday areas in East Anglia, North Wales, the Peak District, the West Country, the South of England, Yorkshire Coast and Dales, and in Scotland.

1952 August, “Notes and News: Camping Coaches on British Railways”, in Railway Magazine, page 565:

At Littleham, a pleasant little station with three camping coaches, the token was exchanged.

1960 June, R. C. Riley, “The coastal branches of South-West Devon: Part Two”, in Trains Illustrated, page 337:

After renovation at Preston Park works, they will replace the 52 wooden-bodied cars still working south of the Thames, one of which dates back as far as 1906; some 20 of the latter will be converted to camping coaches.

1960 November, G. Freeman Allen, “New Pullman Cars for the East Coast Route”, in Trains Illustrated, page 666:

(rail transport, UK, dated) A retired passenger coach converted into accommodation for holidaymakers, and placed in a station siding in an area frequented by holidaymakers.


wood sedge

en-noun

wood sedge (countable and uncountable, plural wood sedges)

(UK) European woodland sedge (Carex sylvatica)


try for size

en-verb

try for size (third-person singular simple present tries for size, present participle trying for size, simple past and past participle tried for size)

tries for size (present singular third-person)
trying for size (participle present)
tried for size (participle past)
tried for size (past)

(UK) Alternative form of try on for size


restricted byway

en-noun

restricted byway (plural restricted byways)

(UK) A minor road or path that may be legally traversed on foot, on horseback, or in any vehicle that is not mechanically propelled.


as and when

I’ll tell you everything as and when I know the truth.


hop the wag

en-verb

hop the wag (third-person singular simple present hops the wag, present participle hopping the wag, simple past and past participle hopped the wag)

hops the wag (present singular third-person)
hopping the wag (participle present)
hopped the wag (participle past)
hopped the wag (past)

(idiomatic, UK, slang, dated) To play truant (be absent from school without permission).


play the wag

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

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

[…] that unaccountable luck that appears to always wait upon a boy when he plays the wag from school, and goes out fishing on a sunny afternoon, with a bit of string tied on to the end of a tree.

1889, Jerome K. Jerome, Three Men in a Boat […] :


Minkies

(UK, especially Jersey) Synonym of Minquiers (“group of islands and rocks forming part of the Bailiwick of Jersey”)


crush barrier

(UK) A fence or barrier that divides the space occupied by a large crowd in order to prevent people from being crushed.


match wagon

Match wagons are provided to support the jib when the crane is travelling in train formation between locations and roller bearing axleboxes enable speeds of up to 60 m.p.h. to be maintained.

1960 July, “Talking of Trains: New breakdown cranes”, in Trains Illustrated, page 392:

(rail transport, UK) A wagon attached to a rail-mounted crane to support the jib when the crane is being hauled in a train.


scratter

(UK, regional, derogatory) A chav (working-class youth associated with aggression and common tastes)


emotional labour

UK standard spelling of emotional labor.


seatie

All those years of having Katie chase after him—please, Tommy, I want a seatie—with Mum's threats—you dare put her on that bike, Thomas, and so help me... But of course he'd never let his sister on his bike.

2015, Debbie McGowan, Raine O'Tierney, Christmas Craic and Mistletoe, page 302:

'It's not a fair race,' said Ibrahim. 'Because whoever gives you a seatie always loses.'

2017, Hayley Long, The Nearest Faraway Place:

(UK, Ireland, colloquial) Synonym of backie (“a ride on the back of a cycle”)


bungersome

en-adj

bungersome (comparative more bungersome, superlative most bungersome)

more bungersome (comparative)
most bungersome (superlative)

(UK, regional, obsolete) cumbersome; awkward


laspring

(UK, dialect, obsolete) A smolt, or young salmon.


goolie chit

Officers hoped the document would see them returned home with their goolies (testicles) intact.

There was one other thing. If the goolie chits didn't prove all that persuasive, we each had a big .45 in a canvas holster around our waist, and Hudd and his man had Stirlings.

2010, David Fiddimore, Silent War, page 391:

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

(UK, military, slang) A document addressed to civilians in a combat zone offering a reward for safe return of a downed airman.


rheumaticks

(British, colloquial) Archaic form of rheumatics (“rheumatism”).


screwmatics

(British, colloquial, dated) Rheumatism.


SRT

statutory residence test
statutory residence test#English

(UK) Initialism of statutory residence test.


(UK, taxation) A tax return form for non-residents and dual residents.


(UK, taxation) A tax return form for UK property income.


(UK, taxation) A tax return form for foreign income or gains.


(UK, taxation) The main tax return form for individuals.


(UK, taxation) A tax return form for capital gains.


(UK, taxation) A tax return form for employees and company directors.


section 104 holding

en-noun

section 104 holding (plural section 104 holdings)

Described by section 104 of the Taxation of Chargeable Gains Act 1992.

