lovely jubbly

Based on the 1950s slogan “lubbly Jubbly” advertising Jubbly, an orange-flavoured soft drink. The modified version was coined by the English television scriptwriter John Sullivan (1946–2011) as an expression generally used by the character Derek “Del Boy” Trotter, a market trader from London, in the BBC television comedy Only Fools and Horses (first broadcast 1981–1991, with Christmas specials in 1996 and 2001–2003).

‘Yeah?’ says Adam, who doubtless expected me to put up a fight. ‘Lovely jubbly! It's a date!’ / ‘No, it isn’t,’ I say.

2000, Anna Maxted, chapter 35, in Getting Over It, London: Arrow Books, Random House, →ISBN, page 287:

Press gently all the way around to seal the edges and keep the chocolate in. Bake for 10 minutes and eat hot or cold. Easy peasy, lovely jubbly!

2004, Beatrice Hollyer, Let’s Eat: What Children Eat around the World, New York, N.Y.: Holt, →ISBN:

(British, informal) Often used as a response to some (anticipated) success: lovely; fantastic, great.


lovely jubbly

en-adj

lovely jubbly (comparative more lovely jubbly, superlative most lovely jubbly)

more lovely jubbly (comparative)
most lovely jubbly (superlative)

Duane bumped his elbow. They were on the Christmas pudding. 'Fucking lovely jubbly this, innit?' Duane said.

1999, Roger Granelli, Status Zero, Bridgend, Mid Glamorgan: Seren, →ISBN, page 169:

(British, informal) Lovely; fantastic, great.


Sally Army

"The screw that put them in the cells was in the Sally Army."

1982, Brendan Behan, Borstal Boy, David R. Godine Publisher, →ISBN, page 179:


I should cocoa

Cockney rhyming slang
Cockney rhyming slang

(Cockney rhyming slang, British, dated, humorous) I should say so; I should concur; I strongly agree (almost always used ironically or sarcastically).


ratcatcher

William Shakespeare
w:William Shakespeare

(British) An insult, not widely used nowadays but made popular by William Shakespeare in Romeo and Juliet.


shitehawk

Possibly one of the most highly protected birds today is the kite, known by the British Army throughout the world as a shite-hawk.

1999 April 28, Lord Burton, “Capercaillie”, in parliamentary debates (House of Lords), column 423:

Shite-hawks..are more properly known as black kites,..gaining their unlovely nickname from British troops who used to get the meat stolen from their plates by these bold and skilful birds.

2006 March 11, Simon Barnes, “At deep mid-wicket I can see a face like a gargoyle – but wings like an angel”, in The Times, page 23:

(chiefly UK, Ireland, informal) A large scavenging or predatory bird; especially (originally in military use in South Asia) the black kite.

European herring gull
European herring gull

(chiefly UK, Ireland, informal) The European herring gull.

"Watch yer language, ye shitehawk." His da had heard the din from the kitchen and had decided to have his say in the matter.

1997, Valerie Maher, Sarah's Gate: Tales from Ballyhornet:

What must it be like, to be such a fucking gimp, and see perfection, and know you're too much of a shitehawk to ever have it?

2001, Gary Owen, Crazy Gary's Mobile Disco:

When I win, Liam still suggests on the eighteenth green that I'm a nine-fingered shitehawk.

2005, Andrew M Greeley, The Priestly Sins:

...any analyst who puts out a book with the word "ethics" in the title is invariably an incorrigible shitehawk.

(chiefly UK, Ireland, informal) An objectionable person; a twat or wanker.


pushbike

The noun is derived from push + bike. The verb is derived from the noun.

In England I learned to ride what the Australians call a push-bike, and spent many week-end leaves, and one four days' leave, riding in the South of England and Wales. [...] Today, I wished the push-bike was in its old place—especially when three boys sailed past on push-bikes and offered to give me some "gas."

1919, The Motorcycle Illustrated, volume 15, New York, N.Y.: Motorcycle Publishing Company, →OCLC, page 15:

[W]e find that the police have only got a pushbike in the place of the horse. We are, therefore, retrogressing. A pushbike cannot be used very well on our roads, and it is practically useless. The hon. member for Prieska expressed the view that it would cost much more to provide motor vehicles in the place of horses, but I doubt it.

1937, Union of South Africa: Debates of House of Assembly (House of Assembly of South Africa), volume 30, Cape Town: Cape Times, →OCLC, column 5911:

I ask the Minister for Transport whether his attention has been drawn to the fact that last year 120 pushbike riders were killed and more than 4,000 injured? Is it a fact that about 100,000 more pushbikes are coming on to the roads each year, increasing even further the possibility of accidents? Has it been estimated that there are over 2,000,000 pushbike riders in Australia, thousands of whom are under 12 years of age?

1970, Clarence Joseph Earl, “Bicycles”, in New South Wales Parliamentary Debates (New South Wales Legislative Assembly), Sydney, N.S.W.: W. & F. Pascoe, →OCLC, column 5610:

It was just like an old novel: an ornate iron gate was opened by a liveried janitor, looking askance at my rather derelict pushbike.

1984, Tad Sobolewski, Crossing the Bridges, Adelaide, S.A.: Dezsery Ethnic Publications, →ISBN, page 3:

Section One of the Railway Trail is 1¾ miles long and is suitable for walking, push bikes (as bicycles are called), or mopeds. [...] Section Two is 2¼ mile in length and is suitable for push bikes and mopeds.

1995 July–August, Anne Sterling, “Bermuda Railway Trail: Exploring this ‘Linear Park’ Offers an In-depth Look at Island Life”, in Robert Meyers, editor, Cruise Travel, volume 17, number 1, Evanston, Ill.: World Publishing Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 48:

The town being so small, everybody rode pushbikes and there were pushbikes propped up everywhere. I've never seen anything like it! Next thing you know there were pushbikes going in all directions and blokes climbing up the verandah posts!

1996, Australian Farm Journal, volume 6, Melbourne, Vic.: Rural Press Limited, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 12, column 2:

He looked around for a push bike. There was a red one hanging on the wall that looked like it might go.

2005, J[ason] T[revor] Wilson, “Way Down Below”, in Behind the Lines: Stories, Auckland: Exisle Publishing, →ISBN, page 56:

[O]ne night, when my brother and I went to bed, he told me he was leaving that night, but he needed my pushbike because his one was old, ugly and broken. [...] In return for giving him my pushbike he promised to give me his miniature railway set.

2018, Hans Meyer, “10 Years at School”, in 72 Years ont the Slippery, Sloppery Gangway Called “Life”: The Ups and Downs of Working 45 Years in the Shipping Industry, Kibworth Beauchamp, Leicestershire: Matador, Troubador Publishing, →ISBN, pages 13–14:

(UK, Ireland, Commonwealth, informal) A pedal bicycle, as distinguished from a motorized bicycle.


pushbike

en-verb

pushbike (third-person singular simple present pushbikes, present participle pushbiking, simple past and past participle pushbiked)

pushbikes (present singular third-person)
pushbiking (participle present)
pushbiked (participle past)
pushbiked (past)

It makes me miserable when I think of the number of poor surveyors still push-biking their daily round.

1913, Surveyor, volume 43, London: [Taylor & Francis?], →OCLC, page 1001, column 2:

Recently two of us had to go into Makeni to collect copper for the men's December pay, and as walking would have taken at least two days, and for any degree of comfort four, we push biked along the bush track from camp to Kamabai, about six miles, and covered the remaining twenty odd miles by railway trolley (West African pump-car).

1930s, “Homo” [pseudonym; Harold James Holmes], Behind Mount Lion: Treks and Tours in Sierra Leone: Compiled from the Letters of “Homo”, Andover, Hampshire: Published at the “Advertiser” Printing Works, →OCLC, page 50:

Dr. Smith is making a tour of the world "push-biking" from place to place, forwarding whatever he finds interesting along his travels.

1932, Herbert N. Smith, “English Personalities”, in Year Book of Optometry, New York, N.Y.: New York State Optometric Association, →OCLC, page 249:

First of all it was very early in the morning—it was about by this time between 4 and 6 a.m. everybody still asleep—so I went on and start push biking around the house till I decide that its not too early.

1964, Jerzy Zubrzycki, Settlers of the Latrobe Valley: A Sociological Study of Immigrants in the Brown Coal Industry in Australia, Canberra, A.C.T.: Australian National University, →OCLC, page 205:

In South East Nigeria I knew him only slightly between 1923 and 1948; a self-effacing but self-sufficient figure pushbiking about the country in khaki shorts, white shirt and plimsolls, always purposeful, seldom interested in the whisky, gin, and bridge sessions that passed for evening society in bush stations.

1971, African Arts: A Quarterly Journal Devoted to the Graphic, Plastic, Literary and Performing Arts of Africa, Los Angeles, Calif.: African Studies Center, University of California, Los Angeles, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 93, column 1:

Apart from a wireless-repair van parked a few yards off and a vicar's-wife type, energetically push-biking past in bright yellow oilskins, the streets were deserted.

1994, Kingsley Amis, You Can’t Do Both, London: Hutchinson, →ISBN; republished London: Vintage Books, 2004, →ISBN, page 318:

It was cloudy, cool and misty as he [Thomas Edward Lawrence] push-biked up the long hill into Elsfield village.

1996, Paul [J.] Marriott, Yvonne Argent, The Last Days of T. E. Lawrence: A Leaf in the Wind, Brighton, East Sussex, Portland, Or.: Alpha Press, →ISBN, page 64:

The other thing about the time he pushbiked from Hereford back home was that when he stripped off, his body underneath was black.

1998, Gordon Burn, Happy Like Murderers, London: Faber and Faber, →ISBN; republished London: Faber and Faber, 2011, →ISBN, page 167:

(intransitive, Australia, New Zealand, UK, informal) To travel by pushbike.


wankery

The core band, meanwhile, had clearly honed their chops well on stage; Ashton's lead guitar work avoids both wankery and simplicity […]

2002, Vladimir Bogdanov, Chris Woodstra, Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide to Rock:

Their visas entailed bribes and a certain amount of bureaucratic wankery, but were approved quickly enough.

There are moments of static beauty, haunting sparseness, and pointless wankery, sometimes all in the same tune.

2003, Jim DeRogatis, Turn on Your Mind: Four Decades of Great Psychedelic Rock:

Sub Pop was different, they were arty and more into darker, weirder stuff like Big Black. K was pretty much the opposite of that kind of macho wankery.

2007, Everett True, Nirvana: The Biography:

(UK, Ireland, Commonwealth, slang, vulgar) Unnecessary or pretentious noodling (messing around).


chief petty officer

en-noun

chief petty officer (plural chief petty officers)

non-commissioned officer
non-commissioned officer

warrant officer class 2
warrant officer class 2

(UK, Navy) A non-commissioned officer in the Royal Navy, ranking above petty officer and below warrant officer class 2.


fuckwittedness

It's a war against terror and it's a war against ignorance, and it's a war against prejudice and pure dumb-arsed fuckwittedness, and we've got to win that […]

2003, Stephen Sewell, Myth, Propaganda and Disaster in Nazi Germany and Contemporary America:

At any rate, this particular incidence of fuckwittedness had me arrive at Southampton Parkway ready to alight, struggling to the exit door in the corridor […]

2006, Stephen Francis, Reconstructing Stephen:

He should have stayed away from the war wound fuckwittedness, the being cute.

2008, James Meek, We Are Now Beginning Our Descent:

(UK, Ireland, Commonwealth, slang, vulgar) Extreme stupidity.


