preload

en-verb

preload (third-person singular simple present preloads, present participle preloading, simple past and past participle preloaded)

preloads (present singular third-person)
preloading (participle present)
preloaded (participle past)
preloaded (past)

That nightclub is so expensive. Let's preload at your flat.

(intransitive, British, slang) To drink (cheaper) alcohol at home before going out socially.


topside

To detach the round bone, the biggest muscle of the round, the topside, must first be removed. This is done by cutting down to the round bone in a layer of connective tissue which separates the topside from the nuggle.

2004, Z. Farah, A. Fischer, editors, Milk and Meat from the Camel: Handbook on Products and Processing, page 116:

Slow roasting is better for lean or not so tender cuts such as topside or whole bolar blade, which are not suitable to be cooked very pink.

2008, Leanne Kitchen, The Butcher, Murdoch Books, page 27:

It is removed from its attachment to the silverside along the natural seam, and from the topside by a straight cut along the line of the femur bone.

2012, Graham Dodgshun, Michel Peters, David O′Dea, Cookery for the Hospitality Industry, 6th edition, Cambridge University Press, page 384:

(UK, Australia, New Zealand) The outer side of a round of beef.


churchwarden

From Middle English cherchewardeyn, chirchewardeyn, churchewardeyn, schyrsche wordeyn; equivalent to church + warden.

Coordinate term: people's warden

At first, not knowing any better, I used sometimes to copy a nude on the pavement. The first I did was outside St Martin's-in-the-Fields church. A fellow in black—I suppose he was a churchwarden or something—came out in a tearing rage.

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

One important office that has survived for over 800 years is that of the churchwarden, established in the middle of the 12th century.

1980, AA Book of British Villages, Drive Publications Ltd, page 187:

(UK) A lay officer of the Church of England who handles the secular affairs of the parish.

եկեղեցպան

lay officer who handles secular affairs of the parish

In one part of Cockaigne an amalgamation of these two last has lately taken place; and the pleasure experienced by the parishioners of Walbrook is unbounded when smoking an alderman and churchwarden.

1843, John William Carleton, The Sporting Review, volume 10, page 419:

[T]here was a small wooden table placed in front of the smouldering fire, with decanters, a jar of tobacco, and two long churchwardens. The second churchwarden was supposed to be placed there for the service of Mr. Fred; but as a matter of fact that young gentleman did not find much gaiety in sitting and listening to grumblings over his own conduct and gloomy prophecies as to the future of the agricultural interests of the country; so that the old man generally sat there alone, nor had he ever been known to ask any one to keep him company.

1887, William Black, “A Honeymoon Visit”, in Sabina Zembra […], volume II, London, New York, N.Y.: Macmillan and Co., →OCLC, page 9:

He greeted William with cordiality. "Ah, Boot, how are you? Don't think I've had the pleasure before. Know your work well of course. Sit down. Have a cigarette or"—had he made a floater?—"or do you prefer your churchwarden?"

1938 May, Evelyn Waugh, chapter 2, in Scoop: A Novel about Journalists, uniform edition, London: Chapman & Hall, published 1948 (1951 printing), →OCLC, book I (The Stitch Service), section 3, page 26:

churchwarden pipe
churchwarden pipe#English

(British, slang) Short for churchwarden pipe.


articulated lorry

en-noun

articulated lorry (plural articulated lorries)


flapjack

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

From flap (“to toss sharply”) + jack (“generic object”). So called from the process of baking it by flipping and catching it in the griddle when done on one side.

af

fudgy flapjacky fudge […] I always buy one of those flapjacks with a layer of yoghurt on top. But even with the topping, they are just never sweet enough for me. I also love fudge but that can be toe-curlingly sweet. So, in my search for a middle ground, I decided to combine the two.

2020, Nadiya Hussain, Nadiya Bakes, London: Penguin Books, →ISBN:

(British) A bar made of (though not limited to) rolled oats, butter, golden syrup, and brown sugar, baked in a tray.


suspenders

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

(British) Small straps, attached to a suspender belt, that hold up a woman's stockings.


box-ticking

"It's not a box-ticking exercise and we now have a fantastic culture where people can talk about their mental health, get the support they need and colleagues support each other."

2020 July 1, Alyna Jones, “People power”, in Rail, page 55:

(British) The completion of a form containing multiple-choice questions in which one or more boxes need to be ticked by way of an answer.

(British, figurative, by extension) Completion of bureaucratic processes of little practical use.


wheeler

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

From Middle English whelere, equivalent to wheel + -er (agent noun suffix) or + -er (measurement suffix) (sense 4).

These wheelers are now made from the same class of rock as the rest of the pavement, […]

1894, Transactions of the Liverpool Engineering Society, page 109:

(UK, historical, Liverpool) A sett in a stoneway.


suspender belt

(UK, Ireland) An item of women's underwear consisting of a belt to which are attached suspenders for holding up stockings.


gasping

Any chance of a cup of tea? I'm gasping.

2011, Kate Ellis, The Armada Boy: Number 2 in series, Hachette UK, →ISBN:


Rupert

A German name, brought to England by Prince Rupert of the Rhine in the seventeenth century. Doublet of Robert.

A St Oswald's boy can pass off a name like Orlando, can make it sound like peppermint. Even Rupert sounds somehow cool when attached to a navy-blue St Oswald's blazer.

2010, Joanne Harris, blueeyedboy, Doubleday, →ISBN, page 99:

'What about Rupert?' his mother says brightly. 'I've always loved the name Rupert and it's an old family name on my side.'
'Sounds like...a whatdyoucallit?' Ted's father says, folding up the newspaper and tossing it to the floor.
'What?'
'A...' Ted's father puts his hand to his brow '...you know...a thing that children take to bed. Um...Brideshead...um...teddy-bear! That's it. A teddy-bear.'

2010, Maggie O'Farrell, The Hand That First Held Mine, Headline, →ISBN, page 91:

(chiefly UK) A male given name from the Germanic languages.


charabanc

Borrowed from French char-à-bancs (literally “carriage with benches”).

bor

A little further on, to the right, was a large garage, where the charabancs stood, half in and half out of the yard.

1931, Francis Beeding, “2/2”, in Death Walks in Eastrepps:

And full of colored dreams / Deep inside a rainbow / Lived Happiness Stan / In a small Victorian charabanc

1968, “Happiness Stan”, in Ogdens' Nut Gone Flake, performed by Small Faces:

The cumbersome though finely painted charabanc of the late James style is pulled swaying along by a frisky pony of a plot farcical and romantic.

2006 Aug 7 & 14, John Updike, “Late Works”, in The New Yorker, page 70:

(British, historical) A horse-drawn, and then later, motorized omnibus with open sides, and often, no roof.

charabanc

a horse-drawn, and then later, motorized omnibus with open sides, and often, no roof

Oh shit, there goes the charabanc!
Looks like I'm gonna be stuck here the whole summer

1977, “Peaches”, performed by the Stranglers:

Mum had worked there as a teenager and once recalled her duty of having to meet the charabancs that brought the well-heeled to the baths from Droitwich station before the war.

2023 February 22, “Stop & Examine”, in RAIL, number 977, page 71:

(British, dated) A bus, especially one hired by groups for pleasure outings, what was later called a coach.

We return to the charabanc of a car to find a swarm of children dancing round it, clambering up the back, jumping on the step; the driver sleeps peacefully at the wheel, oblivious of their shrieks.

1951, Ethel Mannin, South to Samarkand, page 109:

Just as I'm thinking my plan has failed an old charabanc of a vehicle slows down and starts hooting.

2011, Fi Glover, Travels With My Radio: I Am An Oil Tanker:

It was lucky therefore that I kept an eye on the quayside blackboard by the stern of the "Patmos Star", a charabanc of a daytrip boat that was to transport me and my bags to the tiny island of Lipsí, a short hop from Patmos.

2011, Harry Bucknall, In The Dolphin's Wake:

[…] but Mark has never even sat on a motorbike, let alone ridden one before and certainly not with a rowboat attached and a spasmatic dog riding pillion. It was nice to see that there was stillsome good old-fashioned British embarrassment left, as straggling past Philippe with a muttered "Au revoir, Breton.", we pushed the whole charabanc a mile up the road until there was no sign of habitation; in France even the lamp-posts have eyes.

2014, Laura Tong, Mark Tong, The Dog's Rollocks:

The lantern got closer until eventually the sound, smell and heat of dogs was upon them, and a train of huskies stopped in a great cloud of steam. The whole charabanc emitted a strong smell of hot stew, which my mum remembers as the most heavenly thing she had ever smelt.

2022, Jacques Peretti, Little Bird of Auschwitz:

(British, informal) A vehicle that is slow, overcrowded, or otherwise undesirable.


Z-car

(British) Any of the several early models of a police car.


reformed

en-adj

reformed (comparative more reformed, superlative most reformed)

more reformed (comparative)
most reformed (superlative)

(UK, military, of an officer) Retained in service on half or full pay after the disbandment of the company or troop.


cathead

The noun is derived from cat + head.
Sense 1.1 (“heavy piece of timber projecting from a ship on which an anchor is raised or lowered, and secured”) is from the fact that such a timber traditionally had a cat or lion’s head carved on its end. Sense 4 (“short for cathead biscuit”) is apparently from the fact that the biscuit is similar in size to a cat’s head.
The verb is derived from the noun.

A piece of a ferruginous ſtoney Nodule having in it 3 Leaves of a capillary Plant […] Theſe Nodules, vvith Leaves in them, are called Catheads, and ſeem to conſiſt of a ſort of Iron-Stone, not unlike that vvhich is found very plentifully at Robinshood's-Bay in Yorkſhire, and in the Rocks near VVhitehaven in Cumberland: vvhere they there call 'em Cat-Scaups, and are frequently melted vvith the ſofter Iron-Ores.

1729, J[ohn] Woodward, “A Catalogue of the Plants in Stone, Contained in the First Classis”, in An Attempt towards a Natural History of the Fossils of England; […], tome I, London: […] F[rancis] Fayram, […]; J[ohn] Senex, […]; and J. Osborn and T[homas] Longman, […], →OCLC, part II (A Catalogue of the English Fossils in the Collection of J. Woodward […]), page 14:

(UK, dialectal) A nodule of ironstone containing fossil remains.


blinding

blinding (comparative more blinding, superlative most blinding)

more blinding (comparative)
most blinding (superlative)

“How’s it going?”  “Blinding, mate.”


new town

(UK) A town built to address housing shortages after World War II.


netting

From Middle English netting (“urine”). Further etymology unclear. Perhaps borrowed from Middle Low German nattinge (“wetness”), or derived from Middle Low German nette (“wetness, urine”), netten (“to wet, urinate”), from Old Saxon *nettian, from Proto-West Germanic *nattjan.
Alternatively, perhaps from an unrecorded Old English *nettan (“to wet”), from Proto-West Germanic *nattjan (“to wet”), related to Middle Low German netten (“to wet, urinate”), Dutch netten (“to wet”), German nässen (“to wet”), all related to the above.

unk

unclear

cog

Any undecente or noysome thinge as[…]Nettinge or Fylthe.


clack

en-verb

clack (third-person singular simple present clacks, present participle clacking, simple past and past participle clacked)

clacks (present singular third-person)
clacking (participle present)
clacked (participle past)
clacked (past)

From Middle English clacken, clakken, claken, from Old English *clacian (“to slap, clap, clack”), from Proto-Germanic *klakōną (“to clap, chirp”). Cognate with Scots clake, claik (“to utter cries", also "to bedaub, sully with a sticky substance”), Dutch klakken (“to clack, crack”), Low German klakken (“to slap on, daub”), Norwegian klakke (“to clack, strike, knock”), Icelandic klaka (“to twitter, chatter, wrangle, dispute”).

cog

(UK) To cut the sheep's mark off (wool), to make the wool weigh less and thus yield less duty.


pompadour

/ˈpɑːmpədɔːɹ/

From French Pompadour, after Madame de Pompadour (1721–1764), mistress of Louis XV.