(taxation, UK) The situation where certain shares are pooled and treated as a single asset for tax purposes.


defibre

en-verb

defibre (third-person singular simple present defibres, present participle defibring, simple past and past participle defibred)

defibres (present singular third-person)
defibring (participle present)
defibred (participle past)
defibred (past)

(UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand) Alternative spelling of defiber


county line

(UK, chiefly in the plural) A drug trafficking scheme to transport drugs from cities to smaller towns, especially one that recruits children and uses phone lines.


snam

snam (third-person singular simple present snams, present participle snamming, simple past and past participle snammed)

snams (present singular third-person)
snamming (participle present)
snammed (participle past)
snammed (past)

Blend of snap + nam (“to seize, grab; chew, eat greedily”).

blend

He has been lagged for beaker hunting, was a mushroom faker, has been on the steel for snamming a wedge sneezer; […]

1859, Snowden's Magistrates Assistant, page 497:

(transitive, UK, slang, obsolete) To steal; snatch.

I on'y meant fur to snam (rob) him, and on'y giv' him a tightener, when somethin' come dancing and shreeking down the road, and I vamoosed.

1880, Henry Spicer, Winged Words, page 144:

(transitive, UK, slang, obsolete) To rob (a person).


shivereens

Poor Charmer got deeper and deeper into falsehood, until one any he appeared with a mass of entangled wire in his hands, and declared that his machine had gone to shivereens.

1922, The Old Lady of Threadneedle Street, volume 1, page 151:

(UK, dialect, archaic) Small fragments; smithereens.


Cleckhuddersfax

Blend of Cleckheaton + Huddersfield + Halifax.

Picture the scene, if you can, at Josiah Arkwright's Shoddy Manufactury in Cleckhuddersfax. Josiah's only involvement with Brussels is to eat the green things on his plate at Christmas.

1998, The Solicitors' Journal, volume 142:

(UK, humorous) An urban area of West Yorkshire that encompasses Cleckheaton, Huddersfield, and Halifax.


thrinter

(UK, dialect, obsolete) An animal three winters old.


scraze

en-verb

scraze (third-person singular simple present scrazes, present participle scrazing, simple past and past participle scrazed)

scrazes (present singular third-person)
scrazing (participle present)
scrazed (participle past)
scrazed (past)

(UK, dialect, obsolete, transitive) To graze (a body part).


target for tonight

en-noun

target for tonight (plural targets for tonight)

Having conducted a skirt patrol a young officer, if he is lucky, will have fixed up his target for tonight.

1989, Fiona Glass, Philip Marsden, Articles of War: The Spectator Book of World War II, page 364:

Lewis would look in and select his 'target for tonight', echoing the wartime RAF propaganda film. He might have his eye on a particular girl.

2017, Nick Triplow, Getting Carter: Ted Lewis and the Birth of Brit Noir:

We'll put it all right when he is done converting his 'target for tonight' into the 'trouble and strife.'

2018, Mark Cote, That Lucky Old Son, page 22:


non-railwayman

Whether the present choice should have fallen on a non-railwayman is another matter.

1961 May, “Editorial: Mr. M. presents Dr. B. - for a limited season only”, in Trains Illustrated, page 257:

As a non-railwayman, Barker's study of the railways had led him to the view that even with the most perfect equipment, the railways could not be made profitable if they continued to be run as they then were.

2023 March 8, David Clough, “The long road that led to Beeching”, in RAIL, number 978, page 42:

(UK) A person not employed on or by a railway.


challenger bank

challenger bank (plural challenger banks)

Coordinate term: neobank

(UK) A small, recently created retail bank in the United Kingdom that competes directly with the longer-established banks, sometimes by specializing in underserved areas.


FSCS

w:Financial Services Compensation Scheme

(UK, finance) Initialism of Financial Services Compensation Scheme.


slounge

en-verb

slounge (third-person singular simple present slounges, present participle slounging, simple past and past participle slounged)

slounges (present singular third-person)
slounging (participle present)
slounged (participle past)
slounged (past)

At this he gathered his mutilated limbs to the centre of gravity, and like a genuine coward slounged away, the express image of baseness in ruins.

1833, John Kennedy, Geordie Chalmers; or, the Law in Glenbuckie, page 165:

[T]hey pass along the streets of our cities, with the slounging gait, and careless, awkward swagger of men who have no idea that personal carriage forms a subject of the slightest importance.

1859, Alexander Walker, Hours off and on Sentry, page 171:

(UK, archaic, intransitive) To move in a slouching manner.


cough and a spit

[…] a Lancaster squadron at Bawne, west of Cambridge — it sits a cough and a spit from the Bedfordshire border.

2009, David Fiddimore, The Forgotten War, page 5:

[…] Stockwell, a cough and a spit from Vauxhall Cross.