NCT

We smile at the despairing mother whose children are bouncing off the walls and tell her that she deserves a large glass of wine after the kids have gone to bed, and that we would do the same. Or we “jokingly” bring a bottle of wine to the NCT picnic.

2018 June 10, Amelia Hill, “The secret shame of being a sober mother”, in The Observer:

National Childbirth Trust
w:National Childbirth Trust

(UK) Initialism of National Childbirth Trust.


stickman

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

In some cases, when the property is taken from the drunken man, one of the women on some pretext steps to the door and passes it to the “stickman” standing outside, who then makes off with it.

1861, Henry Mayhew, London Labour and the London Poor; […], volume IV (Those that Will Not Work), London: Griffin, Bohn, and Company, […], →OCLC, page 282:

It is doubtful if the Victorian Londoner needed any warning, for the artful mobsmen, toolers, whizzers and dippers, together with their stickman accomplices, were everywhere in the crowds, in the underground, on railway trains […]

1976, Michael Harrison, Beyond Baker Street: A Sherlockian Anthology, page 117:

(UK, slang, archaic) A pickpocket's accomplice who takes the stolen goods in case the pickpocket is searched.


whiskery

en-adj

whiskery (comparative more whiskery, superlative most whiskery)

more whiskery (comparative)
most whiskery (superlative)

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

It is, of course, the most whiskery old cliché, but clichés usually have their basis in fact, and this one certainly does: Historically, the French have paid extraordinary—some would say excessive—attention to what they eat and how they eat it.

2001, Peter Mayle, “The Inner Frenchman”, in French Lessons: Adventures with Knife, Fork, and Corkscrew, New York: Knopf, page 8:

I checked it out, and there were some good—if whiskery—stories.

2009 January 14, Simon Hoggart, “Simon Hoggart’s Sketch: Short-selling sermons as God takes on Mammon”, in The Guardian:


liftshaft

From lift (“vertical transport, elevator”) + shaft, from Old English sceaft, from Proto-Germanic *skaftaz.

(UK) The vertical shaft in a building which contains a lift (elevator) platform or cab, and through which it is moved from floor to floor.


curtain twitcher

en-noun

curtain twitcher (plural curtain twitchers)

...but these self-invited guests made her feel like a curtain-twitcher of the worst kind and she resented them for it.

...the reader is also accepting the role of curtain twitcher or peeping Tom.

2004, Harold Love, English Clandestine Satire, 1660-1702:

The curtain twitcher who saw the incident exclaimed in detail what had happened and it was pretty obvious that Burnett did not mean to kill him.

(British, slang) A nosy person who watches his or her neighbours, typically from a curtained window.


mudlark

Anthus petrosus
Anthus petrosus#Translingual

Alauda arvensis
Alauda arvensis#Translingual

(UK, regional) Any of various birds that are found in muddy places or build their nests with mud, especially Anthus petrosus and Alauda arvensis.


reading week

From reading + week.
From every class period of the school day during the school week being a reading period, where students read their notes and self-revised class material in preparation for assessments.

(UK, Canada) A week during a university's term where no teaching takes place, generally so that students may prepare for tests.


bolden

en-verb

bolden (third-person singular simple present boldens, present participle boldening, simple past and past participle boldened)

boldens (present singular third-person)
boldening (participle present)
boldened (participle past)
boldened (past)

(transitive, obsolete except UK, dialectal) Synonym of embolden (“To render (someone) bolder or more courageous”)


bluecoat

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

This was a bluecoat school in my day.

(British, often attributive) A pupil attending any of certain prestigious British schools having a traditional dress code.


gingerism

/ˈd͡ʒɪnd͡ʒɚɪzm̩/

Gingerism is popular with comedians and audiences, and just as addicts take methadone instead of heroin, ginger gags are a safe, controlled substitute for ....

1997, Oliver Double, Stand Up!: On Being a Comedian, page 219:

A young girl asked the website: "What is the difference between racism, gingerism and sexism? "Nothing, that's what.

2004 July 22, “Red alert over an annoying prejudice.”, in Huddersfield Daily Examiner:

Gingerism in the workplace could form the basis of formal grievances or constructive dismissal cases, an employment lawyer has warned.

2007 June 14, “Red hair bullying cases could end up in court”, in The Register:

(British, Australia, New Zealand) Prejudice or discrimination against people with red hair.


cotton wool bud

en-noun

cotton wool bud (plural cotton wool buds)

(British) A short, thin and flexible rod with a small wad of cotton wool at each end.


lairiness

The old songs spool out, reaffirming once again everything that is great about the Streets. "Brace yourself, 'cause this goes deep," runs a line from Turn the Page, pointing up [Mike] Skinner's ability to grapple with existential dread as well as the cinematic, blow-by-blow accounts of everyday lairiness.

2019 January 26, Kitty Empire [pseudonym], “The Streets review – the agony and ecstasy of a great everyman”, in Katharine Viner, editor, The Guardian, London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2019-04-08:

(British) The property of being lairy (“grumpy or touchy”).


borstal training

The court could sentence them to 'Borstal training', which meant that they were detained in a Borstal institution for an indeterminate period of between six months and two years.

1989, Richard Meredith Jackson, J. R. Spencer, Jackson's Machinery of Justice, page 277:

(British, law, historical) The sentencing of young offenders to a special prison.


compère

It was Moscow’s best known compère, George Bengalsky.

1967, Michael Glenny, chapter 12, in The Master and Margarita, translation of Мастер и Маргарита by Mikhail Bulgakov, published 1938, →ISBN, page 142:

The fact that compères routinely wait no more and no less than eight seconds before interrupting means that they decide at just that point that an audience has been clapping long enough, [...]

1984, Max Atkinson, Our Masters' Voices, page 27:

Suddenly compères were sipping coffee in the middle of their shows, …

2004-2005, Paul Ginsborg, Silvio Berlusconi, page 48

(chiefly British) Alternative form of compere


Tony crony

From Tony + crony, chosen for the rhyme.

...including such folk as Peter Mandelson, a Labour spin doctor-turned-minister, and Lord Alli, an ennobled Asian Tony-crony with a television company.

Falconer is basically a good egg but his reputation as a "Tony crony" and his involvement with the Millennium Dome do him no favours.

2001, Royal Town Planning Institute, Planning: For the Natural and Built Environment:

She said the Tony crony thing was a real problem.

2007, Alastair Campbell, The Blair Years:

(British, informal, humorous, derogatory) An ingratiating political associate of the former British prime minister Tony Blair.


muggen

en-adj

muggen (comparative more muggen, superlative most muggen)

more muggen (comparative)
most muggen (superlative)

From mug + -en (“made of, consisting of”).

a muggen teapot

(UK dialectal, Northern England) Made of earthenware in contradistinction to china, metal, wood, etc.


buer

“What about that polony he was with?” ¶ “She doesn't matter”, the Boy said, “She's just a buer—he gave her a half. I saw him hand it out.”

1938, Graham Greene, Brighton Rock, London: Heinemann (1947), page 28:

(UK, archaic, slang, often derogatory) A woman, especially a sexually promiscuous one.


nappy rash

en-noun

nappy rash (countable and uncountable, plural nappy rashes)

(British) Any of various skin rashes in the diaper area.


foretop

From Middle English fore-top, for-top, equivalent to fore- + top.


commercial traveller

commercial traveller (plural commercial travellers)


stark bollock naked

(British, vulgar, emphatic) Not wearing clothes.


diarrhoeagenic

en-adj

diarrhoeagenic (comparative more diarrhoeagenic, superlative most diarrhoeagenic)

more diarrhoeagenic (comparative)
most diarrhoeagenic (superlative)

British standard spelling of diarrheagenic.


arse-licker

(UK, Ireland, Commonwealth) Alternative form of ass-licker


hoppet

Hoppets. Hand-baskets. These were used for holding seed. In March 1590, two seed-hoppets and a wisket cost 18d.; April 1592, a wisket at Tingreve and a third hoppet there cost 9d.

1857, John Harland, The House and Farm Accounts of the Shuttleworths of Gawthorpe Hall, in the County of Lancaster, at Smithils and Gawthorpe, from Sept. 1582 to Oct. 1621, page 707:

(UK, dialect) A handbasket for holding seeds while sowing.

The sinkers were raised and lowered in a hoppet attached to the rope.

1904, Great Britain. Home Office, Mines and Quarries, page 81:

A sinker must be appointed as hanger-on to give signals to the bank; he must also steady the hoppet whenever it has been lifted off the bottom, and must see that it has ceased to swing before he gives the signal to wind up.

1904, Arnold Lupton, Mining: An Elementary Treatise on the Getting of Minerals, page 113:

The hoppet is thus steadied and guided, and may be raised with safety at a greater speed than was formerly possible.

1906, James Tonge, The Principles and Practice of Coal Mining, page 69:

(UK, dialect) A dish used by miners to measure ore.

The bowling green can be seen in the hoppet, but the windmill has been removed.

1926, Edward Arthur Fitch, William Herbert Dalton, Charlotte Fell-Smith, The Essex Review, page 139:

To Charles my tenements and lands in Rettendon , i.e. my tenement called Hadds with a little hoppet of a rood of land lying to the same , my tenement with 15 acres of customary land and 15 acres of silver land

1982, Frederick George Emmison, Essex Wills (England): 1558-1565, page 149:

Grant, captain ... affirmeth that he holdeth no such land, nor is there any land appertaining to the said chapel other than the ground whereupon the blockhouse is builded ... and a little hoppet in the occupation of the ferryman Grey, worth by the year 2s. 4d.

1987, Essex Society for Archaeological and History, Essex Archaeology and History, page 157:

This I took out of the rools the 24 of Aprill 1610 , Mr Thomas Hobbes Esquyer being then lord of the mannor ; nor can I tell whether the rent of 8d lys only on that hoppet or that it be also for the 2 cow leases ( which perhaps are coppyhold, because mentioned in the rolls). The hoppet, though it were never great nor profitable, is, since the New River (which cutt cross over it) less of value.

1989, Thomas Hassall, Stephen G. Doree, The Parish Register and Tithing Book of Thomas Hassall of Amwell, page 217:


onsell

en-verb

onsell (third-person singular simple present onsells, present participle onselling, simple past and past participle onsold)

onsells (present singular third-person)
onselling (participle present)
onsold (participle past)
onsold (past)

"That property is then taken in by a receiver who then onsells it, we'll be alleging to markets or other retail stores."

2009 January 30, “Shoplifting haul worth 'several millions'”, in Herald Sun:

(British, business, transitive) To sell (a purchased item) to a second buyer.


dangerman

Only James Hopes could halt the pair's dominance, the all-rounder snaring both dangermen to finish with figures of 3-44.

2009 January 30, AAP, “Proteas snatch No. 1 ranking”, in Herald Sun, archived from the original on 2009-02-02:

Sergej Milinkovic-Savic, the dangerman midfielder, was given greater license to get closer to the strikers.

2024 June 16, David Hytner, “Jude Bellingham gives England winning start but Serbia make Southgate sweat”, in Guardian:

(sports, British) A player on an opposing side who poses a significant threat


sweatbox

They shoved me in the back of a police van and started driving to the cop shop. I was sitting in the sweatbox, wondering how the Dibble had got onto me so quickly, when I heard a voice from another section of the van say, 'Are you P from Macclesfield?'

2013, Colin Blaney, Hotshot: The Story of a Little Red Devil:

[…] she was finally hustled into a sweatbox, as prisoners and prison staff called it, and was off to meet her new home for the foreseeable future.