(UK, military, slang, historical) A member of the 56th (West Essex) Regiment of Foot, an infantry regiment in the British Army, active from 1755 to 1881.


joking

Twenty euros cover charge? You're joking me!

(British, US, Ireland, colloquial, transitive) Kidding, trying to fool.


Hilary

From Latin Hilarius (“cheerful, happy”), name of a fourth-century saint and from its feminine form Hilaria.

It was the first day of term, and one of the rare days in Oxford when the weather was deceitfully marvellous; when its warmth promised more sunshine and joy than the relentless rain and sleet Hilary inevitably brought.

2022, R. F. Kuang, Babel, HarperVoyager, page 447:

(UK, Ireland, law, education) Ellipsis of Hilary term.


drop a bomb

en-verb

drop a bomb (third-person singular simple present drops a bomb, present participle dropping a bomb, simple past and past participle dropped a bomb)

drops a bomb (present singular third-person)
dropping a bomb (participle present)
dropped a bomb (participle past)
dropped a bomb (past)

Let's say you're at school and you accidentally drop a bomb in class. Try coughing or dropping a book to cover up the sound.

2004, Bart King, Chris Sabatino, The Big Book of Boy Stuff, page 129:

(UK, euphemistic, slang) To release noxious gas from the bowels: to fart.


Kev

[…] the middle-class males we interviewed also reported that they had to take security measures in relation to fears about intimidation from working-class 'Kevs', as well as racialised anxieties about black youth.

2005, Tracey Skelton, Gill Valentine, Cool Places: Geographies of Youth Cultures, page 260:

(UK, slang, derogatory) A working-class male.


jobber

An act to restrain the number and ill practice of brokers and stock jobbers: 8 & 9 Wm. 3, ch. 32 (1697) [legislation of English parliament

(obsolete, UK, finance) A promoter or broker of stocks for investment.

An intermediary who buys and sells merchandise.

(British, finance) A market maker on the stock exchange; a stockjobber.


sugar mama

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

From slang sugar (“money”) and colloquial mama (“mother”).

(UK, Ireland, Commonwealth, informal) An older woman who spends money on a younger person, usually for romantic or sexual reasons.

vroetelmammie

Older woman who spends money on a younger person for romantic or sexual purposes.


Matilda

From Middle English Matilda, from Old French Mathilde, from Old High German Mahthilt, from Old High German maht, meht (“might”) + hild, hilta (“battle”); compare German Mechthild, Old English Mæþhild (“Matilda”).

(UK, army, historical) Either of two British infantry tanks in use during World War II, the Infantry Tank Mark I or Infantry Tank Mark II.


charge hand

(British) deputy to a foreman in a factory


DSC

en-noun

DSC (countable and uncountable, plural DSCs)

Distinguished Service Cross
w:Distinguished Service Cross

(military, British, US, Australia) Initialism of Distinguished Service Cross.


life is not all beer and skittles

beer and skittles refers to the carefree, indulgent bar life, skittles being a British pub game.

(UK) Not everything about life is pleasurable.

人生不是吃喝玩樂 /人生不是吃喝玩乐

life's not (all) eat, drink and be merry

la vie n’est pas toujours une partie de plaisir

das Leben ist nicht nur eitel Sonnenschein

elloo tulloo kaikkia, a kaikkia pittää terppiä

人生はおもしろおかしいことばかりではない

jinsei wa omoshirookashii koto bakari de wa nai

ne vsjo kotú máslenica, búdet i velíkij post

не всё коту́ ма́сленица, бу́дет и вели́кий пост


soft Mick

This phrase may originally have referred to an Irish shoe peddler working around Accrington, East Lancashire, in the early 1900s, from the phrase "more shoes than Soft Mick".

(slang, British, idiomatic) An extravagant person.


gaby

I daresay I made a gaby of myself to the world

1860 January–June, W[illiam] M[akepeace] Thackeray, chapter 1, in Lovel the Widower, London: Smith, Elder and Co., […], published 1861, →OCLC:

His wrath, then, was proportionately violent when he was aware of two boys, who stopped close by him, and one of whom, a fat gaby of a fellow, pointed at him and called him "Young mammy-sick!"

1857, Thomas Hughes, Tom Brown's School Days:

"[Y]ou're a jobbernowl and a doodle, a maundering mooncalf and a blockheaded numps, a gaby and a loon; you're a Hatter!" I shrieked the last epithet.

1902, John Kendrick Bangs, chapter 10, in Olympian Nights:

"You pair of gabeys!" she exclaimed. "You'll see him before the night's out."

1913, D[avid] H[erbert] Lawrence, “chapter 2”, in Sons and Lovers, London: Duckworth & Co. […], →OCLC:

(UK, regional) A stupid, foolish person; a simpleton; a dunce.


catering

catering (countable and uncountable, plural caterings)

[ˈkeɪ.ɾɚ.ɪŋ]

(uncountable, UK, Philippines) The business of providing food and related services; foodservice.

تَمْوِين

the business of providing food and related services


worshipful

en-adj

worshipful (comparative more worshipful, superlative most worshipful)

more worshipful (comparative)
most worshipful (superlative)

/ˈwɜːʃɪpfl̩/

From Middle English worshipful; equivalent to worship + -ful.

To my most dredfull and Sovereigne lige Lord, I youre humble lige beseche to yowre Hyness to have in remembrance my comyng to yowre worshipful presence into York of my free will, […]

1404, Sharon Turner, “Specimens of the Progress of the English Language and Prose Composition, from the Writings or Speeches of the Various Classes of Society”, in The History of England during the Middle Ages. … In Four Volumes, 5th edition, volume IV (Containing the Conclusion of the Literary History of England), London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, published 1853, →OCLC, footnote 36, page 566:

At a Common Council, held in the Chamber of the Guildhall of the city of London, on Friday the 15th day of December, 1769, it was ordered, that the thanks of this Court be given to the Worshipful Company of Ironmongers for their generosity in giving up part of their ground on Snow Hill for the benefit of the public highway.

1769 December 15, John Nicholl, comp., Some Account of the Worshipful Company of Ironmongers. Compiled, from Their Own Records and Other Authentic Sources of Information, London: John Bowyer Nichols and Son, published 1851, →OCLC, page 383:

The writer of theſe epiſtles is ſome philoſopher of the once well known Peter Annett's ſchool; who, wiſhing, as we may conclude, to try a revival of his tenets, without delivering them in his own proper character, has done the worſhipful fraternity of Free Maſons, the honour of imputing them to an ancient colony of the brethren, which he has diſcovered in a fertile ſpot, inſulated in the remote boſom of the ſandy deſerts of Africa.

1791 February, “Monthly Catalogue, for February, 1791. [Art. 49. The Philosophy of Masons. In Several Epistles from Egypt to a Nobleman. 12mo. pp. 263. 3s. sewed. Ridgway. 1790. (book review)”, in The Monthly Review; or, Literary Journal, Enlarged, volume IV, London: Printed for R[alph] Griffiths; and sold by T. Becket, in Pall Mall, →OCLC, page 235:

[…] Mowbray, as Duke Theseus, stepped before the screen, and announcing the conclusion of the dramatic pictures which they had had the honour to present before the worshipful company, thanked the spectators for the very favourable reception which they have afforded; […]

1823 December 23 (indicated as 1824), [Walter Scott], “Theatricals”, in St Ronan’s Well. […], volume II, Edinburgh: […] [James Ballantyne and Co.] for Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Hurst, Robinson, and Co., →OCLC, page 191:

Your Worshipful Master has been pleased to speak of me as possessing some powers of speech, but (added his lordship in tones of deep emotion) I have none.

1875 May 7, “[Banquet of May 7, 1875]”, in The Worshipful Company of Needlemakers of the City of London. With a List of the Court of Assistants and Livery, [London]: [The Company] offices: 1 Church Court, Clement's Lane, E.C., published 1876, →OCLC, page 78:

(chiefly British) Used as respectful form of address or honorific title for a person or body of persons, now especially in the name of a livery company.


run a mile

en-verb

run a mile (third-person singular simple present runs a mile, present participle running a mile, simple past ran a mile, past participle run a mile)

runs a mile (present singular third-person)
running a mile (participle present)
ran a mile (past)
run a mile (participle past)

If I told him that I had kids, he'd run a mile.

(idiomatic, chiefly UK) To escape, flee or leave a situation or relationship, usually as a result of a shocking or sudden announcement or revelation.


missis

A man said he'd give me five pounds if I'd paint him and his missis and the dog and the cottage.

1913, D[avid] H[erbert] Lawrence, “Passion”, in Sons and Lovers, London: Duckworth & Co. […], →OCLC, part II, page 341:

(UK, colloquial) Alternative spelling or pronunciation spelling of missus.


desulphur

desulphur (third-person singular simple present desulphurs, present participle desulphuring, simple past and past participle desulphured)

desulphurs (present singular third-person)
desulphuring (participle present)
desulphured (participle past)
desulphured (past)

(chiefly British) Alternative spelling of desulfur


sulphite of soda

(inorganic chemistry, chiefly British) Alternative spelling of sulfite of soda


humourously

en-adv

humourously (comparative more humourously, superlative most humourously)

more humourously (comparative)
most humourously (superlative)

(UK, Canada, uncommon, nonstandard) Alternative spelling of humorously


sign on

en-verb

sign on (third-person singular simple present signs on, present participle signing on, simple past and past participle signed on)

signs on (present singular third-person)
signing on (participle present)
signed on (participle past)
signed on (past)

Oh, one thing led to another; you know. I just sort of faffed around — I just did odd jobs; and sometimes in between I signed on.

1999, Madeleine St John, chapter 28, in A Stairway to Paradise:

(UK, intransitive) To apply to receive unemployment benefits.


horse's doovers

Fanciful corruption of hors d'oeuvres. Apparently British/Australian prison or POW slang.

None of us is likely to stray so far from the correct pronunciation as the legendary new-rich oil millionaire who demanded “horses′ doovers”...

1962, William Morris, Mary Morris, Dictionary of Word and Phrase Origins:

On a couple of our little occasional tables - we′ve got three - they′ve got horse′s doovers set out. Things on cracker biscuits.

1973, John O'Grady, Survival in the Doghouse, page 86:

1982, George MacDonald Fraser, 1993, HarperCollins, page 290,
“How! We eat now, together. Horse′s doovers and large snow puddings that make the tongue dead. Joll-ee good!”

...everyone throws their hats in the air and shouts “hoorah!” and then it′s all over bar the drinks and horses′ doovers and findin′ your own hat.

As we were all sampling the horse′s doovers, one of the guests, evidently thirsting for a deep philosophical discussion, asked me for my views on the meaning of life.

2004, Gene McDougall, My Letters to David Letterman, Texas: Virtualbookworm.com, page 38:

2009, Glenn Ickler, A Deadly Vineyard, StirlingHouse Publisher, Pennsylvania, page 109,
“ […] He wants us there by 6:30 for cocktails and, as he said it, horse′s doovers.”

(UK, Australia, humorous, slang) hors d'oeuvres


arse about face

No wonder it doesn't look right mate, you've got the whole thing arse about face.

It’s absurd, topsy-turvy, arse-about-face. But shit, nonetheless, demands a reading, and vice versa.

2003, Ian Sansom, The Truth About Babies: From A-Z, Granta, →ISBN, page 256:

Someone blows a hole in the head of the owner a couple of places along the Gap and nobody seems to give a shit. Fucking arse about face this fucking place.