2013, Russell Cruse, The Rothko Room, page 258:


polite notice

(UK) A heading commonly placed on certain notices, such as "no parking" notices, originally intended to be misread at a glance as "police notice", thus imparting a spurious authority, and often using similar typography to genuine police notices; may now be meant or read literally by those unaware of the original purpose.


lay one's account

lay one's account (third-person singular simple present lays one's account, present participle laying one's account, simple past and past participle laid one's account)

lays one's account (present singular third-person)
laying one's account (participle present)
laid one's account (participle past)
laid one's account (past)

But as the place of my abode was now discovered, I laid my account with having a visit from his employer: I therefore planted spies upon the road […].

1751, [Tobias] Smollett, The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle […], volume (please specify |volume=I to IV), London: Harrison and Co., […], →OCLC:

The jurors must have laid their account with appearing before the Star-chamber.

1827, Henry Hallam, The Constitutional History of England:

(now chiefly UK regional) To reckon with (also on or for) some future act or event; to expect, to plan (for).


penny starver

(UK, obsolete, slang) A small bread roll costing one penny.


Peter Grievous

(UK, regional, archaic) A miserable, melancholy man or boy.


ha'penny starver

en-noun

ha'penny starver (plural ha'penny starvers)

(UK, obsolete, slang) A small bread roll costing one halfpenny.


jossop

'Mister? Here's some jossop for you, from the sawbones.' She uncorked the little flask and obliged the stranger to swallow a mouthful.

(regional, UK, school slang) Sauce, gravy, or syrup.


cop the needle

en-verb

cop the needle (third-person singular simple present cops the needle, present participle copping the needle, simple past and past participle copped the needle)

cops the needle (present singular third-person)
copping the needle (participle present)
copped the needle (participle past)
copped the needle (past)

It must have been the way I said it because he copped the needle and sneered, 'I haven't got to talk to you about fuck-all. Whatever I do is none of your Goddamn business.'

1999, Roy Shaw with Kate Kray, “Nick-Knack-Paddy-Whack”, in Pretty Boy, London: Blake Publishing Ltd, →ISBN, page 82:


juwaub

These offices are often to be filled up, their untiring perseverance occasioning the secession of a member, who, after having sustained repeated juwaubs, is accepted at last, […]

1836, The Asiatic Journal and Monthly Register for British and Foreign India, China, and Australasia, page 97:

(India, dated, British military slang) A formal refusal.


juwaub

juwaub (third-person singular simple present juwaubs, present participle juwaubing, simple past and past participle juwaubed)

juwaubs (present singular third-person)
juwaubing (participle present)
juwaubed (participle past)
juwaubed (past)

(transitive, India, dated, British military slang) To refuse or rebuff.


block ornament

It is certain that in the Chinese meat stores you see a number of scraps of meat of the "block ornament" order, the dubious hue of which–usually a dingy greyish purple, with streaks of drab fat–[…]

1885, George Augustus Sala, America Revisited, Vizetelly & Company, page 501:

[T]ogether with such scraps as may also be purchased, at a penny or twopence the plateful, at the beef and ham emporium, with maybe a "block ornament" or two from the butcher's, in a pie dish, with a superstructure of potatoes, and have the "scrap pie" cooked at the baker's for the Sunday dinner. Poor wretches!

1897, Edward Spencer Mott, Cakes and Ale, page 78:

[H]ow often, after a search through the old purse they clutch so tightly, they turn away the coveted "block-ornimint" being beyond their means.

1909 January 7, Westminster Gazette, page 2:

(obsolete, slang, UK, Australia) A small fragment of cheap meat offered for sale by a butcher, particularly one of poor quality. [from 1843]


Ladies' Mile

(UK, historical) Part of Hyde Park in London where fashionable women used to congregrate.


nab the rust

nab the rust (third-person singular simple present nabs the rust, present participle nabbing the rust, simple past and past participle nabbed the rust)

nabs the rust (present singular third-person)
nabbing the rust (participle present)
nabbed the rust (participle past)
nabbed the rust (past)

[…] did not choose to comply with her wishes. Upon which Mrs. Basset, in the language of the Old Bailey, nabbed the rust; insisted upon some liquor, would not quit the house without it, and began to blow up the hostess and blast the rose.

Spurstow discovered it, of course, and nabbed the rust. He went off to Rye, ran Ottershaw to earth in the Ship, and asked him what the devil he meant by it.

1968, Georgette Heyer, The Unknown Ajax, page 155:

(UK, slang, obsolete) To take offense; to become upset.


Board of Green Cloth

Named from the tablecloth of green baize that covered the table at which its members sat.

(UK, historical) A board of officials responsible for auditing the accounts of the royal household, making royal travel arrangements, and sitting as a court upon offences committed within the verge of the palace. More recently its jurisdiction was limited to alcohol sales and gambling licences, and it was abolished in 2004.


Isthmus of Suez

(UK, archaic, slang) The covered bridge at St. John's College, Cambridge, that connects the college with its grounds on the other side of the river.