(UK, slang) A compartment in a police van to hold a prisoner being transported.


panda car

/ˌpændə ˈkɑː/

/ˌpændə ˈkɑɹ/

From the original black and white colouring of the automobiles, like that of a giant panda.

(UK, Ireland, law enforcement, informal) A police car; specifically (historical), one with a broad white stripe painted around its middle on a darker-coloured or, originally, black background.


Stanley knife

From a brand name owned by the US tool manufacturer formerly known as Stanley Works; from Stanley (“surname”) + knife.

Hotels expect to lose ashtrays, coat hangers and towels, for me it was Stanley knives. I didn′t mind a bit! If anyone bought a ₤35 a carpet, they were more than welcome to a 50 pence knife.

1988, Dennis Sloan, The Twenty-Third Little Varmint, published 2005, page 126:

[…]the trams floating slowly down Swanston Street, paper-sellers cutting open bundles with Stanley knives, the smell of ground coffee from the downstairs cafe,[…].

2002, Guy Rundle, “Up from the Dead”, in Peter Craven, editor, The Best Australian Essays 2002, page 187:

He gripped his Stanley knife and swung open the door almost detaching it from its hinges.

2003, Anthony Hulse, Insanity Never Sleeps, Mediaworld, UK, page 30:

Manchester′s ‘golden boys’, Joy Division, had recently been devastated by the death of their singer, Ian Curtis: that good-looking, sad young man had made a spectacular exit by carving a smile on his face with a Stanley knife before hanging himself.

2004, David Bret, Morrissey: Scandal & Passion, page 34:

(UK, Australia, New Zealand) A type of retractable utility knife with a replaceable blade.


homeware

en-noun

homeware (countable and uncountable, plural homewares)

[…] selling homewares has become the toughest job on the high street.

2009 January 23, Zoe Wood, “War on the home front as Ikea chief tempts flatpack-phobic”, in The Guardian:

(British, Ireland) Furnishings for the home, such as furniture and cushions.


hit-out

“There were some of the dives that could have been performed better but it was good to have a hit-out.”

2009 February 6, Bill Marshall, quoting Helen Galashan, “Shock victory for twins”, in Telegraph and Argus, Bradford, England:

There was a second prong to Bill′s in-the-dark equine hit-outs. He believed nocturnal track work produced great times on race day.

2011, H. G. Nelson, My Life in Shorts, Pan Macmillan Australia, unnumbered page:

(UK, sports) A match or session, particularly for practice.


drawcard

I remember once in the professional theatre in Addis Ababa a certain actor had become a popular drawcard.

1997, Robert Kavanagh, Making People′s Theatre, page 182:

1998, The Bulletin, Issues 6138-6146, page 62,
Falconry is another big drawcard at Hever and at other historical sites.

The drawcard was a two-act comic revue written for the occasion, “Quatsch” (German, “Nonsense”).

1993, Brian Boyd, Vladimir Nabokov: The Russian Years, page 273:

A single trip might not seem particularly environmentally significant, but Norway′s environment remains one of its main drawcards and one that millions of travellers who visit Norway every year have a responsibility to protect.

2008, Anthony Ham, Miles Roddis, Kari Lundgren, Norway, Lonely Planet, page 19:

He was the defending champion, a proven drawcard and a player of the future.

2009 January 28, Todd Woodbridge, “Australian tennis great says heat simply part of game”, in Herald Sun, archived from the original on 2009-08-04:

(UK) Something that attracts customers, visitors, spectators, etc. to a place or an event.

vetonaula

attraction to attend a place or an event


blokeish

en-adj

blokeish (comparative more blokeish, superlative most blokeish)

more blokeish (comparative)
most blokeish (superlative)

2002 December, Cole Moreton, review of Sinead O'Connor, Sean-nós nua, in Third Way, page 31,
The blokeish bar-room ballad ‘Peggy Gordon’ is performed as a tender love song for another woman.

He's stuck his hand in his pocket as if he wanted to look more like an ordinary man, or more blokeish.

2003, Bernard-Henri Lévy, translated by Andrew Brown, Sartre, page 443:

Hailed by a host of younger guitar bands such as Ocean Colour Scene and Oasis, Weller dropped the jazzy noodlings of his previous couple of sets in favour of a raw, blokeish sound.

2003, Peter Buckley, The Rough Guide to Rock, page 1161:

(UK, Australia, informal) Characteristic or typical of a bloke.


sket

Love for the G's in the ends / But we don't love no girls in the ends / Last time I fell in love with a sket / But trust me, I will never do that again

2014, Skepta, Jme (lyrics and music), “That's Not Me” (track 10), in Konnichiwa, performed by Skepta featuring Jme:

You shagged bare lads, you're a little sket / Have you heard your bars? They're fucking pept

2016 December 3, Millie B (lyrics and music), “Soph Aspin Send”, performed by Millie B:

(MLE, UK, Ireland, derogatory, slang) A sexually promiscuous woman.


gobsmacking

gobsmacking (comparative more gobsmacking, superlative most gobsmacking)

more gobsmacking (comparative)
most gobsmacking (superlative)

(slang, UK, Ireland, Commonwealth) Causing one to be gobsmacked; astounding, flabbergasting.


tiddler

(British, informal) A small fish, especially a stickleback.


awayday

Originally a railway day-return ticket at a special price.

Unlike one location of the 2019 comedy series Down from London, in which Kingsman and Graham Dickson starred as an odd couple trying to fix their relationship with awaydays, her home is not by the sea.

2022 November 27, Claire Armitstead, “Liz Kingsman: ‘Who is this woman who feels she can go on stage and make people laugh?’”, in The Observer, →ISSN:

(British) A business event, such as a team-building exercise, training course or internal meeting, that takes place away from the office without the usual distractions.


mountain ash

en-noun

mountain ash (usually uncountable, plural mountain ashes)

On the verdant slope and down by the edge of the water, the bird-cherry and the mountain ash displayed their flowery garb of summer.

1886, Peter Christen Asbjørnsen, translated by H.L. Brækstad, Folk and Fairy Tales, page 280:

Various measures were taken to avoid it, most popular being the suspension of certain herbs and tree branches over the doorways of dwellings and stables. Commonly used greenery were tansy, honesty, garlic, St. John's Wort, mountain ash, roadside verbena.

1940, Rosetta E. Clarkson, Green Enchantments: The Magic Spell of Gardens, The Macmillan Company, page 271:

2007, Tyler Guthrie, Mountain Ash: Formally Rowan Tree, Trinity College, Academic Dissertation.

Sorbus aucuparia
Sorbus aucuparia#Translingual

(British) A European tree, rowan or, more specifically, European rowan, of species Sorbus aucuparia.


washbag

(UK) A small bag used to hold toiletries and personal washing items


need not

en-verb

need not (third-person singular simple present need not, no present participle, simple past needed not, no past participle)

need not (present singular third-person)
needed not (past)

My example illustrates how circularity can arise in arguments that appeal to experiment. But the very same example serves to show that this need not be the case.

2013, Alan Chalmers, What is this thing called Science?, University of Queensland Press, page 36:

(chiefly UK, auxiliary, indicating absence of necessity) do not have to, do not need to.


casualize

casualize (third-person singular simple present casualizes, present participle casualizing, simple past and past participle casualized)

casualizes (present singular third-person)
casualizing (participle present)
casualized (participle past)
casualized (past)

Many of the workers have been casualized during the recent downturn.

(economics, chiefly British) To convert from regular to casual labor


bonkersness

He's like the Michelle Gomez character in Green Wing (the one who used to stalk Julian Rhind-Tutt along the hospital corridors) - living proof that an unhealthy interest in filth and a bit of bonkersness is actually funnier than jokes.

2009 February 14, Sam Wollaston, “Last night's TV”, in The Guardian:

(chiefly British, informal) The quality or state of being bonkers


moral fibre

en-noun

moral fibre (usually uncountable, plural moral fibres)

He lacked the moral fibre to be a leader.

(UK) The inner strength to do what one believes to be right; often an ability to make difficult decisions.


filthy dirty

en-adj

filthy dirty (comparative more filthy dirty, superlative most filthy dirty)

more filthy dirty (comparative)
most filthy dirty (superlative)


Sally Ann

Amenities for the Canadian army in the battle zone were few and far between, but the prime one of them all was the Salvation Army, the Sally Ann, a religious organization back home that served all ranks and religions.

2005, Robert E. Rogge, Fearsome Battle: With the Canadian Army in World War II Europe, →ISBN, page 50:

'Then she must be a member of the Sally Ann.' / That's what some people called the Salvation Army, whether with affection or not I don't know.

2006, Thomas Healy, I Have Heard You Calling in the Night, →ISBN, page 97:

(informal, Canada, British) The Salvation Army.


nighthawker

(British) A metal detectorist who works illegally at night to remove artefacts from archaeological sites.


nighthawking

/ˈnʌɪthɔːkɪŋ/

(British) The action of a nighthawker; the practice of metal-detecting late at night to illegally remove artifacts from restricted sites.


balls up

en-verb

balls up (third-person singular simple present ballses up, present participle ballsing up, simple past and past participle ballsed up)

ballses up (present singular third-person)
ballsing up (participle present)
ballsed up (participle past)
ballsed up (past)

He was putting everything he had into it, but he kept ballsing up.

2009, Jan Kjaerstad, The Discoverer, →ISBN:

'We just have to get through without ballsing up

2011, Lesley Thomson, A Kind of Vanishing, →ISBN:

(UK, Commonwealth, Ireland, vulgar, intransitive) To make a mess of a situation.

He really ballsed up that paint work. It'll have to be redone!

It has got to the ludicrous stage that whenever Snedden makes a speech without actually ballsing something up irrevocably, they tell him he's the greatest thing since Winston Churchill;

1977, Mungo MacCallum, Mungo's Canberra, page 142:

Bearing in mind that if you're teasing but you have to explain it, then you're not teasing, you're just ballsing things up and being a fucking thug.

2010, A.L. Kennedy, Everything You Need, →ISBN:

We’re humans, we’re fallible, there is no medal for being right all the time; admitting we ballsed it up is not a weakness, it’s a superpower.

2023 January 28, Justin Myers, “62 dating green flags that shout ‘this one’s a keeper’”, in The Guardian:

(UK, Commonwealth, Ireland, vulgar, transitive) To do something badly. To ruin a job.


knucker

From Old English nicor (“water monster; hippopotamus”).

inh

(UK, dialect) A kind of water dragon, said to live in knuckerholes in Sussex, England.


worklessness

The majority come from circumstances where worklessness is embedded, and placements need to incorporate some element of mentoring if these individuals are to develop the life skills necessary to sustain a career.

2009 January 16, Libby Brooks, “Generation Crunch need more than just McJobs”, in The Guardian:

(British) Unemployment; the state of being without paid work


groover

/ˈɡɹuːvə(ɹ)/

It [ore] is generally cloathed with a substance which the groovers call Crootes, and is a soft, mealy, white stone

(UK, dialect, Derbyshire, archaic) A miner.


land girl

(British, historical) A member of the Women's Land Army.


palaeomagnetic

(UK, geology) Of or pertaining to palaeomagnetism


Elastoplast

From the trademarked name of one brand of sticking plasters, presumably from elastic and plaster.

Tension on the skin edges is prevented by the use of several one-half inch strips of elastoplast applied directly across the wound at right angle to the suture line.