2004, Mick Lee, Scream If You Want To Go Faster, Authors On Line Ltd, →ISBN, page 78:

Like we didn't move here for my job, we came here (for ...) to become a student and study for a degree and it's arse about face. We tend to do things in an arse-about-face way no matter how hard we try. And I, at the risk of being hopelessly inarticulate I like the arse about face-ness of the LETS system.

2006, Peter North, quoting an anonymous member of a local currency scheme, “Self-Analysis: Do Members see LETS as a Social Movement?”, in Alternative Currency Movements As A Challenge To Globalisation?: A Case Study of Manchester's Local Currency Networks, Ashgate Publishing, →ISBN, Part II Manchester's Alternative Currency Networks, page 99:

We've got it so arse about face in modern society.

2010, Sean Gallacher, The Eskimo, page 27:

Placed or arranged the opposite way to the way it should be.

Use them to inpregnant^([sic]) a woman: muddle up past and future, in-breed across time-zones, turn the family tree into a tangled bush, roots and shoots all arse about face.

2006, Liz Jensen, Egg Dancing, page 212:

Arranged in a confused or haphazard way; muddled.


arse about face

We've been looking at it arse about face.

2005, Sam Smith, The End of Science Fiction, page 179:

‘Look, Mary. That chap is sitting arse about face. He's having a laugh. He can't be serious.’
‘Don't be so critical, George. More than likely it's his first time on a horse.’

2011, Russell Shaw, Easy: A Dogs Life, page 54:

What was it about Charlie Resnick that made him so special? With his shirt still crumpled from the wash and his tie knotted arse-about-face.

2011, John Harvey, Rough Treatment, page 31:

In a manner that is opposite to or the reverse of the way it should be, backwards.

Meanwhile the Law, as usual, tumbles arse about face: the killings multiply; the cops are clueless and duly arrest the wrong man.

2005, John Orr, Hitchcock and 20th Century Cinema, page 67:


Canaries

/kəˈnɛəɹiːz/

The Canaries went ahead when the home defence failed to clear their lines and Pilkington was on hand to slide in his eighth goal of the campaign.

2012 April 9, Mandeep Sanghera, “Tottenham 1 - 2 Norwich”, in BBC Sport:

Norwich City Football Club
w:Norwich City F.C.

(UK) Nickname of Norwich City Football Club.


have got

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

has got (present singular third-person)
having got (participle present)
had got (participle past)
had got (past)

I'd got her by the collar.

Jim's got his eyes closed, so you don't have to worry about him seeing you undressed.

“Well, your mother has got three windows into my dancing room, and you have three into my garret.”

1868, George MacDonald, At the Back of the North Wind:

(transitive, idiomatic, especially UK) To have.


Abram

John S[tephen] Farmer
w:John Stephen Farmer

(obsolete, UK, thieves' cant) Synonym of Abraham man


Abram

He maunds Abram, he begs as a madde man.

c. 1608–1610, Samuel Rid, Martin Mark-all, Beadle of Bridewell:

(obsolete, UK, thieves' cant) insane; mad

She's all Abram


loose box

Long before you see the lean, handsome heads peering mildly over the half-doors of the loose boxes, you know that East Ilsley's business is training racehorses.

1980, AA Book of British Villages, Drive Publications Ltd, page 164:

(chiefly British) A separate compartment of a building in which livestock are free to move about; especially a form of stable for horses.


mob-handed

en-adj

mob-handed (comparative more mob-handed, superlative most mob-handed)

more mob-handed (comparative)
most mob-handed (superlative)

'I didn't expect to see you today,' he went on, 'especially not mob-handed. Mind you, I don't remember a great deal about seeing you yesterday.'

(British) Being a member of a group, especially one with violent or threatening intent.


mob-handed

The forces of the law waded in mob-handed when, it seems, they ought to have applied a lighter, more consensual touch.

2014 September 5, Boyd Tonkin, “Ashya King showed we still don’t know the limits of liberty”, in The Independent:

(British) As a member of a group, especially one with violent or threatening intent.


dominical

Inherited from Middle English dominical (“(adjective) of or pertaining to the Lord’s day or Sunday; (noun) a book containing the liturgy for Sunday (?)”), borrowed from Medieval Latin dominicālis (“of or pertaining to Sunday, dominical”), from Latin dominicus (“of or belonging to a lord or master; (Ecclesiastical Latin) God’s, the Lord’s”) (compare diēs Dominicus (“the day of the Lord, Sunday”)) + -ālis (suffix forming adjectives of relationship). Dominicus is derived from dominus (“lord, master”) (used in Latin versions of the Bible to translate titles of the God of the Hebrew Tanakh and Greek New Testament; probably ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *dem- (“to arrange, put together; to build (up)”)) + -icus (suffix meaning ‘of or pertaining to’ forming adjectives).
Adjective senses 3.1 (“of printed text: in a large size”) and 3.2 (“red, ruddy”) refer to the practice of printing dominical letters in a large size, or in red.
cognates
* French dominical

der

Mr. Moore, in opening his case, stated that a custom obtained in this city [Exeter] of paying an annual amount of 4s. 8d. to the officiating clergyman of different parishes, which was termed dominicals. […] [T]he custom had existed for a long while in the parish of paying these dominicals, which might be taken in light of personal tithes, payable on land covered by houses.

1838 June 9, The Western Luminary, quotee, “Events of the Month. [Dominicals.—Interesting Case.]”, in The British Magazine, and Monthly Register of Religious and Ecclesiastical Information, Parochial History, and Documents Respecting the State of the Poor, Progress of Education, &c., volume XIV, London: J. G. & F. Rivington, […]; J. Turrill, […], and T. Clerc Smith, […], published 1 August 1838, →OCLC, page 234, column 1:

[D]ominicals, as I understood, were payments in the nature of tithes, in respect of houses built upon land originally subject to tithe, which view was supported by the fact that in some of the parishes in the city both tithes and dominicals were payable, but in no instance that I was aware of was the same property subject to both.

1874 June 6, “Reg. v. Sandford”, in Edward William Cox, editor, Reports of All the Cases Decided by All the Superior Courts Relating to Magistrates, Municipal, and Parochial Law. […], volume IX, London: “Law Times” Office, […], published 1877, →OCLC, page 65, column 1:

A largely attended meeting was held on Friday night in Exeter, to protest against the custom of levying dominicals, which is being enforced in several parishes in the city. It seems that London, York, and Exeter are the only three cities in which the custom exists.

1874 September 7, “The levying of dominicals”, in The Daily News, number 8,851, London: William King Hales, →OCLC, page 7, column 4:

(British, historical) A payment legally due from a parishioner to the parish, because the parishioner's house was built on land, ownership of which would have originally obliged the landowner to pay a tithe to the parish.

maasta kirkolle maksettava korvaus

payment legally due from a parishioner to the parish, because the parishioner’s house was built on land, ownership of which would have originally obliged the landowner to pay a tithe to the parish


domophobia

(British, informal) Antagonism towards the Millennium Dome (later known as the O2).


Hagueite

(British) A supporter of William Hague, or his economic or political policies.


Hagueite

(British) Of or relating to the policies of William Hague.


Privy Purse

(British) The amount of money the monarch may use for private or personal expenses

(British) A member of the office which deals with the monarch's finances.


SmartStamp

From smart + stamp, a marketing coinage.

(British) A postage stamp printed from a personal computer using software supplied by the Royal Mail.


flesh and blood

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-flesh and blood.wav

(UK, Ireland, slang, obsolete) A mixture of brandy and port in equal quantities.


dumbarse

(UK, Ireland, Commonwealth, sometimes considered, vulgar, slang, mildly derogatory) A stupid person.


road fund licence

en-noun

road fund licence (plural road fund licences)

(British) A paper disc displayed on the windscreen of a vehicle to show that road tax has been paid


licenced victualler

licenced victualler (plural licenced victuallers)

licensed victualler
licensed victualler#English

(UK, nonstandard) Alternative form of licensed victualler


cunted

en-adj

cunted (comparative more cunted, superlative most cunted)

more cunted (comparative)
most cunted (superlative)

(UK, Australia, vulgar, slang) Under the influence of illicit drugs or alcohol; drunk; high.

cuntit

under the influence of alcohol or illicit drugs


licenced

(UK, nonstandard, archaic) Alternative form of licensed


dustman

From dust + -man, as household refuse previously consisted largely of ashes (dust) from domestic fires.

Oh, my old man's a dustman
He wears a dustman’s hat
He wears cor-blimey trousers
And he lives in a council flat.

1960, Lonnie Donegan, My Old Man's A Dustman:

(British) A person employed to collect refuse from people's homes and take it to be processed.


motor insurance

(British) Insurance purchased by the owner of a vehicle to cover losses due to traffic accidents or theft


shunting

en-noun

shunting (countable and uncountable, plural shuntings)

(UK, finance) Arbitrage conducted between certain local markets without the necessity of the exchange involved in foreign arbitrage.


arsewipe

arsewipe (countable and uncountable, plural arsewipes)

(UK, Ireland, Commonwealth, slang, mildly vulgar) Toilet paper.

(countable, Commonwealth, UK, Ireland, slang, derogatory or offensive, mildly vulgar) A useless or annoying person.


hall of residence

hall of residence (plural halls of residence)

(UK) A building for college or university students to live in.

col·legi major

building for university students to live in


pensioner

→ Welsh: pensiynwr

From Middle English pensioner, from Anglo-Norman pensionner and Old French pensionnier, from Medieval Latin pēnsiōnārius. By surface analysis, pension + -er.

(chiefly UK, Canada) Someone who lives on a pension, especially the retirement or old age pension.

Coordinate term: sizar

(obsolete, UK, Cambridge University) A student who is not dependent on any foundation for support, but pays all university charges.


tidley winks

(UK, dated) Alternative spelling of tiddlywinks


comforter

From Middle English comfortour et al, from Anglo-Norman confortour, from Old French conforter. See comfort.

[…] round his neck he wore a flaming red worsted comforter, whereof the straggling ends peeped out beneath his threadbare Newmarket coat, which was very tight and buttoned all the way up.

1838 March – 1839 October, Charles Dickens, “chapter 29”, in The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby, London: Chapman and Hall, […], published 1839, →OCLC:

The American schoolboy takes off his comforter and unbuttons his jacket before going in for a snowball fight.

1881 June, Felix L. Oswald, “Physical Education”, in Popular Science Monthly, page 148:

“[…] Captain Markam had been found lying half-insensible, gagged and bound, on the floor of the sitting-room, his hands and feet tightly pinioned, and a woollen comforter wound closely round his mouth and neck; whilst Mrs. Markham's jewel-case, containing valuable jewellery and the secret plans of Port Arthur, had disappeared. […]”

1904–1905, Baroness Orczy [i.e., Emma Orczy], “The Fate of the Artemis”, in The Case of Miss Elliott, London: T[homas] Fisher Unwin, published 1905, →OCLC; republished as popular edition, London: Greening & Co., 1909, OCLC 11192831, quoted in The Case of Miss Elliott (ebook no. 2000141h.html), Australia: Project Gutenberg of Australia, February 2020:

(dated, chiefly UK) A woollen scarf for winter.


racialist

1910 (noun), 1917 (adjective). racial + -ist, from older racialism (1882).


CRS

Co-operative Retail Services
w:Co-operative Retail Services

(British) Initialism of Co-operative Retail Services.


BEF

British Expeditionary Force
w:British Expeditionary Force

(military, UK) Initialism of British Expeditionary Force.


B. M. A.

British Military Administration
British Military Administration#English

(UK, historical) Initialism of British Military Administration., used in the late 1940s as an overprint on certain stamps of Great Britain used in British offices in Eritrea and Tripolitania.


tabling

(UK) The introduction of a topic to a discussion.


clean-handed

en-adj

clean-handed (comparative more clean-handed, superlative most clean-handed)

more clean-handed (comparative)
most clean-handed (superlative)

And how there was clearly no escape, no escape compatible with that clean-handed truth from which it was not possible for him to swerve.