Admiral of the Red

en-noun

Admiral of the Red (plural Admirals of the Red)

Admiral of the Fleet
Admiral of the Fleet

(UK, historical) A senior rank of the Royal Navy, immediately outranked by the Admiral of the Fleet; abolished as a promotional rank in 1864.


let-out

It has of course the brilliant let-out that it does not seek to prove that its statements are true, but only that they are “verifiable”. This principle is relatively weak: Wikipedists are supposed to be able to source their remarks.

2007, Richard D. North, “Scrap the BBC!”: Ten Years to Set Broadcasters Free, London: Social Affairs Unit, →ISBN, page 141:

(idiomatic, chiefly UK, Ireland) An opportunity to avoid or escape from a difficult or unpleasant situation.


Loxbridge

redbrick universities
red brick university

(British) The University of Oxford, the University of Cambridge, and various universities in London collectively, in contrast to redbrick universities.


natsci

(UK, Cambridge University slang) A natural scientist.


gittish

en-adj

gittish (comparative more gittish, superlative most gittish)

more gittish (comparative)
most gittish (superlative)

Prince George is shy and just pretends to be bluff and crass and unbelievably thick and gittish, whilst deep down he is a soft little marshmallowy, pigletty type of creature.

1987, Blackadder (TV series), "Amy and Amiability" (series 3, episode 5)

Anna sighed. 'Jackson was a git. As usual.'
'Uneasy lies the head that wears a throne. Specifically gittish, or just generally?'

2010, Kate Long, The Daughter Game, page 5:

He'd done it to escape the bitter, miserable git of a man he'd become. […] Problem was, his home self could still be pretty gittish, and if he went to these awards everyone might see that.

2020, Anna Stuart, Four Minutes to Save a Life:

(UK, slang) Like a git; jerkish; obnoxious.


Yarmouth capon

(UK, slang, obsolete) A bloater, or red herring.


Parson Trulliber

en-noun

Parson Trulliber (plural Parson Trullibers)

After the character of the same name in Henry Fielding's Joseph Andrews (1742).

(UK, obsolete, slang) A rude, vulgar country clergyman, devoted to agricultural pursuits.


jomer

[…] going about the county half-naked, but having good clothes, perhaps sent forward to the lodging-house by his jomer (girl); this is very often a profitable trade; the shallow-cove of course selling all the clothes he does not need himself.

1859, Snowden's Magistrates Assistant, page 87:

(UK, obsolete, slang) A sweetheart, or favourite girl.


soft tack

(UK, nautical, slang, obsolete) Synonym of soft tommy (“bread”)


half-rocked

From the idea of a person not being rocked enough in the cradle as an infant.


Alsatian wolf dog

Alsatian wolf dog (plural Alsatian wolf dogs)


ziff

[…] Y was a Yoxter that eat caper sauce; / Z was a Ziff who was flashed on the horse.

1846, George William MacArthur Reynolds, The Mysteries of London, page 60:


appaz

From apparently + -z. Compare soz (“sorry”) and tomoz (“tomorrow”).

Well appaz Andy (!) Marr's novel is this totes must-read, kind of the new Mantel except minus communism & way more hilair?

2014 September 23, Catherine Bennett, “It's this totes must-read, kind of the new Mantel except minus communism”, in Alan Rusbridger, editor, The Guardian, London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2015-09-06:

'Yeah, except one awful time she'd used, like, washable ink for her notes. Like, one of those fountain pens you used in the old days? And the highlighter pen dissolved the writing underneath. Appaz Mum went ballistic.'

2016, Sarah Meyrick, Knowing Anna, London: Marylebone House, →ISBN, page 151:

[…] One story I heard is that it's the ghost of some kid who drowned in Culvercot Bay, like, thirty years ago.' ¶ 'Really? That happened?' ¶ 'Appaz. […]

2017, Ross Welford, What Not to Do if You Turn Invisible, London: HarperCollins Children's Books, →ISBN, page 194:

(UK, colloquial) Abbreviation of apparently.


mould-breaking

en-adj

mould-breaking (comparative more mould-breaking, superlative most mould-breaking)

more mould-breaking (comparative)
most mould-breaking (superlative)

(UK) Using or involving the use of original, innovative and unconventional methods; departing from tradition.


bent copper

From bent (“not straight, corrupt, dishonest”) + copper (“policeman”), a variant of cop. It could also be a pun taken from a bent copper coin.

Onay remembered that he had placed 40 kilos at the bottom of his wardrobe. That meant approximately three and a half kilos had disappeared during the police raid. Bulent kept quiet but the officers eventually found out and a bent copper was later blamed for the alleged theft.

2007, Graham Johnson, Druglord, Mainstream Publishing, →ISBN:

Anticorruption is a double-edged sword. We need to find just enough bent coppers to avoid accusations of a cover-up, but not so many that the public starts to wonder if the police can be trusted.