1951 February, Charles E. Gurney, Verner V. Lindgren, “Early Care of Traumatic Wounds of the Face”, in Northwest Medicine, volume 50, number 2, Portland, Ore.: Northwest Medical Publishing Association, page 93:

(UK, Ireland, Commonwealth) A sticking plaster (adhesive bandage) or medical dressing; a band-aid.


opencast

Britain's leading green commentator, George Monbiot, gives the head of the Campaign to Protect Rural England an unforgettable grilling, asking why the countryside watchdog opposes windfarms - but not opencast coal mines

2009 January 7, Ian Traynor, “Europe's plan for alternative pipeline faces big problems”, in The Guardian:

(chiefly British) Of or pertaining to strip mining, in which material is removed from a surface that has been exposed


shallow-fry

en-verb

shallow-fry (third-person singular simple present shallow-fries, present participle shallow-frying, simple past and past participle shallow-fried)

shallow-fries (present singular third-person)
shallow-frying (participle present)
shallow-fried (participle past)
shallow-fried (past)

(British) To fry in a frying pan with only a thin layer of oil; to pan-fry.


grasser

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


dischuffed

en-adj

dischuffed (comparative more dischuffed, superlative most dischuffed)

more dischuffed (comparative)
most dischuffed (superlative)

Lafayette was dischuffed but unsurprised, and left the building in what I would describe as a quality huff.

2007, Christopher Brookmyre, Attack of the Unsinkable Rubber Ducks, →ISBN, page 217:

(New Zealand, British, informal) Very displeased or unsatisfied.


sell down

en-verb

sell down (third-person singular simple present sells down, present participle selling down, simple past and past participle sold down)

sells down (present singular third-person)
selling down (participle present)
sold down (participle past)
sold down (past)

Don't order any potato cakes for 3 days while what we have sells down.

(intransitive, British, business) To become less by being sold.

Don't order any potato cakes for 3 days while we sell down our stocks., or

Don't order any potato cakes for 3 days while we sell our stocks down.

(transitive, British, business) To reduce by selling.


WDC

woman detective constable
woman detective constable#English

(UK, law enforcement, historical) Initialism of woman detective constable, a former police rank.


bugger factor

(slang, British) Sod's law or Murphy's law: "Anything that can go wrong will go wrong."


carrot cruncher

en-noun

carrot cruncher (plural carrot crunchers)

[H]e called Bill a turnip-headed old carrot-cruncher, and other insulting names.

1918, Norman Lindsay, The Magic Pudding, page 130:

Symun Devush, the carrot-cruncher, the hick from the sticks, who, when he'd arrived at the gaol, had no more conception of the city he found himself in than a worm does of the apple ...

'Me having an up to date style even though I've turned into a carrot cruncher. A country bumpkin.' Nathan giggled. 'Country bumpkin? I don't think so.'

2008, Sally Worboyes, Handbags And Gladrags:

At least I come from a part of the world that has got a football team; you're a friggn'^([sic]) carrot cruncher and you support the bloody scally's^([sic]).

2010, Cameron Addicott, The Interceptor:

(chiefly UK, slang, derogatory) Someone from a rural background; a bumpkin.


Royal

(UK, historical) A member of the first regiment of foot in the British army.


stram

en-verb

stram (third-person singular simple present strams, present participle stramming, simple past and past participle strammed)

strams (present singular third-person)
stramming (participle present)
strammed (participle past)
strammed (past)

(UK, dialect, West Country, obsolete) To dash down; to beat.


white van man

White is a standard colour for vans, it does not mean a van driver who happens to be white.

At the same time, the unregulated 'white van man' with low overheads has found a niche that no large company can possibly compete with.

2024 July 24, “Comment: Can Labour allow rail mail to fail?”, in RAIL, number 1014, page 3:

(British, informal) A stereotypical tradesman or handyman who drives a white van, especially one who drives carelessly.


I'll be blowed

Probably a hyperbole expressing that the speaker is so surprised it is as if they have been blown over by a gust of wind: compare blow me down and blow me over, and also knock someone over with a feather, which have the same sense. Used as a euphemism for I'll be damned; compare also blasted.

Well, I’ll be blowed if it isn’t my old school friend, John!

‘[…] Luke at that there homnibus; why, darn me—’ and now, in his eloquence at this peculiar point, my friend became more loud and powerful than ever—‘why, darn me, if maister harns enough with that there buss to put hiron on them osses feet, I’ll—be—blowed!’

1858, Anthony Trollope, chapter XV, in Doctor Thorne. […], volume II, London: Chapman & Hall, […], →OCLC, page 5:

The sound of his voice quickened the other’s memory, his face expanded to its fullest capacity, and he also broke into a laugh. “Why, Newman—I’ll be blowed! Where in the world—I declare—who would have thought? You know you have changed.”

1876 June, Henry James, Jr., chapter II, in The American, Boston, Mass.: James R[ipley] Osgood and Company, […], published 5 May 1877, →OCLC, page 20:

“I’ll be blowed if it isn’t the kid,” ejaculated Wheeler.

1893, Horatio Alger Jr., chapter XXX, in Cast Upon the Breakers:

(British, euphemistic, informal, dated) Used to express amazement and surprise.


lauk

Lauk a mercy on me....

1861, H.B. Ashmead, Mother Goose's Chimes, Rhymes & Melodies, Philadelphia, page 77:

(British, dialectal, obsolete) Alternative form of lawks


harbourfront

Jones' Boathouse beside James’ Bay Bridge rented out boats and canoes; many people living along the harbour front had boathouses and boats of their own, for regattas and water sports were one of Victoria's chief attractions.

1942, Emily Carr, “Regatta”, in The Book of Small, Toronto, Ont.: Oxford University Press, →OCLC:

Construction of new wave deck near harbourfront well underway.

2009 February 27, Vanessa Lu, “Chirpy Miller joins Twitter craze”, in Toronto Star:

(British, Canada) The area that fronts on a harbor


bin liner

(British) A disposable plastic bag used inside a permanent container to hold waste/garbage.


fellwalking

(British) walking in the fells as a pastime or sport


fellwalker

James never cared much for the sea-side, but developed a passionate love for the Westmoreland mountains, getting to know most of them as an energetic fell walker, preferring this to rock climbing.

1977, K.M. Elizabeth Murray, Caught in the Web of Words, Oxford: Oxford University Press, page 128:

(British) A person who takes part in fellwalking.


binliner

* (train): Blend of bin + Freightliner. The train sense is a pun on the name of the rail freight company Freightliner.
* (rubbish bag): bin + liner

Freightliner class '66' locomotive No. 66562 approaches the site of Launton station with the 10.55 a.m. Calvert to Bristol Avon binliner empties on 15August 2008.

2013, Stanley C. Jenkins, Martin Loader, Oxford, Bletchley & Bedford Line Through Time, Amberley Publishing Limited, →ISBN:

Freightliner Class 66 No. 66514 eases the 6M07 Roxby–Pendleton empty binliner through Agbrigg, Wakefield.

2014, Paul Manley, British Freight Trains, Amberley Publishing Limited, →ISBN:

Freightliner Green Team No. 66565 is seen passing the now electrified Manchester Victoria while working the 6J44 Brindle Heath–Dean Lane binliner refuse train.

2015, Ross Taylor, General Motors Type 5: Class 66 Locomotives, Amberley Publishing Limited, →ISBN:

(UK, rail transport) A freight train carrying household rubbish.


hypouricaemia

en-noun

hypouricaemia (usually uncountable, plural hypouricaemias)

(British) Alternative spelling of hypouricemia


hyperuricaemia

hyperuricaemia (usually uncountable, plural hyperuricaemias)

(British) Alternative spelling of hyperuricemia


kitemark

(UK) A certification symbol placed on products by the British Standards Institute, based on the letters B, S, and V.


kitemark

en-verb

kitemark (third-person singular simple present kitemarks, present participle kitemarking, simple past and past participle kitemarked)

kitemarks (present singular third-person)
kitemarking (participle present)
kitemarked (participle past)
kitemarked (past)

(British, transitive) To approve or certify by awarding the kitemark.


grice

grice (third-person singular simple present grices, present participle gricing, simple past and past participle griced)

grices (present singular third-person)
gricing (participle present)
griced (participle past)
griced (past)

Unknown, possibly from Richard Grice, the first champion trainspotterhttp://books.google.co.uk/books?id=rdU1xtIWJz0C&q=grice+trainspotter&dq=grice+trainspotter&hl=en&sa=X&ei=afhsT5ChFe-R0QWF8K3HBg&redir_esc=y, alternatively perhaps a humorous representation of an upper-class pronunciation of grouser (“grouse-shooter”)https://web.archive.org/web/20120313071637/http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/gricer. In either case the derivation could be direct or a back-formation from gricer.

Many people joined the railways because the 'carrot' of a staff pass was a considerable attraction, whether for family travel or to grice at extremely low cost.

1999 March 29, Tony Polson, “Re: Do all UK rail staff get free unlimited Eurostar travel?”, in uk.railway (Usenet):

We can also roganise photo charters, large group footplate courses and gricing holidays [...]

2005 August, The Railway Magazine, volume 151, number 1252, IPC Business Press, page 55:

Trainspotters may be mocked by the outside world, but they don't take criticism lying down: the language of gricing is notable for its acidic descriptions of outsiders.

2010, Adam Jacot de Boinod, “Gricer's Daughter”, in I Never Knew There Was a Word For It, →ISBN:

(UK, rail transport, slang) to act as a trainspotter; to partake in the activity or hobby of trainspotting.


off-slip

There are five all-purpose road entries in addition to the northbound Motorway off-slip road, which, because of extreme congestion,[…]

1973, Institution of Highway Engineers, The Highway Engineer, page 6:

(British) A slip road by which traffic leaves a major road such as a motorway.


on-slip

This situation is most acute at the eastbound on-slip of Junction 16 (Figure 1).

1974, by National Research Council (U.S.). Transportation Research Board, Transportation Research Record, page 101:

(British) A slip road by which traffic joins a major road such as a motorway.


Co-op

(British, informal) Any of very many shops belonging to the Co-operative Group and its predecessors


stocktake

Of all GE's journals, this diary most closely documents her processes of composition, and the list of 'Order of Writings' in the front of the book (evidently written in 1876 or'7) provides a stocktake of her career.

2000, George Eliot, Margaret Harris, Judith Johnston, The Journals of George Eliot, page 91:

Ben closed his eyes tightly for a quick stocktake of the situation as his heart and mind.

2009, Brendon Lancaster, Hoodie, page 32:

Bordering practices that are seemingly at odds with the modern geopolitical imaginary, such as those explored in Chapter 1, demand a stocktake of what critical resources might be available for new ways of thinking about what borders are, where they come from, and what they do in contemporary political life.

2012, Nick Vaughan-Williams, Border Politics, page 38:

She did a quick stocktake of the man who was standing there, half-hidden behind the door, glowering at her.

2014, Victoria Purman, Someone Like You:

(British) The act or process of taking stock of something, or the result of that assessment.


bridewell

From Bridewell (named after a well dedicated to St Bride), an area of London that once had a "house of correction".

Others in the Bridewell heard him screaming. Even prison doctors could see. His injuries were not self-inflicted. Those who tipped the scales did not agree.

1983, “The Wicklow Boy”, in The Time Has Come, performed by Christy Moore, produced by Dónal Lunny:

Two Fermanagh girls who never laughed were certain that he must have served time in a bridewell, so cold was his expression and so calloused his small hands.

2002, Joseph O'Conner, Star of the Sea, Vintage, published 2003, page xix:

(sometimes capitalised, dated in British, Ireland, rare elsewhere) A small prison, or a police station that has cells.


by gum

“You mean all’s lost?” I asked.
“Aye, by gum, I do!” he answered.