2014, Anthony Trollope, The Prime Minister, →ISBN:

(chiefly UK) Innocent and candid; free from corruption.


precinct

From Middle English precinct, precincte, early 15th century, in sense of “district for government purposes”, from Medieval Latin precinctum, alternative form of praecinctum (“enclosure, boundary line”), neuter singular of praecinctus, perfect passive participle of Latin praecingō (“surround, gird”), from prae (“before”) + cingō (“surround, encircle”), from which also cinch.
Cognate to Italian precingere (“to encircle”).

(UK) A pedestrianized and uncovered shopping area.


waggon

We go on like one of those country waggons, creaking along in the old ruts […]

1880s, A. L. O. E., The Wondrous Sickle, and Other Stories, London: Gall & Inglis, →OCLC:

The first waggon was loaded, and moved a few yards along the quay, and the second took its place. There was an order and swiftness over the work that told of a careful preparation. The third waggon took the place of the second and the work of loading it went even faster. Then, at a shout from the Grocer, the loaders threw off their slings, took every man of them a cudgel from beneath his smock, and formed themselves as a guard about the waggons that went away quickly along the quay on their way inland.

1922 February, H. Harrison, “Plot and Counterplot: A Tale of the Smuggling Canker in the Days Following the Battle of Waterloo”, in The Boy’s Own Paper, volume XLV, part 4, London: “Boy’s Own Paper” Office, […], →OCLC, chapter II, page 262, column 1:

The waggons are deep and square; wider at the top than at the bottom, and are fast at all sides. The bottom has hinges, and can be let down to discharge the coals, of which these waggons contain about three bolls each.

1944 September and October, Charles E. Lee, “An Ancient Underground Railway”, in Railway Magazine, page 274, text from early 19th century:

It was five miles or more from Maggot's lane to the Ferry. The hobbits wrapped themselves up, but their ears were strained for any sound above the creak of the wheels and the slow clop of the ponies' hoofs. The waggon seemed slower than a snail to Frodo.

1954, J. R. R. Tolkien, “A Short Cut to Mushrooms”, in The Fellowship of the Ring, London: George Allen & Unwin, →OCLC, page 105; republished Boston, Mass.: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2012, →ISBN:

On the sixteenth-century farm all the heavy hauling of lime or marl for the fields, gravel for the lanes, timber for the fences and 'coals or other necessary fuel fetched far off' had to be done as far as possible in the summer while the roads were still dry and firm. […] About the end of October the prudent farmer, like Best of Elmswell near Driffield, laid up his waggon, and sent his corn to market during the winter months on a string of eight pack-horses, tied head to tail, with a couple of men to 'guide the pokes'.

1967, J. Crofts, “The Weather”, in Packhorse, Waggon and Post: Land Carriage and Communications under the Tudors and Stuarts (Studies in Social History), London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, →ISBN; reprinted as Abingdon, Oxon.: Routledge, 2007, →ISBN, page 9:


waggon

en-verb

waggon (third-person singular simple present waggons, present participle waggoning, simple past and past participle waggoned)

waggons (present singular third-person)
waggoning (participle present)
waggoned (participle past)
waggoned (past)

The ore is firſt waggoned to the river, a quarter of a mile, then laden on board of canoes, and carried acroſs the river, which is there about 200 yards wide, and then again taken into waggons and carried to he furnace.

1781–1782, Thomas Jefferson, “Query VI. A Notice of the Mines and Other Subterraneous Riches; Its Trees, Plants, Fruits, &c.”, in Notes on the State of Virginia. […], London: Printed for John Stockdale, […], published 1787, →OCLC, page 39:


public transport

en-noun

public transport (countable and uncountable, plural public transports)

Nevertheless, China’s investment in subway systems is overwhelmingly positive. And there are also encouraging signs, too, that Chinese cities are beginning to shape urban development around public transport hubs. For example, Tiantongyuan, a high-density community of giant housing blocks in the suburbs of northern Beijing, has three subway stations.

2012, Tom Miller, China's Urban Billion: The story behind the biggest migration in human history, Zed Books, →ISBN, →OCLC, page 137:

The Airports National Policy Statement objectives require the proportion of journeys made to the airport by passengers to be at least 50% by public transport by 2030 and 55% by 2040.

2019 October, John Glover, “Heathrow rail expansion”, in Modern Railways, page 71:

(UK, Australia, New Zealand) Any form of transport that can be used by a member of public (who usually pays a fare); as opposed to private ownership of e.g. cars.

公共交通機関

こうきょうこうつうきかん


AIM

Coordinate term: Main Market

(UK, finance) AIM, the secondary stock market of the London Stock Exchange; formerly an initialism of Alternative Investment Market.


pennorth

(obsolete, British) Alternative form of pennyworth


get stuffed

Get stuffed! I don't want to talk to you again!

Eventually, she heard him say something in his deliberate, gruff voice: just two words:
“Get stuffed!”

1992, Émile Zola, translated by Douglas Parmée, Nana, published 1998, page 243:

“You could wear them at fancy dress parties,” I suggested.
“Get stuffed!” he growled.

2007, James Hosier, “Getting Stuffed”, in John Patrick, editor, Dreamboys: A New Collection of Erotic Tales, page 130:

“And what, pray tell, is that? Money? Well, you can get stuffed!” he said sitting down in the chair.

2010, Jeff Wright, Sage, Dead Gorgeous, page 593:

(UK, Ireland, colloquial, dismissal, euphemistic) Used to tell somebody to go away or to leave one alone.


OMRLP

(UK, politics) Initialism of Official Monster Raving Loony Party.


in hand

At the other end […] the Sounders completed a run that had taken them from 15 points off the lead, to first place in the Supporters Shield standings with two games in hand.

(sports, chiefly UK) Still to be played.


cocker

Uncertain. Perhaps from Middle English cokeren (“to pamper, coddle”); compare Welsh cocru (“to indulge, fondle”), French coqueliner (“to dandle, to imitate the crow of a cock, to run after the girls”), and English cockle and cock (“rooster; to spoil”).

cog

I been to see 'im. Not pretty. Ward sister tell me 'e'll be alright but not for a while yet. Concussion. Bloody 'ell! Lucky 'e wasn't killed, lump of lead like that. Lucky for you too, cocker...

He said, 'Not my cup of Darjeeling, cocker. I've been more intellectually challenged at a kiddies' swimming gala.'

2004, Sue Townsend, Adrian Mole and The Weapons of Mass Destruction, →ISBN, page 361:


tailback

The idea of a British warship supposedly menacing Spain is ludicrous. Is it meant to bomb Cadiz? Will its guns lift a rush-hour tailback in a colony that most Britons regard as awash with tax dodgers, drug dealers and right-wing whingers? The Gibraltarians have rights, but why British taxpayers should send warships to enforce them, even if just "on exercise", is a mystery.

2013 August 14, Simon Jenkins, The Guardian:

(UK, Ireland, Commonwealth) A line of motor vehicles causing or the result of traffic congestion or a traffic jam.


ginch

She probably up there getting her ginch plowed right this minute by some drummer out of Richmond.

(British, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, slang, vulgar) vagina, pussy.


suburbia

en-noun

suburbia (countable and uncountable, plural suburbias)

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

PIE word
 *upó
From suburb + -ia (suffix forming abstract nouns, the names of collections of things, etc.)

suffix

The Germanic nations, in their invasions of Italy, introduced the appellation [borgo] into that country, where it was generally applied to the houses and streets built outside the gates of a walled town, corresponding to the Roman suburbia.

1836, “BO′RGO”, in [George Long], editor, The Penny Cyclopædia of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge, volumes V (Blois–Buffalo), London: Charles Knight, […], →OCLC, page 184, column 2:

The suburban establishments became more numerous, and in some instances the policy of following the central houses in the selection of entertainment was abandoned for that of enterprise, with the result that several plays originally produced in the outlying districts were deemed good enough for transference to mid theatrical London. […] The opportunities of aspiring dramatic authors being augmented, it is quite possible that in time Suburbia will become altogether independent of the Strand.

1899, “DRAMA, THE, 98”, in W. Palmer, editor, Hazell’s Annual for 1899: A Cyclopædic Record of Men and Topics of the Day, Revised to November 22nd, 1898, London: Hazell, Watson, & Viney, […]; Hodder and Stoughton, […], →OCLC, page 203, column 2:

We would like this committee to do some very real thinking on how housing can be provided minority groups. We are impressed with the trend to suburbia the country over, that suburbia is white, and that while we are making an effort to get under way renewal programs in the core of our cities, that when these areas do get renewed the persons who occupy the renewed portions are for the most part persons of white skin.

1955 May 16, Eleanor M[artha] Hadley, “Statement of Miss Eleanor M. Hadley, on Behalf of American Association of Social Workers”, in Discussion of Federal Housing Programs: Hearings before a Subcommittee of the Committee on Banking and Currency, United States Senate, Eighty-fourth Congress, First Session […], Washington, D.C.: United States Government Printing Office, →OCLC, page 311:

Others with young families prefer their children to live by the sea, rather than in suburbia, even if as a result one or both parents have to travel many miles to their work.

1959 April, P. Ransome-Wallis, “The Southern in Trouble on the Kent Coast”, in Trains Illustrated, London: Ian Allan Publishing, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 212:

Well, if it is because of increased affluence of people able to seek suburbia doesn't the economic factor become one of the principal reasons for the suburbia growing as it does? Only those who are affluent enough to go.

1971 August 26, “District Court Proceedings of August 26, 1971”, in In the Supreme Court of the United States, October Term, 1972: The School Board of the City of Richmond, Virginia, et al., Petitioners, v. The State Board of Education of the Commonwealth of Virginia, et al., Carolyn Bradley, et al., Petitioners, v. The State Board of Education of the Commonwealth of Virginia, et al.: On Writ of Certiorari to the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit […] Appendix (Nos. 72-549 and 72-550), volume II, [U.S.A.]: [s.n.], page 661a:

Outside a new day is dawning / Outside suburbia is sprawling everywhere

1981 January 26, Marty Wilde, Ricky Wilde (lyrics and music), “Kids in America”, performed by Kim Wilde:

Let's take a ride and run with the dogs tonight / In suburbia / You can't hide, run with the dogs tonight / In suburbia

1986 March 24, Neil Tennant, Chris Lowe (lyrics and music), “Suburbia”, in Please, performed by the Pet Shop Boys:

In essence, [John] Betjeman's poetry and prose reveal that he loved the inter-war suburbia of Metroland more than the suburbia it had evolved into by the 1970s, but he loved the countryside more than either.

2012, Andrew Martin, “Everywhere in Trains”, in Underground Overground: A Passenger’s History of the Tube, paperback edition, London: Profile Books, published 2013, →ISBN, page 170:

(originally British) The suburbs as a whole and all that characterizes or pertains to them; (sometimes derogatory) the suburbs as encapsulated or represented by the typical characteristics or qualities of the people living there, especially complacency, conformity, conservativeness, dullness, etc.

esikaupunkialue

suburbs as a whole and all that characterizes or pertains to them; the suburbs as encapsulated or represented by the typical characteristics or qualities of the people living there


aesthesiometer

(chiefly British) Alternative spelling of esthesiometer


afters

What are we having for afters, Mum? I really want ice cream.

(British, Ireland, informal, uncountable) Dessert.

42-2: From the other end Strauss has a bit of afters with Morne Morkel after yet another bouncer raps him on the gloves.