2016 April 28, “Getting to the Truth”, in Line of Duty, season 3, episode 6, spoken by Gill Biggeloe (Polly Walker), archived from the original on 2021-05-17:

He had always been a bent copper. He had joined the police force with the intention of being a bent copper. In that, he had been eminently successful.

2019, Alan Jacobs, Me? I Kill People, Troubador Publishing, →ISBN, page 298:

(UK, informal, law enforcement) A corrupt police officer.


parents' evening

en-noun

parents' evening (plural parents' evenings)

(UK, education) An evening consisting of short meetings between a parent and their child's teachers to discuss the child's academic progress.


Harriet Lane

Named after the mistress of Henry Wainwright (1832–1875), whom he murdered, storing her body parts in parcels. Compare Fanny Adams.

(UK, nautical slang, obsolete, derogatory) Tinned meat.


on lobby terms

(UK, politics) Communicated by a political source to the press on the understanding that the source will not be named.


Cheriegate

(UK) A 2002 controversy over the purchase of two flats in Bristol by Cherie Blair with the alleged assistance of Peter Foster, a convicted Australian conman and boyfriend of Blair's friend Carole Caplin, who negotiated a discount for Blair.


CHIS

(UK, law enforcement) Initialism of covert human intelligence source.


housekeeping bill

housekeeping bill (plural housekeeping bills)

(UK, politics) A bill (legislation) designed to keep the business of government and public affairs up to date, generally not having any substantial or controversial content.


aah, Bisto

From the catchphrase of a long-running advertising campaign for Bisto brand gravy granules.

Aah, Bisto! How nice it is to put my feet up after such a long day!

(UK) An expression of enjoyment of a pleasant aroma; a general expression of relaxed satisfaction.


Phurnacite

Domestic fuel consigned from South Wales consists mainly of anthracite, phurnacite and other smokeless fuels.

1961 August, “New traffic flows in South Wales”, in Trains Illustrated, page 492:

(UK) A proprietary brand of smokeless fuel in the form of coal briquettes.


oofiness

(UK, slang, dated) The quality of being wealthy.


licensed premises

(British, Ireland, law) a place which is licensed for the sale of alcoholic beverages to the public for consumption on the premises; a public house or bar


Barnardo's boy

(UK) A boy raised in a Barnardo's home (a charitable institution set up to care for orphaned, destitute or vulnerable children).


Boundary Commission

Boundary Commission (plural Boundary Commissions)

(UK, specifically) Any of several bodies set up to determine the boundaries of parliamentary constituencies in the nations of the UK.


Calor gas

(UK, partially genericised trademark) A type of bottled gas, consisting of butane and/or propane, used for cooking or heating.


Chinese leaf

two heads of Chinese leaf

Brassica rapa subsp. pekinensis#Translingual

(British) napa cabbage (Brassica rapa subsp. pekinensis)


Janet and John

From the Janet and John series of early reading books, published in the UK in 1949–50.

There is an instruction manual, but it's all very Janet and John.

Apologies if what follows seems a bit Janet and John. But if you already know it all it will at least be welcome confirmation and, if you don't, well at least someone tried to give you some genuinely well-intentioned advice.

2014, John Hutton, Leigh Lewis, How to Be a Minister: A 21st-Century Guide:

(UK) Childishly simple or obvious, resembling something found in a book for very young children.


twin-track

In pursuing a twin-track strategy of competition and cooperation, the US has unique strengths.

2020 November 7, Timothy Garton Ash, “What will President Biden's United States look like to the rest of the world?”, in The Guardian:

(British) pursuing two objectives by employing two simultaneous processes


talk the ears off a donkey

en-verb

talk the ears off a donkey (third-person singular simple present talks the ears off a donkey, present participle talking the ears off a donkey, simple past and past participle talked the ears off a donkey)

talks the ears off a donkey (present singular third-person)
talking the ears off a donkey (participle present)
talked the ears off a donkey (participle past)
talked the ears off a donkey (past)

talk the hind leg off a donkey
talk the hind leg off a donkey#English

(UK, Ireland, informal) Synonym of talk the hind leg off a donkey


mixed origins

en-adj

mixed origins (comparative more mixed origins, superlative most mixed origins)

more mixed origins (comparative)
most mixed origins (superlative)

w:Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland

(UK, of a person) Having mixed racial, ethnic, or national parentage or ancestry. This term was promoted as an alternative to “mixed race” in a 1994 resolution of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland, in part because of its correlation to mid-twentieth-century British laws using the phrase “race or ethnic or national origins”, but did not see wide use outside of the UK anthropology field.


all found

My grandmother told me how she used to work as a maid, and was paid £3 a week all found.

(UK) With living essentials, such as meals and accommodation, provided at no cost.


moving staircase

en-noun

moving staircase (plural moving staircases)

In terms of the income scale British society has been compared to a group of people on a moving staircase. While the staircase as a whole moves upwards the relative position of the people on it remains largely unchanged.