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

Couldn't hear the brass / Couldn't hear the drum / He was in a class by himself, by gum!

1937, Rodgers and Hart (lyrics and music), “Johnny One Note”:


nevah

(African-American Vernacular, Yankee dialect, UK) never

African-American Vernacular; Yankee dialect; African-American Vernacular; Yankee dialect


scrappage

en-noun

scrappage (usually uncountable, plural scrappages)

Motorists will receive £2,000 if they sell their old car and buy a new model, after the chancellor bowed to pressure from the automotive sector and announced a car scrappage scheme this afternoon.

2009 April 22, Dan Milmo, Tim Webb, “Budget 2009: car industry welcomes scrappage scheme”, in The Guardian:

A London-wide Ultra Low Emissions Zone will be in operation from August 29 2023, supported by new bus services and a £110m car scrappage scheme for Londoners who are disabled and/or on low incomes.

2022 December 14, Paul Stephen, “Network News: New DLR trains part of £8.1bn TfL transport plans”, in RAIL, number 972, page 21:

(UK) An amount of money paid by the government to a person trading in an old car (to be scrapped) for a more environmentally-friendly new one.

Abwrackprämie

amount of money paid to trade in an old car


set down

en-verb

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

sets down (present singular third-person)
setting down (participle present)
set down (participle past)
set down (past)

They rowed about a League; and then ſet me down on a Strand.

1726 October 28, [Jonathan Swift], “The Author Sets out as Captain of a Ship. […]”, in Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World. […] [Gulliver’s Travels], volume II, London: […] Benj[amin] Motte, […], →OCLC, part IV (A Voyage to the Houyhnhnms), page 159:

(transitive, especially British) To place, especially on the ground or a surface; to cease carrying; to deposit; to allow passengers to alight.


in a cleft stick

From the metaphor of being caught in a tight position, unable to move.

Ha! I see. You have got me in a cleft stick.

1901–1903, [George] Bernard Shaw, Man and Superman. A Comedy and a Philosophy, Westminster [London]: Archibald Constable & Co., published 1903, →OCLC, Act I, page 11:

Such a solution only puts the humanist in a cleft stick by trading the problem of malnutrition for that of over-population.

1964 September 3, H. Fullerton, Letters: Survival of the wild, New Scientist, Volume 23, No. 407, page 579

But considerations in drafting Sonia Gandhi apart, the Congress leadership is clearly caught in a cleft stick, with or without the services of Rajiv Gandhi′s widow.

1991, Attar Chand, Rajiv Gandhi: His Mind and Ideology, page 214:

(Australia, British, dated) In a difficult situation, unable to choose between unfavourable options; in a dilemma.


taig

From the Irish first name Tadhg, and thus probably cognate to Teagan and Tegan.

(British, especially Scotland and Northern Ireland, derogatory) An Irish Catholic.


village hall

(UK) A public building in a village provided for the benefit of the local community and used for various purposes.


subeditor

Sub-editors. Bastards. What about all that copy of his they'd cut? Fifteen years of research he'd filed from one planet alone and they'd cut it to two words. ‘Mostly harmless.’

1992, Douglas Adams, Mostly Harmless (The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy), page 96:

(UK) A copy editor at a newspaper or magazine.


dook

en-noun

dook (countable and uncountable, plural dooks)

From Dutch doek (“cloth, fabric, canvas”), from Middle Dutch doec, from Old Dutch *dōc, from Proto-West Germanic *dōk, from Proto-Germanic *dōkaz (“cloth”), from Proto-Indo-European *dwōg-, *dwōk- (“cloth”). See also duck (cloth).

(UK dialectal) A strong, untwilled linen or cotton.


thinking man's crumpet

thinking man's crumpet (plural thinking man's crumpets)

Coined 1960s by Frank Muir to describe Joan Bakewell, following the latter’s appearances in high-brow television discussion programmes such as BBC2's Late Night Line-Up.
From crumpet (“sexually desirable woman (UK slang)”).

Joan Bakewell was famously described as "the thinking man's crumpet".

(British, slang) An intelligent and good-looking woman, particularly one who has a high profile in the broadcast media.

Frank Muir
Joan Bakewell
Late Night Line-Up
The Daily Telegraph
thinking man's crumpet


dolly bird

(British) An attractive young woman, especially one whose intellect is rather less in evidence than her good looks.


cabbing

(British) The profession of a cabbie, especially one who drives a black cab.


bovvered

en-adj

bovvered (comparative more bovvered, superlative most bovvered)

more bovvered (comparative)
most bovvered (superlative)

Imitating a working-class or uneducated pronunciation with th-fronting. Popularised as the catchphrase of the fictional Lauren Cooper in The Catherine Tate Show in the mid-2000s.

(informal, British) bothered; caring about something


charidee

From the Mid-Atlantic English pronunciation of charity. First popularized by Harry Enfield and Paul Whitehouse in their "Smashie and Nicey" sketches from the BBC sketch show Harry Enfield's Television Programme.

(informal, humorous, UK) Conspicuous charity, seen as being driven by a non-altruistic (especially self-promotional) motive.


roop

en-verb

roop (third-person singular simple present roops, present participle rooping, simple past and past participle rooped)

roops (present singular third-person)
rooping (participle present)
rooped (participle past)
rooped (past)

From Middle English ropen (“to cry out”), from Old English hrōpan (“to shout, proclaim; cry out, scream, howl”), from Proto-Germanic *hrōpaną (“to call, shout, cry”), from Proto-Indo-European *ker-, *kor- (“to caw, crow”). Cognate with Scots roup (“to shout, roar, cry out loudly”), Saterland Frisian roupe (“to call, shout”), Dutch roepen (“to shout, cry out”), German rufen (“to call, cry, shout”), Swedish ropa (“to call, cry out, shout”), Icelandic hrópa (“to cry out”).

cog

(intransitive, UK dialectal, Northern England, Scotland) To roar; make a great noise.


buggeration

"Oh, buggeration." Her fidgety mother had skimmed three oranges off the top of the fruit bowl with her sleeve.

2004, Michael Lawrence, A Crack in the Line:

Buggeration! Where was Bert Lightfoot when you needed him?

Oh buggeration, the sodding light's come on...


pondlife

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


wanky

en-adj

wanky (comparative wankier, superlative wankiest)

wankier (comparative)
wankiest (superlative)

I do feel like a bit of a jealous wanky idiot.

2007, Mathilde Madden, The Silver Collar:

(UK, Ireland, Commonwealth, slang, vulgar) Like a wanker; foolish or objectionable.

Must always have a worse time than me at parties. Must hate parties, students, arty wankers, wanky art students, parties with wanky art students.

1993, Henry Normal, Nude Modelling for the Afterlife:

1997 April, Jessica Hopper, L7: The Beauty Process: Triple Platinum, review, Spin, page 161,
Donita Sparks′s patented “I'm still dead” vocals and wanky guitar often beg to be fast forwarded (“Drama” comes off like Helmet sans pretentious time signatures), but that′s your problem. L7 are perfectly happy to rock, dress like roadies, and fall off bar stools with glee-filled abandon.

That Leo Sayer haircut and those dungarees, and the stupid laugh and the wanky right-on politics...

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

We talked a bit — it was that wanky bar in town, the Art Bar — and first it was good, but then he got going on about justice, how there wasn't any.

2008, Richard Flanagan, The Unknown Terrorist:

(UK, Ireland, Commonwealth, slang, vulgar) Pretentious.


treader

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

From Middle English tredere, equivalent to tread + -er. Cognate with Middle Dutch treder (“treader”), Middle Low German trēdære, trēder (“treader, bellows kicker”), Middle High German tretære, treter (“treader”) (whence German Treter (“old shoe, footballer”)).

Why, he weren’t no more’n knocked offen his treader. An’ now he’ve rid off home on it!

1958, Dominic Reeve, Smoke in the Lanes, London: Constable & Co.; republished London: The Country Book Club, 1959, page 82:

The Royal Academy has just two orange hoops on to which four early-bird visitors can chain their treaders. It is left to the railings outside for the rest.

1996 June 6, Ben Summers, “Saddle-weary commuters left with a sore deal”, in The Independent, London, page 6:

He set off from Oxford on a standard old "treader" bike, often at night – navigating by the stars and napping under a hedge if got^([sic]) tired on his way to Holt.

2015 July 25, Richard Batson, “Family set for 156-mile charity ride in memory of Holt doctor”, in Eastern Daily Press, Norwich:


pantless

He twinkles, and I twinkle back, / Pantless, under a slim formal skirt, / Ready for work.

1961, Peter Redgrove, “The Secretary”, in The Nature of Cold Weather:

having a smattering of basic German or getting one of the nice English-speaking reception staff to show you around to begin with might just save you from turning up pantless in a strictly panted area, or the other way around.

2008, Anna Pickard, The Guardian, 10 Jan 08:


wear the trousers

en-verb

wear the trousers (third-person singular simple present wears the trousers, present participle wearing the trousers, simple past wore the trousers, past participle worn the trousers)

wears the trousers (present singular third-person)
wearing the trousers (participle present)
wore the trousers (past)
worn the trousers (participle past)

As long as I remember who's wearing the trousers / I hope he never lets me down again

1987, Martin L. Gore (lyrics and music), “Never Let Me Down Again”, in Music for the Masses, performed by Depeche Mode:

His mother wore the trousers, and father, a gentle man who worked in local government, was not ambitious enough for her.

1988, John Rowan, Windy Dryden, Innovative Therapy in Britain, page 246:

(British, idiomatic) (typically of a woman) To be the dominant partner in a relationship.


Sunday name

Sunday + name, since it is what one would be called at church on Sundays.

(British, slang) The full form of one's first name, such as Stephen instead of Steve.


ern

ern (third-person singular simple present erns, present participle erning, simple past and past participle erned)

erns (present singular third-person)
erning (participle present)
erned (participle past)
erned (past)

From Middle English ernen, from Old English irnan, iernan (“to run, move quickly”), metathetic variant of rinnan (“to run”). More at run.

(UK dialectal, Scotland) To (cause to) coagulate; curdle (milk) by adding rennet and applying heat.


ern

Of obscure origin. Perhaps an alteration of erme, from Middle English ermen, from Old English yrman, ierman. Compare also Old Scots urn, uren. More at erme.

(UK dialectal, Scotland) To pain; torture.

(UK dialectal, Scotland) (of the eyes) To cause to water; smart.


patronisation

en-noun

patronisation (countable and uncountable, plural patronisations)

(British) Alternative spelling of patronization


gutful

I've had a gutful of politics lately.

By Monday afternoon we were finished - loadwise, physically, mentally, you name it, we'd had a gutful of it.

2000, Bob Foster, Birdum or Bust!, Henley Beach, SA: Seaview Press, page 114:

He starts mouthing off a bit, then Priz says, “Pipe down while we′re trying to eat,” and then Dogga looks up and puts in, “I′ve had a gutful of ye.”
‘So then Barrowclough, the uraguhne, says, “Well, I′ve had a gutful of ye,” and adds, “I′ll break yer bleedin′ kneck.”

2002, Cecilia Dart-Thornton, The Lady of the Sorrows, page 199:

I told the captain what had happened and that the only reason the second rower hadn′t been sent off was because he missed. Then I added that I′d had a gutful and I′d start getting rid of blokes if it kept up.
The captain said, ‘You′ve had a gutful! Well, we′ve had a gutful of you.’