2010 David Lewis South Africa v England - as it happened: Proteas rip into top order as tourists flounder Daily Mail (16 January 2010)

Clarke was dismissed in the sixty-seventh minute ... for overly enthusiastic afters with one of the Wexford players.

2012 May 12, Nine-man Harps crushed in Wexford, Donegal News:

(British, Ireland, informal, sports) Fighting or arguing off the ball or when play has stopped.

The lights flashed when the landlord shouted, “Last round of drinks before bar closes. Here^([sic]) me folks, no 'Afters' tonight mates!”

2013, Hopeton Gray, Mystic Journeys: Madagascar:

It was an afters pub, which meant it closed at 11 p.m., doors bolted, but with us all inside.

2017, Chris Difford, Some Fantastic Place: My Life In and Out of Squeeze:

(UK, Ireland) An after-hours drinking session in a public house.


cartwheel

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

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

(UK, historical, obsolete slang) A crown coin; its value, 5 shillings.


lairy

en-adj

lairy (comparative lairier, superlative lairiest)

lairier (comparative)
lairiest (superlative)

Variation of leery, originally Cockney slang.

Don't get lairy with me!

There's always been a weird duality at the heart of New Order: the fact that three druggy, lairy Mancs and the drummer's girlfriend can craft music of such awesome emotive power as to make grown neds weep.

2001 October 14, Simon Stuart, “rush to order”, in Glasgow Sunday Herald:

Unskinny was a self-published riot of large lasses getting lairy in northern towns, and did a reasonable trade via friends and comic shops.

2002 July 27, “‘We wouldn′t dream of making you feel fat’”, in Glasgow Herald:

The show is lairy, loud and laddish; it does exactly what it says on the tin.

2002 September 24, Gareth McLean, “Live With Chris Moyles”, in The Guardian:

Watching the people get lairy / It's not very pretty I tell thee

2004, “I Predict a Riot”, in Employment, performed by Kaiser Chiefs:

I started to get a bit lairy, agitated on drink.

2005, Alexander Masters, Stuart: A Life Backwards:

Obviously, I'm not beginning to suggest women commit as much violent crime as men when plastered. But I do now concede that being aggressive, ignorant, lairy and foul-mouthed suits the ladies even less than it suits the fellas.

2005 November 20, Rowan Pelling, “Women do make the worst drunks. Maybe it's the sick'n'sequin mix...”, in The Independent on Sunday:

(UK) Touchy, aggressive or confrontational, usually while drunk.


fussed

fussed (comparative more fussed, superlative most fussed)

more fussed (comparative)
most fussed (superlative)

He's just not that fussed about going to the party.

It's all right, I tell you. Can't you see I'm not fussed, not at all fussed?

1923, Harry Leon Wilson, Oh, Doctor!, page 375:

An added bonus is that this system protects you against impulse purchases of stuff you're not really fussed about as you have to focus your mind on what you'll chuck out when you get home.

2006, Elisabeth Wilson, Goddess, page 331:

You know when the person comes to me all fussed up about their husbands or vice versa, I say, "I'm not fussed about them. I'm fussed about you."

2010, Norman Grubb, The Meaning of Life, page 95:

This may be a useful lesson beyond the realms of longevity in a world more fussed about efficiency than effectiveness.

2010, Howard M. Fillit, Kenneth Rockwood, Kenneth Woodhouse, Brocklehurst's Textbook of Geriatric Medicine and Gerontology:

(UK, informal, chiefly in the negative) Bothered; concerned.


staithe

From Old English stæþ and/or Old Norse stöð (“harbor”).

Trevithick's first use of steam traction on rail took place at Merthyr Tydfil, Glamorganshire, on a tramroad 9¾ miles long between the Penydarren ironworks of Samuel Homfray, and the staithes at Abercynon, where the worked iron was loaded into barges on the Glamorganshire Canal.

1951 March, E. W. Twining, “The First Railway Locomotive”, in Railway Magazine, page 197:

(UK, archaic or dialectal) A fixed structure where ships land, especially to load and unload; wharf; landing stage.

(UK, rail transport) An installation built at the railside or nearby for the storage of coal unloaded from wagons.


polo-neck

/ˈpəʊləʊ ˌnɛk/

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

From polo (“ball game where two teams of players on horseback use long-handled mallets to propel the ball along the ground and into their opponent’s goal”) + neck.

compound

(British, India) A high collar covering the neck.

rolák

high collar covering the neck — see also turtleneck

(British, India) A light type of shirt with such a collar.


small beer

en-noun

small beer (countable and uncountable, plural small beers)

The income from standard widgets is small beer compared to the income from the gold-plated ones.

To ſuckle Fooles, and chronicle ſmall Beere.

c. 1603–1604 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Othello, the Moore of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene i], page 317, column 2:

‘He’s not in court, man—was quite a break.’
‘You small beer to him, Peter, it must be.’

1964 [1957], Colin MacInnes, City of Spades, London: Penguin Books, page 132:

The estimated £3m extra cost of providing free school meals represents a little over 1% of the council's education spending. That's no small beer, but nor will it be a huge saving.

2006 June 9, Kate Green, “Bring back free school meals”, in The Guardian:

But because there is a limit to how much of this is achievable while keeping the whole network operating, we can expect this to amount to small beer in terms of the overall level of cost savings required.

2022 January 12, Sir Michael Holden, “Reform of the workforce or death by a thousand cuts?”, in RAIL, number 948, page 23:

(uncountable, figurative, chiefly British) Something that is of relatively little importance.


tin opener

But I recall that those tin openers ran hot opening tin after tin of rubberised peach quarters and pulverised fruit salad to fill the "hollow legs" of an expanding population.

1987, Kerry Cue, Hang On To Your Horses Doovers, page 6:


bugger off

Derived from bugger (idiomatic, obsolete, UK, Ireland, Commonwealth) “sodomite”, (idiomatic, vulgar, UK, Ireland, Commonwealth) “man”, especially in the colloquialism (idiomatic, dismissal, UK, Ireland, Commonwealth) old bugger for “an old man”.

lb

(idiomatic, vulgar, UK, Commonwealth, Ireland, emphatic, colloquial, dismissal) Go away.

Bugger off! You are joking, aren't you?

(idiomatic, vulgar, UK, Commonwealth, Ireland, emphatic, colloquial) An expression of disagreement or disbelief.


mad for it

en-adj

mad for it (comparative more mad for it, superlative most mad for it)

more mad for it (comparative)
most mad for it (superlative)

(UK, informal) Exceedingly eager, or having a keen desire or appetite for something. Particularly associated with and originally from the Madchester Era.


smolt

smolt (comparative more smolt, superlative most smolt)

more smolt (comparative)
most smolt (superlative)

From Middle English smolt, smylt, from Old English smolt, smeolt (“mild, peaceful, serene, still, gentle, clear, bright”), from Proto-Germanic *smultaz, *smeltaz (“quiet, gentle”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)meld- (“to beat, grind, crush, make weak”). Cognate with Scots smolt (“calm”), Old Saxon smulto (“calmly”), Middle Dutch smolt, smout (“weak, gentle, quiet”), Middle High German smolz (“dear, lovely, beautiful, sheen”).

cog

(UK dialectal, of weather) Calm; fine; fair.


nep

Perhaps a variant of nap for knap, from Middle English knep, kneppe, knappe, a conflation of Old English cnep, cnæp, cnæpp (“top, knop, summit”) and Old Norse knappr (“knob”), both from Proto-Germanic *knappaz, *knappô (“knob”), from Proto-Indo-European *gnebʰ- (“to press, tighten”), from Proto-Indo-European *gen- (“to pinch, squeeze, bend, press together, ball”). Compare also Old Norse hnappr (“button”). Related to knob.

der

(UK, dialect) A knot in a fibre of cotton.


nep

en-verb

nep (third-person singular simple present neps, present participle nepping, simple past and past participle nepped)

neps (present singular third-person)
nepping (participle present)
nepped (participle past)
nepped (past)

(UK, dialect, intransitive) Of cotton: to form knots.


kye

[…] wrapped in layers of warm clothing against rushing icy air, and all longing for bubbling hot kye (Navy cocoa) at midnight.

2009, John Roberts, Safeguarding the Nation: The Story of the Modern Royal Navy:

Then he walked back to the wheelhouse. Guido arrived with three cups of kye and a plate of hot buttered toast.

2013, David Arnold, Hursey in Conflict: A Story of Love and Victory, page 73:


buttery

From Middle English boterie, from Old French boterie and Medieval Latin buteria, from Late Latin botāria, from a variant form of butta (“cask, bottle”). The form was probably influenced by butter.

(UK) A room in a university where snacks are sold.


stam

stam (third-person singular simple present stams, present participle stamming, simple past and past participle stammed)

stams (present singular third-person)
stamming (participle present)
stammed (participle past)
stammed (past)

(UK, dialect, obsolete, transitive) To confound.


WR

(British) Initialism of William Rex. The royal cypher for William IV, king of Great Britain


sparky

[…]the manager of one of the largest hotels, also a committee member ‘let it be known that sparkies working for the hotel should be involved in the programme. The next day saw three very keen contractors ring us up to enrol.’

2001, Jane Kenway, Peter Kelly, Sue Willis, “6: Manufacturing the Global Locality, Customizing the School and Designing Young Workers”, in Jack Demaine, editor, Sociology of Education Today, UK: Palgrave, page 138:

Pete said that the sparkies, the electricians, had turned the power off.

2004, Stephanie Smith, Underground London, UK: Hachette, unnumbered page:

Sam and Jamie set up the barbecue and tables they′d borrowed from the surf club, Tony organised all the tradesmen, the chippies quickly put the first platform in place so Fizz could set up her sound system while the sparkies rigged up sound and lights, and the plumbers were happy to act as security.

2008, Laurine Croasdale, Surf Sisters, Pan Macmillan Australia, page 122:

2010, Meegan Jones, Sustainable Event Management: A Practical Guide, Earthscan, UK and US, page 86,
You need to educate yourself so you can talk turkey with the sparkies. You don′t need an electrician′s qualification, but if you can demonstrate a basic understanding of the principles behind supplying power to your event, you can have a decent conversation about options and solutions.

(UK, Australia, New Zealand) An electrician.


anti-venene

en-noun

anti-venene (countable and uncountable, plural anti-venenes)

(UK and Australia, medicine) Alternative form of antivenene.


charity shop

(UK) A shop to where goods are donated, and sold on at cheap prices, with all the profits going to charity


bumps

(British, with "the") The ritual tossing of someone into the air to celebrate their birthday.


drive Irish tandem

en-verb

drive Irish tandem (third-person singular simple present drives Irish tandem, present participle driving Irish tandem, simple past drove Irish tandem, past participle driven Irish tandem)

drives Irish tandem (present singular third-person)
driving Irish tandem (participle present)
drove Irish tandem (past)
driven Irish tandem (participle past)

c. 1848, Thomas Francis Meagher, Meagher of the Sword: Speeches of Thomas Francis Meagher in Ireland, 1846-1848, his narrative of events in Ireland in July 1848, personal reminiscences of Waterford, Galway, and his schooldays, page 287,
“Mr. Mayor and fellow citizens,” it was thus he addressed the meeting the morning I returned to Waterford, “I came to attend this meeting, driving Irish tandem — that is one foot before the other.”

He was driving Irish tandem, but perhaps I talk at random – / I'd forgotten for a moment you are not all mulga-bred; / What I mean's he had his swag up through his having knocked his nag up

1901, Jack Mathieu, “That Day at Boiling Downs”, in Australian Ballads & Short Stories, Penguin, published 2003, page 263:

mennä apostolinkyydillä

idiomatic expression meaning "go by foot"


Mother's Day

From Anna Jarvis's campaign in the early 20th century, which insisted on using a singular spelling in order to associate the day with observants' particular mothers.