2008, John Irwin, Modern Britain: An Economic and Social History, page 27:


moving pavement

moving pavement (plural moving pavements)

Britain's first "moving pavement", the 104-yds.-long Travolater linking the Waterloo & City Tube station with the L.T. concourse at the Bank, London, was brought into use on September 27.

1960 November, “News in Brief”, in Trains Illustrated, page 649:


RCEP

(UK, government) Abbreviation of Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution.


stack it

en-verb

stack it (third-person singular simple present stacks it, present participle stacking it, simple past and past participle stacked it)

stacks it (present singular third-person)
stacking it (participle present)
stacked it (participle past)
stacked it (past)

[…] as I was stepping down, put my foot into a dog-made hole and once again, totally stacked it onto a sickled ankle. This one HURT and I was yelling and screaming for a good few minutes […]

2006 October 7, glitterfairy, “How long should a sprained ankle take to heal??”, in Dance.net, XP.COM, retrieved 2020-11-17:

She did a close fly by (which, of course, I wasn’t ready for) but I did get a few shots before she stacked it and came back for a chat.

[2010 November 28, “By ‘ek, it’s ‘ot (and more kite surfing)”, in Charlie's World, retrieved 2020-11-17:

Bieber’s Saskatoon stack comes after he stacked it during a fist-fight in Cleveland which was caught on camera earlier this month

2016 June 19, Tom Williams, “Watch Justin Bieber Stack It, Fall Off Stage While Fixing His Pants”, in Music Feeds, Evolve Media, retrieved 2020-11-17:

One of the guys ran off the stage as soon as the woman put on a strap on and he stacked it as he tried to get away.

2017 May 10, bomberH, “Memory Lane... Pleasure Rooms”, in Spurs Community, retrieved 2020-11-17:

(slang, chiefly UK) To fall over; to topple.


base rate

(finance) A benchmark interest rate, from which other interest rates are calculated; a policy rate.

(finance, UK) Especially, the interest rate at which the Bank of England lends money to commercial banks.


clock on

clock on (third-person singular simple present clocks on, present participle clocking on, simple past and past participle clocked on)

clocks on (present singular third-person)
clocking on (participle present)
clocked on (participle past)
clocked on (past)

(literally, UK) To record one's time of arrival at work, traditionally by inserting one's card into a timestamping machine.

(by extension, UK) To begin work at the start of the day or start of one's shift.


lob-on

She pulled me shoes and socks off and then pulled off me trousers and underpants and threw them onto the chair. I heard lads in the barrack room say that they'd had a lob-on that were so hard it hurt. Now I believed them.

2014, Alan Watkins-Groves, Buying The Programme, page 74:

He had to have a lob on to achieve that and he told her that she felt 'so good'.

“Well, get me dick out and give it a jostle or something, darling, I've had a lob on all the way up here.”

(UK, slang) An erection; an erect penis.


below stairs

a. 1631, John Donne, letter to H. Goodere, in Letters to Severall Persons of Honour written by John Donne, London: Richard Marriot, 1651, pp. 158-159,
My daughter Constance is at this time with me; or the emptinesse of the town, hath made me, who otherwise live upon the almes of others, a houskeeper, for a moneth; and so she is my servant below stairs, and my companion above:

It vvas his younger Siſters Chamber, that I vvas in, and as there vvas no Body in the Houſe, but the Maids belovv Stairs, he vvas it may be the ruder: […]

1722 (indicated as 1721), [Daniel Defoe], The Fortunes and Misfortunes of the Famous Moll Flanders, &c. […], London: […] W[illiam Rufus] Chetwood, […]; and T. Edling, […], published 1722, →OCLC, page 21:

[…] those fortunate bachelors, or other gentlemen of pleasure, who so manage their entertainment of compromising company that even the austerest housekeeper, occupied and competent below-stairs, never feels obliged to give warning.

1904 November 10, Henry James, chapter 11, in The Golden Bowl, volume I, New York, N.Y.: Charles Scribner’s Sons, →OCLC, book first (The Prince), part second, pages 200–201:

In the tiny below-stairs office a moody-looking matron took the papers and signed him into the ledger.

1953, Saul Bellow, chapter 4, in The Adventures of Augie March, New York: Viking Press, →OCLC, page 57:

1972, Robertson Davies, The Manticore, Toronto: New Canadian Library, 2015, Part 2, Chapter 1,
Children always lived closer to the servants than their elders, and Caroline and I never knew where we stood with anybody, and sometimes found ourselves hostages in dark, below-stairs intrigues.

Having lived the stereotype of the penniless artist in Paris, Soutine was drawn not to the glamour of the roaring 1920s, but to those in the world below stairs[.]

2017 November 17, Skye Sherwin, “Chaïm Soutine’s Pastry Cook of Cagnes: a portrait of youth, but not innocence”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:

(UK, historical) In or pertaining to the lowest levels of a large house where the house staff work and are accommodated, contrasted with above stairs where the owning family reside.