2003, Bill Harrigan, Harrigan: The Referee in a League of His Own, unnumbered page:

I looked at him and thought, ‘[…]He is, he′s exposing himself!’ I abandoned my shopping trolley, marched over to him and screamed, 'I′ve had a gutful! Do you understand me? I′ve had an absolute gutful of men and their dicks.[…]’

2008, Denise Scott, All That Happened at Number 26, page 141:

(UK, Australia, New Zealand, slang) As much as one is willing to hear or experience; as much as or more than one can bear; too much; a surfeit.


dialogue box

(British, computing) Nonstandard spelling of dialog box.


postbag

(British) A bag used for carrying post (mail).


unbovvered

en-adj

unbovvered (comparative more unbovvered, superlative most unbovvered)

more unbovvered (comparative)
most unbovvered (superlative)

But he does seem quite chilled, unbovvered and happy on his own and having one horse rather than two is much easier.

2006, suer, “Mum's first riding lesson ... aged 67”, in uk.rec.equestrian (Usenet):


clubbable

clubbable (comparative more clubbable, superlative most clubbable)

more clubbable (comparative)
most clubbable (superlative)

Would not Jack Johnson be cut nowadays by even the rowdiest of Stock Exchange young men, and be voted a cad by every clubbable man above the class of ’ARRY? For in this quality of “clubbable,” and the value now put upon it, lies the whole secret of change in our fast men, mashers, and men about town.

Those who have never opened Hawkins’ Life know Johnson was a ‘clubbable’ man and that Hawkins was an ‘unclubbable’ man: such is the influence of Boswell's Life– and its editors.

2012, J. Clark, H. Erskine-Hill, The Interpretation of Samuel Johnson, Springer, →ISBN:

It's usually only men who are described as ‘clubbable’, and before I knew what that actually meant I agreed with it.

2017, Jenny Landreth, Swell: A Waterbiography, Bloomsbury Publishing, →ISBN, page 84:

In Burns's time, there were some well-known ‘clubbable men’: Smellie, Erskine and Parker were all boon companions.

2019, Clark McGinn, The Burns Supper: A Comprehensive History, Luath Press Ltd, →ISBN, page 1480:


valourously

en-adv

valourously (comparative more valourously, superlative most valourously)

more valourously (comparative)
most valourously (superlative)

(British) Obsolete spelling of valorously.


teleshopping

téléshopping

shopping from home in response to offers on television advertising or shopping channels

(chiefly UK, India) Shopping from home in response to offers on television advertising or shopping channels.

(by extension, uncommon) Shopping in response to offers either on television or online.


varnisher

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

U was an Uptucker, fly with the cord; / V was a Varnisher, dressed like a lord; […]

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

(UK, slang, obsolete) A coiner of counterfeit money.


primage

en-noun

primage (countable and uncountable, plural primages)

From Late Latin primagium. (The French word post-dates the English.)

(archaic, UK) An import duty levied by a guild of harbour pilots (especially at Kingston-upon-Hull and Newcastle-upon-Tyne).


sandworm

(British) A lugworm, of species Arenicola marina.


lagered up

en-adj

lagered up (comparative more lagered up, superlative most lagered up)

more lagered up (comparative)
most lagered up (superlative)

Catatonia could always count on a place in the gossip columns, too, thanks to the lagered-up antics of their boisterous lead-singer-about-town.

2003, Peter Buckley, The Rough Guide to Rock:

Hanby was impressed by the fact that his mate was — as he put it — "lagered up and wearing posh kit".

2003, Sean Nixon, Advertising cultures: gender, commerce, creativity:

Bottle-blondes, red-tops, the odd baldie, well lagered up and shimmying, a right bevy out to tease the lads...


targetted

(usually British) Nonstandard spelling of targeted.


choon

And the music was so sweet, see because we just knew the choon. And we could have played a hundred choons that night...

2000, E Lynn Harris, Eric Jerome Dickey, Colin Channer, Marcus Major, Got to Be Real: Four Original Love Stories:

Behind her, beneath the thatch-roofed pavilions, the guests were skanking to old rock-steady choons and slamming dominoes on plastic tables...

A sleek cosmopolitan club with mainstream choons.

2005, David Else, Oliver Berry, England:

(British, nonstandard) A song or track, especially one that is catchy.


backcast

en-verb

backcast (third-person singular simple present backcasts, present participle backcasting, simple past and past participle backcast or backcasted)

backcasts (present singular third-person)
backcasting (participle present)
backcast (participle past)
backcast (past)
backcasted (participle past)
backcasted (past)

(UK dialectal) To change retrospectively; reverse.


backcast

(UK dialectal) Misfortune; reverse; reversal; a relapse in health or illness; moral backsliding.


backcast

en-adj

backcast (comparative more backcast, superlative most backcast)

more backcast (comparative)
most backcast (superlative)


backcast

(UK dialectal, of time) Long ago; in the past.


statto

Diminutive form of statistician or related term, + -o.

Soccer turns me into a statto […]

During the (rare) promotion season in 2003-2004 they managed a series of results that, if it were not for a local eagle-eyed statto type, might have gone unnoticed.

2004, Geoff Harvey, Vanessa Strowger, Rivals: The Offbeat Guide to the 92 League Clubs:

[…] see if sheepskin statto Motty can snatch the Best Commentator title from Manchester United's number one fan Clive Tyldesley […]

2005, Larry Ryan, Gareth Power, Paul Little, The Gaffta Awards:

Being a "statto" (my profession), I am also excited by the time barriers that us roadrunners face.

2007, P Robinson, The Healing Power of Exercise:

(British, slang) A person with a keen interest in statistics, particularly in sport.


paper shop

(Australia, British) A newsagency; a shop that sells newspapers and often other goods such as sweets and cigarettes.


twatty

twatty (comparative twattier, superlative twattiest)

twattier (comparative)
twattiest (superlative)

(vulgar, slang, UK, Ireland, Commonwealth) Like a twat; foolish, objectionable.


twatting

When are they going to fix that twatting coffee machine?

(UK, Ireland, Commonwealth, slang, vulgar) damned; blasted; contemptible


darbies

Who's afraid of him, except the old governor who daresn't catch him and put him in double-darbies, as he deserves, but lets him go about kidnapping people […]

1851, Herman Melville, chapter 73, in Moby Dick:

And he says, 'I'll go along quiet, Bobby,' he says, 'without the darbies,' he says.

1885, Lewis Carroll, “A Tangled Tale”, in The Complete Works of Lewis Carroll, New York: Vintage, published 1976, page 1058:

Second watch: (Produces handcuffs) Here are the darbies.

1922 February, James Joyce, Ulysses, Paris: Shakespeare and Company, […], →OCLC:

Sentry, are you there? / Just ease this darbies at the wrist, and roll me over fair, / I am sleepy, and the oozy weeds about me twist.

1924, Herman Melville, chapter 26, in Billy Budd, London: Constable & Co.:


skat

en-noun

skat (countable and uncountable, plural skats)

(UK, dialect) Alternate spelling of scat: a brisk shower of rain, driven by the wind.


munted

en-adj

munted (comparative more munted, superlative most munted)

more munted (comparative)
most munted (superlative)

Possible etymologies:
* From a Germanic language; compare Danish munter, German munter, Old High German muntar, all meaning "lively" or "merry".
* From Scottish Gaelic mùin (“to urinate, piss”), thus analogous to the sense "pissed".
* Blend of monged + cunted.

der

...he might even, if it was okay with Roly, bring a couple of cans of lager to drink: "Only two though, I don't wanna get munted and useless..."

2008, Robert Merrick, Guilt-Edged Seduction:

Paul began to walk home, looking for a taxi. Michael called. "Hey, it's my birthday, dude! Let's get munted!"

2008, Dave Franklin, English Toss on Planet Andong:


remonetisation

(British) Alternative spelling of remonetization


strimmer

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

Blend of string + trimmer, originally a trademark in the United Kingdom.

string trimmer

(British, horticulture) Synonym of string trimmer (“a powered, hand-held garden implement that uses a rotating monofilament line to cut grass, etc., without damaging other objects”)


strim

en-verb

strim (third-person singular simple present strims, present participle strimming, simple past and past participle strimmed)

strims (present singular third-person)
strimming (participle present)
strimmed (participle past)
strimmed (past)

Back-formation from strimmer, originally a trademark.

(British) To use a strimmer/string trimmer


hillwalking

(British, Ireland) The pastime of walking in hilly countryside.


red, white and blue

Forget not the boys of Kilmichael, those brave lads so gallant and true.
Who fought 'neath the green flag of Erin, and conquered the red, white and blue.

p. 1920, The Boys of Kilmichael (Irish Song, author unknown)


Queer Street

But soon they led a Queer-street life, / 'Twas what she'd not expected / Like cat and dog, with snarl and strife, / And love and lamps neglected. / About his work he would not wag

1818, Thomas Hudson, Comic Songs, page 23:

The only reason Ms Beverley-Stevenson and her two companies are in business is to make a profit, otherwise she and her partners would be on Queer Street.

2009 March 17, “The dangers of commerce in medical care”, in Yorkshire Post:

“[…]He is one of those men who have overshot their true generation. He should have been a buck in the days of the Regency—a boxer, an athlete, a plunger on the Turf, a lover of fair ladies, and, by all account, so far down Queer Street that he may never find his way back again.”

1927 March 5, Arthur Conan Doyle, “The Adventure of Shoscombe Old Place”, in The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes, London: John Murray, […], published June 1927 (May 1952 printing), →OCLC, page 277:

(idiomatic, British, dated) Hard times; a difficult circumstance, especially bankruptcy.

I found the wadding of the pistol with which the deceased Mr. Tulkinghorn was shot. It was a bit of the printed description of your house at Chesney Wold. Not much in that, you'll say, Sir Leicester Dedlock, Baronet. No. But when my foreign friend here is so thoroughly off her guard as to think it a safe time to tear up the rest of that leaf, and when Mrs. Bucket puts the pieces together and finds the wadding wanting, it begins to look like Queer Street.

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

(idiomatic, British, dated) Suspicious circumstances.


trick cyclist

It was a commonplace for the medical officer to refer problem cases to the "trick cyclist" so that people got used to the idea that he might be able to help.

1964, The British journal of criminology:

But what if it had the contrary effect? What if his wife turned wholly sane? What if she announced, not on any trick cyclist's couch...

1984, Michael Innes, Carson's conspiracy:

"I want to, and my trick-cyclist says it might help. Kill or cure."

1989, Peter Dickinson, Skeleton-in-waiting:


ballgown

ballgown (third-person singular simple present ballgowns, present participle ballgowning, simple past and past participle ballgowned)

ballgowns (present singular third-person)
ballgowning (participle present)
ballgowned (participle past)
ballgowned (past)

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

She'll take any excuse to ballgown!

(intransitive, UK, live action roleplaying games) To roleplay romance as part of a roleplaying game.


clearway

The traffic lanes of the sea can be clearways for thousands of miles.

1975, Institute of Marine Engineers, Marine Engineers Review, page 190:

The red cross means no stopping, not even to pick up or set down passengers. The sign is used to indicate a 24-hour clearway (usually on a rural road) or may be incorporated into other signs with the words “No stopping” (e.g. the “no stopping except local buses” sign at bus stops. On a 24-hour clearway, the prohibition of stopping applies only to the main carriageway. You may stop in a lay-by unless there are signs to say otherwise. A 24-hour clearway does not have any special road markings, but there should be smaller repeater signs at approximately one mile intervals.