عِيد اَلْأُمّ

a day in honor of one's mother or all mothers, on whichever day

Mothers Day

common misspellings or international variants

Mothering Sunday
Mothering Sunday#English

(UK and Ireland, informal) Synonym of Mothering Sunday, the fourth Sunday of Lent, a moveable feast three weeks before Easter, used as a day in honor of mothers in some Commonwealth countries.


neddy

From Ned + -y, Ned being a diminutive of Edward.

Riding overland from Sydney to Brisbane, along the beautiful North Coast district of New South Wales, I tied my neddy up on the roadside and investigated a bark-shanty some little distance off in the Bush.

1919, Kilroy Harris, Outback in Australia […] , Garden City Press, page 3:

1932, Ion Idriess, The Desert Column, extracted in 2006, Rex Sadler, Tom Hayllar, In the Line of Fire: Real Stories of Australians at War, from Gallipoli to Vietnam, page 61,
Some of the boys whipped off their hats and laughingly smacked their neddies′ rumps, for we hated using spurs on the poor thirsty beggars.

From my uninformed reading of cycliterature (and other stuff), if you are a mainly short-twitch muscle type - a sprinter - then your natural cadence will be higher that^([sic]) if you are a mainly long-twitch muscle type - a hill-climber, or in neddy-racing terms, a "stayer" (I think).

2003 April 29, Fred Nieman, “90 cadence”, in aus.bicycle (Usenet):

AIRNews founder Arthur Stevens wishes Holden well adding, "We will miss his insights into the world of Aussie Rules Football and his understanding of the neddies and the Spring Racing Carnival.

2007 January 8, BearCave, “Peter Holden moving to Now FM”, in aus.radio.broadcast (Usenet):

I was up to 6 horses and figured to keep them fit and off the roids and put two in each race and get 1st and 2nd to build up the cash. Got home drunk saturday night saw a fake neddy at 4-1 so put all my $300k on it and lost.
Glad I wasn't Jean Bridges and spent $300k of my real money

2009 March 23, ^Tems^, “We need a new grid ad”, in aus.tv (Usenet):

(UK, Australia, slang) A horse, especially a racehorse.


basher

Nose around any modest-sized station and the odds are you'll find that the chargeman's office doubles as a bashers' club, a place where shivering spotters can get warm and catch up on the gen.

2015, Nicholas Whittaker, Platform Souls: The Trainspotter as 20th-Century Hero:

Determined 'bashers' do still ride trains, of course, seeking to cram the largest number of route-miles into 24 hours.

2017, Ian Carter, British railway enthusiasm, page 102:


kidder

(British, Liverpool) A term of endearment/address for a child or young adult, usually male.


templar

From Middle English templer, from Old French templier; cf. the Medieval Latin templārius, from Latin templum (“temple”).

(law, British) A barrister having chambers in the Inner Temple or Middle Temple.


hotting

From hot + -ing; see hot (“stolen”), as in hot merchandise.

(British, slang) Riding in a high-performance stolen car, especially as a form of display.


hot with

In like manner did the Cold Brandy-and-Water Sheet waft me now to the “Cider-Cellar”—now to the “Coal-Hole”! I heard a thousand voices cry, “ Hot with ”—“ Cold without ”—and saw a multitude of men, spinning like dervishes about me—spinning with tubs of oysters !

a. 1846, “Life at the Cold Brandy-and-Water Cure: From the MS. of a late Patient”, in Mark Lemon et al., Punch, Volume 11, Punch Publications Ltd. (1846), page 244

He [Mr. H. S. Edwards] had formerly been unacquainted with even the taste of gin (a laugh, which was quickly suppressed by the usher of the court), but since this case had been placed in his hands, he had felt it his duty to consume several gallons of it. Part of this he had taken “hot with,” (meaning, as our reporter understood, “hot with sugar”); another portion he had enjoyed in the form of “cold without;” and the remainder in its simplest and most natural state—a state which he might be allowed to characterize as “neat but not gaudy.”

1848, “Our Own Law Report: Seager and Evans v. Cruikshank”, in Puppet Show, Volume II, J. Dover (1849), page 29

“Let me have some whisky—hot, with;—and don't stand there looking at nothing.”

c. 1862, Anthony Trollope, chapter XVI, in Orley Farm, volume II, Dodd, Mead & Company, published 1913, page 203:

[…] we sang together […] under the exciting influence of two quart bottles of Guinness, and about three tumblers each of gin, hot with, and only one knob of sugar— […]

1863, “Lobster Salad: by a Crustacean Artist”, in James Hogg, Florence Marryat, editors, London Society, volume 4, William Clowes and Sons, page 283:

(obsolete, colloquial, UK) A drink of hot spirits with sugar and water.


Ofgem

(British) Abbreviation of Office of Gas and Electricity Markets.


butters

Originally a clipping of butterface (“a person with an attractive body but an unattractive face”).


bevvy

Clipping of beverage + -y (diminutive suffix)

Well, she schlumphed her Vera down the screech at a rate of knots, zhooshed up the riah, checked the slap in the mirror behind the bar, straightened up one ogle fake riah that had come adrift, and bold as brass orderlied over as fast as she could manage in those bats and, in her best lips, asked, if she could parker the omi a bevvy.

1997, James Gardiner, Who's a Pretty Boy Then?, page 123:

'Want some Lou Reed?' asked Spam.
'Nah. I'll stick to the bevvy.'

1998, Toni Davidson, Intoxication: An Anthology of Stimulant-based Writing, page 44:

(British, Ireland, slang) Alcoholic beverage.


bevvy

bevvy (third-person singular simple present bevvies, present participle bevvying, simple past and past participle bevvied)

bevvies (present singular third-person)
bevvying (participle present)
bevvied (participle past)
bevvied (past)

Anthony and I bevvied together a few nights, but the truth is I couldn't keep up.

2019, Craig Ferguson, Riding the Elephant:

(British, Ireland, slang, intransitive) To get drunk.


gormy

Either:
* from gorm (“fool; one who is undiscerning”) + -y (suffix forming adjectives meaning ‘having the quality of’); or
* a variant of gaumy (“awkward”), from gaum (“to stare idly or vacantly; to gape, gaze; to be awkward or stupid; a lout; a gaping, idle fellow”) + -y.

suffix

And not always with finesse — the Lombard clanked and churned, and a man who is like a regular Lombard may be a bit gormy and sometimes apply brute strength when he might do the work easier if he'd stop and think a little.

1990, John Gould, There Goes Maine!: A Somewhat History, Sort of, of the Pine Tree State, New York, N.Y.: Norton, →ISBN, page 1187:

Kimball was never one to argue with a comrade's eyes and ears, not even those of a gormy jeezer like Connolly.

1990, Maurice Shadbolt, Monday’s Warriors: […], Auckland: Hodder & Stoughton, →ISBN, page 5:

The Killian boy was carrying a chair, and making difficulties with it; he was what old-time Yankees would have called "a gormy lad."

2009, Stephen King, chapter 23, in Under the Dome: […], New York, N.Y.: Scribner, →ISBN, page 682:

Just the sort of place gormy Eugene would pick to hold a family get-together.

2010 March, Pat Cunningham, chapter 4, in A London Werewolf in America, [Austin, Tex.]: Siren-BookStrand, →ISBN, page 32:

(British, chiefly Northern England, US, chiefly New England) Awkward, clumsy, klutzy, ungainly.


gormy

From gorm, gaum (“to smear; grime (noun)”) + -y.

The first thing you have got to do is to wash them gormy 'ands [...]

1914, Edward [Henry] Peple, The Prince Chap: A Comedy in Three Acts, New York, N.Y., London: Samuel French, →OCLC, act II, page 50:

When I bought my tamarinds I eat one or two and then discovered that I had left my handkerchief at home, my hands were a little gormy, so I washed them in Frog Pond.

1916 June 22, Abigail Clarke, quoting Edward Everett Hale, “Edward Everett Hale at Harvard College. IV. (1835–39.)”, in The Christian Register, volume 95, number 25, Boston, Mass.: Christian Register Association, →OCLC, page 583, column 1:

(British, US, chiefly Southern US) Alternative spelling of gaumy (“sticky, smeared with something sticky; grimy”)


Mary Bell order

en-noun

Mary Bell order (plural Mary Bell orders)

Named after Mary Bell, a child tried for manslaughter in 1968.

(British, informal) A court order forbidding publication of any information that could identify a child involved in legal proceedings.


gastropub

(British) A public house that serves high-quality food.


mobe

From mobile, shortened to its first syllable.


OFEX

(British) A facility used for trading in stocks that are not quoted on any London stock exchange


dust bin

(British, Ireland) Alternative spelling of dustbin


mullered

en-adj

mullered (comparative more mullered, superlative most mullered)

more mullered (comparative)
most mullered (superlative)

From muller (“to destroy; to beat or thrash; to utterly defeat or outplay”) + -ed (suffix forming past tense and past participle forms of regular verbs). Muller is probably derived from Angloromani mul-, the preterite stem of mer- (“to die”) (compare mullered, mullo (“dead”, adjective); ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *mer- (“to die; to disappear”)) + English -er (suffix forming frequentative verbs).

der

My car isn’t driveable at the moment: the clutch is totally mullered.

The police couldn't really do what they had to do so a lot of Chelsea fans will remember that day because they got mullered and that is what counted.

2006, Cass Pennant, “Jela: West Ham United”, in Top Boys: Meet the Men behind the Mayhem, London: John Blake Publishing, →ISBN, page 401:

I called Laurie, my daughter about it. I said, "You are not going to believe this, but there's a Banksy here." When she saw it she thought she'd won the Lottery. She said "Oh god, you've got to preserve it." It was in a dreadful state when we found it, absolutely mullered. Someone had already rollered over it. We cleaned it right up. We framed it. Put a bit of Perspex over it. Don't look too bad, does it?

2012, Will Ellsworth-Jones, quoting Mark Ellis, “All Aboard for the Banksy Tour”, in Banksy: The Man behind the Wall, London: Aurum Press, published 2013, →ISBN, pages 84–85:

I noticed that another phlomis, no more than 3m (10 ft) away from the wall got absolutely mullered while one near the wall did okay, and although it got a bit battered in places, once I'd pruned it, it was fine.

2020, Adam Frost, “Where to Grow”, in How I Garden: Easy Ideas & Inspiration for Making Beautiful Gardens Anywhere (Gardeners’ World), London: BBC Books, →ISBN, section “Microclimates”:

Badly damaged or completely destroyed; ruined, trashed, wrecked.


merry widow

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

Franz Lehár
The Merry Widow
The Merry Widow (1952 film)
Warner's
merry widow (Corselet)

(corselet): Originally a 1952 trademark of the Warner's lingerie company for a product eponymous of that year film The Merry Widow, itself based on the 1905 homonymous operetta by Franz Lehár.


channel-hopping

(British, informal) that travels across the English Channel


tirl

en-verb

tirl (third-person singular simple present tirls, present participle tirling, simple past and past participle tirled)

tirls (present singular third-person)
tirling (participle present)
tirled (participle past)
tirled (past)

From archaic trill (“spin, twiddle”), probably related to Old English þweran (“to twirl, stir”). Compare twirl, thirl.

(intransitive, UK, Scotland, dialect) To quiver; to vibrate; to veer about.

to tirl at the pin, or latch, of a door

(intransitive, UK, Scotland, dialect) To make a rattling or clattering sound by twirling or shaking.


tirl

(UK, Scotland, dialect) A substitute for a trundle wheel or lantern wheel in a mill.


booze cruise

(British) A brief trip from Britain to France or Belgium in order to buy alcohol (or tobacco) in bulk quantities without paying excise duty.


pain in the bum

en-noun

pain in the bum (plural pains in the bum)

2000, Max Allen, Crush: The New Australian Wine Book
This is fine and dandy for the wineries and the consumer […] but it’s a pain in the bum for people like me who have to pigeonhole everybody to make them fit nicely in a book.