(UK, historical, as noun) The areas of a large house in which house staff work, or the staff that work there.


gropper

Enjoyed a wide range of Sedge warblers, heard a gropper, and saw a spoonbill, and our first house martins and swifts of the year. The avocets were grand (nearly 50 of them) and not as argumentative as usual at his time of the year.

2001 April 29, Michael J Davis, “A grand day out and request for help”, in uk.rec.birdwatching (Usenet):

These overwhelmingly male gatherings remind me of paparazzi flocks I’ve encountered. Like a reluctant celebrity, the Pallas’s “gropper” (twitchers have their own language, as well as paparazzi-style ripping yarns about this trip or that shot) was skulking in the bushes.

2017 September 25, Patrick Barkham, “Twitchers and groppers: when birdwatching turns ugly”, in The Guardian:

(UK, informal, birdwatching) The grasshopper warbler.


rail replacement service

en-noun

rail replacement service (plural rail replacement services)

If there's one phrase that deters people from taking the train, it is: "A rail replacement service will operate on this route."

2020 November 18, Christian Wolmar, “Rail replacement buses: the system needs changing”, in Rail, page 34:

bus replacement service
bus replacement service#English

(UK, transport) Synonym of bus replacement service.


centre punch

(UK) Alternative spelling of center punch.


MLU

MLU (countable and uncountable, plural MLUs)

Coordinate term: CLU

(UK, healthcare) Initialism of midwife-led unit.


chip pan

(UK) A cooking vessel designed for the deep-frying (cooking by immersion in hot oil) of chips (thin potato strips).


City editor

(UK) A newspaper editor responsible for the paper's coverage of affairs in the City of London (the UK's main financial centre), and thus, by extension, coverage of business and finance in general.


ILR

indefinite leave to remain
indefinite leave to remain#English

(UK, law) Initialism of indefinite leave to remain.


flying picket

(UK) A person or group of people who can be rapidly deployed to different locations in order to picket workplaces (take part in blockades or other protests) during an industrial dispute (dispute between workers and employers).


all-figure number

all-figure number (plural all-figure numbers)

(UK, telecommunications, historical) A telephone number consisting purely of digits, introduced in the 1960s to replace numbers that began with an alphabetic code for the exchange.


Unicef

(UK, Australia, New Zealand) Alternative letter-case form of UNICEF (not used in North America)


JCVI

w:Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation

(UK, medicine) Initialism of Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation.


blue plaque

As an aside, Luddendenfoot once had a famous (or perhaps infamous) clerk - drunkard Branwell Brontë, brother to the famous Brontë sisters and writers. He was sacked from his post in March 1842 after an audit revealed a discrepancy in the books. Today, a blue plaque on the Jubilee Refreshment rooms at Sowerby Bridge station commemorates him.

2021 July 28, Paul Bigland, “Calder line captures picturesque Pennines”, in RAIL, number 936, page 66:

(chiefly UK) A permanent sign installed in a public place to commemorate a historical link between that location and a famous person, event, or former building on the site.


rail wagon

For general liquids other than those pre-heated or highly inflammable, these 1,030gal containers may be filled either on rail wagons or on the Bulkrane.

1961 November, “Talking of Trains: The "Bulkrane" project of British Railways”, in Trains Illustrated, page 656:

(UK, rail transport) Any railway goods wagon.

(UK, rail transport) A flat wagon used for carrying railway rails.


dialling code

In the UK, the dialling code for Coventry is 024.

From the UK, the international dialling code for China is 0086.


mind the shop

en-verb

mind the shop (third-person singular simple present minds the shop, present participle minding the shop, simple past and past participle minded the shop)

minds the shop (present singular third-person)
minding the shop (participle present)
minded the shop (participle past)
minded the shop (past)


breast the tape

breast the tape (third-person singular simple present breasts the tape, present participle breasting the tape, simple past and past participle breasted the tape)

breasts the tape (present singular third-person)
breasting the tape (participle present)
breasted the tape (participle past)
breasted the tape (past)

(UK, athletics) To win a race by hitting the tape with the chest


form book

(British) An annual book produced showing the results for the year's horse races together with comments on each runner.

It is a certainty, given the form book, that this prime minister will be condemning us to many more months of wage restraint.

(British, figurative) The past performance of something or someone.


booking hall

In 1958, it was reported that for "the fourth year in succession, staff of four South London stations have combined to decorate the booking hall at Peckham Rye station". They installed a nativity scene, models of Father Christmas, and a sleigh driven by huskies, and Christmas trees were placed around the station.

2023 December 27, David Turner, “Silent lines...”, in RAIL, number 999, page 29:

'Halls' and 'offices' are more distinct, with some stations featuring a booking hall as well as a booking office. As Bill Fawcett notes in a 2015 architectural history of British railway stations, booking halls sometimes doubled as waiting rooms and were accompanied by a booking office.