2007, UK Department for Transport, Know Your Traffic Signs, page 55:

(UK, Australia, New Zealand) A road or other path that is kept free of obstructions, or on which stopping is strictly regulated, in order to maintain free flow of movement.


on the bounce

A tough openeing to our Kettering Area Division 4 season, with going out of the cup in the first round, and three straight losses on the bounce.

2001 October 8, "Popey", “Sunday League Footie”, in alt.sports.soccer.everton (Usenet):

After those eleven wins on the bounce, it’s desperately disappointing, but Ellison doesn’t seem too down when I find him back on Katana.

2003, Matthew Symonds, Larry Ellison, Softwar, →ISBN, page 462:

Two wins on the bounce. It obviously wasn't luck last week.

2007, Neil Boulton, Vamos! the Avon Plate Story, →ISBN, page 33:

(British, idiomatic, informal, chiefly sports) consecutively, in succession


COP

en-noun

COP (countable and uncountable, plural COPs)

(uncountable, UK) Initialism of close of play.


slanging match

slanging match (plural slanging matches)

(chiefly UK) A row; an argument in which names are called.


brath

en-adj

brath (comparative brather or more brath, superlative brathest or most brath)

brather (comparative)
more brath (comparative)
brathest (superlative)
most brath (superlative)

From Middle English brath, broth, braith, from Old Norse bráðr (“hasty, sudden”), from Proto-Germanic *brēþaz (“hot, in a hurry, rushed”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰrē-, *bʰerē- (“steam, vapour”), from *bʰer- (“to seethe, toss about, cook”). Cognate with Icelandic bráður (“quick, hasty, excited”), Swedish bråd (“hasty, sudden, urgent”), Danish bråd (“hasty, sudden”). Related to breath, brew.

cog

(UK dialectal) Hasty; violent; fierce; strong.


brath

From Middle English brath, from Old Norse bráð (“haste”), from bráðr (“hasty”). See above.

(UK dialectal) Violence; fierceness; anger; fury; fit of rage.


ARIA

w:Advanced Research and Invention Agency

(UK) Acronym of Advanced Research and Invention Agency.


at a pinch

/ˌæ.təˈpɪnʃ/

(Australia, New Zealand, British, informal, idiomatic) by a small margin or amount


stound

en-verb

stound (third-person singular simple present stounds, present participle stounding, simple past and past participle stounded)

stounds (present singular third-person)
stounding (participle present)
stounded (participle past)
stounded (past)

From Middle English stounden, stunden (“to linger, stay, remain for a while”), from Old English *stundian, from Proto-West Germanic *stundōn, from Proto-Germanic *stundōną. Cognate with German stunden (“to defer payment, give time to pay”), Icelandic stunda (“to frequent, pursue”). More at stand.

cog

(intransitive, UK dialectal) To stop to listen; pause.


Marlburian

(British) Someone who attends the English school Marlborough College


Gordon Bennett

For James Gordon Bennett, Jr., a New York newspaper proprietor and playboy during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries who became widely known for his extravagant lifestyle and shocking behaviour. The first time the expression appears in print was in 1937, in James Curtis's novel, You’re in the Racket, Too. The Oxford English Dictionary places the phrase in the 1890s as an alteration of gorblimey and again in reference to James Gordon Bennett Jr.
The name was probably chosen because the first syllable of Gordon sounds like God in non-rhotic pronunciations, which would make this a minced oath.

(UK, Ireland, Commonwealth) expression of surprise, contempt, outrage, disgust, frustration.


Marks and Sparks

He’d thought of going into Marks and Sparks, but now he thought he’d go across and into Woolworth’s.

1961, J. I. M. Stewart, The Man Who Won The Pools, W. W. Norton & Company, page 13:

And Wendy's stealing clothes from Marks and Sparks

1972, “All the Young Dudes”, in David Bowie (lyrics), All the Young Dudes, performed by Mott The Hoople:

(British, colloquial) The retailer Marks & Spencer.


boffinry

(British, informal) The characteristic behaviour of boffins; nerdy scientific thinking.


GEB

guaranteed equity bond
guaranteed equity bond#English

(British, finance) Initialism of guaranteed equity bond.


dwile flonking

Possibly from Dutch dweil (“floorcloth”) and English flong, an old past tense of fling. The first documented game took place in 1966.

(British) An obscure and intentionally preposterous sport in which teams take turns to dance while avoiding a "dwile" (beer-soaked cloth) thrown by their opponents.


bucky

Like for a gun, you could say a gat but that's quite an old term. Most young people now would say stralley, a tool or a bucky.

2011 October 21, Tony Thorne, Dictionary of Contemporary Slang, Bloomsbury Publishing:


fried bread

en-noun

fried bread (usually uncountable, plural fried breads)

full English breakfast
full English breakfast

(UK) Bread sliced and fried in oil, part of a full English breakfast.


guaranteed equity bond

guaranteed equity bond (plural guaranteed equity bonds)

Thus what is sometimes called a ladder structure can be created which can be added to the zero coupon bond to create an attractive guaranteed equity bond

1997, Les Clewlow with Chris Strickland, Exotic Options: The State of the Art, page 26:

This landscape suits very well the traditional guaranteed equity bond structure, which is the mainstay of the equity structured retail product market

(British, finance) A type of investment that returns a fixed portion of the principal plus the result of equity trading with the balance.


posho

Marcus: We're very sorry.
Stylax: No, we're not. For all this guy knows, we could be mega-minted poshos in disguise.
Shopkeeper: It will be a superb disguise.
Stylax: Cheers.

2016 May 2, Sam Leifer et al., “Jugball”, in Plebs:


organisation chart

organisation chart (plural organisation charts)

organization chart
organization chart#English

(British, management) Alternative spelling of organization chart


shell-like

Can I have a quick word in your shell-like, when you've got a moment?

(slang, British, Australia, especially in set phrases) The ear.


amoxycillin

amoxycillin (countable and uncountable, plural amoxycillins)

(pharmacology) UK spelling of amoxicillin.


lest we forget

From Rudyard Kipling's 1897 poem Recessional.

(British and Canada) Used in Remembrance Day ceremonies as a caution against forgetting those who died in war.


last post

Twenty minutes is allowed for the duration of the roll-call, the commencement and finish of which are sounded on the bugle, and are called the first and last ‘posts.’

1876 September 30, “Drummers and Fifers”, in Chambers's Journal of Popular Literature, Science, and Art, volume 4, number 666, page 629:

(British and Canada) The sounding of a bugle, signalling the evening hour to bed down, also used at military funerals and remembrance services.


sulphadiazine

sulphadiazine (countable and uncountable, plural sulphadiazines)

(pharmacology) UK spelling of sulfadiazine.


floorer

From floor + -er (agent noun suffix) or + -er (measurement suffix) (sense 6).

(UK) In skittles, the act of knocking down all of the skittles in one throw.


left-luggage office

left-luggage office (plural left-luggage offices)

(British) A place at a railway station or airport where luggage may be left for a small charge.


mansionette

From mansion + -ette. Doublet of maisonette.

gone to London to work and had left her mansionette flat empty. The mansionettes stood on high ground overlooking the docks.

(UK) A flat that spans two or more floors, and often has its own entrance (i.e. not off a communal hallway).


withset

en-verb

withset (third-person singular simple present withsets, present participle withsetting, simple past and past participle withset)

withsets (present singular third-person)
withsetting (participle present)
withset (participle past)
withset (past)

From Middle English withsetten (“to resist, set against”), from Old English wiþsettan (“to resist; condemn”), equivalent to with- (“against”) + set.

inh

(transitive, UK dialectal, Scotland) To set (a place) with an ambush.


durr-brain

(British) Alternative spelling of der-brain


gimboid

Coined in the television series Red Dwarf, possibly from gimp + -oid.

You can blame that primarily on George Dubbya "I wanna rule tha world" Bush and all the gimboids who voted for him.

2003, bewtifulfreak, “Did I post this yet?”, in alt.tv.red-dwarf (Usenet):

A great deal of rap (both commercial and non) is made by talentless gimboids.

2003, Tim Hill, “Bizarre audio CD protection”, in comp.sys.acorn.misc (Usenet):

Actually it doesn't, they just think you're a sad gimboid.

2005, Andy P Field, Discovering Statistics Using SPSS:

(slang, derogatory, UK) An incompetent person.


power pill

From a power-up in the Pac-Man video game (1980) that grants the player temporary invulnerability.

(British, slang) A tablet of the drug ecstasy.


petrol-electric

(British) Describing a hybrid engine or vehicle that uses a combination of petrol and electricity.


humouristic

en-adj

humouristic (comparative more humouristic, superlative most humouristic)

more humouristic (comparative)
most humouristic (superlative)


diarrhoeal

diarrhoeal (comparative more diarrhoeal, superlative most diarrhoeal)

more diarrhoeal (comparative)
most diarrhoeal (superlative)


resty

resty (comparative more resty, superlative most resty)

more resty (comparative)
most resty (superlative)

In vaine the Pagan bannes, and sweares, and rayles, / And backe with both his hands unto him hayles / The resty raynes […]

1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book V, Canto VIII”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:

[N]either knovv I vvhether it is more hard to manage of the tvvo, a dejected eſtate, or a proſperous, vvhether vve may be more incommodated vvith a reſty horſe, or vvith a tyred one: […]

1645, Jos[eph] Hall, “Sect[ion] II. The Contrariety of Estates wherein Contentation is to be Exercised.”, in The Remedy of Discontentment: Or, A Treatise of Contentation in whatsoever Condition: […], London: […] J. G. for Nath[aniel] Brooks, […], published 1652, →OCLC, pages 6–7:

I could not come a moment sooner; I hardly expected to get here at all, for my horse has been so confounded resty I could not tell how to get him along.

1782, [Frances Burney], chapter VI, in Cecilia, or Memoirs of an Heiress. […], volume I, London: […] T[homas] Payne and Son […], and T[homas] Cadell […], →OCLC, book I, page 83:

“Catch hold of the pack-beasts!” I shouted, as they shied back upon us, and two were caught and held fast—I know not by whom. The third, the resty one, springing backwards past me, almost on his haunches, jerked his halter wide of my clutch, and in a moment was galloping full flight down the slope.

1910, Arthur Quiller-Couch (as “Q”), “The Copernican Convoy” in Corporal Sam and Other Stories, London: Smith, Elder, p. 57

[…] Come; our stomachs / Will make what’s homely savoury: weariness / Can snore upon the flint, when resty sloth / Finds the down pillow hard.

1611 April (first recorded performance), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Cymbeline”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene vi]:

[A]ll [beef] is rejected and unfit for such as lead a resty life, anyways inclined to melancholy, or dry of complexion […]

1621, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], The Anatomy of Melancholy, […], Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] John Lichfield and Iames Short, for Henry Cripps, →OCLC:

[W]hat are Chaplains? In State perhaps they may be listed among the upper Servingmen of som great houshold, and be admitted to som such place, as may stile them the Sewers, or the Yeomen-Ushers of Devotion, where the Maister is too restie, or too rich to say his own prayers, or to bless his own Table.

1649, J[ohn] Milton, chapter 24, in ΕΙΚΟΝΟΚΛΆΣΤΗΣ [Eikonoklástēs] […], London: […] Matthew Simmons, […], →OCLC, page 182:


clone town

Coined in 2004 by the New Economics Foundation.

(British) A town whose major shopping areas are dominated by chain stores at the expense of local diversity.


sweet cream

en-noun

sweet cream (usually uncountable, plural sweet creams)

From sweet + cream, by analogy with the contrasting sour cream.