2003, Alan Grayson, Mile End
“Yes, she’s a pain in the bum, coming over all the time.”

2004, Sandy Row, Surviving the Special Needs System
I know I became a royal pain in the bum to the LEA.

(chiefly UK, Ireland, Commonwealth, slang) Someone or something very annoying.


PMT

PMT (countable and uncountable, plural PMTs)

Other circumstances, such as sunburn, travel, or emotional crisis, can also aggravate fluid retention and "PMT".

1978, Barbara Seaman, Gideon Seaman, Women and the crisis in sex hormones:

Fraser knew girls had periods but he'd never heard of PMT.

In the 20th century Frank coined the term premenstrual tension (PMT).

2006, Peter Clark, Ian A Greer, Practical Obstetric Hematology:

"It's PMT - she'll be back." "I expect that's your father - let's eat."

2006, Rachel Loosmore, Saucy Shorts for Chefs:

premenstrual tension
premenstrual tension#English

(uncountable, medicine, now chiefly UK) Initialism of premenstrual tension.


snod

(UK, dialect, obsolete) A fillet; a headband; a snood.


strip off

en-verb

strip off (third-person singular simple present strips off, present participle stripping off, simple past and past participle stripped off)

strips off (present singular third-person)
stripping off (participle present)
stripped off (participle past)
stripped off (past)

Your trees of Pine Hill, which persevere in being green the year round, do not please so much as those which strip off in November,and put on their green and flowery robes in April.

1847, John Sanderson, The American in Paris:

A night when you strip off and sit down to gasp and pant for a breath of air; such a night is never experienced in Kansas.

1871, Clinton Carter Hutchinson, Resources of Kansas: Fifteen Years Experience:

I cannot remember whose idea it was that we should strip off to our underclothing and go into the coolness of the stream.

2006, Ernest Millington, Was That Really Me?:

The other recruits started to undress where they stood but Ledanseur was too embarrassed to strip off in front of his new comrades. He went into the shower block and undressed there.

(intransitive, British, Ireland, idiomatic) To remove all of one's clothes (or sometimes to remove all except underclothes, or figuratively).


fours

(UK, prison slang) The cells located on the third floor.


put paid to

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

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

Well, then, I'll put paid to that little account.

1893 December, Mrs. Alexander, “Found Wanting”, in Belgravia, volume 82, page 353:

(chiefly UK, dated) To mark a bill or a debt record as "paid".

If Harry had always seemed a sickly child, Harrow put paid to notions that he was really a physical weakling.

2010, David Brown, Palmerston: A Biography:

This puts paid to the argument that a claimant who comes to a nuisance has impliedly consented to the continuance of that nuisance.

2013, Allan Beever, The Law of Private Nuisance, page 60:

The Guardian recently uncovered nearly 200 new projects – “carbon bombs” – that if completed would put paid to the world’s chances of limiting global temperatures to 1.5C above pre-industrial levels.

2022 June 17, Fiona Harvey, “Fossil fuel firms ‘have humanity by the throat’, says UN head in blistering attack”, in The Guardian:

The rain put paid to our plans for a picnic.

(chiefly UK, idiomatic) To terminate; to cancel (plans or expectations); to preclude (possibilities); to stop (something) once and for all.


foetal

From foetus + -al, the former from Latin foetus, alternative form of fētus, and the latter from Latin -alis.

(chiefly British, alternative in Canada) Alternative spelling of fetal


hymnbook

(British) A book containing a collection of hymns.


sitten

en-adj

sitten (comparative more sitten, superlative most sitten)

more sitten (comparative)
most sitten (superlative)

From Middle English siten, seten, from Old English seten, ġeseten, past participle of sittan (“to sit”). Equivalent to sit + -en (past participle). Cognate with Dutch gezeten, German gesessen.

The tailȝeour was no thing weill sittin, He left the sadill.

He micht counter Will on horss, For Sym wes bettir sittin Nor Will.

(UK dialectal, Northern England, Scotland) Seated.


mease

The English Dialect Dictionary suggests Old Norse meiss (“wooden box, as would be used for counting fish”) as a source; The Century Dictionary suggests that the term comes via Old French from a Latin word *mesa (“barrel”). One can also compare German Mass (“measure”) and indeed measure itself.

der

a mease of herrings

The weekly returns will show a great falling off in the herring fishing which it may be said was a complete failure—and consequently caused a falling off of the revenues of the Harbour. There were only 521 mease of herrings sold at an average price of £1 2s 7¾d., or total £590.

1894, [British] Parliamentary Papers: 1850-1908, volume 24, page 70:

During the past few days large quantities of herrings have been caught at Clovelly. One fisherman, James Small, brought in about twenty mease (mease, 600). The prices realised have fallen so low as 5s. per mease.

At Portavogie a few mease of herring were landed in June by some twenty-five boats.

1905, Report on the Sea and Inland Fisheries of Ireland, page xviii:

(UK, dialect, dated) A measure of varying quantity, often five or six (long or short) hundred, used especially when counting herring.


turtles

(gloves): Rhyming slang, from turtle doves.


bumbles

(UK, slang, archaic) Blinkers for a horse.


sprints

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


casings

Wherefore God permitted him to take other fuel, namely, cow's dung, dried casings, to bake his bread with.

1730, Daniel Waterland, Scripture Vindicated:

(UK, dialect, archaic) Dried cattle dung used as fuel.


idear

Pronunciation spelling
pronunciation spelling

(UK or Appalachia) Pronunciation spelling of idea.


steamboats

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

Perhaps from Steamboat Willie, rhyming slang for silly, or perhaps from a stereotype of steamboat passengers getting drunk.

Joe and The Tongue especially are absolutely steamboats by the time we reach the Niccy, and the 'bouncers' – furtive damp chemistry teachers on an ego trip – turn us all sneeringly away in their clean-spitting accents:

2006, Kevin MacNeil, The Stornoway Way, Penguin UK, →ISBN:

Somebody absolutely steamboats he says on
sweet warm wine
swigged plaincover from a paper bag
squats in a puddle with nothing to sell […]

2010, MacCaig Morgan Lochhead, Three Scottish Poets, Canongate Books, →ISBN, page 96:

The truth is that nobody remembered; they had all been absolutely steamboats.

2011, D. D. Johnston, Peace, Love and Petrol Bombs, AK Press, →ISBN, page 57:

After getting steamboats in the pub we would all head to the local fish-and-chip shop, where I would order a fish supper and a steak pie wrapped together. I would then place it on a wall and bash it with my fist so that pie, fish and chips all ...

2011, Colin MacFarlane, No Mean Glasgow: Revelations of a Gorbals Guy, Random House, →ISBN:

By the weekend we were off it and out on the lash, living it up in the VIP section of Annabelle's nightclub and getting absolutely steamboats. There's only one thing better than a glass of Champagne – a bottle!

2016, Jules Coll, Flabyrinth: A Journey from Losing Nine Stone to Finding Myself, Gill & Macmillan Ltd, →ISBN:

(UK, Ireland, slang) Drunk; intoxicated.


updraught

(British) Alternative spelling of updraft


premenstrual tension

Coined by Robert T. Frank in 1931 of New York, the first doctor to treat PMS's physical and psychological components as related to a single cause.

There may be an actual distaste for sexual relations for a week or so prior to the period, perhaps as part of a picture of general irritability and vague feelings of discomfort of which some women complain; the name "premenstrual tension" has been applied to this.

1950, Louis Portnoy, Jules Saltman, Fertility in Marriage: A Guide for the Childless:

However, the pervasive social impact of the premenstrual tension comes from psychological, behavioral change, and this is the time of month that women are likely to be admitted to psychiatric wards.

1950, Public Health Service publication no. 263, sect. 20, 1969:

In 1931, Frank coined the term premenstrual tension, in reference to the cyclical recurrence of tension, anxiety, and suicidal ideation in 15 women during their premenstrual phase.

2006, Corey L.M. Keyes, Sherryl H. Goodman, Women and Depression: A Handbook for the Social, Behavioral, and Biomedical Sciences:

premenstrual syndrome
premenstrual syndrome#English

(now chiefly UK) Synonym of premenstrual syndrome: the physical and psychological malaise experienced by many women between ovulation and the onset of menstruation.


whitewall

White wall (Northants).

1885, Charles Swainson, Provincial Names and Folk Lore of British Birds, volume 32, Spotted flycatcher:

The beam-bird, Muscicapa grisola; the spotted flycatcher. Also whitewall, white-bird.

1903, The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia:

Wall bird, wall-plat, white base, whitewall.

1905, Alexander Robert Forbes, Gaelic Names of Beasts (Mammalia), Birds, Fishes, Insects, Reptiles, Etc:

(UK, dialect, Northamptonshire, rare) The spotted flycatcher.


mossy

(UK, Australia, New Zealand, colloquial) Alternative form of mossie (“mosquito”)


whilom

From Middle English whilom (“(adverb) at one time, formerly, once; once upon a time; at times, sometimes; at a future time; (conjunction) while”) [and other forms], from Old English hwīlum, hwīlan, hwīlon (“at one time, once; sometimes”), from Proto-West Germanic *hwīlum, the dative plural of *hwīlu (“period of time, time, while; period of rest, pause”), from Proto-Germanic *hwīlō (“period of time, time, while; period of rest, pause”), from Proto-Indo-European *kʷyeh₁- (“to rest; peace, rest”).
The Oxford English Dictionary regards adverb sense 2.2 (“for some time that has passed”) as “aberrant”.
cognates
* Old High German hwīlōn (Middle High German wīlen, wīlent, German weiland (“at one time, formerly”))
* Old Saxon hwīlon (“sometimes”) (Middle Dutch wilen, Middle Low German wilen (“at one time, formerly”), Dutch wijlen (“deceased, late”))

nb...

quilum, whileme, whilen, whilene, whilome, whilon, whilum, whilumm, whylom, whylome, whylon, whylum, (Kent) hwilem, wilem, (Scotland) qhilom, quhilom, quhilum, quhylum, qwhilom, qwhilum, qwhylum, qwylum, (Southwest England) ʒwilene, ʒwuilene, (Early Middle English) hwilan, hwilem, hwilen, hwilon, hwilum, hwylem, hwylen, wilen, wylem, ȝwilene

cog

On the same day, two notable Female Prisoners are also put in ward there: Dame Dubarry and Josephine Beauharnais! Dame whilom Countess Dubarry, Unfortunate-female, had returned from London; they snatched her, not only as Ex-harlot of a whilom Majesty, and therefore suspect; but as having 'furnished the Emigrants with money.'

1837, Thomas Carlyle, “Death”, in The French Revolution: A History […], volume III (The Guillotine), London: James Fraser, […], →OCLC, book V (Terror the Order of the Day), page 290:

The play must have appeared during the closing years of the Peloponnesian war, and must have been fresh in men's memory, when, as Plutarch tells us (Life of Lysander, c. 15), the deliberations about the fate of conquered Athens were determined by a Phocian actor singing the opening monody, which moved all to pity by its picture of a whilom princess reduced to miserable poverty.

1879, J[ohn] P[entland] Mahaffy, “His Plots”, in John Richard Green, editor, Euripides (Classical Writers), London: Macmillan and Co., →OCLC, paragraph 43, page 60:

[S]he was expecting to be joined there by no such pale fellow-adventurer as her whilom uncle.

1909, Henry James, “Mora Montravers. Chapter V.”, in The Finer Grain, New York, N.Y.: Charles Scribner’s Sons, published October 1910, →OCLC, page 99:

(archaic except literary) At some time in the past; former, sometime.


rhubarb rhubarb

Chosen as a word for producing indistinct background noise because it contains no very sharp or recognizable phonemes: see rhubarb (“noise”).