2024 March 6, Dr Joseph Brennan, “England's booking offices of distinction”, in RAIL, number 1004, page 56:

(rail transport, UK) Synonym of ticket hall.


Cubitopolis

From Cubitt + -o- + -polis, after the builder and developer Thomas Cubitt (1788–1855).

(obsolete, UK, slang) The Warwick Square and Eccleston Square districts of London, England.


slammock

(UK, regional) A slattern or awkward person.


come Yorkshire over

He was not blind to the natives' faults; he amusingly describes how one "who might have thriven in one of our large towns came Yorkshire over him," by bringing him an india-rubber ball which, instead of being solid, was stuffed inside with chewed leaves.

1880, The London Quarterly and Holborn Review, volume 53, page 413:

[B]efore I left Huddersfield I had the satisfaction of captaining a team which won most of its matches against the leading Yorkshire towns, though Sheffield 'came Yorkshire over us' by making us play upon the wooden floor of their Drill Hall. The Yorkshire children were almost bilingual. The youngsters talked broad dialect in the playground, yet answered incorrect English in class.

1930, Alfred Perceval Graves, To Return to All that: An Autobiography, page 208:

(transitive, UK, slang, obsolete) To cheat or deceive.


snake tart

Muffin-cap agreed to show him the spot upon condition he would treat him with a “snake-tart” at the Eel-pie-house hard by.

1842, The New Monthly Magazine, page 351:


forakers

(UK, obsolete, slang, Winchester College) The toilet.


Rag and Famish

In allusion to the imaginary characters Ensign Rag and Captain Famish.

(UK, slang, obsolete) The Army and Navy Club in London, England.


Greenwich goose

en-noun

Greenwich goose (plural Greenwich geese)

(UK, slang, obsolete) A pensioner of the Greenwich Naval Hospital in London, England.


Massacre of the Innocents

the Massacre of the Innocents (canonical)

(UK, politics, humorous) The abandonment of potentially useful measures at the end of a session in the House of Commons, since there is no time to pass them.


banner repeater

banner repeater (plural banner repeaters)

Banner-Repeater signals tend to be provided in locations where drivers receive insufficient warning of the main signal, thereby effectively increasing the sighting distance for the main signal.

2020 December 30, David Allen, “Unusual signals...”, in Rail, page 64:

(rail transport, UK) A type of railway signal which shows the aspect of a signal ahead of it, normally used in a situation where the main signal is hidden from view, for instance where there is a curve in the track.


Mutton Walk

However this might be, the pain occasioned by the sudden movement of TALLYHO, who had not yet learned to trip it lightly along the mutton walk, induced the sufferer to roar out most lustily, […]

(UK, slang, obsolete) The saloon at Drury Lane Theatre, once a popular gathering-place.


scufter

Nothing like being dead for putting the scufters off the scent.

1947, Robert Briffault, New Life of Mr. Martin, page 56:

(UK, North Country, dated, slang) A policeman.


Burdon's Hotel

(obsolete, UK, slang) Whitecross Street Prison, London, England.


Pig and Tinderbox

(UK, slang, obsolete, humorous) The Elephant and Castle.


beetle-squasher

(dated, British, slang) Synonym of beetle-crusher (“a large flat foot”)


brozier

en-verb

brozier (third-person singular simple present broziers, present participle broziering, simple past and past participle broziered)

broziers (present singular third-person)
broziering (participle present)
broziered (participle past)
broziered (past)

The miserable fact is, I am completely broziered, cut down to a sixpence, and have left town.

1808, Thomas Morton, The Way to Get Married: A Comedy, in Five Acts, page 9:

(transitive, UK, slang, obsolete) To bankrupt.

[…] and as dinners were not always up to the mark, according to their ideas, they sometimes sought advantage from it, and took to "broziering" their Dame.

1892, William Hill Tucker, Eton of Old: Or, Eighty Years Since, 1811-1822, page 82:

(transitive, UK, slang, obsolete) To steal provisions from the larder of (the school housekeeper).


brozier

(transitive, UK, slang, obsolete) A bankrupt person.

(transitive, UK, slang, obsolete) The school prank of stealing provisions from the housekeeper's larder.


Skimmery

(UK, slang, obsolete) St Mary Hall, Oxford, England, a medieval academic hall of the University of Oxford, incorporated into Oriel College in 1902.


according to Gunter

according to Cocker
according to Cocker#English

(dated, colloquial, British, idiomatic) Synonym of according to Cocker


transfer test

(UK, Ireland, education) An examination administered to some students in their last year of primary education, governing admission to grammar schools and other secondary schools that use academic selection.


tripartite system

(UK, Ireland, education, historical) The division of state-funded secondary education into three types of school: grammar school, secondary technical school, and secondary modern school; used between 1945 and the 1970s in England and Wales, and from 1947 to 2009 in Northern Ireland. Performance in the 11-plus examination determined which type of school a student would attend.