(dated or British) Cream: the oily part of milk that rises to the top.


sarkily

en-adv

sarkily (comparative more sarkily, superlative most sarkily)

more sarkily (comparative)
most sarkily (superlative)

(British, informal) In a sarky manner; sarcastically.


Eyetie

The only danger of gas from the Eyeties was when they breathed garlic on you.

We got out to sea again, but it was not long before the Eyeties were on our track again.

1944, Richard Baxter, Stand by to surface:

The Frenchies eat 'em [small birds] and so do the Eyeties.

D'you think they're Eyeties? Supposed to be great lovers...

1986, Aidan Chambers, Dance on My Grave:

'Someone give this girl the bumps! She's getting married. Ah, the good die young. What's his name again? Francesco. An eye-tie? I move for a mistrial.

(US, British, slang, derogatory, ethnic slur) An Italian.


black-throat

black-throated diver
black-throated diver

Gavia arctica
Gavia arctica#Translingual

(British, birdwatching) The black-throated diver (Gavia arctica).


red-throat

(British, birdwatching) The red-throated diver.


pozzy

Unclear, perhaps from a southern African language; from late 19thC, revived during World War I.

‘Could you pinch a tin of pozzy out of stores?’

1929, Frederic Manning, The Middle Parts of Fortune, Vintage, published 2014, page 136:

The Turco used to say: 'Tommy, give Johnny pozzy,' and a tin of plum and apple jam used to be given him.

1929 November, Robert Graves, chapter XVII, in Good-bye to All That: An Autobiography, London: Jonathan Cape […], →OCLC, page 237:

(British, military slang) Jam (“fruit conserve made from fruit boiled with sugar”).


supermum

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

(British) Alternative spelling of supermom


bluely

The Sussex fishermen call the porpoise 'Bluely'.

(UK dialectal, Sussex, obsolete) Porpoise.


spacker

tlb

(UK, Ireland, slang, derogatory, offensive)


clever clogs

'Not in itself,' said the Doctor, holding the gun at arm's length. 'But you tell me, what happens if some clever clogs gets this in his lab? Finds out how it works? The human race gets the secret of Dalek weapons. You'll all be dead by Wednesday week.'

2006, Gareth Roberts, I Am a Dalek, BBC Books, page 39:

'All right then, clever-clogs,' said Yasmin. 'Any idea which one?'

2011, Tom Bradman, Tony Bradman, Space School: Blast Off!, Bloomsbury (A & C Black), page 49:

'Yes, perfect. Mr Clever Clogs has done it again!'

2013, Lynda Bellingham, Tell Me Tomorrow, Simon & Schuster, page 409:

(slang, UK and Ireland) Somebody who is rather too clever; a smart aleck; sometimes used as an epithet.


matily

en-adv

matily (comparative more matily, superlative most matily)

more matily (comparative)
most matily (superlative)

“Reading?” I said. He lowered his book – one of Ma Cream's, I noticed – and flashed an upper lip at me. “Your powers of observation have not led you astray, Wooster. I am reading.” “Interesting book?” “Very. I am counting the minutes until I can resume its perusal undisturbed.” I'm pretty quick, and I at once spotted that the atmosphere was not of the utmost cordiality. He hadn't spoken matily, and he wasn't eyeing me matily. His whole manner seemed to suggest that he felt that I was taking up space in the room which could have been better employed for other purposes.

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

McCormack rounded a bush and Chisholm reared up out of nowhere, a grinning scarecrow, his arm wrapped matily round the boy's shoulders, a pistol jammed against the boy's temple.

2022, Liam McIlvanney, The Heretic, page 449:


EAZ

Excellence in Cities offers a further development of this approach, whereby secondary schools operate with small clusters of primaries as mini-EAZs.

2001, David Woods, Martyn Cribb, Effective LEAs and school improvement:

(UK, education) Initialism of Education Action Zone, any of various areas of England considered for special assistance in increasing the quality or availability of educational opportunities, instituted by New Labour.


lage

Probably from Irish lag (“weak”), from Old Irish lac, from Proto-Celtic *laggos, from Proto-Indo-European *(s)leh₁g-.

I bowse no lage, but a whole gage / Of this I'll bowse to you.

1641–42, Richard Brome, A Jovial Crew, or the Merry Beggars, act 2:

(obsolete, UK, thieves' cant) Water; any weak alcoholic beverage.


lage

en-verb

lage (third-person singular simple present lages, present participle laging, simple past and past participle laged)

lages (present singular third-person)
laging (participle present)
laged (participle past)
laged (past)

I saye by the Salomon I will lage it of with a gage of Benebouse; then cut to my nose watch.

1566, Thomas Harman, A Caveat or Warning for Common Cursitors:


old bag

(British, derogatory) A nasty, troublesome old woman.


slagginess

(UK, Australia, New Zealand, derogatory, of a person) The condition of being slaggy, or sluttish.


paxis

(British) Used by schoolchildren to express immunity from "being caught" in games such as bulldog or it.


crow scarer

(British) A type of firecracker used by farmers to scare crows and other birds.


Glyndebourne

(British) the opera that takes place there.


village green

On May Day, the villagers used to dance around a maypole on the village green.

Georgian and Regency houses cluster picturesquely around the sloping village green, which in springtime is carpeted with daffodils.

1980, AA Book of British Villages, Drive Publications Ltd, page 194, about Gainford, Co. Durham:

(British) A patch of land at the centre of a village that is open to the public at all times.


common land

en-noun

common land (countable and uncountable, plural common lands)

The common land up at Chailey's always good for a walk.

(British, Ireland) an area of land in the United Kingdom or Ireland that is open to the public at all times and until the 18th century would have been land that was free for anybody to graze their animals on (often shortened to common).

fælled

land free for anybody to graze their animals on

I've always grazed my animals on the common land and I'm not going to stop now.

(UK, Ireland) collectively, all the common land in one of those two countries.


robin redbreast

robin redbreast (plural robin redbreasts)

From the name Robin + redbreast. See robin.

(UK, slang, historical) A Bow Street Runner (from the colour of his waistcoat).


shagtastic

en-adj

shagtastic (comparative more shagtastic, superlative most shagtastic)

more shagtastic (comparative)
most shagtastic (superlative)

/ʃæɡˈtæstɪk/

From shag + -tastic. Popularized by the Austin Powers movies.

Equally, George Best's "shagtastic marathon" involving bedding seven women in 24 hours because it coincided with his shirt number is the stuff of legend now

1998 September 27, Jason Gee, “Book review: Tired tales of the expected”, in The Independent:

Hinting at sexual extravagance might have caused outrage and disgust in the mid 1800s, but in the shagtastic twenty-first century, it's a certificate of honour.

2008, Mike Parker, Neighbours from Hell, page 28:

(British, slang) brilliant, with implications of sexual intercourse.


billycan

The filling of the billycan, cutting the supports to hang it over the fire, was a public show, but many times he would do this anyway to entertain himself. He unpacked the billycan from his old rucksack and I got out the tea and sugar. He filled the billy, then used his penknife to cut sticks to hang it over the fire.

1997, Ian Player, Zulu Wilderness: Shadow and Soul, page 69:

Galloping a hundred yards, then jumping off and remounting an excited horse while holding a full billycan of water and beating everyone back over the starting line without spilling it sounded easy – until you tried. Billycans were lost, dropped, trampled underfoot.

2010, Kerry McGinnis, Wildhorse Creek, unnumbered page:

2010, Nontsomi Langa, A Xhosa Story: Mbengu-Sonyanganzu, in Harold Scheub, The Uncoiling Python: South African Storytellers and Resistance, page 162,
When they reached the river, Nqunuse's daughter's billycan began to leak.

A good billycan was one that had seen many fires, and was pitch black.

2011, Colin Graham Smith, Shadows of War, page 43:

(UK, Australia, South Africa) A lightweight pot for cooking or boiling water, used in camping.


FE

further education
further education#English

(UK, education) Initialism of further education.


(British) A grade of pencil with lead that makes darker marks than a pencil grade 3B but lighter marks than a pencil of grade 5B; a pencil with very soft lead.


rock salmon

(British) The flesh of any of several species of small sharks.


huss

Unknown; originally (15th-16th century) also spelled husk.


mauvais quart d'heure

en-noun

mauvais quart d'heure (plural mauvais quarts d'heure)

/məʊˌveɪ kɑː(ɹ)ˈdɜː(ɹ)/

Unadapted borrowing from French mauvais quart d’heure (“bad quarter of an hour”).

ubor

Life, Lady Stutfield, is simply a mauvais quart d’heure made up of exquisite moments.

1893, Oscar Wilde, A Woman of No Importance, published 1906, act II, page 74:

It was a mauvais quart d’heure, the Christmas holidays of ’96, and poor Willy Phillips never lived to see the fight recovered.

1898 April 13, Henry Adams, “[Letter]”, in Ernest Samuels, editor, Henry Adams: Selected Letters, published 1992, →ISBN, page 343:

Many Guardian readers will have suffered a mauvais quart d'heure when they found out that their views on the Gulf war were closer to Peter's than Christopher's.

2003 November 1, Nicholas Lezard, “More than the usual authorial suspects”, in The Guardian:

Kate Fall, Cameron’s deputy chief of staff, has an initial mauvais quart d’heure when all she is offered is the chance to run Comic Relief […]

2020 December 17, Rosemary Hill, “Gosh, what am I like?”, in London Review of Books, volume 42, number 24:

(chiefly British) A brief unpleasant period; a bad yet quick experience.


Limehouse

en-verb

Limehouse (third-person singular simple present Limehouses, present participle Limehousing, simple past and past participle Limehoused)

Limehouses (present singular third-person)
Limehousing (participle present)
Limehoused (participle past)
Limehoused (past)

The place name is a reference to local lime oasts. The earliest reference is to Les Lymhostes, in 1356. The verb is a reference to a speech made there by the Chancellor of the Exchequer David Lloyd George in 1909.

(dated, British) To make a fiery political speech.


big school

en-noun

big school (countable and uncountable, plural big schools)

So called because the bigger (older) children attend.

"Big School is more fun than Primary School," said Flossie to her mother as they both sat at the kitchen table, eating their lunch together. "Isn't it, Mum?"

1982, Hunter Davies, Flossie Teacake's Fur Coat:

She had only just started at big school, and she wasn’t used to getting into trouble. She had never done anything wrong at her little school, and even the thought of doing something wrong frightened her.

2012, David Walliams [pseudonym; David Edward Williams], Ratburger, London: HarperCollins Children’s Books, →ISBN:


'ere

“’Ere y'are, the best rig-out you ever ’ad. […]”

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

Pronunciation spelling
pronunciation spelling

(British, slang and dialectal) Pronunciation spelling of here.


'ere

‘He’s a queer customer, the vun-eyed vun, sir,’ observed Mr. Weller, as he led the way. ‘He’s a-gammonin’ that ‘ere landlord, he is, sir, till he don’t rightly know wether he’s a-standing on the soles of his boots or the crown of his hat.’

1836 March – 1837 October, Charles Dickens, “(please specify the chapter name)”, in The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club, London: Chapman and Hall, […], published 1837, →OCLC:

(British, slang and dialectal) Pronunciation spelling of there.


'ere

’Ere, why don't we get some cigarettes?

(British, slang) Contraction of look here, used for emphasis at the beginning of a sentence when expressing an opinion or want.


PSHE

Personal Social Health Education#English

(British) Initialism of Personal Social Health Education.