Those glottals glugged like poured pop, each /rebarbative syllable, remembrancer, raise /‘mob' rhubarb-rhubarb to a tribune's speech /crossing the crackle as the hayracks blaze...

1981: Tony Harrison, The Rhubarbarians I in collection Continuous: 50 sonnets from 'The School of Eloquence' . Rex Collings, London (1981)

(stage direction) They all rise and drink. Rhubarb, rhubarb...To convey the next stage of To convey the next stage of general inebriation, the remarks that follow are spoken in a sing-song.

1983, Aleksandr Isayevich Solzhenitsyn, Victory Celebrations:

(film stage direction) Pan to a shot of the crowd of humanists surging forward and murmuring "Rhubarb, rhubarb".

1995, Sandra M. Gilbert, Susan Gubar, Masterpiece Theatre: An Academic Melodrama:

(film) Background noise of simultaneous conversations, none of which is decipherable since the actors are repeating the word rhubarb or other words with similar attributes.

Human beings and human speech are historical inventions as well: our actual experience for long enough was of ‘ourselves', the local tribes of people, dogs and horses, and of the ‘others', theria (wild beasts) and barbaroi (who make noises that only vaguely sound like speech, as "rhubarb, rhubarb").

1997, Stephen R L Clark, Animals and Their Moral Standing:

‘Barbarians' who made noises which sounded like ‘rhubarb-rhubarb' to Greeks who could not (and did not want to) understand them.

1998, Richard Wallace, Wynne Williams, The Three Worlds of Paul of Tarsus:

I heard my name amongst so much mumbo jumbo. “Rhubarb, rhubarb, rhubarb, Robert.”

2005, Robert Leslie Fielding, Other People Other Worlds: The Collected Short Stories of Robert Leslie Fielding:

(derogatory) Speech which is undecipherable to the listener because it is in a language he or she does not understand; mumbo jumbo.

Not allowed to blah blah blah rhubarb rhubarb rhubarb. Just what I don't need when I'm feeling kind of seedy.

1998, Brigid Lowry, Guitar Highway Rose:

Judith recruited me as the voice of the grass roots. I said rhubarb, rhubarb to oblige her, but I felt like a charlatan. I had mobilized out of a genuine sense of outrage at Cathy's treatment, but the demand to enter the Oxford Union was another matter.

2001, Sheila Rowbotham, Promise of a Dream: Remembering the Sixties:

All tutors and examiners are familiar with the essay which begins, in effect, 'All the poets of the seventeenth century said, "Rhubarb, rhubarb, rhubarb," and in this Marvell was no exception.'

2005, Judith Woolf, Writing About Literature: Essay and Translation Skills for University Students of English and foreign literature.:


clocked

en-adj

clocked (comparative more clocked, superlative most clocked)

more clocked (comparative)
most clocked (superlative)

(UK, colloquial) Of a motor vehicle: having had its odometer turned back so as to display a lower mileage.


cem

I'm planning a trip to the cem next week to gather some genealogical information.


streamed

(UK, education) Divided into academic streams.


bollocked

I woke at 17:05 and felt totally bollocked. After a shower, I went to the NAAFI for some sarnies and orange juice.

(British, Ireland, Commonwealth, vulgar, slang) Exhausted.


sniggered

I'm sniggered if I knows what it means.

1863, Elizabeth Caroline Grey, Good Society; Or, Contrasts of Character, page 52:

I'm sniggered if this ain't a pretty job!

1886, George William M. Reynolds, The mysteries of the court of London, volume 8, page 174:

(British, obsolete, slang) Damned, in the sense of "I'll be damned if...", expressing utter certainty.


Yardie

You are a bad-boy yardie, and bad-boy yardies are supposed to know how to get rid of bodies.

2000, Guy Ritchie, Snatch (motion picture), spoken by Sol (Lennie James):

(chiefly British) A member of an Afro-Caribbean gang who engages in organized crime, especially drug trafficking.


witches' knickers

(slang, British) Plastic bags snagged in trees and bushes.


saltee

One day he would gather more than I in three; another, to hear his tale, it had rained kicks all day in lieu of “saltees,” and that is pennies.

1862, Charles Reade, The Cloister and the Hearth: A Tale of the Middle Ages, page 242:


sello

Can you pass the sello? We need to get these presents wrapped up by tonight.


trine

en-verb

trine (third-person singular simple present trines, present participle trining, simple past and past participle trined)

trines (present singular third-person)
trining (participle present)
trined (participle past)
trined (past)

From Middle English trine, from Middle French trin, from Latin trīnus.

Been Darkmans then booz Mort and Ken, / The been Coves bing awast / On Chats to trine by Rum-Coves dine, / For his long lib at last.

1612, Thomas Dekker, Lantern and Candlelight:

Liz, he says, why trine for a make, when you can wap for a winne. I'm no dimber mort, I says. Don't ask you to be a swell mollisher, sister, coves want Miss Laycock, don't look at your mug. So I begin to sell my mother of saints.

1988, Timberlake Wertenbaker, Our Country's Good, act 2, scene 1:

(archaic, UK, thieves' cant) To hang; to execute (someone) by suspension from the neck.


trine

From Middle English trynen, of North Germanic origin, from Old Norse troða (“to walk, tread”); compare Old Swedish trina (“to go”).

Twang dell's, i' the strommell, and let the Quire Cuffin: / And Herman Beck strine and trine to the Ruffin.

1647, John Fletcher, Beggars' Bush, published 1706, act 3, scene 3, page 42:

From thence at the Nubbing-cheat we trine in the Lightmans.

1673, Richard Head, “The Beggars Curse”, in The Canting Academy:


parcels

An unusual visitor to Leeds on September 26 was Class 4 4-6-0 No. 75042 (17A), on a Class H goods from York; it soon returned on the 6.30 p.m. Leeds-York parcels.

1962 December, “Motive Power Miscellany: North Eastern Region”, in Modern Railways, page 425:

(rail transport, UK, dated, in the plural) A parcels train, normally carrying nothing but parcels.


weatherproof

weatherproof (third-person singular simple present weatherproofs, present participle weatherproofing, simple past and past participle weatherproofed)

weatherproofs (present singular third-person)
weatherproofing (participle present)
weatherproofed (participle past)
weatherproofed (past)

Six stations - Harlesden, Kensal Green, Watford High Street, South Kenton, Headstone Lane and North Wembley - have had their canopies weatherproofed and tactile paving laid on platforms.

2023 September 20, “Network News: Bakerloo Line back in business”, in RAIL, number 992, page 9:

(UK) To make something resistant to damage caused by the weather.


wetly

en-adv

wetly (comparative more wetly, superlative most wetly)

more wetly (comparative)
most wetly (superlative)

Rupert Frazer reveals the hollowness behind the elder Forsyth's tyrannical bluster, while Geoff Breton does all that is possible to reconcile us to his wetly conventional son.

2008 October 29, Michael Billington, “Independent Means”, in The Guardian:

Hypocrisy is all around us: in supermarkets with their fake green credentials, in a wetly liberal BBC, in publishers now falling over themselves to promote pornography, in a Government that wrings its hands about social problems—sport for children, the erosion of the countryside, gambling, greed—while at the same time busily exploiting and exacerbating them.

2012 August 27, Terence Blacker, “Fifty years after the satire boom, the country needs it more than ever”, in The Independent:

(UK, informal) Ineffectually, feebly, showing no strength of character.


on offer

The sofa is on offer. It's £200 instead of £500.

Rooney had been suffered a barren spell for England with only one goal in 15 games but he was in no mood to ignore the gifts on offer in front of an increasingly subdued Bulgarian support.

2011 September 2, Phil McNulty, “Bulgaria 0-3 England”, in BBC:

(UK) Available to take; at hand; being offered or to be offered.


squally

en-adj

squally (comparative squallier or more squally, superlative squalliest or most squally)

squallier (comparative)
more squally (comparative)
squalliest (superlative)
most squally (superlative)

Red bird eyne (Primula veris flore rubro), and white bird eyne (albo), p. 784 , grow very plentifully in moist and squally grounds in the north parts of England, as in Harwood neere to Blackburn in Lancashire, and ten miles from Preston in Aundernesse, also at Crosby Rauenswaith, and Crag-close in Westmoreland.

This method is accounted the best and cheapest way of hollow ditching, or draining, and will make the wettest squally land fit to bring very good corn, or to be laid down for grass, or other uses.

1727, Richard Bradley, A Complete Body of Husbandry, page 123:

They grow in my garden, where they flourish exceedingly, except Butterwoort, which groweth in our English squally wet grounds,

1882, John Ruskin, Proserpina: Studies of Wayside Flowers:

(UK, obsolete) Having unproductive wet spots due to poor drainage.


my arse

Does this circuitous process of misinformation display the ‘liquid clearness of an Ionian sky’? My arse it does.

2015, Colin Burrow, “The Empty Bath”, in London Review of Books, volume 37, number 12:

Denise: Dad! Your fly hole's all undone.
Jim: Ah, the cage might be open, but the beast is asleep.
Barbara: Beast my arse.

1999 September 30, Caroline Aherne, Craig Cash, Carmel Morgan, The Royle Family, season 2, episode 1, spoken by Denise Royle, Jim Royle, and Barbara Royle (Caroline Aherne, Ricky Tomlinson, and Sue Johnston):

(slang, UK, Ireland, Commonwealth, sometimes vulgar) Indicates incredulous disapproval, contradiction or disbelief.

個屁 /个屁

Indicates disapproval, disregard or disbelief


waxen

waxen (comparative more waxen, superlative most waxen)

more waxen (comparative)
most waxen (superlative)

From Middle English waxen, from Old English weaxen, ġeweaxen, from Proto-Germanic *wahsanaz, past participle of Proto-Germanic *wahsijaną (“to wax, grow, increase”), equivalent to wax + -en (past participle ending).


pound shop

(UK, Ireland) A shop selling household groceries, toys, gimmicks etc, that are typically priced at a pound each.


piet

From pie + -ot, with later forms remodelled after -et.

We teach Blacke-birds, Starlins, Ravens, Piots, and Parots to chat[…].

1603, Michel de Montaigne, chapter 12, in John Florio, transl., The Essayes […], book II, London: […] Val[entine] Simmes for Edward Blount […], →OCLC:

Some of the domestick Ducks are all white, others all black, others like Piets, partly white, partly black; and others subcineritious, as all wilde ones are.

1657, Jean de Renou, A Medicinal Dispensatory, page 446:

piet-my-vrou

etymologically unrelated, but coincidentally also a bird


mushed

en-adj

mushed (comparative more mushed, superlative most mushed)

more mushed (comparative)
most mushed (superlative)


gingham

en-noun

gingham (countable and uncountable, plural ginghams)

From Malay genggang (“ajar; apart”), or a corruption of French Guingamp, the name of a town in Brittany, France, where this cloth may have been made.

[…] their ginghams stuck under their arms at right angles to their back-bones […]

1878, Gilbert Abbott À Beckett, George Cruikshank's Table-book, page 268:


PCN

PCN (countable and uncountable, plural PCNs)

(UK) Initialism of penalty charge notice: a notification of a fee for unauthorised parking of a vehicle


polytechnic

First attested in 1805. From French polytechnique, from the École polytechnique, engineering school founded 1794 in Paris; from Greek πολύτεχνος "skilled in many arts," from πολύς "many" (see poly-) + τέχνη "art" (see technic).

(UK, dated) An educational institute that teaches applied arts and sciences rather than academic subjects.


gumboot

gumboot (countable and uncountable, plural gumboots)

(New Zealand, British, Australia) A type of boot made of rubber.